San Francisco’s The Stone Foxes are excited to announce the release of “My Place”, the fourth installment of their “Foxes First Fridays” single release series. Taking a rest from their rock laden anthemic jams, this country spirit ballad shows a band with serious heart. “I'm a pretty jolly person, but writing a happy love song has never really been my thing,” says Koehler.

The song was a full band collaboration that stemmed from one member’s struggling relationship and that desire to be at home, surrounded by all those good memories, now in the past. Throw in some chords from Vince Dewald (Vocals, Bass), a bit of Spence Koehler’s country pedal steel, Elliot Peltzman’s organ keys, and new-band member Ben Andrew’s love for Robbie Robertson, this heart heavy homesick track came to life.  “I was flying out of Seattle after feeling beat up by someone who I really cared about, yet again,” says Koehler (Shannon) “and just wanted to get back home to where I remembered her best. My house isn't very glamorous and it's not exactly my ‘sanctuary’ or ‘haven’, but at least it's got some good memories.”

The Stone Foxes have been supporting their singles release campaign the past few months on the road with Gov’t Mule, Social Distortion, at CMJ and have rounded out the year with a series of residencies at Los Angeles’ Bootleg and in San Francisco’s Chapel.

Moving into the holidays the band have used these releases and shows as a platform to raise awareness of a social issue very close to their hearts, hunger and homelessness. In each city they have partnered with a local charity, in Los Angeles Union Rescue Mission and in San Francisco Episcopal Community Services to collect canned goods and socks, and to raise awareness of what each organization does in their local community. To learn more about the bands on going initiatives to fight homelessness and hunger please visit The Goodnight Moon Project.

7 Come 11 is the creation of Berklee College of Music alumni and Hammond B3 player Gianni Staiano. Staiano’s musical heroes and influences were all very forward thinking, which has been the driving force for Staiano to push the limits and boundaries of his sonic creativity— and more specifically, how he can merge his classically trained musical mind with new technology. This process has been a slow burn for Staiano, who attended the Berklee College of Music before studying jazz at San Diego State. The five tracks on Light it Up shake with power, fury and blaze with the energy and unrestrained emotion that has come to define 7 Come 11’s raucous live show. Innovation smacks you in the face on Light It Up: that whiplash mélange of futuristic funk is rushing head-on with fire in its eyes on “Come Get Some,” a track that calls to mind Herbie Hancock by way of Daft Punk. Shotgun drums and vocoders whir in unison with Moog synths on “Higher.” The title track bounces with a hip-hop swagger, Staiano’s sexy Hammond harmonies prancing above. Although Staiano grew up removed from the world of dance, 7 Come 11’s music has developed into a sonic dance party. Staiano’s version of dance music comes from his intense study of West African music. Staiano fell hard for dance music, while traveling the region to study with its most dedicated disciples, and now feels it as an essential part of his musical being. “It awakened this whole new person inside me,” Staiano explains. “The music is so much more intense, if you feel it in your body and you move your body with the music. If I’m going out what do I want to do? I want to go out and dance to some good music. Not something where the drop happens every 60 seconds and everybody takes a selfie. I want to get down. I want to get into it.”

Nearly half a century after releasing one of the biggest rock songs in Australian history, Russell Morris is setting his sights on America with the release of his award winning album Sharkmouth on September 30th

Sharkmouth is a bold  delivery of an untold piece of Australian history. Loosely based on characters and events spanning from 1916, Sharkmouth is a journey through Australia’s most iconic and untold stories. Upon it’s release in Australia Sharkmouth reached #1 on the iTunes Blues Charts, #1 on the  Australian Blues Radio Charts, Russell received the ARIA award for Best Blues and Roots album and Sharkmouth went on to be the highest selling record of the year.

Stream the First Single “Black Dog Blues” via SOUNDCLOUD

Morris grew up listening to American blues artists like John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, taking inspiration from music that had been made halfway across the globe. Australia and America have very similar cultural beginnings of being places of refuge for the unwanted and displaced, so it’s no surprise that Morris’ music resonates strongly with the American Blues documenting the history of lesser known characters that have helped shaped the fabric of the culture.

It was on a trip to Sydney that Morris recalls seeing a photo of famed con-man Thomas 'Shark Jaws' Archer . “It was his arrest photo from 1921, and it just drew me in,” says Morris.  “It almost communicated to me from a hundred years ago, saying, 'Write a song about me. Tell people that I lived and I walked this earth and scared people to death.'" That photo was the launchpad for Sharkmouth, and Morris’ signature story driven songwriting inspired by the gangsters, gamblers and backstreet dwellers of Depression-era Australia.

Morris got a fast start in music. At barely 21 years of age he recorded "The Real Thing”, a psychedelic rock single that climbed its way to the top of the Australian charts in 1969. It became the continent's biggest song that year, earning airplay in U.S. markets like Chicago and New York along the way. More hits followed, and — moved to Los Angeles in the 1970s, looking to continue his success on U.S. soil.

Things didn't go as planned, and despite his success at home, Morris was unable to gain a foothold in the American market. He eventually headed back to Melbourne and took an extended break from the public eye. Years later, when Morris began writing honest, hard-hitting music that explored his bluesy roots, those people were waiting for him, and he is looking to make the same impact here in the U.S. with the release of Sharkmouth. Morris will be in the U.S. playing select shows in support of the album this fall.

The Bay Area’s Tallest Man Records is excited to announce the release of “Nobody Wins” the first track off the forthcoming EP Universe Out of Time from 7 Come 11 due out on September 29th.

7 Come 11 is the brainchild of San Francisco Bay based musician Gianni Staiano. The project was created with Staiano and his Hammond B3 as the focal point, which for this new EP has expanded to include a whammy clavinet, modified to Staiano’s specs by Ken Rich at Sound Services. The clav, with the whammy bar adds a level of heaviness to the 7 Come 11 sound, mimicking searing guitar like wails (all created by the clav) that are all over the EP. “I saw a Castlebar Clavinet on YouTube years ago and was blown away,” says Staiano. “Of course, only like 7 were made back in the 70's and good luck finding one for sale. In the search though I found Ken Rich who had taken the initial concept which was fraught with design flaws and reimagined it. His creation changed my musical life. All of a sudden, I could be super expressive with a keyboard instrument. Bending notes and playing the in between ones. Things I've been fantasizing about since childhood now suddenly at my fingertips. This was something I could man-handle and really feel the connection to the strings. It's like a whole new universe of expressive possibilities has been opened up to me. That's why I guess this is more of a rock album and way wilder sounding.”

“Nobody Wins” was the very first song recorded with the whammy clav and is the most raw track on the album. The track is two takes pieced together, and was Staiano’s first real bonding moment with the whammy clav, where the instrument showed him what it was capable of, including making some decisions of its own.

The track opens with distorted vocals stating “We’re all the same people, We’re all the same race, If we don’t come together, Nobody wins.” This track was written in the fall of 2016 where the topics of immigration and race dominated the news feeds and stayed on the tip of the Nation’s tongue amidst the rise of Trump’s Nationalist movement. This tension can be felt in the heaviness of the song and the strain of the whammy bar bending the notes on the clavinet. In the wake of Charlottesville, the weight and depth of “Nobody Wins” is more palpable now than ever.

This past year has seen Staiano share the stage with some of his musical heroes the funky METERS, and The Original Meters whom he has supported on numerous shows, including the Original Meters 50th anniversary show at the Orpheum Theatre in New Orleans during the New Orleans’ Jazz and Heritage Festival. He has also warmed up the rooms for dance inducing funk power houses Con Brio, Lettuce, and Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk.

Staiano’s forward thinking musical heroes, like the Meters, have been the driving force for him to push the limits and boundaries of his sonic creativity— and more specifically, how he can merge his classically trained musical mind with new technology.  The result is a whiplash mélange of futuristic funk it that calls to mind a sonic dance party with Herbie Hancock by way of Daft Punk. This process has been a slow burn for Staiano, who attended the Berklee College of Music before studying jazz at San Diego State.  Although Staiano grew up removed from the world of dance, 7 Come 11’s music has developed into a sonic dance party. Staiano’s version of dance music comes from his intense study of West African music. Staiano fell hard for dance music, while traveling the region to study with its most dedicated disciples, and now feels it as an essential part of his musical being. Staiano describes simply, that was he is making is music that he wants to dance to. With this new record and new instrumentation Staino dives even deeper into experimenting with technology and making music that moves him.

Staino will be taking 7 Come 11 out on the road this fall. Tour dates to be announced soon.

“‘Hard to Tell,’ is a fun, whimsical track that utilizes its steel guitar, organ, and bluesy guitar licks to emphasize Winwood’s unique voice and Ray’s signature eccentric style.” - Cowboys & Indians

Nashville artist Boo Ray is excited to announce the release of a new original duet with Lilly Winwood (Americana singer and daughter of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Steve Winwood) called “Hard to Tell.” This fun, original track is the A side in the latest vinyl collaboration series Ray is doing called “Boocoo Amigos.” The B side is the pair’s take on the classic “Islands in the Stream.”

Having worked on “Islands in the Stream” together first, Winwood and Ray just knew they had to collaborate on something original. “Lilly’s clever like a safe-cracker, cooler than a polar bear’s toenails, and has a wonderful uproarious laugh. She’s a world-class vocalist and smart soulful songwriter. We were hangin’ and talking ’70s music — Linda Ronstadt, Gerry Rafferty, Eddie Rabbitt, and the Bee Gees — and went down the rabbit hole of the Grease soundtrack, came out the other side, and landed on ‘Islands in the Stream.’ We knew we just had to record ‘Islands’ and write an A-side to accompany it.” Once the duo had their rendition of a classic locked in, “Hard to Tell” came naturally, written in 20 minutes.

Partnering with Kindercore Vinyl on “Boocoo Amigos,” Ray previously teamed up with Elizabeth Cook for an original holiday duet that was praised by Rolling Stone Country , No Depression, Wide Open Country and more.

Ray will be continuing the partnership with Kindercore Vinyl with more in the series of 7inch duets coming later this year including one with celebrity chef Sean Brock out this summer. The Kindercore research and development team have taken active steps toward renewable PVC replacements, seeking to be the first pressing plant to offer petroleum free phonograph records in the coming years. By Boo Ray being the first artist to work with Kindercore he is hoping to set an example, that taking steps towards preserving the planet can be as simple as working with forward thinking companies like Kindercore. If enough artists follow Ray’s lead, collectively, they can make a huge impact on making the industry more sustainable.

“Hard to Tell” and “Islands in the Stream” are now available on all music streaming platforms and you can purchase a vinyl copy on Ray’s website. They’ll also be having a single listening party at Vinyl Tap in East Nashville to celebrate the release on Wednesday, April 18th.

VINYL SINGLE RELEASE PARTY

Wednesday, April 18

Vinyl Tap

2038 Greenwood Avenue, Nashville, TN 37206

6-8pm

Nashville’s Brandy Zdan has released “Get to You” the second single from her forthcoming album Secretear out May 11 on Tallest Man Records. The first single” I Want Your Trouble” released in March has garnered Zdan comparisons to female rockers who write big hooks like Chrissie Hynde and the GoGo’s.

“Clearly drawing inspiration from 70s and 80s pop groups like Talking Heads and The Go Gos, “I Want Your Trouble” is going to have you toe-tapping along to its every beat. With its perfect combination of electric guitar strums and drum hits, “I Want Your Trouble” has all the satisfying elements of the perfect rock n’ roll tune.”  - East of 8th

The Beatles inspired “Get to You” is a song about unrequited love. It was the very first song written for the album and happens to be Zdan’s personal favorite. Zdan co-produced  Secretear with Teddy Morgan, and recruited My Morning Jacket's Tom Blankenship and Carl Broemel to play on the record.  For this record Zdan shed a lot of her personal skin and her musical past, letting go of those things that held her back from being the best version of herself. The Juno award nominee went back to her rock roots with this album, and decided to put everything on the line, so much so that she blew out her voice and ran her fingers raw from playing guitar the first week of recording. Leading into this album release Zdan has been on the road winning over some tough crowds of guitar and blues purists, opening for Doyle Bramhall and then touring with the legendary Buddy Guy.

“Zdan played electric guitar and sang, while accompanied only by a drummer. And while she was playing the blues, it brought back fond memories of another famous guitar-drum duo, The White Stripes.”  - California Rocker

Zdan will be performing Secretear in full at Douglas Corner in Nashville on May 11th. Her band for the show will feature Carl Broemel (guitar, pedal steel) and Tom Blankenship (bass) of My Morning Jacket, and Aaron Haynes of The Texas Gentlemen (drums). The show is free with RSVP. More details can be found HERE

The Silent Comedy have released “Enemies Multiply” the title track from the forthcoming album due out 10/19.

The songs on the album are inspired by professional and personal struggles the band found themselves in several years ago. The turmoil had a profound influence on the recording process, resulting in a body of work that was the most difficult to date for the band to create. But, like most great works of art, something really beautiful emerged from that very dark place. Enemies Multiply is a collection of 11 songs that the band is very proud of. The timing couldn’t be better, with our current cultural climate, to release this album in 2018. “This album is a collection of anthems for dark times,” says Joshua Zimmerman. “Given the state of society today, we feel this is a perfect time to release Enemies Multiply. The average person has become more engaged in issues of exploitation and injustice than we have seen in recent years, and these songs speak directly to the feelings of anger, defiance, and frustration that many of us are feeling."

The release of the album was delayed for a number of reasons, with the main reason being that reliving the pain and frustration put into the songs was like rubbing salt into their wounds, and the brothers (Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman) chose, for a time, to focus their creative energies elsewhere. But then the 2016 election happened.  Joshua was living in New York City and was feeling bewildered and frustrated at the country’s new reality. He realized that the feeling of this moment is what they wrote the record for.  A certain pall of outrage and desperation had settled over the country and in Joshua’s estimation, the album now had greater cultural resonance.

The title track and current single, “Enemies Multiply,” is an examination of destructive personality types and how they affect the world around us. It embraces the view that mere participation in our society leaves an individual open to a certain amount of exploitation and betrayal. With lyrics like, “Won’t allow my heart to break for every beautiful mistake,” it also stands as a defiant anthem in the face of a bleak reality.

Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman formed the Silent Comedy in their adopted hometown of San Diego. The brothers spent their childhood traveling around the world with their missionary parents. The family returned to the U.S. and meandered a bit on the road before settling in San Diego, where they moved into a house with nothing in it but an upright piano. It was then - around junior high - that the brothers started collaborating on songwriting as a form of catharsis. It is their travels that have colored their worldview, which when compared to some of their peers, is decidedly darker. Seeing the immense amount of suffering around the world really shaped how they look at life, and Enemies Multiply is a distillation of this somber perspective.

This will be the band’s third full-length record and the follow up to their last full length, Common Faults, which has gone through three rounds of CD re-pressings due to demand and has garnered tens of millions of streams and downloads. Their music has also been paired with gritty American tales such as  Hatfields & McCoys, starring Kevin Costner,  the History Channel’s original series The Men Who Built America, Showtime’s Shameless, and the theme song for the first season of the Amazon show Goliath. The success of the album led to tours of North America, Europe, and the UK, and supporting slots with artists such as The Heavy, ZZ Ward, Ryan Bingham, and Dave Matthews Band to name a few.

The band has two release shows planned for Enemies Multiply. The first in Los Angeles at the Hi Hat on 10/18 and the second in San Diego at the Casbah on 10/19, which is already sold out.

The award-winning Muddy Roots Music Festival has announced its final lineup, a genre-defying list that will make punk, metal, roots music, and even some hip-hop fans squeal in unified delight. This year's event, which will take place from August 30th to September 1st in Cookeville, Tennessee, boasts sets from almost 80 bands, including appearances from MC50, the new incarnation of Wayne Kramer's MC5, and GZA of Wu-Tang Clan fame who will perform with a live band. The MC50 band includes Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Brendan Canty (Fugazi), Billy Gould (Faith No More), and Marcus Durant (Zen Guerilla). GZA's backing band is led by Ramsey Jones, older brother of the late ODB of the Wu-Tang Clan. John Garcia and Nick Oliveri, both formerly of KYUSS will appear with their respective new projects, along with legendary California punk band Face to Face, pioneering funky ska-punk outfit Fishbone, alt-country outlaws like Sarah Shook & The Disarmers and Mike and The Moonpies, and roots stalwarts like Possessed By Paul James and The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band.

‘Despite touring the US a few times, we have never really played a great deal of festivals there so we are really excited to be coming to Muddy Roots Festival," says Ben Ward, frontman of British metal band Orange Goblin. "The lineup is great and caters to every genre of music so whether you’re into metal, punk, country, hip-hop or whatever, there is sure to be something to be excited about." This year, East Nashville's The Crying Wolf bar will bring their entire Splashville party--two large pools, many smaller pools, a tall slip n' slide, and a stage--to Muddy Roots 2019, all placed in view of the main stage, as well as a DJ/lounge tent sponsored by East Nashville bar Duke's, there will be an independent movie tent present, G'z BBQ of East Nashville will be onsite to serve brisket chili, ribs, turkey legs, and smoked cabbage to festivalgoers, and amongst the national and international bands set to perform, Muddy Roots has slated many Nashville bands to play. Nashville yoga instructors "Power Spell" will be hosting Metal Yoga classes onsite. That's right. Metal yoga.

This year, the Muddy Roots Music Festival celebrates its 10 year anniversary; founder Jason Galaz presents Muddy Roots events in the States and in Europe all year long, including vintage whiskey and wine train excursions in the Nashville area, the Nashville Boogie Vintage Weekender, and Muddy Roots Music Festival Europe. The festivals have a tribal feel and garner support from other groups worldwide. Muddy Roots Europe staff will be in attendance to assist festivalgoers, a team from the Trapper Creek Festival in Alaska will be onsite to manage the festival's recycling operations, and staff from Nashville's Grace and Glory tattoo shop will be onhand for production and staffing. Some festival attendees even arrive a day early to assist with setup on the grounds.

"Jason does an amazing job handpicking the lineup every year from punk to roots to straight Americana Country so there is something for every type of string-style music enthusiast," says alt-country artist Charlie Overbey. "It’s like a huge pot of the best badass gumbo ever cooked up, and every year he seems to make it even tastier.” Tickets to the event are on sale now HERE. Full weekend passes include free camping, hot showers, camaraderie, and three full days of incredible music.

CONNECT WITH MUDDY ROOTS:

Website || Facebook || Twitter || Instagram 

When most people think of defiant music, they think of punk rock or outlaw country. But defying genres while transcending eras and resisting clichés is hard to pin down when it comes to artistry—unless you’re talking about Miss Tess, who does all of that and more on her new release, The Moon Is an Ashtray. Swinging for the fences and from the branches of jazz, country, blues and old school rock and roll, she has employed all of her influences and talents on a tour-de-force, while cleverly taking standard perspectives and ideas—like the definition of a love song—to task.

To help capture and shape her own unique sound, Miss Tess enlisted not only her trusty 1930s Weymann archtop, but also heavy input from co-producers Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff) and Thomas Bryan Eaton, her full-time bandmate and musical partner. Tess elaborates, “I think Andrija’s indie leanings were pivotal in taking these songs into a transcendent space, while still supporting my initial vision. He definitely pushed me in new ways and the three of us found a very interesting mix between bold experimentation and a more traditional approach.” Combining Thomas’ arranging ideas and skilled instrumental work with Andrija’s studio full of vintage mics, tube amps, keyboards, and tape machines, the resulting record has a rich, buttery warmth well-suited to Miss Tess's voice and authentic, retro-contemporary songwriting style. 

The album starts with the stinging bite of “The Truth Is,” a Dave Godowsky tune that Miss Tess delivers with an insouciance that simultaneously betrays and belies its kiss-off content. The only cover on the record, Tess has no problem making it her own. “I love the unexpected meanness of it,” she confesses. “He originally wrote it as a happy early Beatles-sounding tune, but I changed some of the chords and the melody a bit, then slowed it down to make it darker and way more crushing.” Saccharin sweetness need not apply. 

Lake Street Dive's Rachael Price joins in the fun for a duet on “True Flood,” which kicks open the old soul gates with its deep, rolling groove. Mid-way through the New Orleans-style rollick, Miss Tess steps up for a slyly swaggering guitar run showcasing her instrumental prowess. From the rapid-fire country-rock of “Gamblin' Man” to the laid-back jazz-blues of “Riverboat Song,” Miss Tess shows both the pluck and poise to fold a multitude of styles into her own. That's what happens when you grow up in a musical household giving the blues greats, big bands, and Chuck Berry equal weight.

The idea of defiance parlays itself into the tongue-in-cheek metaphor of the album’s title track, “The Moon is an Ashtray.” It’s not about what we look at necessarily, but what we see that matters. From our earthbound vantage and oft storied lore, the moon is a romantic and mystical entity; though as one looks closer, the moon is dusty, barren, and empty. Here, Tess breaks from the moon’s typical cliché to deliver a much more cynical, yet whimsical point-of-view, conveyed with her smoky vocals set against a swaying backdrop of bright guitar licks and yearning pedal steel. She sings, “The moon is an ashtray, catching dreams that have burned away / They couldn’t stand up to the flame, so they flickered and died.”

After over a decade on the road, now making her home in Nashville — by way of Baltimore, Boston, and Brooklyn — Miss Tess has found a creative community that encourages and embraces wide artistic exploration and expression as much as she does. Alongside Thomas (who’s been a full-time band member for seven years), local heavyweights like Dennis Crouch, John Pahmer, Jimmy Lester, Jack Lawrence, and Larry Atamanuik fill out the album’s liner notes, but the songs belong to Tess.

Throughout the record, Tess uses many of these songs to look at love from every angle she can think of, except the usual. There is the mysterious thrill of “One Little Kiss,” the quiet havoc of “If You Don’t Know How to Love Me”, the uncomfortable exhilaration in “Take It Easy,” and the deceptive psychedelic darkness of “Sugarbabe.” Of the latter, which initially takes the form of a traditional Piedmont-style blues, she says, “It might sound sweet at first, but the song actually speaks to an underlying intense sexual desire and yearning for someone who is either spreading their love around to many, or is simply gone. Despite these frustrations, you are still deeply obsessed.” The song then shifts into psychedelic overdrive with a swirling instrumental section that leaves the listener unsure of which way is up, or where the journey began.

As Miss Tess shows in every moment of The Moon Is an Ashtray, questioning the status quo while maintaining her unique identity and challenging our ideas of perspective, well, there's nothing more defiant than that.

