About Me
Patchouli
Master guitarist, Bruce Hecksel is considered one of the most exciting acoustic lead guitar players of our time. Teamed up with Julie Patchouli, whose crystal pure voice and dynamic percussive guitar sparkle, Patchouli’s sound has been described as “the harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel meet the guitar brilliance of the Gipsy Kings”.
Patchouli’s music lyrically expresses that celebration of the beauty of nature, the healing messages of connection and environment as well as topics of tolerance, love and stories from their extensive travels.
The duo’s instrumental guitar project Terra Guitarra – “Dragonfly” has been in the Top 5 of 100 albums on the ZMR world music Radio Charts all summer.
Both studied at The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and together are a songwriting powerhouse duo. Sixteen years of non-stop touring the country has honed this classically trained duo into legendary performers, playing over 3,000 shows and traveling over half a million miles.
Patchouli is as busy in the studio as they are on the road. They released a brand new CD “Anything is Possible” in 2013. Already, one of the songs from the new CD won the “Songs for Trees” award and others are finding their way into commercials. On November 1st the duo released their 18th album together, “Firelight” a new instrumental guitar album.
“We were in the studio between shows in August & September recording new songs we’ve been writing on the road for the last 2 years. It’s guitar driven with lots of melodic new styles and rhythms. For us it’s essential as artists to capture that exciting and new energy on tape right away, then work from there to build the songs in to the album” said Julie Patchouli.
Performing their original blend of folk meets flamenco with their blazing guitars and heartstring tugging lyrics Patchouli’s energy and chemistry guarantees to make their concert an uplifting one of music that will leave you uniquely inspired and excited to pick that old guitar back up.
Bruce and Julie recorded their first jam session together on January 6th, 1993 in a church in Chicago. With Bruce playing an acoustic guitar and Julie on a 5gallon pail they discovered their desire to create music together out of anything and everything around them. That desire fueled their relationship as it grew out of this musical love they shared and keeps them grounded in the music they create still to this day.
