Widespread Panic will go off on a hiatus after their first all-acoustic tour.
Hustlers team up with Metzger, Electric Forest announces 2012 dates and more stories from the ‘nets.
Jane’s Addiction and Amos Lee are among the musical acts on the boob tube this week.
The Grateful Dead will focus on full shows once again with the start of the Dave’s Picks series of live archival releases.
Neil Young performs Helpless with Arcade Fire at the Bridge School Benefit.
If you want to hang out with any rock star then Todd Kerns is the rocker for you. Slash’s bass player loves to talk about music, especially KISS or the Ramones or his own band, the Sin City Sinners. He also loves to talk about Star Trek and Star Wars. In fact, when I called him to do our interview just prior to his trek to Los Angeles to start working on the new Slash record, he was watching an episode of the classic TV series and looking forward to some Jedi adventures with a friend.
On their third full length album Swim Out Past the Sun, Fort Lauderdale’s The Heavy Pets return to their acoustic roots as THP's guitar duo set aside their electric axes for a more organic approach.
The co-headling Dawes/Blitzen Trapper bill made for a quintessential first week gig at Phoenix’s new Crescent Ballroom. The Ballroom offers excellent sight lines along with small bleacher section, good beer, no douche-bag staff – allowing the venue to appear it was built from a indie record store war-room strategy – “how to build a kick-ass music room.” And here were two bands that have experience playing both big and small stages and who play with an experimental folk side that are influenced by Jackson Browne to the Flaming Lips.
Welch and Rawlings’ show at the Fillmore yet again showed why they’re leaders of the Americana and bluegrass world. Their songs have an enchanting solemnity, gravity of earthly knowledge and simple chords and instruments that manage to convey a vast spread of emotions and rhythms.
