From The Horse's Mouth

Winterpills play their hometown CD release show at the Iron Horse on Saturday, February 25th celebrating the release of All My Lovely Goners, the band’s fifth album, due Feb. 14th on Signature Sounds

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Winterpills will headline the Iron Horse on Saturday, February 25th celebrating the release of All My Lovely Goners, the band’s fifth album. Due Feb. 14th on Signature Sounds, Goners stretches well beyond Winterpills’ previous boundaries on thirteen new songs that are at once identifiable, yet broader. All My Lovely Goners embraces the hushed vocal harmonies and graceful chamber-pop sound the group has made its trademark, while pushing the quintet into new sonic realms. Together, singer/songwriter/guitarist Philip Price, singer/keyboardist Flora Reed, guitarist Dennis Crommett, bassist Brian Akey and drummer Dave Hower have essentially redefined the creative spirit of Winterpills. It’s the album Winterpills has been working toward from the start. From the group’s origins one cold winter in 2004 as a song circle for heartache, the band has blossomed, releasing three full-length albums — a self-titled effort in 2005, The Light Divides in 2007 and Central Chambers in 2008 — and the 2010 EP Tuxedo of Ashes, which The New York Times praised for “elegant arrangements” of “songs that stay haunted.”

Playing first at 7PM, very special guests Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Scud Mountain Boys, Northampton's seminal 90s alt-country band, reunite for a series of dates in 2012 including a gig at the Pearl Street Clubroom on Sunday, January 15th

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The Scud Mountain Boys began simply as The Scuds in Northampton in 1991. Back then the group played loud rock 'n' roll in local clubs and had an appreciable number of fans who would frequent their live shows. But after those shows ended, three members-Joe Pernice (vocals, acoustic and electric guitars), Stephen Desaulniers (vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, and bass), and Bruce Tull (electric guitar, lap steel, pedal steel)-would retreat to Bruce's kitchen to unwind. There, late at night, the trio would break out their old country favorites, playing the songs they thought too quiet and too slow for live performances.

The band found that these were the songs they really lived to play, so they decided to make a change. Adding "mountain boys" to their name, the re-christened Scud Mountain Boys played their first show in 1993. They described the stripped-down approach to Springfield’s Union-News: "We took simple gear like acoustic guitars. We borrowed the kitchen table from the club. We sat down in chairs around the table, put a lamp on it, and had a convenient place to put our beers and ashtrays.... Then we played our set."

In keeping with their simplified approach, the Scud Mountain Boys preferred to record in the same kitchen that spawned their new direction. They had tried recording in a small studio but found it alienating. Tull later told the fanzine White Bread about the experience: "We were very rushed. I was playing in this cold and drafty hallway with my guitar and amp where I couldn't see the rest of the band. I was trying to look through this crack in the doorway to see them." So a four-track recorder captured the sounds for 12 original songs and three covers of songs originally performed by such diverse sources as Jimmy Webb ("Wichita Lineman"), Olivia Newton-John ("Please, Mister Please"), and Cher ("Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves"). Originally sold as the Pine Box cassette, the tracks were later released on vinyl by the indie-rock label Chunk Records in 1995.

As an album, Pine Box carries the mordant tone set by its title's reference to a plain coffin, and features songs like "There Is No Hell (Like the Hell on This Earth)" and "Freight of Fire." The lyrics tend to the subjects of loss and longing, with a tone of resignation that suggests some inner ability to deal with the pain. Pernice told James Keast of the website shmooze.net that he was interviewed by the UK’s NME (New Musical Express) and the interviewer's first question was, "Do you have a terrible life?" He replied that he probably would if he didn't have music as an outlet to express himself. Examples of this seem to abound on Pine Box. In a line from "Peter Graves' Anatomy" Pernice croons softly, "Old age for a body, decay for a crown/Don't ask for nothin', you'll never be let down." And yet the voice is not one of self-pity. Writing for Addicted to Noise, Chris Nelson described Pernice's vocal quality as one that "can convey the deepest of emotions without sounding contrived or melodramatic, a gift that is intensified by the fact that he happens to be an excellent writer whose poetic imagery brings to life his painful, tragic stories."

