With Park City Song Summit, organizers have set out to accomplish one thing over the course of September 7-10: redefine the live music experience.

Live performances are a major ingredient of the Song Summit, but this intimate mountain retreat for music lovers orbits around the minute details of the creative process itself—the why and how music comes about, struggles and breakthroughs alike—in an open dialog with the finest songcrafters of our modern age.

Slightly Stoopid and Cloud 9 Adventures announce details for the return of Closer to the Sun, their fan-favorite winter concert vacation. The annual event takes over Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya, an all-inclusive resort on the coast of Mexico, for four days and nights from December 8-12, 2022.

Fifty years ago, Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson wrote in his journal that he wanted to form a band to bring the roots of American pop music into the present. It seemed like an ambitious goal for a 19-year-old, yet Benson has done exactly that – traversing the globe as an ambassador of Western swing music and introducing its irresistible sound to generation after generation. Although the lineup has changed countless times since its inception, Benson’s mission has never wavered.

San Jose Jazz announces today the SJZ New Works Fest 2022 featuring World Premieres of commissioned works from nine standout SF Bay Area artist grantees of the SJZ Jazz Aid Fund. In March 2022, San Jose Jazz provided a new round of funding in the form of $27,000 in individual grants ($1,000/artist) to 27 local musicians. The SJZ Jazz Aid Fund initiative helps to offset the tremendous financial hardships the SF Bay Area arts community has faced due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Deep-rooted fans who discovered Rodrigo y Gabriela through their 2006 self-titled breakout album have long recognized the Mexicans’ mastery of their instruments.

It’s 11am one morning in June 2021, and the musicians who compose visionary garage/psych/prog/electronic/metal/ambient/dream-pop/other-genres-not-yet-invented six-piece King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are plugging in their instruments, checking the microphones, setting the tapes rolling and beginning to jam. It’s a sacred process, one they’ve repeated countless times before in the dozen years since they formed.

Orange Blossom Revue has announced the lineup for its eighth annual event taking place Friday and Saturday, December 2-3, 2022 at Lake Wailes Park in central Florida. This year, fans can look forward to a second helping of folk/Americana luminaries The Wood Brothers, who are returning as co-curators of the 2022 event.

Singer songwriter Jackson Browne will perform a special benefit concert with his band for the new Kingdom County Productions (KCP) film, “Lost Nation,” on Monday, July 11 at the Flynn Center for the Arts in Burlington, VT.  Showtime is 7:30pm. Tickets are on sale this Friday, April 22 at 10 AM local time at the Flynn Center box office (https://www.flynnvt.org/Events). For more information visit www.jacksonbrowne.com.
 

Acclaimed American rock band Blackberry Smoke’s new covers EP, Stoned, is out now—stream/purchase HERE.

The latest unique news headline out of the music community is that the co-founder of a nationally-touring, genre busting bluegrass act delivers his first solo recording in the style of surf rock. Dave Bruzza, known for two decades of work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriting of Greensky Bluegrass, today offers up Heart of Santa Cruz in the form of a 45 rpm on vinyl.