Dark Shadow Recording (DSR) heads into the 2025 International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) voting season with its most formidable showing to date, fielding contenders in virtually every major category. From marquee vocal honors to instrumental virtuosity and album-of-the-year consideration, the DSR roster underscores the label’s reputation for pairing forward-thinking artistry with deep bluegrass roots.

Becky Buller & The Becky Buller Band

    Female Vocalist of the Year – Becky Buller

Mountain Home Music Company and its sister imprint Organic Records have once again demonstrated their depth and diversity, fielding an impressive slate of recordings for consideration on this year’s first-round ballots. From hard-driving instrumentals and soaring bluegrass anthems to heartfelt gospel offerings, the labels’ roster underscores their shared commitment to delivering the very best in contemporary roots music.

Independent folk-rock innovator Jefferson Berry and his ensemble The Urban Acoustic Coalition (UAC) today release Born Into A Blizzard, a daring new album that blends heartfelt storytelling with intricate acoustic and jazz-rock arrangements. American Blues Scene raves, “the album is a delight for those who like songs that tell a good story,” and John Kereiff of The Rock Doctor encourages listeners to “bask in its awesomeness.”

Kupferberg Center for the Arts proudly presents Chucho Valdés: Irakere 50, a powerful tribute to the legendary Cuban ensemble that transformed Afro-Cuban jazz. Taking place on Thursday, May 8 at 8 PM at Colden Auditorium, this special performance celebrates the 50th anniversary of Irakere, the groundbreaking band led by Chucho Valdés, a visionary pianist, composer, and arranger who was recently named NEA Jazz Master 2025 by the National Endowment for the Arts.

flipturn will continue to bring their "shimmery and catchy" (NPR Music) new album Burnout Days (out now via Dualtone Records) across North America this summer, with a slate of new tour dates just-announced through August. Stops include their first Burnout Days shows in Atlanta, Portland, Cleveland, Sacramento, Tuscon, Madison and more, along with main stage festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza and Outside Lands.

Independent American rock band The Vegabonds’ new song, “Where Do You Have To Be Tomorrow,” is out now. Listen/share HERE.

Keyboardist Beau Cooper shares, “I wrote this song during COVID when I was desperate for adventure. ‘Where Do You Have To Be Tomorrow’ is a subtle way of asking someone if they’re down to stay up all night and see where the night goes.”

Rising American folk singer, songwriter and musician Ken Pomeroy’s new song, “Flannel Cowboy,” is out today. Listen/share HERE.

Reflecting on the track, Pomeroy shares, “I wrote ‘Flannel Cowboy’ while on a trip across country with my stepmom Wendy. Started it in Oklahoma, wrote parts of it on the way to Montana, and finished it in Parma, ID. This song sounds like a love song but actually tells of the hardships that come when feelings are one sided.”

Widely regarded as one of the foremost songwriters of her generation—or any other—Suzanne Vega is debuting the new song “Chambermaid” from her forthcoming record, Flying With Angels. Stream/share the track HERE.

Speaking about “Chambermaid,” Vega notes, “In my adaptation of Bob Dylan’s ‘I Want You,’ I imagine what the character of the chambermaid would say about her own aspirations and her relationship with the great man himself.”

Jim Kweskin, the octogenarian icon of jug band, jazz, blues and folk music, returns today with Doing Things Right, a vibrant 14-track revue released on Jalopy Records.

Through a recently announced partnership with Strata-East Records, Mack Avenue Music Group releases audiophile quality reissues of Charles Tolliver & Music Inc.’s Live at Slugs’, Volume I & II, and Stanley Cowell’s Musa: Ancestral Streams, and Charlie Rouse’s Two Is One. The three albums are available today on 180-gram vinyl, CD and digital platforms.