“For The Crew,” presented by NoCap and in collaboration with the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, have announce Americana artist--and member of The Smashing Pumpkins’ live band--Katie Cole has been added to the event’s list of performers. Cole will join Jeff Schroeder of The Smashing Pumpkins, Kevin Rudolf and Tommy Marz.

Rhiannon Giddens’ new album They’re Calling Me Home, recorded with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, will be released April 9 on Nonesuch Records. Giddens and Turrisi, who both live in Ireland when they aren’t on tour, have been there since March 2020 due to the pandemic. The two expats found themselves drawn to the music of their native and adoptive countries of America, Italy, and Ireland during lockdown.

Legendary Northern California-based rock 'n' roll outfit, The Mother Hips, are celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2021. In recognition of this career milestone, the band's record label Blue Rose is reissuing each of their ten studios albums on vinyl. The series will work its way chronologically through The Mother Hips' discography with one LP released each month, while all proceeds from sales will benefit The Blue Rose Foundation, which provides grants for preschool scholarships to financially disadvantaged children.

If you’re into lyrical stories and some kick ass grooves, Soo Line Loons just might be the band for you.  They fall under the Americana umbrella, but the band blends elements of folk, rock, punk, jam and just about everything else under the sun.  Soo Line Loons take their name after a local railroad that runs Southeast through Minnesota.  The band formed serendipitously in early 2019 when Grant Glad met Robin Hatterschide just before recording his first album.  They soon brought in Matthew Fox on bass and

Writing has always been a hobby. I created sonnets to unleash my teenage angst. I did my undergraduate thesis, basically a short story, about interning at an anti-gun violence nonprofit where I focused on the flavorful like shooting an AK-47, melting guns to transform them into art and working with ex-convicts in the Tenderloin. In my late thirties I launched into book reviews taking on the obscure to the popular, posting them on a funky Google blog earning a few bucks a month from clicks. Currently, I’m in the process of writing a memoir.