Posts by Chad Berndtson

Mighty Sam McClain is that most seasoned and agreeable of old school performers, a master of soul and R&B blues in the manner of Bobby “Blue” Bland, whom McClain has called an idol, and whose influence on him is lovingly pronounced. The show at the Stone Church (made even more so by a dark, starless night and plenty of car-obscuring fog) was not an all-star salute at Madison Square Garden, planned to the minute and sponsored beyond its ability to breathe comfortably. It was a warm, emotional benefit concert, and for the gathering of townies, friends (Sam now makes his home in New Hampshire) and dance-hearty music lovers in attendance, the place to be.

It’s been a year since Galactic parted ways with Theryl “The Houseman” deClouet and it seems the effusive fivesome is still trying to figure out how to handle vocals and lyrics.

Garcia Plays Dylan doesn’t have the completeness factor of this year’s other marvelous Jerry Garcia estate releases–but it adds another dimension and a different sort of thoroughness those releases can’t, by nature, explore: the connection between two storied musicians as exemplified by one’s tackling of the other’s material in a variety of contexts.

For his first-ever solo band DVD, Betts is in brilliant, loveably raffish form, commanding the latest incarnation of his group, Great Southern, with the panache of a skilled bandleader and heavy-wattage country rock star.

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A funny thing happened to the North Mississippi Allstars on their way to international acclaim: they became a nuanced, multifaceted and wholly experimental blues rocker unit

An upstart five-some rustling up a serious fuss in their native Philadelphia, the Brakes draw you in with a deceptively laid-back funk-rock thing, probably reminiscent of Sublime, the easy name-check, but also less remembered and way more musical groups of kind like e:verything and the Getaway People.

David Gans knows his Grateful Dead: The radio show he hosts, the beloved “Grateful Dead Hour,” is still broadcasted on KPFA 94.1 in Berkeley, California and syndicated nationwide. However, the show itself is but the tip of the iceberg in Gans’ music career.

There are of course gems in every year of the Grateful Dead’s last third (1985-1995), but when asked to find a period of prowess in that time frame, the year 1989, and specifically the summer tour, of which this July 4th Buffalo date is a true nugget.

Forget, for a minute, The Harder They Come.Great movie, definitely, and transcendent soundtrack, but the one to pull out and pop in when it