Powerhouse singer/songwriter Mark Erelli has unveiled brand new single "Her Town Now," a deceptively lighthearted tune about processing the unraveling of a relationship. Reminiscent of Petty in style and Prine in straightforwardness, "Her Town Now" was written with Chuck Prophet after a chance meeting in the Oregon woods during a songwriting workshop. "I really loved what [Prophet] did and was looking to force myself to collaborate," Erelli told Billboard in the song's premiere. "Chuck’s more of a rock 'n' roller than I've been in the past. I thought he might be able to help me make something out of this chorus I had for ['Her Town Now']." Prophet also brought in his frequent collaborator, poet Kurt "Klipschutz" Lipschutz, to help out and craft Erelli's goal "to explore the concept of something that once belonged to two people and now very clearly belongs to just one of them" after a romantic breakup. "Chuck helped me get in touch with that more stripped-down rock 'n' roll vibe -- 'Let's not wait too long 'til we get to the chorus,' that type of thing," Erelli explained. "For a long time I had been trying to get at the essence of what I connected with and what I loved in Tom Petty songs. I think of it as the Tao of Tom Petty -- simplicity beyond simplicity in the best rock songs, where everything is both carefully constructed but doesn't sound overthought." 

LISTEN TO "HER TOWN NOW" 

SOUNDCLOUD || SPOTIFY

Erelli also penned "By Degrees," which has been nominated for song of the year at this year's Americana Music Association Honors & Awards. "Singer-songwriter and folk musician Mark Erelli has produced a pair of albums for Lori McKenna, accompanied musicians including Josh Ritter and Paula Cole on guitar, appeared on Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s 2007 Soul2Soul Tour, and released 11 albums as a solo artist," remarked Rolling Stone Country. "But in 'By Degrees,' a song Rosanne Cash calls 'the most compassionate, vivid and non-preaching anti-gun violence song I’ve ever heard,' Erelli shines an essential and sobering light on a topic that remains among the most heavily debated in the country. With a lyrical hook that suggests 'you can learn to live with anything when it happens by degrees,' Erelli crafts a modern protest song that finds its power in poignant observation, perhaps the most chilling of which is the image of “little hands on little shoulders, children in a line… led away from school as the shots rang out inside.” "By Degrees" features Cash, Sheryl Crow, Lori McKenna, Anaïs Mitchell, and Josh Ritter. The profits for "By Degrees" were and continue to be donated to  Giffords: The Courage to Fight Gun Violence, the organization founded by former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

"BY DEGREES"

LISTEN || WATCH

That same poignancy and enthusiasm reverberate through every line in "Her Town Now"; Erelli and his band gleefully brought the song to life in a Nashville studio in one take, the memory of which he compares to watching kids in a candy store. But don’t be fooled by the lightheartedness of “Her Town Now.” “The song sounds catchy and upbeat, unless you have lived it—I have,” he reveals. And it’s true, “Her Town Now” bears the mark of the greats, those masters of songcraft who draw you in, break your heart, and make you beg for more. “The days are cold, the nights are long, the bed’s still here, but her pillow’s gone,” he sings, as he recounts the demise of a relationship and feeling like a displaced stranger in a place that was once so familiar. 

This song marks a step forward for Erelli—albeit in a different direction. His previous work has been in the realm of acoustic-focused songs about love and relationships. “Her Town Now” is a rock-tinged examination of a state of affairs, unflinching in its perspective, and straightforward in its delivery, as Erelli finds himself reflecting on where he’s been, and looking forward to what’s next.

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Kyshona releases "Fallen People," a track from her forthcoming album Listen. Written with Jenn Bostic and Maureen Murphy, "Fallen People" is a reflection on how we see others; its classic feel encourages us to handle each another with care--that we find commonality in the fact that we all struggle and that we all fight something on a daily basis.

LISTEN TO "FALLEN PEOPLE" via SPOTIFY || SOUNDCLOUD

"Fallen People" follows lead single, "Too Much," a Mavis-Staples-style organ-laced gospel-tinged groove about finding hope in the midst of overwhelming circumstances. Kyshona has always lent her voice and music to those that feel silenced or forgotten. She began her career as a music therapist, writing her first songs with her patients--the students and inmates under her care. She soon found the need to write independently and find her own voice, an endeavor that led her to the fertile ground of the Nashville creative community and its collaborative songwriting culture.

LISTEN TO "TOO MUCH"

Since then, she has learned how to balance her music career with her passion to heal the hurting. Audiences will find a common thread of empowerment, overcoming adversity, and finding hope in her work. On February 28, 2020, Kyshona will release her new LP Listen, co-produced with Andrija Tokic (St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Alabama Shakes, Hurray For The Riff Raff) and recorded mostly at his famed Nashville studio The Bomb Shelter.

In each of the album's 10 tracks, Kyshona blends roots, rock, R&B, gospel, and folk with lyrical prowess to uplift the marginalized and bring awareness to the masses. It's for every silent scream, every heavy load, every fearful thought, and a simmering sense of anger that the repressed, the lost, and the forgotten try to hide from the world. "I’ve been thinking a lot about purpose," she says. "When I write and when I perform I am often thinking of what my point is. What is my purpose? What is my mission? At this particular moment in these particular times, my mission is to be a voice and a vessel for those who feel silenced and forgotten." After her powerful performances, concertgoers often ask, "What can I do?" Her response? "Listen."

LISTEN TRACKLIST:

LISTEN

FEAR

TOO MUCH

WE THE PEOPLE

FALLEN PEOPLE

MY OWN GRAVE

TRY

WORRIED MIND

MARCHING ON

MORE IN COMMON

TOUR DATES:

11/1 - Gray's on Main - Franklin, TN

11/16 - Square In The Circle - Takoma Park, MD

11/17 - Sevaried House Concerts - Alexandria, VA

11/21 - The Olde Glory Theatre - Seward, NE

11/22 - Rehmsworld Concert Series - Holdrege, NE

11/23 - Progressive Voices Concert @ First Unitarian Church - Des Moines, IA

11/24 - Dyck Arboretum of the Plains - Hesston, KS

12/16 - Club Jaeb at the Straz Center - Tampa, FL

California funk n’ roll outfit ALO will be heading out on the road this week on Tour D’Amour XIV  that will see the band traverse the west coast accompanied by friends such as Twiddle, The Motet, Leftover Salmon and Ben Morrison from Brothers Comatose.  Following Tour D’Amour the band heads to the East Coast on their California Creatures Tour.

The sets will consist of fan favorites, in addition to new songs from the bands “Creatures” EP’s series, recorded by founding members Zach Gill (keys, vocals), Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz (guitars, vocals) and Steve Adams (bass, vocals), as well as the band's newest member, Ezra Lipp on drums, released by Brushfire Records. The first in the series,  Creatures, Vol. 1: Spark, was released in the summer and Creatures, Vol. 2: Weave, was  released January 10th. Both EP’s were  engineered and mixed by long-time ALO collaborators Dave Simon-Baker and Mike Cresswell, with additional recording done by the band at home studios. The ongoing series tracks the development of the new lineup with Lipp, while still maintaining that familiar ALO sound. Old school listeners have been raving about the band’s live sets at recent festivals (High Sierra Music Festival, Camp Deep End), and both new EPs are steeped in that bottled that energy. The band can’t wait for fans to hear the new songs.

"The idea is to inspire people,” Lebo explains. “As a music listener, that's the music I tend to be drawn to, when I hear something that inspires me and gets me excited about life. That’s what we’re trying to do. And, we’re trying to inspire ourselves as a band. If we can get ourselves there, then we can translate that to other people.” That idea has been more like a mission for ALO, to approach their music with a sense of freedom, and create a liberating space for their listeners. “We want to encourage people to be themselves and do what they want and participate or just enjoy,” says Adams. “We want them to let down their guards.”

Tour D’Amour XIV

2/6 Sierra Nevada Big Room Chico, CA * TIX/INFO

2/7- 8 Crystal Bay Casino Crystal Bay, CA #  TIX/INFO

2/13 The Siren Morro Bay, CA *  TIX/INFO

2/14 Soho Music Club Santa Barbara, CA *  TIX/INFO

2/15 Troubadour Los Angeles, CA *  TIX/INFO

2/16 Belly Up Solana Beach, CA *  TIX/INFO

2/21 Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom Denver, CO ^  TIX/INFO

2/22 - 23 Winter Wondergrass Steamboat Springs, CO  TIX/INFO

3/7 Warfield Theatre San Francisco, CA $  TIX/INFO

3/13 Neumos Seattle, WA %  TIX/INFO

3/14 Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR %  TIX/INFO

East Coast Tour

3/ 31 Southern Cafe and Music Hall Charlottesville, VA  *   TIX/INFO

4/1 Union Stage Washington D.C. *  TIX/INFO

4/2 Ardmore Music Hall - Philadelphia, PA*  TIX/INFO

4/3 Brooklyn Bowl - Brooklyn, NY*  TIX/INFO

4/4-5 Great SCott - Allston, MA *  TIX/INFO

* w/ Ben Morrison (of Brothers Comatose)

# w/ the Motet

^ w/ Tea Leaf Green

$ w/ Leftover Salmon

% w/ Twiddle

Natalie Schlabs has unveiled timely new single “Go Outside,” a track from her forthcoming album Don’t Look Too Close, due out October 16th. “‘Go Outside’ is the perfect indie soundtrack to a summer afternoon,” said Ones To Watch in its premiere. “The airy acoustic guitars and dreamy vocals give the song a magic quality, as if it were a spell to coax you (safely!) out of wherever you've been quarantining. The delicate harmonies and swaying effects feel like a fresh breeze blowing through a field of flowers. More than anything, this song showcases the simple beauty of everyday life.” Schlabs wrote the song as “a reminder to put down my phone and pursue activities that fill me with a tangible sense of the world and my 'flesh and bone' neighbor outside my door,” she explains. “To be outside is to be surrounded by a world I can't control and beauty I did not have to create myself. I can let go of some of my control and simply be.”

LISTEN: “GO OUTSIDE”

“Go Outside” follows encouragement anthem “See What I See,” and “Home Is You,” a song about that person who is your “person.” Schlabs enlisted fellow artists and friends like Robby Hecht, the members of Oliver the Crow, Betsy Phillips, and gospel/soul powerhouse Liz Vice for the endearing “Home Is You” video. “Even with COVID-19 keeping many of us apart, artists everywhere are still finding ways to put forth creativity and hope,” said Underground Music Collective of the video. “‘With ‘Home Is You,’ we get a personal look at the quality time spent between loved ones — all of whom happen to be singing along to this undeniably catchy tune.”

LISTEN: “SEE WHAT I SEE”

LISTEN: “HOME IS YOU”

WATCH: “HOME IS YOU”

The nine tracks that comprise Don’t Look Too Close, the second full-length effort from the Texas-bred Nashville-based artist, live in the tension between the beauty and heartbreak surrounding our closest relationships. The songs were written when Schlabs was pregnant with her first child, which caused a lot of reflection on her own upbringing and how she wanted to raise him. The album’s title came from the idea that "he’s going to see all the worst of me, be hurt by the worst of me, as much as I don’t want him to, and, as much as I want to be the best for him. I was thinking about how to raise a child, how to pass down values. There’s a dismantling of what I thought I knew,” she explains. “What do I value in my life and where did those things come from? What do I want to share with my children and what do I want to spare them from?” 

Don’t Look Too Close steps into indie territory with a compelling mix of instrumentation laced with solo vocals that bloom into easy, delicate harmonies. Co-produced by Juan Solorzano and Zachary Dyke, with Caleb Hickman on saxophone and Joshua Rogers on bass, the album swells and ebbs with elegant, absorbing shapes. The songs are moody, candid, and tender, each featuring Schlabs’ characteristically sleek vocals front-and-center, backed by charming instrumental moments that add form and depth to the melodies. 

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass will be presenting a live stream on July 25th at 4 pm PT with Los Lobos.  The Grammy award-winners have a rich history with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, having played the festival in 2007, 2013, 2015 and 2018. “After months of lockdown, Los Lobos is honored and happy to report we will be doing our first show all together again for our friends at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass,” says Steve Berlin. “We have a special relationship with HSB going back decades and many epic shows, so we are really looking forward to getting back on stage together and ushering in the festival’s 20th anniversary.”

The broadcast will be hosted by the festival’s Artist Relations Manager Bonnie Simmons and will include a live performance and a Q&A where the band will be sharing some of their favorite memories from HSB and taking questions from fans. In addition, Bonnie and Los Lobos will discuss what Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has in store for fans and the music community this October. The live stream will be broadcast through the HSB Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and Nugs.tv pages and at HardlyStrictlyBluegrass.com. Additionally, fans can sign up to be a part of the interactive portion of the Live Stream, where Los Lobos will be taking questions and talking to fans,  HERE.  Fans who sign up will be alerted via email on the morning of the 25th with a Zoom link to join the event.  Safety is a top priority for the live stream, and HSB has developed a strict protocol for artists and crew working on the event observing the social distancing guidelines set forth by the Center for Disease Control. Los Lobos have been major advocates for COVID-19 safety, most recently participating  in the Los Angeles County Medical Association’s “Put It On Campaign.”

“Los Lobos is the consummate live experience, delivering great energy and musicianship,” says HSB Executive producer Sheri Sternberg. “They really define all the elements that are important to the HSB community, fostering roots music, and the joy it brings to others. Their epic HSB live sets have yielded incredible contributions to our archives, including covers of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ and Merle Haggard’s ‘Silver Wings.’ We are really excited they agreed to partner with us for this live stream.”

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was founded by Warren Hellman in 2001.  The free annual outdoor festival celebrating American roots music in the historic Golden Gate Park was Hellman’s gift to the City of San Francisco.  What started as a venue for Hellman’s favorite artists to perform for the Bay Area community has grown into a festival that attracts several hundred thousand music fans from around the world, with over 80 bands on six stages.

"This is the great gift of Warren Hellman, the one and only, to not only the City of San Francisco,  but the world of music."

- SF Chronicle

Honoring the beautiful legacy of Warren and Chris Hellman, the festival is the single largest activity of the Hellman Foundation. Unlike any other major festival, it is offered free to the public with zero corporate sponsors or advertising. The Hellman Foundation supports organizations and initiatives primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area emphasizing social inclusion, education,  youth development, and health and basic needs programs.

Please visit www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com, sign up for the newsletter,  and follow HSB on social media for more updates and information.  For more on the Hellman Foundation visit https://www.hellmanfoundation.org.

We are taking every precaution to protect our artists and crew from exposure to the pandemic, as noted above. We continue to monitor the situation in Los Angeles County, including advisories from the CDC and the LA County Department of Public Health, and will inform you if we change our program in response to changing circumstances.

Garrett Owen has released “Hour In The Forest,” the newest single from his forthcoming album Quiet Lives, due out September 18th. The song, inspired by interactions with three different women - one of which sports a tattoo of Harriet Tubman with a machine gun and Joan of Arc with a sword - is one of the more experimental tracks on Quiet Lives. “The new single is one of his most expansive creations yet, a full-on epic that starts off like your typical folk song before breaking out into an all-out boogie, with a vintage solo provided by blues prodigy Matt Tedder,” says V13 in the song’s premiere. “Each of ‘Hour In The Forest’s’ three verses were inspired by three very different situations that have arisen in Owen’s life…With such a diversity of subject matter, it’s quite clear that Owen has got a lot on his mind to draw from when it comes to songwriting.”

LISTEN: “HOUR IN THE FOREST”

“Hour In The Forest” follows the release of lead single “These Modern Times,” which Atwood Magazine called “a gust of sweet, somber, and seductive folk.” “These Modern Times” features Owens’ take on our society’s addiction to technology and constant digital connection, fleshing out the lyrics on one of his regular sojourns to the Brazos River, where he finds peace in the “dis-connection” of being in nature. Owen’s love of nature is ingrained in his DNA - his earliest memories involve frequent trips across the Serengeti and backyard wildlife most of us only experience at our local zoos. The son of missionaries, he grew up in Tanzania and Kenya, riding on the luggage rack of the family’s Nissan Patrol, with vast clear skies above him and gazelles running beside.

LISTEN: “THESE MODERN TIMES”

After leaving Africa, the family completed a stint in Ecuador before Owen’s parents moved the family back to Texas. Life as he knew it became a difficult endeavor; rimmed with the sharp edges of reality in an unfamiliar place, his attempts to settle into a culture he didn’t understand resulted in distress and a suicide attempt - a far cry from the idyllic landscape of his upbringing. Now, the award-winning artist, who calls to mind legends like Paul Simon, Jackson Browne, and Jesse Winchester, is gearing up to release his second full-length album, Quiet Lives. Though he revisits familiar subject matter such as the push-pull of relationships, love, and loss, Quiet Lives is about growth. The diverse 10-track collection delves into more experimental musical territory, as Owen toyed with complex chord changes, melodic dissonance, and intriguing storylines.

“At its core, all art is based on a ‘true story,’ and by true, I mean the version we carry in our head and heart - the one that can lift or crush your spirit with equal capacity,” the golden-voiced Owen, who has shared stages with artists like Parker Millsap, Charlie Sexton, and Marty Stuart, explains. “Some suggest that your upbringing explains quirks of personality like my shyness, a tendency for introspection, and streaks of perfectionism. Maybe. I’m not so fatalistic as to believe our earliest experiences necessarily determine the arc of adult life, but my slightly foreign childhood never leaves my music or me. Everybody’s got a story to tell,” he adds. “I’m no different.”

The Bay Area’s beloved Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is launching its new global and community-driven initiative  Let the Music Play On to bring the spirit of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass to backyards and living rooms all over the world with a global broadcast taking place the weekend of October 2nd.  In compliance with safety concerns and California’s statewide mandate against large public gatherings, the festival will not be taking place in its traditional setting of Golden Gate Park. The festival, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary this year, was founded by Warren Hellman on ten pillars: community, joy, creativity, collaboration, freedom,  peace, love, respect, gratitude, and spirituality. It was Hellman’s gift to the City of San Francisco, offering a free outdoor festival in the historic Golden Gate Park that is a celebration of American roots music.

The October broadcast will feature new performances from the expansive range of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass artists that include first-time performers to legends of American Roots music, along with archival footage from the festival’s past two decades and memories from fans, performers, and staff and priceless gems from the festival’s rich history. The HSB community is what gives the festival life, so fans are encouraged to send their favorite memories via stories, videos, and photos to [email protected].  All contributions are welcome and appreciated, and will be considered for the broadcast in October.

“While we know we can’t replace the feeling of being together physically, the safety of our attendees, artists, volunteers, and staff are our highest priority and our team has been hard at work creating a vibrant broadcast in line with what attendees have come to expect from HSB: community, discovery, and the all-time best in roots music, ” says festival advisor Mick Hellman. “We’re excited to share parts of HSB that aren’t feasible in a festival environment such as screening archival footage,  sharing memories, and shining a spotlight on our non-profit partners.”

This year the festival has launched Hardly Strictly Music Relief Fund: Bay Area, a $1.5M charitable initiative to support the local music community during the COVID-19 pandemic. American roots musicians living in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo, and Sonoma Counties are invited to apply for one-time, unrestricted support grants up to $2,000.  The fund is also open to Bay Area music venues with a track record of presenting and supporting roots music of all kinds. Venues are encouraged to nominate themselves for the grant opportunity. From those nominations, a select number of venues will be invited to submit a formal application for up to $200,000 in grant funding for operating expenses, capacity building, or planning related to reopening, and must include funds dedicated to front-of-house and back-of-house staff.  For more information on the grant opportunities visit http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2020/music-relief

Additional information on the broadcast and line-up will be announced in the upcoming weeks at www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. To stay up to date sign up for the newsletter, and follow HSB on social media.

Today, Nashville-by-way-of-New England singer/songwriter Glenn Thomas shares his version of The Grateful Dead’s “Black Muddy River” to commemorate “Jerry Week.” “The beginning of August serves as a memorial for fans of the Dead,” says Mother Church Pew in the song’s premiere. “It marks both the birth and death of the band’s iconic frontman, Jerry Garcia—August 1st and 9th respectively. Sometimes called ‘Jerry Week,’ fans connect with their passion for the beloved artist not just by appreciating the Dead’s rich history, but also through creative expression. It’s not easy to stand out in a world full of Grateful Dead covers. It takes something sung from the heart to embrace the soul of the song, while giving it a life of its own. Thomas lets gentle, crisp acoustic guitar carry the melodies while building on the song’s inherent folk qualities with touches of dobro, mandolin, and strings. Full of reverence, it connects to the legacy of the Grateful Dead graced by the personal connection that pours from Thomas’s vocals.  With ingrained devotion, Thomas’s ‘Black Muddy River’ feels like it is being sung directly to Jerry Garcia—flowing with veneration from one artist to another.”

“Growing up in a musical family, I was listening to The Grateful Dead when I was really young, says Thomas. “American Beauty was among the few CDs I listened to on the bus ride to and from school. As a kid, I loved the songs and the vocal harmonies. As I got older and started playing guitar, their songs shifted into a rich musical landscape that has stayed with me and informed my own music ever since. ‘Black Muddy River’ is a later song in their catalogue, and lyrically a resonant, timeless reflection on life. The Grateful Dead are such a participatory band in the multitudes of ways their fans share in the music, even after Jerry’s passing. This is my interpretation of what is feel is one of their most beautiful songs.”

LISTEN: REASSURE ME THERE’S A WINDOW

On May 15th, Thomas unveiled his beautiful new LP Reassure Me There’s A Window to praise from Billboard, PopMatters, Folk Radio UK, and more. “This album was a long time dream of mine,” recounts Thomas of the LP. The tracks on Reassure Me There’s A Window, which feature tight fingerpicking guitar-based tunes with introspective lyrics fleshed out with resonant string arrangements, all come from a deeply personal place, and the more Thomas played them for his audiences, the more he realized how much others could relate to them. Each song touches on personal truths and what it means to be human—what connects us and motivates us, as well as the struggles and difficult facts of life.

In each of the album’s 11 tracks, Thomas puts life and the human condition under the microscope in order to articulately observe the big questions with small details, paying careful attention to his understanding of himself and the seasonality of life. He has the ability to lyrically turn the world on its side and explain the human condition and its accompanying array of emotions from a beautifully unique perspective.

Thomas, who cut his teeth fronting Rhode Island rock outfit Wild Sun, has shared stages with bands like Langhorne Slim, The Wombats, and Blitzen Trapper. He began writing songs that didn't fit within the rock-centric framework and decided he would strike out on his own, stretching his creative muscles. The album was produced by Jordan Lehning (Rodney Crowell, Andrew Combs, Joshua Hedley); with its throwback flair, Reassure Me There's A Window is a lush, sweetly-arranged collection of articulate folk-tinged songs.

CONNECT WITH GLENN THOMAS:

Website || Facebook || Instagram || Spotify || YouTube

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, one of the largest, free, and beloved music festivals in the country celebrating American roots music, announces its first participants in this year’s Let The Music Play On, led by veterans Alison Brown and John Doe, returning artists Aaron Lee Tasjan, Yola, and first-time performer Sierra Ferrell. To keep community spirit high amid an unprecedented year, Hardly Strictly will become a global celebration, streaming new performance footage, archival sets, and fan memories the first weekend of October.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage our world, leaving tragedy and uncertainty in its wake, compassionate unity is more important now than ever. Music, a source of hope that speaks to the hearts of individuals when language fails, has the unique ability to overcome the barriers of cross-cultural divides. It is a gift that can bring communities together when it seems that hope is lost. In an effort to keep the ten pillars of community, joy, creativity, collaboration, freedom, peace, love, respect, gratitude, and spirituality, upon which Hardly Strictly Bluegrass was founded on, strong  and to support the loyal community of festival fans Hardly Strictly Bluegrass made the choice to Let the Music Play On. The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass production team traveled to U.S.  cities rich in music history to capture performances and interviews, filmed without any spectators, in intimate local settings and historic venues.

