Friday, September 5th, New American Farmers will perform at Great American Music Hall in celebration of the release of their upcoming long player, The Farmacology Sessions, which will be available on September 5th for concert attendees and officially released on October 14th. The band will be performing tracks from their upcoming release and favorites from their debut, Brand New Day. The new album features guest appearances by Chuck Prophet and Nigel “Twist” Phillips from The Alarm. New American Farmers will share the stage with The Ponies, Luce, Melissa Phillips and James DePrato at their record release show.
New American Farmers is Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto and the duo has been making genre bending music that spans the spectrum of cosmic country, folk, bluegrass and Americana since they began performing as Mars, Arizona in the late 90s. The Farmacology Sessions, their second record as New American Farmers, is a little bit more folk/rock than previous outings, opening up new vocal and musical territory for the duo to explore. “There are more late 60s, early 70s influences,” Knowles says. “It stretches out more, takes some chances, and we had a blast doing it.”
WHO: New American Farmers
WHAT: Live Concert Performance to celebrate the release
of The Farmacology Sessions
WHERE: Great American Music Hall
859 O'Farrell St. San Francisco, CA 94109
WHEN: Friday, September 5th at 8:00 PM PST
TICKETING: http://www.
Anna Vogelzang – the multi-instrumentalist, producer and songstress -- is set to release Driftless on her own Paper Anchor Music. This is the follow up to 2012’s celebrated Canary in a Coal Mine. Amarillo, the first track from the new EP, premiered on BlackBook Magazine’s website on October 17th. Of Vogelzang, Blackbook raves, “every now and again, a folk-pop artist emerges with a universally warming sound that takes over the airwaves and attracts everyone from tweens to full blown adults, using smart and often G-rated lyrics over heartening melodies.”
Click Here to Listen To Amarillo on BlackBook
The six tracks that make up Driftless find Vogelzang moving seamlessly between guitar, ukulele and banjo while her honeyed alto sings of the hopefulness born of change, struggle, addiction, family, and heartbreak. Vogelzang recruited an all-star group of Midwestern musicians to assist her in fully realizing the tracks for this EP. Drummer Shane Leonard of Field Report, vocalist Amanda Rigell of Count This Penny, Ann Arbor bass player Ben Willis, clarinet and saxophonist Cheston VanHuss of PHOX and Milwaukee cellist Patrick Reinholz all added to the lush textures and ethereal atmosphere of Driftless.
Upon the creation of this collection of songs, Vogelzang muses, “this was a nameless project while we were working on it… something that’s never really happened with my albums before; tying together otherwise unrelated songs into a completed thought was a new & fulfilling experience for me. Driftless is the name of a region in the Midwest, including southwestern Wisconsin, that escaped glaciation in the last glacial period. Conceptually, I loved the idea of outrunning the glacier, and - when the word is taken at face value - the idea of unfaltering, unwavering-ness in one’s life. These songs all have a channel of hope running through them, a steadfast undercurrent of believing in the good.”
The EP kicks off with Amarillo, an upbeat but lyrically dark song that Vogelzang describes as “a friend break-up song” and segues into Mercy – a spirited and driving track about family that was written as part of the Real Women, Real Songs project challenging artists to write one song a week for the calendar year of 2014.
Next up is Vanguard, co-written with Amanda Rigell of Count This Penny. The two songwriting friends also wrote this track for the Real Women, Real Songs project. Vogelzang explains, “Amanda already had a completely in-tact chorus that she brought to the table, and together we wrote the verses around it. There are some beautiful lyrical choices that came from tossing words back and forth to each other, which feels like the truest and most fulfilling kind of co-write — words I never would have chosen alone, but words that really bloom within the song and create some gorgeous, heartbreaking images.”
Rounding out the EP are Lion, a cathartic song born out of a frustration with life circumstances, Kay - a slower paced, doo-wop song that finds Vogelzang writing from the perspective of her grandmother, and finishes with the triumphant Why Not. Of the final track, Vogelzang says, “it’s a song about constantly walking in circles, trying to forget the things you can’t hold on to, and feeling lost in your own skin. It’s also about being stuck in those circles, reveling somehow in the negativity. It’s the inner struggle between wanting to pull yourself up out of the din, and just letting yourself sink into it. This was the song that grew the most in the studio. Shane really wove textures into it that allowed it to breathe on its own. As he described it, he wanted the listener to feel like they were diving into a pool at the second verse, and suddenly were underwater.”
Fresh off of a successful SXSW, Anna Vogelzang – the multi-instrumentalist, producer and songstress -- will be performing tracks from her latest release, Driftless, on Friday, April 10th at Viracocha.
Of Vogelzang, Blackbook raves, “every now and again, a folk-pop artist emerges with a universally warming sound that takes over the airwaves and attracts everyone from tweens to full blown adults, using smart and often G-rated lyrics over heartening melodies.”
The six tracks that make up Driftless find Vogelzang
The EP kicks off with Amarillo, an upbeat but lyrically dark song that Vogelzang describes as “a friend break-up song” and segues into Mercy – a spirited and driving track about family that was written as part of the Real Women, Real Songs project challenging artists to write one song a week for the calendar year of 2014.
Next up is Vanguard, co-written with Amanda Rigell of Count This Penny. The two songwriting friends also wrote this track for the Real Women, Real Songs project. Vogelzang explains, “Amanda already had a completely in-tact chorus that she brought to the table, and together we wrote the verses around it. There are some beautiful lyrical choices that came from tossing words back and forth to each other, which feels like the truest and most fulfilling kind of co-write — words I never would have chosen alone, but words that really bloom within the song and create some gorgeous, heartbreaking images.”
Rounding out the EP are Lion, a cathartic song born out of a frustration with life circumstances, Kay - a slower paced, doo-wop song that finds Vogelzang writing from the perspective of her grandmother, and finishes with the triumphant Why Not. Of the final track,Vogelzang says, “it’s a song about constantly walking in circles, trying to forget the things you can’t hold on to, and feeling lost in your own skin. It’s also about being stuck in those circles, reveling somehow in the negativity. It’s the inner struggle between wanting to pull yourself up out of the din, and just letting yourself sink into it. This was the song that grew the most in the studio. Shane really wove textures into it that allowed it to breathe on its own. As he described it, he wanted the listener to feel like they were diving into a pool at the second verse, and suddenly were underwater.”
Anna Vogelzang is currently on tour making stops in Santa Fe, Sedona, Prescott, St. George, LA, SF, Cottage Grove, OR and Long Beach, WA.
--
Who: Anna Vogelzang
What: Live Performance at Viracocha
When: Friday, April 10th at 8 PM
Tickets: $10-$20 - purchase here: http://viracochasf.com/
On her third and most evolved full-length release, In Waves, singer and songstress, Sarah Blacker is fearless. Pushing herself as far out of her comfort zone as possible and enlisting a “guitarmy” of players, on May 19th, Blacker will release her most personal and ambitious recording to date. This album will be available worldwide through her new distribution agreement with The ILS Group via Caroline Music and The Universal Music Group.
Produced by Sean McLaughlin of 37’ Productions (Queensryche, Matchbox Twenty, Dirty Vegas) and Blacker who exclaims, “[In Waves] is far more fearless than anything I've done before. I decided to do all of the things I've always wanted to, and together, Sean and I made no compromises. We employed our favorite musicians, and set out to create something quite current, and with wider appeal that could really stand up and say, hey, this is me, take it or leave it.”
In Waves is quite a departure from Blacker’s previous releases. “I feel a stronger sense of self, and freedom in songwriting. I am unafraid to come right out and say things I've always wanted to, and to share the new life lessons I've acquired between the last album and this one. I really wanted to show a sense of progress and evolution, so that was our main goal. I think personal evolution shouldn't just be for seasons, I think musicians ought to take risks and leaps and prove to themselves that it's possible to fulfill their dreams as an artist and as a person through songwriting and exploring themselves in all avenues artistically.”
The album kicks off with the driving, “Way Like Water,” “a friend told me to get angry, and I was, so I channeled it for this song. I've been told it could've been a '80s Rush song, or a Led Zeppelin tune. That's pretty cool to me,” says Blacker. Next up is the title track, an emotionally resonate tune about the only constant in life: change. “Exhale” is Blacker at her rootsy-est and describes it as a “love song for a good friend. I feel it is one part Gillian Welch and one part Neko Case.”
Rounding out the album are, “Break Out” a rollicking ode to artists often beholden to the whims of the muse, the aching waltz of “Hotel Halls,” a reflection on the loneliness of life on the road and “Oh My God,” of which “part of the chorus was written in a Music Therapy group I was facilitating. I had a really challenging year due to a near fatal car accident, and various other health issues. Once I made it through them, I felt refreshed, renewed, and able to sleep the night again. Definitely grateful to be alive, and for those who helped,” explains Blacker.
For In Waves, Sarah Blacker enlisted a “guitarmy” of players. Including four guitarists (of which Blacker was one) and two drummers -- Elliot Jacobson (Ingrid Michaelson) and Mike Levesque (Seven Mary Three, Juliana Hatfield). Writer Jonah Sacks composed string arrangements for two of the songs. Blacker played mainly all electric guitars -- save for acoustic on three tracks, some ukulele and her first foray into playing piano on one of her own recordings.
Music is embedded in every part of Sarah Blacker’s life. When’s she’s not recording and touring, she is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and a trained board-certified music therapist and has been practicing for close to a decade. Her specialties include adults struggling with depression, bipolar disorder, substance-abuse, dissociative disorders and other psychotic disorders, and works at a renowned Boston-area hospital, as well as with adolescents with Asperger's in a school on the same campus. She practices creative music therapy, founded by Nordoff Robbins, which is based on the concept that everybody has an inner child that can be reached through improvising in structured ways with clinical intention.
This spring and summer, Sarah Blacker will tour nationally in support of In Waves.
Don’t Miss Sarah Blacker Live!
April 24th Plymouth, MA The Spire Center *
May 2nd Portsmouth, NH The Press Room *
May 8th Saratoga Springs, NY Caffe Lena
May 15th Somerville, MA Davis Square Theatre *
May 22nd Burlington, VT The Skinny Pancake *
May 23rd Brandon, VT Brandon Music *
May 28th Stewardstown, PA Pleasant Valley Golf Club *
May 29th Pittsburgh, PA Pittsburgh Winery *
May 30th Chelsea, MI Chelsea Ale House *
June 4th Chelsea, MI Sights & Sounds
June 6th Rock Island, IL Daytrotter Taping
June 6th Chicago, IL The Uncommon Ground on Devon *
June 8th Lawrence, KS Henry’s Upstairs *
June 11th Denver, CO The Walnut Room w/ Kiernan McMullen
June 21st San Francisco, CA Hotel Utah *
June 23rd Los Angeles, CA Room 5 Lounge *
June 28th Austin, TX Strange Brew *
July 2nd Atlanta, GA Smith’s Olde Bar *
July 17th Northampton, MA Northampton Summer Music Series ^
Julu 18th Somerville, MA The Burren +
August 5th Biddleford, ME Biddleford’s Music in The Park
August 8th Plymouth, MA Barn Show (full band)
* Denotes Album Release Show
^ Denotes Show With Jamie Kent
+ Denotes Show In the Round with Jamie Kent and Dave Drouin
Buzzing Vermont psych-pop quintet Madaila will release their sophomore effort “Traces” on November 4th, 2016. The band’s sophomore release comes fresh off of their incredibly successful hometown music festival in Burlington -- Madaila on Main -- and recent dates opening for BØRNS, Head & The Heart, Matisyahu and Big Gigantic. In celebration of the release of “Traces” Madaila will join Twiddle on October 27th at Brooklyn Bowl.
Early praise for the band has been garnered by the likes of Pancakes and Whiskey who cheer, “If you haven’t heard of Madaila yet, that’s about to change in a big way.” Elmore Magazine raves, “Sweeping and orchestral in its unusual, drawn out format, Madaila calls to mind the gentle yearning of Bon Iver, but creates something fleshier, more psychedelic, skirting a line between beckoning you to the sweaty dance floor and begging you to simply tune in and drop out.” Burlington’s weekly newspaper, Seven Days exclaims, [of “Traces”], “you should stop what you're doing right now and listen to it.” PerhapsMusic Box Pete sums it up best, “I'm definitely a passenger on board their musical mothership, and what these guys have going on is truly special, unique, and unlike anything else I've ever heard before.”
Madaila was formed in 2014 by band leader Mark Daly (lead vocals, guitar) and his childhood friend, Eric Maier (vocals, keys) from the ashes of their indie band, Chamberlin. Chamberlin g
Madaila is rounded out by fellow Vermonters Jer Coons (bass, vocals) who produced both of the band’s records alongside Daly and Maier, Dan Ryan (drums) and Willoughby Morse (guitars, synths, vocals). Despite their roles in the live band, each member of Madaila is an accomplished drummer.
On the band, their unique (and fun) outfits and their overall vibe, Eric Maier explains, “This approach ties in with our philosophy of what we want Madaila to be about—creating an environment, even for a short time, where people can unearth a weird, fun part of themselves that normally is kept inside. On a larger level, such an event can be an expression of collaborative activity and joy.”
Madaila has spent the fall of 2016 supporting Earphunk and will celebrate the release of “Traces” at Brooklyn Bowl October 27th opening for Twiddle.
Hailing from Richmond, VA and formed by brothers Andrew and Johnny, The Trongone Band is set to release their debut LP, “Keys To The House” on June 30th via Harmonized Records. Drawing from Funk, Blues, Americana and Southern Rock, the quartet is rounded out by keyboardist Ben "Wolfe" White and award-winning bassist Todd Herrington. The band plans to begin touring this month in support of the album.
Of the album, Johnny Trongone says. “It was one thing to develop and write the songs over the past year as we played them out on the road, but it was a completely different world to take them into the studio, put them under the microscope and really turn them into songs.”
Primed for the festival circuit, the band has graced the stages of Virginia’s Roosterwalk, Tennessee’s Riverbend Music Festival, Florida’s Slide Into Spring Festival, The Allman Brothers’ Peach Festival in Pennsylvania, and West Virginia’s Deep Mountain Roots Revival.
This family affair recording process helped the band grow "so much on a personal and musical level, and listening back and dissecting these tracks helped us learn so much about each other’s playing.”
Don't Miss The Trongone Band on Tour!
May 21st - Dominion Riverrock - Richmond, VA
May 25th - White Squirrel Festival - Brevard, NC
May 26th & 27th - Rooster Walk - Martinsville, VA
June 3rd - The Howling - Abingdon, VA
June 22nd - Martins Downtown - Roanoke, VA
June 23rd - Broadberry - Richmond, VA
June 30th - Gram Parsons Derry Down - Winter Haven, FL w/ Dead 27’s
July 6th - The Whiskey - Wilmington, NC
July 7th - Congress Street Social Club - Savannah, GA
July 8th - Wise Man Brewing Co - Winston Salem, NC
July 13th - Nottoway Nights - Fairfax, VA
July 15th - dogtown roadhouse - Floyd, VA
July 22nd - Rhythm & Brews By The Bay - Kilmarnock, VA
August 17th - Concerts on the Green - Duck, NC
This is a straight ahead Rock & Roll song. There's a little bit of that sense of angst and that sort of "I don't need" attitude which is always a fun lyrical message to deliver in a song. We've been playing this song for about two years in our set and it's become a favorite of our fans. I think our friends and fans will be really excited to finally have a recording of it."
'Andy Zenczak, who produced the album, also created the vision and directed the music video, which is our first non-performance video. I think it's a fun video that shows us in a different light to our fans. With the help of warrior girls, Hayley Alger, Taylor Harrington, Ava Marinos, Ava Poitras, and Lizzie Sepeda, we shot this whole video on one freezing cold day in Hollister, California at Tag Paintball."
Hailing from Richmond, VA and formed by brothers Andrew and Johnny, The Trongone Band is set to release their debut LP, “Keys To The House” on June 30th via Harmonized Records. Drawing from Funk, Blues, Americana and Southern Rock, the quartet is rounded out by keyboardist Ben "Wolfe" White and award-winning bassist Todd Herrington. The band plans to begin touring this month in support of the album.
Of the album, Johnny Trongone says. “It was one thing to develop and write the songs over the past year as we played them out on the road, but it was a completely different world to take them into the studio, put them under the microscope and really turn them into songs.”
Primed for the festival circuit, the band has graced the stages of Virginia’s Roosterwalk, Tennessee’s Riverbend Music Festival, Florida’s Slide Into Spring Festival, The Allman Brothers’ Peach Festival in Pennsylvania, and West Virginia’s Deep Mountain Roots Revival.
This family affair recording process helped the band grow "so much on a personal and musical level, and listening back and dissecting these tracks helped us learn so much about each other’s playing.”
Don't Miss The Trongone Band on Tour!
June 30th - Gram Parsons Derry Down - Winter Haven, FL w/ Dead 27’s
July 6th - The Whiskey - Wilmington, NC
July 7th - Congress Street Social Club - Savannah, GA
July 8th - Wise Man Brewing Co - Winston Salem, NC
July 13th - Nottoway Nights - Fairfax, VA
July 15th - dogtown roadhouse - Floyd, VA
July 22nd - Rhythm & Brews By The Bay - Kilmarnock, VA
August 17th - Concerts on the Green - Duck, NC
Benyaro -- the indie roots project of seclusive Jackson Hole, WY musician who's worked with such artists as Gary Clarke Jr., Brett Dennen and Shovels & Rope -- announces the release of his third original full-length album, One Step Ahead of Your Past. The LP was co-produced with Danny Kadar (The Avett Brothers, My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses) and recorded at the legendary Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, NC and Ben Musser’s home studio in Wyoming.
Multi-instrumentalist Musser composed the thirteen punk-Americana tracks that comprise the record and for the first time, his longtime tour mate, upright bassist Leif Routman, joins on the recording. Additional guest musicians include Jacob Rodriguez (Michael Bublé) on tenor and baritone saxophone, and NYC's Brian Geltner (Johnny Society) on drums. On One Step Ahead of Your Past, Benyaro takes the emotional roller coaster of life's highs and lows and weaves these experiences into songs that speak cutting truths about life.
Don’t Miss Benyaro on Tour This Fall!
Thursday, September 21 - Boise, ID - The Reef
Friday, September 22 - Walla Walla, WA - Sapolil Cellars
Saturday, September 23 - Astoria, OR - Voodoo Room
Sunday, September 24 - Astoria, OR - Pacific Brew Cup
Wednesday, September 27 - Bellingham, WA - Green Frog Tavern
Thursday, September 28 - Seattle, WA - Conor Byrne
Friday, September 29 – Raymond, WA - Pitchwood
Saturday, September 30 - Portland, OR - White Eagle Saloon
Sunday, October 1 - Bend, OR - Volcanic Theatre Pub
Tuesday, October 3 - Eugene, OR - Sam Bond’s Brewing
Wednesday, October 4 - Arcata, CA - Arcata Playhouse
Friday, October 27 - Chattanooga, TN - Clyde’s on Main
Friday, November 3 - Charleston, SC - Home Team BBQ Downtown
Saturday, November 4 - Asheville, NC - ISIS Lounge
Thursday, November 9 - Washington, DC - Vinyl Lounge @ Gypsy Sally's
Friday, November 10 - New York, NY - Bowery Electric
Don’t Miss Benyaro on Tour This Fall!
Thursday, September 21 - Boise, ID - The Reef
Friday, September 22 - Walla Walla, WA - Sapolil Cellars
Saturday, September 23 - Astoria, OR - Voodoo Room
Sunday, September 24 - Astoria, OR - Pacific Brew Cup
Wednesday, September 27 - Bellingham, WA - Green Frog Tavern
Thursday, September 28 - Seattle, WA - Conor Byrne
Friday, September 29 – Raymond, WA - Pitchwood
Saturday, September 30 - Portland, OR - White Eagle Saloon
Sunday, October 1 - Bend, OR - Volcanic Theatre Pub
Tuesday, October 3 - Eugene, OR - Sam Bond’s Brewing
Wednesday, October 4 - Arcata, CA - Arcata Playhouse
Friday, October 27 - Chattanooga, TN - Clyde’s on Main
Friday, November 3 - Charleston, SC - Home Team BBQ Downtown
Saturday, November 4 - Asheville, NC - ISIS Lounge
Thursday, November 9 - Washington, DC - Vinyl Lounge @ Gypsy Sally's
Friday, November 10 - New York, NY - Bowery Electric
Chris Combs, guitarist, composer and member of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, offers his debut solo album, Combsy. Based out of Tulsa, OK, Combs has written, arranged and produced the album in its entirety.
With influences like Charles Mingus, Madlib, George Harrison, James Blake, J Dilla, Radiohead, Marc Ribot, Combsyis a lush, groove-heavy album that under the careful watch of Combs shows a tremendous amount of emotional depth and maturity as an artist. Combsy may be a debut, but there’s nothing amateur about it. Combs deftly sources jazz, hip-hop, electronic and rock genres in creating a sonic landscape that is all his own.
Combsy layers horns and rhythm instruments in a rich, nuanced fashion that allows space for Combs’ guitar work. At times, the bandleader and architect of this project uses his playing to give direction or cues for change, while at others, he takes the opportunity of the space created to spread out and explore. Although far from careful, Combsy comes to the ear as curated and intentional and with a healthy sense of both the history and future of the genre.
Primarily tracked in October 2016, the core tracks were recorded live as a trio to 2" tape at Fellowship Hall in Little Rock, AR with Aaron Boehler (bass) and Andrew Bones on (drums, vibraphone).
Combs then took those recordings on a swampy journey to New Orleans where horns were added. At Marigny Studio, Combs added Brad Walker (tenor sax, Sturgill Simpson), Dan Oestreicher (bass and bari sax, Trombone Shorty), Carly Meyers (trombone, Roar). With all components in place, Combs finished the project in his home studio.
Combsy will be released on Horton Records in the fall of 2017.
Do Not Miss Combsy On Tour This Fall
Oct 13 - Fassler Hall - Tulsa, OK*
Oct 14 - The Deli - Norman, OK*
Oct 15 - Guthrie Green - Tulsa, OK*
Oct 20 - Mag's - New Orleans*
Oct 21 – Marigny Studios (Live Album Recording) – New Orleans, LA
Oct 23 - Instant Opus at Hi Ho - New Orleans
Oct 27 - Private Party
Oct 28 – Saints – Oklahoma City, OK +
Nov 3 - Zinco - Mexico City, MX^
Nov 4 - Jazzatlan - Cholula, MX^
Nov 11 - Cains Ballroom - Tulsa, OK
Nov 13 - 20 west coast
Nov 16 – The Ship – Kansas City, MO
Nov 25 – Frank & Lola’s – Bartlesville, OK
* with Brian Haas Love Amalgam ft AnnIe Ellicott
^ with Todd Clouser
+ with Culture Cinematic
Chris Combs, guitarist, composer and member of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, offers his debut solo album, Combsy. Based out of Tulsa, OK, Combs has written, arranged and produced the album in its entirety.
With influences like Charles Mingus, Madlib, George Harrison, James Blake, J Dilla, Radiohead, Marc Ribot, Combsyis a lush, groove-heavy album that under the careful watch of Combs shows a tremendous amount of emotional depth and maturity as an artist. Combsy may be a debut, but there’s nothing amateur about it. Combs deftly sources jazz, hip-hop, electronic and rock genres in creating a sonic landscape that is all his own.
Combsy layers horns and rhythm instruments in a rich, nuanced fashion that allows space for Combs’ guitar work. At times, the bandleader and architect of this project uses his playing to give direction or cues for change, while at others, he takes the opportunity of the space created to spread out and explore. Although far from careful, Combsy comes to the ear as curated and intentional and with a healthy sense of both the history and future of the genre.
We've all been there... that special balance when we are in the zone. Can't miss a shot, or say the wrong thing. In the sauce, but not drowning in it. Perfect amount. That place in space-time where everything is aligned and nothing can go wrong. Shooting pool on an alien spaceship, against aliens, and winning. With a space lounge piano player in the background smiling, Grateful Web is thrilled to premiere “Rare Form” from Brooklyn’s Space/Funk/Dance/Jam collective, Escaper off of their upcoming sophomore release, Edge Detection (Ropeadope Records.)
Listen to “Rare Form” here:
As Escaper's Will Hanza explains, "We were playing our very first show. It was at BRYAC in Black Rock, CT. It had been a fine show, but suddenly there was a swell of people in the room, coming from another show and looking to keep the dance party going. Only... we had run out of songs! Again, first show and this was late in our 2nd set... ! I turn to Jay (bass) and say, 'let's get the dance up, variation on that jam we call "Gold" but more upbeat and shakin'' Whatever that pulled out Jay certainly worked as the dance party was on in that room. We played the groove for a while and the riff just came out of the air. Johnny (sax) and I were right on it. Initially, we called it "BRYAC song", but it turned into "Rare Form" and became a song we almost always play... Bottom line, the vibe of the crowd helped write that song. We didn't just come up with it in the studio, it was straight out of the sauce. Inspired by how the whole room felt. A song born out of that is extra special. It's something we always try to do with our live shows, make sure to not just play at people, but with them."
Escaper will be performing at Brooklyn Bowl this Thursday (Feb 22, 7:30pm) opening for Electric Beethoven. Other dates on the Edge Detection tour include:
2/22 • Brooklyn, NY • Brooklyn Bowl**
2/24 • Syracuse, NY • Funk n Waffles
2/25 • Lancaster, PA • Tellus360**
3/02 • Philadelphia, PA • The Grape Room
3/03 • Scranton, PA • Backyard Ale House
** supporting Electric Beethoven
Escaper has also announced that they will be in the festival line-ups of Rock n Roll Resort, Elements:Lakewood and DiscJam this summer.
Combsy – the solo project of Chris Combs, guitarist of Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey – will hit the road this May and June in support of their self-titled debut LP (Horton Records) which was released in late 2017. The band won’t stray too far from their hometown of Tulsa with shows in Nashville, Little Rock, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Montrose CO, Denver and Santa Fe. The New Orleans shows will feature Dan Oestreicher (sax) from Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave and drummer Josh Raymer from Reed Mathis & Electric Beethoven and JFJO will be the featured player during the Colorado dates.
And the press raves!
“4 out of 5 Stars” – All About Jazz
“It’s strongly recommended for those who like the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, but this fuller impression of Combs’ offbeat musical personality is a treat all unto itself.” – Something Else Reviews
"The album is a multifaceted creation, with lovely soothing melodies punctuated by alien electronic noise and free jazz-like freakout solos, with acoustic and electronic horns serving often as the primary voices and Combs’ guitar providing subtle colorings and textures, all densely layered into nine compelling tracks.” – Tulsa World
Don’t Miss Combsy on Tour This Spring!
5/18 - Fassler Hall - Tulsa, OK
5/19 - Four Quarter - Little Rock, AR
5/21 - SideBar w/ Dan Oestreicher & Simon Lott - New Orleans, LA
5/22 - HiHo Lounge w/ Doombalaya - New Orleans, LA
5/28 - VZD's - Oklahoma City, OK
6/6 - Intrinzik - Montrose, CO
6/7 - Mile High Spirits w/ Paa Kow - Denver, CO
6/9 - Ophelia's w/ Dandu - Denver, CO
6/15 - Taos Mesa Brewing - Taos, NM
6/16 - Rufina's Tap Room - Santa Fe, NM
The Soft White Sixties unveil their latest single ‘The Overpass’ and announce their new bilingual LP, Alta California, due for release August 10th on CHAR+COAL.
‘The Overpass’ is a heavy dose of 1970s glam-funk, reminiscent of a time when artists like David Bowie, Rod Stewart and Funkadelic were blurring the lines between rock ‘n’ roll and RnB. Singer Octavio Genera leads a call-to-action chorus of “Let’s get weird / let’s get high”, propelled by a sleazy bass line and rock-solid groove. The Overpass itself is one of Los Angeles’s most notorious after hours clubs with a location that constantly changes. It’s the kind of you-gotta-know-somebody-who-knows-somebody speakeasy where eccentrics are assembled here from all across the city…taking all the drugs / drinking all the wine / crossing over every line.
Genera elaborates, “it's a place that feels like time stops and no one ever gets tired. When you don't want to go home, you find a place where no one else does either.”
Over the course of several sessions that began on Election Night 2016, Alta California was written and recorded at New Monkey Studio, a room formerly owned by Elliott Smith. Produced by Elijah Thomson (Father John Misty, Delta Spirit, Richard Swift), Alta California finds the Los Angeles band expanding upon their contemporary concoction of rock ‘n’ roll and soul while also exploring some of their most relevant lyrical content to date (in English and Spanish).
Genera — a first generation Mexican-American who grew up in a bilingual Spanish/English family – always wondered what it would be like to sing in Spanish, it just didn’t occur to him to try it professionally, and he wasn’t sure there was space for it within the band. “Speaking and singing in a language are two different things,” says Genera. “There was a feeling of joy and passion when I sang these songs in Spanish that I wasn’t expecting. And then hearing the songs back — it was right.”
The sweaty, gyrating energy of their live show has garnered praise from Rolling Stone, Paste Magazine, and LA Weekly over the years and landed them on club and festival bills like Outside Lands, BottleRock, and SXSW, sharing the stage with the likes of The Hives, Rival Sons, The Flaming Lips, and Paul McCartney. But this time around, it all glimmers with a subtle lysergic sheen, thanks in part to Thomson’s influence. “Eli was a big proponent of making the studio feel like 2am on a Saturday night at all hours of the day,” multi-instrumentalist Aaron Eisenberg explains. “Certain songs called for certain states of mind and sobriety generally didn’t factor into the equation.”
