Archive: 2017

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 […]

Eli Cook is surely not the first blues singer to evoke legends past and present in his respected genre, but he’s probably one of the few to be guided by a genuine pull of authentic American music. Coming from Albemarle County in Virginia at the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cook grew up listening […]

You might not think that a Pennsylvania born, California raised young man would be so heavily influenced by the boogie woogie piano music that circulated down in the deep south of New Orleans. But he was and now A.J. Croce is a man with eight albums under his belt and a new one on the […]

The best country music artists always seem to carry a touch of lonesome in their voice. Whether it’s Hank Williams, Waylon Jennings, or Merle Haggard, there’s always a an indivualistic sound that is both haunting and beautiful all at once, like a faraway train as it passes through the night. Kentucky singer-songwriter Jeremy Pinnell has this […]

Austin bluegrass favorites Wood & Wire hit Portland on Wednesday, July 26 for a show at the White Eagle Saloon. Though they are still playing mostly smaller rooms, Wood & Wire are most definitely one of the most exciting young bluegrass acts currently in the scene. The group’s acoustic instruments made a nice fit for […]

In a strange turn of events, Saturday at Newport Folk Festival might have been one of the coldest on record. The temperature barely broke 70 degrees and the wind blew relentlessly as festival-goers wandered the grounds in hats, scarves, coats and even gloves. It wasn’t until a late afternoon set on the main stage by […]

Though the first day of Newport Folk Festival typically begins on the smallest of the three stages, with an early start time and a lesser-known act, this year’s opening set felt like the most important of the weekend. Matt the Electrician took the stage for a long overdue performance at the fort. As an artist, […]

[rating=3.00] In 2004, Arcade Fire released their debut album, Funeral, to critical acclaim and seemingly overnight became the new lords of the indie rock scene, garnering high praise from almost every music publication and even David Bowie. Over the course of a decade, Arcade Fire released three more critically acclaimed albums all drenched in lyrics […]

As we gear up for episode three of this season of Game of Thrones, a few quotes from episode two could shed light on things to come.

Dave Schools doesn’t play in side projects, he plays in bands, and each of those bands gets the same level of devotion as his main band – Widespread Panic. He makes this very clear in our conversation about the band that takes up much of his time these days: Hard Working Americans. The bassist is […]

David Lowery crafts sparse, cinematic poetry on the nature of life, love, and grief.

Charlize Theron shoots to kill in this action packed espionage thriller.

Jason Wilber’s new record, Reaction Time, plays like a solitary tour bus rolling steadfastly through the countryside under mysterious skies. It’s the sound of long, hushed hours spent scribbling in notebooks, dreaming up gorgeously mournful melodies and cascading harmonies set against jangling guitars, the searching songs underpinned by a persistent longing. Which all makes perfect sense. Jason Wilber has spent the better part of the last 20 years gazing […]

Austin City Limits tapings are some of the best shows you can experience in the music capital of Texas. There is no opening act, the use of cell phones is prohibited, and more often than not, the artist makes the performance special in some way. For her ACL debut, Angel Olsen used witty banter and […]

The simpatico relationship between Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders is already well-documented—for starters, see Keystone Companions: The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings—but the audience’s demand for the fruits of their chemistry is proportionate to the chemistry itself, so now we have the latest edition of Garcia Live taken from an August 1974 gig at the same […]

Plus, George Clooney unveils the first trailer for Suburbicon.

It’s at about five minutes and thirty seconds into the second track (“Meet Me At the Creek”) on the debut LP, Turmoil & Tinfoil, from Nashville bluegrass iconoclast Billy Strings that you start to see his intense vision for American roots music. It’s right after a jagged, spiraling solo from Billy’s mandolinist Drew Matulich, when […]

Benyaro is the indie roots project of Ben Musser. The seclusive Jackson Hole, WY musician has worked with such artists as Gary Clarke Jr., Brett Dennen and Shovels & Rope, but on September 8th he will strike out with his third original full-length album, One Step Ahead of Your Past. The LP was co-produced with […]