You might think that an alt-country singer from the 80s and 90s playing an acoustic set would be tame. You might think that it’d be soft and gentle with some strumming and fingerpicking. But if you did, you don’t know Cary Hudson and his “dirty blues” and “nasty swing.” At 45, Cary may use the […]

For my second experience at the uber-intimate Treehouse literally just steps from the DC/MD border, I had the pleasure of enjoying a bluegrass spiritual. Now I’ve seen Sean Hoots & the boys on a few other occasions but this time it was something special. A living room filled with approximately 30 seats felt just right. […]

To hear about a band being “green” in today’s society seems like another gimmick. We have whole foods, organic produce, carbon footprints and alternative energy bombarding us from all action. As a music fan, I like to listen to my music to unplug and hear the “organic” side for a while. But Todd and Eric […]

To hell with them all. It seems that Mark Kozelek has been saying this more and more lately. He started his own record label, he’s been working with fewer and fewer people on each record and using more austere instrumentation. On “Admiral Fell Promises,” Mark takes this a step further by exclusively playing the nylon […]

There’s a reason that singer/songwriter begins with “singer.” It’s the most important part of the package. Dylan, Neil Young have unique voices that can revive a song place it in their own specific style with the first vocal notes. John J. McCauley III has a particularly unique rough-edged voice that takes some time but pays […]

It wasn’t too long ago when Stephen King declared that Marah “is probably the best rock band in America that nobody knows” after their 2005 record “If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry.” The band has seen changes in their lineup and sound since that comment was made and “Life is a Problem” reflects that. Serge […]

Okay, I admit that I’m a little late to the Justin Currie/Del Amitri band wagon. Okay, a lot late. Maybe it’s slowed a bit in this decade. I should have known that the Scottish and their hundreds of lochs, brutal weather and amazing accents are really like the U.S. Pacific Northwest for irresistible rock-pop. Glasgow […]

As a music fan, I have always felt that recorded music and the live show are the yin and yang of an artist. You simply can’t have one without the other (okay I’ll give you the Beatles & Nick Drake, but they are the exception). But with a true music artist, both parts of the […]

What a difference a year makes. When I saw Tallest Man last year at the 9:30 Club in DC, he was opening for John Van Der Slice and the audience seemed a bit confused by the man. Only about a third of them (150 or so) were there when he played and maybe half of […]