The band felt it would be irresponsible to develop lyrical content that ignored the inescapable global climate developing literally while the tape was rolling. New territory was explored, as observations on the despair of the American Dream ('Reaganomixxx'), immigration ('Brick by Brick'), gentrification ('I Still Love You, San Francisco'), paradigm shifts ('Teen Wolves'), generational and ideological gaps and what happens when one generation begins to the feel the inevitable changing of the guard crept its way onto the record.
Packed with deep, thunderous grooves from the rhythm section of Joey Bustos and Ryan Noble, squealing fuzz guitars and roaring analog synths courtesy of multi-instrumentalists Aaron Eisenberg and Rob Fidel, and the signature soulful rasp of lead vocalist Octavio Genera, Alta California is an honest snapshot of a modern rock band in their prime.
The Soft White Sixties will embark upon a west coast tour this fall in celebration of Alta California.
ALTA CALIFORNIA
1. Teen Wolves
2. The Overpass
3. I Still Love You, San Francisco
4. Brick by Brick
5. The Candy Store
6. No 1 Like U BB
7. Number One
8. Reaganomixxx
9. Until The World Stops Spinning
Don’t Miss The Soft White Sixties on Tour
8/4 - Huntington Beach, CA - US Open of Surfing – main stage
8/11 - Los Angeles, CA - Bootleg Theater / Album release show
9/14 - Phoenix, AX - Crescent Ballroom
9/15 - Costa Mesa, CA - The Wayfarer
9/16 - San Luis Obispo, CA - SLO Brew
9/18 – Fresno, CA - Fulton 55
9/19 - Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley
9/20 - Sacramento, CA - TBA
9/21 - Reno, NV - Loving Cup
9/22 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
9/24 - Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
9/25 - Bend, OR - Volcanic Theater
9/26 - Portland, OR - Star Theater
9/28 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
Ivan Neville of New Orleans’ first family of funk and Cris Jacobs, the soulful Baltimore-bred bandleader and songwriter, have joined forces to collaborate on their first full length, self-titled, nine song album. Neville Jacobs will release their debut on September 28th via Harmonized Records.
This unlikely duo came together in the most unlikely of ways. One day during the great celebration and intermingling of music and culture known as New Orleans Jazz Fest, Ivan Neville and Cris Jacobs found themselves killing time between gigs, seated next to each other at a poker table.
As Jacobs tells it, “I was killing some time one day during my first ever Jazzfest and I sat down to play some poker in Harrah's casino. Coincidentally, there was an empty seat next to me and in walked Ivan and sat down. We recognized each other from having crossed paths with our bands, Dumpstaphunk and The Bridge, but had never really met. We played poker for a few hours and chatted a bunch and left with a casual ‘let's make some music together sometime’ agreement.”
About a year and a half later, when the stars finally aligned (with the help of mutual friend, Joe Michaels), Jacobs and Neville got together for a few songwriting sessions in Baltimore.
“In our initial writing sessions in Baltimore, we each had a few songs and snippets of songs in our back pocket and we took a bunch of time to just start from scratch with Ivan at a piano and me sitting next to him with a guitar. We pressed record and just kept it rolling while we just tossed around ideas until something stuck. Then we went back and picked the ones that we felt had promise to develop,” Jacobs explains.
“For a song like "River Behind Me", Ivan knew right away that he wanted to take this particular idea and write a song about his mother. So, we both collaborated on the lyrics until we finished it. For others, I went home and took some of the raw melodies without lyrics that that Ivan was singing while we were just messing around and put some lyrics to them. It was truly an organic and collaborative process. When we finally had some solid tunes together, we added a few that we already each had, and went down to Blade Studios in Shreveport, LA, to make the record.”
To round out their sound, the duo tapped Tony Hall to play bass (who Ivan has played with throughout his career) and Brady Blade for the drums. Hall and Blade played together as the rhythm section for Emmylou Harris, Dave Matthews, Jewel and several others over the years. Both musicians are extremely versatile, funky, and soulful - a perfect fit for the music of Neville Jacobs. During the sessions, Cris and Ivan invited Shreveport based singer and violinist, Theresa Andersson, to add some of her flavor to a few of the songs. And Ivan’s father, Aaron, lends his vocal to “Makeup Of A Fool.”
The undeniable synergy between Ivan and Cris created a fresh and timeless sound for their debut - equal parts soulful, funky, sweet, and dirty. This batch of well-crafted songs feature their two distinct voices and grooves complementing the other perfectly. This first chapter of Neville Jacobs is the beginning of what is sure to be a long lasting and fruitful collaboration between two truly unique talents.
“I’m really looking forward to this music being available to everyone,” Ivan says. “As we had such an amazing time putting this together. Cris and I, along with Brady Blade and Tony Hall put our hearts and souls into this project. And add to that the contributions of the extremely talented Theresa Anderson and guest appearance by my dad, Aaron Neville makes for one special piece of music.”
On May 17th Perpetual Groove will release their first new album since 2009, which is self-titled on Harmonized Records. In addition to a North American tour in support of the LP, the band is resurrecting its popular Talking in Place message board on their revamped website, PGroove.net. The first single, “Upswing,’ was released today along with an accompanying video, a new venture for the veteran outfit” – Relix.
Upswing is the first single off the self-titled Perpetual Groove album. After keeping fans waiting for nearly a decade, Perpetual Groove is back with a vengeance and a juggernaut of a new album. From the chest-pounding opening notes, there’s a familiar, yet fully-realized sound that fans will find completely new and exciting. The entire album can be summed up in the first verse of Upswing, "No more norms which to rely on", showcasing a band that’s at the top of their game and ready to take their message to the masses.
In the tumultuous decade that followed the release of their last full-length album (including a two year performance hiatus), Perpetual Groove recruited producers Jason Kingsland and Tim Friesen to help redefine and fully realize the sound for their much anticipated new album.
Hunkering down for all of 2018 in recording studios, The Fidelitorium in Kernersville, NC and Studio MG in Roswell, the band decided to forego the usual road test for new material. The Athens-based collective emerged this year with seven songs that represent all that life brings. The inimitable lyrical style of Brock Butler and Adam Perry focuses on loss, redemption, and hope which is balanced with a sonically cerebral and emotional undertow.
Lyricist and guitarist Brock Butler offers, “Each album we’ve made over the years offers a look into the moments of their respective eras. In comparison to our previous albums, this one was created over a longer period of time. In my experience, the difference of how I hear or feel a particular song today, versus when I revisit it sometime later, can be a considerable one. I feel we’ve sonically and lyrically captured this feeling. Our lyrics tell the stories of our lives--the joys and the sorrows, the lives and the deaths, the creations and the losses that have made us Perpetual Groove are reflected in each of these songs. In each one, the music supports the lyrics and helps to tell the stories we wanted to share with each of you.”
Lyricist and bassist Adam Perry adds, “After the breakup of PGroove, I was delighted that we reunited. This album is fresh, exciting and truly reflects who we are now and is the platform for our future growth as a band.”
Perpetual Groove caught everyone by surprise in 2015 when they returned to the stage after a two-year hiatus. The band performed eight weekends that year, over multi-night runs, to sold-out shows in some of their favorite cities across the country, thus ringing in a new chapter and inspiring a new album. The four members of PGroove worked tirelessly with producers Kingsland and Friesen to refocus their energy and take the time to meticulously craft music that stays true to their collective vision. This is a band that is fully realized and ready to bring their new sound, storytelling, and live experience to the masses.
Don’t Miss Perpetual Groove On Tour This Year:
April 17 Tuscaloosa, AL Druid City Music Hall
April 18 Knoxville, TN The Concourse
April 20 Franklin, NC Springtopia
April 24 Indianapolis, IN Hi-Fi
April 25 Cincinnati, OH Riverfront Live
April 26 Ann Arbor, MI The Blind Pig
April 27 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge
July 12 Wilmington, NC Greenfield Ampitheatre
August 24 Richmond, VA The National
Sept 20 & 21 Savannah, GA Victory North
September 27 Virginia Beach, VA The Norva
October 4 Charlotte, NC Neighborhood Theater
October 5 Raleigh, NC Lincoln Theatre
October 9 Philadelphia, PA The Foundry
October 11 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
October 12 New York, NY Gramercy Theatre
October 18 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall
October 19 Burlington, VT Higher Ground
October 25 Nashville, TN The Basement
October 26 Huntsville, AL The Mercantile
October 31 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre
November 1&2 Charleston, SC The Pourhouse
November 8 & 9 Denver, CO The Summit
November 22 Birmingham, AL Saturn
November 23 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
MORE DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON!
After selling out all four nights of performances at three independent venues last year, Philly Music Fest—the city's only music festival to feature exclusively local bands—will return for its third year September 25-28, 2019, featuring headliners Man Man, Vacationer, Speedy Ortiz, and Ceramic Animal.
The festival kicks off at Milkboy on September 25, then continues at Johnny Brenda’s on September 26 and at World Cafe Live on September 27 and 28, with performances on both stages. Philly Music Fest is a nonprofit organization that donates proceeds to local music education charities. This year’s festival features nearly two dozen Philadelphia artists from a range of genres, including rock, hip hop, jazz, punk, and bluegrass. See the complete lineup below.
“Building on last year's success, we're excited to continue to grow the community and reach of Philly Music Fest,” said festival founder and curator Greg Seltzer. “In keeping with our core mission—to assist and promote local musicians and to benefit music education programs—our goal for 2019 is to exceed the $25,000 donated to charities last year.”
The festival will again feature a Tech Tour, and this year will debut InSide Hustle, an informational panel about the city’s music scene. On the afternoon of September 27, Tech Tour brings music performances into the offices of local tech firms and features panel discussions on business and technology, women empowerment, and entrepreneurship. The following afternoon, InSide Hustle will explore Philadelphia’s thriving music industry. With the support of WXPN, InSide Hustle will feature speakers from local recording studios, record labels, venues, radio stations, media, and management agencies. The goal is to bring together the disparate parts of Philadelphia’s music scene in order to build community and help emerging bands and budding music professionals. Admission to both Tech Tour and InSide Hustle is free.
“We’re hoping the panel discussions raise awareness of Philly’s music industry and help support Philly’s music and startup economies. Of course, the byproduct of Philly Music Fest is four days of incredible music,” Seltzer said.
The Philadelphia region has a notorious craft brewing culture, both established and emerging. As with music, Philly Music Fest will feature ONLY local craft breweries. Some of our premiere local craft breweries will take over all 20 taps at World Cafe Live’s three bars. Across all three venues of Philly Music Fest, they will strive to pour only local beer.
When not running Philly Music Fest, Greg Seltzer is a partner at Ballard Spahr, where he divides his practice between merger-and-acquisition transactions and work involving emerging companies and venture capital. Seltzer co-founded and leads the firm's widely recognized pro bono accelerator program for student startups, Ballard Academy for Student Entrepreneurs (BASE).
About Philly Music Fest:
The Philadelphia Music & Arts Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization – founded, produced, and curated by Greg Seltzer. Its mission is to support Philadelphia's local music and arts ecosystem—comprised of local musicians, independent performance venues, artists, brewers and distillers—and to share music and art with Philadelphia's children by donating the proceeds of Philly Music Fest to local music education programs. In 2017, the festival raised approximately $15,000 for various music education programs, including Settlement Music School, Rock to the Future, Musicopia, Live Connections and Play On Philly. In 2018, the festival donated $25,000.
2019 Philly Music Fest Lineup (in alphabetical order):
Ali Awan
Arnetta Johnson
Ceramic Animal
Chestnut Grove
Foxtrot and the Get Down
ILL DOOTS
iLL Fated Natives
Jeremiah Tall
Man Man
RFA
Remember Sports
Restorations
Rosali
Sammus
Secret American
Sixteen Jackies
Speedy Ortiz
Spirit of the Beehive
Sun Ra Arkestra
Tate
Thin Lips
Vacationer
2019 Philly Music Fest Craft Breweries and Distilleries will include
(in alphabetical order):
Conshohocken Brewing Company
Crowded Castle Brewing Company
Flying Fish Brewing Company
Levante
The Revivalist Botanical Gin
Stateside UrbanCraft Vodka
Tonewood Brewing
Victory Brewing Company
Weyerbacher
Work Horse Brewing Company
Who: Philadelphia Music Festival
What: Philly’s only festival featuring an all-local bill
Where: MilkBoy, Johnny Brenda’s and World Café Live
When: September 25th-28th, 2019
Tickets: Available at phlmusicfest.com. Tickets are $15 for the Milkboy show and $13 for Johnny Brenda’s. A single-day ticket at World Cafe Live is $25 for Friday and $35 for Saturday. A two-day pass for World Cafe Live shows is available for $50.
On June 22nd, the annual music, art and food festival known as Molestice will return to the 100 block of N. Mole Street in Philadelphia to celebrate the Summer Solstice with live performances from nationally touring and regional acts, local favorite food trucks, local craft beers and all ages activities. The annual block party begins at Noon and will run until 8:00 PM EST and is free to the public.
For 35 years, the 100 block of Mole Street has hosted their annual block party at this unique Philadelphia location – a block comprised of homes built in the 1830s with views of the towering city skyline, supplying both a contemporary and historical backdrop for this event. Molestice itself has become a festival beyond the original block party as founders Brian LaPann and Brendan Walsh of Mole Street Artists, have sought to transform it into not only a celebration for the Summer Solstice, but for the city of Philadelphia as well. Additionally, Walsh has lived on the block for a decade and is the block captain. They are joined by Mole Street Artists’ senior talent buyer, Sean Timmons, the former Artistic Director for the Appel Farm Arts and Music Festival.
LaPann, Walsh and Timmons have curated the entire event with local acts and vendors and have a vision that will grow to activate every block of Mole Street to celebrate the Summer Solstice with a community music festival and cultural gathering. “With Molestice, we see a future in Philadelphia that’s vibrant and harmonious. We want to see Molestice become what Jazz Fest is to New Orleans – taking over the city with a celebration of music, culture and camaraderie,” says Brian. “When you check out Mole Street on a map of Philadelphia,” continues Walsh, “this quirky street extends from the deep South all the way to North Philadelphia. We want to grow Molestice from a single block party to a citywide celebration.”
This year, performances will include the blue-eyed soul-tinged vocalist, Hannah Krupa, hip-hop, electronic pop, R&B and indie pop duo Camp Candle, powerful blues, funk and rock guitarist/songwriter Brian LaPann, dance-pop-rock-band, Great Time, garage-psych-rocker Ali Awan, who was deemed “the philly rocker you should be listening to right now” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, hip hop/R&B duo &More (Chill Moody and Donn T) and headliners, the dance party, roots rock collective, Bronze Radio Return.
Beer and wine will be provided by Fergie’s Pub.
Molestice for the Summer Solstice from Mole Street Artists on Vimeo.
Since 2011, Mole Street Artists has operated as a boutique booking agency for high end clients, providing musical performers for corporate events, hotels and hospitality, weddings and private parties throughout the United States and overseas. Collectively, LaPann, Walsh and Timmons share a passion for music and a motivation to be a positive force as part of the musical eco-system in Philadelphia and beyond. “For us,” Timmons says, “Molestice is an opportunity to create community and shared experience through music for people of all ages and diverse backgrounds.”
In 2018, the event saw 2500-3000 attendees and has become a cult favorite with Philadelphians looking to celebrate the longest day of the year with music, food, and a diverse and eclectic audience.
Who: Molestice
What: Annual Summer Solstice Music Festival & Block Party
Where: 100 Block of N. Mole Street at Race Street Philadelphia, PA
When: Saturday, June 22nd from 12:00 – 8:00 PM EST
Ticketing: This event is free and all ages.
RSVP: http://tiny.cc/zn5s7y
Part of the magic of Rhythm & Roots is not only the diversity of musical genres but also the energy and creative inspiration that flows among the musicians.
Performers sub in and out of other bands on stage and lucky roots music fans may even run across a late-night jam in the campground. But the 22nd annual festival, held over Labor Day weekend at Ninigret Park, features more collaborations than most.
Dustbowl Revival and Hot Club of Cowtown are merging to celebrate the music of The Band. A mix of three acts, Peter Rowan and Free Mexican Airforce with Los Texmaniacs, will combine Rowan’s five decades of singing and songwriting with his frequent rocker companions Free Mexican Airforce. Los Texmaniacs will add their authentic Tex-Mex flair.
Two other acts, Joe Craven & the Sometimers and Railroad Earth, will apply their own originality and inventiveness to the music of Jerry Garcia and the lyrics of John Denver, respectively.
Producer Chuck Wentworth says he has invested heavily in the lineup this year, and it shows. Headliners are the folk, blues and political protest musicians Son Volt on Friday, Aug. 30, the danceable fusion of styles from The Mavericks the next night, and acoustic rockers Railroad Earth on Sunday, Sept. 1.
The seaside festival features 30 bands on four stages, along with nearly 5,000 square feet of dance floor, international food, artisans and children’s activities on the grassy fields of Ninigret Park. About 1,500 of the festival attendees will either rough it camping or take the luxury route by “glamping” (a mashup of glamorous and camping). The park offers its own entertainment in the form of nature trails, a playground, swimming, tennis and basketball. Bring your kids, and remember your lawn chair, blanket and sunscreen.
Buy tickets at rhythmandroots.com or call 401.783.3926 or 800.901.7173 for more information on music or glamping. Tickets go fast, so save money and plan ahead by purchasing tickets by Aug. 23.
Wentworth, whose eclectic taste is reflected in the band choices every Labor Day weekend, says he jumped at the possibility of booking Dustbowl Revival, a popular Americana band, with the string trio Hot Club of Cowtown. The two roots groups will play an homage to The Band’s first two albums, Music from Big Pink and The Band, released 50 years ago. “They hadn’t planned to do it in a festival setting, so I talked them into it.”
He says The Mavericks are popular with the all-ages crowd. “They get people up and dancing and they’re a great fusion of all styles of music.” Booking Joe Craven & the Sometimers was a “no-brainer” for their first-time performance on the East Coast. Railroad Earth, “an original acoustic band that rocks out,” will perform songs that combine the band’s music with unpublished lyrics discovered by John Denver’s estate. The band hopes to convey what they call the warmth and emotional bravery of Denver’s music.
Here’s a look at some of the roots musicians, covering Zydeco, blues, bluegrass, Cajun and more who are making their first appearances at Rhythm & Roots:
- Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band is a Grammy-winning, high-energy Zydeco band from Lafayette, La.
- Erin Harpe & The Delta Swingers, who won the 2018 Boston Blues Challenge, bring their dynamic rocking-roots-blues to the festival.
- Providence’s own Jabbawaukee, a quintet formed in 2017, is “beyond honored” to perform its blend of psychedelic/progressive rock and funk at Rhythm & Roots for the first time.
- Victor Wainwright and the Train, who earned a 2019 Grammy nomination for best contemporary blues album, perform their “boogie-woogie, pedal-to-the-medal blues.”
- The Travelin’ McCourys, who won the Grammy for best bluegrass album in 2018, are constantly innovating the traditional.
- The Lustre Kings, with their modern take on early rock, country, blues and R&B, rock out and play 150 gigs a year.
Bucks County native, Jeremiah Tall, released his latest full-length LP, From Bare Bones, and performed its first single, “Graves” on Fox 29’s The Q in celebration of the album’s release. “Graves” premiered on WXPN’s The Key and the band performed at World Café Live as part of the third annual Philly Music Fest this September. A natural evolution from his one-man-band of 2015’s Where The Lore Began, Tall enlisted his band, The Lore, to provide a robust rhythm section and layers his vocals throughout the eleven songs on From Bare Bones. The result is a foot-stomping, Americana and folk-tinged collection of songs that would be equally at home played around the campfire or on the festival stage in front of thousands of fans. Reinforced with the will of the wild and strengthened by the stories of mankind’s struggles with desolation, From Bare Bones takes Jeremiah Tall to new heights. The album kicks off with “Cocaine Money” – a literal foot-stomping, finger-snapping, tambourine slapping track that features Tall’s layered vocals that lament being broke, despite the fact that he’s “got a little money for the cocaine man.” “Lucy,” is a banjo romp that invokes the loneliness of a traveling musician. “Even when I’m not alone if you’re at home I feel so low. I’m traveling,” sings Tall. Lead single “Graves,” is a darker, full band exploration of the end of times built upon swirly organ textures and punctuated with the found percussion of a metal chain. “The lyrics use the end of times and death as a soapbox to shout, “Ain’t no grave can hold me down!” For me, it’s about the idea of living for today and not letting the thought that you could die stop you from living. A false sense of immortality, that even a grave and dirt can’t hold me down,” explains Tall.
In “All For My Girls Kid Brother,” Tall plays slide guitar on his resonator which captures the song’s darkness and “This is All I Know” begins in the higher register of his mandolin before the driving bass kicks in. “Muddy Rivers Edge” is another banjo-based foot-stomper that features the metal chain percussion and offers up lyrics that embrace Tall’s affinity for storytelling, much like “The Ballad of Big John and Those Smokey Mountains” and “A Song For Rose.” The album wraps up with the mandolin and organ-based “From Each Of You,” and Tall leaves his audience with this last bit of advice, “you gotta live, live while you can.”
"From Bare Bones, came from a place of stripped-back songwriting with the full intention of keeping the recording process low key with limited over dubbing,” Tall says. “I fell far off the mark while recording the vocals. With each layered harmony, the songs seem to call out with a howl that is now a signature mark on this album."
Jeremiah Tall will be playing select dates in support of From Bare Bones.
On January 17th, singer and songwriter, Kathryn Colina, will release her debut EP titled, Recovery. The EP was produced by Kevin Leach AKA Sonic Pilot (The Lumineers, ABC’s Nashville) and engineered by Nathan Dantzler (Niall Horan, Hey Violet.) Colina’s first single, “Novocaine” premiered on Americana Highways who cheered, “There’s an aura of fresh energy around Kathryn Colina, and this project, Recovery, will deliver it to you on a powerful gust of wind this fall.”
The six songs in the collection were written following a traumatic car accident that left Colina temporarily wheelchair bound, dependent on pain killing medication and struggling with PTSD. The songs were born after a yearlong recovery period and were sparked by a visit to a holistic doctor who correctly identified the source of her increasingly severe, painful leg tremors – a misaligned disk in the middle of her back – and quickly returned the disk back to its proper position. With her body back on track, Colina returned to her passion, singing and songwriting.
“Once I immersed myself in music, I noticed that my PTSD began washing away and my brain finally started to heal,” Colina says. “I truly believe that music was my pathway to recovery, and without it I would’ve been stuck in an endless cycle of doubt and fear.”
Kathryn Colina decided to settle in Nashville after graduating from Vanderbilt University and culled from 200 songs that she had written for Recovery. The six songs that made the cut were written prior to the accident, but recorded and arranged following a period of healing. The EP offers an eclectic collection of songs – some are acoustic and Americana leaning and some skew more pop. All in all, the songs offer a glimpse of a young songwriter who is filled with hope, finding her voice and healing her mind and body through music.
“After a year of misdiagnosis and countless doctor appointments, I began to lose hope that I would ever function normally again in society. I lost all confidence in myself, in my ability to create music, and truly lost sight of who I was as a person. By January 2018, I found a holistic doctor who helped get me off all of my meds and through a lot of physical therapy, I began walking again. Even though I was physically getting better, my mind was still stuck in this mentality of fear. I remember thinking and even wrote down in my journal that I needed to lean into my passion for music to somehow find a way to fit in this world. It wasn’t until I met my producer in July of that year that I began to see a brighter future. Being in the studio, immersing myself in music everyday, I began to find my purpose again. It wasn’t immediate but, little by little, I began to feel my mind wake up again and everything felt a little easier, more manageable. I truly attribute my ability to recover to the unknown way in which music magically enters our brains and heals what’s broken. This album saved me in more ways than I could count and I am so grateful that I am now able to share these songs as a message of hope to anyone out there who may be going through a tough time.”
The Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame (FARHOF), announces its Winter/Spring 2020 schedule of Hallways -- the Hall’s official podcast -- airing weekly beginning in February. The series includes in depth, personal interviews with Folk, Americana, and Roots artists like Patty Griffin, Ani DiFranco, Tom Rush, Keb' Mo', Milk Carton Kids and The Mammals.
Listen to Hallways here.
The podcast launched on January 3rd and featured FARHOF’s founder, Joe Spaulding, prior to moving to its weekly episode format on February 7th. Several upcoming episodes -- including Ani DiFranco and Aengus Finnan -- were recorded at the Folk Alliance International conference, which took place in New Orleans in January. Additionally Tom Rush, Mark Erelli, Hayley Sebella, Raye Zaragosa, Laura Cortese, David Amram and Diana Jones all recorded live, solo performances during their interviews with the Hallways team.
“Our mission at FARHOF is to preserve and celebrate the history of Folk, Americana and Roots music,” said Joe Spaulding. “Hallways allows the legacy and history of folk, Americana, roots music to be heard from all artists past and future directly in their own words.”
The Folk Americana Roots Hall Of Fame is housed in the Wang Theatre and is an initiative of the Boch Center in Boston. FARHOF celebrates Folk, Americana and Roots music through displays, memorabilia, artifacts, multimedia, lectures and concerts. As much as any city in the country, Boston has been the musical birthplace for the styles and artists we celebrate, making it a fitting home.
Hallways is a production of Above The Basement - Boston Music and Conversation, hosts Chuck Clough and Ronnie Hirschberg bring the stories and inspiration behind this great American music to life through conversation and live performance.
"Our team at Above The Basement could not be more proud to host and produce Hallways,” said host Chuck Clough. “As the storytelling and podcast partner of FARHOF, we’re looking forward to bringing this important American music to listeners and highlighting the stories and songcraft that keep its spirit alive today.”
Hallways 2020 Winter/Spring Episode Schedule
JOE SPAULDING 1/3/20
PATTY GRIFFIN 2/7/20
CHUCK MCDERMOTT 2/14/20
AENGUS FINNAN 2/21/20
TOM RUSH* 2/28/20
ANI DIFRANCO 3/6/20
KEB' MO' 3/13/20
MILK CARTON KIDS 3/20/20
THE MAMMALS 3/27/20
DAVID AMRAM 4/3/20
THE ACCIDENTALS 4/10/20
LAURA CORTESE* 4/17/20
RAYE ZARAGOSA* 4/24/20
MARK ERELLI* 5/1/20
HAYLEY SEBELLA* 5/8/20
ROSE COUSINS 5/15/20
DIANA JONES* 5/22/20
PASSIM 60! 5/29/20
*Includes LIVE solo performance
Bay Area native, singer-songwriter Rachel Garlin will perform at The Lost Church on March 27th to celebrate the release of her latest indie-folk album, Mondegreens. Garlin’s ensemble will include the album’s producer, Julie Wolf, known to audiences internationally as a collaborator and touring side player with Indigo Girls, Carly Simon, and Ani DiFranco among others.
Mondegreens embodies a contemporary take on the Bay Area’s long history as a folk music standard-bearer. The 10-song album (nine originals, plus a not-to-be-missed cover of Don Henley’s anthem “Boys of Summer”) was recorded at Berkeley’s legendary Fantasy Studios, where bands like CCR and Green Day recorded era-defining works. Garlin’s record plays like a love a letter to today’s uncertain times, each song evoking a blend of heartache and hope, social reflection and self-discovery.
At the center of the work are Garlin’s nuanced lyrics—image-rich and literary, subtle and surprising—making each song its own snow-globe story that stirs and settles anew with every listen. Complementing Garlin’s finger-style guitar playing are top-shelf musicians like bassist Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco, Hadestown), harmony vocalist Vicki Randle (Mavis Staples) and guitar and dobro-player James DePrato (Chuck Prophet Band) among others. Deftly weaving together vocal and instrumental elements, producer Wolf illuminates each song’s emotional landscape while also creating the album’s cohesive sound.
Releasing Mondegreens at the Lost Church is a nod to San Francisco’s poignant role as an epicenter of artistic traditions in a rapidly changing city. Track 3, “Earthquake Town,” pays tribute to urban spaces that nurture diverse populations in ways many local venues can no longer do (including Fantasy Studios which had to close its doors due to economic factors last fall). As a lifelong Bay Area artist—also a teacher, parent, and songwriting mentor for systems-involved youth—Garlin and her songs give colorful stories and vulnerable voices a place to call home.
Having received airplay on KPFA, KALW, and KFOG’s Acoustic Sunrise with Rosalie (for the single “Gwendolyn Said” on her last album), Garlin’s discography also includes an acclaimed “Live at the Freight and Salvage” album engineered by Gary Mankin. An alum of Berkeley High School (where she played on the Division 1 state championship basketball team), Garlin is prolific and civically engaged—a Bay Area artist engaging with, and giving back to, the communities that raised her.
Rachel Garlin is a Bay Area native and songwriter’s songwriter who writes, “finely etched songs that respect the folk tradition” (SF Bay Guardian) and whose lyrical work has been described as “storytelling at its best” (Curve Magazine.) With a natural stage presence, Garlin is a performing songwriter whose interest in people—their stories, struggles, and truths—is at the heart of her work. “More than just a singer; she’s a storyteller with an infectious radiance about her that can enthrall an audience” (Music Connection Magazine.)
Don’t Miss Rachel Garlin Live!
