Like a lazy river winding through the woods on a hot summer day, the new EP, Dying Old Flower, from Santa Cruz Mountains-based Brad Sanzenbacher is as much a feeling as a sight or sound. You can practically smell the riverside rhododendrons on Cacapon, perhaps named after a park in West Virginia with just that […]
Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster on Taking It Easy and Why He Doesn’t Break Strings
Singer-songwriter Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster talks about playing the Joe Muggs coffee shop for his first gig and the Jeep Wagoneer that was his favorite but worst tour vehicle.
Melanie Brulee on Touring with Hats and Why Musicians are Hard-Headed Gamblers
Melanie Brulee talks about “running the gauntlet” at her rehearsal space, “Strongbow o’clock” and how her first gig became a residency.
Bonus Monday Video – Ottoman Turks vs The 40 Acre Mule
The folks at State Fair Records have a good thing going. I’ve been in Dallas a few years now and have had some time to explore the local music scene. Chief among my discoveries is that there has been a steady flow of great music State Fair. The label wraps up its summer with not […]
Monday Morning Video – Austin Lucas and Garrett Owen
As one might imagine (and some actually know), I see a lot of shows. And by that I mean a lot. In that realm there are some artists who I get to see a lot. Then there are others who, unfortunately for various reasons, I don’t get to see often enough. Austin Lucas fits in […]
Newport Folk Festival 2019 – Looking Back at the New Faces
Newport Folk Festival has made it a practice to bring fresh faces in front of a discerning crowd of music fans. The 2019 edition was no different and the new artists certainly made a splash. J.S. Ondara only needed one song to bowl me over. I heard him sing “Saying Goodbye” as his last song […]
A Premiere from Ward Hayden and the Outliers
One of the great things about seeing Ward Hayden & the Outliers live is the wonderful covers that they throw into their set. While these song choices are seemingly intended as crowd pleasers – which, of course, they are – they are also evidence that the quartet are true students of music. The group’s encyclopedic […]
Newport Folk Festival 2019 Feature – Gregory Alan Isakov Transports Listeners to Other Worlds
When I think about atmospheric music, I picture lots of instrumentation and layered tracks. I don’t picture a guy and a guitar. Gregory Alan Isakov has somehow merged the world of a singer/songwriter with moody ethereal music in a way that defies logic. My wife and I had a chance to sit down with Gregory […]
Rob Laufer on Fritos, Slim Jims and an Artist’s Secret Superpower
LA-based singer-songwriter Rob Laufer talks about the melancholy of the first song that he ever composed, never breaking guitar strings and time spent writing music for advertising.
Beth Bombara on Avoiding Hangry and Her Extended History of Tour Vehicles
St. Louis rocker Beth Bombara recalls getting paid in donuts at her first gig and the time that the cops showed up at band rehearsal.