In Nashville,  Yola, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Alison Brown, Sierra Ferrell, shared their talents with performances filmed at a private Nashville farm, artist Buddy Miller’s studio, and the stage at the historic Ryman Auditorium. The team then headed to Austin to film a set with John Doe at landmark venue The Continental Club.

“There is a great sense of community at Hardly Strictly,” says John Doe, “and I hope and pray that it’s back next year. It’s a one-of-a-kind.”

One of the most celebrated parts of the festival has been and continues to be diversity; these values are reflected in the wide array of artists and genres carefully selected for and presented on the festival’s stages year after year. “Showcasing incredible talent is part of the fabric of HSB,” says talent booker Chris Porter, “whether it’s music legends and festival staples such as John Doe and Alison Brown, or up-and-coming artists like Yola and Sierra Ferrell, the high caliber 0f talent and variety of artists  is what our fans have come to expect, and is what keeps them coming back year after year.”

Celebrating the legacy of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass without an audience and adhering to a strict safety protocol when taping the live performances and interviews was new territory for all involved, but the result is something truly unique and special, one that honors the pillars upon which the festival was founded and captures that sense of connection that only music can do.

In keeping with the festival spirit fans are invited to explore the virtual General Store for official Hardly Strictly merchandise; this year, patrons can choose from a well-curated selection of festival gear like the HSB 2020 Commemorative Home Kit which features HSB-branded items like facemasks, hats, a picnic tote, and a cocktail shaker. The package also includes a rare collector's item, a supersoft 50” x 70” woven blanket, a replica of the artist poster from year 13  designed by the noted artist and photographer Claude Shade, who was an integral part of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass ecosystem, designing the annual backstage handbill for the festival from 2001 until his passing in 2015.  All net proceeds from this years merch sales will go to Sweet Relief’s Rex Roadie Fund, to help crew facing economic hardship.

Additional information on the broadcast and lineup will be announced in the upcoming weeks at  www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. To stay up-to-date, be sure to sign up for the newsletter, and follow HSB on social media.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass announces its second round of musicians in this year’s Let The Music Play On, led by music legends and festival veterans Emmylou Harris, Buddy Miller, Steve Earle & the Halfgrass Dukes (feat. Tim O’Brien and Dennis Crouch) and returning artist The War and Treaty and first-timer Amythyst Kiah. Let the Music Play On is a celebration of roots music, honoring the 20th Anniversary of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, airing the first weekend of October featuring new performance footage, archival sets, and fans’ festival memories from previous years.

What started as a way for Warren and Chris Hellman to share the music they loved from their favorite artists with the city of San Francisco has grown into one of the largest national music festivals. With over 80 bands across six stages, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass attracts over 750,000 attendees annually to Golden Gate Park. Over the past 20 years, the festival has become an annual pilgrimage for fans and musicians alike. “It was always the first date I would put on my calendar,” says Emmylou Harris. “Whatever else I do in a particular year, the first weekend in October I am going to be in San Francisco at Golden Gate Park in Hellman Hollow playing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass,” she continues. “I’m really grateful that we’re going to carry on in some way this gift that Warren has given to musicians, and really music lovers, everywhere.”

This year, with safety as a top priority and adhering California’s statewide mandate prohibiting large public gatherings, the festival will not be taking place in its traditional setting of Golden Gate Park, but Let the Music Play On will be bringing the spirit of the Porch, Bandwagon, Banjo, Rooster, Swan, and Towers of Gold Stages into homes around the world. “I’ve been so lucky to be able to host the Rooster Stage for the last 6 years or so and invite friends and acts that I just love and think people would adore,” says Buddy Miller, “but since there’s no festival in the park this year, we’re doing the Rooster Stage from my studio with a lot of those same people.”

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has always honored tradition, all the while looking to the future, with an annual lineup that features giants of the roots music world alongside up-and-coming artists. “San Francisco has always been a magical place, and to have a bluegrass festival in the park is heavy-duty to me, I love it,” says Buddy Miller. “It’s a really unique community, it’s different than any other festival I ever play,” he continues. “It feels so much like family. I don’t know how else to describe it but it’s sort of like going home, I look forward to that weekend every year.”

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass recognizes and is saddened by the heavy losses suffered this year with the passing of HSB artists John Prine, David Olney, Adam Schlesinger, and most recently, the tragic passing of Justin Townes Earle.

To support the music community in the wake of the  COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass launched the Hardly Strictly Music Relief Fund, a  $1.5 million charitable effort which seeks to recognize, appreciate, and care for the people who lend their creativity, heart, and hard work to the American roots music ecosystem in the Bay Area. The fund includes $450,000 for individual musicians’ relief and additional support for local music venues and their workers. For more information on the individual musicians grant opportunity visit actaonline.org/hardlystrictly. For more information on the venue grant opportunity, visit http://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/2020/music-relief/

More information on the broadcast and lineup will be announced in the coming weeks at www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. To stay up-to-date, be sure to sign up for the newsletter, and follow HSB on social media.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass announces the third round of musicians in this year’s Let The Music Play On, with HSB veterans Chuck Prophet, Patty Griffin, and first-time performers Birds of Chicago, Los Coast, and Shakey Graves.  Let the Music Play On is a celebration of roots music, honoring the 20th Anniversary of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, airing the first weekend of October featuring new performance footage, archival sets, and fans’ festival memories from previous years.

In the 20 years since Hardly Strictly Bluegrass first brought fans together in Golden Gate Park, the festival continues to grow in size, with over 80 bands across six stages that attract over 750K music fans and continues to evolve with a diverse line up that encompasses the wide range of roots music genres. “As time marches on, what roots music is should change, ya know?” says Shakey Graves. “I think it’s just storytelling... a product of that time. I think that there’s something that is really pure to always go back to. I think that Hardly Strictly is doing it right in the sense that there will be a human experience within the music.”

As HSB has evolved over the years one thing has always remained the same is that the festival is completely free to attend.  Founded by Warren and Chris Hellman as a gift to the city of San Francisco, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has always been free to the public, and void of any advertisers or corporate sponsorships.  The focus is solely on the music and the sense of the community that the music creates.  “The free part brings this incredible diversity to the crowds, so people will see you that would never think of seeing you,” says longtime HSB artist Patty Griffin. “Everybody is out mulling around, and they’ll hear something on a stage and they’ll just cruise down that way and suddenly they are meeting an Artist they never would have heard of.  Because it’s free there’s this huge swath of humanity there, every continent on earth is represented, and largely Americans so that shows you how diverse America is and it’s really beautiful that way.”

The community of music fans is what gives the festival life, and this year to incorporate the human experience of HSB, the producers have asked fans and attendees to contribute their favorite memories from years past in the form of photos, videos, stories, sketches, etc.  by emailing them to [email protected]., all of which will be considered for inclusion in October’s broadcast. Entries have come in from all over the world including incredible sketches from award-winning artist and illustrator, and regular HSB attendee Mark Urliksen.  His submissions included illustrations, created in realtime of HSB sets over the years. His drawings captured so much of the spirit of the event that he was commissioned to create the official artwork for the line-up announcements for this year’s Hardly Strictly Broadcast.  Urliksen is best known for his work with the New Yorker where he has been a regular contributor since 1993, with more than 55 magazine covers to his credit. He has been the illustrator for the San Francisco Jazz Festival, has created murals for companies such as United Airlines and the Chicago Bears that grace the walls of the United Club at Soldier Field. In 2006 his New Yorker parody cover of the film Brokeback Mountain was named the year’s top magazine news cover by the Magazine Publishers of America,  and work is in the permanent collection of The Smithsonian and the Library of Congress. More of Urliksen’s work can be viewed at https://markulriksen.com

More information on the broadcast and lineup will be announced in the coming weeks at www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. To stay up-to-date, be sure to sign up for the newsletter, and follow HSB on social media.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass announces the fourth round of musicians in this year’s Let The Music Play On, with Boz Scaggs, Jim Lauderdale, Fantastic Negrito, Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, and Robert Earl Keen.  Let the Music Play On is a celebration of roots music, honoring the 20th Anniversary of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, airing Saturday featuring new performance footage, archival sets, and fans’ festival memories from previous years. The broadcast will air Saturday, October 3rd at 2 pm pt / 5 pm et on Circle TV, home of the legendary Grand Ole Opry, and online at hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. Circle TV's rich vision of entertaining audiences around the world by honoring legends from the past and showcasing new live performances is in perfect alignment with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, making them the ideal broadcast partner for Let the Music Play On.

Over the past 20 years Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has become a pilgrimage for musicians and music fans alike. “Hardly Strictly bluegrass is definitely unique,” says Rhiannon Giddens.  “The way it was started, the energy it has, there is this incredible warmth that pervades since it’s open to everyone. There’s the air of discovery for a lot of people.  There are folks on stage playing to folks that they wouldn’t be playing to who don’t listen to their kind of music. It’s a gathering which is really cool. I feel like Hardly Strictly is really more about the vibe and the heart of the music.” Founded in 2001 Warren and Chris Hellman to share the music they loved from their favorite artists with the city of San Francisco has grown into one of the largest national music festivals.  With over 80 bands across six stages, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass attracts over 750,000 attendees annually to Golden Gate Park. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Golden Gate Park, one of San Francisco’s most treasured and historic recreational, cultural and environmental resources.  The park has always been the silent crew member of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass since the festival’s inception.  Its natural awe, beauty, fog, and sunshine could never be scripted.   It was given a starring role in Let the Music Play On, which will be revealed during the broadcast next month. “It doesn't get more beautiful than Golden Gate Park,” says veteran HSB  performer Carrie Rodriguez. “There's so much magic in the setting and then the fact that it is free and open to every music lover who wants to make the trek down there, it just blows my mind. It's the most generous beautiful gift to mankind. It's very moving when you realize the impact of that. I can't think of another festival that comes close to that kind of generosity in that magical place.”

More information on the broadcast and lineup will be announced in the coming weeks at www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. To stay up-to-date, be sure to sign up for the newsletter, and follow HSB on social media.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is thrilled to share the outcome of the first fundraising efforts ever associated with the festival.  Let the Music Play On, the broadcast which aired Saturday online and on Circle TV featuring new performances and interviews from over 35 artists, resulted in more than $3 million in relief for the music community in the Bay Area and across the U.S. With the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis ongoing, this funding will meet some of the most immediate and critical needs.

The three-hour telecast viewed by over 600,000 fans raised more than $500,000 for Artist Relief, a coalition of national arts grantmakers who have disbursed over $13 million to artists across the U.S. The money raised during Let the Music Play On, along with the initial $1 million donation Hardly Strictly Bluegrass made to Artist Relief, helps to extend their grant program to musicians through the end of the year. Additionally, sales of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass merchandise have generated $25,000 for the Sweet Relief Rex Roadie Fund to help music crewmembers facing economic hardship.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is also proud to announce the results of its Hardly Strictly Music Relief Fund, which aims to provide a financial lifeline to Bay Area musicians and venues during a time when other resources are scarce. Launched in August, this effort has provided more than $1.6 million to the local community.

The Fund dedicated $1 million to fifteen venues, all of which have demonstrated a deep commitment to roots music and serve as beloved gathering places in the Bay Area.  Grant recipients are: Ashkenaz, The Back Room, Bottom of the Hill, The Chapel, El Rio, Eli’s Mile High Club, Felton Music Hall, Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, The Ivy Room, The Lost Church, Mystic Theatre, The Monkey House, La Peña, Red Poppy Art House, and The Starry Plough. The grants range from $15,000 to $150,000 and will support continued operations during the pandemic, including rent, staff salaries, upgrades related to reopening, and musical performances as each county permits.

“It is critical to support independent music venues at this time because they remain the heart of our local music ecosystem,” says Frances Hellman, one of the directors of the Hellman Foundation, which works to build equity and opportunity, advance knowledge, and foster health, science, the arts, innovation, and creativity while engaging in strategic public-private partnerships such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. “Small and mid-size venues like these serve as a critical pipeline for up-and-coming musicians, for staff to learn the business, and also as keepers of our cultural heritage. Every one of these venues holds a special place in their community, and we are glad to be able to pay back their dedication by supporting them now.”

In addition, Bay Area musicians received over $600,000 through Hardly Strictly Bluegrass’ partnership with the Alliance for California Traditional Arts and the Center for Cultural Innovation. Three-hundred and thirty financially vulnerable musicians each received $2,000 for their most urgent needs. Outreach prioritized populations that have suffered historically from economic disadvantages, and therefore have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. 62% of funding recipients are Black, Indigenous, Latinx, or other communities of color, 25% are immigrants, and 16% are disabled.

“Participating in this philanthropic partnership has been an opportunity for Alliance for California Traditional Arts to extend a critical resource to a vital segment of the roots-based artist communities we exist to serve,” says Amy Kitchener, Founding Executive Director, Alliance for California Traditional Arts. “It has also confirmed how vulnerable musicians are at this time.  We recognize how supporting individual roots musicians is essential to buoy cultural communities towards a post-pandemic future.”

While Hardly Strictly Bluegrass has taken action to fund local establishments, independent music venues across the U.S. face an increasingly dire situation, and continue to struggle through the pandemic with significant overhead and no revenue from concerts. They were the first businesses to close, and will be the last to open, making them one of the sectors hit the hardest by COVID-19, and at the same time federal government relief is not anticipated any time soon. Venues are critical to our local economies as employers, tourist destinations, and revenue generators for neighboring businesses such as restaurants, hotels, and retail. NIVA, the National Independent Venue Association has been championing national solutions by advocating for music venues to be included in any new COVID-19 relief bills passed by Congress.

“Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and its charitable efforts have shown exactly how much communities value the economic and creative contributions of performing arts,“ comments Rev. Moose, Executive Director and Co-Founder of NIVA,  “When bands don't have a stage to perform on, it removes the vast majority of their income. Currently artists and the businesses that host them are in dire situations. NIVA members are locally-owned independent venues and promoters that give artists their first chance to perform, and they help them develop their careers. Without support for the artists that perform at independent venues and with promoters, we risk losing a vital and treasured component of Bay Area neighborhoods, something that can't be replicated. NIVA, an organization that preserves and nurtures the ecosystem of independent venues and promoters, realizes that without the artists our entire world would be worse off.”

For more information on music relief and how you can donate visit https://www.artistrelief.org/hsb

Singer/songwriter and upright bassist Melissa Carper has unveiled her brand-new single “Makin’ Memories,” the first from her forthcoming album Daddy’s Country Gold, set for release on March 19th. Carper’s refreshingly unique style calls to mind greats like Kitty Wells, Billie Holiday, and Loretta Lynn, beautifully conveyed in the grooves of the album’s 12 sparkling gems. Carper enlisted fellow bassist Dennis Crouch (The Time Jumpers) and producer/engineer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Margo Price) to co-produce the album and bring her dream to life. Recorded live to tape at Tokic’s analog studio wonderland The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, the album features Crouch (bass), Chris Scruggs (guitar, steel guitar), Jeff Taylor (piano, organ, accordion), Matty Meyer (drums, percussion), Billy Contreras (fiddle), with guest appearances from Brennen Leigh, Sierra Ferrell, and legendary pedal steel maestro Lloyd Green. “As a dish cooked up with the spice of many talented hands, there rightfully should be a line out the door to sample this new album by Melissa Carper,” says Americana Highways in its premiere of “Makin’ Memories.” “And it’ll meet all your expectations for a classic country music with a dose of carefree humor.”

As a child, Carper, who acquired the nickname “Daddy” years ago from her bandmates for always knowing how to “take care of ‘bidness’,” would lay her head underneath the family record player as she listened to Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and other greats from her parents’ collection. After a childhood spent in her family’s country band, Carper attended the University of Nebraska on a music scholarship, spending much of her time in the library devouring every Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole album she could find. Around this time, Carper’s father gifted her a full collection of Jimmie Rodgers’ recordings, which was a pivotal moment in finding her unique style of songcraft.

The wayfaring Carper soon found herself in the historic town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where she saw street performers for the first time. Busking seemed a very free and appealing endeavor, so Carper diligently learned all the old country songs she loved as a child. She soon relocated to music hubs like New Orleans, New York City, Austin, and eventually Nashville, oftentimes busking to make ends meet until gigs would come along. On the way, she founded award-winning bands like power trio The Carper Family, playing festivals and gigs across the globe, and on shows like “A Prairie Home Companion.” Carper also holds a spot in award-winning Arkansas foursome Sad Daddy, and founded roots duo Buffalo Gals with Sad Daddy bandmate and girlfriend Rebecca Patek.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYxBhvbDIGg&feature=emb_logo

Her forthcoming solo record Daddy’s Country Gold is just that - 12 glittering Carper originals of the country, western swing, and jazz variety. From the first notes of album opener “Makin’ Memories,” to the whimsical “Would You Like To Get Some Goats,” and the heart-wrenching tenderness of album closer “The Stars Are Aligned,” this lifetime of work, experience, and wanderlust culminates in a beautiful portrait of heartfelt music, written by a road-lovin’ gal who has lived these songs and spent her life playing music for folks that still love the real thing.

Every digital album pre-order comes with a download of “Makin’ Memories” and an exclusive download of yet-to-be-released album track “I’m Musing You.” Click HERE to order. You can catch Melissa Carper perform live on Facebook live every Monday night at 6 pm CT, which is streamed HERE.

DADDY’S COUNTRY GOLD TRACKLIST

MAKIN’ MEMORIES

I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT YOU

BACK WHEN

OLD FASHIONED GAL

YOU’RE STILL MY LOVE

WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET SOME GOATS

MY OLD CHEVY VAN

ARKANSAS HILLS

IT’S BETTER IF YOU NEVER KNOW

I’M MUSING YOU

MANY MOONS AGO

THE STARS ARE ALIGNED

Award-winning Tucson, Arizona-based duo Ryanhood is thrilled to announce their latest album, Under The Leaves, set for release on April 16th. American Songwriter announced the upcoming LP with the premiere of lead single “The Fight.”

“The more we fight, the more we invigorate the thing we’re fighting against. And without knowing it, the more we as people eventually become the kind of thing we’re fighting against,” Ryanhood vocalist and lyricist Cameron Hood told American Songwriter about the song’s premise of cultural scapegoating. “It’s not about telling another person or group how they should be processing their fears or hurts differently,” he continues. “It’s about noticing how you do it. It has to start with you… with me.” Hood drew inspiration from the likes of French historian René Girard and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Martin Luther King, Jr., and even Psalm 46. The message is intelligent but never pretentious, and shines against the backdrop of bandmate Ryan David Green’s intricate guitar work and arrangement.

“‘The Fight’ and its intellectualism is a strange though perfectly complementary companion to its mainstream indiepop sensibility,” says American Songwriter. “While the rhythm clutches the primal hunger for melodicism, the subject matter challenges you to reach in deep and ponder what it takes to achieve peace, eventually encircling the truth that change can only come from within.”

Named ‘Best Group/Duo’ in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards, Ryanhood got their first break more than a decade ago as street-performers at Boston’s Quincy Market. They’ve since gone on to perform more than a thousand shows in 45 U.S. states over the past decade, and have shared stages with Jason Mraz, Matt Nathanson, Train, and many more. 

Their latest album, Under the Leaves, sees the lead guitarist Green stepping into the role of sole producer, weaving a tapestry of lush strings and rich harmonies. The album, like their shows, is driven by strong acoustic guitar performances and is at turns energetic, hopeful, and quietly moving—a musical invitation to breathe, and to soak in a river of melodies and harmonic hooks. 

Hood, the band’s primary lyricist, has waded into those musical rivers with dream-like verses about seeds and forests, breath and wind, and the cycles and seasons that frame our lives. Throughout the album’s songs, a question is asked: How do we create meaningful and lasting change in a world filled with division and turmoil? The offer on Under the Leaves is to slow down and face the one thing we have the power to change - ourselves - as the duo sings on the album’s second track, “the only revolution is the one within.”

Under The Leaves will be available digitally, as well as on vinyl and CD. The band has also written a companion book, featuring essays and stories behind the songs, expanded artwork, and photography that is also available for purchase. Click HERE to order.

UNDER THE LEAVES TRACKLIST

UNDER THE LEAVES

THE FIGHT

SEEING IN THE DARK

I DIDN’T HAVE THE CHANCE

APPY RETURNS

GONE BEFORE I GO

NOT ALONE

WIDE AWAKE IN A DREAM

RUINS

MORNING BREAKING 

San Diego’s Blind Owl Records who continue to push the ever-blurring boundaries between art and rock n’ roll have released the collaborative spoken word EP Sounds from the Shadow Factory, inspired by the book of poetry and narrative prose Saturday Night Sage by Noah Lekas, released on Record Store Day of 2019. The EP is available in multiple formats including vinyl, CD, and a number of bundles, that include signed copies of the vinyl (by Noah, Ethan Miller of Howlin Rain, and artist Alan Forbes), the book, EP art, and incredible poster were all drawn by legendary artist Alan Forbes (Faith No More, Queens of the Stone Age, The Melvins, Mudhoney etc.).

Saturday Night Sage, a literary mediation on a blue-collar mystic looking for God and his place in Modern Culture, receiving weighty comparisons to Jack Kerouac, Nick Cave, and Bukowski, with the San Diego Union-Tribune writing that “you can hear glimmers of the Doors’ mysticism, Bob Dylan’s street-corner truth-telling, and Patti Smith’s punk rhapsodies." Navigating whiskey-soaked revelations with religion, folklore and dwindling opportunity, a spiritual journeyman wades through Eastern philosophy, Western theology, and the American highways and factories of the Midwest in search of resolve. The result is a stunning collection that the Big Takeover called “an absorbing and transporting exploration of mysticism and menial labor in contemporary America.”

The project brought together a number of artists who were inspired by the book, including Bay Area psych-rock band Howlin Rain who created a blues-soaked sonic meditation for the EP’s opening track “Saturday Night Sage.” San Diego’s Mrs. Henry interpreted “Out of the Storm Drains,” through an improvised jazzy filter, Chad Lee of The Silent Comedy put percussive textures on “The Word,” and is accompanied by Ben Ambrosini for the fuzzy psych-jam “Steamroll the Sky. Ambrosini is also featured on the “We Got a Problem with Groundwater,” and all tracks feature Lekas, putting voice to his words from the page with a haunting and often ominous rhythm. Glide Magazine said of Lekas’ performance that “through it all, we see a poet who knows how to turn the world around him into vivid depictions that brings to mind Hubert Selby Jr. and darker figures of the literary world.” 