Who: Rachel Garlin
What: Album Release Concert Celebration
Where: The Lost Church - 65 Capp Street, San Francisco, CA
When: Friday, March 27th
Doors open at 7:30. Music at 8:15
Tickets: $20 advance | $25 at the door
Purchase Tickets here
Vintage rock and rock and roll / Ameripolitan rockabilly outfit, Mighty Joe Castro & The Gravamen will release their debut LP, Come On Angels! on July 31st. The album was produced by Brian McTear (Sharon Van Etten, Dr. Dog, War on Drugs, Dead Milkmen) at Miner Street Recordings in the band’s hometown of Philadelphia.
Influenced by 50’s Rock and Roll, Mighty Joe Castro (The Situation, The Lift Up) takes a modern lyrical approach to songwriting while The Gravamen add a healthy dose of post-modern guitar effects, booming percussion and driving bass to the ten original songs that make up the album. Consider them a house that resides at the crossroads where Sun Records and Creation Records meet.
The video for Come On Angels! first single, “There Are No Secrets Here,” premiered on WXPN’s The Key. They cheer, “Philly-based singer-songwriter Mighty Joe Castro would fit right in at the Twin Peaks roadhouse. His retro-rock stylings channel the uneasy underbelly of 1950’s American life; think equal parts film noir and Chris Isaak’s “Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing,” a vibe that perfectly coalesces in his new music video…” Shot during quarantine using an iPhone and three flashlights on microphone stands, the black and white video features Mighty Joe Castro singing between scenes from public domain footage of 1957’s Dementia / Daughter of Horror and 1962’s Carnival of Souls. “The video is equally haunting and playful, with Castro taking obvious delight in role-playing while also embracing a role that’s decidedly sinister,” The Key says.
The majority of the songs on Come on Angels! were written by Castro who, after years playing guitar in semi-successful alt rock bands and fed up with the business side of the industry and decided to give up music for good to focus on his visual art career. That is, until his wife bought him an acoustic guitar in 2010 to play for their newborn daughter and unattached to a band, Castro started writing songs.
“I had no experience with singing and playing guitar at the same time, so I began teaching myself old rock-n-roll songs -- Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Bob Dylan, Dion, The Ramones, etc. -- because the chords are so simple. I fell back in love with playing music again, and, when I realized I could sing, that opened up a whole new world for me. My taste in music started changing and I got really into songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Nick Cave. I started to believe I could front my own band.”
Growing up, Castro’s parents played the classics – Elvis, Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and old doo-wop records – and one of his earliest memories is of his mother breaking down and crying when she heard the news of Elvis’ death. These rock Gods were heroes in the Castro home.
As a teenager in the 80’s, Castro was fascinated with movies depicting music from the 50’s, La Bamba, Great Balls of Fire, The Buddy Holly Story and The Outsiders cemented his passion for the period and the mythology surrounding the origins of rock and roll. “I love that whole mid-century aesthetic - the dress style, the sense of design, the beauty of old cars and appliances. I was obsessed with vintage diners and old movies. A lot of that carried over to my visual collage art as well.”
“I wanted a band that, if needed, could play a whole show acoustic, without electricity, and still have that raw energy and excitement,” he says. After a few false starts, Castro was contacted by upright bassist, Hoover and the two quickly booked a rehearsal space. After that first practice, they knew that they had something special. Hoover enlisted drummer Dallas (his band mate in Philadelphia punk rock stalwarts Thorazine) and later found hotshot lead guitarist Michael Stingle floating around Mount Airy.
“Our goal is to play original rock-n-roll, in the style of the pioneers, but update it lyrically and sonically,” says Castro. What if Buddy Holly had access to a stack of effects pedals and some Bob Dylan or Lou Reed records or books by Kerouac?”
The album opens with “There Are No Secrets Here” and segues into the title track, “Come on Angles!” which has the feel of a Eddie Cochran or Buddy Holly acoustic rocker with the instantly memorable chorus, “come on angels, pour the whiskey, come on angel, sing it with me tonight…” “They reinterpret Ted Hawkin's classic “Cold and Bitter Tears” soul tune into the guitar style of early Johnny Cash and “Whispering Hell (The Finish Line),” would be at home in any dance hall. “For Every Setting Sun” is a lamenting waltz followed by “June (90 Degrees),” a dark rocker about a love gone wrong and “Why Not Just Give In This Time” claims, “I never wanted you to pack up and move on…why not just give in this time?” The album winds down with “Better Hold Tight” featuring Ritchie Valens-esque guitar lines and the dark rumble of “Angeline” before closing with country vibes of, “You’ve Got It All (So What Are You Looking For?)”
“I think that, by the end of the 1990s, rock had been pushed to every limit possible,” says Castro. “And when you get to the end of a road, sometimes you need to turn around and head back to the start to clear a new path. Take what we’ve learned, everything great that’s come after and go apply it to that original sound. That’s the ethos of the band. But for me, it was about falling in love with music again. Back to the roots.”
As soon as the world opens up again and live concerts happen, Mighty Joe Castro & The Gravamen will play select dates in support of “Come on Angels!”
Modern age songster, singer, multi-instrumentalist, photographer and videographer, Kirby Sybert makes his solo LP debut with Happy People Make Happy Things, due out on August 7th. Kirby sings, plays guitar, keys and drums in addition to recording and producing a large portion of the album in his Philadelphia bedroom. It is a return to the simplicity and joy of creating something on one’s own and making it sound fantastic despite a fancy, expensive studio.
Happy People Make Happy Things is an introspective sonic journey highlighted by Kirby’s soulful vocals, psychedelic guitar riffs, rubbery bass lines and drums that hit right in the pocket. Each of the nine original songs on the album are reflections of the only constant in the human experience: change.
The album opens up with the swelling, “Ease Fulfillment,” written and recorded all in one night at home. Kirby sings, “fighting hard to claim my stake, in an industry I’ve grown to hate, people laugh, but it’s all fake. Whoa-oh, what a waste. Shake my hand and stab my back, does anyone get anywhere like that? On that note, I’m headed out, back home to my family…”
“Winds of Change” would not be out of place on Songs From Big Pink and centers around the continual growth experienced by human beings. The song was written in Austin, TX when Kirby was on tour playing guitar with Philadelphia favorites, Mo Lowda & The Humble and was conceived in late night jam sessions on the road. It features guest vocals by Mo Lowda’s Jordan Caiola who co-wrote the tune.
Of “My Maker,” Kirby says, “this is my rumination on death and living in the moment. It's a constant reminder for me to step back and enjoy what's going on around me.”
“This Life,” is a sparse acoustic number that sounds like it could have been written in Laurel Canyon, while “Without You” is a funky, 70s inspired jam. “I also started writing a lot about love in the familial sense. I was trying to get away from the traditional love type song and exploring more ideas of how I love on a daily basis,” explains Kirby. "Without You” is about the idea of how someone shaped you into the person you are today. My dad got sick around the time I had written this and so he was always on my mind. Thinking about who I'd be without him and his love for my family and me.”
“Donny” is Kirby’s tribute to Donny Hathaway’s tragic death, how his daughter Layla carries on the Hathaway legacy and was originally written and recorded with former project, Kirby and the Vibe Tribe. On the haunting “Better Than I Was,” Kirby experiments with shifting vocal pitches and playfully enjoys playing a sinister role. “I’ll Be There For You,” is a clap along, anthemic ode to friendship inspired by a car accident Kirby’s roommate was in and how important it is to show up for one’s friends and to be there for the people you love.
The album closes with “My Maker Reprise” and features Philadelphia saxophonist, Wil Schade who happened to be in the area when Kirby was wrapping up the session for the song. Wil was able to drop by and spontaneously record his part in a half an hour. “It was exactly what that song needed to take it to the next level,” Kirby exclaimed.
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and bandleader, Ross Bellenoit’s latest full-length offering, Where Does The Light Go? is out now. The eleven Americana tinged songs on the LP were written and produced by Bellenoit and the album is a meditation on love, loss, secrets and the ways our interpersonal relationships affect our understanding of the world around us. It poses the question, what happens when you stay on a path when you feel that the odds are against you?
This spring, Bellenoit embarked on a solo, acoustic fourteen-date tour of Germany to celebrate the release of Where Does The Light Go? However, his trip overseas was cut short at the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic and he quickly decided to cancel the remaining dates in March to return to the United States rather than run the risk of being stuck in Europe and unable to fly home. “There was a harrowing moment when I had to cancel the last three dates of the solo tour, says Bellenoit. “I woke up in Dortmund at 6:00 AM on March 12th to the news that a travel ban was happening and I had to cancel rest of tour and race back to Berlin. I spent four hours on hold with my airline trying to get on an earlier flight. My thinking was anything could happen between now and when the ban starts, so I need to get home ASAP.”
The eleven Americana tinged songs on Where Does The Light Go? were written and produced by Bellenoit and the album is a meditation on love, loss, secrets and the ways our interpersonal relationships affect our understanding of the world around us. It poses the question, what happens when you stay on a path when you feel that the odds are against you?
The LP begins with the title track, “Where Does The Light Go” and it serves as the thesis statement for the album. Bellenoit asks, “where does the light go when love runs away?” and begins his album-long exploration of attempting to reconcile relationships – both romantic and platonic – that end abruptly and painfully. Though dark in subject matter, the song itself is uplifting and driven by a melody that beckons the listener to sing along and nod their head in time and agreement.
“For Friends,” the second song on the LP, is a celebratory ode to the community of Bellenoit’s friends. It features deft guitar work and a lead vocal that is lifted up by Sonja Sofya’s harmonies – “we’ve laughed at the worst and cried at the best of us and every day we’re working hard at raising up the rest of us.” “You Don’t Have It In You” leans into its Americana-style slide guitar riffs and lyrically calls out the subject, “you can paint me in the darkest corner of your mind and you can keep telling stories ‘til you friends are blind, but none of that shit is true and I never should have trusted you…”
“Seventy two” is a soft lament on long-distance love, while “Let Me Love Be Free” features Bellenoit’s falsetto and admittance of “all my life I never wanted more than to hear you call my name…” “Secret” has a swelling string section and the promise that, “one day my love won’t be a secret.” “Credence,” “Marigold” and “Forgiveness” all showcase Bellenoit’s distinctive arrangements, memorable melodies, and signature guitar work.
The album wraps up with “The Perfect Parade,” written on July 4, 2016 in the wake of the numerous shootings of unarmed black civilians happening that year. Bellenoit reflects on the two-hundred-year-old American Independence Day and what it means in contemporary times.
Where Does The Light Go? was recorded at Bellenoit’s collective, Turtle Studios where the artist has established himself as a vital component to the vibrant music community in Philadelphia. In addition to singing, playing guitar and producing, Bellenoit enlisted keyboardist Jaron Olevsky (Amos Lee), drummer Chuck Staab (Melody Gardot’s musical director), Upright bassist Charlie Muench (The Stray Birds), Jonathan Colman on electric bass and the aforementioned Sonja Sofya on backing vocals.
Ross Bellenoit became a staple of the Philadelphia music community following his graduation from University of the Arts where he studied jazz guitar and found his way into songwriting. He has toured with Amos Lee (when they supported Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello), made an appearance on A Prairie Home Companion with The Sweetback Sisters, performs regularly with his funk fusion trio, Muscle Tough, and also produces and performs with the children’s music group, Alex and the Kaleidoscope. Bellenoit is an in demand producer via Turtle Studios and has produced albums for The Sweetback Sisters, Ginger Coyle, Aaron Parnell Brown and Sonja Sofya amongst others.
“Ross Bellenoit's solo songs are full of tasteful pop melodies and solid guitar playing,” cheers KRCB’s Bill Frater and Songwriter’s Monthly raves, “the softer, laid-back nature of his vocals creates a warm juxtaposition to his crisp string work.
Ross Bellenoit’s tour of the Northeast corridor in celebration of the release of Where Does The Light Go? has been postponed. Bellenoit will resume his tour as soon as humanly possible.
Philly Music Fest will hold an all-virtual LIVEstream music festival on September 24 and September 25, with performers actually performing LIVE ON STAGE and featuring nationally acclaimed bands - Japanese Breakfast, Mt. Joy, Langhorne Slim, The Districts and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. The annual festival—which usually takes place over four nights at three independent Philadelphia music venues, selling out all four nights the last two years—will still exclusively feature local musicians. Proceeds will be donated to Philadelphia-based music education programs and seed another round of Philly Music Fest grants for local musicians struggling due to COVID-19.
Unlike other virtual music festivals that feature performances pre-recorded in living rooms and bedrooms, all of Philly Music Fest’s headlining and direct support sets will be performed live and the performances will be on a stage. Bands will perform at the Ardmore Music Hall, which is outfitted with a cutting-edge, four-camera HD audio and streaming video capability, powered by Nugs.net. In order to allow venue staff to sanitize the stage and replace microphones, stands, and cords, the festival will feature pre-recorded sets from emerging artists and messages from the charities that Philly Music Fest has supported in the past, which will be shown in-between the live sets.
Normally featuring two dozen local bands, the 2020 edition of Philly Music Fest is a shorter lineup, featuring Japanese Breakfast, The Districts, Mt. Joy, Arnetta Johnson and SUNNY, Langhorne Slim, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and emerging artists, Arthur Thomas and the Funkitorium and Zeek Burse. These artists represent the diversity of the Philadelphia music scene, drawing from rock, folk, hip hop, indie, jazz and funk.
“One of the most beautiful things about Philly Music Fest is the community coming together to celebrate our local music scene, while simultaneously raising money for the next generation of musicians in our city—we think of it as a cycle,” said Founder and Producer Greg Seltzer. “A streamed festival is far from perfect, but it will still showcase the live talent of our city’s many musicians while raising money for kids’ music charities and supporting local musicians.”
Philly Music Fest’s livestream will be broadcasted live on WXPN, and the video of the performances will be available at NPR Music Live Sessions. The livestream can also be accessed through the Philly Music Fest website and Ardmore Music Hall’s website.
“XPN has supported Philly Music Fest since it started,” said Bruce Warren of WXPN. “This year, in particular, the lineup is outstanding. Between air play support on XPN and with the support of our local music website, The Key, our commitment to showcasing incredible local music and working more closely with Greg allows us together to expand on showcasing Philly to a larger audience, and supporting musicians and organizations in our community.”
As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Philly Music Fest will donate all festival proceeds, which in 2020, will come from in-stream donations by viewers. Last year, it donated $40,000 to music education programs such as Rock to the Future, Girls Rock Philly, Settlement Music School, Musicopia, Live Connections, and Play on Philly. Earlier in 2020, Philly Music Fest established a Micro-Grant Program and deployed more than 330 micro-grants to artists struggling with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last few years, musicians have flocked to Philadelphia in search of affordable real estate and studio time, talented session musicians, and a network of small venues. The COVID-19 shutdown has left huge numbers of these musicians struggling to pay rent and buy groceries. While Philly Music Fest typically only donates to music education programs, which are in dire need of funding given the stress on virtual learning, this year, a portion of the proceeds will also be used to seed another round of micro-grants.
Find Philly Music Fest Online
Official: https://phillymusicfest.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PHLMusicFest/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillymusicfest/
Singer, composer and activist, Rachel Garlin debuts the video for her latest single, “Democracy Demands” as a pointed and nuanced response to the current political crisis. The song will be available on all streaming platforms October 3rd. With gracefully sparse production and not a wasted word, Garlin sings a steady haunting melody while giving voice to the questions we're facing in the post-RBG, pre-election moments of this very day. “Who’s about to gamble with the commander out to sea?” Garlin asks while underlining concerns ranging from climate change to hate speech.
“Democracy Demands” is musical activism from a working mother of three who knows that her vote in a blue state can only move the needle so far. The song emerged after days of hazy, wild-fire air in San Francisco finally yielded to a day of clean air, only to end with news of the passing of RBG. Garlin took her wife and kids to the Bolinas lagoon for an afternoon of shallow wading and reflection. Boats on the water appeared to her as politicians, circling each other—sharing a body of water but disconnected, solitary, drifting or stuck. A poignant performance and a recording that lacks any pretense, Garlin sings “Is the climate really changing? Go ask your Mother Earth” before leaving listeners swirling in their own reflections about what else we can do to stir the seas of change.
Jefferson Berry & the UAC will air their live concert performance, The UAC Porch Show on October 10th. Shot on location at Jefferson’s home in the Fairmount neighborhood in Philadelphia, the six-camera shoot features the UAC performing songs from their third full length album, Double Deadbolt Logic, released this spring. The UAC Porch Show will air simultaneously on the band’s official website and via their Facebook and YouTube channels at 2 PM EST and again at 7 PM EST on October 10th.
“Releasing an album in the middle of the pandemic has had its challenges,” says Jefferson. “We scheduled a bunch of record release parties, but we got to play one, March 5th. Five months went by without seeing the band.
“I got my neighbors to agree to a block party, only to have the city turn us down for all the right COVID reasons. Too many outdoor events had turned into drunken, virus-spreading bacchanals. Once we committed to a six-camera stream on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok, the key to the show’s success was to grow the production. Drone and hand-held cameras. Top shelf live sound. A documentary still photographer. A catered lunch for the band and the neighbors, everyone masked up. It was going to be a blast, but was the show going to be any good? With no rehearsals? What else could go wrong?
When the day came, we had some rain to deal with. Our drummer felt it was going to be too risky, COVID-wise. So, Uncle Mike (Damora) got Caleb Esty to do the show. He did some serious woodshedding on the set. I only met him the day of the show, but he killed it.
The biggest takeaway from the show was the performances of Bud Burroughs, Dave Brown and Marky B! (Berkowitz). So many of my songs are written to what these comrades do. These guys are the best soloists in town and it showed that day. With no rehearsals? I think it came out great, no?”
Celebrated singer-songwriter and musical virtuoso, Susan Werner has released her 14th studio album, Flyover Country. In this record, yet another in a series of ambitious concept albums, Werner embraces the sounds and song-forms of traditional country and bluegrass. Lapsteel and dobro (played by producer and slide wizard Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner), pedal steel, upright bass, drums and fiddle are all put to use in the service of ten originals that speak to the pandemic, authoritarianism, grief, an appreciation of small town life, and the increasing appeal of drinking too much wine. Her hopeful ode to the end of the pandemic, “To Be There” was recently selected by the Biden/Harris staff for the campaign’s concert series, Team Joe Sings, and was played at the close to their nationwide staff pre-debate pep rally.
From the anthemic Southern rock opening track “Long Live (My Hometown)” to the Nashville glam-country of “Why Why Why”, the album is a rollicking ride through the country music canon, but with Werner’s signature lyrical twists. “Snake Oil’s” greasy salesman peddles a certain kind of political hucksterism; in “Eldorado,” a hailstorm is a working man’s ticket to a luxury car; and in a co-write with folk songsmith John Gorka, “Wine Bottles” are somehow getting smaller all the time.
“It’s always the juxtaposition of things, that’s where the energy is,” Werner says. “Bringing faith and doubt together was the soul of The Gospel Truth (2007), and with this record I wanted to honor the great goodness of my farming family, my small town, my rural upbringing while acknowledging some of the shadows that were and still are part of ‘country’ living.”
Raised on a working farm in Eastern Iowa, Susan Werner comes by her Country music bonafides honestly. “The song ‘Barn Radio’ is a portrait of my dad working as the Holsteins came in to be milked. The AM radio was his companion, in the barn and on the tractors out in the field, and we’d sit on the fender and ride along with him and sing along.”
Recently, Werner was hand-picked by the Biden/Harris campaign initiative, Team Joe Sings, to perform her song, “To Be There” for their concert series running weekly leading up to election night. Each Thursday, a new selection of musicians are featured performing in support of the presidential and vice presidential candidates. On September 24th Werner joined artists including Los Lobos, Matt Beringer (The National), Andrew Bird and The Harlem Gospel choir in lending her voice to the cause.
“When the nationwide lockdown began in March, I figured there had to be songs already written, sometime, somewhere, about a pandemic, whether the flu or something else,” says Werner. “As I was writing a country album at the time, I searched through the catalogs of The Carter Family and The Louvin Brothers and other traditional country artists, and couldn't locate anything that dialed in on a pandemic per se. So, hey, what are you gonna do, but write the song yourself? And having written a ‘gospel’ album back in 2007, I'd learned that hope, hope itself is at the heart of the best gospel music. We're all hoping for an end to this isolation, this separation from our loved ones, "these sorrows, these worries and cares," as the song says. On the day the pandemic ends, we all want To Be There.”
The Biden/Harris team was so taken with “To Be There,” they chose it to close out their pre-debate strategy zoom meeting earlier this month.
On Saturday, March 6th the national folk music community will celebrate the life of legendary DJ, Gene Shay. Following a broadcasting career that discovered dozens of Folk, Blues and Americana stars, Gene was one of the founders of the oldest continuous folk festival in the country (The Philadelphia Folk Festival). Fifteen plus Facebook Live sites will host the WXPN Welcome event including organizer, Jefferson Berry & the UAC.
“When I saw Gene’s Birthday come up on the calendar, I thought we should do something. For all the people we’ve lost during the pandemic, none of us have gotten any closure,” show producer Jefferson Berry said. “But thinking about Gene’s passing, one can be sad for just so long. So many good times. So many good stories.”
Hosted by Ian Zolitor (Shay’s successor on WXPN’s 88.5 FM’s Folk Show on Sundays from 8-10 PM EST), the online event will feature stories and performances from folks who knew Gene well: Tom Rush, Susan Werner, Ben Arnold, Kim and Reggie Harris, Michael Braunfeld, John Francis O’Mara, Kicking Down Doors, LisaBeth Weber, and Jefferson Berry & the UAC. Jayne Toohey has compiled a photographic memorial to Gene.
Grants will be given in Gene Shay’s name and redistributed to Folk artists in need via Greg Seltzer, the founder and curator of Philly Music Fest whose micro grant program has put significant money into the pockets of those performers and venue workers who were impacted the most intensely by Covid-19. Grants will be given in Gene Shay’s name and redistributed to Folk artists in need via PMF. Gene's family felt that this would be an appropriate way to pay tribute to him.
Donations can be made here in Gene Shay's name.
For more information on the event and a direct link to the event's Facebook page, click here.
Jefferson Berry & the UAC will release their fourth studio album, Soon! As the follow up to their critically lauded 2020 release Double Deadbolt Logic, the album was written and recorded during quarantine. The LP’s first single, “We’ll Soon Be Together” premiered via Americana Highways who cheered, “you’ll be flooded with a sense of needed reassurance on this one, in a song of promise and hope.” The band will play two local dates to celebrate the album’s release on May 22nd at Jamey's House of Music and May 23rd at Malelani Cafe.
Americana for better urban living, Soon! tells stories of city people through the medium of acoustic-jamband music. The album features seven original songs by Berry: Tales of lovers separated by the pandemic, the changing landscape of neighborhoods and the workplace, memories of heroes and villains as well as the anticipation of the reunion of the tribes. “Pass You By” (Gillian Welch/David Rawlings) and “When The Earth Moves Again” (Paul Kantner) get reimagined by the virtuosity of the band’s soloists: Bud Burroughs, Marky B! Berkowitz and Dave Brown. Jefferson Berry and the Urban Acoustic Coalition is a band of uncompromising rock played on acoustic guitar, mandolin, lap steel, banjos and harmonicas.
“What families, lovers and communities have been going through during the plague has been unnatural. Surreal. The only thing that has managed to keep us sane is the notion that this will be over Soon,” says Berry.
Alice Howe, rising voice in modern folk, premieres the video for her interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s timeless classic, “A Case of You” via Americana UK. The video features Howe and her bassist/producer Freebo and drummer MB Gordy performing the song live resulting in an intimate and sincere performance from the trio.
“Simply, this is a beautiful version of a beautiful song,” raves Americana UK. “It’s a brave thing to cover such an outstanding piece of work as Joni Mitchell’s ‘A Case of You’. However, Alice Howe pulls it off in some style, thanks to her excellent vocal and the assistance MB Gordy on drums and long-time collaborator Freebo (Bonnie Raitt) on the fretless bass and electric baritone guitar. That melodic bass, in particular, oozes class and makes this interpretation distinctive and memorable. Howe is suitably heartfelt, absorbed in her performance of the song."
The songwriter’s love affair with “A Case of You” began while sitting beside the record player as a child, captivated by Joni Mitchell’s album, Blue. Later, as a teenager learning the guitar, a camp counselor taught her the chords on a Vermont summer day. Recorded in LA and produced by Freebo, the single is the culmination of this singer’s journey to fully inhabit one of her favorite songs.
“The song and I have grown up together,” she says. “And I feel as though I’ve finally made it my own.”
Alice Howe’s 2019 full length debut, Visions is a contemporary love letter to 60s and 70s folk and timeless blues. It pays homage without succumbing to imitation and offers an intimate snapshot of a young artist discovering her own power. Produced by Freebo with a stellar cast of musicians in Bakersfield, California, Visions is a collection of originals alongside Alice’s interpretations of iconic songs from her family’s vast record collection. She is currently at work on her sophomore record, to be recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL, with an expected early 2022 release.
Philly Music Fest returns for its fifth annual music festival between October 6– 10, 2021. Uniquely known for exclusively featuring Philly bands performing at independent venues, PMF is a non-profit in the business of raising money for kids’ music education and giving opportunity to emerging musicians. “Our genre is Philly” -- Philly Music Fest features Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop, Punk, Bluegrass, Folk, Spoken Word and Americana artists - all of whom call The City of Brotherly Love: “Home.”
Venues hosting in-person, musical performances this year include: World Café Live, Johnny Brenda’s, Milkboy, REC Philly and Ardmore Music Hall. Over the past five years, PMF has featured 96 bands from Philly, and this year will host national touring artists such as The Menzingers, Alex G, Hop Along, Ivy Sole, Son Little, Spirit of the Beehive, Control Top, Queen of Jeans and Moor Mother, as well as emerging artists Moses Mosima, Barney Cortez, Irreversible Entanglements, Stella Ruze, Highnoon, Moor Jewelry, West Philadelphia Orchestra, Annonxl, Lunch and Kelsey Cork and The Swigs.
“Look, last year was tough, but we innovated and donated over $100,000 to musicians, venue staff and music education, through our virtual festival and micro-grant campaign,” says founder and curator Greg Seltzer. “We’re super proud of that, but getting back into venues and having our community safely gather together in-person - the excitement is incredible and we’ve worked hard to ensure that our 2021 lineup matches the enthusiasm.”
“The growth of PMF, from two shows and one venue to six shows and five venues, is a testament to the strength and passion of our local music community,” enthuses Greg. In addition to the six PMF shows, PMF will again feature two “bolt-on” events related to music.
PMF’s Tech Tour at Guru Technologies in Center City is scheduled for Thursday, October 7th between 4:00 and 7:00 PM. Tech Tour will feature panel discussions on startup, venture capital and tech topics, along with a diverse array of bands playing before, after and in-between the panel discussions. Tech Tour is free and open to the public, but space will be limited.
On Saturday, October 9th from 12:00 to 2:00 PM, PMF will again host Inside Hustle at World Cafe Live. Inside Hustle is a series of panel discussions featuring music industry professionals that conveys content regarding the business and industry of music in Philadelphia. Panel topics will include: Should I Stay or Should I Go - exploring Philly as a home for musicians, Company in My Back - answering questions concerning forming an entity, tax and accounting and Only a Pawn in Their Game - how musicians can maximize and control their own destiny among an industry of corporate conglomerates.
Philly Music Fest’s impact has grown each year. In 2017, the non-profit donated $15,000 to music education programs. In 2018, the total increased to $25,000, then $40,000 in 2019 and $50,000 in 2020. Programs that received donations include Rock to the Future, Girls Rock Philly, Settlement Music School, Musicopia, Live Connections, and Play on Philly.
PMF deployed over 330 micro-grants in 2020 to musicians and venue staff struggling as a result of COVID-19. The funds for the micro-grants were crowdsourced from the community and, importantly, through a donation by WXPN.
Lyricist, track and field coach and non-fiction author, Joe Puleo has joined forces with singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, Ken Stringfellow (The Posies, Big Star, R.E.M) for a five song EP, Ten Years To Home: Ken Stringfellow Imagines Puleo to be released June 18th. The collaboration between the two songwriters began during quarantine -- they digitally sent music back and forth as they created the smart, melodic, pop songs that would become the EP. The Posies drummer Frankie Siragusa sent his contributions from his studio in LA, adding percussion to four of the songs.
Joe Puleo has been a writer all of his life. While Ten Years To Home is his first sonic release, he’s been working on crafting songs with local Philadelphia musician, Eli Wenger (Los Halos) for the past seven years for their band’s (Bannister Effect) debut release this September. However, none of the songs have come together as quickly and easily as the material he’s written with Ken Stringfellow. Inspired by track and field national champion, Gabriele Gruenwald and her battle with and ultimate passing from cancer in 2019, Joe was moved to write about her courageous memory.
“Our first and initially the only song I planned to work together with Ken on was the song I wrote in honor of Gabriele Gruenwald, ‘Not Today,” says Joe. I had read a story about her death that included the anecdote regarding when the doctor told her husband that Gabriele’s vitals were poor and she was probably going to die soon, he relayed the message to her. She responded, ‘Not Today.’ The voiceover before the song is a quote from Gabriele, ‘I hope people see that you can still make something beautiful and powerful out of a bad situation."
“With ‘Not Today’ I just heard the guitar, like it is now, as soon as I opened the text file from Joe for the first time,” remembers Ken. “Same key, same tempo. Kind of a Dylan vibe which was a great way to get those unorthodox and inconsistently sized lines to flow. I swear as soon as I opened Joe's mail with the lyrics on the day I was scheduled to work on that song for the first time, the music was there... as fast as I could read his words for the first time I heard the melodies, chords... everything. A bolt from the blue. It was all I could do to find the chords on the guitar as fast I could hear them. But it's like I knew the songs already.”
