Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek created Watkins Family Hour over a decade ago to introduce new material and explore classic folk tunes. The side project’s monthly performances at the intimate venue Largo in Los Angeles are spirited variety shows featuring unique collaborations with guest musicians. The Watkins siblings finally recreated that musical magic in the studio with regular playmates Fiona Apple, pedal steel and dobro player Greg Leisz, keyboardist Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), bassist Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing) and drummer Don Heffington.

Ukulele superstar Jake Shimabukuro will be previewing selections from Travels, his forthcoming studio album, on his global tour -- which kicks off in August and continues into 2016 with tour dates across the country, as well as the U.K. and Japan.  

New Kingston, the NYC-based, chart-topping reggae band, will embark on an extensive fall tour in support of their new single and music video “Protect Me,” off their #1 Billboard album Kingston City (released earlier this year on Easy Star Records).  “Protect Me,” which features guest vocals from the legendary reggae group The Wailing Souls, is available to stream here: (https://soundcloud.com/easy-star-records/08-protect-me-fe

Check in today, Thursday, September 10th, to the Wall Street Journal Speakeasy for the exclusive video premiere of “New York City“ performed by G. Love and Special Sauce and Lucinda Williams. The video features behind-the-scenes studio footage of G. Love and Lucinda coming together to collaborate on the Lead Belly blues classic. "New York City" will appear on G.

Over the last year, international DJ and music producer STEVE AOKI has been releasing a steady stream of music, remixes and videos as part of his NEON FUTURE I and II double-album.  Now, AOKI is amassing both albums into a special deluxe package. NEON FUTURE ODYSSEY will be released October 2 via Dim Mak/Ultra Music.  Along with the albums, it will include six bonus tracks--collaborations with Headhunterz, Borgore and Marnik, a brand ne

Severn Records announces an October 16 release date for Raise Your Hands!, the first solo recording from former Blind Boys of Alabama guitarist Sam Butler. Produced by Brian Brinkerhoff (Guitar Shorty, Jazz Soul 7), the even-dozen tracks on Raise Your Hands! showcase the splendid talents of Butler, whose guitar work was a staple of The Blind Boys of Alabama for many years.

Gabrielle Papillon is one of those artists whose music is driven by her voice, lyrics and guitar. To call her simply a singer/songwriter would miss the point by leaving out a whole other dimension: the nostalgic distance and fragile aesthetics she brings vocally.

Her upcoming new album The Tempest Of Old captures the pick-up-and-play honesty in Gabrielle’s song writing with each track being beautifully produced alongside a yielding sense of time and place.

Campgrounds at Lockn’ to open first thing Friday morning

Lockn’ attendees are welcome in Lynchburg at: