Columns

I'm writing this from the kitchen of a lovely home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where my girlfriend Jess and I have been staying with her sister's family for the past few days. Though I'd intended to have more concrete performance dates lined up, I didn't jump on it in time so I decided to focus more on the family time and dig up some "open mic" opportunities. . .potential venues for next time and possibly a gig while I'm here.

Mason Reed has released an EP titled, You Can’t Come Back from Heaven, in February.  As the follow-up to his 2005 release, Witches and Whiskey, the new record is his account on lost loves and the comfort and freedom of driving the open road. “I hope it gives people an idea of where I'm coming from. I hope to be able to write songs and tour as long as I live.  I'm in this for the long haul.  Willing to follow the road wherever it leads for the love of the song, the story, and the music,” he says.

“What I’d give for that hat to be medicine.” To me, that is the quintessential Jay Farrar lyric. It’s poetic. It’s direct. It’s something that could mean anything.

Will Dailey is a Boston-based recording and performing artist and two time winner of the  Boston Music Award for Best Male Singer-Songwriter. Dailey has released three full-length albums since 2004, and his most recent project, Torrent, involves the artist digitally releasing a burst of new music approximately every 3 months, and then compiling that material, along with bonus material, as a physical and digital audio package twice a year.

ohn Brown Body throws down reggae unlike any other act on the live circuit. The  live show encompasses and 8-piece band with drums, bass, a three piece horn section, keyboards and guitars. In 2008 the band released Amplify which debuted #1 on Billboards Reggae Chart, #10 on CMJ's World Music Chard, at the end of 2008 Amplify made the “iTunes best of 2008″ list for reggae record.  Glide's Melissa Brodeur recently caught up with founding member and drummer Tommy Benedetti.

This teaser is a thanks to Dustin Orbesen (Squash Blossom Boys) for tearing it up on the fiddle and providing a backdrop appropriate to the authentic Irish cuisine that stewed in a crockpot behind me and filled my senses with the smell of comfort food from years past. I look forward to the upcoming review of the "Boys" who are known for a catchy combination of bluegrass, folk, and cajun, which will no doubt provide an impressive contribution to the headlining band,The Infamous String Dusters (http://www.thestringdusters.com) at El Rey Theater (www.elreytheater.com) this Wednesday, March 24, 2010.

Richard March and Tyler Ragle are distinguished not only by the organic style of rock they have captured but also for the willingness to play for little more than a partaking of Scott’s liquid wizardry. We were thankful that they decided to make us a stop on their tour and look forward to the next visit. If you’re located somewhere between Albuquerque and Sacramento, look them up and catch the next show- you won’t leave disappointed!

I once dated a guy from Iowa. Over winter break of my junior year in college, I drove eight hours to his home in the blasting snow, mostly on a one-lane highway, so that we wouldn’t have to go an entire month apart. I listened to David Gray’s White Ladder on repeat the whole way there. The album was completely different than anything I had heard before; it felt symbolic of my budding relationship.

Lindsay White's vocal style gets compared to Jewel’s quite often, which is taken as a compliment; however, she believes that her lyrics are just a tad more sarcastic.  For example, her song, “All Damn Day” explains her frustrations with happy people.  As dark and as negative as it sounds, Lindsay uses her songwriting as an outlet.  In other words, she keeps it real.

Steve Drizos may not be a household name but once he gets behind the drumkit for Jerry Joseph and the Jackmormons, he's easily identifiable You may also remember him as the drummer for 1700 gigs in ten years with Charlie Orlando as Dexter Grove, where their stripped down sound and Drizo’s conga carried them across the United States back forth more times than they probably care to remember.  Times have certainly changed for Drizos.

I bought my first Bob Dylan album in San Antonio, Texas, in November of 1993. I had taken a train there from Springfield, Illinois with my dad and my brother—a ride that lasted 26 hours each way. We traveled to watch NAIA soccer, you know, the usual things a family does over Thanksgiving.  Needless to say, we weren’t the usual family.

Vandaveer is the alt-folk song-singing/record making/globetrotting project penned and put forth by DC-by-way-of-Kentucky tunesmith Mark Charles Heidinger. Vandaveer’s debut album, Grace & Speed, a mostly live, stripped down affair, swiftly entered this great big dusty world in the spring of 2007. Touring continually on both sides of the Atlantic ever since, Vandaveer has played 250+ shows, sharing stages with a host of artists including Bon Iver, Vetiver, Alela Diane, Alejandro Escovedo, Vashti Bunyan, Bill Callahan and Fleet Foxes.  Vandaveer’s sophomore effort, Divide & Conquer, touches upon similar themes found in its elder sibling, winding timeworn themes of love & death, malice & goodwill, sin & perseverance into (mostly) four-minute vignettes.

The Nikhil Korula Band has opened for artists such as Dave Matthews, O.A.R., Rusted Root, and Jason Mraz.  Their musical resume, if you will, is already a few pages long. But how did all of this happen?

25 Singer-Songwriter Albums That Shaped the Decade chosen exclusively by Stranger's Almanac editor – Jason Gonulsen

Formed in 2004, Rochester, New York-based Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad has garnered a large grass roots following courtesy of itseclectic blend of roots reggae, dub, and afrobeat Giant Panda recently release a new album LIVE UP this past fall. Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad has shared the stage with reggae greats Toots And The Maytals, The Wailers, Lee Scratch Perry, Steel Pulse, Israel Vibration, Yellowman, Culture, The Meditations, Don Carlos, Morgan Heritage, Mad Professor, and Edi Fitzroy. They’ve been joined on stage by members of Thievery Corporation, G. Love & Special Sauce, and Brazilian Girl.   Melissa Brodeur recently tossed a few quickies the band's way.

As we all know, it’s damn near impossible to blow up on the jamband scene, so don’t let Steez fool you. After releasing their first feature length debut this past August, Creepfunk Crusade, the funky Madison kids did crack their first issue of Relix; get named New Groove of the Month on Jambands, receive a nod as one of the ten most influential Madison bands of the decade; and are currently in the running studio album of the year on the Homegrown Music Network, but that all comes after six years of pounding the pavement

Tours, art and boys aside, this Southern California band wants to chill in your living room. When I met Nick Schutz last year, I never knew he was in a band.  The night before our date, he was en route to the Knitting Factory in Hollywood for business matters. I asked him what his band sounded like.

The first time I saw the film Once, starring the duo that comprises The Swell Season, I went alone on a random, rainy Thursday afternoon. Given that my boyfriend of six years and I were officially participating in the cliché is the “temporary break,” it is safe to say that my movie selection was not the smartest choice I’d ever made.

LA based trio, Crash Kings, are putting their own unique spin on the three-man-band concept.  Fusing keyboard-born compositions with agressive layers of rock, their crafty tunes are accomplished without the hint of a guitar.  Incorporating a clavinet (a keyboard with guitar strings) outfitted through a distortion pedal, the result is an arsenal of innovative and rich sound.

From their article jumbling punctuation to their formation in Wasilla, Alaska, Portugal. The Man is a band that easily stands out.  Through strong internet promotion (including a regularly updated blog) and charmingly innovative music, they delivered their fourth studio album, The Satanic Satanist last July 21, along with an acoustic version titled The Majestic Majesty.  Glide spoke with lead singer John Gourley about his band's new albums and recent festival appearances.