“After hearing how well Ken handled ‘Not Today’ (I cried the first time I heard the final chorus), I asked him if he would collaborate on some more songs, Joe recalls. “Maybe we could do an EP using the same working template we did for ‘Not Today?’ Ken asked, “more songs like we just did, producing them from the ground up?” My answer was, “Yes. You can create them anywhere the lyrics lead you.” His reply, “incredible.” Ken was on board and the EP, Ten Years to Home became a reality. I sent him six lyrics to review. He selected four and he had carte blanche to change the song’s lyrics and only made a few small edits.”
And thus, an official collaboration between the two writers was born. “There's a lot of freedom in just letting a lyric be what it is,” muses Ken. “I edit myself quite a bit, and there are so many turns and phrases here in Joe's lyrics I probably would not have been brave enough -- especially some of the busier lines -- to keep if it were me as the author. The speed with which everything came together is a great example of how to not overthink. And I love the results.”
The EP opens with the jangle pop, “Overcoming Gravity.” “I wrote this song in response to a writing challenge with our house painter/friend/musician,” says Joe. “I thought it would be cool to write an EP called the House Painting Chronicles, so we agreed to finish a song each by the time he finished painting the kitchen. Ultimately, I completed the song (he didn’t.) At the time the song was finished, I wasn’t sure what it was about or where the idea came from. Ultimately, it’s about owning your own shit and maturing. I still have little understanding of why I wrote the lyrics at the time I did.”
“To actually overcome gravity you need velocity, so it seemed like an up-tempo song, and it's easier for me to write up-tempo songs on the guitar rather than piano,” enthuses Ken.
Piano driven, “The Strongest Man in Town,” "came after ruminating on the future of the relationship I was in at the time (and still am),” Joe recollected. “I met my current fiancée and we started dating. She was recently separated and struggling through a divorce. I respected her deeply and really cared for her and her children’s well-being once I got to know her. She was reticent to jump into a relationship with someone who wasn’t necessarily her type. Her friends asked, ‘how did your type work out the first time?’ This song is my rebuttal to her ‘type-casting.’By the way, I have lots of tattoos, just not barbed-wire ones."
“Measured in Threes’ read like a ballad, for which piano is well suited; I heard the melody for the first line in my head before I even started playing... so it was a matter of trying to keep my fingers up with my head,” enthuses Ken.
“It’s about my divorce and choosing my kids (three) over my marriage, says Joe. “Definitely the correct choice, my kids’ love saved me from slipping into depression. I think Ken got it perfect with the piano and the soaring chorus.”
“My Odyssey’ could be the title track and references the ten-year trek Odysseus took home from war,” recalls Joe. “It’s been ten years since the end of my marriage. What I realized is that the Odyssey is actually a story about father and son, so I kept that in the back of my mind until I was ready to write the song. I used some direct bits from Homer’s Odyssey.”
The EP closes with the first track written and recorded for the project, “Not Today,” Puleo’s moving tribute to Gabriele Gruenwald.
Brothers Andrew and Johnny Trongone, better known as leaders of Richmond rock n’ roll outfit, Trongone Band, premiered their latest offering, the Dave Schools’ produced single ‘Ain’t Worth a Dime’ via Glide Magazine. Glide cheers, “Ain’t Worth a Dime’ [is] one of the standout tracks on the new album. Firing up with a simple beat, sparse and haunting slide guitar, and soulful organ, the band lays into a twangy guitar track and blues-inflected vocals. Building layers of sound into a thick, 70s-style blues rocker, the song brings to mind acts like the Black Crowes, Gov’t Mule, and Greyhounds while also taking on its own style. Commanding vocals are complemented by a groovy rock soundtrack that is sprawling and ferocious while also carrying a sense of restrained cool. Lyrically, the song dwells on the various vices many of us partake in and sometimes struggle with, making it perfect for a dark nightclub.”
Trongone Band will release their Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) produced EP, Don’t Give Up on Love, this fall. Recorded in their collective hometown, the EP is the follow up to the band’s celebrated debut LP, Keys to the House (Harmonized Records). The brothers will be performing select dates in Richmond on July 31st and three nights at Key West’s Green Parrot this August. The brothers plan to tour Europe extensively in early 2022 in support of Don’t Give Up on Love.
“What a pleasure to return to my hometown and to work with The Trongone Band. It’s great to see that the spirit of rock n roll still thrives in Richmond,” raves Dave Schools. “I want people to really feel this song. Like you’re kind of lost in a foreign town but don’t care. Dim the lights, pour a glass of scotch, and turn it up, because that’s what we did,” says guitarist Andrew Trongone.
“This song means a lot to me. It grew from just a groove we were messing around with in pre-production. Producer Dave Schools made it a point that we would only attempt this song at the end of every session when we were tired and worn out. We were grinding. He wanted to capture a certain vibe though. We’d dim the lights real low to where we could barely see each other and just eased into the tune until it felt right. If it wasn’t there, we’d call it and try it again the next night. We ended up getting it on the third day. The vocal took a few takes, too. Finally got it after Dave sent my brother into the booth with some scotch. We had just got back from a European tour so lyrically my head was thinking about all the red light districts in Germany and Prague. Dark, eerie, temptation everywhere. Though it isn’t particularly about that, but more so the bigger picture. People’s vices. Sex, drugs, booze, gambling, etc, and how those addictions just aren’t worth it in the end.”
Don’t Miss Trongone Band Live:
July 31st Tang and Biscuit Richmond, VA
August 19-22 The Green Parrot Key West, FL
More performances and 2022’s thirty date, extensive European tour will be announced this summer!
Nonprofit philanthropic organization, Live Music Society (LMS) announced a third round of grants to be awarded this fall to live music venues across the United States with a maximum sellable capacity of 300. Grant applications will be accepted from September 28 – October 20, 2021 via the organization’s website.
Since its inception in 2020, LMS has committed to awarding one million dollars per year in grants to venues that promote and preserve the live music experience in intimate settings, where artists of all levels and all genres get their start, connect with their audiences and maintain their careers as performers. Individual grants range from $10,000-$50,000. Over an initial two grant rounds, Live Music Society has awarded grants to thirty-six venues in twenty-nine cities totaling over $1.2 million.
“Small, live music venues throughout the U.S. are owned and operated by music-lovers who are tirelessly devoted to their community, their staff, and their artists,” says LMS founder Pete Muller. “Without small music clubs, so many of our most promising artists wouldn’t have a place to share their work, hone their craft, and build their audiences.”
“Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, many of these clubs have been fighting to keep their doors open," continued Muller. "Live Music Society is focused on making sure these wonderful spaces stay solvent and independent. It is time to acknowledge and support the great efforts that these venues have made to keep our communities connected and vibrant through the gift of live music.”
Grantees have expressed their enthusiasm for Live Music Society’s mission. “Their generous grant is going to provide us with the resources we need to reopen this fall and we’re so excited welcome our family back into our venue,” enthuses Gene Dobbs Bradford of Jazz St. Louis. “We’re going to use [this grant] to support young emerging artists like we’ve been doing for 25 years, says Tim Tuten of The Hideout. “And every day, every year there’s a new group of young people who will be supported.”
Live Music Society encourages small venues with 50-300 sellable seats prior to Covid-19, established on or prior to July 1, 2017, to apply. Venues must be committed to live music as their primary activity to be eligible. All eligibility requirements and the application can be found on the organization’s website at http://livemusicsociety.org.
Prior grantees include:
Ivy Room (Albany, CA)
Ashkenaz Music & Dance Community Center (Berkeley, CA)
The Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles, CA)
The Mint (Los Angeles, CA)
The Casbah (San Diego, CA)
Kuumbwa Jazz (Santa Cruz, CA)
Dazzle (Denver, CO)
Hi-Dive (Denver, CO)
Cafe Nine (New Haven, CT)
The Hideout (Chicago, IL)
Subterranean (Chicago, IL)
The Jazz Showcase (Chicago, IL)
SPACE (Evanston, IL)
Maple Leaf Bar (New Orleans, LA)
Club Passim (Cambridge, MA)
The Parlor Room (Northampton, MA)
Jonathan’s Ogunquit (Ogunquit, ME)
Seven Steps Up (Spring Lake, MI)
Jazz St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)
The Word Barn (Exeter, NH)
The Bowery Electric (New York, NY)
Caffé Lena (Saratoga Springs, NY)
Levon Helm Studios (Woodstock, NY)
BOP STOP @ The Music Settlement (Cleveland, OH)
Mercury Lounge (Tulsa, OK)
The Kennett Flash (Kennett Square, PA)
Club Café (Pittsburgh, PA)
McGonigel’s Mucky Duck (Houston, TX)
Old Quarter Acoustic Cafe (Galveston, TX)
Jammin’ Java (Vienna, VA)
Zenbarn (Waterbury Center, VT)
Barboza (Seattle, WA)
Fremont Abbey Arts Center (Seattle, WA)
The Royal Room (Seattle, WA)
The Sunset Tavern (Seattle, WA)
Cactus Club (Milwaukee, WI) The Kennett
Alt-country and Americana quartet, The Miners, announce the release of their first full-length album, Megunticook (Match-Up Zone Music) on October 22nd. Named for the lake in Maine band leader Keith Marlowe has visited since he was a child, the ten original songs capture the songsmith’s sincere, authentic take on life experiences and highlight tight vocal harmonies, driving guitars and the undeniable country sound of the pedal steel. The band will celebrate the album’s release on October 29th with a performance at Jamey’s House of Music in Lansdowne, PA.
A labor of love, the origins of the album’s material date back to the early 2010s -- shortly after Keith took over as The Miners’ frontman. Megunticook (Muh-GUN-tuh-cook) opens with gentle ballad, “Without You,” inspired by the songwriter’s wife’s 2014 battle and recovery from breast cancer. Americana Highways premiered the single and enthused, “this song is an earnest love song written by Keith Marlowe in the face of real gut-wrenching challenges. His writing somehow manages to be both sincere and poignant, yet charming.”
Immediately following is “Leaving for Ohio” -- a heartland rocker that would fit seamlessly into a Crazy Horse set that laments his daughter’s growing up and leaving home to start her life anew at college. The early 70s country-rock groove of “Walnut Lane” offers a look back on the tree lined street where kids from the rich part of town would visit to buy drugs and “Natalie” paints a portrait of Keith’s grandmother as a vibrant woman that ultimately lost her life to dementia. “Call Me Up” dates back to the band’s beginnings and is a smooth, southern rocker. “Black Bart” recounts the life of the infamous outlaw stagecoach and train robber who used to leave poems behind and uses one of Black Bart’s actual poems for its chorus. “Apologize” is about the tension between a parent and child with the gentle reminder, “it’s never too late to apologize” and “The Day the Drummer Died” captures an untimely death of Keith’s high school drummer and is buoyed by a harmonica solo that reminiscent of Neil Young. The album’s penultimate “Baby Boots” is a honky tonk western stomper and the bluegrass-tinged finale, “Cardboard Sign” was inspired by a young homeless woman that Marlowe imagines is missed by her family back home.
“Megunticook is a big step up from Miners’ Rebellion with everything from songwriting, musical performances, production and final output all being at a higher level,” says Keith. “The songs, while written over a span of nearly ten years, have the thread of mostly my own personal experiences and feelings and capture the sound of the band I have been developing since taking over as frontman in 2009 (two years after the band’s formation). My songwriting and singing has developed over that time allowing me to expand the band’s sound from Miners’ Rebellion, though I am still proud of the songs from that EP and those songs fit seamlessly into our live sets alongside Megunticook’s tracks.”
“Though I started thinking about the follow up to Miners’ Rebellion in 2016 with band lineup changes and life events, it wasn’t until 2018 when demos were finally recorded,” the songwriter continues. “As I joke, 'this seems to have taken longer than Boston’s 3rd album to finally be released' considering the nine-year span between releases and me talking about our new upcoming album for past three years.”
In addition to their album release show on October 29th, The Miners will perform select dates in support of Megunticook including their sixth annual event at World Café Live benefiting breast cancer charities in January 2022. Since their inception in 2007, the band has played in many of Philadelphia’s premiere venues including World Café Live, MilkBoy Philly and 118 North and have supported national touring acts that include John Wesley Harding, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers and Don Dixon. Megunticook is the follow-up to their critically lauded 2012 EP, Miners’ Rebellion.
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Sarah Elizabeth Haines, released her third single the gentle, ethereal “Water” from her forthcoming LP, Castaway, set for release on February 25, 2022. The song was co-written with Sarah and producer Kevin Salem (Rachel Yamagata) and prominently features the multi-instrumentalist’s viola playing in this beautiful and haunting ballad. The lyric video features shots of water moving backwards and forwards in natural settings including creeks, streams, lakes, ponds, and the ocean perfectly capturing the sentiment that, “no matter what I do, it leads me back to you.”
“Water’ is about being deeply affected by an experience -- being swept under by the tide, meeting the wrong person at the right time, being forced to spend a year in pseudo-confinement -- and choosing to move forward despite the knowledge that a part of it will remain with you always, says Sarah. “Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to drown in it. And--everything is cyclical. The process may lead you back to the sea, but soon enough you'll become rain again and you can go anywhere the wind takes you.”
Prior to releasing “Water,” Sarah’s “In The Morning” premiered via Glide Magazine who cheer: “with gritty guitar contrasting with her dreamy vocals, the song is an infectious indie rocker that finds Haines dwelling on long distance relationships. Backed by choir-like harmonies and a slow-building sense of drama, the song feels like it would easily be a radio hit during the 90s grunge and alternative era. Haines puts a unique touch on the song by layering in her own orchestration, adding a refined lushness to the music."
Her first single, “Liar,” was lauded as a “nice slice of indie funk” by American Blues Scene in their premiere this fall.
Sarah Elizabeth Haines was used to living in the harmonies, the lines outside of the spotlight. A classically trained violist and violinist, she plays both instruments in the touring production of Tony award-winning Hamilton (she’s performed in over 800 shows of the musical) and the New York City-based contemporary classical chamber group Contemporaneous. Previously, she’s toured with Les Misérables and Kansas City Choir Boy (featuring Courtney Love) and been a co-bandleader of Americana-folk band Bellehouse and a member of orchestral rock band Emanuel and the Fear.
With Castaway, her second full-length solo LP due in early 2022, Haines steps confidently into the center of the music of her own life. The 11-track album showcases Haines’ impressive instrumental skills on viola, violin, guitar, arrangements, and production, as well as her sharp songwriting and strong singing — both on the melodies and harmonies.
Haines will be playing select dates in support of the release of Castaway.
Singer, songstress and guitarist Sara Jean Kelley releases the video for her song, “I am the Ocean” directed by Thomas Chi. The video finds Sara alone in a wood paneled living room, meditating and then rising from her stillness to destroy everything in the room.
“Shortly after recording the Black Snake EP, I got the image of this video stuck in my head," says the singer. "Every time I listened to the song ‘I Am the Ocean’ I imagined myself starting in a meditative space, slowly standing and knocking things over like a cat, then gradually becoming more and more insane and destroying everything in sight. I just felt right. Something about the madness and the beauty of seemingly going insane in an enclosed space made so much sense to me."
"I wrote this song coming out of a marriage and coming into a pandemic," she continues. "It was equal parts freedom and containment. I found the ocean to be the perfect metaphor for the human psyche: vast, mysterious, terrifying, infinite, and wild; all while being contained by the earth’s shore— the ‘brain’ if you will. How could I incorporate the essence of that without showing literal images of placid waters next to tidal waves? That is where this video was birthed.”
“Unapologetic wildness: that is what this song and this video aim to embody. As a female identifying person, particularly, the societal norms imposed upon me are to make myself smaller, try not to take up too much space, and apologize for my existence. Nearly every woman I know has been told from a young age to calm down, don’t act crazy, cover up, or some variation of any of those; and it’s my prerogative to challenge that norm. Feminine energy is incredibly powerful; that’s why people fear it and try to contain and tame ii. Portraying an earthly manifestation of ocean energy was just that: vulnerable and intentional destruction. Owning and taking up space. Showing the full spectrum of emotion. Feeling both the overt and nuanced qualities of creative expression. Allowing myself to be crazy, to be wholly me."
"And on top of all of this: it’s just really fun to get in a room and smash everything with a baseball bat. Perhaps joy is the final piece of the puzzle.”
Black Snake explores existential emotions related to life, death, transformation, rebirth, strength, and resilience on Sara Jean Kelley’s sophomore EP. Recorded in two days, the album’s six originals feature Kelley’s ethereal vocals, twangy and confident guitar with questioning yet observational lyrics and was produced by Kyle Dreaden.
“Everything about this EP was intentional,” says the songwriter. “From the order of the songs, to the release strategy, to every sound and instrument. We approached every moment and every sound with thoughtfulness and excitement. My producer and I had conversation after conversation about who Snake is and how she would make her way through each song and what that will sound and feel like. In as much as we thought about each sound and song individually, we thought about the project as a whole and how each moment would lead to the next and each song would connect to the previous and the next.”
A river beneath a river with an edgy sense of humor, Sara Jean Kelley is an explorer, a rescuer, naturalist, and an active member of her creative community. Born and raised by the venerable bluegrass songwriter, Irene Kelley, Sara loves wild plants and animals and music and people and has the scars and stories to prove it. Sara’s songs are conceptual, yet relatable. Her voice is timeless, yet singularly her own. And her delivery can shift, like the weather, from dark and sultry, to light-as-a-feather.
A triple Scorpio, she has been compared to Brandi Carlile, Patty Griffin, and Lucinda Williams, and has already shared the stage with legends such as Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. Sara studied evolutionary biology in Durango, Colorado and her first EP, The Wild explored her connection with the earth, and the soil; the relationship she has with and honor she holds for the natural world.
Eclectic singer-songwriter Don McCloskey released his confession, ethereal and gentle, “Unbecoming,” the third single off of his upcoming LP, The Chaos and The Beauty due out March 11th on Lemon Hill Records. In celebration of the new album, McCloskey will perform at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC on February 10th and with a weekly residency at Fergie’s Pub in Philadelphia beginning on February 21st.
“I only had two verses and the chorus written when I recorded the demo for ‘Unbecoming,’ says Don. “Devin, Chuck and I got together to record drums bass and rhythm guitar as a live track to tape. We did a few takes but nothing was sounding or feeling that great.”
“We took a break to listen back and sitting in the control room at the Honey Jar in Brooklyn is this weird old plastic keyboard called the Optigan. It’s from the seventies and looks like a home organ but you feed it these big floppy translucent discs in the front of the console and it samples whatever sounds are on the disc. I started playing the chords to ‘Unbecoming’ on it and this warbly, ethereal, dreamy sound emerged. And then suddenly it was like a bolt of lightning struck all of us. Chuck picked up the brushes, Devin picked up the bass and we laid down in one take this really long trance inducing track. Devin overdubbed the kalimba tracks and combined it all had a very hypnotic effect.”
Listen to “Unbecoming” here and here.
“I took that session home with me and walked around Manhattan and Brooklyn for days under the spell of the music writing verse after verse. The song gave me a feeling of weightlessness and reminded me of dreams I had when I was young where I wasn’t flying, I was just hovering a few inches above the ground and moving through space and time with no effort. A feeling of weightlessness came over me. Then all these memories and feelings and dreams and thoughts all came to me at once and hung in the air all around me. I picked all the best bits and wrote them all down and sang them.”
The first single from The Chaos and The Beauty, “First in Flight,” was prominently featured in the season two finale of Mythic Quest, handpicked by series creator and Don’s longtime collaborator, Rob McElhenney. It has been streamed over 500k times and counting. The second single, Don’s reimagining of the holiday classic, “O Holy Night,” “reimagines the carol as a bold soul-R&B rave up with an eight-piece band with horns and a backup chorale,” cheers The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Don McCloskey infuses the traditional folk idiom with elements of psychedelic rock, electronica, hip-hop, and 80s pop. His idiosyncratic writing style and independently produced albums have appeared in the Oscar Award-winning film, Bowling for Columbine, FX’s television series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Apple TV’s Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, commercials and have garnered 1 million+ streams on Spotify alone. His live performances have developed a cult following that has consistently sold-out concerts in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Boston. In addition to headlining venues across the country the songwriter has played in support of Raekwon, Amos Lee, Schooly D, The White Buffalo, G. Love and Special Sauce, and the cast of It’s Always Sunny with their critically acclaimed live tour of The Nightman Cometh.
Don’t Miss Don McCloskey Live!
What: Full Band Performance in celebration of The Chaos and The Beauty
Where: Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2
When: February, 10th at 7:00 PM
Tickets: $10 in adv. and can be purchased here.
What: Weekly Residency in celebration of The Chaos and The Beauty
Where: Fergie’s Pub
When: Monday February 21, March 7 & 21, April 4 from 6:30-8:30 PM
Tickets: https://www.fergies.com/
Author and songwriter Zoe FitzGerald Carter will bring her original folk and American songs to Freight & Salvage for an intimate performance on March 22nd. Joining her on stage will be area musicians including percussionist and vocalist, Pam Delgado (Blame Sally), lead guitarist and vocalist Jeri Jones (Blame Sally), keyboardist and accordion player, Julie Wolf (Ani DiFranco) and bassist, Daniel Fabricant (Swept Away.) Wildfire Music premiered the video for Zoe’s latest single, “Like A Drum” from her 2021 release, Waterlines.
“I’m thrilled to be returning to the Freight & Salvage’s fabled stage next month,” enthuses the songwriter. “So many iconic musicians have played there that it feels like a special honor -- and I’m especially excited to be headlining there for the first time. The show will feature songs from my recently released solo album, Waterlines, as well as new music written during lockdown.”
“Joining me on March 22nd are two longtime Freight favorites: Pam Delgado (percussion and vocals), and Jeri Jones (lead guitar and vocals) both from the band Blame Sally,” continues Zoe. “We’ll also be joined by Daniel Fabricant, who has been called ‘the most versatile bass player in San Francisco’ and is currently part of the musical ensemble at Berkeley Rep’s Swept Away. And finally, sitting in on a handful of songs, the inimitable Julie Wolf, on accordion and keys. Julie has played with everyone from Ani DiFranco to Carly Simon to Sia, and I was thrilled to have her play on my album and can’t wait to perform with her. I couldn’t be more proud and excited about this crew of fabulous musicians and am counting down the days until the gig!”
Zoe began playing guitar and singing as a teenager in Washington D.C. where her father was a well-known jazz drummer. In addition to her career as a writer, she’s played and performed with numerous Bay Area bands. Her first album (Waiting for the Earthquake) featured Sugartown, an Americana string band. “The album’s direct and piercing lyrics pull no punches and it’s haunting melodies are perfectly suited to Zoe’s rich and evocative voice,” said award-winning producer, Monica Pasqual. Zoe teaches memoir and songwriting and has recently taken up the drums.
Don’t Miss Zoe FitzGerald Carter Live!
Who: Zoe FitzGerald Carter and Friends
What: Live Concert Performance
Where: Freight & Salvage - https://thefreight.org/
When: Tuesday, March 22, 2022 doors at 7, show at 8
Tickets can be purchased here.
Love From Philly will officially kick off Philly’s newest outdoor venue – The Oval On the Parkway with a free all Philadelphia culture celebration featuring performances from local artists who call the city home including Rich Medina, Cosmo Baker, Lauren Hart, the West Philly Orchestra, Schooly D, The Philly Gospel Preservation Alliance, The Ultimates, Ursula Rucker, The Tisburys, WALLIS and more.
Created to be “not just another music festival,” Love From Philly will be fully immersive with a deep well of farm-to-table arts and crafts, a pop-up animation fest from the Philly Indie Film fest, live art installations, family dance parties, tons of food trucks and a beer garden. The amazing new venue also provides a Ferris Wheel, Merry-go-Round, and a second stage for acoustic performances that will be provided by the Philadelphia School Districts Jazz and Classical all-stars.
While the event will physically take place at the Oval, it will also be streaming live for Xfinity subscribers, via Nugs.net and be the closing part in the Metaverse as Love From Philly’s partner Philly Tech Week. Love From Philly is also proud to partner with the Philly Indie Film fest to produce dozens of shows all week including an animation fest on Saturday.
“Why doesn’t Philly have an annual cultural gathering like New Orleans, Chicago, New York and LA?” Says Thirty Amp Circuit, Ropeadope Records and Love From Philly founder, Andy Blackman Hurwitz who birthed the original virtual festival two years ago. “We want Love From Philly to be the official start to the summer in an evergreen event that celebrates the rich culture of our hometown.”
Love From Philly comes roaring into the real world after debuting in cyber-space during the height of the pandemic with a virtual festival that featured performances from War on Drugs, Kurt Vile and John Oats amongst others that raised money for Thirty Amp Circuit May, Love From Philly will host a week long showcase highlighting our vibrant homegrown music, art and culture scenes. But don’t mistake local for meaning small — Philadelphia has grown into an international mecca of culture and this week-long event paints quite a compelling picture that it should be considered amongst the best.
This year’s Love From Philly festival rings in the 15th annual Philadelphia Independent Film Festival throughout the city during the week of June 6th -11th. Over 12 months, PIFF curates six days of local and international filmmaking and discussions in unique and interesting settings.
Annually, PIFF brings Filmmakers, Musicians, Technologists, Political Scientists, and patrons of the arts into a discussion about modern storytelling, media and technology, and how filmmaking can enable critical cultural narratives. This year’s highlights from local filmmakers include Twenty Minute Exotic Getaway (Sci Fi, director: Hollis Sherman-Pepe), Turbo Cola (Drama, director: Luke Covert), Against All Odds - Surviving the Holocaust. (Documentary, director: Paul Bachow), and Blind Eye Artist (Documentary, director: Ashwin Chaudhary).
“We are feeling a whole new sense of community within the Philadelphia Arts Community as the City starts opening up from a long darkness where we were literally without culture, this is all great timing for connections,” enthuses Hurwitz. “It’s like the Medici affect,” he continues citing the breakthrough book that predicted all great cities would go back to inter-disciplinary localized artistic collaborations by blending concepts and cultures. “The goal was to create a platform for the cities creators and then step to the side and shine a light on it,” he adds.
“The Love From Philly event we produced during the pandemic left us with a whole new sense of Philly pride – we had the whole scene top to bottom, young and old and it was inspiring to all of us, it changed a lot of things – for Thirty Amp it was the moment we decided to change our entire mission statement from national to local – we have an exciting ten year plan for the city and it kicks off this June,” Hurwitz enthused.
Proceeds from the event will benefit critical health and wellness services for Philly arts community centers and the Thirty Amp Circuit micro-grant program will be awarding immediate $333.00 cost of living grants to creative Philadelphians who keep the city, funky, fresh, vibrant and thriving. Dozens of artists, vendors and creators who will make the day a truly integrated arts scene that will be replicated annually. As Made in America signals the end to summer, Love From Philly officially starts it all off with an ambitious undertaking that has galvanized the city's beleaguered Arts community.
Don’t Miss Love From Philly!
What: One day, Free, Music, Film, Arts, Food, & Family Festival
Where: The Oval on Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA
When: Saturday, June 11th starting at 11 AM
Tickets: No tickets needed! This is a free event!
Stream: Via Nugs.net and Xfinity subscribers will be able to view live just by saying “Love From Philly” into their voice activated remotes on June 11th
Philly Music Fest announces it will return for its sixth annual event over six nights, in six venues from October 10 – 15, 2022. Uniquely known for exclusively featuring artists who consider Philadelphia home, PMF is a non-profit organization founded by a local husband and wife team, Greg and Jenn Seltzer.
“Our genre is Philly” -- Philly Music Fest features Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop, Punk, Bluegrass, Folk, Spoken Word and Americana artists. Since its inception, PMF has donated $275,000.00 dollars to local musical education programs and artists in need, after paying all venues and artists to perform at the festival.
Venues participating in 2022 include World Café Live, Johnny Brenda’s, Ardmore Music Hall, Milkboy, REC Philly and Underground Arts. This year’s event will host national headliners that have appeared recently at major festivals and venues such as Coachella, Firefly, Bonnaroo, Red Rocks Amphitheater, Riot Fest, Bowery Ballroom, Outside Lands, South By Southwest, The Fillmore, and Newport Folk Festival. Additionally, Philly Music Fest does its homework and focuses on emerging, up and coming bands from Philadelphia. This year’s lineup features Low Cut Connie, Mannequin Pussy, a “To Be Announced” surprise national headliner, Ron Gallo, Screaming Females, Shamir, Empath, Saleka, Electric Candlelight, Lady HD, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Ghosh, Echo Kid, Max Swan, Stereo League, Marielle Kraft, Riverby, The Ire, Justmadnice and Perpetual Motion.
“It's really cool to see how Philly Music Fest has grown,” says Adam Weiner whose band Low Cut Connie returns to PMF as a headliner after playing a much smaller Philly Music Fest in 2018. “They are doing great work and I hope it continues. Music education gives kids a lifeline that they can cling to throughout their lives, and I am very happy to be participating in this festival and echo its mission.”
Founder, curator and producer, Greg Seltzer states, “Each year, Philly Music Fest presents a diverse lineup of artists from across the Philadelphia-region, mining and purposefully mixing genres such as Rock, Punk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Folk and Pop.” For example, this year at World Cafe Live, the show will feature the Americana of Low Cut Connie, Indie Rock and Punk of Ron Gallo, Jazz with Perpetual Motion, Singer-Songwriter Kayleigh Goldsworthy and the Dance Rock of Lady HD. Similarly, the lineup at Milkboy features the “genre-less” Shamir, paired with the Indie Rock of Echo Kid and Max Swan’s blend of Jazz and R&B.