Later in 1995 the Scud Mountain Boys recorded another set of tracks which became Dance the Night Away on Chunk. Including more four-track kitchen recordings, as well as others made a 24-track studio, the CD-only release featured drums on a few songs, another Jimmy Webb cover ("Where's the Playground Susie") and similar lyrical themes. As with the first record, soft sounds mask dark thoughts, and simple words are deceptively suggestive. Ira Robbins, of the Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock, claimed that with Dance the Night Away "the Scuds barely disturb the silence as they whisper such slightly bent inventions as 'Letter to Bread' and Television' ('send me a show/you're the only world I know'). Although able to rouse themselves to a mild roots-rock roar... they make understatement far more engrossing."

As word of these two powerful records spread beyond Massachusetts, a number of record labels became interested in the band. "There's a million bands out there. It's unexpected," Tull told Union-News critic Marcel after the group signed with Seattle-based then Warner Brothers affiliate Sub Pop Records. "We were a dinky band from Northampton, kind of unorthodox, and we probably didn't play more than ten gigs out of Northampton." Opting for a drummer to fill out the sound, the band brought drummer and mandolin player Tom Shea on board as a full-time member and set about recording Massachusetts, a 14-song album with a number of more upbeat songs with drums and electric guitar. Released in April of 1996, Massachusetts unleashed the floodgates of critical acclaim that had eluded its less-known predecessors. The New Musical Express rated the record a nine (out of ten) and opined, "Joe Pernice has the golden voice of the damaged, regret oozing from every word like wounded honey... rendering glorious the utter inevitability of failure.... The best broken love and bad drug cocktail songs written in many a year." Acknowledging the vast difference between Scud Mountain Boys and their country music forbears on the one hand, and new crossover stars like Garth Brooks on the other, Rolling Stone called the album, "country in that the songs are the honest, homespun sort that characterized country before it picked up a blow-dryer."

Although the band's sound has often been labeled as country music, the Scud Mountain Boys clearly see themselves as casting a wider net than that. As music writer James Keast put it on the shmooze.net website, "While the Scuds may be lumped in with Son Volt, Wilco and any number of other bands who are moving back to the traditional sounds of Hank Williams, they take their inspiration as much from hooky '70s AM pop as from the dirty country road of Johnny Cash." This assessment is borne out by the band's covers of artists like Cher and Olivia Newton-John. Scud guitarist Tull defined the band's style this way for the Union-News: "We're roots rock, but steeped in a real punk tradition and with a decided country flavor."

With the success of Massachusetts bringing increased demand for the first two albums, Sub Pop re-issued them as The Early Year, a double CD, in 1997. That year also found the band adjusting to a full-time musical career. Pernice, for one, had to reconcile the new career path with the master's degree in creative writing he had completed in 1996. Finding himself with a lot more time to write songs, he stacked up a few albums' worth in a short period of time. He also devoted some creative energy to the Pernice Brothers-a side project with his brother, Bob.

The group disbanded abruptly -- and somewhat acrimoniously -- in the fall of 1997. Pernice went on to form critically acclaimed indie band Pernice Brothers with his brother Bob. He and bandmates Stephen Desaulniers (vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, and bass), Bruce Tull (electric guitar, lap steel, pedal steel) and Tom Shea (drums, mandolin) became estranged, but finally reconnected in Cambridge, Mass. this August. Soon thereafter, Desaulniers and Shea joined Joe and Bob Pernice onstage at the Lizard Lounge.

Pernice says that, prior to the reunion, he and his bandmates "hadn't spoken a single word between us in 14 years," but after the recent death of a mutual friend, who also happened to be the Scuds' biggest fan, he pulled out some of their recordings and was inspired to contact his old friends.

