Artists
Award-winning singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley’s “Miles & Music For Kids” hosted its biggest crowd to date yesterday in Nashville, TN. Thousands of bikers road into downtown where fans joined Bentley for the post-ride concert to help make the event’s biggest donation to date of over $307,000 to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. “Every year, the support from the fans for these events catches me off-guard,” said Bentley.
JJ Grey, described by the New York Times as: "Impassioned singing, riff-based Southern rock, cold-blooded swamp funk and sly Memphis soul,” has just been added to the line-up at the Second Annual Sunshine Music and Blues Festival. The Tedeschi Trucks Band, winner of multiple Blues Music Awards and a 2012 Grammy Award for “Best Blues Album,” will once again headline this Florida only Festival. Featuring two stages of live bands, a wide array of refreshing craft beers and delectable menus from a wide variety of food vendors, the Festival will kick off Saturday, Jan
I’ll keep this one short and sweet, let y’all enjoy the record for yourselves—and it’s a tight one, trust me.First, though, a little background’s in order for anyone new to our man behind the Rebel Era LP. GRiZ (alias of producer, DJ, and—yes—classically-trained saxophonist Grant Kwiecinski) is a young buck at twenty-three, but his sound is already somethin’ else.
So what does a Racoon Wedding sound like, exactly? Something akin to Kings of Leon circa Aha Shake Heartbreak if the boys went on a bender in Nawlins and never quite lost the itch they caught down in the Big Easy.Raccoon Dead On the Side of the Road was strictly an in-house effort—well, in warehouse, really—the Canadian sextuplet recorded this album over five days in an old Paris (Ontario) flop, and multi-instrumentalist band member Scott Wilson mastered the tracks.
I’m not quite sure what to make of this one—on the one hand, Passage of Pegasus is a tidy little dream pop album with tight instrumentals and a light concept; on the other... no, I just don’t know. A short anecdote:Once upon a time, I found myself on a late night adventure deep down the Interweb rabbit hole when I came across a series of videos by one Professor Soap (by his own account, he makes “music, art, and happiness” for the uninitiated—present company very much included until then).
After the grand way the band has been performing the last few years, we can sometimes forget how much Phish used to dominate the 90s live music scene. By the winter of 1995 the band was still performing slightly under the radar and these four musical wizards were summoning magic on-stage nightly. The band is currently in the midst of an excellent fall tour, and with another winter looming has offered up an archival release from that distinguished period, this being from their December 7th 1995 show at the Niagara Falls Convention Center
ON October 26th I got the honor of seeing Yonder Mountain String Band for their Halloween party at the House of Blues in Chicago. It was a beautiful night out in the city. The House of Blues is nestled right downtown among all of the stately buildings and bright city lights. The interior of the building is just as impressive as its stately surroundings. Every wall is painted and decorated differently and the balconies that are stacked three high are decorated with filigree, which is illuminated by color changing lights. It is truly a beautiful building.
Portland Oregon-based Indie-folk pop band Shook Twins have just announced a five show New Years Run that will kick off with good friends and fellow indie folk band Elephant Revival at The State Room in Salt Lake City. Shook Twins will join musical forces with Elephant Revival for two shows in Salt Lake City, on Dec. 30th and New Years Eve Dec. 31st celebrating and welcoming in 2014. Shook Twins then head off to Crested Butte for a solo gig on Jan.
Hot on the heels of the news that they have been nominated for 2014 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, classic rockers Deep Purple will be feted with a deluxe, limited-edition boxed set featuring 24-Karat Gold CDs of four of their best-selling albums, according to Audio Fidelity president Marshall Blonstein. November 19 is the release date for DEEP PURPLE: THE AUDIO FIDELITY COLLECTION, which will include IN ROCK (1970), FIREBALL (1971), MACHINE HEAD (1972) and WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE!
On the fateful day after extended taxes were due, October 16, 2013, I sat down with [and interviewed) Fayetteville, Arkansas-based band Don’t Stop Please. During the interview there were many jokes, lots of sarcasm and some discussion about music, including insight on their newest album, the creation process and that pesky (now historical) government shutdown. This is the first time I’ve interviewed an entire band together and it was certainly interesting!