“Inspiring new generations of artists is what helps keep music and music scenes alive - the work that PMF is doing is so important to our community and to the people who have been unable to work and perform over the last two years,” enthuses Mannequin Pussy’s Missy Dabice. “Philly is so lucky to have a festival that is so supportive of local talent.”
Philly Music Fest’s impact has grown each year. In 2017, the non-profit donated $15,000 to music education programs. In 2018, the total increased to $25,000, then $40,000 in 2019, $50,000 in 2020 and $75,000 in 2021. Programs that receive donations include Rock to the Future, Girls Rock Philly, Settlement Music School, Musicopia, Beyond the Bars, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Live Connections, and Play on Philly. In addition to the donations directed to music programs for kids, PMF deployed over 330 micro-grants in 2020 and 2021 to local musicians and venue staff struggling as a result of COVID-19.
Evidencing the positive impact on local bands, Jill Ryan of Great Time recalls, “Philly Music Fest was the first music festival Great Time ever played and it felt good to participate in something that's purpose was to uplift fellow up-and-coming acts as well as more established artists.” Great Time played PMF in 2018 and while they are not booked on the 2022 lineup, this year the band is playing Peach Fest as well as headlining Brooklyn Bowl, after playing WXPN’s XPoNential Festival in 2021. “I love that PMF donates proceeds to support local organizations that provide music lessons and opportunities to kids in the area. And the fact that these shows take place in independently owned venues around the city is awesome.”
Tickets for all seven shows of Philly Music Fest’s sixth annual music festival and music industry event will go on sale to the public on June 15, 2022. From October 10 – 15, Philly Music Fest returns for six nights, in six venues with twenty-one artists who consider Philadelphia home. A non-profit organization founded by a local husband and wife team, Greg and Jenn Seltzer, PMF has donated more than $275,000.00 to local musical education programs and artists in need -- after paying all venues and artists to perform at the festival. PMF features Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop, Punk, Bluegrass, Folk, Spoken Word and Americana artists. “Our genre is Philly.”
Philly Music Fest has sold out the last three years. Tickets can be purchased via the festival’s official website or via the venue websites including World Café Live, Johnny Brenda’s, Ardmore Music Hall, MilkBoy, REC Philly and Underground Arts.
This year’s event will host national headliners that have appeared recently at major festivals and venues such as Coachella, Firefly, Bonnaroo, Red Rocks Amphitheater, Riot Fest, Bowery Ballroom, Outside Lands, South By Southwest, The Fillmore, and Newport Folk Festival. Additionally, Philly Music Fest does its homework and focuses on emerging, up and coming bands from Philadelphia. This year’s lineup features Low Cut Connie, Mannequin Pussy, a “To Be Announced” surprise national headliner, Ron Gallo, Screaming Females, Shamir, Empath, Saleka, Electric Candlelight, Lady HD, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Ghosh, Echo Kid, Max Swan, Stereo League, Marielle Kraft, Riverby, The Ire, Justmadnice and Perpetual Motion.
“It's really cool to see how Philly Music Fest has grown,” says Adam Weiner whose band Low Cut Connie returns to PMF as a headliner after playing a much smaller Philly Music Fest in 2018. “They are doing great work and I hope it continues. Music education gives kids a lifeline that they can cling to throughout their lives, and I am very happy to be participating in this festival and echo its mission.”
Founder, curator and producer, Greg Seltzer states, “Each year, Philly Music Fest presents a diverse lineup of artists from across the Philadelphia-region, mining and purposefully mixing genres such as Rock, Punk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Folk and Pop.” Philly Music Fest shows have become noteworthy due to the diverse programming and for booking emerging bands from Philadelphia that, after playing Philly Music Fest, break out nationally and play some of the music industry’s biggest stages. “Philly Music Fest is garnering attention from national publications, as well as agents and music industry professionals around the country - which I think is a testament to the quality of bands we have in Philadelphia and our diverse local music ecosystem.”
“Philly has embraced me immensely," says Shamir. “I've never felt truly a part of a music scene until I moved to Philly which is a huge part of why I moved here. Philly has provided me the space to continue to be inspired while also showing support when it matters. I couldn't ask for a better home or scene. I didn't grow up with music education programs at my disposal. I was an anomaly in my middle school for being able to play guitar because I taught myself despite some of the surrounding schools having a guitar program. My reality shouldn't be the norm so anytime I can help change that, I will.” Shamir will headline at Milkboy, along with the retro Rock of Echo Kid and the Jazz and R&B of Max Swan.
Mannequin Pussy is Philly’s most recent “breakout” band, as they played a critically acclaimed set in April at Coachella and are booked for Firefly in Delaware and Riot Fest in Chicago. “Inspiring new generations of artists is what helps keep music and music scenes alive - the work that PMF is doing is so important to our community and to the people who have been unable to work and perform over the last two years,” enthuses Mannequin Pussy’s Missy Dabice. “Philly is so lucky to have a festival that is so supportive of local talent.”
Philly Music Fest’s impact has grown each year. In 2017, the non-profit donated $15,000 to music education programs. In 2018, the total increased to $25,000, then $40,000 in 2019, $50,000 in 2020 and $75,000 in 2021. Programs that receive donations include Rock to the Future, Girls Rock Philly, Settlement Music School, Musicopia, Beyond the Bars, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Live Connections, and Play on Philly. In addition to the donations directed to music programs for kids, PMF deployed over 330 micro-grants in 2020 and 2021 to local musicians and venue staff struggling as a result of COVID-19.
Evidencing the positive impact on local bands and the trajectory that bands have experienced after playing Philly Music Fest, Jill Ryan of Great Time recalls, “Philly Music Fest was the first music festival Great Time ever played and it felt good to participate in something that's purpose was to uplift fellow up-and-coming acts as well as more established artists.” Great Time played PMF in 2018 and while they are not booked on the 2022 lineup, this year the band is playing Peach Fest as well as headlining Brooklyn Bowl, after playing WXPN’s XPoNential Festival in 2021. “I love that PMF donates proceeds to support local organizations that provide music lessons and opportunities to kids in the area. And the fact that these shows take place in independently owned venues around the city is awesome.”
Singer-songwriter and band leader, Don McCloskey will celebrate the release of his new album The Chaos and The Beauty on July 22nd at Ardmore Music Hall. The songwriter will bring his eight-piece band for a boisterous show at a venue not far from where the Bristol native grew up. “Growing up in the Philly area, we’ve been going to Ardmore shows since it was called Brownie’s – so many great memories there,” says the singer. “Playing the new record with the eight-piece band for friends, family and fans who we haven’t seen in a while has everybody really excited about the show. Chris Kasper and Calder Allen on the bill is the icing on the cake and I think people are going to leave this show on fire.”
The first single from The Chaos and The Beauty, “First in Flight” was prominently featured in the season two finale of Mythic Quest, handpicked by series creator and Don’s longtime collaborator, Rob McElhenney. It has been streamed over one million times and counting.
In addition to being born and raised in the Greater Philadelphia area, Don is a graduate of St. Joe’s Prep and began his musical career selling out shows at The Grape Street Pub, The Point and maintains the longest running string of sold out shows in Tin Angel history. In 2004, he won two Philly Music Awards -- Best Male Entertainer and Best Acoustic Act.
In 2005, the songwriter was tapped by G Love to open the Midwest leg of The Hustle Tour and G Love invited Don to record the demos for his second record at his studio Philadelphonic. Don teamed up with Philadelphia legendary musician and skater Chuck Treece and Tom Spiker to finish his second record, Northern Liberties, in the neighborhood it was named after and the LP’s first single, "This Just In," a rollicking Dylan-esque send up of Bush era America, was tapped by Jaxon at WMMR as a local pick. The song received such overwhelming listener feedback that it became the first local pick to ever be added to regular rotation.
In 2009 Don wrote the Phillies stadium anthem “Unstoppable” for his side project Guerilladelphia featuring G Love, Chuck Treece, Kufie/Kuf Knotz, and who’s who of Philly horn players produced by Phil Nicolo. "Unstoppable" was played across all radio formats in Philly sports, rock, AAA, was performed live on Good Day Philadelphia and Preston and Steve and played at Citizen’s Bank Park at every Phillies home game during the 2009 World Series – which was a surreal and incredible experience for a lifelong fan of his hometown team.
Later that year, McCloskey invited his friends in the cast of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia to sit in at his show in Los Angeles at the Troubadour. It inadvertently turned into the stage performance of the Nightman Cometh and became the fastest selling sold out performance in Troubadour history. The cast toured the show with McCloskey opening including a sold-out Beacon Theater in NY and two sold out performances at the Tower Theater in Philly. The unlikely story is detailed in an article in GQ.
In short, there’s not a venue, radio station, TV station, publication, or musician in Philadelphia that doesn’t have some connection with Don McCloskey and his music.
Inside Hustle is a music industry event gathering critical voices from the Philadelphia music ecosystem in the areas of management, booking, radio, streaming, legal, agency, publicity and social media, studio, production, promotion, festivals and accounting. Emerging musicians and non-musicians aspiring to work in the Philadelphia music industry will gather at World Cafe Live on the afternoon of October 15, 2022, from 12:00 to 3:00 PM. Inside Hustle is a free event organized and produced by Philly Music Fest, a non-profit organization that produces a series of shows featuring Philadelphia musicians at independent venues between October 10th and October 15th. Philly Music Fest is a non-profit that donates proceeds to local music education organizations.
Inside Hustle will begin with an artist panel moderated by Bruce Warren, Assistant General Manager of Programming at WXPN, and Greg Seltzer, Founder and Producer of Philly Music Fest, featuring Adam Weiner (Low Cut Connie), Marisa Dabice (Mannequin Pussy), Bets Charmelus (ILL Fated Natives) and Jill Ryan (GREAT TIME). The artists will discuss the journey from DIY to national touring musicians and, specifically, what local musicians need from the music scene in order to be successful.
The event will then include a series of breakout tables featuring the following experts on topics including studio and production, agencies, management, radio, promoters & talent buyers, publicity, festival producers, legal, accounting & finance, design & visual art, NFTs and Women in Music. Attendees will have the unique opportunity to interact, ask questions, network and listen.
Experts include:
Connor Barwin (Make The World Better), Dan Berkowitz (100x), Sekou Campbell (Culhane Meadows), Jacob Cohen CPA, Michael Eckstein (AllCertified), Jon Hampton (Live Nation), Kevin Horn (Underground Arts), Merrick Jarmulowicz (Ground Control Touring), Wendi Jensen (Women In Music), Todd Mecaughey, (Cambridge Sound Studio), Sara Parker (WMMR), Chris Perella (Ardmore Music Hall), Maggie Poulos (Mixtape Media), Mike Vasilikos (WXPN), John Vettese (WXPN), Christine Wolff (Interscope Records),Tim Zahodski (Better Artists), Hannah Westerman (Avenue West), Jeff Zeigler (Uniform Recording).
In addition to professionals from the Philadelphia region, Inside Hustle has attracted experts from Los Angeles and New York. “The Philly music scene has made incredible strides in the last five or so years, as a bunch of bands are breaking out nationally, but Inside Hustle is uniquely focusing on the support system for musicians. We try and do our part at WXPN, but musicians need a village to succeed," said Bruce Warren. Bands such as The War on Drugs, Kurt Vile, Mt. Joy, the aforementioned Low Cut Connie and Mannequin Pussy, Japanese Breakfast, Lucy Dacus, The Roots and Dr. Dog have emerged from the Philadelphia music community, but Philadelphia has been slower to cultivate the adjacent professions.
“In order to grow a music industry in Philadelphia, we need to aggregate the disparate parts of the scene, facilitate collaboration, educate, and pave a path for non-musicians that want to dedicate their professional life to supporting musicians”, said Greg Seltzer. “We need to create a home in Philadelphia for managers, agents, promoters and publicists, rather than have our people leave for Los Angeles, New York and Nashville.”
People can register for the free event at
www.phillymusicfest.com/insidehustle
(attendance limited to 250 attendees).
Philly Music Fest is proud to announce the identity of a surprise national headliner, Mt. Joy, who will play the first two nights of PMF at Ardmore Music Hall on October 10th and 11th.
"Philly is my home, I grew up in the area and was inspired to be a musician here," says Mt. Joy's Matt Quinn. "I never take for granted the opportunity to play music here. Especially for a cause that will help inspire and give kids in my hometown the tools to create their own music. It’s an honor to be a part of this festival, we’re looking forward to two awesome nights!"
“Mt. Joy cares, they just really care about our community, about other musicians and about music education,” says PMF producer and curator, Greg Seltzer. “This band played Red Rocks, Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, the Mann and the Gorge this year - and yet they agreed to play a small room in support of Philly Music Fest. That level of commitment is rare, we’re so fortunate to have this band in our city.”
A non-profit organization founded by a local husband and wife team, Greg and Jenn Seltzer, PMF has donated more than $275,000.00 to local music education programs and artists in need -- after paying all venues and artists to perform at the festival. PMF features Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop, Punk, Bluegrass, Folk, Spoken Word and Americana artists. “Our genre is Philly.”
Philly Music Fest has sold out the last three years. Tickets can be purchased via the festival’s official website or via the venue websites including World Café Live, Johnny Brenda’s, Ardmore Music Hall, The Dolphin Tavern, REC Philly and Underground Arts.
Philly Music Fest does its homework and focuses on emerging, up and coming bands from Philadelphia as well as national headlining acts. In addition to Mt. Joy, this year’s lineup features Low Cut Connie, Mannequin Pussy, Ron Gallo, Screaming Females, Shamir, Empath, Saleka, Electric Candlelight, Lady HD, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Ghosh, Echo Kid, Max Swan, Stereo League, Marielle Kraft, Riverby, The Ire, Justmadnice and Perpetual Motion.
“It's really cool to see how Philly Music Fest has grown,” says Adam Weiner whose band
Low Cut Connie returns to PMF as a headliner after playing a much smaller Philly Music Fest in 2018. “They are doing great work and I hope it continues. Music education gives kids a lifeline that they can cling to throughout their lives, and I am very happy to be participating in this festival and echo its mission.”
Mannequin Pussy is Philly’s most recent “breakout” band, as they played a critically acclaimed set in April at Coachella and are booked for Firefly in Delaware and Riot Fest in Chicago. “Inspiring new generations of artists is what helps keep music and music scenes alive - the work that PMF is doing is so important to our community and to the people who have been unable to work and perform over the last two years,” enthuses Mannequin Pussy’s Missy Dabice. “Philly is so lucky to have a festival that is so supportive of local talent.”
Philly Music Fest’s impact has grown each year. In 2017, the non-profit donated $15,000 to music education programs. In 2018, the total increased to $25,000, then $40,000 in 2019, $50,000 in 2020 and $75,000 in 2021. Programs that receive donations include Rock to the Future, Girls Rock Philly, Settlement Music School, Musicopia, Beyond the Bars, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Live Connections, and Play on Philly. In addition to the donations directed to music programs for kids, PMF deployed over 330 micro-grants in 2020 and 2021 to local musicians and venue staff struggling as a result of COVID-19.
Find Philly Music Fest Online:
Official: https://phillymusicfest.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PHLMusicFest/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillymusicfest/
Singer-songwriter and band leader, Don McCloskey will celebrate the release of his album The Chaos and The Beauty October 14th at Ardmore Music Hall. This show will be the culmination of a fruitful early fall as the band opened two sold out nights at The Met supporting the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia podcast, the first single, “First In Flight” was added into rotation at WXPN, and they made an in-studio appearance on WMMR’s Preston & Steve Show.
On October 14th, McCloskey will bring his eight-piece band for a boisterous show at a venue not far from where the Bristol native grew up. “Growing up in the Philly area, we’ve been going to Ardmore shows since it was called Brownie’s – so many great memories there,” says the singer. “Playing the new record with the eight-piece band for friends, family, and fans who we haven’t seen in a while has everybody really excited about the show. Chris Kasper on the bill is the icing on the cake and I think people are going to leave this show on fire.”
The first single from The Chaos and The Beauty, “First in Flight” was prominently featured in the season two finale of Mythic Quest, handpicked by series creator and Don’s longtime collaborator, Rob McElhenney. It has been streamed over one million times and counting.
In addition to being born and raised in the Greater Philadelphia area, Don is a graduate of St. Joe’s Prep and began his musical career selling out shows at The Grape Street Pub, The Point and maintains the longest running string of sold out shows in Tin Angel history. In 2004, he won two Philly Music Awards -- Best Male Entertainer and Best Acoustic Act.
In 2005, the songwriter was invited by G Love to open the Midwest leg of The Hustle Tour and to record the demos for Don’s second record at G’s studio, Philadelphonic. Don teamed up with legendary Philadelphia musician and skater Chuck Treece and Tom Spiker to finish the record, Northern Liberties, in the neighborhood it was named after. The LP’s first single, "This Just In" a rollicking Dylan-esque send-up of Bush-era America, was tapped by Jaxon at WMMR as a local pick.The song received such overwhelming listener feedback that it became the first local pick to ever be added to regular rotation.
In 2009 Don wrote the Phillies stadium anthem “Unstoppable” for his side project Guerilladelphia featuring G Love, Chuck Treece, Kufie/Kuf Knotz, and who’s who of Philly horn players produced by Phil Nicolo. "Unstoppable" was played across all radio formats in Philly sports, rock, AAA, was performed live on Good Day Philadelphia and Preston & Steve and played at Citizen’s Bank Park at every Phillies home game during the 2009 World Series – which was a surreal and incredible experience for a lifelong fan of his hometown team.
Later that year, McCloskey invited his friends in the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to sit in at his show in Los Angeles at the Troubadour. It inadvertently turned into the stage performance of the Nightman Cometh and became the fastest selling sold out performance in Troubadour history. The cast toured the show with McCloskey opening including a sold-out Beacon Theater in NY and two sold out performances at the Tower Theater in Philly. The unlikely story is detailed in an article in GQ.
In short, there’s not a venue, radio station, TV station, publication, or musician in Philadelphia that doesn’t have some connection with Don McCloskey and his music.
Don’t Miss Don McCloskey Live with Chris Kasper!
What: Album Release Celebration for The Chaos and The Beauty
Where: Ardmore Music Hall
When: Friday, October 14th Doors at 7:15, Show begins at 8:00 PM
Tickets: Purchase Here.
Fresh off the Eagles win against league rivals, the Dallas Cowboys, and an undefeated season, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Connor Barwin and Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs) announce A Philly Special Christmas due out on December 23rd on Vera Y Records. Recorded at Rittenhouse Soundworks, Silent Partners, and Elm St studio, proceeds from the album will be donated to the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center in Philadelphia.
The seven song LP features classic holiday songs and performances from the aforementioned players as well as Lady Alma, Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra), Rob Hyman (The Hooters), Eric Bazilian (The Hooters), Zach Miller (Dr. Dog), Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs), Eliza Hardy Jones (The War on Drugs), Brandon Beaver (MeWithoutYou), Thomas Hughes (The Spinto Band), Randy Huth (Pissed Jeans), Nick Krill (The Spinto Band, Teen Men), Nasir Dickerson, Kaila Vandever, Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner, and The Silver Ages. Eagles announcer Merrill Reese and players Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Brandon Graham, Haason Reddick, and Jordan Davis all make appearances.
"It's amazing how talented these guys are and cool to see Philly's music and sports worlds come together to create something special for the holidays,” says Barwin. “I'm proud that everyone involved wanted to do something good with this record by donating proceeds to Philadelphia’s Children's Crisis Treatment Center’s annual toy drive to help bring a little joy to families during the holidays."
Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata enjoyed singing together in the locker room and started talking about the possibilities for making a holiday album filled with classic songs they loved from childhood. They floated the idea by former teammate and current Director of Player Development for the Eagles, Connor Barwin. Barwin reached out to his friend Charlie Hall, drummer for Grammy winning rock band, The War on Drugs, who also loved the idea.
The players, Hall and Barwin got together for a summer bonfire armed with guitars and favorite songs. Gathered around the fire, they sang, laughed, talked, and expressed love for their city and making joyful music together. They enjoyed the experience so much; they knew that making a holiday record had to happen. Hall agreed to produce and began to assemble some of the finest Philadelphian musicians to join them in the studio to make this dream a reality.
“Earlier this year, Jason Kelce got it in his mind to make something special for Philly and has assembled a group of teammates (who can REALLY sing, like REALLY) to make a Christmas record,” says Hall. “What began as just a seed of an idea has grown to include all sorts of Philly luminaries both young and old, from The Hooters to the celestial sounds of Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra to The War On Drugs to Lady Alma and everything in between (including members of Dr Dog, The Spinto Band and countless others). We've had some of the most beautiful young Philly players add their heart and spirit - including Nasir Dickerson (tenor sax) and Kalia Vandever (trombone). This is a record that is just absolutely full of JOY.”
“This is going to be something very special that will bring lots of joy to many people, in Philly and beyond,” he continues. “These guys are so sweet. And hilarious. Gentle giants. It is a true snapshot of what makes the Philadelphia community - sports, music, and beyond.”
"It means a lot to me about coming together, sharing stories about our upbringing, and what Christmas was like for each of us growing up,” says Mailata. “I hope we bring people together with this album the same way that it brought us closer together talking about our backgrounds, music and family holidays. And discovering that Lane and Kelce have great voices behind their beards was my favorite part."
“What started out as a fun idea with the intention of raising money for families around the holidays, turned into something much more,” enthuses Kelce. “This project ended up becoming one of the most enjoyable and delightful experiences I’ve ever been a part of. How all of this came together, the people, the music, the joy, was incredible. From our first meeting, you could feel the happiness and energy from everyone, the amount of people who were willing to give their skill, time, and spirit has been inspiring. At some point, we all realized, this is going to be really great, which exceeded any of our expectations going in. But more than that, and I know it’s cheesy, this album really came to embody friendship, joy, and giving, as if the Christmas Spirit had possessed us all. I can’t thank everyone who was involved in creating this enough and am excited to partner and donate proceeds to the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s annual toy drive in Philadelphia. I feel so proud to have been involved!”
In what other city would professional football players get together with prominent musicians to create something out of friendship, love and joy? Only in Philly. Only here in Philly.
A Philly Special Christmas
1. White Christmas
2. Blue Christmas
3. Merry Christmas Baby
4. The Night Before Christmas
5. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
6. Silent Night
7. Santa Clause is Coming to Town
Dreams of Modern Living, Jefferson Berry’s first solo album will arrive on January 27, 2023. The Urban Acoustic Coalition bandleader has produced an album of guitar and vocals that is centered on stories, tales from “these modern times.” The themes of the good love, the bad love and these days of strange that were on display on Double Deadbolt Logic (2020) and Soon! (2021) by Jefferson Berry & the UAC are given clarity on Dreams of Modern Living. “The songs I’m writing convey stories. As much as I love how these work within the Urban Acoustic Coalition jam band thing, I wanted to create and album where the characters and message stood out.”
Berry’s newest offering has some wild characters. Urban scenes take the listener from the wet-brained street urchin in “Sand in My Shoes” to the actual and potential homeless souls in “Sleeping in Public.” The political actors in the “Ballad of Sammy Rodriguez” and “Locks and Guns” offer commentary on issues of social justice. And of romance, Berry sings of adolescent angst in the Elton John/Bernie Taupin penned “Come Down in Time,” the one-night stand in “Ben Arnold’s Puerto Rico,” and the inevitable demise of one of his own loves in “Rendezvous with Destiny.” “Water in the Well” combines a well-researched tale of the James Gang attack on Jefferson's great-great grandfather with the guitar stylings of pure folk. In concert, Jefferson’s storytelling between songs adds color to the people and landscapes within his tunes.
Jefferson Berry is a published and cited historian, but after leaving inner-city teaching he decided to go head-long into his music. Following the band’s appearance at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 2022, Berry went to work on two albums: Dreams of Modern Living and the upcoming Prairie Fire (a Jefferson Berry & the UAC Americana record due out in mid-2023). “Locks and Guns” was the first single serviced to folk radio from Dreams ahead of the album’s release. A version of the song was released by the full band on the 2020 pandemic album, Double Deadbolt Logic. The folk version is supported by a music video that has been nominated for film festival awards. It’s director Ciro Ayala previously worked on the band’s animated video of “We’ll Soon be Together” (the most played single on Soon!). While the video has received over 50,000 views on FaceBook, the response by trolling vigilantes has been remarkable. “I had no idea that I was making such a hot political statement with this song,” says Berry. “Common sense gun reform is just, well, common sense.”
During the filming of “Locks and Guns” with Brian Flanagan, Jefferson though it would be a good use of resources to cut another song. “Come Down in Time” wasn’t really a thought for Dreams, until Brian came up with his psychedelic video presentation of the tune, says Berry. "Most people rightly think of Elton John as a glam-pop star. But in 1970, on Tumbleweed Connection, he was still thought of in the singer- songwriter class of James Taylor and Paul Simon. Folky.”
Jefferson Berry will be playing select dates in support of Dreams of Modern Living including an appearance at NERFA’s 2022 Conference in Asbury Park.
A Philly Special Christmas is excited to announce the release of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” featuring performances from NFL Eagles’ Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson produced by Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs) and executive producer Connor Barwin is out now. This is the first in a series of holiday classic singles to be released every Friday between now and the album’s official release on December 23rd via Vera Y Records. Recorded at Rittenhouse Soundworks, Silent Partners, and Elm St studio, proceeds from the LP will be donated to the Children’s Treatment Crisis Center in Philadelphia.
"It means a lot to me about coming together, sharing stories about our upbringing, and what Christmas was like for each of us growing up,” says Mailata. “I hope we bring people together with this album the same way that it brought us closer together talking about our backgrounds, music and family holidays. And discovering that Lane and Kelce have great voices behind their beards was my favorite part."
Listen to “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” Here.
This summer, Eagles teammates Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Connor Barwin and producer Charlie Hall joined forces to record a A Philly Special Christmas. The seven song LP features classic holiday songs and performances from the aforementioned players as well as Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra), Rob Hyman (The Hooters), Eric Bazilian (The Hooters), Lady Alma, Zach Miller (Dr. Dog), Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs), Eliza Hardy Jones (The War on Drugs), Brandon Beaver (MeWithoutYou), Thomas Hughes (The Spinto Band), Randy Huth (Pissed Jeans), Nick Krill (The Spinto Band, Teen Men), Nasir Dickerson, Kaila Vandever, Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner, and The Silver Ages. Eagles announcer Merrill Reese and players Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Brandon Graham, Haason Reddick, and Jordan Davis all make appearances.
"It's amazing how talented these guys are and cool to see Philly's music and sports worlds come together to create something special for the holidays,” says Barwin. “I'm proud that everyone involved wanted to do something good with this record by donating proceeds to the annual toy drive at the Children's Crisis Treatment Center in Philadelphia to help bring a little joy to families during the holidays.”
In what other city would professional football players get together with professional musicians to create something so joyful out of friendship and love? Only in Philly. Only here in Philly.
Singer, songwriter and guitarist, Alexis Cunningham, will release her retro-rock with a twist infused, original holiday song, “Let it Feel Like Christmas” this Friday. Co-written and produced by Eric Bazilian (The Hooters), the duo will debut the song live at NBC and PECO's Tree Lighting ceremony at the Delaware River waterfront on December 2nd.
“I didn’t just want to make another Christmas cover song,” says Alexis in response to being asked to perform at the tree lighting ceremony hosted by Philadelphia’s NBC affiliate. “This is a song about letting yourself believe in the magic of the holiday (like when you were a kid) and escaping the outside world, even if it’s just for one night.”
“Another thing about this song is that the track began as another song with a completely different lyric (not a Christmas song),” she continues. “We ended up not using it for the original idea, but I had the thought that it could really work for a Christmas song.”
“Let It Feel Like Christmas’ was originally switched at birth into a family that didn’t want to raise a Christmas song, but the mistake was quickly rectified, and the song can now be enjoyed for generations to come at this holly jolly time of year,” enthuses producer and co-writer Bazilian.
Alexis Cunningham’s music is all about changing your perspective from negative to positive. Recently the songstress appeared on NBC’s American Song contest performing her original music alongside artists like Allen Stone, Macy Gray, and Jewel. This fall, she and collaborator Eric Bazilian performed with Low Cut Connie at World Café Live during Philly Music Fest.
Originally from West Virginia, and now a Philadelphia local she incorporates folk style storytelling in an unexpected way as her music incorporates elements of progressive pop, psychedelic, folk, soul, funk and indie rock. Alexis frequently collaborates with Philadelphia's favorite frontman, The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian, who's also known for penning multiple hits, including Joan Osbourne's "One of Us" and songs on Cyndi Lauper's breakthrough album, She's So Unusual.
Alexis plans to release new music in early 2023 and will be performing select dates throughout the year.
Songsmith Rachel Garlin premieres the video for her latest offering, “Winter Fuel (Good King Wenceslas Revisited)” via Americana Highways – an original adaptation of the holiday classic, “Good King Wenceslas.” “Who doesn't need a little more brotherly/sisterly/siblingly love in their city?” asks Garlin. “Winter Fuel’ is based on a fleeting moment of connection between humans in a city.”
