The 2025 Lowell Folk Festival officially kicks off on Friday July 25th at 6:15pm with Dynasty Productions from nearby Lawrence, MA, leading a Trinidadian Carnival Parade through the streets of Lowell, culminating at Boarding House Park with the Parade of Flags representing the wide range of cultures found in the Merrimack Valley.

Highbridge Hills is truly sacred ground for disc golfers across the Midwest. Tucked away in the rolling forests of northern Wisconsin, it’s a place that whispers magic on any given day. Add three days of live music, perfect weather, and a crowd of disc lovers itching to dance after a round, and it becomes something else entirely.

I do not typically attend music festivals two years in a row. As a journalist who reviews festivals, I usually choose different ones each season, circling back only every few years to see how promoters have improved things. Yet over the Fourth of July weekend, I found myself once again at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park for the Grassfire Festival—barely a year since my last visit.

Nashville artist Levi Foster has released the music video for “We Made Fire” today, watch HERE, ahead of the song release on July 18, pre-save HERE.  The romantic song features Foster’s emotive vocals, which tells a tale of young love, set to acoustic guitar, keys, and mandolin.

San Diego-based musical outfit Slightly Stoopid releases “The Upside Down,” a collaboration with legendary MCs B-Real (Cypress Hill) and Chali 2na (Jurassic 5, Ozomatli). A funky reflection on the power of love in turbulent times, the track has already become a fan favorite during the band’s high-energy live shows.

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Songwriters Hall of Famer and several-time GRAMMY nominee John Oates releases his smooth, soulful new single, “Real Thing Going On.” The song is the second offering from Oates’ highly anticipated solo album, Oates, due out August 29. Spotlighting Oates’ iconic guitar-driven sound, "Real Thing Going On" is layered with catchy melodies that recall the classic groove-oriented R&B and pop he famously pioneered in the 1970s and '80s.

New Orleans never sleeps, but even the Crescent City does a double‑take when Roland Guerin suddenly shows up onstage. The globetrotting bassist, singer‑songwriter, and producer has just landed from Switzerland and will slip into George Porter Jr.’s storied Monday night slot at the Maple Leaf Bar on July 21. It’s a rare hometown sighting for the man whose bass lines have powered Dr. John’s tours (as music director) and anchored Allen Toussaint’s later concerts, and it promises to be one of the heaviest grooves of the summer.

Acclaimed California rock band Dawes have shared “When My Time Comes (From the Nothing Is Wrong Sessions),” a previously unheard version of the longtime fan favorite available at all streaming services now in conjunction with its featured placement in the season finale of the acclaimed sports comedy series, Stick, premiering Wednesday, July 23 on Apple TV+. 

Dallas Burrow is excited to announce the release of his new single, "Read 'Em And Weep", featuring Ray Wylie Hubbard. The track is off his forthcoming release, The Way The West Was Won, due September 26th via Forty Below Records. Pre-Save the album here.

Folk group Lo & the High Road invite listeners into a twilight world of myth, music, and magical ambiguity with their new single “Lanterns in the Mist,” out now. Weaving together Celtic instrumentation and modern folk storytelling, the track continues the ensemble’s tradition of grounding fantasy in emotional truth, set to a soundscape of bouzouki, bodhrán, fiddle, and harmonized vocals that feel like they’ve wandered out of the fog between dreams and daybreak.