Posts by Jeffrey Greenblatt

If you live in New York City, seeing David Byrne is sort of a common occurrence. The former Talking Heads front man can often be spotted bicycling around town or taking in a show at any number of concert venues throughout the city. Over this past weekend though, Byrne brought his latest world tour to […]

I thought this recent photo of the former hockey-jersey wearing front man of The Cure would get the creative juices following. Leave a comment below with a caption and if your entry is the best we’ll give you a hearty round of applause. Let’s see what you got…

When Coachella released the lineup for this year’s festie, many music fans had their hopes set on a seeing the name Pavement grace the artist roster after hearing Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg comments earlier this year. While the return of the seminal ’90s indie-rock band may not be on the immediate horizon, four of the […]

[youtube]Vx0mihxueBo[/youtube] Rilo Kiley – With Arms Outstretched (Live Bonnaroo ’08)

There haven’t been many bands over the last few years that have consistently hit the road as hard and as often as the Dave Matthews Band. The perennial road warriors will be at it again this summer with another massive North American tour. This 63-date beast of a tour kicks off on April 14 at […]

I’ve been writing for a Hidden Track for a little over a year now, but it wasn’t until just last week that I finally had my William Miller moment. I had the opportunity to flex my journalism degree by interviewing ATO recording artist and former Better Than Noodling subject Ben Kweller.

The unbelievably likable and laid back singer-songwriter took some time last week to chat with Hidden Track from Omaha, NE – where he was kicking off his 17 city tour – about his new indie-twang-pop album Changing Horses…

Jeffrey Greenblatt: The title of the album is Changing Horses, it seems like it’s a nod to the new sound. Did you set out to make a country-inspired record?

Ben Kweller: I did. I came up with the album back in 2004, I came up with the album title and stuff and I wrote the song Hurtin’ You and that’s the one I was like “oh, I should make an album of songs like this called Changing Horses.” I’ve been working on the songs ever since and I just decided to record ’em.

JG: Did you grow up listening to a lot of country music?

BK: Oh yeah

JG: Who did you grow up listening to?

BK: Well you know in the beginning it was like everything that was on the radio like Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson and stuff like that. [I listened to] country, pop-country in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s and then I got into the older stuff when I got older, learned more about the roots of things, got into Johnny Cash and Hank. So sort of the same way with rock n’ roll you know like when Nirvana came out, and all those bands, all the grunge bands I was really into that stuff. And then you start to learn about the Velvet Underground and punk rock and the roots of it all.

READ ON for more of ATO recording artist Ben Kweller’s thoughts on producing albums, summer festivals and his son’s love of Guns N’ Roses…

If you’ve been paying any attention at all to the freak-folk movement of the last few years, you’re probably already familiar with the the name Marissa Nadler. For the majority of you out that haven’t heard of the ethereal voiced Boston-based singer-songwriter, her music falls somewhere in the realm of the sweeping psychedelic haze of […]

The Jayhawks – Blue

Say what you will about the classic-rock cribbing Kid Rock, but the one-time Phish collaborator will indirectly be responsible for creating 400 new jobs in his home state of Michigan. The Michigan Brewery announced yesterday that they had been granted a state tax credit to produce a new line of craft beer for the musician, […]

As usual, Superfly Productions will present a series of concerts at a number of New Orleans venues during Jazzfest. The cleverly titled 2009 Superfly during Jazzfest concert series has just been announced.

READ ON for more details and a full list of performances…

[youtube]BJk9ZLjsl3U[/youtube] Funkadelic – I Got A Thing

On May 17, Sub Pop will release a 2 disc/3 LP collection of rarities, including out-of-print and unreleased tracks from Iron & Wine called Around The Well. In conjunction with the release, the bearded folk-rocker has put together a special intimate five-city, ten show tour. Each show will feature a unique set list, determined by […]

As we’ve previously mentioned, Sam Roberts Band are sort of a big deal north of the border – having racked up Juno awards, top selling albums as well as scoring the number one song on the R3-30 indie chart. While they may not have caught on in the States just yet, the band does have […]

With 2008 starting to look smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror and 2009 now in full swing, we’re sure that you’ve probably grown tired of some of the music you injected into your iPod last year. Since you may not get the itch each Tuesday to hit your local record shop for new […]

Blind Pilot – One Red Thread

In the wake of last week’s unfortunate Langerado cancellation, there is some good news for those of you who still plan on heading down to Florida as a number of bands who had plans to play the fest have picked up shows in the area over the same weekend. Girl Talk and Deerhunter will share […]

With The Roots making New York City their new homebase as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, the Philly hip-hop collective have announced a series of special shows to take place at the Highline Ballroom called The Jam. The 14-date residency, which will be spread across four months, kicks off on March […]

[youtube]MpjnaGOeHH4[/youtube] Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Please Read The Letter

For those of you who thought we left rock operas behind in the ’70s, literary-folk-prog act The Decemberists will revive the bloated tradition with their latest release The Hazards of Love which hits stores on March 24. The Portland-based band will debut the 17-song suite – which tells the story of two star-crossed lovers and […]

We here at HT sort of pride ourselves on trying to stay on top of new music that would be in our collective wheelhouse. From time to time though a band or two slips under the radar that we’ll eventually stumble upon, case in point the Chicago-based Catfish Haven. Fronted by George Hunter – whose […]