"I left the band so I had to make the extension," he says. "I grabbed my nuts and gave them a call... All the bullshit kind of disappeared." With a solo show scheduled for Boston on August 25, Pernice then invited his former bandmates to sit in. "I picked, like, eight songs, and Tom [Shea] got in touch with Stephen, who was a little reluctant. I told him, 'I’m gonna set up a bass rig, if you want to show up and play, I love it, if not, I understand,' and he showed up. We had some time to shoot the breeze before the show, we had some laughs and cleared the air. Then we did eight songs and it was like we never stopped playing."

In 2012. Ashmont Records will re-release The Early Year, and there are plans afoot for other re-releases and recordings. The Scud Mountain Boys have booked a 7-date East Coast tour which will bring them home to Northampton for a gig in the Pearl Street Clubroom on Sunday, January 15^th at 8PM with John Cunningham and Ray Mason as support.

Tickets are $15 at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Local singer/songwriter Heather Maloney has already played the Iron Horse three times in 2011 and she's scheduled to take the stage two more times in the next month.

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Heather Maloney's first show was in a Northampton coffee shop in September 2009. She was so petrified about the prospect of playing her music in public that her friends had to physically push her onto the stage. Now Maloney has two records under her belt, including her 2011 release "Time and Pocket Change," and no longer has to be shoved on stage to open for artists from Jill Sobule to Caravan of Thieves to David Wax Museum. Her updated take on traditional singer-songwriter folk-pop amalgamates her melismatic, (intern Genevieve, who pennned this post, is clearly an English major at Mt. Holyoke. -Ed) limber vocals (in the vein of Feist or Dirty Projectors' Amber Coffman) and poetic, identifiable lyrics with catchy, wandering acoustic guitar lines - it all adds together into a youthful, energetic, irresistible melange that'll speak to folk and even indie rock fans of all ilk.

Maloney's songs will lead you through myriad fascinating rhythmic and key change-ups, from ballads to rollicking anthems. Can't get enough Maloney? She headlines the Iron Horse on Thursday, December 15^th, at 7PM, plays live on radio station WRSI’s Riversound Café with Joan Holliday at 5pm on Wednesday, December 14th. and she joins and handful of other locals in the Loretta Lynn Tribute at the Iron Horse on Sunday, January 15^th. No stranger to the Iron Horse, Heather played the club in May, July, and October of this year already. -Genevieve Oliver

This past April, George Lenker of the Springfield Republican and MassLive asked Heather Maloney 5 Questions and we reprint them here, with thanks to the author and publication.

Speed dating is a concept where people spend a few minutes getting to know one another to see if anything clicks romantically.

Using that model, we hereby offer you an journalistic speed date, of sorts, with up-and-coming singer-songwriter Heather Maloney, who will play the Iron Horse Music Hall on Sunday. She answers five questions about herself and her music.

What got you interested in music?

I was raised with a record player instead of a TV thanks mom and I jumped on my bed to her records: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills & Nash, etc. I was always in choirs and plays throughout school, and studied classical operatic vocals in school. I didn’t start writing my own songs until around 2008 or 2009.

Speaking of songwriting, how do you go about writing songs?

Every which way. It’s more of an intuitive thing at this point, so I just go with whatever comes first. I’d say that it’s mostly tunes first though. Melody comes easier to me than lyrics. I write pretty consistently. I find that if I don’t spend time writing I feel like something is missing.

What goes through your mind when you perform?

I aim to connect with the meaning of the song and embody the mood and state I was in when I originally wrote it. I’m very conscious of what I’m trying to say, and of what I’m doing with my voice to help say it. I am conscious of the audience for the most part, but it can go in and out.

(Heather with superb local guitarist Joe Boyle, above)

Give us a brief biography of yourself.

