Archive: 2011

Petty Fest returns to NYC this October for “Two Nights To Get Drunk And Celebrate The Songs Of Tom Petty.” The action takes place at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 5 and the Bowery Ballroom on October 6 with a lineup that includes Norah Jones, Har Mar Superstar, Guster’s Ryan Miller, Jesse Malin, […]

A large thematic portion of The Wandas debut album appears to be focused around the idea of chasing after love, or quite possibly the missing out on that existence.  Listening to the instrumentation of the majority of this album, it wouldn’t be as apparent to interpret the lyricism as depressing matters; it nearly is disguised.   That could be viewed as a success in terms of expressing, or changing, that idea within the sound that makes up this band.   

he effervescent enthusiasm that pervades Tommy Keene’s new album, Behind the Parade, belies the artist’s nearly thirty-year career as a cult figure. Sample the previous high points of his discography– Places that Are Gone or Based on Happy Times– and listen for a discernible difference in energy.

World Wide Rebel Songs at its core resembles the structure of The Nightwatchman’s previous two records, but the sound broadens somewhat with the addition of more production instrumentals.

 The 14th annual  Rhythm and Roots Festival is set for this Labor Day weekend, Friday through Sunday September 2-4 at the Ninigret State Park in Charlestown, Rhode  Island.  The festival’s musical eclecticism continues this year, offering a mix of blues, country, swing, Cajun and zydeco,  folk, and western swing. Topping the lineup this year are […]

Rich Robinson announces a 34-day tour in support of his new record, Through A Crooked Sun that comes out October 11, 2011. The tour stars in Philadelphia and ends in Phoenix. Dylan LeBlanc will open on all the dates. Through A Crooked Sun is Rich’s second solo album after much success as a co-founder of the […]

HT’s Three Grown Men writing collective attended the Equifunk festival on August 19 and 20 at Eastern Pennsylvania’s Camps Equinunk and Blue Ridge and have filed a pair of letters describing this one-of-a-kind event. Here’s the first of the missives, penned by 3GM’s Kevin Smallwood…

Dear Diary,

Leaving from Virginia six and a half rain-soaked hours earlier, I arrived at Camp Equinunk during sunset on Friday evening. Now, I’ve seen Friday the 13th a few times, so spending a weekend at a camp that is nestled on a big beautiful lake made this festival one of the more frighteningly beautiful music experiences I’ve ever had.

First of all, there was an army of golf carts that carried everyone’s gear from the car to their respective sleeping arrangements.  Considering the mud, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to keep a pair of $5 tennis shoes clean. On the cart ride to our bunk we passed the main stage, an Olympic size pool with a 30-foot water slide, girls bunks…and more girls bunks.

As I walked into our cabin I was greeted with three bottles of liquor and a note on the floor that read “Welcome.” I thought I might be special, but it turns out that anyone staying in a cabin was greeted with the same warmth any 20-something could appreciate.

READ ON for more of 3GM’s Letter From Equifunk…

There’s never been a more exciting time to be a music lover. Technology continues to expand the myriad of ways to connect with new music and like minded music fans. Instant, easy, free access to music is a goal that many people continue to pursue. While there are scores of services that will play customized “stations” (Pandora, Slacker), allow you to listen to your own music (Google Music, Subsonic), play tracks on demand (Grooveshark, Last.FM) or explore new music (Spotify, MOG, Rdio), there’s nothing quite like listening to compelling DJs, great radio stations and interesting radio programs from around the country and around the world.

TuneIn Radio’s tagline “It’s time to fall in love with radio all over again” is apt. Long before Mumford & Sons’ albums trickled into Pandora, before they were licensed for Spotify and before you heard of them, there were countless DJ’s across the country spinning their tunes. Still to this day, radio stations are the ones exposing artists, discovering music and playing it for the masses.

This week we will look at TuneIn, a service which gives you a way to not only listen to 50,000+ radio stations across the globe but also tune-in to stations that are 100% band-specific (Phish, Beatles, Springsteen, Grateful Dead, Dylan, etc.) Additionally, giving you easy access to every internet-only radio station like Bonnaroo Radio and an ability to record (PVR for the radio!) makes TuneIn a huge winner.