Lekas’ earliest inspiration was William Burroughs’ The Exterminator and Hot Water Music by Charles Bukowski. Noah found Burroughs through a recording of The ‘Priest’ They Called Him that he did with Kurt Cobain and Hank through the band, Hot Water Music.  Since then, music and literature have been inseparable for Lekas. Saturday Night Sage was a number of firsts for all parties involved.  It was Lekas’ book debut and the very first literary release from Blind Owl Records, and now with the EP everything has come full circle. “This EP is a true collaboration from pen to paper to book to film to record,” says Blind Owl owner and founder Daniel Cervantes. “Noah’s writing has sparked a series of creative projects that I am proud to be a part of with the Blind Owl team. I am grateful that so many peers have acknowledged his creativity and contributed.” 

Award-winning, Tucson, Arizona-based acoustic duo Ryanhood has unveiled their fiery new single, “Appy Returns,” the second from their forthcoming album, Under The Leaves, set for release on April 16th. “Appy Returns” showcases the pair's serious chops as they set their strings ablaze, paying tribute to the music cultivated in the Appalachian Mountains—with their own Arizona-style, heat-infused spin.

While most of their repertoire is vocal-led, co-founder Ryan David Green says he was inspired by the fretwork of electric guitar-slingers like Joe Satriani and acoustic legends like Béla Fleck. “I love instrumental music,” Green told The Bluegrass Situation. “I came up with the main theme for this one in a green room, just before a show back in 2016. I continued to tinker with it for years until I realized the main motif had some similarities to another instrumental of ours, ‘Appy Jam,’ which is a staple of our live set. I decided to lean into this resemblance and make it a full-blown sequel, referencing some of the rhythmic motifs and phrasings from the original, but taking the listener on a whole new journey.”

“Appy Returns” follows the release of lead single “The Fight.” “‘The Fight’ and its intellectualism is a strange though perfectly complementary companion to its mainstream indiepop sensibility,” said American Songwriter of the song. “While the rhythm clutches the primal hunger for melodicism, the subject matter challenges you to reach in deep and ponder what it takes to achieve peace, eventually encircling the truth that change can only come from within.”

LISTEN // WATCH: “THE FIGHT”

Named ‘Best Group/Duo’ in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards, Ryanhood got their first break more than a decade ago as street-performers at Boston’s Quincy Market. They’ve since gone on to perform more than a thousand shows in 45 U.S. states over the past decade, and have shared stages with Jason Mraz, Matt Nathanson, Train, and many more.

Their latest album, Under the Leaves, sees the lead guitarist Green stepping into the role of sole producer, weaving a tapestry of lush strings and rich harmonies. The album, like their shows, is driven by strong acoustic guitar performances and is at turns energetic, hopeful, and quietly moving—a musical invitation to breathe, and to soak in a river of melodies and harmonic hooks. Cameron Hood, the band’s primary lyricist, has waded into those musical rivers with dream-like verses about seeds and forests, breath and wind, and the cycles and seasons that frame our lives. Throughout the album’s songs, a question is asked: How do we create meaningful and lasting change in a world filled with division and turmoil? The offer on Under the Leaves is to slow down and face the one thing we have the power to change - ourselves - as the duo sings on the album’s second track, “the only revolution is the one within.”

Under The Leaves will be available digitally, as well as on vinyl and CD. The band has also written a companion book, featuring essays and stories behind the songs, expanded artwork, and photography that is also available for purchase. Click HERE to order.

Keeton Coffman is readying his new album, Hard Times, a 10-track feat of triumphant, ragtop-down rock-and-roll.  It will be released on June 18, 2021. Anchored in Coffman’s natural storytelling and earthy voice, Hard Times is both a reintroduction and a return for an artist who’s pushed through starts and stops, but who’s never been anything but exactly who he is. “I’ve never needed someone’s permission to write,” Coffman says. “I’ve always just thought it’s what I should do.”

“Wounded Heart”, the first single out now, is a “courageous anthem that stings with power pop adhesiveness and jubilant guitar chords. Coffman echoes the sounds of his heroes while projecting his own flair of songwriting singularity.” – Glide Magazine

Growing up in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Coffman found an old Alvarez guitar in his mother’s closet behind stacks of Motown, 70s songwriters, and Tina Turner records. “My mom showed me three or four chords after I confronted her with the guitar, like, ‘Why has this been hidden in our house?’” Coffman says with a smile. An elite gymnast en route to becoming a national champion, he carried the guitar with him on long bus rides to competitions, and then west to college at the University of Texas at Austin. When an injury finally ended his athletic career at 20, Coffman immersed himself wholly in music.

After graduation, Coffman packed up and moved to Houston, where he first built a following with his band, The 71s. The quartet decided to part ways in 2012, and solo projects including 2016’s Killer Eyes followed, always gaining traction thanks to Coffman’s Springsteen-esque grasp on the beauty only found in grit. Houston Press, Space City Rock, and other outlets noticed. But as projects opened doors, Coffman had to step back, moved by forces out of his control. Diagnosed with Bipolar II and Obsessive-compulsive disorder while still in high school, the diseases reared up and set him down. “You don’t know why Bipolar pops up when it does––it just comes out of nowhere, and boom,” Coffman says. “A few years ago, when things got very difficult, I decided, well, I’m not going to stop writing even though I’m not sure if these songs are any good - my analytical skills aren’t what they should be. When I got back to myself, I had these 10 songs.”

Hard Times comprises those songs––and Coffman’s willingness to trust the process. “When I just let the notes float around as they want to, I am symptom-free in the midst of all that,” he says. “On the hard days, the more music I play, the less my mind hurts.” Tracks including “The Magician” and “Night” tackle deception carried out by different actors to different ends, while songs such as “In the End,” “River Town,” and “Wounded Heart” explore faith, consistency, and love. Vivid details form multi-dimensional character sketches moving through recognizable Texas skylines, and the guitar-wrapped stories and confessions become our own.

“I hope people find themselves in the characters,” Coffman says. “This is a record I wrote from my experiences, but these aren’t stories about me. I hope these characters share your story, your thoughts, your pain. We can share the same hope––that’s what music does for me.”

Australian “singer, songwriter and guitar hero” (-Billboard) Hamish Anderson releases “Morning Light”, a 70s style song dripping with rock-n-roll swagger, building from a driving guitar & drum beat to boldly distorted T. Rex meets Rolling Stones tones. It is his first new music since 2019's Out of My Head (winner of Independent Music Award for "Best Blues Album").

Following a tour opening for Gary Clark, Jr in his native Australia, Hamish was set to return to the States for a solo U.S. headlining tour in 2020 when COVID created a global lock down.  Finding himself a world away from his scheduled shows and isolated at home in Australia, Hamish didn’t miss a beat. He immediately began performing live stream concerts and video sessions partnering with brands like Guitar World’s “Lesson/Playthrough“,  Martin Guitars “Jam In Place”, amongst others and an invitation to perform on John Lee Hooker Facebook page. He was also featured in the August 2020 issue of Guitar Player.

Hamish wrote “Morning Light” prior to 2020; but while the world was evolving, this song not only resonated with his audience, but also became an acoustic mantra during all his live stream shows. He shared; “Morning Light” came to me when I was on my first European tour in 2018. I remember I was lying in the back of the van with the sun shining on me when the lyrics and melody just popped into my head.  I had been thinking about all sorts of hard times that everyone has to endure -- and how much of it actually turns out okay. I wanted to capture that feeling of hope that a new day can bring by reminding myself that things will get better - and that these everyday moments really do shine through, if you pay attention.”

This marks the first collaboration with co-producer David Davis (Miguel, The War on Drugs, Lauren Ruth Ward). “Morning Light" was remotely produced while Hamish was in lockdown in Melbourne, Australia and the band – bassist Lauren Stockner; drummer Matt Musty (Grace Potter, Train); plus soulful backing vocals by Jessica Childress (Aloe Blacc, Allen Stone) - and producer David Davis were in Los Angeles, CA.

With "Morning Light" Hamish Anderson comes into his own as not only a co-producer; but also tapping into the zeitgeist of the new framework for us all. That everyday moments matter most of all - and it will all be better in the light of the new day.

To support the single, Hamish will be performing Main Stage at Blues on Broad Beach Festival in Queensland, AUSTRALIA in May with additional shows (both live stream and live in person) to follow.

Boston-based Ghost of Paul Revere keyboardist and instrumental folk composer Ben Cosgrove has released “This Rush Of Beauty and This Sense Of Order,” the newest single from his forthcoming LP The Trouble With Wilderness, produced by indie-folk maestro Dan Cardinal (Josh Ritter, Darlingside, Lula Wiles, Session Americana, The Ballroom Thieves) and set for release on April 23rd. “This Rush Of Beauty and This Sense Of Order,” was inspired by a poem by author E.B. White of Charlotte’s Web fame about gardening and gardeners: "Not sun, not soil alone can bring to border / This rush of beauty and this sense of order.” The poem speaks to the ways in which people have attempted—with varying degrees of success—to apply some degree of spatiotemporal organization to the natural world.

“Gardens present interesting situations where all these organisms that want to explode, multiply, and take over are all ratcheted into straight and reasonable rows and columns and painstakingly maintained at certain sizes and shapes,” explains Cosgrove. “In this song, to reflect that tension between order and disorder, I tried to build a sense of joy, chaos, and expression out of a bunch of rigid, blocky chords and stilted gestures. It's tied pretty closely to the idea the whole album is about, which is basically that there’s wildness to be found everywhere: even in the most constructed and artificial environments, there is always something beautiful, chaotic, and anarchic at work, doing its part to rattle the edges, to crack the sides, to burst forth and bloom. “This Rush Of Beauty and This Sense Of Order” follows the release of album tracks “Overpass,” “Templates For Limitless Fields Of Grass” and “The Machine In The Garden.”

The Trouble With Wilderness is a lush, textured, and expansive set of 12 new songs that consider the role of nature and wildness in the built environment. Cosgrove has spent a lot of his career in collaborations and artist residencies with national parks, performing solo across the lower 48, and all of his solo compositions have been centered around those kinds of areas - until now. With the new LP, he encourages us to recognize beauty in the smallest blades of grass breaking through pavement, and in structures that have been overtaken by the wildness of nature. You can hear this when you listen to the album's tracks, as he distills his observations and brings them to acoustic, percussive life on his keyboard.

The Trouble With Wilderness is an uncommonly beautiful set of songs and a massive step forward in Cosgrove’s idiosyncratic and increasingly mature body of work. Like the vernacular landscapes he looked to in composing it, the music on The Trouble With Wilderness sits on the narrow balancing point between order and wildness and manages to lean simultaneously into both.

Alan Doyle, Canadian national treasure and unofficial ambassador of Newfoundland's rich musical traditions, will release a new EP, Back to the Harbour - a collection of songs to celebrate his love of folk music – on May 21. The album was produced by Joel Plaskett at The New Scotland Yard in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Featured alongside Doyle on the album are Kendel Carson and Cory Tetford from his touring band, along with Plaskett himself.

Back to the Harbour features three original songs plus unique spins on three classics: "Back Home on the Island" by one of Newfoundland's most popular musical groups Wonderful Grand Band; "Let It Be Me" popularized by legendary duo The Everly Brothers; and the first single, the shanty "Leave Her Johnny."

"Leave Her Johnny" is available at all digital streaming services and retailers today.

"This shanty of a ship’s last day is one of the dozen or more songs I don't remember learning," Alan says of "Leave Her Johnny." "I realize this may seem odd to some, as in most parts of the world people have one or two songs they don't remember learning, like Happy Birthday or Silent Night. But in Newfoundland we have so many songs that are just part of our language. I doubt many from around here could tell you when they learned I'se The B'y or Lukey’s Boat. We just know them."

Back to the Harbour follows Rough Side Out, Doyle's chart-topping country album released last February, and Songs from Home, a collection of music from Doyle and an all-star lineup of Newfoundland artists, which was released in November. Doyle – the songwriter, producer, actor and author – is a 12-time JUNO Award nominee for his solo material and work with his iconic band Great Big Sea. In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Canada for his contributions to the musical traditions of Newfoundland and for his commitment to numerous charitable initiatives. His most recent book, All Together Now: A Newfoundlander's Light Tales for Heavy Times, was released in November 2020 and quickly became a national bestseller.

The appeal of Ross Cooper's song Hello Sunshine is in his sincere simplicity. His lyrics and songwriting have a melody that anyone can hum along to. It's got a great campfire feel to it. It's a summer anthem with a sizzling spirit in a subdued sort of way. Grateful Web is pleased to premier Russ Cooper's "Hello Sunshine."

With a style akin to Robert Earl Keen and Townes Van Zandt, and tempered by a Springsteen-style spirit of the lost road, for Ross Cooper, songwriter, has always been about painting those kinds of very real pictures, capturing the moment the hill country fades into dirt and desert, or the moment a career turns from hope to despair. The 11-track record walks that dusty line between Texas and Tennessee, cactuses and river, atmosphere and emotion. It’s in a space all its own announcing a different kind of modern songwriter, one that’s not afraid to smile at the past.

Today, award-winning Bay Area-based roots powerhouse AJ Lee and Blue Summit (“AJLBS”) released “When You Change Your Mind,” the new single from their forthcoming LP I’ll Come Back, due out August 20th. Of the band, Bluegrass Today said that “it is hard to argue with their success. Lee is part of the same class of [Youth In Bluegrass] artists that produced Molly Tuttle. In fact, AJ was a member of Molly’s family band for many years, performing as The Tuttles with AJ Lee when they were teens. Now heading up her own group, Lee is out front on lead vocals and mandolin, supported by Molly’s younger brother, Sullivan Tuttle, and Jesse Fichman on gui-tar, Jan Purat on fiddle, and Chad Bowen on bass,” they added. “Like many young performers, when Lee started her group in 2015 they began to experiment and push against the boundaries of what they had grown up playing, but in the end the grass calls them home.”

Lee said the song is about drinking and thinking about “how you’ll never be deserving of some-one who loves you because you’ll only hurt them in the end. You’ve also got your own issues and it’s too much trouble to explain yourself to someone else.” While AJLBS enjoys stretching their creative muscles, Lee reveals that they always come back to their favorite genre—bluegrass.

“When You Change Your Mind” follows the release of “Lemons and Tangerines,” and “Magda-lene,” of which Country Queer noted, “This band is good in the bluegrass way…they use their skill not to show off, but to build songs that are sturdy as houses, with plenty of room for guests, and ready for any weather.”

LISTEN: “LEMONS AND TANGERINES”

LISTEN: “MAGDALENE”

Unlike their first record, which featured experimentation with session musicians and electric in-struments, I’ll Come Back is a pure reflection of the live sound of the group, hearkening back to their acoustic roots. Each band member performs at their peak, and the variety of songs on the record caters to their broad fanbase. Certain tracks (“Put Your Head Down” and “Faithful”) fall more in the classic bluegrass realm of songwriting, while others (“Lemons and Tange-rines” and “I’ll Come Back”) fall into that hard-to-define realm of acoustic Americana that blends mesmerizing lyricism and acoustic mastery.

Although falling loosely under the bluegrass label, AJLBS generally plays sans banjo, using their configuration effectively to create unique space and texture in the arrangements not as commonly found in the music of their peers. Drawing from influences such as country, soul, swing, rock, and jam music, the band uses the lens of bluegrass as a vessel through which to express and ex-plore the thread that binds and unifies all great music.

TOUR DATES

AUG 7 - The Independent @ 8:00pm - San Francisco, CA [ALBUM RELEASE SHOW]*

AUG 13 - Caffe Lena @ 8:00pm - Saratoga Springs, NY
AUG 14 - Podunk Bluegrass Festival 2021 @ 12:20pm - Goshen, CT
AUG 15 - Hardeman Orchards @ 7:30pm - Red Hook, NY
AUG 16 - Truro Vineyards @ 8:00pm - North Truro, MA
AUG 18 - Watermelon Wednesdays @ 3:00pm - Williamsburg, MA
AUG 18 Watermelon Wednesdays @ 7:30pm - Williamsburg, MA *SOLD OUT*
AUG 19 - Music Hall @ 6:00pm - Portsmouth, NH
AUG 19 - Music Hall @ 8:00pm - Portsmouth, NH
AUG 20 - Mauch Chunk Opera House @ 8:00pm - Jim Thorpe, PA
AUG 21 - Della Mae's Fam Fest @ 2:00pm - Round Hill, VA
AUG 22 - Stages Music Arts @ 7:00pm - Cockeysville, MD
AUG 26 - Casa Flamenca, Inc. @ 7:30pm - Albuquerque, NM
AUG 27 - Wildwood Sounds @ 7:00pm - Del Norte, CO
AUG 28 - Taos Center for the Arts @ 7:30pm - Taos, NM
AUG 29 - Number Thirty Eight @ 8:00pm - Denver, CO
AUG 30 - MainStage Brewing Company @ 6:00pm - Lyons, CO
AUG 31 - Sherbino Theater @ 7:00pm - Ridgway, CO
SEP 1 - Dolores River Brewery @ 7:00pm - Dolores, CO
SEP 3 -  Four Corners Folk Festival 2021 @ 7:00pm - Pagosa Springs, CO
SEP 10 - Sierra Meadows @ 7:30pm - Ahwahnee, CA
SEP 11 - Black Oak Concert Series @ 7:00pm - Tuolumne, CA
SEP 18 - Whale Rock Music Festival @ 7:00pm - Templeton, CA, United States
SEP 19  - Lodi Grape Festival Grounds @ 6:00pm - Lodi, CA
SEP 24 - FreshGrass Festival 2021 @ 11:00am - North Adams, MA
SEP 22-25 - AMERICANAFEST -  Nashville, TN
OCT 1 - Sisters Folk Festival 2021 @ 12:00pm - Sisters, OR
OCT 8 - McCabe’s Guitar Shop @ 8:00pm - Santa Monica, CA
OCT 9 - Paramount Ranch @ 3:00pm - Agoura Hills, CA
OCT 30 - Felton Music Hall @ 8:30pm - Felton, CA
NOV 20 - Hopmonk Tavern @ 8:00pm - Novato, CA^

* w/ The Sam Chase Trio & The Coffis Brothers
^w/ The Coffis Brothers

Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter, Jamie McDell, has released her new single, “Dream Team,”  via ABC MUSIC. This is the first single from her forthcoming new album due to drop in early 2022. 

Produced by Nash Chambers, Jamie discusses the single, “I wrote Dream Team while sitting on the bathroom floor of my partner's boss's apartment after having just finished watching the last episode of the Netflix series ‘Chernobyl.’ I wouldn’t say this song was inspired by the tragic events that took place in 1986, but the devastating stories paired with a social media post by some local popular boys with the caption 'Dream Team' had me questioning who we aspire to be like, and the hands that we choose to place our families lives in.” 

Born in New Zealand, at the age of 7 McDell’s father left a high-paying job at an elite Auckland law firm to shift her mother, younger sister, and Jamie onto the high seas and began living aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean. It’s here Jamie wrote her first song, a sea shanty to the dolphins. Also on that yacht lived a small collection of her parents’ favorite cassette tapes, which luckily included albums by Jimmy Buffett, John Denver, and James Taylor. The young artist quickly formed a particularly strong bond with these records and she fondly remembers watching her parents perform Buffett duets - and occasionally chiming in, learning how to harmonize with her mother. An eager learner, Jamie then picked up the guitar after studying her fathers’ John Denver chord book collection and has never looked back.  

Now at age 28, New Zealand singer/songwriter Jamie McDell has achieved a prolific amount in her formative years. Being signed to EMI at age 16 sparked the beginning of a successful musical journey, making her a household name across the nation. With the release of her debut album ‘Six Strings and a Sailboat’, she went on to achieve Gold album sales, receive three NZ Music Award nominations, winning Best Pop Album of 2013. Then her sophomore record ‘Ask Me Anything’ gained global attention, seeing the album track ‘Moon Shines Red’ featured on Pretty Little Liars.  

In March 2017 Jamie made a trip to Nashville, looking for a change of scenery and to connect with the environment that birthed much of the music throughout her youth. It’s here she wrote the songs that would make up the fabric for her third record “Extraordinary Girl”. She met with ex-pat Australian producer Nash Chambers for coffee one day and decided they shared the same musical values. Not long after that meeting McDell arranged to fund her first independent record “Extraordinary Girl”, which was recorded over the space of two days at the House of Blues studio in Nashville. She then returned home for the albums’ release, promotion, and supporting tours throughout New Zealand and Australia.  

Then in early 2019 Jamie relocated to Toronto, Ontario for a new chapter and to be closer to Nashville. It’s here she found herself sitting on the floor of her tiny apartment, feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with a friend in a troubled relationship, and out came the powerful song, “Botox.” “It’s a story depicting the dangers of silencing our instincts and compromising our values, just because a significant other has you convinced that you need fixing,” says  Jamie This track would then fuel a new era of unapologetic honesty in McDell’s songwriting, and the release of The Botox EP.  

After opening a US tour for Robert Ellis (Texas Piano Man) in early 2020, she would then visit Nashville once again, team up with Nash in his eastside studio, and gathered the amazing musical talents of Dan Dugmore, Jedd Hughes, Dennis Crouch, Shawn Fichter, Jerry Roe, Jimmy Wallace, Tony Lucido, and Ross Holmes, along with guests such as the McCrary Sisters, Robert Ellis, Erin Rae and Tom Busby (Busby Marou). This new album (yet to be released) contains Jamie’s most brutally honest moments, in both writing and performance, while the musicians and production take you on a modern journey through 70s folk and country, blended with a healthy dose of roots and rock.

Today, ARIA and three-time Golden Guitar nominee Angus Gill released “Whittling Away,” a duet written and performed with the legendary Jim Lauderdale, that highlights the resilience and strength people are displaying in the midst of these trying times. The track appears on Gill’s forthcoming LP The Scrapbook, due out September 24th via Rivershack Records/MGM.

“Despite growing up far from bluegrass music’s native home, he says that the sound has called to him since he was a child,” said Bluegrass Today of Gill, who hails from New South Wales, Australia. Gill told Bluegrass Today that “Whittling Away” was initially inspired by the heroic struggles his mom went through getting her mother into a nursing home, and it actually served as the catalyst for the entire album.

“I have always wanted to record a bluegrass album with players that are incredibly passionate about the genre, and know it like the bow of their fiddle or the metal picks on the tops of their fingers…people that have bluegrass in their blood,” Gill told Bluegrass Today.

“I had half a dozen bluegrass songs that I had written from several years ago that I restructured or altered for this project. I wrote a few new ones and then we had all of the songs for a new record. I called up Tim (Crouch) and asked him if he would play and co-produce the album with me, and we brought Randy (Kohrs), Clay (Hess), and Tony (Wray) onto the project and recorded it all remotely at the start of 2021,” he added. “It’s pretty cool because it sounds like we were all playing in the same room, despite being over 15,000 kms away.”

“Angus is one of the most creative and talented people I’ve ever worked with,” said Lauderdale of the collaboration. “It was an honor to get to write with and sing with him. I hope we can do much more down the road!” “Whittling Away” follows the release of album single “Always On The Run.”

Recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Scrapbook features Gill backed by a stellar lineup of Grammy-winning musicians and affords him the chance to show a different side to his well-honed songwriting and musicianship. Along with his duet with Lauderdale, Gill also recorded a duet with bluegrass icon Jerry Salley which appears on The Scrapbook.

Previously, Gill has supported country music superstar Kris Kristofferson and collaborated with music legends including Steve Earle, Adam Harvey, James Blundell, Gina Jeffreys, Diesel, and many more. Gill is one of the youngest Australians ever to have performed at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. There, he shared the stage with Charles Esten, who is also featured on the album. Pre-save and pre-order The Scrapbook HERE.            

THE SCRAPBOOK TRACK LISTING:

Always on the Run (Angus Gill/Thomm Jutz)
Samson (Angus Gill/Bill DiLuigi/Kirsti Manna)
Whittling Away featuring Jim Lauderdale (Angus Gill/Jim Lauderdale)
Caught Between a Rock and a Heartache (Angus Gill/Rivers Rutherford)
Feet of Clay (Angus Gill/Charles Esten)
Let’s Have a Drink (To Not Drinking Again) featuring Jerry Salley (Angus Gill/Jerry Salley/Bill
Whyte/Aaron Wilburn)
The Scrapbook (Angus Gill/Bill Whyte)
Put ‘Er There (Angus Gill/Gary Burr)
Still Missing (Angus Gill/Thomm Jutz)
Heartquake (Angus Gill/Thomm Jutz)
Forget Me Not (Angus Gill/Bill DiLuigi/Kirsti Manna)

Nashville-based artist Phillip-Michael Scales unleashes “Another Man’s Sin,” the smoldering new single from his forthcoming LP Sinner-Songwriter, set for release on October 29th via Dixie Frog Records.

“‘Dive Bar Soul’ is how Scales describes his music and this track perfectly embodies that statement; rocking music that has heart and soul, but feels very accessible for any music fan to appreciate,” said Pancakes & Whiskey in the track’s premiere. “Starting with Phillip-Michael’s soaring voice and a simple guitar chord, the song makes us listen intently and when the undeniable hook kicks in, we can imagine ourselves at a dark and dusty bar whilst sipping whiskey and stomping about. What stands out for us in this single and the album as a whole, is the honesty of the lyrics and the vivid storytelling, quite likely a trait he learned from his legendary un-cle B.B. King"

“This is one of my favorite tunes off the record,” Scales told Pancakes & Whiskey. “Most people have pivotal moments that inform how we act in the relationships that follow (for better or worse). ‘Another Man’s Sin’ is about the bad cycle of passing on the hurt because we’ve been hurt.”
~
Growing up, Phillip-Michael Scales had an uncle who played guitar for a living. He knew it was a big deal but didn’t understand the significance that his uncle’s name was B.B. King. Even though Scales played guitar, he shied away from soloing and most things blues-related. Instead, he fell in love with songwriting when an English teacher told him “A great writer can make their reader identify with anyone.” The trouble was he couldn’t find his story in the blues.

Born with a fierce independent streak and a passion for performing, Scales fronted his own indie bands, wrote and recorded his own music, and worked to make a name for himself on his own terms. All the while, his uncle just smiled a knowing smile and encouraged him to “stay with it.” As he began to discover “the blues” in his private and personal life, their relationship grew closer.

It wasn’t until his uncle passed away that Scales began incorporating more of it into his music. “These days I’m finding more of my story in the blues,” he explains. “A lot has led me here—between politics, my identity, and of course: Legacy.”  

LISTEN: “O, HALLELUJAH”

Throughout its 14 soulful tracks, Sinner-Songwriter, Scales explores, growth, mistakes, being black in America, searching for love, and finding your place in the world. He calls his sound “Dive Bar Soul,” blending indie rock storytelling with the passion of the blues. His single “O, Hallelujah” has broken 200K plays, he has been featured in Rolling Stone France, and is in regular rotation on Nashville’s Radio Station Lightning 100. Scales’ music has taken him all the way to the Middle East, as well as festivals across Europe and North America. He has opened for Fantastic Negrito, Anderson East, Guster, David Cook, Bethany Joy Lenz, Matt Hires, Billy Raffoul, Crystal Bowersox, Tyler Hilton, Jon McLaughlin, and Cory Brannan.

TOUR DATES

8/27 - HOTEL CAFE - LOS ANGELES, CA
8/30- WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY - CULLOWHEE, NC
9/10 - SPACE - EVANSTON, IL
9/11 - SUMMERFEST - MILWAUKEE, WI
9/15 & 9/16 - HEY NONNY - ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL
9/17 - WYNDHAM GARDEN KENOSHA HARBORSIDE - KENOSHA, WI
9/18 - LISTENING  ROOM - PORT CLINTON, OH
9/19 - MUSIC BOX SUPPER CLUB - CLEVELAND, OH
9/20 - CLUB CAFE - PITTSBURGH, PA
9/22 - SELLERSVILLE THEATER - SELLERSVILLE, PA
9/23-9/25 - AMERICANAFEST - NASHVILLE, TN [Official Showcase Artist]
9/26 - INFINITY MUSIC HALL & BISTRO - NORFOLK, CT
9/28 - CITY WINERY - NEW YORK, NY
9/29 - DARYL’S HOUSE - PAWLING, NY
9/30 - CITY WINERY - WASHINGTON, DC  
10/1 - THE TIN PAN - RICHMOND, VA
10/2 - ISIS MUSIC HALL - ASHEVILLE, NC
10/27 - GOLDEN DAGGER - CHICAGO, IL (Record Release)
10/29 - 20 FRONT STREET - LAKE ORION, MI (Record Release)
11/5 - THE BASEMENT - NASHVILLE, TN (Record Release)

Today, British singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner releases his latest single “Leave Me Lonely,” a soulful folk/rock song that showcases his rich vocal range. The song is featured on his forthcoming album Interference (Of Light) available October 8, 2021 with distribution through BFD/The Orchard in North America + South America. The album will be released via Battenberg Records on various vinyl, CD and digital formats.

Four years on from his last studio album, Newton Faulkner has been working throughout lockdown from his recording studio in East London, exploring a number of new and unexplored styles and musical ideas, using them as the building blocks for this album. Twisting these inside out, he has pushed himself further and further. “I’m not very precious any more,” he remarks. “The music is a bit chunkier, it’s definitely way heavier and much less acoustic than previously. I feel like the stuff I’ve written recently is simpler, but it’s tasteful… it works as songs. I can feel it.”

Interference (Of Light) is an album that has seen Newton push himself musically and vocally: “I want to boil things down to their strongest form,” Newton says. “It’s about the songs. However good you are at playing, if the voice isn’t up to scratch and the songs aren’t good enough, no one is going to listen to them. It’s grizzly, soulful, and a step further,” he says of his new material. “Vocally, I’ve learned a huge amount over the years. I was a guitarist and a writer who sang. That’s kind of where I came from. And now I feel like my voice has caught up with the stuff I was doing on guitar.”

Since the release of his debut album Hand Built By Robots in 2007 (featuring the smash hit ‘Dream Catch Me’), Newton Faulkner has become one of the UK’s most successful singer-songwriters of this millennium. Later this year, he will be heading out on tour to play to live music-starved fans across the UK, starting with a few socially distanced gigs, many of which are already sold out. Plans for a North American tour are in the works.

Today, Boston-based artist Alisa Amador has released Narratives, her critically-acclaimed debut mini-album. This six-song snapshot in time is a deep look at a person stumbling through life in two languages — English and Spanish — and in many states of mind about it all.
 
Album opener “Timing,” a familiar tale of romantic uncertainty, accompanied by an irresistible horn section, was featured on Spotify’s "Fresh Finds,” "Fresh Finds: Indie,” and "Stay in Bed" playlists, as well as Apple Music’s "Now That's What I Call Today's Top Hits.” “Slow Down,” a Queen-tinged self-care anthem, was written a healing exercise meant to give a name to the chaos of navigating strained work relationships and an endless to-do list, while Beatles-esque standout “Burnt And Broken,” highlighted at The Bluegrass Situation, calls out rape culture and toxic masculinity.
 
Intentionally sparse in its arrangement, “Burnt and Broken” examines myriad systems of oppression. “Violence stems from fear, and fear grows from a lack of understanding,” Amador says. “An absence of a conversation around these violences causes such pain.”
 
“Alone,” a three-and-a-half-minute dissertation on the importance of committing to self-love with abandon, is followed by “Nada Que Ver,” a love song entirely in Spanish, which she says is “the language closest to my heart, and the language of some of my most vulnerable writing. This song is me bargaining with love. Stating clearly what I want and naming my qualms.”  Album closer “Together,” is a song about systemic violence which Under The Radar called “a heartwarming tribute to friendship and camaraderie. Amador begins stark and solitary, accompanied only by the steady chime of her guitar as she acknowledges the pain that all too often defines life’s experiences.”
 
WATCH: “TIMING”

WATCH: “SLOW DOWN”

WATCH: “NADA QUE VER”

“The word ‘narratives’ encompasses not only the existing cultural messages that hurt people individually and collectively,” Amador says, “but also the revolutionary power of writing ourselves new narratives; rejecting a culture of fear; and catalyzing a culture of honesty, bravery, and self-love in the process.”
 
When listening to Amador’s music, her time spent immersed in Latin folk and jazz is undoubtedly present in her own songs, written in both English and Spanish. But there is also pop, funk, soul, and something uniquely her own. Her specialty is sparking connection across both listeners and musical styles. Working with producer Daniel Radin (The Novel Ideas, Future Teens), Narratives concentrates on the journey of Amador’s live set, taking listeners through songs that may elicit a laugh, bring introspection, offer a cathartic cry, or encourage a sing-along.
 
The genre-bending effort is as empowering as it is heart-wrenching. These songs explore themes of romance and heartbreak, of chaos and healing, exposing systems of oppression and shining a light on the intricacies of the human condition. They might break your heart open, but by the end, it will be mended, uplifted, and stronger—a ‘Life and Love Survival Kit' in the form of a bilingual EP. Click HERE to order Narratives.
 
TOUR DATES
 
9/19 - P.M. Sundays  - Richmond, VT
 
9/22 - Club Passim - Cambridge, MA
 
9/23 - Club Passim - Cambridge, MA
 
10/7 - Fruitlands Museum - Harvard, MA
 
10/15 - Somerville Theatre - Somerville, MA*
 
10/22 - The Foundry - West Stockbridge, MA
 
11/1 - City Winery New York - New York, NY
 
11/8 - City Winery New York - New York, NY
 
11/19 - Rockwood Music Hall - New York, NY
 
* w/ Billy Wylder

Today, internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Sean Rowe has unleashed “I Won’t Run,” the latest from his brilliant forthcoming LP The Darkness Dressed In Colored Lights, due out on October 8th via Fluff & Gravy Records. “Sean Rowe promises a lifetime of love in 'I Won't Run,’ a quiet, romantic, traditional country waltz,” said The Boot in the track’s premiere.

“When Waylon said, ‘I don’t think Hank would have done it that way,’ I’d like to think he was predicting what would become ‘modern country music’,” Rowe said of the song. “One thing I love about the older country songs was the honesty, the humor, and the poetry. Willie, Waylon, Cash, and Kristofferson went straight to the heart for me. I still draw from that stuff. This song is of course a reflection of my influence there."

The song features backing vocals from artist Courtney Hartman, which Rowe revealed was a happy accident. “I thought her guitar playing on the record to be stellar, and uniquely her own,” he said. “I believe she was just humming along in the control room on the playback and her voice stuck out to me. She was a little sheepish about singing on that track but I was adamant that she sing with me and it’s just not as good without her voice in there.”

“I Won’t Run” follows the release of "Squid Tattoo,” a song about the fleeting feeling of romantically projecting a future life with someone who you haven’t actually met yet and one that will most likely never happen. “I think there’s actually an underlying sadness in the song despite being on the surface, tongue in cheek," he adds, referencing the song lyrics, "Now I love you/But I can’t believe you’re from Ohio." "I’m really not trying to offend Ohio’s sensibility here. But, a good line is a good line.” Rowe has also released album tracks “Little Death,” which Rowe said is about “that strange elation that comes at the end of a long journey with another soul,” and lead single “To Make It Real,” in which Rowe is “alluding to the duality that I feel is in all of us. All the hidden parts and all the guts that spill out when we’re faced with tragedy, adversity, or a broken heart.”
 
LISTEN: “SQUID TATTOO”
 
LISTEN: “LITTLE DEATH”
 
LISTEN: “TO MAKE IT REAL”
 
The Darkness Dressed In Colored Lights was forged in the fires of self-discovery and acceptance and is the result of work Rowe’s been doing to build a fitter, happier version of himself. He credits therapy and a guided ayahuasca retreat with helping him to reach this understanding. Over the course of an intense weekend, he had experiences that stripped away his anger and defenses and brought him to a place of intense beauty and peace--he realized we create the heaven and the hell that swirls in our heads, and we have to choose in which of those dimensions we want to reside. This album is ripe with both.
 
Through its 11 gut-punching tracks, Rowe tackles everything from losing oneself in the despair of heartache to rising from the ashes—the paradox between what once was and what now is, and sometimes being lost in the in-between. His powerful baritone spans the gamut of emotions - and on this record, he makes it clear that at some point it’s hard not to feel them all at once. Every song cuts right to the quick.
 
Rowe has also spent years in the woods exploring, foraging, and obsessively learning all that he could about the natural world around him. Through his web series, Can I Eat This?, he’s found a means of indulging two of his great passions: music and nature. In each of the episodes of Can I Eat This?, Sean goes on a foraging mission for all manner of wild foods and uses the harvest to prepare some tasty creation. To check out Can I Eat This? visit Sean's YouTube Channel
 
The Darkness Dressed in Colored Lights will be released on CD and double-vinyl, as well as available on all streaming services on October 8th.  Click HERE to pre-order.
 
TOUR DATES:
 
10/1: Portland, ME | Sun Tiki Studios
 
10/2: Cambridge, MA | Club Passim
 
10.20: Vienna, VA | Jammin Java
 
10/24: Norfolk, VA | North Shore Point House Concerts
 
11/3 & 11/4: Brooklyn, NY | Union Pool
 
11/5: Kennett Square, PA | Kennett Flash
 
11/6: Rochester, NY | Abilene
 
11/19: Northampton, MA | The Parlor Room
 
11/20: Egremont, MA | Egremont Barn

Denver-based guitar virtuoso Taylor Scott is excited to release his new single entitled “Throwback Grooves."  Produced by his friend and mentor Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), and featuring Lettuce’s Eric Benny Bloom on trumpet, the new single is out now.

“I wrote ‘Throwback Grooves’ up in Wyoming on New Year’s Eve, and I guess I was feeling nostalgic,” Scott told Glide Magazine. “That’ll happen on New Year’s Eve. I was thinking about someone from my past and how whatever was going on with us, we always had the best music playing. I try to make sure that’s always the case. In the car, around the house, whatever is spinning should be the bomb. I’m always conscious of the music that accompanies a moment so I guess writing a song about it felt natural. When memories play like movie scenes inside your head, do they ever come with music? Throwback Grooves is about that.”

Last year was a year of reckoning for roots-rock artist Taylor Scott.  After a tough year weathering personal storms, and having live music come to what seemed to be an indefinite pause, Taylor realized the only option was to shift his perspective, and he decided to use the time to reflect and regroup.  “I recommitted myself to music and personally had to work through so much. I felt like I was hitting my head against the wall for so long, and something finally just broke open. ‘Some of the new songs dealt with those dark months, charging ahead because the only way out of it was to go forward through it.  The others are so happy and lighthearted, and I haven’t written that way for years. I’m feeling celebratory now, and those songs reflect that.”

“Throwback Grooves” smooth vibe follows “Bleeding Out,” the scorching and gritty funk track released on the heels of his buzzed-about performances at this year’s FloydFest.  These songs and more performed live at the festival helped him win over fans including Keller Williams and Leftover Salmon with whom he gave a blistering performance (see HERE).  After a year of isolation and live streams, Taylor Scott Band jumped back into touring with a smoking Summer 2021 tour, and Taylor is currently on the road wrapping up a tour supporting Carbon Leaf that hit the Pacific Northwest.  Taylor Scott Band will continue to perform live throughout the year with shows in the Mountain states.

TOUR DATES
OCT 9  Bluebird Theater - Denver, CO*
OCT 15  Vilar Performing Arts Center - Beaver Creek, CO
OCT 23 The Lodge at Wood Boss Brewing - Denver, CO
NOV 20  Chautauqua Auditorium  Boulder, CO
NOV 27 Schmiggity’s - Steamboat Springs, CO
DEC 10  OP Rockwell Cocktail Lounge & Music Hall - Park City, UT
APR 29-MAY 1  Sweetwater 420 Festival - Atlanta, GA
*Supporting Carbon Leaf

On March 11, 2022, The Sully Band, voted Best Live Band at the 2020 San Diego Music Awards, will release their debut LP, Let’s Straighten It Out, conceived in the hallowed halls of Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood, California (formerly A&M Studios). With Let’s Straighten It Out, Sully and his bluesy, nine-piece beast of a band take us on a journey through the ups, downs, and all-arounds of love by way of 10 classic ‘60s and ‘70s soul, blues, and R&B tunes. The album will be released via Belly Up Records, and marketed and distributed by Blue Élan Records.

This labor of love album was recorded in only five jam-packed days, with “mostly-live” versions of carefully curated love-themed songs that made a mark when they were originally released and yet also feel relevant today. Sully’s soulful, heartfelt vocals cut across layers of horns and guitars that take the listener on an emotional arc of joy, disappointment, struggle, and redemption.

Multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite, Big Head Todd) provided the musical curation that makes up Let’s Straighten It Out. Treasured tunes like Billy Preston’s “Nothing from Nothing” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” share the tracklist with lesser-known nuggets like “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” by Ray Charles; the title track, first recorded by Latimore in 1974; Shuggie Otis’ “Ice Cold Daydream”; and “I Wish It Would Rain,” first made a hit by The Temptations. Acclaimed San Diego soul singer, Rebecca Jade, shared vocal duties with Sully on Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John) and Jessie Hill’s “When the Battle Is Over,” while on “If You Love Me Like You Say,” the late Albert Collins is evoked by Anthony Cullins, the 20-year-old guitar sensation from Fallbrook, California.

Anchored by Grammy Award-winning slayer of the bass, James East (Eric Clapton, Elton John, Michael Jackson, and many others), The Sully Band is composed of seasoned, accomplished players who hail from diverse locales like Japan, Panama, and the island of Lemon Grove. The horn section features sax-flute-harp-man Tripp Sprague (Kenny Loggins, The Little River Band, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Four Tops) and trumpet and flugelhorn player Steve Dillard (The Righteous Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd).

Sully himself is an enigma. He caught the music bug at age six after picking up a nylon-string guitar and playing the first few chords of “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” with his dad. In high school, the barrel-chested, all-American football player rocked out to Boston and Foreigner with his buddies, starred in every show-tune-laden musical theatre production through college, and ended each day with James Brown or Stevie Wonder on his Pioneer receiver.

In his 20’s, after pounding the unforgiving Los Angeles pavement trying to cut a record deal, he embarked on a 35-year detour, traveling a storied path from Price Club cashier to self-made entrepreneur and local radio/TV personality, ultimately finding his way back to his first true love: music.

Now, after years away from the stage, he is back in full force. He and the band have been playing regional and national shows to small but mighty crowds, from Southern California’s legendary Belly Up Tavern to Austin’s illustrious Antone’s Nightclub, making his mark as a compelling musician and live performer ready to “Straighten it Out.”

LET’S STRAIGHTEN IT OUT! TRACKLIST
When The Battle Is Over
Hallelujah, I Love Her So
Ice Cold Daydream
I Wish It Would Rain
Nothing From Nothing
If I Could Only Be Sure
Gimme Little Sign
If You Love Me Like You Say
Let’s Straighten It Out
Higher And Higher

Today, San Diego 10-piece powerhouse The Sully Band has unveiled their new single “When The Battle Is Over.” This hidden Dr. John-penned gem was originally recorded as a one-sided boast by Delaney & Bonnie, and later by Aretha Franklin. The Sully Band gives the song a fun and funky update, flipping the tune into a rollicking duet between Sully and the soulful Rebecca Jade (Sheila E., Elton John, Dave Koz). “When The Battle Is Over” is from The Sully Band’s debut LP, Let’s Straighten It Out!, set for release on March 11th via Belly Up Records/Blue Élan Records. “This song was a howl to perform in such an iconic studio setting with the equally inimitable Rebecca Jade, one of the true talents of our time,” says frontman Bob “Sully” Sullivan.

Let’s Straighten It Out! was conceived in the hallowed halls of Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood, California (formerly A&M Studios). With it, Sully and his bluesy, nine-piece beast of a band take us on a journey through the ups, downs, and all-arounds of love by way of 10 classic ‘60s and ‘70s soul, blues, and R&B tunes.

The album was recorded in only five jam-packed days, with “mostly-live” versions of carefully curated love-themed songs that made a mark when they were originally released and yet also feel relevant today. Sully’s soulful, heartfelt vocals cut across layers of horns and guitars that take the listener on an emotional arc of joy, disappointment, struggle, and redemption.

Multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite, Big Head Todd) provided the musical curation that makes up Let’s Straighten It Out!. Anchored by Grammy Award-winning slayer of the bass, James East (Eric Clapton, Elton John, Michael Jackson, and many others), The Sully Band is composed of seasoned, accomplished players who hail from diverse locales like Japan, Panama, and the island of Lemon Grove. The horn section features sax-flute-harp-man Tripp Sprague (Kenny Loggins, The Little River Band, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Four Tops) and trumpet and flugelhorn player Steve Dillard (The Righteous Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd).

Sully caught the music bug at age six after picking up a nylon-string guitar and playing the first few chords of “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” with his dad. In high school, the barrel-chested, all-American football player rocked out to Boston and Foreigner with his buddies, starred in every show-tune-laden musical theatre production through college, and ended each day with James Brown or Stevie Wonder on his Pioneer receiver. 

In his 20’s, after pounding the unforgiving Los Angeles pavement trying to cut a record deal, he embarked on a 35-year detour, traveling a storied path from Price Club cashier to self-made entrepreneur and national radio/TV personality, ultimately finding his way back to his first true love: music.

Now, after years away from the stage, he is back in full force. He and the band have been playing regional and national shows to small but mighty crowds, from Southern California’s legendary Belly Up Tavern to Austin’s illustrious Antone’s Nightclub, making his mark as a compelling musician and live performer ready to “Straighten it Out.”