I was born and raised in North Jersey, and my parents also grew up in Jersey. My mother is a psychotherapist and she always encouraged me to be creative. I left Jersey, where I was majoring in music, because I felt strongly that I wanted to explore meditation, so lived and worked at Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Mass. for two and a half years. I moved to Turners Falls about a year and a half ago to work on music full time again. It is my aim to weave the values of meditation practice into my daily life as a working musician.

What do you listen for when listening to music?

I listen for quality musicianship, and as a singer, I guess I can be particular about vocals. I want to hear some heart and soul in there too. I am really turned off by music and lyrics that seem emotionally disconnected. I am really inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s take on creativity. In one of his “Letters to a Young Poet,” he suggests that an artist must go into themselves and ask very honestly if they need to write. I want to hear something that came from someone out of the necessity to create, not because they were trying to be cool or an amazing musician.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Holiday Funk-tacular with Everett Bradley's HOLIDELIC: Holiday Freak on Tuesday, December 20th at 7PM at the Iron Horse

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Holidelic will shake you free of the Andy Williams and Nutcracker rut. Written, produced and directed by Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, producer, actor and dancer Everett Bradley, Holidelic debuted in 2002 at New York’s prestigious Joe’s Pub—part of New York’s Public Theater and Shakespeare Festival—and has sold out night after night since the beginning. Bradley is now taking the show on the road, bringing the magic, the mirth, the mayhem and the memories the Iron Horse in Northampton on Tuesday, January 20^th at 7PM. Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Now entering it's 9th season, this holiday funk-tacular blends the influences of P-Funk, Sly Stone and other 1970’s and ‘80’s funk and soul bands into original songs that celebrate diversity, mild familial seasonal dysfunction, individuality, and holiday booty shaking. This is a show for all races, creeds and lifestyles… even for all ages with a little parental guidance!Nothing too outrageous-- just clean adult humor and the occasional double entendre.

"A flashy, bass-heavy retro-futuristic take on the holidays." The New Yorker

"A holiday funk-tacular." Time Out New York

"Original songs that celebrate diversity." OUT.com

Holidelic was conceived of as a celebration of the true holiday spirit of joy and giving, and since its inception in 2002, performances have featured a range of artists from Living Colour’s Vernon Reid, The B-52’s Fred Schneider, SNL’s Shawn Pelton and hip hop artist John Forte to pop chanteuse Lucy Woodward, dancing trombonist Jonathan Arons, and the legendary Celeste Holm. Holidelic performances outside of the metro New York region will feature an array of local celebrities and talent, making each performance a unique event.

"Not since James Brown’s Christmas Album has there been a Yuletide-themed collection as funky as this latest release from Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/actor Everett Bradley (Broadway’s Swing). Featuring mostly original songs as well as very loose adaptations of Tchaikovsky, "Frosty the Snowman," "Little Drummer Boy" and the like, Holidelic is a relentlessly fun and joyful disc that recalls the glory days of George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic." Frank Scheck (New York Post / Hollywood Reporter)

"Bradley's tunes will liven up anyone's familiar mix of music with pulsating rhythms that bring to mind the work of funk and soul greats like Sly Stone and P-Funk and clever conceits that put a fresh spin on familiar sentiments..." Andy Propst- TheaterMania

Everett Bradley—aka Papadelic—knows how to put on a show. The first American to perform with and direct the British percussive sensation "STOMP," he was also the co-writer, co-arranger, Theatre World Award winner and star of the hit musical, "SWING," which won a Tony Award and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Broadway Cast Recording. Everett has toured and recorded with giants like Bobby McFerrin, Jon Bon Jovi and David Bowie. He is Carly Simon’s musical director, a member of Hall and Oates and musical director of Our Time Theatre Company-- an artistic home for young people that stutter-- where he teaches singing, drumming, and songwriting techniques.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Maya Angelou digs Dwight & Nicole and we bet you will to. They play the late show on a co-bill with soul revivalist Jesse Dee at the Iron Horse on Thursday, December 8th at 10PM

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Dwight & Nicole are an exciting American roots act heavily influenced by Otis Redding, Etta James, John Lee Hooker, Patsy Cline, and The Staple Singers. Fronted by two soul singers (Dwight Ritcher and Nicole Nelson) who deliver mind-blowing live shows; captivating every audience regardless of age or background. Their sound is a tapestry of blues, soul, jazz, gospel, and rock, transcending simple categorization and treading gracefully along that line which separates the brand new and the classic.