"This is a fantastic imaginative adaptation of the traditional song to a contemporary vision, because, for one thing, Garlin really puts her own signature style on it, while balancing the familiar aspects of the original," raves Americana Highways. "But she really excels at bringing the song’s message into focus on a stark reality of today. Scenes of comfort in a snow-covered cabin, homeless encampment tents and explaining poverty to an inquisitive young child. Winter fuel. Cardboard boxes. Our neighbors. Longing for connection. An exchange of flower drawings. In the world of re-visioned holiday songs, this one is two thumbs up."
Produced by Garlin’s frequent collaborator, Johnny Flaugher (Larkin Poe, Rita Wilson, Joseph Arthur, Hailey Reinhart) “Winter Fuel” features performances by Garlin (guitar, vocals), Flaugher (bass), David Levita (guitar), Deron Johnson (keys), Beth Goodfellow (drums and vocals) and the San Francisco Boys Chorus (vocals). The video finds Garlin playing acoustic guitar next to a wood burning stove. Soon, her five year old is there peering out the window and drawing. By the time the bands kicks in, we are taking in scenes of the city along with images of nature. The songwriter responds to questions from her little one: “What’s that crowd of tents I see? Is that someone’s dwelling?” And these inquisitive questions drive forth a song that holds no answers but offers a portal to human connection nonetheless.
“On wintery holiday nights, my mom would bring out the caroling books — homemade stapled booklets of handwritten lyrics — and we’d step into the crisp night with a chorus of neighbors and sing up and down the street,” recalls Garlin. "Good King Wenceslas’ was a favorite, not because we followed the story, but because we got to sing triumphantly about the mysterious Feast of Stephen and deliver lyrics like hence and dinted (with feeling)! It was a good time.”
“Recently, I was rummaging through the attic looking for twinkle lights, only to find the handwritten lyric booklets from my childhood. I picked out ‘Good King Wenceslas’ on guitar and my five-year-old immediately started acting out the song. Three generations of girls/women singing 'Good King Wenceslas' was framed by our San Francisco neighborhood passing by."
"I slowed it way down and created a refrain so she could sing along. The verses became a modern re-telling of the carol, inspired by a fleeting interaction with an artist in our city. And so became’ Winter Fuel’, an original adaptation, derived from the 1853 song. I invite you to sing along with us too.”
Rachel Garlin will release a new LP in 2023 and will perform select dates throughout the year.
Due to an overwhelming demand, A Philly Special Christmas is pleased to announce that fans will be able to order a third pressing of the limited-edition vinyl on December 16th, for 24 hours only via the official website. Following the two minute sellout of the second batch of vinyl on December 9th, a third exclusive round on green vinyl will be available for purchase on December 16th at 9:00 AM EST via the official website. Proceeds from the third round of pressings will be donated to Philadelphia area charities in addition to the pledged $100k+ to Children’s Crisis Treatment Center of Philadelphia.
While this round of albums will not be pressed and in mailboxes in time for the holidays, fans will receive an exclusive postcard as a placeholder for the LP until it arrives which can be used as an “it’s on the way” gift for loved ones. Regardless of vinyl status, everyone will be able to stream the entire LP on December 23rd.
A Philly Special Christmas makes a new single available each Friday following Thanksgiving leading up to the album’s release on December 23rd. Currently, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Blue Christmas, Merry Christmas Baby are all available and on December 16th, expect a unique version of the timeless, “Silent Night.”
“What started out as a fun idea with the intention of raising money for families around the holidays, turned into something much more,” enthuses Kelce. “This project ended up becoming one of the most enjoyable and delightful experiences I’ve ever been a part of. How all of this came together, the people, the music, the joy, was incredible. From our first meeting, you could feel the happiness and energy from everyone, the amount of people who were willing to give their skill, time, and spirit has been inspiring. At some point, we all realized, this is going to be really great, which exceeded any of our expectations going in. But more than that, and I know it’s cheesy, this album really came to embody friendship, joy, and giving, as if the Christmas Spirit had possessed us all”
This summer, Eagles teammates Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Executive Producer Connor Barwin and producer Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs) joined forces to record a A Philly Special Christmas. The seven song LP features classic holiday songs and performances from the aforementioned players as well as Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra), Rob Hyman (The Hooters), Eric Bazilian (The Hooters), Zach Miller (Dr. Dog), Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs), Eliza Hardy Jones (The War on Drugs), Brandon Beaver (MeWithoutYou), Thomas Hughes (The Spinto Band), Randy Huth (Pissed Jeans), Nick Krill (The Spinto Band, Teen Men), Nasir Dickerson, Kaila Vandever, Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner, and The Silver Ages. Eagles announcer Merrill Reese and players Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Brandon Graham, Haason Reddick, and Jordan Davis all make appearances.
"It means a lot to me about coming together, sharing stories about our upbringing, and what Christmas was like for each of us growing up,” says Mailata. “I hope we bring people together with this album the same way that it brought us closer together talking about our backgrounds, music and family holidays. And discovering that Lane and Kelce have great voices behind their beards was my favorite part."
"It's amazing how talented these guys are and cool to see Philly's music and sports worlds come together to create something special for the holidays,” says Barwin. “I'm proud that everyone involved wanted to do something good with this record. We were able to donate over $100k to Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and we are excited to raise even more money for charities here in Philadelphia.
A Philly Special Christmas is available for digital preorder and a limited pressing on vinyl is available to order via A Philly Special Christmas’ website.
Dreams of Modern Living, Jefferson Berry’s first solo album will arrive on January 27, 2023. The Urban Acoustic Coalition bandleader has produced an album of guitar and vocals that is centered on stories, tales from “these modern times.” The themes of the good love, the bad love and these days of strange that were on display on Double Deadbolt Logic (2020) and Soon! (2021) by Jefferson Berry & the UAC are given clarity on Dreams of Modern Living. “The songs I’m writing convey stories. As much as I love how these work within the Urban Acoustic Coalition jam band thing, I wanted to create and album where the characters and message stood out.”
Berry’s newest offering has some wild characters. Urban scenes take the listener from the wet-brained street urchin in “Sand in My Shoes” to the actual and potential homeless souls in “Sleeping in Public.” The political actors in the “Ballad of Sammy Rodriguez” and “Locks and Guns” offer commentary on issues of social justice. And for romance, Berry sings of adolescent angst in the Elton John / Bernie Taupin penned “Come Down in Time,” the one-night stand in Ben Arnold’s “Puerto Rico,” and the inevitable demise of one of his own loves in “Rendezvous with Destiny.” “Water in the Well” combines a well-researched tale of the James Gang attack on Jefferson's great-great grandfather with the guitar stylings of pure folk. In concert, Jefferson’s storytelling between songs adds color to the people and landscapes within his tunes.
Jefferson Berry is a published and cited historian, but after leaving inner-city teaching he decided to go head-long into his music. Following the UAC’s appearance at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 2022, Berry went to work on two albums: Dreams of Modern Living and the upcoming Prairie Fire (a Jefferson Berry & the UAC Americana record due out in mid-2023).
“Locks and Guns” was the first single serviced to folk radio from Dreams ahead of the album’s release. A version of the song was released by the full band on the 2020 pandemic album, Double Deadbolt Logic. The folk version is supported by a music video that has been nominated for several film festival awards. It’s director Ciro Ayala previously worked on the band’s animated video of “We’ll Soon be Together” (the most played single on Soon!). While the video has received over 50,000 views on Facebook, the response by trolling vigilantes has been remarkable. “I had no idea that I was making such a hot political statement with this song,” says Berry. “It’s become a hot mix of social justice and social media.”
During the filming of “Locks and Guns” with Brian Flanagan, Jefferson thought it would be a good use of studio resources to cut another song. “Come Down in Time” wasn’t really a thought for Dreams, until Brian came up with his psychedelic video presentation of the tune, says Berry. "Most people rightly think of Elton John as a glam pop star. But in 1970, on Tumbleweed Connection, he was still thought of in the singer-songwriter class of James Taylor and Paul Simon. Folky.” Both advance singles have been well received by folk radio programmers
Jefferson Berry will be playing select dates in support of Dreams of Modern Living including an appearance at the 2023 Folk Alliance International conference in Kansas City and a mid-summer west coast tour.
Rock n Roll outfit, Chestnut Grove will headline World Café Live on February 3rd alongside supporting acts, Stella Ruze and Brick Nova. The band will continue their “All For You” winter tour with dates in upstate New York, Wilkes Barre, PA, Indiana, Appleton, WI and Virginia and more dates will be added. The video for “All For You,” will arrive in conjunction with their tour – the song appears on the upcoming LP, Can’t Stand The Music,” which will be released this summer.
2022 was a banner year for Chestnut Grove. In addition to the release of singles “Can’t Stand the Music” and “All For You,” the band made their inaugural appearance at WXPN’s 2022 Xponential Music Festival and WXPN’s Free at Noon concert series.
WXPN raved, “Chestnut Grove opens up day three of XPNFest with a bang… the band packed every minute of their performance with energy.”
Chestnut Grove’s 2021 release, The Album was produced by Derek Chafin (AKA “Chestnut Grove’s sixth man”) and features singles “Golden Age,” “Ain't Got Nobody,” “Newspaper Hats,” and fan favorite “I Know Somebody.” They celebrated the album’s release with a sold-out show at Ardmore Music Hall (virtually streamed via Nugs.net), followed by appearances on Radio 104.5, 88.5 XPN’s Key Sessions and Jam in the Van.
“If people can relate, jam out to it and it reaches the people who need it, then mission accomplished for me,” says guitarist/pianist/singer/songwriter, Dee Gerhart. “Bands still exist. The idea of getting your friends who have instruments together and making noise, isn’t dead. It is possible to stick through good and hard times, and still love what you do and who you do it with. I hope that our music will inspire more people to create and relate. Music is the universal communicator. It's healing and for everyone.”
Don’t Miss Chestnut Grove Live in 2023!
February 3rd
World Café Live
Philadelphia, PA
w/ Stella Ruze and Brick Nova
Tickets here
February 11th
Waterhole
Saranac Lake, NY
w/ West End Blend
Tickets here
February 24th
The Southern Cafe and Music Hall
Charlottesville, NY
w/ Disco Risqué
Tickets here
March 3rd
River Street Jazz Café
Wilkes Barre, PA
w/ Disco Risqué
Tickets here
March 4th
The Range
Ithaca, NY
w/ Disco Risqué
Tickets here
March 21st
People’s Brewing Company
Lafayette, IN
Tickets here
March 25th
Appleton Beer Factory
Appleton, WI
Tickets here
April 14th
North Street Press Club
Farmville, VA
Tickets here
A Philly Special Christmas, the holiday album collaboration between Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata, produced by Charlie Hall and executive produced by Connor Barwin, will donate $250,000 to fulfill all the classroom wish lists at charter and public schools, grades PreK - 12th, in the city of Philadelphia via DonorsChoose. Classrooms will receive funds for items including but not limited to basic supplies, fine art supplies, books for libraries, sporting equipment, snacks, and technology. In December, $250,000 was donated to the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center.
"We wanted to find another organization that fit the original goal of A Philly Special Christmas, which was to provide gifts for kids in need around the holidays,” says Kelce. “DonorsChoose is an organization that teachers can utilize to help fulfill their classroom wish lists. Philadelphia schoolteachers face many obstacles -- one major one being classroom funding that our kids desperately need. Teachers often have to spend their own money to get the items their students need, which they often cannot and should not have to do. We felt DonorsChoose would be a great way to impact as many Philadelphia children as possible by fulfilling wish lists of teachers across the city to help facilitate a more enjoyable and efficient learning environment. We are overjoyed with the amount of support this album received and we never imagined being able to make an impact of this size. We are so grateful to everyone who purchased a copy of the album.”
"As the parent of a Philadelphia public high schooler, and husband of a charter school counselor (and former schoolteacher myself), I have seen firsthand the need for the materials necessary for teachers to do their jobs and for students to thrive,” says producer Charlie Hall. “DonorsChoose is the perfect partner for ensuring that our hardworking teachers can be creative and have all the tools they need to help create that spark for students."
Additionally, the remaining balance of earnings from A Philly Special Christmas will be distributed amongst twenty-three different organizations in Greater Philadelphia including Ars Nova Workshop, Bartrams Garden, Beyond The Bars, Boys and Girls Club Camden, Canine Partners For Life, Center For Black Educator Development, Chester Children's Choir, Food Bank of Delaware, Germantown Friends School (non-tuition student financial aid), Herb it Forward, Honor Flight Philadelphia, The Jewish Federation of Philadelphia, Philly Goat Project, Philly Thruce, Philadelphia Children Alliance, Prevention Point, The Philadelphia Midwife Collective, Mighty Writers, MTWB, Nationalities Service Center, Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Phila, Inc, Unity Community Center, World Cafe Live, and The Women's Coalition For Empowerment Inc.
DonorsChoose is the leading way to give to public schools. Since 2000, 5,666,841 people and partners have contributed $1,415,458,332 to support 2,524,616 teacher requests for classroom resources and experiences. As the most trusted crowdfunding platform for teachers, donors, and district administrators alike, DonorsChoose vets each request, ships the funded resources directly to the classroom, and provides thank yous and reporting to donors and school leaders. Charity Navigator and GuideStar have awarded DonorsChoose, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, their highest ratings for transparency and accountability.
This summer, Eagles teammates Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, Connor Barwin and producer Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs) joined forces to record a A Philly Special Christmas. The seven song LP features classic holiday songs and performances from the aforementioned players as well as Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra), Rob Hyman (The Hooters), Eric Bazilian (The Hooters), Zach Miller (Dr. Dog), Robbie Bennett (The War on Drugs), Eliza Hardy Jones (The War on Drugs), Brandon Beaver (MeWithoutYou), Thomas Hughes (The Spinto Band), Randy Huth (Pissed Jeans), Nick Krill (The Spinto Band, Teen Men), Nasir Dickerson, Kaila Vandever, Mike “Slo-Mo” Brenner, and The Silver Ages. Eagles announcer Merrill Reese and players Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, Brandon Graham, Haason Reddick, and Jordan Davis all make appearances.
A Philly Special Christmas was released on December 23, 2022 digitally and its limited pressing on vinyl sold out immediately. The record reached four top ten spots on various Billboard Music Charts including #1 on the Compilation Albums chart.
Chestnut Grove premiere the psychedelic and soulful video for their latest single, “All For You,” via Glide Magazine which will be released on the band’s upcoming LP, Can’t Stand the Music. The band is currently on tour with upcoming dates in upstate NY, Wisconsin, Wikes-Barre, PA amongst others. “It was so great to be in this video- the crew was amazing,” says singer/guitarist/drummer, Dee Gerhart. “It didn’t feel like work at all, and overall, I think we captured everything they were going for visually. Not only does it look great, but I think it represents us, as a band, how we are; a quirky group who clearly spend a lot of time together and love one another.”
Glide raves, “recently, the band dropped a new single titled ’All For You,’ which provides a glimpse at what we can expect from them in the coming year. Today Glide is offering up an exclusive premiere of the song’s music video. Filled with colorful imagery that captures the song’s soaring psychedelia-meets-R&B, the video captures the spirit of this band in a way that is sunny and laid back. Like a cross between the Alabama Shakes and Tame Impala, “All For You” marries kaleidoscopic indie pop and rock with infectiously soulful vocals courtesy of Dee Gerhart. One can only imagine that this tune would be well at home in what must be a supremely entertaining live show.”
2022 was a banner year for Chestnut Grove. In addition to the release of singles “Can’t Stand the Music” and “All For You,” the band made their inaugural appearance at WXPN’s 2022 Xponential Music Festival and WXPN’s Free at Noon concert series.
WXPN raved, “Chestnut Grove opens up day three of XPNFest with a bang… the band packed every minute of their performance with energy.”
Chestnut Grove’s 2021 release, The Album was produced by Derek Chafin (AKA “Chestnut Grove’s sixth man”) and features singles “Golden Age,” “Ain't Got Nobody,” “Newspaper Hats,” and fan favorite “I Know Somebody.” They celebrated the album’s release with a sold-out show at Ardmore Music Hall (virtually streamed via Nugs.net), followed by appearances on Radio 104.5, 88.5 XPN’s Key Sessions and Jam in the Van.
“If people can relate, jam out to it and it reaches the people who need it, then mission accomplished for me,” says guitarist/pianist/singer/songwriter, Dee Gerhart. “Bands still exist. The idea of getting your friends who have instruments together and making noise, isn’t dead. It is possible to stick through good and hard times, and still love what you do and who you do it with. I hope that our music will inspire more people to create and relate. Music is the universal communicator. It's healing for everyone.”
Don’t Miss Chestnut Grove Live!
February 24th
The Southern Cafe and Music Hall
Charlottesville, NY
w/ Disco Risqué
March 3rd
River Street Jazz Café
Wilkes Barre, PA
w/ Disco Risqué
March 4th
The Range
Ithaca, NY
w/ Disco Risqué
March 21st
People’s Brewing Company
Lafayette, IN
March 25th
Appleton Beer Factory
Appleton, WI
April 14th
North Street Press Club
Farmville, VA
Singer, songwriter and guitarist, Jay Carlis will release his sophomore solo album, Alive in the Radio Age, on March 24th. That night, he will celebrate the album’s debut at 118 N. with his band and will be supported by producer, Ross Bellenoit. The follow up to Carlis’ acclaimed 2020 LP Here We Are, features eight original Americana tunes filled with rich images and emotionally resonate lyrics. The rawness of his vocals paired with Bellenoit’s arrangements evoke the sonic styles of Jason Isbell and Robert Hunter – two of the songwriter’s greatest influences.
Alive in the Radio Age features performances from area musicians including Bellenoit (guitars, banjo, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals), Andy Keenan (pedal steel), Charlie Muench (bass), Chuck Staab (drums), Jaron Olevsky (piano, backing vocals), Andrea Weber (cello), and Nicole Tecce (backing vocals). The album was recorded by Doug Raus, mixed by Jeff Hiatt, mastered by Sean Svadlenak, executive produced by Jay Levin all at Philadelphia’s Turtle Studios.
“Alive in the Radio Age is a collection of songs following up on the themes of my last record Here We Are: coming of age, deepening feelings of love and connection, and coming to terms with a changing world,” Carlis says. “About half were written during those strange days of pandemic solitude. ‘Your Shadow’ is a collaboration with a good friend Jill Mclaughlin. ‘Backwards’ was written in February of 2020,” he continues, “I'm going backwards. Everything's falling apart… I didn't really know what was about to happen, but the song did.”
Alive in the Radio Age kicks off with the driving “Your Shadow” and finds Carlis declaring “I’m in love with your shadow,” alongside Nicole Tecce’s soaring backing vocals and underscored with ringing, reverberating guitars. “Backwards” ruminates on signals crossed, mixed communications and everything falling apart, while the gentle piano and banjo of “Katrina” embrace the natural changes and evolution that come along with long term romantic relationships. The “Ghost of Thomas Wolfe” haunts the songwriter, “Such a Mystery” chronicles a long ago moment out west, and the pedal steel of “Concrete and Stone” finds the songwriter struggling with overwhelming emotions and the inability to express his deepest fears. Of ‘Volcanoes and Whales,’ the songwriter explains, “[it was] written probably 25 years ago by my friend Vanessa Zuber. We used to sing it together when I lived in Tucson, AZ, and I've always kept it close. It is here recorded for the first time.”
The album closes with the sparse “John Perry Barlow” -- a letter to the Grateful Dead lyricist asking him how he’d handle the contemporary political unrest in America with several lyrical and sonic winks to one of the songwriter’s favorite bands.
Jay Carlis hails from the Lehigh Valley and after a stint in his mother’s musical theater troupe, he began songwriting as a teenager. After taking an extended break from songwriting as an adult, Carlis found himself called back to his guitar and notebook and the songs came spilling out. The joy and heartache of marriage and the challenge and celebration of raising young children inform the emotions and storytelling of Carlis’s return to the craft. His songwriting style developed inspired by the great modern songwriters like Jason Isbell, Josh Ritter, Drive-by-Truckers and Hiss Golden Messenger. In 2017, he was a finalist in the Philadelphia Songwriters Project competition.
Jay Carlis’s musical foundation is steeped in Americana and Folk from his many years covering Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan tunes. As a high-schooler, the songwriter was part of a roving pack of like-minded, guitar-playing kids who sang around campfires at Bear Rocks on the Appalachian Trail, on benches in the Allentown Rose Gardens at night and parking lots of Grateful Dead and Phish shows.
In addition to his solo work, Carlis is lead singer and principal songwriter for The Barrel Fires, a Philly-based rock band. The Barrel Fires have released two EPs, their self-titled debut recorded live at Range Recording Studios in Ardmore and Run Around Years, recorded at Turtle Studios produced by Ross Bellenoit and Doug Raus. The band has performed in various venues throughout the region including the Haverford Music Festival, Milkboy Philly and 118 North in Wayne. Jay Carlis lives just outside of Philadelphia with his family.
Don’t Miss Jay Carlis’s Album Release Celebration at 118 N on March 24th. Purchase tickets here.
Singer-songwriters and twin brothers, Rich and Rob Kwait, have performed as Cabin Dogs since the early 2000s and will release their latest LP, On The Creek, May 12th. The thirteen song album is the duo’s sixth full length release and was recorded in a cabin between Lake Cayuga and Lake Seneca in upstate New York. Based in the Greater Philadelphia area, the brothers have escaped to the same house in this secluded location every six months or so over a three-year period (including the pandemic) to work on the music that became On The Creek. “The songs on this record have a bittersweet quality. There's darkness, but never a loss of hope” explains Rob. “There’s also a theme of keeping it simple… that life might be tough, but you just gotta get home for supper time.”
“Usually, we need to get away to create as we find that it not only helps us focus, and hash things out in our own way, but it also solidifies the batch of songs,” Rob says. “We feel invested in the songs, as they embody the experience of leaving our day to day lives. There’s a mind-trick at play. For the time we are away, we can think of ourselves as different people or different versions of ourselves. It helps us create and inhabit the characters of the songs."
On The Creek was produced by the Kwait Brothers and features performances from drummer Ron DiSilvestro, pedal and lap steel player, Isaac Stanford, mandolin player, Adam Monaco, pianist David Streim, keyboardist John Hildenbrand and vocalist, Christina Kubiak. Rich Kwait is responsible for most of the lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion, piano and organ, while Rob handles vocals, bass, banjo and percussion. The album was recorded at the Bee House on Taughannock Creek (Trumansburg, NY) and at The Cabin (Merion Station, PA) with mixing by Ron DiSilvestro of RDS Music, and mastering by Phil Nicolo of Studio 4.
Of On the Creek, Rob explains, “There is a lot of underlying sentiments of loneliness and yearning and time slipping away in these songs... of mortality and do-over. Mid-life themes where you are looking back but still looking forward, kind of caught in the middle. We try to dress the songs in pleasant sounds and colors, but there's some darkness and dread mixed in.”
On The Creek kicks off with the upbeat and contemplative, “Everybody Loves the Sun.” “I think the music evokes the open land,” says Rich. "It's a feeling of freedom, but there's always a darkness looming. The sun does go down and lightness does turn dark."
The gentle “Grover” is uplifted with harmonica, banjo, lap steel and the brothers’ backing harmonies. “The end is a promise to yourself or perhaps to your love that if you have the chance again, you’ll do it right. You won’t fool around.”
“Creekside Woman” evokes Harvest era Neil Young. “Ironically, when I listen to this song now, I don’t think it’s about a woman at all,” says Rich. “For me it’s about the creek itself and how you might love it and it loves you back when you come see her. It wasn’t written with that in mind but sometimes, another meaning reveals itself later.”
“Wolves” is a country-tinged folk-rock song inspired by a family of foxes living by the creek. “It’s about the power of having someone by your side, even when things get tough” explains Rich.
The brothers love of the Grateful Dead shines through on “Make it On Time” – a song “about taking stock, wondering if it’s too late to change or feel young again and ultimately relying on faith and love to get you through doubt and despair.”
As Rob sings, "the skies are getting dark on the countryside, but I can find my way here back to you."
“Rolling Over Me” and “M. Moon” both explore different types of love. The former of romantic love seen through the trappings of daily life, and the latter of the newness and hope renewed when springtime rolls around each year.
“I Believe in Something” is a slightly whimsical commentary on what happens when there’s a lack of trust, while “Country Space,” sets a scene, "like a painting," says Rich, “and puts a character in there. Perhaps the guy feels restless, torn between the idea of finding something better and embracing the beauty of his home and the folks he loves.”
The gentle and sparse “Sunsetter,” conveys a sense of longing for a love that's far away or maybe at risk of leaving too soon. “Suppertime” attempts to help a troubled friend by reminding them of simple things in life and “Kitchen Door” wonders if an unplanned visit may be the way to a potential love interest’s heart.
The album closes with the driving “Indian Fort” – named for a road near the upstate cabin. “As you can imagine there was probably once a Native American fort or house located off this road,” says Rich. “The song turns into a tale about a guy lost on the road who’s taken in by a girl and falls in love.
A lost Native American spirit appears signifying that their love is true. The tag of the song is a reflection on the project itself, and how the songs call to you and ultimately lead you safely home."
Based outside of Philadelphia and upstate New York, Cabin Dogs blends original American country roots with 70s grooves. Led by twin brothers, Rich and Rob, who got their start listening to Pink Floyd and the Grateful Dead while playing wiffle ball in front of their parent’s house, Cabin Dogs has released five records (including two under the Kwait Brothers Band) and have played stages that include Newport Folk Festival and Philadelphia Folk Festival. They will play select dates in support of On The Creek.
Don’t Miss Cabin Dogs Live!
May 21 The Music Salon Presented by Andrea Clearfield Philadelphia, PA
June 3 Bryn Mawr Concert Series at the Gazebo Bryn Mawr, PA*
June 24 Battleship NJ Craft Brewers Festival Camden, NJ
August 1 White’s Road Park Concert Series Lansdale, PA
*supporting Lucy Kaplansky
Multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and songwriter, Charlie Hall, will release his debut solo album, Invisible Ink, on May 12th via El Triángulo Records. The nine-song LP explores lush, entrancing, and hypnotic cinematic soundscapes that feature performances from artists and friends from all over the globe. The title of each song evokes a physical place that inspired its composition. Invisible Ink was written by Hall, produced together with Quinn Lamont Luke, and is one of the inaugural releases on Luke’s El Triángulo imprint.
In addition to Hall, musicians lending their talent to the album include Chicago’s James Elkington (Tweedy, Joan Shelley, Steve Gunn), Sweden’s Thomas Hedlund (Phoenix), Norway-based Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie), Richmond’s Brian Jones (Slang Sanctuary, Agents Of Good Roots) and Daniel Clarke (k.d. lang), LA’s Frally Hynes (Venus & the Moon) and Crisanta Baker (Lo Moon), North Carolina-based Rosali Middleman, Montreal’s Andrew Barr (The Barr Brothers, Feist, The Slip), and hometown collaborators Dan Matz (Windsor for the Derby), James Lavino (Fellwalker), and of course The War On Drugs family - including Dave Hartley, Robbie Bennett, and Eliza Hardy Jones.
“What started out as a very solitary process, ended up being an exercise in love, generosity, and collaboration,” says Hall. “Each song began as a feeling, and I would lay out the harmonic palette, modal structure, and form. I wanted each tune to be its own little sonic universe and then see what it is that connects everything.”
“Throughout my entire life, music has been the connective tissue of my relationships,” he continues. “For as long as I can remember, going back to elementary school, my favorite thing to do every year would be to put a band together for the battle of the bands - to pick tunes, to get to know people in a new way through jamming. To this day one of my favorite things to do is to bring people together in the name of music. I’m endlessly fascinated by group dynamics and harmony - in music and in life. Harmony is about combinations and vibrations. Vibrations of sound."
“Once these songs got into the hands of trusted collaborators/loved ones, suddenly, those vibrations permutated and everything was in vivid technicolor. Not totally unlike when that house that was once in Kansas lands and you see the door open for the first time. And to have had the opportunity to bring nine different combinations of people who have encouraged and inspired me throughout my life to help me see these tunes gestate has been a dream.”
Listen to Invisible Ink Here.
Presale Purchase Link Here.
Invisible Ink kicks off with the reverb drenched groove of “Montcalm.” “When I lived in San Francisco (on Montcalm Street), the sun would pour in through the windows of our apartment every afternoon, creating the warmest glow you could imagine,” explains Hall. “I was getting really into open tunings at the time and this song was an expansion of a figure that I would play in that light almost like a mantra.”
The driving “First & First” takes its name and vibe from Hall’s time in the NYC recording studio working on the album’s initial tracks, and is followed by the haunting “Midas Bus to Tromsø.” “When working on “Mystic, CT,” Chris Walla made this beautiful tape loop from fragments of the song, and I was so blown away that I used it as the basis of this track. “Midas Bus to Tromsø” and the subsequent Rhodes piano-inspired, “Mystic, CT” are sonic bookends.
The electronic drumbeat of “Meet Me at Fagan’s” is uplifted by the steady rhythm of Hall’s acoustic guitar. “Robbie Bennett and I had an epic day in Sheffield a few years back running around with Richard Hawley’s crew. After seeing all the sites - Truelove’s Gutter, Cole’s Corner, Hollow Meadows, we ended up having an incredible hang at Fagan’s, Richard’s hometown local. This song is all about friendship and lifting each other up. The players on this song - Robbie, James (Elkington), Tony (Goddess, of Papas Fritas) - these are a few of my favorite people in the world.”
“Saint Albans” was born after a walk through the garden block behind Hall’s house in Philadelphia (the same one from The Sixth Sense) and “North Henry” grew out of the songwriter’s love of the timbre found on the CR-78 drum machine and the Yamaha CP-70 piano. “To me it’s got one of the most evocative tones. I love using delays to take a pattern and turn it into something new.”
