Archive: 2020

For Kellen of Troy, the concept of pop honors the way the world works in real-time. As this multi-talented singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist knows, creating finely crafted songs that are personal and political keeps alive a tradition that stretches from The Beatles, Randy Newman, and Paul Simon to Kurt Cobain to Father John Misty. Kellen […]

Amidst the turbulence of modern society and the political climate in America, it is often difficult to see the role that music plays. Portland singer-songwriter Brian Granse has pondered this question throughout his career as an artist, which has carried him through a wide array of lifestyles linked by a common theme: From growing up […]

Every year around the time of Mardi Gras, Louisiana musicians tend to hit the road. Besides bringing the festivities to their fans, it serves as an opportune time to remind people what makes Louisiana’s musical culture so special. It was certainly a factor in the co-headlining tour of Marcia Ball and Sonny Landreth, who passed […]

The New Riders Of The Purple Sage were far more than just a mere offshoot of the Grateful Dead. During the folk surge of the late Sixties, the latter band’s titular leader, Jerry Garcia, initially worked and learned with future NRPS chief songwriter John “Marmaduke” Dawson (”Friend of the Devil” is their most notable collaboration). […]

Brandi Carlile helped break in the new Minneapolis Fillmore on February 14th- in the third of three sold-out shows at the new Live Nation venue. Carlile performed an acoustic performance accompanied only by “the Twins,” identical brothers Phil and Tim Hanseroth, her bassist and guitarist for 20 years and performed a career-spanning set covering all […]

The Slow Rush, the fourth studio album from Tame Impala, finds the Australian artist further exploring the electronic and dance styles from 2015’s Currents. In the decade since his debut album, Kevin Parker has steadily and constantly evolved his psychedelic style, with the guitar-based psych-rock of InnerSpeaker long gone in favor of slow-burning dance music. […]

I kicked off the AJJ show at Asheville, NC’s notorious Grey Eagle on February 7th by inadvertently insulting the opening act, Emperor X. My sidekick and I got there a little later than I’d hoped, and the venue was already packed just before showtime — more populated than I’d ever seen it, in fact, even […]

There have been many movies that have had memorable slots scenes, and in many of them, they end with someone yelling “jackpot!” It is always nice to see movies where a person’s life is changed by a simple pull of the slots handle.  Slots jackpots happen all of the time, and movies have captured the […]

“Good things come to those who wait.” Oysterhead, the three-piece supergroup featuring Les Claypool (Primus), Stewart Copeland (The Police) and Trey Anastasio (Phish), proved that axiom’s viability last night in Broomfield, CO during their first live show since a one-off performance at the 2006 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. The trio wasted no time picking […]