They've been nominated for 4 Boston Music Awards and 3 Boston Phoenix Awards, starred in the documentary film "Where's the Music At?" and have been featured at the Tangelwood Jazz Festivial, Montreal Jazz Festival, The Life Is Good Festival, and regularly at the Blue Note in NYC. The Boston Globe calls the duo "Riveting" and describes their eclectic debut album !Signs as "a tour de force that demands much wider success... poignant... hard driving... and heavenly" Even Renaissance woman Dr. Maya Angelou is a fan, exclaiming them to be simply "Magnificent!"

Jesse Dee writes timeless songs that resonate as both humble tributes and clever updates of the classics. He brings them to life with a compelling voice that will lift you up as sure as it will lay you down. As a youngster in the Boston suburb of Arlington, Jesse was fascinated by the doo-wop groups and rhythm and blues artists he heard on the oldies stations.

Since then, the singer/songwriter has drawn inspiration from everywhere he can; the raw and righteous Stax legends and the steam rolling electric grit of the Northern soul icons have ended up front and center. Some of Jesse’s heroes have picked up on his raw attack; he has performed with the likes of Al Green, Solomon Burke, Spencer Wiggins, Bettye Lavette, and his personal favorite, Etta James. Having shared the stage with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, James Hunter, Raphael Saadiq, and Nikka Costa, Jesse is also recognized as an important player in soul music’s modern era.

Tickets for Dwight & Nicole and Jesse Dee at the Iron Horse on Thursday, December 8th at 10PM are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

BOBBY, a band featuring former Bennington and Hampshire students and a member of Mountain Man, plays the Iron Horse on Wednesday, December 7th at 8:30

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New England natives BOBBY are one of the indie world's most un-Googleable bands (even searching "bobby + band" will get you mostly hair product advertisements), so it's appropriate that their music possesses a mystifying air of elusiveness. In fact, elusiveness might as well be the band's middle name - the sometimes-seven-piece claim as their namesake and inspiration a never-seen eighth member, Bobby himself, whose stage fright prevents him from performing along with the songs the band have been writing for him since they formed as students at Vermont's Bennington College. Perfectly catering to the imaginative, cryptic mythos of their origin story, select highlights from Bobby's self-titled 2011 debut record see the band crafting mysterious, intoxicating atmospheric soundscapes, others sound like early Kate Bush (courtesy Molly Sarle and Amelia Meath of Mountain Man, who trade off vocal duties with founding member Tom Greenberg) transplanted into the toe-tapping, polyrhythmic tropes of 2010s indie pop - whatever the case, close your eyes and you'll probably easily visualize feeling your way through a dark forest full of mist.

To get a feel for Bobby's live show before they bring it to the Iron Horse on Wednesday December 7th (with Nathan Hobbes and Brooklyn's fantastic The Loom) check out this video of languid, reverb-drenched album highlight "Groggy," recorded for LA music blog Yours Truly.

Yours Truly Presents: Bobby "Groggy" from Yours Truly on Vimeo.

Phish bassist Mike Gordon and his band to play Northampton's Calvin Theatre on Saturday, December 10th

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Over the past decade, Mike Gordon has become an increasingly prolific solo artist, and Moss is an exciting addition to his growing catalog. It is the third solo album from the Phish bassist, following Inside In (2003) and The Green Sparrow (2008). During this same time frame, he also cut a highly entertaining pair of albums - Clone (2002) and Sixty Six Steps (2005) - with guitarist extraordinaire Leo Kottke. In other words, Gordon's cup is overflowing with music on many different fronts.