Hall began composing “Crockett’s Cove” in the woods on a family vacation to Deer Isle, ME. Surrounded by the beauty of the natural world, the songwriter enthuses, “Daniel Clarke’s B-3 gave the song some real grit, and then the dream team rhythm section of Dave Hartley and Thomas Hedlund took this to a place I never even dreamed of.”
The album concludes with the ethereal, “Tamarama.” “This was the last one to come about. I had just gotten a Strat, which is a wildly different instrument than a Telecaster or a Jazzmaster. I have developed this sort of ‘poor man’s Harold Budd’ signal chain with my piano, and I wanted to put those two flavors into a song to convey the feeling of buoyancy and warmth. I ended up locking in on this groove and to be honest, would be happy to make an entire record of this one jam. Dave, Dan, and Frally put their spirits on there and helped to make this my favorite song on the record.”
“Charlie and I have been friends and musical collaborators for over 20 years,” says co-producer and El Triángulo label head, Quinn Lamont Luke. “It always seemed a bit strange to me that someone who is so talented, so musical, and someone capable of playing multiple instruments well had never made their own, original music. Knowing Charlie, I had an instinct that he just needed the right time and opportunity to feel good about going for it. I wanted to provide that for him. As anyone who knows Charlie well knows, Charlie is a ‘giver,’ always doing what he can to help others out and create those same types of 'right times' and 'opportunities.”
“The timing corresponded with my own desire to step into a role as a producer more, as the destination/retreat center/recording studio in Mexico that my wife and I had been building was on the horizon of being a reality,” continues Luke. “This is the birthing of a new musical dimension of a long-time multi-instrumentalist and supporting cast member. You’re witnessing the unfolding of a fresh creative spirit!”
“This record is a series of conversations between friends," says Hall. “I hope the music can transport listeners to some of the places that inspired these songs and gave them their titles and communicate how those places and my memories of them make me feel: pensive, pastoral, adventurous, radiating warmth. I want this music to be the kind that listeners want to make their own, connecting them with their own special places and feelings and times, soundtracks to their own stories. I want it to be generous. One of the things that I’ve learned is the realization that in order to write songs, you simply just need to try.”
Charlie Hall is a Grammy-winning artist who is a seminal member of The War On Drugs and The Silver Ages, and producer of the 2022 Billboard-charting album, A Philly Special Christmas. He has led multiple bands through thoughtful and faithful recreations of some of the most difficult music Miles Davis ever produced. He has backed Tommy Guerrero, Windsor For The Derby, Jens Lekman and a myriad singer-songwriters, has sat in on innumerable jam sessions, and has done it all with panache, generosity and positivity.
He will play select dates in celebration of Invisible Ink, will perform with The War On Drugs and The Silver Ages, and continue to orchestrate musical collaborations, wherever and whenever they may be found.
Quinn Lamont Luke has collaborated and worked with an extended network of DJs and musicians that includes Shawn Lee, Groove Armada, Tommy Guerrero, Darondo, Bryan Ferry, Marcos Valle, Phil “Cantoma” Mison, Paul “Mudd” Murphy, Psychemagik, Vetiver, Dianne Birch, No Doubt, Frank Dukes, the extended Daptone Family, and Alex From Tokyo. Luke splits his time between New York and Mexico.
Philly Music Fest returns for its seventh year for seven nights in a city-wide festival October 9th-15th, 2023. Taking place in six independent venues, PMF is a non-profit organization founded by a local husband and wife team, Greg and Jenn Seltzer, who are dedicated to supporting and highlighting the thriving local music scene, then donating profits to music education programs to secure the next generation of Philadelphia artists, after paying all artists and venues.
This year’s lineup includes Kurt Vile & The Violators, Marian Hill, Schoolly D, Mo Lowda & The Humble, Tigers Jaw, Algernon Cadwallader, Charlie Hall, Sadurn, Gladie, Knifeplay, Trap Rabbit, Ryan Gilfilian, Chris Forsyth, Julia Pratt, Purling Hiss, Emily Robb, Grocer, Huey, The Cosmonaut, Church Girls, Sophie Coran, Yowler, Florry, The Cheddar Boys, and Moustapha Noumbissi. Venues participating in 2023 include World Café Live, Johnny Brenda’s, Ardmore Music Hall, Milkboy, Solar Myth and Underground Arts.
“Sun Ra Arkestra blew my mind at Ardmore Music Hall shortly before the pandemic and I've been excited to play there ever since," says Kurt Vile. “It’s a thrill to be able to put two nights of shows together there: one with a Philly icon, Schoolly D, whose voice is just unbelievable, my favorite classic voice from Philly, so deep that it just cuts right through into your brain and soul. I can’t believe we get to play with Schoolly, he was the first person I requested actually… when I heard he agreed I definitely lost it a little bit. It’s just a Philly family affair all around, baby. See you all there in October, my people!"
Recognizing Kurt’s deep commitment to music education, relentless advocacy for Philadelphia and an incredibly diverse musical palate, Philly Music Fest worked directly with Kurt Vile to curate a lineup that reflects Kurt’s passion, taste and dedication to Philadelphia.
“Our genre is Philly” -- Philly Music Fest features Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop, Pop, Punk, Bluegrass, Folk, and Americana artists from Grammy winning, national touring acts to emerging artists. In 2022, after compensating the musicians and venues, Philly Music Fest donated $100,000 to local music education programs (including, Rock to the Future, Beyond the Bars, Musicopia, and Settlement Music School). Including payments to musicians and venues, as well as the donation of profits, PMF estimates the aggregate annual economic impact of PMF to be approximately, $400,000.
“There are a multitude of critical components in a successful music economy, including recording studios, independent venues, record labels, affordable housing and jobs in hospitality, but the epicenter must be incredible musicians and PMF is designed to support and highlight both our current musicians, while simultaneously focusing on music education for kids - as today’s kids are the next generation of Philly musicians,” says PMF producer, curator and founder, Greg Seltzer. “In addition to the seven-night run of shows in October, PMF hosts music industry networking and information sessions throughout the year, in collaboration with WXPN, bringing in national experts to educate and assist Philadelphia grow a music industry (branded as “Inside Hustle”). The next iteration of Inside Hustle will take place on October 14, 2023 at REC Philly.”
"Both of us grew up singing in the chorus in our Philly area school and are forever indebted to the lessons we learned in that time - we're grateful for the opportunity to give back through Philly Music Fest and can't wait to be back home to play some of our favorite tunes!" Marian Hill’s Jeremy Lloyd and Samantha Gongo exclaim.
Philly Music Fest’s impact has grown each year. In 2017, the non-profit donated $15,000 to music education programs in the city. In 2018, the total increased to $25,000, then $40,000 in 2019, $50,000 in 2020, $75,000 in 2021 and $100,000 in 2022. Recipient programs include Rock to the Future, Girls Rock Philly, Settlement Music School, Musicopia, Beyond the Bars, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Live Connections, and Play on Philly. In addition to the donations directed to music programs for kids, PMF deployed over 330 micro-grants in 2020 and 2021 to local musicians and venue staff struggling as a result of COVID-19.
“To the young artists and seasoned musicians of Philadelphia, our hometown is a very special place to burgeon -- from Stan Getz, The Disco Biscuits, Teddy Pendergrass, yours truly Schoolly D, and everything in between,” says hip hop pioneer, Schoolly D. “PMF is planting seeds for the next generations of talent that will change the world -- cause that’s what we do, yo!”
Tickets for all seven PMF shows go on sale at 10:00 AM on May 5, 2023 at PMF’s website and the website of each venue. In each of the past three years, almost all PMF shows have sold out, evidencing the demand and support for PMF and the amazing musicians and venues in Philadelphia.
Find Philly Music Fest Online:
Official: https://phillymusicfest.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PHLMusicFest/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phillymusicfest/
Jefferson Berry & the UAC will release their Americana, folk, and jam inspired Prairie Fire, on June 9, 2023. The eleven original songs featured on the new album find Jefferson Berry’s signature combination of storytelling in the Urban Folk tradition accompanied by the skilled precision of the musicians in the UAC. “The songs on this record tell stories of relationships that I hope will be familiar.” Berry explains, “they are political relationships, love relationships and those relationships with one’s own path... those circumstances of ‘wherever you go, there you are’.” Following his first California tour in late May and early June, Jefferson will bring his band to The Living Room in Ardmore, PA to celebrate Prairie Fire’s release on June 22nd.
The UAC is anchored by the virtuosity of Bud Burroughs, Dave Brown and Marky B! Berkowitz. While acoustic by nature, never missing is the locked-in bass/drums drive of Uncle Mike Damora with Adam Strandburg and Fred Berman. Complementing all this with a variety of guitar styles, Berry brings a danceable style and contemporary point of view to a unique wing of Americana/jam /folk genres. The themes of the good love, the bad love and these strange times that were on display on Double Deadbolt Logic (2020) and Soon! (2021) are given an updated context on Prairie Fire.
The album’s first single “That Was Me,” features harmony vocals from Philadelphia’s talented and rising singer-songwriter, Emily Drinker. “The song makes a subtle reference to the most infamous grifter of all-times,” says Berry. “But in general, it’s about taking credit for things one didn’t do.” Next up, “You Could Do Anything,” reflects the hopes and frustrations of an urban retail worker with a guest appearance from Philadelphia’s “Dr. Sax,” Kenny Ulansey. Title track, “Prairie Fire,” takes the listener to the edge of an angry political rally and places it in the historical context of the country’s other turbulent times. “Get You Where You’re Going” is a blues track with routine drunk-driving, characters angling for the forever-here-after romance, instructions on how to buy drugs when out of town, and why cheap business owners can’t hire anyone.
Prairie Fire follows the release of Jefferson’s solo, acoustic album, Dreams of Modern Living. His video for “Locks and Guns” was an official selection of the 2023 Philadelphia Independent Film Fest. American Blues Scene raves, “there are singers. There are songwriters. There are storytellers. Sometimes someone is all three. When that happens, it can be something special.” And the Rocking Magpie cheers that the songs on Dreams of Modern Living are “keenly observed contemporary folk stories from the shadows in our lives,” while Americana Highways exclaims, “Berry’s guitar playing is emotionally instinctive, as he uses both rhythms and melodies to buoy the intricate storytelling of the lyrics.”
Jefferson Berry is a published and cited historian, but after leaving inner-city teaching he decided to go head-long into his music. Following the UAC’s appearance at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 2022, Berry went to work on two albums: Dreams of Modern Living and Prairie Fire. “Locks and Guns” was the first single serviced to folk radio from Dreams and its music video that has been nominated for several film festival awards. While the video has received over 50,000 views on FaceBook, the response by trolling vigilantes has been remarkable. “I had no idea that I was making such a hot political statement with this song,” says Berry. “It’s become a mix of social justice and social media.” With film festival recognition from the UK to San Francisco, film music videos have become an essential part of the UAC mix. The Urban Acoustic Movie, a film about Philadelphia’s vibrant music scene, will be shot in June with a release to coincide with Prairie Fire’s 12” vinyl release in September. Jefferson is also in pre-production on two other music videos: “First Purple Light” and “Party on the Roof” (from Soon!).
Don’t Miss Jefferson Berry Live!
May 31st
SLO Wine & Beer
San Luis Obispo
June 1st
KSQD On Air Appearance
Santa Cruz, CA
June 6th
Schooner’s
Cayucos, CA
June 8th
The Lost Chord
Solvang, CA
June 15th
Stroll The Streets
Manayunk, PA
June 22nd
The Living Room
Ardmore, PA
Rachel Garlin will release The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese, a song cycle built around two women having a love affair in 1940s New York City, on July 21, 2023.
An out and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community, Garlin has crafted a sonic work of historical fiction about forbidden love set against war-torn, socially-staid 1940’s America. For the album The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese, vocalist, guitarist, and frontwoman Garlin is backed by a full band that features bassist/co-producer Jonny Flaugher (Lady Blackbird), organist Kenneth Crouch (Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey), guitarist David Levita (Tim McGraw), drummer Michael Jerome (Better Than Ezra), along with special guests on horns and flutes. The music is, by turns, rousing, dark, haunting, and introspective, weaving around and through Garlin’s poetic lyrics that explore female desire in ways both subtly coded and boldly forceful.
The 13-song album kicks off with “Having Slept on It,” a driving anthem that celebrates the soul-stirring power of insomnia and the evocative joys of the night sky, especially when they are “charming, disarming and alarming” as Garlin writes. “Please Therese” is a coded telegram between lesbian lovers who use 1940s euphemisms to disguise their solicitations “I believe that we could be ‘peculiar and at ease’ / Because we’re well beyond a cure but we’re alive” sings Garlin on the rollicking track. Stand-out song “Yellow” weaves poetry and introspection from the dark mind of a closeted 1940s housewife who longs to explore female desire but who “cannot upset the way of things like napkin rings that rattle through a meal.” Garlin wrote the song “Shame on Me” with Steve Seskin (known for his #1 Tim McGraw hit “Grown Men Don’t Cry.”) The Garlin/Seskin collaboration brings into full relief the raw feelings of a scorned lover who turns on herself with the hooky line “Shame on me for trying to get you to do what you said you couldn’t do / Shame on me, shame on me for loving you.”
The album The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese has recently been adapted for the stage as a one-woman show with public workshop performances at the Hotel Cafe in LA and The Lost Church in San Francisco, with more to come.
“I’ve always been fascinated by stories of non-straight girls and women from eras long ago,” says Garlin. “As a kid I scanned the cultural scene for someone, anyone, who was like me — Pippi Longstocking? Punky Brewster? Jo from Facts of Life? But there was rarely confirmation that the characters I admired were living outside of hetero-normativitiy. On a visceral level, I knew that many girls and women who came before me had identities that were outside the norm. That curiosity grew into an interest and study of the subcultures from 1940s that gave rise to LGBTQ+ living long before it had an acronym.”
As a socially engaged and outspoken member of the community, Garlin has been part of the recent conversation about the inconsistency in the policies and marketing of big-box stores like Target. In 2020, she released a song and video called "TarGay" that went viral on social media, and she continues to be visible and vocal about the issue. "Targay" has received laurels from festivals including New York City Short Comedy Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, and New York Flash Film Festival amongst others.
The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese is an expansive work where each song can stand alone. As a suite, these songs have an overarching theme and a historical context, adding depth and sophistication to the project. The new album follows 2021’s The State That We Are In and 2020’s Mondegreens, dubbed by Glide Magazine as, “infectiously poignant music that resonates in a timeless way.”
Rachel Garlin will be playing select dates in support of The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese.
Don’t Miss Rachel Garlin Live
July 13 The Lost Church Santa Rosa, CA
November 22 Freight and Salvage Berkeley, CA
Indie roots rockers, Mt. Joy will play two nights in their hometown at the Mann Music Center August 12th and 13th. The band has joined forces with Philadelphia’s Sharing Excess to host a non-perishable food drive both nights. As concert goers make their donations (canned goods, pasta, boxed food, etc.), they will be entered into a raffle to win items that include signed merch and a chance to watch the show intimately from the side of the stage. Mt. Joy also plans to raise funds for Philadelphia area charities including Connor Barwin’s Make the World a Better Place and Jason Kelce’s (Be) Philly.
The Mann shows will take place amid a North American and European tour which finds the band playing two separate sets each night in the U.S. and sharing a stage with Greta Van Fleet in Europe in addition to their headlining dates. Mt. Joy will make stops for two sold out nights at Central Park’s Summerstage, Red Rocks in Colorado, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Lollapalooza and Sea.Hear.Now. Several of their headlining dates are already sold out.
Born and raised in the Greater Philadelphia area, founders Matt Quinn and Sam Cooper are graduates of Chester County’s Conestoga High School. Quinn returned from LA and currently resides in Olde Kensington.
“My dream was born here,” says Quinn. “The first concert I ever went to was Bruce at The Linc- it was so inspiring I had obviously never seen anything like that, and I’ve been dreaming ever since. I’d play coffee shops with my current band mate Sam in high school and my super talented friend Lucy Stone who works down the street from where I live now at Johnny Brenda’s. We even won a battle of the bands at MilkBoy and used the recording time we won to make some of our first recordings at the MilkBoy studios.”
“I’d go to shows at TLA and The Mann, get on the train and go to as many WXPN Free at Noon concerts as I could at World Cafe. A lot of my friends I grew up with are still here, it’s just a special place for me. To be playing music at places I once sang my heart out as a fan, and to fill those spaces with our own Philly fans is genuinely what brings me the most pride out of all our accomplishments. Two nights at The Mann… I genuinely can’t wait.”
“The people that love Philly always end up being my kind of people,” he continues. “I’ve lived in other big cities which maybe were more physically beautiful, but I’ve never lived in a place with people like Philly. Such funny, kind, and tough people. It’s a strange but perfect mix.”
“If you want to make real things, I think you have to live in the world you know best and record it. Philly allows me to experience and feel such a deep range of the human experience. There’s everything from a genuinely scary dark side that keeps you on your toes and grateful for what you have but then there’s the bliss of spring and summer, city wide specials, sports games etc. I just feel more tapped in to a real, hopefully more relatable, human experience here. Or at least one I can interpret more easily and honestly.”
Founded in 2016, Mt. Joy’s music has been streamed globally over half of a billion times, they have sold a quarter of a million tickets worldwide, they have two #1 AAA radio hits, “Lemon Tree” and “Silver Lining,” and have been named an Artist to Watch by NPR, Yahoo! and WXPN. They have been featured in Rolling Stone, Paste and The Guardian and have made television appearances on Late Night with James Corden, Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Austin City Limits amongst others. They have released three full length albums including their 2018 self-titled debut, 2020’s Rearrange Us, and 2022’s Orange Blood. In 2021, they released the concert album Live at Red Rocks. They will continue their worldwide tour throughout 2023. Mt. Joy is Matt Quinn, Sam Cooper, Sotiris Eliopoulos, Jackie Miclau, and Michael Byrnes.
Don’t Miss Mt. Joy At The Mann!
August 12th and 13th
Mann Music Center – Skyline Stage
5201 Parkside Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19131
Tickets can be purchased here and here.
Following the runaway success of their debut LP, A Philly Special Christmas, Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata have reunited with producer Charlie Hall and executive producer Connor Barwin to release their second holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special, this fall on Vera Y Records. Recorded during the NFL off season and comprised of ten holiday classics and an original tune by Kelce, ‘Santa’s Night,’ A Philly Special Christmas Special will donate proceeds from vinyl sales to local charities with the intention of surpassing the $1.25 million dollars raised in 2022. A limited-edition LP will be released on red vinyl, a double disc of A Philly Special Christmas Special and 2022’s A Philly Special Christmas will be released on limited edition gold vinyl in addition to the album being released digitally and available on all streaming services. Vinyl will be available to order on November 3rd via Phillyspecialchristmas.com.
Recorded and mixed once again by Nick Krill, the trio called upon local musicians including Patti Labelle, Amos Lee, The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, DMHotep (Sun Ra Arkestra), Kevin Hanson (The Fractals, Huffamoose), Luke Carlos O’Reilly, Waxahatchee, members of The War on Drugs, Dr. Dog, Mewithoutyou, and The Silver Ages Choir amongst others to truly make this Philly special.
"It's so much fun and an honor to be working with this incredible group of people; watching old friends and new friends all come together to make something really special,” says executive producer and Vera Y Records partner, Barwin. “We got started earlier this summer and can't wait to share the music and a couple of surprises in a few short months!"
“It never occurred to me that this gang would make another record and yet it never occurred to me that we WOULDN’T make another record,” says producer Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs). “By any measure, the experience of what materialized last year was such a profound success… it seemed like a no brainer that we would at least get together and make some more music for fun, if not to actually produce a whole new record. What ensued surpassed all expectations - musically and spiritually. We dug in and have put together a wide-ranging romp through some classics, some deep cuts, and even an original tune written by Kelce.”
“People often ask me, ‘what’s going on in the Philly music scene today,” Hall continues. “Well, there’s something very cool happening on the scene in Philly these days. Just as in the early aughts when I arrived here, there is a sense of community and collaboration and exploration going on. People are all playing in each other's bands and putting on shows together and propping each other up. It’s very inclusive, creative, supportive, and genre-defying. It’s cool. And I think in some small way, the cast of characters that we have assembled for this project reflects that openness and that spirit of cooperation. What makes this unique to Philadelphia? Surely this is happening in places all over the world, but I truly believe that only in Philadelphia do so many masters of their respective crafts - from professional football, to jazz, to R&B, to rock, to the avant garde - come together and make something so special.”
“It also continues to inspire to see the lineage of mentorship these guys all have - you can trace it down from Connor to Jason to Lane to Jordan to the brand-new guys,” Hall says. “These guys bring out the best in one another and help set each other up to succeed, and to have the confidence to make mistakes… and then ultimately succeed. Everyone needs a mentor in life - someone to help empower them and encourage their passions, skills, and interests. These guys are surrounded by it, and it shows.”
A Philly Special Christmas Special
The Christmas Song
This Christmas
Dominick the Donkey
Santa’s Night
Christmas Time Is Here
All I Want for Christmas Is You
Pretty Paper
The Dreidel Song
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Fairytale of Philadelphia
Auld Lang Syne
A Philly Special Christmas was released on December 23, 2022 digitally and its limited pressing on vinyl sold out immediately. The record reached four top ten spots on various Billboard Music Charts including #1 on the Compilation Albums Chart. A Philly Special Christmas donated over $1.25M to local charities including Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and fulfilled the wish lists of Philadelphia School District teachers via Donors Choose.
Indie rockers, sports fans, and anyone that supports the work of the Make The World Better Foundation knows that benefit concerts are a cornerstone of the organization's fundraising and awareness efforts. This year’s concert was held once again at the beautiful Dell Music Center and featured Philly singer-songwriter Alex G, Toronto pop-sensations Alvvays, and San Francisco-based opener Tanukichan. Over $100,000.00 was raised and the event drew the Dell’s largest audience to date.
The funds raised from the show will benefit MTWB’s mission of connecting people and inspiring stewardship through revitalizing public spaces in Philadelphia, including the organization’s current overhaul of the Vare Recreation Center in Grays Ferry in partnership with the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation and the City’s Rebuild Initiative.
“It’s really a wonderful event each year, and this year was the best benefit concert we’ve had so far. To see so many people come out to support MTWB, and to know the kind of impact it will have on the organization is truly amazing,” says Jesse Rendell, MTWB's Executive Director.
MTWB co-founder Connor Barwin is a driving force behind the annual event and is involved in every aspect of planning the concert. “Thank you to the Dell for hosting us again this year. We are so proud to have been putting this show on for ten years! Alex G and everyone that attended this show is helping MTWB make a difference at Vare Rec Center and for all the kids that will use the park for years to come!” says Barwin.
Susan Slawson, General Manager of the Dell Music Center adds, “Philadelphia Parks & Recreation will again benefit from the great work of MTWB. Thanks to Connor Barwin and his amazing team, the Dell Music Center hosted a standing room only benefit that will serve the youth of our city by providing continuous funding to rebuild playgrounds. Thank you MTWB, we are truly better together”
About MTWB:
The Make The World Better Foundation (MTWB) works to connect people and inspire stewardship through public space revitalization projects. It is a 501(c)3 public charity founded in 2013 by Connor Barwin, during his first season playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. MTWB believes that communities prosper when all people have access to high-quality, accessible, and fun places to play and gather. The organization has completed park revitalization projects at Ralph Brooks Park, Smith Playground, and Waterloo Playground. The Vare Recreation Center is in progress and set to be completed at the end of this year in South Philadelphia.
A Philly Special Christmas Special, the upcoming second holiday album from Philadelphia Eagles’ Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata, along with producer Charlie Hall and executive producer Connor Barwin via Vera Y Records, announce that Children’s Crisis Treatment Center (CCTC) and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) will receive proceeds from this year’s release. Both organizations will use their donations to provide gifts for their communities during the holiday season. CCTC will support their annual Holiday Toy Drive where children receive a gift of their choosing and CHOP will support their Snowflake Station, a pop-up toy store where caregivers can “shop” for gifts for their children at no cost.
“When all the guys got together over the summer to make this record, they wanted to make sure we stayed true to the original goal to bring joy and happiness to families and kids during the holidays, and we couldn't be happier to be partnering again with CCTC and helping make CHOP's snowflake station a little more special for kids and families in the hospital during the holidays," says Barwin.
“We are thrilled and so grateful to be partnering with Connor, Jason, Lane and Jordan again this year for the A Philly Special Christmas Special album,” says Antonio Valdés, Chief Executive Officer at CCTC. “The funding from the album allows us to provide over 1,000 children with holiday gifts of their choosing. Unfortunately, the holidays can be a difficult time for many of Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s children and families and the Toy Drive helps to bring joy to the children we serve throughout the Philadelphia region. The Toy Drive and our partnership with the Eagles players communicates to the children the powerful message that there is a community of people who truly care about their well-being. This certainly is a big component of creating positive experiences for the children and their families to begin healing together.”
Additionally, support from the album will allow CHOP to expand its popular Snowflake Station, a pop-up toy store where caregivers can shop for gifts for their children at no cost during the holiday season. The funding will also make it possible for CHOP to expand Snowflake Station to a Primary Care practice in West Philadelphia. Snowflake Station is one of the signature holiday events offered by CHOP’s Child Life, Education and Creative Arts Therapy Department, a team that provides evidence-based, developmentally and psychologically appropriate care, including therapeutic play, preparation for procedures, and education to reduce fear, anxiety and pain and create moments of normalcy for children and their families.
“As a parent, I can attest to the fact that CHOP is one of Philadelphia's true treasures. We are so fortunate to live a stone's throw from one of the nation's truly great children’s hospitals. We could not be happier to support their efforts this holiday season," says Hall.
“Spending time in the hospital or visiting a doctor’s office can be very stressful for children – especially during the holidays,” says Kisha Hortman Hawthorne, PhD, FACHE, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the CHOP Care Network. “The support we will receive from the holiday album will help us create moments of joy and connection for our patients and families during the holidays. Snowflake Station is one of our favorite holiday events and we are very grateful for the support to expand the programs and make the holidays as special as they can be for children and their caregivers.”
A Philly Special Christmas Special was recorded during the NFL off season and is comprised of ten holiday classics and Jason Kelce’s original song, ‘Santa’s Night.’ A limited-edition version of A Philly Special Christmas Special will be released on red vinyl. A double disc of the new LP and 2022’s A Philly Special Christmas will be released on limited edition gold vinyl as well as the album’s digital release and availability on all streaming services. Vinyl will be available for pre-order on November 3rd via Phillyspecialchristmas.com and the entire album will be available digitally on December 1st.
Recorded and mixed once again by Nick Krill, Kelce, Johnson and Mailata called upon local musicians including Patti Labelle, Amos Lee, The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, DMHotep (Sun Ra Arkestra), Kevin Hanson (The Fractals, Huffamoose), Luke Carlos O’Reilly, Waxahatchee, members of The War on Drugs, Dr. Dog, Mewithoutyou, and The Silver Ages Choir amongst others to truly make this a Philly special.
A Philly Special Christmas was released on December 23, 2022 digitally and its limited pressing on vinyl sold out immediately. The record reached four top ten spots on various Billboard Music Charts including #1 on the Compilation Albums Chart. A Philly Special Christmas donated over $1.25M to local charities including Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and fulfilled the wish lists of Philadelphia School District teachers via Donors Choose.
Find A Philly Special Christmas Special Online:
Official: http://phillyspecialchristmas.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aphillyspecialchristmas
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aphillyspecialchristmas
Now that the 2023 holiday season has begun, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata will release their version of the iconic Mariah Carey classic, "All I Want For Christmas Is You" on Friday, November 3rd. The song is the trio’s first single from their upcoming LP, A Philly Special Christmas Special (Vera Y Records) and will be available on all digital platforms. Subsequent singles will be released weekly leading up to the album’s full release on December 1st and vinyl will be available to order beginning on November 3rd via PhillySpecialChristmas.com.
This year, proceeds from the vinyl sales will benefit Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s Toy Drive and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station.
“Covering ‘All I Want For Christmas’ with the guys was challenging but so much fun trying to put our own spin on the Queen of Christmas’s hit. I think everyone will love it,” says vocalist Mailata.
WHYY’s Billy Penn cheers, “the Eagles trio’s execution is *chef’s kiss*. Mailata takes on lead vocals, and obviously the key is lowered from the original, but he pushes his range just enough for his vocals to shine without sounding strained.”
Following the runaway success of their debut LP, A Philly Special Christmas, Philadelphia Eagles’ Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata have reunited with producer Charlie Hall and executive producer Connor Barwin to release their second holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special. Recorded during the NFL off season and comprised of ten holiday classics and an original tune by Kelce, "Santa’s Night." A limited-edition LP will be released on red vinyl, a double disc of A Philly Special Christmas Special and 2022’s A Philly Special Christmas will be released on limited edition gold vinyl in addition to the album being released digitally and available on all streaming services.
Recorded and mixed once again by Nick Krill, the trio called upon local musicians including Patti Labelle, Amos Lee, The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, DMHotep (Sun Ra Arkestra), Kevin Hanson (The Fractals, Huffamoose), Luke Carlos O’Reilly, Waxahatchee, members of The War on Drugs, Dr. Dog, Mewithoutyou, and The Silver Ages Choir amongst others to truly make this a Philly special.
