In New York, Chicago, San Francisco, you can still find dimly lit, low-ceiling basement clubs, surprisingly full even on a weeknight, where you can get a stiff drink and a soberingly good jazz band.  You can’t smoke in them anymore, but that smoky sound still comes from a singer whose voice seems earned from whisky and cigarettes […]
Tweed River Talk – A Few Words with Jonas Parmelee of the Silks
Our latest interview is with Jonas Parmelee, bassist with the Providence, RI-based rock trio the Silks. Last American Band, the band’s 2013 debut was produced by Paul Westerberg and recalls the best qualities of 1970’s rock-and-roll — filled with songs as raucous as they are melodic. Parmelee talked with us about the psychedelic side of […]
Elephant Revival – Sands Of Now
To listen to Elephant Revival is to hear everything you’ve ever heard in acoustic music and yet nothing you’ve ever heard in acoustic music. The Colorado-based quintet will bring you to the edge of your chair in a pristine listening room, trying to capture every nuance. Â They will force you back in your lawn chair […]
FY5 – Eat the Moon
An hour north of Denver in a bend of the St. Vrain river sits a beautiful amphitheater and campground, home to Rockygrass and the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, among other events. Â The far bank of the river is a cliff of Colorado red rock that positively glows in the afternoon sun. Â The river itself has […]
Tweed River Talk – A Few Words with Christopher Paul Stelling
You have to appreciate an artist who invites himself to a festival (see below for the full story). Of course, in this case, the festival organizers welcomed him with open, arguably ecstatic, arms. And why shouldn’t they? Christopher Paul Stelling is a compelling live performer who will undoubtedly captivate the Tweed River Music Festival crowd. […]
Mayer’s Picks – the Best of 2015 (So Far), the Albums
Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite releases from the first half of 2015. COMPLICATED GAME by JAMES MCMURTRY As he celebrates the release of his first album in six years, there’s a part of me that wishes that McMurtry was more prolific. Then I remember that it takes time to craft […]
Monday Morning Video – Greg Trooper’s Tribute to the Weekend
Sure, it’s Monday but let’s have Greg Trooper bring us back to the weekend with this pair of classics, “Another Shitty Saturday Night” and “These Sunday Nights.” Hopefully your weekend was better than those of the characters that inhabit these songs. Trooper has just released a new album, Live at the Rock Room. Captured at […]
Tweed River Talk – A Few Words with Dan Blakeslee
Our latest interview is with Somerville, MA-based folk troubadour Dan Blakeslee. Blakeslee has released numerous albums, the most recent of which is 2014’s Owed to the Tangled Wind. The album was recorded at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, RI by Ben Knox Miller and Jeffrey Prystowsky (The Low Anthem) and earned Blakeslee recognition as the […]
Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams
Although Larry Campbell has released a number of his own recordings, he is known more for his associations than solo work. He is such a versatile musician it would almost be easier to list instruments he does not play. Most recently he garnered acclaim as a producer for Levon Helm’s final albums. Both albums, “Dirt […]
Della Mae – Della Mae
The first time I drove CA 1 through Big Sur it was on a rainy day in a big, 80’s rental car with more of a rudder than a steering wheel. Â A few years later I had the chance to drive it in something much sportier and the difference was exhilarating. Â All those curves changed […]