UPCOMING SHOWS:

1/20 - The Mint - Los Angeles, CA

3/17 - Belly Up Tavern - Solana Beach, CA

Los Angeles-based label Tallest Man Records has released a stunning flamenco-tinged cover of iconic rock anthem “Crazy Train” from the String Revolution featuring Steve Stevens. This collaboration came together to pay tribute to the legendary guitar player Randy Rhoads and in particular his love for classical guitar. Steve Stevens has always been an admirer of Rhoads’, and The String Revolution, which is led by Janet Robin, has a special connection to Rhoads. Robin was his only female guitar student when she was 9 years old.  "When I was told that Randy Rhoads was to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame I was thrilled,” says Stevens.  “Long overdue but so deserving. As I was contacted to contribute to a reimagining of Ozzy’s Crazy Train…in my mind, I had one requirement, that it not be in any way similar to the iconic original version. Upon hearing the track two things struck me immediately, it works so well as a Spanish guitar piece, and that Randy would have loved it. It’s widely known that Randy was a beautiful classical guitarist, even continuing lessons through his Ozzy days. I hope we did you, proud buddy."
 
 The String Revolution is four professional virtuoso guitar players who create distinctive sounds with their guitars: mimicking percussion, special effects, melodic grooves, bass lines, and more. They share a passion for many different musical styles and guitar techniques which has given The String Revolution a unique sound. This is evident in their studio recordings and live shows. A clear dedication and hard work ethic for the project brought The String Revolution together. In addition to  Janet Robin ( who was named in the “Top 50 Acoustic Guitarist bonus list” by Guitar Player Magazine, 2017), who is also an acclaimed touring guitarist with the likes of Lindsey Buckingham, Meredith Brooks, Air Supply, and many more, the String Revolution is comprised of award-winning Austrian nylon-string guitarist Markus Illko, Swiss multi-credited producer, songwriter, and guitarist Daniel Schwarz, and underground Los Angeles indie darling,  artist and guitarist Art Zavala Jr. "In arranging "Crazy Train" with The String Revolution, we really tried to keep the energy and vibe of the original but we wanted to put our own stamp on it,” says Robin “ as my guitar teacher Randy Rhoads used to say to me- "don't try to play like me, play like yourself. I really took that to heart and I feel TSR was on board with that same kind of thinking-Be true to the original but put a new, original spin on it, and that's what I think we did.”

Steve Stevens is one of the most original guitarists to emerge from the ’80s rock scene, best known for his 41-year partnership with Billy Idol, his work on Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana”, his Grammy Award-winning performance on “Top Gun Anthem” and his work with Vince Neil on “Exposed.”   Stevens has also lent his unmistakable sound and style to many hit records, including Pink “Try This,” Diana Ross “Eaten Alive,” Joni Mitchell “Chalk mark in a Rainstorm,” Robert Palmer “Don’t Explain,” The Thompson Twins “Here’s to Future Days,” Ric Ocasek “This Side of Paradise,” Peter Criss “Let Me Rock You,” Juno Reactor “Shango,” “Hokata,” and “Pistolero,” Kyosuke Himuro “Beat Haze Odyssey,” Steve Lukather “Lukather” and on his solo outings with Steve Stevens Atomic Playboys “Atomic Playboys,” Bozzio Levin Stevens “Black Light Syndrome” and “Situation Dangerous” and the critically acclaimed solo releases “Flamenco A Go Go” and “Memory Crash.” Steven’s catalog of hit songs that he co-wrote & performed alongside Idol include “Rebel Yell,” “Eyes Without A Face” and “Flesh for Fantasy.”  They sound as fresh and relevant today as the day they were released, as evidenced by being recently covered by artists as varied as Miley Cyrus, Green Day, Queens of the Stone Age, Him, Black Veil Brides, Children of Bodom, Dope, Daughtry, Sum 41, Blink 182, Drowning Pool, Murderdolls, Deathstars and The Donnas. Steven’s co-wrote on the most recent Idol EP Roadside, produced by Butch Walker featuring collaborations with hit-songwriters Sam Hollander,  Tommy English, Joe Janiak and Grant Michaels. Stevens is currently working on new music with Idol and will be hitting the road with Idol this spring on their U.S. arena tour Journey, then on to Europe where they will be playing major festivals in addition to dates where Idol will be supported by the Go Go’s, then on to Rock n ‘ Rio alongside Green Day.

Australian “singer, songwriter and guitar hero” (-Billboard) Hamish Anderson is keeping busy in quarantine. With his band in Los Angeles, an ocean away from Melbourne, he’s been able to remotely record several singles. His latest “Everything Starts Again” drops TODAY!

The song is about sliding doors, or the idea when one thing ends, another begins – a great mantra for the New Year.  An evolution from his signature blues/rock sound, Hamish delves into indie pop/rock beats with a nod towards influences of Badfinger, The Pretenders and Pete Townshend.

It is the follow up to 2021s “Morning Light” that marked some firsts in Hamish’s career - first time co-producing with David Davis (Miguel, The War on Drugs, Lauren Ruth Ward), and first time recording remotely in a pandemic!

The song was praised by Under The Radar as a “timeless mix of influences that Anderson revives with fresh energy,” and as “punchy, bombastic and uplifting with just a pinch of washed-out psychedelia” by American Songwriter.

“Everything Starts Again” showcases the deft guitar skills and musical prowess of an artist that All Things Go aptly states “clearly knows the path from nostalgia to the future.”  The new single “Everything Starts Again” is now available on all streaming platforms

Progressive journeymen Dopapod have released their new single “Grow,” riding an intergalactic groove punctuated by a head-nodding bassline, slick guitar, simmering cymbals, and smooth vocals. Soaring keys and synth lines crescendo as the song accelerates before returning to where it started, true to Dopapod’s palindromic existence. "The song could be about a character time traveling back to the Big Bang,” explains keyboardist and vocalist Eli Winderman. The lyric ‘big things have small beginnings’ is a fitting homage to a line from Ridley Scott’s movie Prometheus. “Microscopic particles are the start of life. This is how we evolve,” and evolve they have.

“Grow” is additionally accompanied by an animated video, the second in an ongoing series by the group that ties together the sights, sonics, and lore of Dopapod. Each forthcoming chapter digs deeper into the group’s mythology and steps unflinchingly into the fantastic. Each entry is another turned corner in the labyrinth, and the group’s music is the guide to the center of it all.

The quartet—Eli Winderman [keys, vocals], Rob Compa [guitar, vocals], Chuck Jones [bass], and Neal “Fro” Evans [drums]—present albums as experiences meant to be shared out of your speakers and on stage. Their hypnotic hybrid of funk, rock, jazz, bluegrass, and electronica, with musical influences that range from metal to jazz and Americana, from Medeski Martin & Wood to Pink Floyd, access a heightened level of cosmic harmony in their music, all of which bloomed brilliantly on 2009’s Radar, and continued to blossom on the likes of Never Odd Or Even [2014] and Megagem [2017]. Along the way, fan favorites such as “Present Ghosts” reeled in 2.4 million Spotify streams and counting. 2019’s Emit Time arrived at acclaim from Guitar World, Relix, Glide, Jambase, and more. Simultaneously, they sold out headline gigs and graced the bills of Electric Forest, Summer Camp, High Sierra, and Bonnaroo, where Rolling Stone named them among the festival’s “best-kept secrets.”

After a marathon near-decade run, they enjoyed a year-plus hiatus to realign and reenergize before reuniting with a new fire during 2019 and partaking in something of a “soft return," which was cut short by the pandemic. The forced time off ushered in a laser-sharp focus on new music, while picking up the threads of a “concept catalog” that was first introduced on Never Odd Or Even, and bringing the music full circle. While exploring some of the band's favorite recurring concepts of time travel, balance, and binary pairs, Dopapod brought their fascination with palindromes full circle. The spelling of Dopapod is itself a palindrome, and “Grow” was purposely released on 2/20/2022. It’s all in the balance.

LISTEN TO “GROW”: HERE

The hiatus, followed by forced downtime of the pandemic, ushered in a period of deep creative reflection and personal growth. Both individually and collectively, the members of the band spent time absorbing and reprocessing their work and the conceptual through lines of their catalog, resulting in an imaginative outpouring of new ideas and materials, including a collaboration with Tandem Media on an accompanying animation project. As always, there’s more to Dopapod’s vision with the union of the physical and digital elements. “It does feel like we made all these albums and made a time machine,” says Compa, “And now we’re at the new frontier, wherever we're going.”

“Grow” follows the single “Think,” which was released late last year as the first entry in the evolution of the group’s audio and visual offerings. The impetus of the song came to the band while the country was knee-deep in polarization, and the group felt a need to convey their feelings while witnessing others fall into a rabbit hole of dangerous binaries. "You can do no wrong, as long as you do everything right all of the time,” is a line the band imagined could come from a talking head, and as always Dopapod crafts nuance in their work through form and function.

In addition to the new music and animation project, 2022 will be filled with heavy touring, which will feature a mix of festivals and Dopapod dates. For their shows, the band has partnered with two incredible charities, RAINN, the largest U.S. anti-sexual assault organization, and Camp Courageous, an organization that provides year-round recreational and respite care opportunities. A dollar of each Dopapod ticket sold will go to these charities, and fans will have the option to choose which of the two charities to donate to.
“At the end of the day, we hope we represent being yourself, being unique, and trying to do something new,” exclaims Winderman. “If everyone does that, I think the world would be a much more interesting place all around.”

TOUR DATES

3/2  Fox Theatre  Boulder, CO
3/3  Aggie Theatre Ft. Collins, CO
3/4   10 Mile Music Hall Frisco, CO
3/5   Schmiggitys Steamboat Springs, CO
4/30  SOME KIND OF JAM 16 Kempton, PA
5/13  HOOKAHVILLE 2022 NEWARK, OH
 5/27   Summer Camp Chillicothe, IL
5/28 Arise Music Festival  Boone, CO
6/24  Northlands Festival Swanzey, NH
6/25 Beanstalk Music Festival Bond, CO

Unique and much lauded classic soulful blues-rock band Xander and the Peace Pirates announce their hotly anticipated new album Order Out Of Chaos for release May 6th, 2022. This is preceded by their explosive single “Leave The Light On” released today, with an amazing video giving a tantalizing taster for the main course of songs to be unleashed on their upcoming album. 

The band reveal the altruistic inspiration behind new single “Leave The Light On”: “This song expresses how kindness to the unhoused can help bring both the one giving kindness, and the one receiving that kindness, back into the light of wholeness. When we pass an unhoused person, who is often struggling with mental illness and trauma, we are ignoring their suffering that is also within ourselves. We turn away from what needs attention and healing because we fear it.”
 

Order Out Of Chaos is replete with heart-warming songs with soul-searching meanings. There’s also a tumultuous sea of sounds to be discovered on “Leave The Light On” that will send shockwaves through the ears of connoisseurs of classic rock music. And creating musical shockwaves is something that Xander And The Peace Pirates specialize in ever since brothers Keith and Stu Xander were discovered on YouTube by former Gibson Brands CEO Henry Juszkiewicz and quickly grabbed the attention of music industry figures such as Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Rolling Stones) and Rick Allen (Def Leppard). 
 
After their 5-year tenure as the resident band at Liverpool’s iconic Cavern Club, they went on to support the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriani, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, The Temperance Movement, ex-Whitesnake’s Bernie Marsden and even Bon Jovi at Old Trafford Stadium to name but a few. This is most remarkable as, defying all expectations, lead singer and guitarist Keith Xander was born without a right arm below the elbow and plays his guitar using a prosthesis and hook with a pick attached at the end. Although many who have seen Keith play believe him to be an extraordinary guitarist, he is a virtuoso musician with a unique guitar technique and his playing rivals the best in the industry. This much was proven as 2016 saw the band release their debut album, titled ‘11:11’, on V2 Benelux Records, recorded at the world-famous Wisseloord studios in Hilversum, outside of Amsterdam. The album went on to receive critical acclaim from the likes of Classic Rock, Planet Rock Radio and from BBC Radio legend Bob Harris.

With haunting riffs, genius melodies and a uniquely infectious charisma, Xander and the Peace Pirates continue to share their musical passion to standing ovations, while spreading a universal message of peace, love and harmony. There is a whistle down the wind genius at play in the music that the band create especially with Keith Xander’s singular guitar styling that evokes the otherworldly musicianship of Hendrix and his ilk that must be heard and seen to be believed! 
 
The following are just some of the choice testimonials and excellent critiques that the band has generated from the press and music industry.

The novelty of frontman Keith Xander’s guitar approach – he lodges a plectrum in the hook of his prosthetic arm – is soon overshadowed by this band’s convincing splice of soul, blues and country.” - Classic Rock Magazine, UK
 
"Xander and the Peace Pirates have done a number of concerts with us in Germany now and it has been a musical and personal pleasure to work with them. They are really very unusual but most importantly, they are very good." – Manfred Mann 
 
"Very cool. The guy plays and sings great! Hard to believe these guys are from the UK. I like it!" – Steve Lukather (TOTO) 
 
“This guy is not only inspiring but lovely too!” – Rick Allen (Def Leppard)
 
“They’re a great band with a big future for sure” – Joanne Shaw Taylor 
 
“This band are just awesome and take me right back to my OGWT days.” – Whispering Bob Harris (BBC Radio 2)

ORDER OUT OF CHAOS ( OUT 5/6/22)

Today, Birmingham, Alabama-based band Bob Marston & the Credible Sources have announced their forthcoming debut full-length LP, due out June 3rd, with the release of its title track. Marston wrote "So Long" after reflecting on how to be a better friend, take equal responsibility for disconnection, and put in equal work for reconnection.

"It ends with an expression of patience and love, or patient love,” Marston explains. “A call to action inviting the narrator, the subject, and the listener to realize that we often forget where these rifts came from and to explore coming together in love to heal. Coming together knowing that the solution lies among a loving community."

The Credible Sources are equal parts roots rock backing band and high-flying, improv-ready aces. Truly a whole greater than the sum of its wildly capable parts, the band is known for its intricately-woven guitar parts, tight and compelling bass and drum grooves, and pure, emotive vocals, a sound that garners comparisons to The Grateful Dead, Wilco, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and more.

Marston (acoustic guitar/electric guitar/lead vocals) is accompanied by George Hipp (acoustic guitar/electric guitar/dobro/ backing vocals), Natalie Valentine (backing vocals), Aaron Branson or Eric Onimus on bass, and drummer Brett Huffman. So Long also features keyboard master Matt Slocum (Railroad Earth, Jimmy Herring, and more), powerhouse vocalist LaToya Matthews, and monster bass player Adrian Marmolejo (Early James and the Latest). Trombonist Chad Fisher (St. Paul and the Broken Bones), Allen Branstetter (St. Paul and the Broken Bones) on trumpet, and Gary Wheat on saxophone and clarinet bring horn-infused heat, while award-winning fiddler Adam Purvis, Niamh Tuohy (violin), Melanie Richardson-Rodgers (viola), and Patty Pillon (cello) provide cinematic strings.

The album’s tracks explore love and devotion through the lens of attempts to salvage a challenging relationship, the processing of a painful breakup, and a patient plea for reconciliation, to pondering life’s big questions and commentary on issues of social injustice and society. Ultimately, So Long is about striving to find humanity in ourselves, our friends and lovers, our communities, and in society as a whole.

Whether you need comfort through the depths of loss, heartache, and grief, are looking for a soundtrack to your summer, or just want to dance, you will find it in the grooves of So Long. Brought together by luck, fate, and destiny, this band of seasoned professionals and unproven hotshots upends stereotypes and breaks paradigms as it brings a message of love, honesty, empathy, and infinite possibility to the world, one song at a time.

So Long is available for pre-order at iTunes and Bandcamp. Be sure to follow Bob Marston & the Credible Sources at the links below for all the latest news and updates.

SO LONG TRACKLIST

BY THE WAY

DIAMOND A DAY

 REAL MAGIC, GOOD PEOPLE

RIGHT BY YOU

PICK UP YOUR GUITAR

SO LONG

SUNDAYS

LYIN’ EYES

PICK YOU FIRST

FAR & WIDE

Xander and the Peace Pirates timely and poignant second single “We Cry” is brimming with their singular specialities in sound: timeless, soulful blues-rock that can lure listeners hearts and minds into their magical musical sonic- sphere. Following in the wake of “Leave The Light On”, the new single is out today, with the 10-track album Order Out Of Chaos due for release on 6th May and available for pre-order.

“We Cry” echoes of classic tracks in its tempo, and in Keith Xander's beautifully nuanced lead vocals and guitar work, around which the band build a rich, unfolding soundscape of melody. It's no wonder 'Whispering' Bob Harris proclaimed: “This band are just awesome and take me right back to my OGWT (Old Grey Whistle Test) days,” on BBC Radio 2.

Straightaway, this track hooks the listener with its opening riff, then draws them in with its laid-back, infectious melody and sweet as honey vocals and unique lead guitar. The latter becomes even more impressive when you watch the band’s videos and witness lead singer and guitarist Keith Xander play with such expressiveness and fluidity. Keith was born without a right arm below the elbow, so plays his guitar using a prosthesis and hook with a pick attached at the end.

As Classic Rock Magazine noted, “The novelty of frontman Keith Xander's guitar approach — he lodges a plectrum in the hook of his prosthetic arm — is soon overshadowed by this band’s convincing splice of soul, blues and country.”

In short, Keith’s virtuosity simply rivals the best in the business, on a totally level playing field and the band’s seductive sound speaks for itself. What’s more, while the song and virtuosity are timeless, the inspiration behind the song lies very much in the present, and — as is characteristic of Xander and the Peace Pirates’ work — there are positive, inspirational, thought-provoking themes and messages.

“This song is about how, when Humans become divided within themselves, they imagine enemies that are not there,” the band explain, “They no longer see that everything is part of what they are and divide up into things that they think they know and understand.Those who are in positions of power (or at least believe they are) are often living in a tightly held illusion that they are separate from the whole. Within that illusion, they appear to use their power to create enemies and wars between innocent people who would not usually have issues with each other; only to serve their personal agendas of control and power over the masses. ‘We Cry’ expresses the struggle of all of our Human family becoming divided through this persistent illusion of separation.”

Birmingham, Alabama-based outfit Bob Marston & the Credible Sources have released “Real Magic, Good People,” the second from their forthcoming debut full-length LP So Long, due out June 3rd. Marston was walking his dog at a local nature preserve, processing a difficult breakup, and the groove for “Real Magic, Good People” bubbled up through his soul.

"The first half of each verse presents my attempt to balance my love of Birmingham with what I had, at the time, recently learned about her history of labor injustice, including convict-leasing and union-busting," Marston explains. "The chorus is a rallying cry to believe in ourselves and our potential as a community, realizing that for all of our differences we share more in common." While the inspiration was the troubling history of his hometown, the overall themes are universal--the power of honest expression, understanding, forgiveness, and acceptance is what truly connects and unifies our communities. “Real Magic, Good People” follows the release of the album’s title track, which encourages understanding each other in order to heal societal rifts.
 
LISTEN: “SO LONG”

Marston has been on a journey of self-discovery, and with the help of therapy, meditation, and cannabis, his empathic creativity comes shining through the lyrics of every song on So Long. The Credible Sources are equal parts roots rock backing band and high-flying, improv-ready aces. Truly a whole greater than the sum of its wildly capable parts, the band is known for its intricately-woven guitar parts, tight and compelling bass and drum grooves, and pure, emotive vocals, a sound that garners comparisons to The Grateful Dead, moe., Wilco, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and more.

Marston (acoustic guitar/electric guitar/lead vocals) is accompanied by George Hipp (acoustic guitar/electric guitar/dobro/ backing vocals), Natalie Valentine (backing vocals), Aaron Branson or Eric Onimus on bass, and drummer Brett Huffman. So Long also features keyboard master Matt Slocum (Allman Brothers, Susan Tedeschi, Widespread Panic, and more), powerhouse vocalist LaToya Matthews, and monster bass player Adrian Marmolejo (Early James and the Latest). Trombonist Chad Fisher (St. Paul and the Broken Bones), Allen Branstetter (St. Paul and the Broken Bones) on trumpet, and Gary Wheat on saxophone and clarinet bring horn-infused heat, while award-winning fiddler Adam Purvis, Niamh Tuohy (violin), Melanie Richardson-Rodgers (viola), and Patty Pillon (cello) provide cinematic strings.

The album’s tracks explore love and devotion through the lens of attempts to salvage a challenging relationship, the processing of a painful breakup, and a patient plea for reconciliation, to pondering life’s big questions and commentary on issues of social injustice and society. Ultimately, So Long is about striving to find humanity in ourselves, our communities, and in society as a whole. Brought together by luck, fate, and destiny, this band of seasoned professionals and unproven hotshots upends stereotypes and breaks paradigms as it brings a message of love, honesty, empathy, and infinite possibility to the world, one song at a time.
 
TOUR DATES
 
4/20 - Awendaw Green - Awendaw, SC
4/21 - Golden Grove Farm & Brew - Piedmont, SC
4/22 - Willie Jewel’s - Martinez, GA
4/23 - Bucking Goat Brewing Co. - Dallas, GA
4/24 - Magic City Art Connection - Birmingham, AL*
4/28 - White Water Tavern - Little Rock, AR^
4/29 - Romie’s Grocery - Tupelo, MS
4/30 - The Grocery Brewpub - Tuscaloosa, AL
5/6 - Little Italy’s - Birmingham, AL
5/7 - The Market @ Pepper Place - Birmingham, AL
5/13 - Diplomat Deli - Vestavia Hills, AL
5/14 - Sinclair's East - Montgomery, AL
5/28 - Coastal Crust - Charleston, SC*
6/3 - Little Italy’s - Birmingham, AL**
6/4 - Workplay - Birmingham, AL [ALBUM RELEASE SHOW]
6/24 - Diplomat Deli - Vestavia Hills, AL**
7/1 - Little Italy’s - Birmingham, AL**
8/5 - Little Italy’s - Birmingham, AL**
8/13 - The Market @ Pepper Place - Birmingham, AL**
9/24 - The Market @ Pepper Place - Birmingham, AL**
10/7 - Little Italy’s - Birmingham, AL**
10/9 - Mountain Brook Presbyterian - Mountain Brook, AL
10/15 - The Market @ Pepper Place - Birmingham, AL**
11/4 - Little Italy’s - Birmingham, AL**
11/5 - The Market @ Pepper Place - Birmingham, AL**
12/2 - Little Italy’s - Birmingham, AL**
12/10 - The Market @ Pepper Place - Birmingham, AL**
 
*Bob Marston solo show
^w/ Joe Sundell
**Bob Marston w/ Natalie Valentine

Today prog-rock journeymen Dopapod released their fourth single “Fannie” from their upcoming self-titled seventh album, due out May 27th. The song finds the band leaning into the kaleidoscopic mystery laying on the other side of the black hole. A daydream-like journey through time and space, the song opens with a hypnotizing, bluesy guitar arrangement overtop elusive ambient soundscapes. The song’s narrator finds himself musing on the various gifts and delicacies he wants to treat his titular love Fannie with. The character dreams of taking her on a fancy date and to the movies after. “Take her to the movies is there anything that's good? / She's into Kurosawa and karate, want to treat my Fannie.” 
 
