Posts by Maeri Ferguson

On a particularly chilly Thursday evening (3/15)  last week, there may as well have been a cozy, blazing hearth inside New York City’s Town Hall thanks to the vibe created by the performance of supergroup I’m With Her. Made up on Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan, the trio is on tour supporting their […]

[rating=7.00] Creating something exquisite can require so many factors to serendipitously fall into place and fit just right. Right location, right time, right inspiration, right atmosphere. That was the case when three musicians came together to begin working on songs at a house outside Austin, TX after meeting on tour. Jonathan Meiburg, lead singer of […]

[rating=8.00] Mind the sparks that will no doubt pop from your speakers like little fireworks when you hear opening track “It’s So Cruel” off Ruby Boots’ new record Don’t Talk About It. It is an electrifying introduction to an artist that will knock your socks off with her smart, unpretentious rock and roll. A self-assured […]

[rating=9.00] Ty Segall has been a bat out of hell since he first came on the scene a decade ago, and he’s shown no signs of slowing down, releasing at least one studio record a year for 10 years straight (among countless other projects, singles and EPs). 2017 saw his self-titled release with the Freedom […]

It’s been a long road for Jessica Lea Mayfield, from her early days in a family band to her evolution as an indie rocker backed by Dan Auerbach, and now at the start of a new chapter as an artist and as a person. On this year’s Sorry is Gone, Mayfield makes a powerful statement […]

At one of The Weather Station’s live shows in early 2016, audiences were treated to one of the quietest shows they’d probably ever experienced. Tamara Lindemann had just released Loyalty in 2015, and her performance of its soft, folksy songs was sparse. She had a band with her, but the focus was on her and […]

He may have been born with one foot in the door (being Willie Nelson’s son and all), but Lukas Nelson is one of the hardest working performers you’ll ever seen on stage. On tour for his stellar self-titled record with his band Promise of the Real, Nelson held the room at Music Hall of Williamsburg  […]

Ron Gallo is a true showman. Since his creative rebirth earlier this year with the release of his record Heavy Meta, he has continued to lean into his wild man, rock and roll tendencies, putting on insane live shows worthy of the finest head-banging. On an earlier leg of his Heavy Meta tour back in […]

Since the release of his excellent 2013 record Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You, Mark Mulcahy has been on a roll, creating some of the best music of his career. With this year’s The Possum in the Driveway, he continues to stretch and evolve as an artist and performer. At a recent show at […]

John Moreland’s devastatingly beautiful songs are best enjoyed at a live show, if you’re so lucky. Moreland released the phenomenal Big Bad Luv back in May, and has been on a steady stream of gigs since. And while he’s always amazing with just his Tom Waits-ian rasp and his acoustic guitar, his current tour pairs […]

Julia Jacklin’s Don’t Let the Kids Win was one of 2016’s best offerings. Aussie-born Jacklin and her band pair lyrics about deep fears, rejection, and self-realization with a mix of clanging garage rock guitars and soft, homespun arrangements that showcase Jacklin’s angelic, but strong vocals. After her standout set at the 2017 Newport Folk Festival, […]

The rockabilly crowd came out in droves to see JD McPherson and his band tear up the dance floor with their fiery, rock and roll grooves. at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 7. 2017. McPherson, ever the class act and with stellar stage presence, gave them and the rest of the packed room […]

Kacy & Clayton are astoundingly good. A cousin duo that hails from Canada, their sound is like something that was beamed down from a bygone era. It’s psychedelic, mystifying, haunting and full of the kind of wisdom that typically comes with decades of life experience. But both are under 25 and brimming with an intimidating […]

[rating=8.00] I deserve to occupy this space/Without feeling like I don’t belong,” sings Jessica Lea Mayfield on the title track off her new record Sorry Is Gone. It’s a gut punch of hyper-focused pop rock about leaving behind a destructive relationship and reclaiming your identity in the aftermath. And it’s a nod not only to […]

[rating=7.00] It’s been four years since we’ve heard from New York City duo Cults, and things have shifted a bit since their last release, 2013’s Static. Specifically, they’ve leveled things out, with both members of the band taking equal part in the creation of their new album, Offering. While Madeline Follin often took a more […]

[rating=6.00] Not exactly fresh off the heels of their highly acclaimed 2013 release Essential Tremors (a triumph of headbanging southern rock and roll), J. Roddy Walston and the Business have certainly evolved with the much anticipated follow up, Destroyers of the Soft Life. It might seem crazy for a band that was so hyped to […]

[rating=7.00] When Dave Lamb of Brown Bird passed away in 2014, the loss felt so great and the future of the band felt so uncertain. Lamb’s bandmate and wife Morgan Eve Swain, finding herself a young widow, had to reassess and grieve. Brown Bird was a prominent fixture not just in the Providence, Rhode Island […]

[rating=7.00] Tom Brosseau has the kind of voice that makes you lean in just a little closer to hear it. It is arresting and beautiful, completely unique. At once delicate and grounded, Brosseau is creating some of the more compelling traditional folk music at the moment, and his latest record is no exception. Treasures Untold […]

[rating=7.00] Whether you know Cory Chisel from his last record, 2012’s Old Believers, or from his more recent stint as one third of the super group Traveller (with Robert Ellis and Johnny Fritz), or whether you’ve never heard of him at all, his music is worth your time. Chisel and his partner, Adriel Denae have […]

Newport Folk Festival’s third day always moves just a little slower. The first part of the day – as groggy festival-goers wander in a bit later – is packed with gospel and choir music to ease us into a third day of being on our feet in the hot sun. And the sun shone down […]