Dan Lebowitz

Midnight North singer Elliott Peck brought some of her friends to Mill Valley’s Sweetwater Music Hall on Friday, Dec. 8, for a delightful and powerful headlining gig that showcased her brilliant voice and distinctive songwriting chops. The Sweetwater was packed with veterans of Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads scene as well as other music lovers who have grown to appreciate Peck as one of the Bay Area’s finest performers.

Supporting the adage, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” thousands of like-minded Sound Summit guests elevated their summer’s end on September 9 by navigating to the top of Mt. Tamalpais via the steep, switchback-filled Panoramic Highway to be greeted by a stone-terraced amphitheater with breathtaking views, brilliant sunshine, and a compelling mix of five engaging indie rock/Americana/folk performances.

San Francisco, CA's ALO returned to New York City for the first time in three years, per guitarist Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz, and entertained multiple sit-ins at the iconic Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn, NY. The special guests included bassist Reed Mathis, guitarist Daniel Donato and the opening band, the Honey Island Swamp Band.

San Francisco Bay Area-based ALO delivered two sets of their infectious brand of songs and jamming on August 6, but the news-headline of the day was the inaugural performance by Jay Lane & The Mayhem. Fresh off tour with Dead and Company, drummer Lane’s Mayhem trio presented a lively, improvisational, and supremely interesting hourlong 3 p.m. set that included material by Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Lennon, Lane himself, and even composer John Williams.

“Welcome home, Terrapin Nation,” Phil Lesh proclaimed on July 9 to the large crowd before him on the expansive, lush lawn of McNears Beach Park on the shores of San Pablo Bay in San Rafael, Calif. Lesh, co-founder of the Grateful Dead and now 83, joined the so-called Terrapin All-Stars for the closing set of a first-ever, one-day Sunday Daydream festival, which began in the early morning with an aptly named Turtle Trot that included 5K, 10K, and kids races.

Sound Summit, the intimate annual music festival staged high above San Francisco Bay returns to the slopes of Mount Tam on Saturday, September 9.

ALO kicked off its Tour D’Amour XVI with a dandy of a show in Grass Valley, California, on March 12. The band did perform a quickly assembled house concert on the 11th as their scheduled tour openers on the 10th and 11th at a north shore Lake Tahoe venue were scrapped due to excessive winter weather. The Moore Brothers, Greg and Thom, opened the show.

Spotlighted by a first-set tribute to The Band, including such classics as “Up on Cripple Creek,” “Acadian Driftwood,” “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” and “Don’t Do It,” five renowned San Francisco Bay Area musicians dubbed “Lebo & Friends” got together on January 28 for a swell Saturday night of songs and jamming in Auburn, Calif., in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The event, named Bound to Cover Just a Little More Ground, will speak to the community’s collective resilience and focus to remain steadfast in bringing about positive social change. This spirit has been present in each grant Rex has given out to recognize the inherent value of the powerful work that Rex Foundation has given out since its inception in 1984.

Archived news