Glowing keys and a steady drumbeat underscore the song’s uncanniness, a dream within a dream. After a series of interpretive vignettes at the restaurant, the narrator takes Fannie back to his apartment, before the dream vanishes. Fannie is reading a note that is slipped under her door from the narrator. A closing sequence swells and churns the band’s sonics through dreamlike splendor.  Under the Radar says “The band’s psychedelic alchemy works perfect with the track’s simmering pace and lets the track wind onwards with an irresistible allure.” 
 
“The lyrics have a cool ring to them. They lend themselves to being interpreted in a lot of different ways by the listener,” says Dopapod’s Rob Campa. “We leaned on the groove, and it all worked together.”

The animated video for “Fannie” is the latest chapter in the band’s “Building A Time Machine” series, an episodic offering that plays with themes of space, time travel, and symmetry, concepts that are ever-present in Dopapod’s output. The new release comes on the heels of recent single releases "Think,” "Grow," and “Black Holes,” which build out Dopapod’s ever-expansive sonic range with interpretive and lyrical themes, and set in motion a compendium animated short film project created with partners Tandem Media that is being released episodically.

In addition to new music, the band will be releasing an immersive tabletop board game Building a Time Machine that takes players through the history and lore of the group. Designed by the band’s longtime team member and former lighting designer Luke Stratton. Built into the gatefold vinyl packaging of their upcoming album, the game takes players through the past and present of the Dopapod universe as they collect pieces of their iconic palindrome logo to win. To accompany the game the band is offering multiple merch bundles that include game accessories such as Meeple Pawns, Dice, Game Piece Baggies, and Dopapod themed pads and pencils for keeping score. 
 
As always, there’s more to Dopapod’s vision with the union of the physical and digital elements. “It does feel like we made all these albums and made a time machine,” says Compa, “And now we’re at the new frontier, wherever we're going.” 
 
After nearly a decade of developing their craft, the quartet—Eli Winderman [keys, vocals], Rob Compa [guitar, vocals], Chuck Jones [bass], and Neal “Fro” Evans [drums]—consciously present albums as experiences, meant to be shared out of your speakers, on stage and now in new interactive mediums such as the film project and the tabletop game created for this new album. With musical influences that range widely from metal to jazz and americana, and drawing inspiration from artists like Medeski Martin & Wood to Pink Floyd, Dopapod has created their own hypnotic hybrid of funk, rock, jazz, bluegrass, and electronica. Their ability to access a heightened level of cosmic harmony in their music bloomed brilliantly on 2009’s Radar, and continued to blossom on the following albums Never Odd Or Even [2014] and Megagem [2017]. Along the way, fan favorites such as “Present Ghosts” (2.4 million) and "Mucho" (1.7 million) raised their hand and garnered millions of streams on Spotify, and 2019’s studio offering Emit Time arrived at acclaim from Guitar World, Relix, Glide, Jambase, and more. Simultaneously, they sold out headline gigs and repeatedly graced the bills of hallmark festivals such as Electric Forest, Summer Camp, High Sierra, and Bonnaroo, where Rolling Stone named them among the festival’s “best-kept secrets.”
 
PRE-SAVE NEW ALBUM Dopapod: HERE

Progressive journeyman Dopapod are excited to announce the release of their seventh full album, Dopapod. The eleven tracks on the album are the sonic harvest from a period of deep creative outpouring that saw the picking up the threads of a “concept catalog,” first introduced on 2014’s Never Odd Or Even.  After nearly a decade of developing their craft, the quartet—Eli Winderman [keys, vocals], Rob Compa [guitar, vocals], Chuck Jones [bass], and Neal “Fro” Evans [drums]—consciously present albums as experiences, meant to be shared out of your speakers, on stage and now in new interactive mediums, and Dopapod is their latest multisensory experiential offering.

The catalog concept of exploring the world of Dopapod extended into a collaboration with Tandem Media on an accompanying animation project for the album, a partnership with Soundscape VR where the band debuted the album last night offering fans an immersive audio-video experience of each song on the album, and the creation of the Building a Time Machine tabletop roll-and-move board game, which is cleverly integrated into the gatefold vinyl packaging of the album. To accompany the game the band is offering multiple merch bundles that include game accessories such as Meeple Pawns, Dice, Game Piece Baggies, and Dopapod-themed pads and pencils for keeping score. The illustrative details and custom game mechanics reflect how carefully it was created alongside their longtime team member and former lighting designer Luke Stratton, who is now realizing his calling as a professional role-playing game and map designer. “We got to thinking, what if we're building a time machine that allows us to go back through Dopapod’s history? In the game, each album is its own land, and every space on the board is a different song,” says Stratton. “We came up with the infinity loop concept and portal as a way to travel through the band’s history.”

Leading into the release of Dopapod the band started to tease out songs, each with an accompanying short animation that when stitched together, culminates into the Building a Time Machine short film. The band’s first offering was “Think,” a song that Pop Matters said “mixes the lighthearted virtuosity of Frank Zappa with the celestial gravity of IQ and classic Yes," followed by “Grow” a song with soaring keys and synth line crescendo as the song accelerates before returning to where it started, true to Dopapod’s palindromic existence. Next was the infectious groove-filled "Black Holes,” which explores the concept of black holes being used for time travel and focuses on the theme of unity, a concept the band aims to tap into through improvisation both in the studio and on the stage. The final offering leading into the release of the album was “Fannie,” a song born during a camping trip in Colorado. Under the Radar, Magazine commented that with “Fannie,” “the band’s psychedelic alchemy works perfect with the track’s simmering pace and lets the track wind onwards with an irresistible allure. Meanwhile, the accompanying video is similarly psychedelic and hypnotizing, with a person lost in an endless looping reverie as he dreams of his love.” The album is rounded out by seven more songs that showcase the band’s diverse range of influences from the surreal jazz collage of  “Happy Accident,” which was written as a tribute to Bob Ross and explores the happy accidents that come with pursuing artistic and creative endeavors, to the lush harmonies of “Enough,” with its beautiful acoustic guitar intro and uplifting mantra of “We Are Enough,” to the bouncy “Time is Funny” that tips its hat to rockabilly.

As always, there’s more to Dopapod’s vision with the union of the physical and digital elements. “It does feel like we made all these albums and made a time machine,” says Compa, “And now we’re at the new frontier, wherever we're going.”

And going they are, on the road this year introducing fans to the new music on festivals, headlining dates, and a summer tour where they will be supporting the father of funk George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic.
 
TOUR DATES
5/27 - 5/29 Summer Camp Music Festival / Chillicothe, IL
6/15 SummerStage in Central Park / New York, NY**
6/17 Beardfest / Hammonton, NJ
6/18 College Street Music Hall / New Haven, CT**
6/19 The Palladium / Worcester, MA**
6/23 Lincoln Hill Farms / Canandaigua, NY
6/24 Northlands Festival / Swanzey, NH
6/25 Beanstalk Festival Bond, CO
6/26 Riverfront Live Cincinnati, OH **
6/29 The Ramkat Winston-Salem, NC
6/30 Salvage Station / Asheville, NC**
7/02 The Caverns / Pelham, TN**
7/14 - 7/16 The Werk Out Music & Arts Festival Thornville, OH
8/11/2022 / Mesa Amphitheater / Phoenix, AZ**
8/17/2022 / YouTube Theater / Inglewood, CA**
8/19/2022 / Mountain Winery / Saratoga, CA**
8/20/2022 / Blue Lake Casino / Blue Lake, CA**
8/21/2022 / Charles Krug Winery / Napa, CA**

** supporting George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic
 

Birmingham, Alabama-based outfit Bob Marston & the Credible Sources have released their debut full-length LP So Long, out June 3rd. "With songs written as early as 2004, it would be an understatement to say that our debut album has been a long time in the making, which makes the title, So Long, completely appropriate,” Marston told It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine. “The album is a culmination of years of writing songs and developing them through live performance. The sound can best be described, broadly, as Americana but covers stylistic ground from old school R&B to reggae, from classic country to hard rock, with songs ultimately coming across as some form of roots rock."

The songs on the album fall into two categories–love songs and social justice anthems. From processing a breakup and singing lamentations of romantic deceit, to telling stories that convey big questions about social justice and exploring and trying to understand society and our history, the common thread on So Long is striving for and finding humanity in ourselves, our communities, and society as a whole.

Marston has been on a journey of self-discovery, and with the help of therapy, meditation, and cannabis, his empathic creativity comes shining through the lyrics of every song on So Long. The Credible Sources are equal parts roots rock backing band and high-flying, improv-ready aces. Truly a whole greater than the sum of its wildly capable parts, the band is known for its intricately-woven guitar parts, tight and compelling bass and drum grooves, and pure, emotive vocals, a sound that garners comparisons to The Grateful Dead, moe., Wilco, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and more.

So Long also features keyboard master Matt Slocum (Allman Brothers, Susan Tedeschi, Widespread Panic, and more), monster bass player Adrian Marmolejo (Early James and the Latest). Trombonist Chad Fisher (St. Paul and the Broken Bones), Allen Branstetter (St. Paul and the Broken Bones) on trumpet, award-winning fiddler Adam Purvis, and more.

The album’s tracks explore love and devotion through the lens of attempts to salvage a challenging relationship, to pondering life’s big questions, and offering commentary on social injustice and societal issues. Brought together by luck, fate, and destiny, this band of seasoned professionals and unproven hotshots upends stereotypes and breaks paradigms as it brings a message of love, honesty, empathy, and infinite possibility to the world, one song at a time.
 
TOUR DATES
 
6/4 - Workplay - Birmingham, AL [ALBUM RELEASE SHOW]
6/22 - Dee's Country Cocktail Lounge - Nashville, TN
6/23 - Commonhouse Aleworks - Charleston, SC
6/25 - River Remedy Brewing Co. - Rome, GA
7/20 - The Hole in the Wall - Austin, TX
7/21 - The 101 - Bryan, TX
7/22 - Abita Brew Pub  - Abita Springs, LA
7/23 - Martin's Downtown - Jackson, MS

Nashville-based, female-fronted, critically-acclaimed trio The Accidentals have partnered with Kaboom Collective for a groundbreaking collaborative release—an album called Reimagined, comprised of 11 of their most popular songs that were re-recorded with a 40-piece student orchestra, set for release on July 29th. The release will be followed by a 14-day “Reimagined” tour that kicks off at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland. Dates include performances at Mile of Music Festival, Wrigley Field,  Frederik Meijer Gardens, and more.

Kaboom Collective gives students the opportunity to receive cutting-edge education. The 40-member Kaboom Collective Studio Orchestra is a Hollywood-style ensemble comprised of students that compose, score, perform, and record music for various projects. As the only production-based programming in the country, they create musical beds for everything from video game soundtracks to studio albums; from animation scores to live performances, students in the Studio Orchestra work closely with each other and a team of professional musicians, educators, and producers to bring new works and productions to life.

Musicians aged 15-25 work under the tutelage of award-winning educator Liza Grossman, as well as members of the collective—a group of 50+ professional musicians, seasoned producers, recording engineers, composers, and production experts. Students receive hands-on experience, liner note and IMDb credit for their work, and the chance to learn in real time. Kaboom Collective was co-founded by Grossman and Joseph Weagraff, a project empowered by the duo’s combined industry and educational experience.

The Accidentals’ Katie Larson and Sav Buist met in their public high school orchestra and became a band after witnessing an immersive workshop by two women that played the same instruments they did. Seeing the possibilities firsthand gave them the courage and empowerment to pursue music beyond the orchestra. They were inspired. They often say that music connected them to friendships and skill sets that changed the trajectory of their lives for the better.

The pair met Grossman, the Conductor and Director of the Studio Orchestra, when she reached out about recording one of The Accidentals’ songs with the orchestra. That process allowed Buist and Larson to work with an orchestra on a completely new level. “Liza was one of the most inspirational teachers we have had the pleasure of working with,” says Buist. “We learned more from her in a week than in any classroom we have been in.”

After 10 years as a band, multiple major and indie label deals, and touring over a thousand live shows and festivals, The Accidentals started their own non-profit called Play It Forward Again and Again to provide opportunities for students to experience the inspiration that launched their careers.

Collaborating with Kaboom was a "no-brainer": their missions of music education and empowerment aligned. The Accidentals have a repertoire of cinematic music well-suited to be reimagined with a full orchestra. They provided basic tracks and Grossman’s students scored, arranged, and recorded eleven Accidentals songs alongside industry professionals who guided their creation in a supportive, encouraging way. That album would be released, and a tour would be arranged for The Accidentals with the Kaboom Studio Orchestra, one where the students would learn tour management, sound engineering, merchandising, stage crew skills, hospitality, promotion, marketing, press, and more.

The Accidentals and the Kaboom Studio Orchestra will kick off a string of tour dates together to support the release of Reimagined on August 3rd. Be sure to follow them on the links below for all the latest news and updates.

TOUR DATES:
 
8/3 - Rock & Roll Hall of Fame - Cleveland, OH
8/4 - Scottish Rite Theatre (w/ support of Bradley University) - Peoria, IL
8/5 - Gallagher's Way at Wrigley Field - Chicago, IL
8/6 & 8/7 - Mile of Music Festival - Appleton, WI
8/9 - Frederick Meijer Gardens - Grand Rapids, MI
8/11 - Fountain Point - Lake Leelanau, MI
8/12 - Heritage Park Amphitheater - Canton, MI

San Diego band Mrs. Henry is excited to announce their project Chest Fever, a tribute to legendary rock group The Band, and will be touring and performing songs from the legendary Rock of Ages live album to celebrate its 50th Anniversary this year.
 
Mrs. Henry is led by Dan Cervantes (Howlin Rain guitarist + Blind Owl label owner), and is rounded out by Jody Bagley (Vocals and Keyboards), Blake Dean (Vocals and Bass), and Chad Lee (Vocals and Drums).  The group was ignited by a consciousness-changing West Coast tour in 2015. Since then, Mrs. Henry has spent the last five years on the road building an unrivaled reputation for their brand of intergalactic boogie with a torrent of improvisation, and in turn, a cult following atop their already well-established individual credits (Howlin’ Rain, The Schizophonics, The Silent Comedy). Endurance is their vocation and bringing unapologetically live music into a new era is their mission.
 
The idea of Chest Fever started to bloom back in 2017 when Mrs. Henry set their sights on paying homage to that historic 1976 night where The Band , along with a group of iconic friends and musicians, documented their legendary final performance at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, that we now know as the The Last Waltz, by recreating it in their hometown of San Diego.  Planning and rehearsing for the event took nearly a year, and the stress nearly broke up the band. But for Mrs. Henry, the challenge ignited a new purpose and an infectious wave of inspiration. On November 26, 2017 Mrs. Henry performed the Last Waltz in its entirety with a wonderful community of San Diego artists, along with guest performances by Pat Beers of The Schitzophonics, Brenden Dellar of Sacri Monti, Jesse Lee of The Paragraphs, Clinton Davis, Noah C Lekas and more.
 
WATCH “DON’T DO IT” FROM MRS. HENRY PRESENTS THE LAST WALTZ HERE

The show was recorded and released by Blind Owl on multiple formats including a triple vinyl set, mixed by Stephen Kaye (The Growlers, Ziggy Marley), mastered by Joe Bozzi, known for his work with Last Waltz alumni Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, and housed in a high-quality LP jacket designed by artist Roy G. Biv.  The vinyl package also includes an exclusive bonus 7” featuring studio versions of “The Weight” and “Evangeline.”  The film premiered at the Oceanside Film Festival  (more details HERE),  was a part of the International Shorts Film Festival. The group performed The Last Waltz again in November 2021 at Solana Beach, CA’s Belly Up Tavern alongside legendary musicians including Eagles collaborator and hit songwriter Jack Tempchin, violinist Scarlet Rivera of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Review, solo artist and Black Crowes Member Marc Ford, and local hero Isaiah Mitchell.  After the sold out performance, the group set out to continue their sights on honoring The Band and their impact on rock and roll.
 
Now, with the official stamp of approval from The Band itself, the group is back to recreate another quintessential performance era from The Band’s collection. This year marks the 50th anniversary of The Band’s Rock of Ages live album, a collection of live recordings from the group’s four night 1971 residency at the Academy of Music in New York City. This residency additionally featured on-stage performances from a number of legendary artists including Howard Johnson, Snooky Young, Joe Farrell, J.D. Parron, and Earl McIntyre.  Bob Dylan additionally made a surprise visit and performance on the New Year’s eve show, and performed the final four songs with The Band to ring in 1972. A widely celebrated album, Rock of Ages underscored The Band’s ambitious on-stage vision, and further cemented their place in rock music history.

Each night Chest Fever will be performing songs from Rock of Ages, including such staples as “Caledonia Mission,” “The Unfaithful Servant,” “Get Up Jake,” and of course “Chest Fever.” They will additionally be cycling in a number of deeper cuts from The Band’s oeuvre, including “Rockin’ Chair,” “Time To Kill,” as well as classics originally left out Rock of Ages including “Up on Cripple Creek,” “I Shall Be Released,” and more.  “The first time I heard The Band was when I was a young kid seeing The Last Waltz over Thanksgiving,” says Blind Owl Records ringleader and Chest Fever member Dan Cervantes. “My Dad played the video or rented from Blockbuster at the time, that just lit a fire.”

WATCH “THE SHAPE I’M IN” FROM DRUNKARD’S DREAM ARTS AND MUSIC FESTIVAL HERE

The group will be performing alongside local horn sections from each city to recreate the iconic contributions from Johnson, Young, Farrel, McIntyre, and Parron, while additionally featuring a special guest in select towns to perform the 4 song Bob Dylan set from the original residency. The band will feature an all-star group of accomplished and celebrated players at the final tour stop at Brooklyn’s Sultan Room on August 15th, including trumpeter Eric Biondo (TV on the Radio, Budos Band, Antibalas), sousaphone and tuba player John Altieri (David Byrne, St. Vincent, Jon Batiste), saxophonist Stuart Bogie (Antibalas, TV on the Radio, Arcade Fire), and trombonist Dave ‘Smoota’ Smith (TV on the Radio, Run The Jewels, Steven Tyler).  Each concert will feature slight variations to give audiences a unique experience in honoring the legacy of The Band, and the lasting power of Rock of Ages.

Chest Fever Tour Dates
 
7/20 - Costa Mesa, CA @ Wayfarer
7/21 - Chico, CA @ Argus Bar
7/22 - Sunnyvale, CA @ Quarter Note Bar
7/23 - Red Bluff, CA @ Rock Of Red Bluff Festival
7/24 - San Francisco, CA @ The Park Side
7/29 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah San Diego
8/4 - Woodstock, GA @ Madlife Stage & Studios
8/5 - Louisville, KY @ Whirling Tiger
8/6 - Cleveland, OH @ The Winchester Bar
8/7- Columbus, OH @ The Summit Music Hall
8/8 - Columbus, OH @ The Summit Music Hall
8/10 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada @ El Mocambo
8/11- Pittsburgh, PA @t Thunderbird Music Hall
8/12 - Burlington, VT @ Nectar’s
8/13 - Brattleboro, VT @ Stone Church
8/14 - Rochester, NY @ Photo City Music Hall
8/15 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Sultan Room

Veteran South African rocker Steve Louw announces his sophomore solo release Thunder and Rain, available November 11, 2022 through BFD / The Orchard, with the release of the first single and title track today. The album was produced by Kevin Shirley (John Hiatt, Robert Cray Band, the Black Crowes) and features contributions from guitar wizards Joe Bonamassa, and Doug Lancio.

Thunder and Rain follows hot on the heels of Headlight Dreams the 2021 album that found Steve Louw returning to active duty after a thirteen-year absence. After this prolonged period away from the spotlight, Louw discovered an audience who was eager to hear new music from the singer/songwriter: Headlight Dreams received strong reviews and earned a nomination for Best Rock Album from the South African Music Awards in 2022.

On the album's opening title track, “Thunder and Rain,” it's possible to hear and feel bad weather creep in over the horizon. “The world is navigating through a fraught time, economically and politically,” explains Louw. “The geography of where I was coming from crept into the music; fire, wind and rain.” Those elements also creep into the video created by Jacqui van Staden.

While it’s an ominous beginning to the album, waiting for light to emerge after darkness is a thematic undercurrent on Thunder and Rain, a record where Louw balances these opposing impulses with strength and compassion. He may open the record with a sense of foreboding—a feeling that resonates strongly in 2022, as the world picks up the pieces left after a global pandemic—yet he doesn’t dwell in the darkness.

“It’s about love,” Louw explains of the album, “we’re born with love, we’ll leave with love, and it heals along the way.”

Louw celebrates the restorative, nourishing love on “Mother, Don’t Go,” an insightful, insistent tune graced by guitar wizard Joe Banamassa, who brings out the song’s incandescent spirit as he intertwines his playing with that of Doug Lancio, a guitarist who has just entered Louw’s orbit. The album winds its way through "The Road Fades from Sight," a ballad built upon the soul-sustaining power of longtime love, then reaches the finish line with “I’m Coming Home,” an invigorating conclusion that leaves no doubt there’s room for optimism in these troubled times. By finding space for this full range of emotion, Thunder and Rain operates on a refreshingly human scale, emphasizing deep emotions and interpersonal interactions—it's music that's meant to be felt as much as heard.

ABOUT STEVE LOUW: South African musician Steve Louw’s career began with his first band All Night Radio who released two records including 1986's The Killing Floor, the album where he first collaborated with Kevin Shirley. Louw came to stardom as the leader of Big Sky, a group who put out their first album, Waiting for the Dawn, in 1990. During their time together, Big Sky released five albums, a discography highlighted by 1995's acclaimed Horizon. The band earned accolades from the industry, including winning the FNB Music Award for Best SA Rock Act in 1996. At the end of their run as a band, Big Sky was the opening act for Rodriguez on his valedictory tour of South Africa, a journey captured in the 2012 Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man. The tour raised Louw's international profile, leading to his collaboration with Queen's Brian May and Eurythmics' Dave Stewart on "Amandla," a song on 2003's Nelson Mandela-inspired AIDS awareness project 46664.

Following the release of Big Sky’s Trancas Canyon in 2008, Louw retreated from the spotlight. He broke his silence with his solo debut Headlight Dreams, a rousing comeback delivered in 2021. Thunder and Rain, his sophomore release, will be available November 11, 2022.

Today, San Francisco-based rock outfit The Stone Foxes, co-founded by brothers Shannon and Spence Koehler, have released “Help Me Now,”the latest from their forthcoming LP, On The Other Side, due out on November 18th.

In the summer of 2020, Shannon, who suffers from congenital heart issues, had to undergo his second open heart surgery (and his 14th heart-related surgery). His old pacemaker wires were wearing out–the doctors needed to access the back of his heart, so they had to go through his sternum this time.

"Because my issues are congenital, they usually send me to a children’s hospital, where there are lots of stuffed animals and Disney movies playing in waiting rooms," he says. "When I woke up from my surgery, I saw my fiancée on my left and my mom on my right. As my eyes kept opening, I started feeling a sharp, knife-like pain in my chest. I looked over at my IV and didn’t see a drip going. I had woken up from open-heart surgery with no pain meds, and it was the most excruciating pain I have ever felt. Shouting, barely able to get oxygen, I started cussing up a storm in Stanford Children’s Hospital,” he adds. “It was a combination of extreme anger and fear of whether I could actually withstand the pain...it’s something I’ll never forget."

