The inaugural Sacred Rose Fest is less than 2 weeks away. For the first time ever there will be a weekend full of music as diverse as the Grateful Dead in its current form. Phil Lesh playing with Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy as well as Karl Denson, Stu Allen, Grahame Lesh, Jeff Chimenti, and Elliott Peck all in one headlining slot!?! Khruangbin, JRAD, Umphrey’s McGee, Disco Biscuits, Lotus, Elliott Peck’s Midnight North, Holly Bowling, and the Gone Gone Beyond are kicking it all off?!? The list is exciting and inviting.

The third day of the fourth Skull and Roses Festival saw the biggest crowds ever and record warm temperatures. A strong onshore wind helped mediate temperatures. When the Alligators rotated onstage just after 4 pm, the fairgrounds were packed with music fans. The band was actually created initially as a one-off to perform at the festival. According to promoter Dennis McNally, “The Gators came into being because Chris, the promoter of Skull and Roses, had a problem—and a vision.

It took all of 30 seconds into their show at Boston’s The Sinclair on Wednesday night to see that the members of psychedelic instrumentalist band Circles Around The Sun are incredibly excited for this spring tour. Right off the starting line of the show opening “Saturday’s Children,” Adam MacDougall was flailing jubilantly over his multiple keyboards, dishing out a spectrum of eerie and intriguing wails between synthesizer and piano.

For those of us not on the East coast, Scott Metzger may be known as the guitarist alongside Tom Hamilton from JRAD or as the guy that stepped up to tour with CATS after Neal Casal’s passing.

Circles Around the Sun has announced its first tour in 2022. The band will head out in March and April on a 21-show headline run that cuts clear across the U.S. Beginning March 16 at The Sinclair in Cambridge followed by a handful of additional Northeast dates, they'll then make stops throughout the Midwest including March 19 at Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, March 24 at Turf Club in Minneapolis and March 27 at Park West in Chicago.

It could be argued that the very best art is a reflection of the times—and reflect is exactly Jeremy Garrett, the Infamous Stringdusters’ fiddle player, did when he sat down to write “I Didn’t Know” with legendary bluegrass songsmith Jon Weisberger. “This song was written during the pandemic and just after George Floyd was murdered,” says Garrett.

SKULL & ROSES is a four-day festival exploring unique Interpretations of Grateful Dead music & the community that surrounds it. The festival was postponed in 2020 and is looking forward to its grand return for the 4th - and what is sure to be the best - installment so far at the holy grail of the West Coast Grateful Dead scene, the Ventura County Fairgrounds (California), from April 7-10, 2022.

Today, Marcus King's rendition of Neal Casal's "No One Above You" (listen/share) becomes the sixth single released from Highway Butterfly: The Songs Of Neal Casal, a forthcoming 41-song tribute to the late songwriter and musician who passed away in August 2019.