READ ON to find out what TuneIn Radio is all about…

It’s already been quite the year for the members of Deer Tick, as the band was part of a free-wheeling tour with lead singer John McCauley’s side-project Middle Brother. Throw in an acoustic duo tour, a handful of shows as Deervana, as well as a number of festival appearances and headlining gigs, and most bands might […]

While I was awaiting Hurricane Irene’s arrival on Saturday I was hipped to a number of fantastic videos featuring members of the Allman Brothers Band and their various projects by fellow NYC-Freak Jarrett Grushka. These clips were uploaded by Mule Army leader Rich Granaas and include rare footage of the one-guitar ABB lineup from 1973, […]

Over the last few months, our friends at Consequence of Sound have teamed with the Rock It Out! Blog to create a series of video podcasts called Cluster1. The Cluster1 team went to the Outside Lands Festival earlier this month and have shared this seven-minute clip that helps paint the picture of what went down […]

Our proud corporate parents at Glide Magazine have just published a revealing interview with keyboardist Bruce Hornsby in which the Virginia-bred musician talks about his new live album, his childhood and much more with freelancer Joanne Schenker. One of the topics Schenker discussed with Hornsby was his relationship with Grateful Dead front man Jerry Garcia… […]

Tripper has more of a narrative focus than previous Fruit Bats efforts. On his fifth album, Eric D. Johnson consciously shifts to story-based songs.

Phish’s 2011 Summer Tour comes to an end with a three-night run at the end of this week (Labor Day weekend) at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO. The band will offer a live webcast of all three nights via LivePhish.com on September 2nd, 3rd and 4th. A three-night pass is available for […]

It’s over 25 years since Bruce Hornsby keyed the world in on “The Way It Is” – a hit that earned him Best New Artist Grammy and helped launch the pianist’s music into a diverse and collaborative career. From The Range to The Bruce Hornsby Trio and eventually The Noisemakers, Hornsby continues to reinvent himself with spontaneous creativity.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds will embark on their debut North American tour kicking off on November 7th in Toronto, ON at Massey Hall (see below for detailed ticketing information). The following day, Noel’s solo debut album NOEL GALLAGHER’S HIGH FLYING BIRDS will be released on November 8th in the U.S. on Sour Mash/Mercury Records. NOEL […]

Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter announce more tour dates including a co-headlining run on the East coast with The Sadies.  Tour dates:9/28 – Boise, ID / Alive After Five Concert Series (Free Show)9/30 – Kennewick, WA / The Red Room10/1 – Pullman, WA / The BellTower10/2 – Portland, OR / Mississippi Studios11/4 – Champaign, […]

With the full participation of original Beach Boys Al Jardine, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson, Capitol/EMI has, for the first time, collected and compiled the band’s legendary 1966-’67 sessions for the never-completed SMiLE album.  Capitol/EMI and The Beach Boys are pleased to announce November 1 (October 31 internationally) as the release date for the long-awaited […]

Hoxeyville Music Festival: Aug. 19 – 21

Set on 80 acres of northern Michigan field and forest, the 9th Annual Hoxeyville Music Festival proved once again that a homegrown music fest can give fans an experience that corporate sponsorships and venture capital simply cannot touch. However, one must also take heed that if the biggest festivals can be rife with organizational SNAFUs, then smaller fests can be a veritable logistical clusterfuck. As with many small festivals, the emphasis tends to fall as much on the overall experience as the music itself. To that end, Hoxeyville featured its own disc golf course, surprisingly tasty food from local vendors and an incredible a host of the best roots music that Michigan has to offer as well as regional up-and-comers and national headlining acts.

This year’s Hoxeyville Festival kicked off with a special Thursday ‘Soundcheck’ performance by Kalamazoo, Michigan stringsters Greensky Bluegrass. Those who arrived in time to see the band were witness to the chaos of fences still being erected, volunteers giving conflicting info to festivalgoers and other issues that shouldn’t have been. A word to festival organizers everywhere – if you’re going to invite people to come a day early, please be prepared for their arrival. But despite the low-level chaos, confusion and clamoring sounds of fence posts being pounded into the ground, I’d still return again and again if invited back.

Slated to play a 90-minute set on Saturday, HT favorites Greensky Bluegrass treated a smaller group of pre-sale ticket buyers, VIPs, and media to a somewhat relaxed but ultimately killer set of originals and covers. Highlights from the set included Dry County > Time (Pink Floyd cover) > Dry County, Little Red Corvette, Help! and Beat It as well as apropos renditions of Hoxeyville, and Tied Down (to Michigan) in addition to tunes from their recently released Handguns EP including the title track and I’d Probably Kill You. Mandolin player Paul Hoffman commented that they knew the names all of the couple of hundred people in attendance for the soundcheck set – rather fitting given this year marked Greensky’s eighth consecutive appearance, truly making them the Hoxeyville house band.

READ ON for more on Hoxeyville 2011…

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (KDTU) doesn’t have many gigs booked through the end of the year, but it appears as though they are going to make the ones they have scheduled count. Following a pair of shows at Brooklyn Bowl on Thursday and Friday and a number of festival appearances, KDTU are teaming up with […]