A Philly Special Christmas was released on December 23, 2022 digitally and its limited pressing on vinyl sold out immediately. The record reached four top ten spots on various Billboard Music Charts including #1 on the Compilation Albums Chart. A Philly Special Christmas donated over $1.25M to local charities including Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and fulfilled the wish lists of Philadelphia School District teachers via Donors Choose.
Fresh off an exciting win against Kansas City, NFL Eagles’ Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata announce that they will star in a nine-minute, stop motion animated holiday special, A Philly Special Christmas Special, premiering Thanksgiving night at 8:00 PM EST via the trio’s YouTube page. Created by Philadelphia-based animation studio, unPOP, the special finds Kelce, Jordan and Lane attempting to rally their friends together for a holiday performance and features songs from A Philly Special Christmas Special (Vera Y Records). The Philly Specials have released three singles from the LP including “All I Want for Christmas,” “This Christmas” and “Fairytale of Philadelphia” – a duet between Jason and Travis Kelce on a reimagining of The Pogues’ classic, which has over 2 million streams across platforms and has reached #1 on iTunes. All in all, the nine-minute film took 5,000 hours over five months to complete, included 20 hand-crafted puppets with hand-sewn clothing, and 5,000 individual photographs displayed at 24 frames per second.
“The Philly Specials’ A Philly Special Christmas, which featured Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson singing holiday classics was such a huge success they decided to release another one this year, and they asked US to create a short film,” says unPOP’s co-founder Peter Heacock. “Of course, we jumped at the chance — there’s no denying that we’re super fans of the team. This was a dream job.”
“When you think of Christmas, you think warmth, vintage, and the classics. Kelce and the gang are putting on a holiday variety show,” explained unPOP co-founder Marie Hart. “It’s a drama about Kelce trying to outperform the album they made last year, but also how they want to win the Super Bowl this year… all while learning about the true meaning of the season.” Fans will see Kelce riding a donkey and singing “Dominick the Donkey” and Mailata shines in “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” In the video, cameos by famous friends and family, including Patti LaBelle and Travis Kelce and iconic Philly references. To record the voiceovers, the players came to the couple’s house in West Mount Airy, as the set for A Philly Special Christmas Special is located inside their unPOP garage studio.
Watch the Trailer for A Philly Special Christmas Special Here.
A Philly Special Christmas Special (Vera Y Records) is available now for vinyl preorder via PhillySpecialChristmas.com and will be available on all digital platforms on December 1st. This year, proceeds from the vinyl sales will benefit Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s Toy Drive and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station.
Following the runaway success of their debut LP, A Philly Special Christmas, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata have reunited with producer Charlie Hall and executive producer Connor Barwin (Vera Y Records) to release their second holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special. Recorded during the NFL off season and comprised of ten holiday classics and an original tune by Kelce, ‘Santa’s Night,’ A limited-edition LP will be released on red vinyl, a double disc of A Philly Special Christmas Special and 2022’s A Philly Special Christmas will be released on limited edition gold vinyl in addition to the album being released digitally and available on all streaming services.
Recorded and mixed once again by Nick Krill, the trio called upon local musicians including Patti Labelle, Amos Lee, The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, DMHotep (Sun Ra Arkestra), Kevin Hanson (The Fractals, Huffamoose), Luke Carlos O’Reilly, Waxahatchee, members of The War on Drugs, Dr. Dog, mewithoutYou, and The Silver Ages Choir amongst others to truly make this a Philly special.
A Philly Special Christmas was released on December 23, 2022 digitally and its limited pressing on vinyl sold out immediately. The record reached four top ten spots on various Billboard Music Charts including #1 on the Compilation Albums Chart. A Philly Special Christmas donated over $1.25M to local charities including Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and fulfilled the wish lists of Philadelphia School District teachers via Donors Choose.
Find A Philly Special Christmas Special Online:
Official: http://phillyspecialchristmas.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aphillyspecialchristmas
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aphillyspecialchristmas
Mt. Joy's Matt Quinn will be performing an intimate, solo, benefit show in his hometown of Philadelphia at Johnny Brenda's on December 21st. The event will be donating 100% of the proceeds to World Central Kitchen and will be collecting perishable and non-perishable food items to donate to Sharing Excess. Adam Melchor will support.
Don't Miss Matt Quinn Solo!
Thursday, December 21st
Johnny Brenda's - 1201 Frankford Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19125
Doors 7:00; Show 8:00 PM EST
Tickets are $25 in advance an $30 Day of Show
Tickets can be purchased here.
MATT QUINN
Matt Quinn, frontman and songwriter of Mt. Joy, was only a couple of months into law school when Mt. Joy's single "Astrovan" began racking up hundreds of thousands of plays on Spotify at release. Quinn had just moved out to L.A. from Philadelphia and was attending night classes and working a full-time job when he realized he should drop out and give the music a real shot. Since then, Mt. Joy has flourished into a 5 piece band that has spent the past six years making music, touring the world, and playing alongside some of their greatest influences. With three studio albums and a live record, Mt. Joy has gone on to achieve three Top 5 AAA radio singles, their single "Silver Lining" went gold in US and Canada, and they've made appearances on Jimmy Kimmel, James Corden, Stephen Colbert + more. Perhaps one of the most foundational pieces of Mt. Joy's music points back to Quinn and his songwriting - which has been praised by Billboard, Rolling Stone, NPR, and The Guardian. In between a heavy touring plan with over 150,000+ headline tickets sold this year, Quinn has recently worked in collaboration with other artists such as Noah Kahan, Joy Oladokun, Adam Melchor, Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners, Julia Pratt and more.
With a 10-1 winning season, the hits keep coming for NFL Eagles’ Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata aka The Philly Specials as their second full-length holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special (Vera Y Records), will be available everywhere this Friday, December 1st. Released in advance of the LP, singles “This Christmas,” “All I Want for Christmas is You,” “Fairytale of Philadelphia," and "Pretty Paper,” have garnered over 5 million streams across platforms, “Fairytale of Philadelphia” reached #1 on iTunes, 50,000 copies have been sold on vinyl (the red vinyl is currently sold out, while the gold double LP is still available), and the stop motion special created by UnPOP Animation, A Philly Special Christmas Special, has been viewed half a million times with 10,000 live viewers tuning in to its premiere on Thanksgiving night. This year, proceeds from the vinyl sales will benefit Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s Toy Drive, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station, and other nonprofit organizations.
Following the runaway success of their debut LP, A Philly Special Christmas, Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata reunited with producer Charlie Hall and executive producer Connor Barwin (Vera Y Records) to release their second holiday album, A Philly Special Christmas Special. Recorded during the NFL off season and comprised of ten holiday classics and an original tune by Kelce, ‘Santa’s Night,’ a limited-edition LP has been released on red vinyl, a double disc of A Philly Special Christmas Special and 2022’s A Philly Special Christmas released on limited edition gold vinyl in addition to the album being released digitally and available on all streaming services.
Recorded and mixed once again by Nick Krill, the trio called upon local musicians including Patti LaBelle, Amos Lee, The Hooters’ Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman, DMHotep (Sun Ra Arkestra), Kevin Hanson (The Fractals, Huffamoose), Luke Carlos O’Reilly, Waxahatchee, members of The War on Drugs, Dr. Dog, mewithoutYou, and The Silver Ages Choir amongst others to truly make this a Philly special.
A Philly Special Christmas Special is released by Vera Y Records in conjunction with Avenue A Music Group and Range Media Partners. Gold’n Retriever Entertainment is promoting the album to radio, Avenue West Design is responsible for artwork and social media, and Mixtape Media provides publicity and media relations for the project.
A Philly Special Christmas was released on December 23, 2022 digitally and its limited pressing on vinyl sold out immediately. The record reached four top ten spots on various Billboard Music Charts including #1 on the Compilation Albums Chart. A Philly Special Christmas donated over $1.25M to local charities including Children’s Crisis Treatment Center and fulfilled the wish lists of Philadelphia School District teachers via Donors Choose.
Find A Philly Special Christmas Special Online:
Official: http://phillyspecialchristmas.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aphillyspecialchristmas
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@aphillyspecialchristmas
Philadelphia Eagles’ players Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson, and Jordan Mailata, aka The Philly Specials, have donated over $3 million from selling their limited edition holiday vinyl, A Philly Special Christmas Special (Vera Y Records). Recipients include Children’s Crisis Treatment Center’s toy drive and summer camp, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Snowflake Station, Philabundance, Ronald McDonald House, Feed America, Toys for Tots, and the Fresh Air Fund, amongst others. In addition to the initial commitment to CCTC and CHOP, each musician who participated in the project selected organizations to receive donations. “I am overwhelmed with gratitude that we were able to double the amount of money we donated last year,” shares executive producer Connor Barwin (Vera Y Records). “It was a special group of people that came together to make this record, and I am proud to see that diversity represented in the range of organizations this record has been able to support.”
“It’s a testament to the power of music, friendship, community, the city of Philadelphia, and most of all the enjoyment we had making and sharing these songs,” adds producer Charlie Hall. “To be able to have this kind of an impact on such a breadth of worthy organizations is both humbling and is truly the icing on the cake.”
Released in advance of A Philly Special Christmas Special, singles “This Christmas,” “All I Want for Christmas is You,” “Fairytale of Philadelphia,” and “Pretty Paper” have garnered over 10 million streams across platforms, “Fairytale of Philadelphia” reached #1 on iTunes, 61,000 units have been sold on vinyl and the stop motion special created by unPOP Animation, A Philly Special Christmas Special, has been viewed half a million times with 10,000 live viewers tuning in to its premiere on Thanksgiving night.
Indie roots rockers, Mt. Joy will play their beloved hometown of Philadelphia on September 20, 2024, when they headline the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia. Following the success of their 2023 shows at the Mann, the band will again partner with Philadelphia’s Sharing Excess to host a non-perishable food drive. In addition to raising funds for charitable organizations, Mt. Joy’s Philly shows are often filled with fun surprises. Last year, NFL Eagles’ Jason Kelce and Connor Barwin joined the band on stage for the Eagles’ fight song and stayed to lead a "Silver Lining" sing-a-long. Mt. Joy collected donations for Kelce’s (Be) Philly and Barwin’s Make the World a Better Place. Tickets for September 20th are available to purchase now.
Born and raised in the Greater Philadelphia area, founders Matt Quinn and Sam Cooper are graduates of Chester County’s Conestoga High School. Quinn and his wife reside in the Olde Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia.
“The dream was born here,” says Quinn. “Philly is home. I’m sure every artist has a specific relationship with where they are from. But there just aren’t many places that support their own like Philly. The first show we ever sold out anywhere in the world was at Johnny Brenda’s. To stand under that sign on Frankford that day and see the words sold out. I hope I get access to that memory forever. To be honest, it really still feels like we are riding that same wave. And now to think that 10,000 or so of you are gonna pull up to see us play at the Mann. We are lucky beyond measure, and each time we play here we feel like we owe you guys something you won’t forget. I just want this town to vibrate the way I know it can. Goosebumps, cya 9/20 at the Mann.”
The Mann show takes place amid a North American and European tour which finds the band playing festivals and headlining sizable venues including Madison Square Garden, Fenway Park, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Ameris Bank Amphitheatre in Atlanta, and three nights at Chicago’s The Salt Shed.
Founded in 2016, Mt. Joy’s music has been streamed globally over half of a billion times, they have sold a quarter of a million tickets worldwide, they have two #1 AAA radio hits, “Lemon Tree” and “Silver Lining,” and have been named an Artist to Watch by NPR, Yahoo! and WXPN. They have been featured in Rolling Stone, Paste and The Guardian and have made television appearances on Late Night with James Corden, Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Austin City Limits amongst others. They have released three full length albums including their 2018 self-titled debut, 2020’s Rearrange Us, and 2022’s Orange Blood. In 2021, they released the concert album Live at Red Rocks. They will continue their worldwide tour throughout 2023. Mt. Joy is Matt Quinn, Sam Cooper, Sotiris Eliopoulos, Jackie Miclau, and Michael Byrnes.
Don’t Miss Mt. Joy At The Mann!
September 20, 2024
Mann Music Center
5201 Parkside Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19131
Tickets can be purchased here.
Singer, songwriter and playwright, Rachel Garlin's new single “Crossing Guard” and accompanying VIDEO are out this week. The prolific songsmith will bring her one-person show with backing ensemble, The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese, to San Francisco’s The Lost Church on March 23rd.
“Crossing Guard” is an upbeat Americana rocker featuring Garlin’s catchy and singable lyrics, a rhythm section made up of Jonny Flaugher and Griffin Goldsmith (from the Dawes) and tasty seasonsing from (real) horns and woodwinds throughout. "The winter was dark - lots of atmospheric storms of the literal and metaphorical variety. But every morning at sunrise, our crossing guard Jeff shows up on his bike and crosses people to safety. These first few months of the year are about celebrating simple delights and seeing possibility - the crossing guard, the lemon tree, every day people getting where they need to go. There's lots to sing about around here!"
Singer and songwriter Rachel Garlin has been hailed by critics, recently garnering praise from the San Francisco Chronicle, Americana Highways, and Country Queer. She’s also been embraced by radio, where she has received airplay on tastemaker shows including Folk Alley, Folk Music Notebook, and SiriusXM’s The Village.
“Rachel makes it look effortless with her accessible melodies, but dig deeper into her lyrics (like "crash course in chagrin") and you realize she's creating poetry in relatable human situations," raves, WFUV’s John Platt. As a touring headliner, Garlin has appeared on stages at the Newport Folk Festival, Telluride Bluegrass, Kerrville, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She’s a Harvard graduate, and lives in San Francisco with her wife and three kids.
Don’t Miss Rachel Garlin Live
March 23 The Lost Church San Francisco, CA
Doors: 7:30 PM PST, Show runs from 8:15-10:30 PM PST with one intermission
Tickets can be purchased here.
Upcoming shows at El Rio SF (May 9), Theater event in NYC (April 18), and Sweetwater Music Hall (July 21)
Multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, vocal coach and quilter, Eliza Hardy Jones, will release her sophomore solo album, Pickpocket, on April 19th. The ten-song LP explores surviving grief, birth, death, and the innate humanness surrounding a challenging and personal journey to becoming a parent. It was written, recorded, and produced by Eliza with production assistance from the multitalented producer, engineer and instrumentalist Nick Krill -- who also mixed the record. Additional musicians recorded their parts in bedrooms across space and time.
With a sonic palette including ethereal folk coupled with indie rock undertones, Pickpocket finds the songwriter calling upon her musical friends, including Charlie Hall, Dave Hartley, and Anthony LaMarca (all of whom are collaborators in The War on Drugs), Daniel Hart (St. Vincent, Dark Rooms), Matt Musty (Grace Potter, Train), Brandon Beaver (Buried Beds, mewithoutYou), Severin Tucker (Nightlands, Silver Ages), Benny Yurco (Grace Potter), Tim Deaux (The Whigs, Grace Potter, Kings of Leon), Jordan West (Grace Potter, Cam) and Ben Alleman (Dr. John, Grace Potter, Jenny Lewis) to help bring this collection of songs to life.
“This is an album about grief or more accurately, about surviving grief,” says Eliza. “It's about my experience of living in this world and in this body and doing my best to find purpose and joy. I made most of it sitting in my little home studio, surrounded by my quilt projects. I would send tracks off to friends around the country, folks who I played with in Buried Beds, Grace Potter's band and The War on Drugs, and they would send back little pieces of themselves, drums and bass and guitars and violins and synths, all kinds of love to help me fully realize this album.”
The album opens with the gentle indie folk of “This is the Year.” Acting as a thesis for Pickpocket, Eliza sings, “Grief is a pickpocket. Don’t see it coming ‘til it left you broke. Grief is a stranger that steals everything you knew about yourself…”
“I wrote this song at the bottom. I was recovering from the loss of a pregnancy that had come at the end of many years of fertility treatments,” says the songwriter. “I found myself at the end, lost in grief, and trying to find a way forward. I only sang the lyrics to this song once. What you hear on the album is the demo vocal. I couldn’t bring myself to sing it again. It’s also the only song on the album where I stepped foot in a studio. I laid down the guitar, piano and vocals at home, and Dave Hartley (my longtime collaborator in Buried Beds, Nightlands, and now The War on Drugs) sent a killer bass track, and then I went into the studio with Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs) and Nick Krill, who added drums and guitars and some beautiful mellotron shimmers. It was loose and fun - a joyful jaunty little romp through my despair.”
“Long Winter Shadows” highlights Eliza’s deft keyboard playing and layered, Beatles-esque vocals in a tribute to Philadelphia’s John Heinz Wildlife Conservancy -- a paradise of birds and trees, and a place that always brings the songwriter peace. “It’s also a little love song about my husband, who I imagine here as a blue heron in the snow. My dear friend Daniel Hart (St. Vincent, Broken Social Scene, Polyphonic Spree, Dark Rooms, and film composer - A Ghost Story, The Green Knight, Peter Pan and Wendy) sent along some beautiful violin tracks that totally lift this song and turn it into a swirling beauty of winter shadows!”
The soft acoustic guitar of “Ballad for the Barren” buoys Eliza’s heartbroken vocal as she comes to accept that motherhood may not be in the cards for her. “Don’t count the days, ‘cause they’ll never come again, or all the ways that you’ll never be a woman. Don’t be afraid that your purpose is another. Not every maid was born to be a mother…”
“This song was an act of letting go, looking again at love and motherhood,” says the songwriter. “After laying down the basic tracks at home, I sent it to Anthony LaMarca (The Building, The War on Drugs) and asked him to lay down a fairly specific idea I had for drums. But I also said that he could go ‘full Anthony’ and record anything he wanted. He ended up sending me back two totally different versions of a fully realized song with guitars, organ, bass, drums, and percussion. I ended up using both versions, jumping from one to the next after the first chorus. Anthony is such an intuitive player, brilliant producer, and treasured friend!"
Originally beginning as a composition by Eliza’s relative, Ned Bartow, “Sunday Morning” is an ethereal and lush arrangement that introduces Sean Bailey on woodwinds and Joshua Stamper on acoustic bass. “Ned was a composer who died from leukemia in his thirties. My dad was working through some of his old papers and asked me to record a song Ned had written called ‘Sunday Morning,’ so that he could hear it. What my dad didn’t realize was that what he had sent me was just the first line. I thought it would be fun to write the rest of the song, so I took the lyric and composed a new song around it. We later found the whole transcript of Ned’s song. So now there are two ‘Sunday Mornings’ in the family. I had Joshua Stamper write a beautiful arrangement for acoustic bass and woodwinds. Matt Musty (Grace Potter, Train) sent along drums and some Resynator synth tracks as well.
The only co-written song on the album, “Counterfeit” is a driving indie rocker that highlights Eliza’s atmospheric and layered vocals. “Matt Musty and I played together in Grace Potter’s band a few years back when her album Midnight came out, and we became forever friends. Throughout the recording of Pickpocket, Matt sent me amazing drum parts that really lifted the album and my spirits. On one of these occasions, he said we should just write a song together, and ‘Counterfeit’ was the result. I sent him a quick and dirty version with the vocal and a single synth to pad through the chords, and with the help of his friends Jon Levy on guitar and Solomon Dorsey on bass, we made this big crashing tumble of a song about the existential dread of living in the modern world.”
“Fall to Pieces’ is a stoic anthem that I almost scrapped, because the original version had serious off-broadway vibes due to a wildly ambitious and busy piano arrangement,” explains Eliza. “Then one day I sampled my voice into a synth and replaced the piano with these eerie processed vocal portamentos, and I fell in love with it. I had Brandon Beaver (mewithoutYou), my lifelong friend and longtime musical companion from Buried Beds, send some gorgeous guitars. Severin Tucker (Nightlands, Silver Ages) sent dreamy synths from a modular unit he built himself. Dave Hartley sent a characteristically ripping bass part. Matt Musty somehow miraculously tracked the drums last, despite the fact that the tempo shifts wildly throughout the song.”
Grooving guitars and an Americana vibe set the tone for “Rosie Lee,” a song for and about an American artist. “When I’m not on tour or recording, I’m quilting, or giving quilt lectures. Quilting is my perfect companion, a meditative space to explore color and rhythm. I have been really inspired by Rosie Lee Tompkins, an American art quilt powerhouse who worked under total anonymity (Rosie Lee Tompkins was a pseudonym). In writing this song for her, I tinkered around with some open guitar tunings until I found something that felt as free and open as her quilts. Benny Yurco (Grace Potter) added shimmering guitars, and Matt Musty and Dave Hartley (having never met each other) provided the perfect remote rhythm section.”
On “I Know How It Ends,” Eliza leans into her love of synth textures, angular guitar riffs, and electronic drums reminiscent of The Postal Service. “This song is about the ecstasy of belonging to a cult,” she explains. “All people desire to find purpose and connection, to know the truth and be righteous. But, this impulse can also turn people in search of peace and community towards violence and death. Some of my good friends from the Grace Potter tours sent along some tracks to take it over the top: Tim Deaux (The Whigs, Grace Potter, Kings of Leon) on bass, Jordan West (Grace Potter, Cam) on drums, and Ben Alleman (Dr. John, Grace Potter, Jenny Lewis) on synths.
Eliza’s voice arranged into an ethereal, reverb-drenched choir kicks off the penultimate track, “In My Room.” “This is a song about violence, about our impulse to conquer, to justify our own violence as righteous and blessed, and to absolve ourselves of violence through small acts of kindness. It’s a song about being a white woman in a violent and racist country.”
Pickpocket closes with Eliza’s delicate soprano alone at the piano evoking a long-ago moment in time. “It’s a reverse love song for the feminist set. I really love all those early 20th century love songs by Cole Porter and George Gershwin. But I often think about what those women had to give up in the name of love. So, I wrote this Porter-esque love song about letting a man leave you because you’ve got better things to do. Let all the wilting flowers bloom!”
Eliza Hardy Jones is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, vocal coach, and quilter. In the early 2000s, Eliza began her professional career in the Philadelphia music scene with her band Buried Beds and in addition to her solo output, worked with a number of notable artists. She has been a touring member of many bands, including Grace Potter and Iron & Wine, before joining The War on Drugs in 2022. Following the release of her first debut solo album in 2016, Because Become, Eliza focused on a large multidisciplinary art project interviewing women in the U.S. and Russia, in which she recorded folk songs, and then transformed them into a series of ten handcrafted quilts that are now part of the permanent collection of the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. She also co-wrote the musical Lashed but not Leashed (2019) with legendary Philadelphia drag queen Martha Graham Cracker and lent her vocal coaching skills to members of the NFL Philadelphia Eagles aka The Philly Specials, for their Billboard chart topping Christmas albums A Philly Special Christmas (2022) and A Philly Special Christmas Special (2023). She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and infant son.
Eliza will play select dates in celebration of Pickpocket and will continue to perform with The War on Drugs throughout 2024.
“One of the world’s best Irish Bluegrass bands” (Riverfront Times) JigJam has debuted their album Across The Pond, available today. The 11-track collection showcases the band’s “lovely” (Bluegrass Today) blend of traditional Irish music meets bluegrass meets Americana, delivering a cohesive narrative of the Irish journey to America.
In conjunction with the album launch, JigJam kicks off the “Across The Pond US Tour” today, making 18 stops throughout the US. For tickets and additional information, visit jigjam.ie.
“Across The Pond is finally here. We poured our hearts and souls into this album, and we hope you all enjoy it as much as we enjoyed making it,” said Jamie McKeogh, lead vocalist and guitarist. “We can’t wait to take these songs on the road!”
Listen to the album HERE.
Across The Pond Track List
1. Good Ole Mountain Dew
2. John D. McGurk’s (The Heartbeat of St. Louis)
3. Bouli Bouli
4. City of Chicago (feat Becky Buller)
5. Take Me High
6. Across The Pond
7. Water’s Hill
8. Cluck Ole Twig
9. This Heart of Mine
10. The Robin
11. The Appalachian Irishman
12. Time to Go Home
Across The Pond US Tour
3/1 – Pantages Theater – Minneapolis, MN
3/2 – Thrasher Opera House – Green Lake, WI
3/3 – Bluegrass Brunch – Madison, WI
3/8-10 – Tulsa Irish Festival 2024 – Tulsa, OK
3/12 – The Local Center for Arts and Culture – Saugerties, NY
3/13 – Katharine Hepburn Cultural – Old Saybrook, CT
3/14 – Stockbridge Theater – Derry, NH
3/15 – Longwood Gardens – Kennett Square, PA
3/16 – Landmark on Main Street – Port Washington, NY
3/17 - BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity - Northampton, MA
3/19 – Turning Point – Piermont, NY
3/20 – The Burren – Somerville, MA
3/21 – Symphony Space – New York, NY
3/22 – Zoetropolis – Lancaster, PA
3/23 – City Winery – Pittsburgh PA
3/24 – The G.A.R. Hall – Peninsula, OH
3/25 – Bishop Hill Creative Commons – Bishop Hill, IL
3/29 – Off Broadway – St Louis, MO
Multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, producer, vocal coach and quilter, Eliza Hardy Jones, releases “Counterfeit,” the ethereal-indie-folk song exploring existential dread as the second single from her upcoming sophomore LP, Pickpocket. “Counterfeit” follows the single release of “This is the Year.” Pickpocket will be available worldwide on all platforms beginning April 19th. Pre-orders for the limited edition, 140-gram translucent lavender vinyl are also now available exclusively through The Record Stop.
“In the age of social media, reality is filtered and manipulated so that it can be shared with the public,” says the songwriter. “And sometimes it feels like we live our lives for the pictures and posts they will produce. It’s not just that the picture is a manipulation of reality - the reality is manipulated by the picture. ‘Counterfeit’ is a song about this feeling of estrangement from the ‘self,’ and that feeling of disorientation about what is actually real. I co-wrote this song with my dear friend Matt Musty. Matt sent me so many killer drum tracks for this record and proposed that we write a song together. So, I recorded a simple skeleton of the song with just a single synth line. Then we sent the song back and forth, and with the help of Jon Levy on guitar and Solomon Dorsey on bass we ended up with this big crashing tumble of a song about existential dread."
The ten original songs on Pickpocket, explore surviving grief, birth, death, and the innate humanness surrounding a challenging and personal journey to becoming a parent. It was written, recorded, and produced by Eliza with production assistance from the multitalented producer, engineer, and instrumentalist, Nick Krill -- who also mixed the record. Additional musicians recorded their parts in bedrooms across space and time.
WXPN cheers, “Weaving grief into gold, Eliza Hardy Jones’ new single [This is the Year] is a balm for wounded hearts” and PureMzine raves, “Eliza Hardy Jones’s dedication to her craft continues to inspire, as she navigates the intricate intersections of art, music, and personal expression with unwavering authenticity.”
“This is the Year’ is a song I wrote about the hardest year of my life and how I made it through,” explains the songwriter. “It was a year of profound loss, and both physical and emotional ruin. It was a time where I found myself lost in my own grief. I was so deep in it before I ever even realized it had come for me. A slow erosion of everything I understood about myself. I wrote this song as a way to find my way out, to find my way back. While this song is intensely personal, I hope that if others recognize themselves in it, it may offer some peace in knowing they are not alone.”
With a sonic palette including ethereal folk coupled with indie rock undertones, Pickpocket finds the songwriter calling upon her musical friends, including Charlie Hall, Dave Hartley, and Anthony LaMarca (all of whom are collaborators in The War on Drugs), Daniel Hart (St. Vincent, Dark Rooms), Matt Musty (Grace Potter, Train), Brandon Beaver (Buried Beds, mewithoutYou), Severin Tucker (Nightlands, Silver Ages), Benny Yurco (Grace Potter), Tim Deaux (The Whigs, Grace Potter, Kings of Leon), Jordan West (Grace Potter, Cam) and Ben Alleman (Dr. John, Grace Potter, Jenny Lewis) to help bring this collection of songs to life.
“This is an album about grief or more accurately, about surviving grief,” says Eliza. “It's about my experience of living in this world and in this body and doing my best to find purpose and joy. I made most of it sitting in my little home studio, surrounded by my quilt projects. I would send tracks off to friends around the country, folks who I played with in Buried Beds, Grace Potter's band and The War on Drugs, and they would send back little pieces of themselves, drums and bass and guitars and violins and synths, all kinds of love to help me fully realize this album.”
Eliza Hardy Jones is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer, vocal coach, and quilter. In the early 2000s, Eliza began her professional career in the Philadelphia music scene with her band Buried Beds and in addition to her solo output, worked with several notable artists. She has been a touring member of many bands, including Grace Potter and Iron & Wine, before joining The War on Drugs in 2022. Following the release of her first debut solo album in 2016, Because Become, Eliza focused on a large multidisciplinary art project interviewing women in the U.S. and Russia, in which she recorded folk songs, and then transformed them into a series of ten handcrafted quilts that are now part of the permanent collection of the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska. She also co-wrote the musical Lashed but not Leashed (2019) with legendary Philadelphia drag queen Martha Graham Cracker and lent her vocal coaching skills to members of the NFL Philadelphia Eagles aka The Philly Specials, for their Billboard chart topping holiday albums, A Philly Special Christmas (2022) and A Philly Special Christmas Special (2023). She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and infant son.
Eliza will play select dates in celebration of Pickpocket and will continue to perform with The War on Drugs throughout 2024 including September 17th at the Mann Music Center in her hometown of Philadelphia.
Find Eliza Hardy Jones Online
Official: elizahardyjones.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elizahardyjones/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2TbzUCLFqFocmNhtBnxonq
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizahardyjones
X: https://twitter.com/elizahardyjones
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/eliza-hardy-jones/1067078960
