“Finger-picking and generally slapping around a beat-up cello, Trevor Exter makes music that is both seriously unusual and thoroughly, pleasingly accessible.”

Time Out New York:

“Singer and unconventional cellist Trevor Exter plucks and whacks at his big instrument and guides it through multiple climaxes.”

Chris Kocher, “Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin:

“If you’re expecting a sedate orchestra recital, you’d better think again…. Exter’s crooning voice harkens back to an era of music where men weren’t afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves.”

BreakThruRadio.com:

“…makes you feel like you found something you didn’t even know you were missing… Trevor Exter nails it.”

Urban Folk Magazine on the “Water” EP

“This album is an admirable testament to the purity of Exter’s distinct and exceptional vision.”

Trevor Exter was born in Ithaca, NY. He always played different things but kept coming back to the cello. He sits with the cello and sings, but he plays it weird – like a tiny bass or a big ukulele. He also hits it sometimes.

He makes music for the heartbreakers and the brokenhearted, the nighthawks and the dreamers. Mixing Brazilian pop, American soul and restless rock energy with an itinerant vision all his own, his songs travel far and burrow deep. The lyrics, brimming with passion and disdain, are delivered by a warm, grainy voice you won’t easily forget. This is adult music that pulls you in close and burns in all the right places.

Fascinated by the cello at an early age, he eventually drifted to Brazil, hypnotized by the fire and tenderness in its music. He jammed with young Brazilian musicians who reveled in the Beatles, Coltrane and Ellington as well as their country’s icons – Antonio Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque and Hermeto Pascoal. His choice rig in those days was a stage mic wrapped in a napkin and wedged under the tailpiece of a cheap cello.

The plan was to follow the sound but along the way life happened: gigs, love, fame, loss, despair, and a long detour during which his instrument collected dust. Jobless and broke after 9/11, Trevor gave up on music and tunneled downward. A near-death accident in London sent him drifting to Argentina, where he came upon a dirty cello and started experimenting with it. Learning to play again felt like the first time. A style took shape and the strange songs kept coming, fueled by everything he had experienced before.

Today, first-time listeners are sometimes puzzled when Trevor steps on stage, a cello plugged into an amp the way a rocker bears his axe. After a few disarming remarks and a haunting number or two, a deeper mystery becomes clear: this flame could sweep you up. Performing solo or with his band, Trevor Exter is an original, the kind that brings audiences to the edge of their seats.

Trevor has played with Steve Kimock, Gloria Deluxe, Nicole Renaud, De La Guarda, Gaby Kerpel, Shrine For The Black Madonna, Marc Anthony Thompson, Toujours l’Amour, Philip Hamilton, Bret Mosley, Spottiswoode and his Enemies, Bronwen Exter, Science For Girls, Novatribe, Changos, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Poon.