“Help Me Now” follows "Time Is A Killer," which features big riffs, thundering beats, and cinematic horns--like early Wu-Tang meets Ennio Morricone. “The lyrical theme came from the idea of Mother Nature being a character – a stone cold killer – which she is. Mother Nature doesn’t play games. Mother Nature will auto-correct our foolishness. And after a certain amount of time, Mother Nature will move on without us if we don’t get wise,” says Shannon.

Lead single “Man’s Red Fire” was inspired by a lyric from The Jungle Book's “I Want To Be Like You.” “I’ve always loved that song and that phrase, and living in California surrounded by wildfires every summer for the past four years, it was stuck in my head,” Shannon said of the song. “The flames are a symbol of power and I couldn’t help but think of this raging fire of racism that’s been burning in our country since its inception. Just looking around, it’s obvious that the civil war isn’t over, so I started writing lyrics with civil war imagery in my head, and putting them together with lyrics that symbolized a quest for power.”

LISTEN // WATCH: “TIME IS A KILLER”

LISTEN: “MAN’S RED FIRE”

On The Other Side will be the first full-length album recorded by Shannon (lead vocals, drums, harmonica,  producer) and Spence (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, pedal steel, bass, producer) in over six years. For the Koehler brothers, On The Other Side is a cinematic western rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack to pull you through when the journey gets rough. The lyrics and sounds reflect Shannon's journey through a second open heart surgery, the brothers’ struggles with anxiety, being grounded by love, and the experience of living in a deeply disturbing America.

It's also an album of many firsts. "It’s the first time Spence and I have been the main songwriters on every track of a release," says Shannon. "It’s the first time I’ve sung lead vocals on every track of a release. It’s the first time I’ve ever written songs on piano that turned into actual songs on an album. It’s the first time Spence has been the main bass player on a full album."

The band has also launched a new fan club, The Fox Den. Members will receive early access to the album and exclusive demos, listening party invites, exclusive merch, and can even have their names listed in the CD liner notes or receive handwritten lyrics from the band. Membership levels begin at $30 and are available at https://www.thestonefoxes.com/the-fox-den. Be sure to follow The Stone Foxes at the links below for the latest news and updates.

SEE THE STONE FOXES LIVE - MORE DATES TO COME:

10/28 - Fulton  55 - Fresno, CA

11/18 - Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA

San Diego rock band Mrs. Henry have unleashed Keep On Rising - Act II : Faith, Fate and Hope in The Land of Nothing Matters, the second part of the band’s three part album and rock opera series Keep On Rising. In the storied tradition of grand, epic trilogies like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings, Keep On Rising follows the hero’s journey by doubling down on a frenzied, manic darkness, while amplifying the twists and turns in the band’s expansive narrative scope. As bassist Blake Dean remarks “This is our Empire Strikes Back, 6’ o'clock - The Underworld.” The album moves in a serpent-like manner; it gleefully sheds its skin to reveal new identities and movements for the audience to gaze at in a hypnotized stupor. With incredible highlights and dynamics ranging from monster fuzz jams to orchestra ballads, Act II loudly kicks the door back open, and highlights the group’s knack for heady studio wizardry, compelling sonic dynamics, and an all-encompassing narrative vision. “Act II is a rollercoaster ride through heaven and hell,” says Mrs. Henry’s Dan Cervantes, and centers itself around the transformation of character, while embracing the rules of reality.

Act II picks up where Act I ends: the titular hero of the story Mrs. Henry has crossed the threshold of The Sex Sells, Love Drugs, Rock N Roll Society and is born again in The Land of Nothing Matters. Traversing the powers of Faith, Fate, and Hope, Mrs. Henry and Act II present a staggering album rich with equal measure of suspense and humor, and an enticing rabbit hole for listeners to wholeheartedly leap into and get lost within. The music and the lyrics don’t waste time in taking you into the hallucinations, the fantasies, and the psychedelic state of The Land of Nothing Matters. The militant march of in the crescendo-ing intro song “Delivery Room of the Morning Sun” bubbles and boils before reveling in the frenzied garage-rock/psychedelic fervor of “Here I Am.” A haunting voice beckons for Mrs. Henry to rise, who returns the request with a bone-chilling primal scream, a declaration of existence. “Here I Am” growls our protagonist, accepting the call before hurling into the unknown.

“Musically, we are exploring orchestral and operatic themes that really start to take shape. We used the studio to the fullest on these songs - layering parts in brass, strings, woodwinds, vibes and percussion using a Mellotron,” says Cervantes. “The goal of this album was to make something that was purely Mrs. Henry. No guest performers, everything is us.”

The group’s studio expertise is on full display across songs like yin-and-yang songs “It’s Okay” and “It’s Not Okay.” The duality of these songs reflects a heightened sense of dynamics, and is a microcosm of the album as a whole. The former ballad pairs grounded keys with a floating mellotron, a piece of equipment that the group aimed to center Act II around. “It’s Okay” was a song that was originally written after the death of my Father in 2018,” says Mrs. Henry’s Jody Bagley. “The idea of the song for me originally came from the desire to find peace in his death, by understanding that it’s okay that things are not ever going to be the same as they were, and working towards understanding and embracing that notion.”

The song rises and swells overtop of gorgeous acoustic strumming, and a compelling vocal performance by Bagley. As the former transitions into the latter, a piercing, awe-inspiring guitar takes hold, and is followed by chilling group vocals inspired by the classical narrative concepts of the Greek Chorus. “[“It’s Not Okay”] really explores the character’s struggle and turmoil in trying to understand this reality, says Bagley. “The character knows that they have to sit with these emotions for however long it takes until they are physically and emotionally ready to move on.”

Elsewhere, Act II captures the band’s experimental approach to studio recording. Mrs. Henry honed in on a number of processes that shaped the sound and performance of the album. From unique vocal recording, to layering in dynamic multi-tracked takes, experimental tape machine sonics, repeated lyrical and musical phrases and more, Mrs. Henry has crafted a sonic universe for their titular character to wrestle within, but the evolution through this struggle and eventual acceptance is the ultimate destination. Deep, animated grooves, strong vocal harmonies, memorable guitar and keyboard performances, and movements bleeding into one another, Act II is a high-wire act that balances the exhilaration of suspense with the groundedness of acceptance. Comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin, and Act II is no different.

Act II concludes in a triumphant fanfare of sounds that teases the next chapter of the trilogy. The album ends with hope rising up as the protagonist rebuilds themself up to something greater than they were before. Harkening back to different melodies and themes from present, past, and future, the group sets the stage for the series’ grand finale.

Mrs. Henry is led by Dan Cervantes (Howlin Rain guitarist + Blind Owl label owner), and is rounded out by Jody Bagley (Vocals and Keyboards), Blake Dean (Vocals and Bass), Chad Lee (Vocals and Drums), and Allan Ritter (Vocals and Drums).  The group was ignited by a consciousness-changing West Coast tour in 2015. Since then, Mrs. Henry has spent the last five years on the road building an unrivaled reputation for their brand of intergalactic boogie with a torrent of improvisation, and in turn, a cult following atop their already well-established individual credits (Howlin’ Rain, The Schizophonics, The Silent Comedy). Endurance is their vocation and bringing unapologetically live music into a new era is their mission.

Act II additionally follows two San Diego Music Award wins for Mrs. Henry, as well as multiple tours as Chest Fever performing famed live albums and concerts by The Band including The Last Waltz and Rock of Ages. The group additionally released multiple singles with legendary, Songwriters Hall of Fame songwriter Jack Tempchin, who is best known for penning some of the Eagles’ most beloved songs including “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” and co-writing “ Already Gone,” “The Girl From Yesterday,” and “It’s Your World Now.”

KEEP ON RISING - ACT II: FAITH, FATE AND HOPE IN THE LAND OF NOTHING MATTERS TRACKLIST

Delivery Room of The Morning Sun
Here I Am
The Land Of Nothing Matters
Fate Vs. Faith
I Believe
It’s Okay
It’s NOT Okay
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Find A Circle (It’s A Wonderful Feeling)
And ... Action!
The Tall Tell Tale of The Three Little Pigs
What's My Re-Action?!
OM WAY OH
Hope Is Rising

Indie songwriter Jeremy Facknitz has been entertaining audiences with his lovingly crafted music and high-energy performances for over a quarter century. Since the 2002 break-up of his Detroit-based band “The Ottomans” (they earned a 2001 Detroit Music Award for Best New Alternative Band, beating out “The White Stripes”), Jeremy has performed primarily as a solo act, marrying folk-rock and jazz stylings to showcase his intimate stories of life, love, and self-discovery.  

Today, Jeremy is offering a taste from his forthcoming album Smilin’ At The Future (out 3/31/23), with the first single “As of This Morning,” a 70s-inspired rocker using Eagles-esque guitar tones to recall that moment of awakening in a relationship that it might be time to move on. Aiming for a positive-vibe amid a typically sad subject, Facknitz says, “It's the simplest song on the album, the most countrified, and still one of my favorites.”  

ABOUT JEREMY FACKNITZ
Jeremy Facknitz was named a top 24 finalist from over 800 entries in the 2020 and 2022 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Competitions at Kerrville Folk Festival. His songs “Ballet of an Unhatched Chick” and “Michigan (Something In The Water)” were awarded semi-finalist distinction at songoftheyear.com, also in 2020 and 2022.  On the forthcoming album Smilin’ At The Future, he creates a hybrid sound of rock, jazz along with elements of country/Americana with producer Jarrod Headley. The Jeremy Facknitz Band features Colorado musicians Ricky Sweum (sax), David Siegel (violin), Mike Kimlicko (bass), Brad Plesz (drums) and John Standish (keys).

You might expect a band that calls itself YARN to, naturally, tend to spin a yarn or two. “That’s what we do, we tell stories, live and in the studio, truth and fiction,” singer/songwriter Blake Christiana insists. “We don’t always opt for consistency. There’s a different vibe onstage from what comes through in our recordings. There’s a difference in every show as well, you never know what you’re going to get.”

On their latest single “Cocaine Bear,” Christiana delivers a 70s country ballad about the unbelievable yet, true story of a bear that was found dead near a cargo of cocaine that went down along the Tennessee / Georgia border. Nicknamed Pablo Escobear, the story of the bear was first recounted by The New York Times in a 1985 article. Over the years, the story has also inspired much folklore as well as this song (written in 2019) and a film by the same name out this year.

“…the time was also ripe to cut this song in the studio for the first time – allowing it the opportunity to transition from a live fan favorite to a fleshed-out studio recording.”  – Americana UK

“… a pleasant country shuffle, very much embedded in the 70s country ballad tradition. The subdued guitars and the light drumbeat allow the listener to concentrate on the bear’s story, which is told accurately, sympathetically and with passion.” – At The Barrier

“Cocaine Bear,” available February 24th, is the standalone single from YARN who will follow with two full length albums of new material in 2023/2024.

TOUR DATES
MAR 21 / ROCHESTER, NY @  Abilene Bar and Lounge
MAR 22 / BUFFALO, NY @ Sportsmens Tavern
MAR 23 / MARLBORO, NY @ The Falcon
MAR 24 / BLAIRSTOWN, NJ @ Roy's Hall
MAR 25 / HOOSICK FALLS, NY @  Unihog
MAR 26 / SYRACUSE, NY @  The 443 Social Club & Lounge

ABOUT YARN
Yarn’s ability to persevere ought to come as no great surprise, especially for a band that spent two years honing their chops during a Monday night residency at the famed Kenny’s Castaway in New York’s Greenwich Village. In effect, it allowed them to rehearse onstage, mostly in front of audiences that often ranged in size from five to a hundred people on any given night. 10 studio albums followed -- Yarn (2007), Empty Pockets (2008), Leftovers Part One (2009), Come On In (2010), Leftovers Part 2 (2011), Almost Home (2012), Shine the Light On (2013), This Is The Year (2016), and Lucky 13 parts 1 & 2 (2019). The band then took to the road, playing upwards of 170 shows a year and sharing stages with such superstars as Dwight Yoakam, Charlie Daniels, Railroad Earth, Marty Stuart, Allison Krauss, Leon Russell, Jim Lauderdale, Leftover Salmon, Amos Lee, The Lumineers and many more. They performed at any number of prestigious venues -- Mountain Stage, Daytrotter, the Orange Peel in Asheville, the Fox Theater in Boulder, the 9:30 Club in D.C, South by Southwest, the Strawberry Festival, Rhythm and Roots, Meadowgrass, Floydfest and so much more, eventually surpassing 1,000 shows, half a million miles and performances in nearly every state. Yarn will release two new albums in 2023/2024.

The Los Angeles-based funk collective Scary Goldings are looking forward to recreating the collaboration they magically captured on their forthcoming live album Scary Goldings LIVE! feat. John Scofield due out on September 8th, at the Newport Jazz Festival on Sunday August 6th at 1:40pm at the Fort Stage.

Scary Goldings is a collaboration between keyboardist Larry Goldings, who has made a name for himself playing world-renowned artists such as Jack DeJohnette, James Taylor, John Mayer, and more, and the rotating funk ensemble Scary Pockets, anchored by keyboardist Jack Conte and guitarist Ryan Lerman.

The group had the honor of collaborating and performing with the legendary Grammy Award-winning guitarist John Scofield, who is featured on the album and will be joining the group at the Newport Jazz Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival this summer and fall. “Having worked in John Scofield’s band on and off since the early 1990s, it was an obvious choice to bring him into the Scary Goldings world,” says Larry Goldings. “We have a great musical and personal rapport, and for Ryan, Jack, and the whole band, it was definitely a dream come true.”

 The album, including the single “Louis Cole Sucks”, was recorded last year at  Jazz A La Villette in Paris, with the exception of “Professor Vicarious” which was recorded in Los Angeles at the Echoplex.  “I grew up listening to John Scofield,” says Ryan Lerman.  “So, it was a real trip to hear the sound I used to come home from school and practice to, coming from the amp next to me on stage. He’s just the greatest. “

Guitarist Ryan Lerman met his Scary Pockets co-founder keyboardist Jack Conte when the two were still in high school in Marin County, California. It’s a relationship that has informed and influenced him, musically and professionally, ever since. Both musicians tend to be systems-level thinkers who focus on the process instead of the outcome. This process type of thinking has resulted in incredible productivity and a massive online following. Scary Pockets have released at least one new video a week on YouTube since 2017, racking up 1 Million Subscribers and over 350 Million views, and a loyal audience of funk enthusiasts worldwide. They’ve recorded hundreds of songs featuring a continuously rotating lineup of quality musicians and singers. Their collaborators include a wide array of artists including Jacob Collier, Louis Cato, Louis Cole, Tyler Duncan, Joey Dosik, Larry Goldings, Caleb Hawley, Cory Henry, Theo Katzman, Lawrence, Adam Levy, Monica Martin, Jake Sherman, Antwaun Stanley, Jack Stratton, and Cory Wong.

Colorado-based duo Bonnie & Taylor Sims released their third and final single “The Cigarette Song” from their forthcoming self-titled debut album on September 15th.

“This was a song I wrote a few years ago in 30 minutes. It was one of those that just poured out,” Bonnie told Countrypolitan magazine  At the time it felt too much like a diary entry and I was a little nervous to share or play it so I shelved it. Two years later feeling stagnant at songwriters in the round night, I flipped through my journals,  found this song, saw it in a whole new light, and loved it. I have a big personality and powerful stage presses so it’s hard for me to embrace the softer, more vulnerable side of myself, but I have found there is a long of power in softness.”

Although the forthcoming album is their debut album as Bonnie and Taylor Sims, the two are RIAA Certified Gold recording artists. They have seen breakaway global success with their song “I See Red” which has over 250 Million streams with their project Everybody Loves an Outlaw, had a major label deal with Columbia, have toured the world, and graced the stages of major festivals. Amidst this wave of newfound success Bonnie and Taylor never lost touch with the thing that was most important to them: writing songs and making music with each other. With the shift the world took during the pandemic came the need for the duo to go down a different path and change directions artistically.

The two are serial creators, always striving to learn and innovate. When they are not writing songs and playing shows, the two both teach music and play in numerous other bands. Both grew up in Texas, Bonnie in a musical family who fell in love with Bluegrass at an early age and, Tyler in a house filled with the music of Texas songwriters like Robert Roy Keane, Guy Clark, and  Townes Van Zandt. Bonnie is pragmatic in her approach to songwriting and enjoys structure and marking off tasks, while Taylor is moved more by "the muse" who lets his creativity wander. The two met at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas in the music program and have been partners in life and music ever since. They complement each other in the best way possible, and this idea of opposites fits perfectly into where this record sits.  These songs grew out of the juxtaposition of a changing world and explore beauty and pain, hope and destruction. “The Cigarette Song” follows the release of  "The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," which is a portrait of their edgy-punk-rock-reality that has been bubbling right beneath the surface, and "Texas Again," which is a beautiful song about nostalgia initially written as a "Grapes of Wrath" type of story about the Sims family. The album is rounded out by seven more songs that range from a beautiful lullaby to a Texas shuffle.  Bonnie & Taylor will continue to tour throughout the year including a stop in Nashville at the Americana Festival in September.

Celebrated Australian CMA (Country Music Awards of Australia) Golden Guitar winner Angus Gill is thrilled to announce the release of his much-anticipated fifth studio album, "Departure & Arrival," set to debut on October 6, 2023. Leading up to this groundbreaking project, Gill has unveiled a tantalizing new single, "Crying Out for Love," which is now available on all major streaming platforms.

Unconventional Artistry Meets Latin Rhythms in New Single “Crying Out For Love”

As the album title "Departure & Arrival" suggests, Gill ventures into uncharted musical territories, taking his listeners on a journey that transcends his country and Americana roots. The album amalgamates a medley of rock intensity, vintage pop sophistication, experimental sounds, and a dash of Latin flair. "This is a record that doesn’t adhere to a singular genre or style; it’s a singer-songwriter project in the truest sense," Gill remarks.

Today’s single release, "Crying Out for Love," showcases Gill's uncanny ability to fuse storytelling, wit, and lyricism with an infectious Latin rhythm. The track was conceived as part of a songwriting challenge where Gill was tasked with creating a song based on the given title. "I marinated on the idea for a few days and then landed on the hook: 'waiting, wishing, crying out for love.' The song is inspired by a drum groove reminiscent of Paul Simon’s iconic 'Rhythm of the Saints' album, resulting in a unique blend that sets it apart from anything I've done before," explains Gill.

Album Offers a Diverse Musical Palette, Featuring Experimental Tracks and Spoken Word Pieces

"Departure & Arrival" promises a rich tapestry of musical styles. Alongside pop-oriented tracks, the album includes an array of experimental compositions like "Something Fishy," a spoken-word piece, as well as a whimsically titled song, "I’m Just Going To Grab A Sandwich."

"This album is unlike any of my previous projects," Gill acknowledges. "I wanted to create a record that was eclectic and not bound by genre, and I believe we've achieved that."

"Departure & Arrival" is scheduled for release on October 6, 2023. Until then, the captivating single "Crying Out for Love" serves as a perfect appetizer for what is undoubtedly going to be a full-course musical feast.

For more information about Angus Gill and his upcoming album, please visit Angus Gill's Official Website.

Musician, and songwriter Charlie Overbey, of whom rock icon Lemmy (Motörhead), coined as the “Punk Rock Spy In The House Of Honky Tonk" has released his single “Champagne, Cocaine, Cadillacs & Cash.” The guitar and keys southern rock-tinged romp features Marcus King on Electric Guitars,  B3 Organ, and vocals,  with additional vocals from Jaime Wyatt. The song is the first single from Overbey’s forthcoming album In Good Company, due out on July 26.

This album is a career retrospective of sorts for Overbey. He revisited decades of his writing and recording sessions from studios around the world to craft the new songs that would make up the career-spanning and star-studded body of work.   “God forbid if this happened to be my last record. It would be a record that told my story”, says Overbey. “A record that I could be proud of that would be a legacy record for me.” Not only did Overbey dig into his song archives but went into his deep Rolodex to enlist friends from across the musical spectrum to assist with the making of the album, starting with Marcus King and Jaime Wyatt.  “Champagne, Cocaine, Cadillacs & Cash,” is a song about leaving behind toxic one-sided relationships. Holler Country said that the song is “delivered with the thumping swagger of Waylon administered with a jab of jittery Muscle Shoals country funk,”  and has received early airplay from SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country.

When asked about working with Overbey, Marcus King commented that he “first met Charlie O back in 2017 or 18 I believe it was. I was really struck by Charlie’s gregarious charm, talent, unique style, and genuine attitude both on and off the stage - a beautiful friendship blossomed and only continues to grow. Fine quality hats n’ fine quality American Music. “ Jaime Wyatt said, “ Charlie’s voice is so smooth and baritone in this song, it's a solid country banger.” In addition to King and Wyatt, In Good Company is rounded out by an all-star cast of featured artists that include Nils Lofgren, Charlie Starr, Rami Jaffee, Jimmy Vivino, Duane Betts, Corey McCormick, Eddie Spaghetti, Taime Downe, Chris Masterson, Stuart Mathis, Danny B Harvey, Courtney Santana, Jon Graboff, Sarah Gayle Meech and more.

Although currently based in New Mexico, Overbey was born and raised in Los Angeles, where he was exposed to country music early and often. His father owned a 1947 Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar, and almost every time it was played, out spilled a Johnny Cash song. Although country was Overbey’s initial entry into music, it took years of punk rock and rock n’ roll rebellion before he came to recognize and appreciate the genre’s influences on him.  Overbey’s first success in the music industry came when his cowpunk outfit Custom Made Scare landed a deal with Side One Dummy Records in the late 90’s. But before the band’s debut album dropped, Overbey had been on the run from the law for years finally turning himself in and spending a year in prison. The very same week he was released, the band hit the road immediately and toured heavily into the new millennium alongside seminal punk acts such as Suicidal Tendencies, Social Distortion, Agent Orange, Zeke, and REO Speedealer.

In addition to music, Overbey found a creative outlet in fashion.  What started as a hobby of making eye-catching glam rock head attire for himself, has turned into the very successful bespoke fashion company Lone Hawk Hats of which Overbey is the sole craftsman. Each hat is handcrafted from vintage shells from the early 20’s through the 70’s, which according to Overbey was a time when “quality was held dearly above quantity.” Each piece is like a sculpture, inspired by its muse, the customer, and crafted using environmentally safe materials. Overbey’s Lone Hawk pieces have been worn by artists such as  Blackberry Smoke, Marcus King, Lainey Wilson, members of the Foo Fighters, Sheryl Crow, the cast of 1883, and were the focal point in in a Stella McCartney campaign.  There are select styles and pieces available online at the Lone Hawk website and in person at the  Honeywood Vintage shops in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park and just outside of Santa Fe in Madrid, New Mexico.