Moss comes only two short years after The Green Sparrow, and about half of its songs stem from the same 50-song burst of creativity that seeded that album. They join songs of more recent vintage, all of which were revised, reworked and morphed by the tireless Gordon in spontaneous but exacting fashion.

Gordon had a number of goals in mind when it came to making this album. He wanted the songs to be simpler and more accessible, and he also wanted to spend more time writing and revising them. ("Just like John Prine said, 'You don't write, you edit, '" he quips.) He also wanted to allow more focus to be placed on the actual singing.

In addition, Gordon wanted to let the album "be more true to itself, where it dictates what it needs, like by picking songs that seem to fit and ignoring ones that don't. " The powers-that-be in this album's spirit world apparently decreed that Gordon's bass guitar should function more like a lead instrument. And so he complied. Fans who appreciate Gordon's role as the ever-inventive low-end anchor in Phish will be delighted to hear how central his bass work is on Moss.

"The driving force is the bass, " says Gordon. "Not in terms of soloing, but in terms of having unique rhythms. Sometimes I tell people that the lead instrument on Inside In was pedal steel and the lead instrument on The Green Sparrow might've been electric guitar, and the central focus on this album is bass. "

Indeed, Gordon's bass lines wind through these songs like strands of DNA, determining the forms that the surrounding instruments and overall composition take. This is not an entirely far-fetched comparison, as lyrical references to double helixes, spirals and corkscrews – some of the shapes that DNA and other bits of cellular material assume – run through these songs, especially the dreamier, more otherworldly ones.

A four-song sequence, comprising "Flashback, " "The Void, " "Got Away" and "Spiral, " goes places no songs have gone before. They are uniquely Mike. You might suppose these soundscapes are musical evocations of particularly fanciful sights and sounds experienced while on hallucinogenic vision quests.

"There's a sort of psychedelic theme, and I've never tripped before, " he acknowledges. "But I thought that's okay because you don't always have to write from your own character, necessarily. I have an appreciation for what consciousness can do, though my way of getting there has been via different avenues. "

Moss, in fact, is really more about the limitless places one's imagination can visit on its own. Gordon has always been a dreamer and, by his own admission, an outsider, and this combination has made for a very colorful interior life. The songs on Moss are often accessible but also highly original, musing on matters of human consciousness and psychology in ways that are as listenable as they are unusual.

Words that crop up when Gordon discusses the songs' themes include creativity and emptiness, observation and engagement, presence and absence. Referring to "Horizon Line, " he notes, "If I had to consolidate the sentiment into one word, it would be displacement. That whole feeling of talking to someone but being elsewhere. The concept is, 'I'm talking to you but my mind is walking across the most distant part of my peripheral vision, where I'm actually walking on the horizon line, way out there. ' The theme of displacement weaves through all these songs. "

The fascinating thing is that he's able to evoke concepts as ethereal as this not just lyrically but musically. Songs like "Spiral" and "The Void" detour into evocatively abstract, meterless areas of sound with a mysterious, textural richness. On the other hand, such numbers as "Can't Stand Still" and "Fire From a Stick" – both joyfully devoted to muses, mentors and the ecstatic wellspring of inspiration - are infectious, danceable, upbeat and viscerally planted in the here and now.

Three years in the making, Moss is the later chapter in an ongoing collaboration between Gordon and his creative sounding board, Jared Slomoff. Gordon, of course, sings and plays bass, as well as a variety of other instruments, including guitar, piano and drum programming. Slomoff co-produced and contributed some singing, playing and programming as well.

Drummers Joe Russo and Doug Belote crop up throughout the album, and other guests include organist Marco Benevento and percussionist Ken Lovelett, who brought a few intriguing instruments of his own invention to Gordon's studio. Mike's bandmates in Phish - keyboardist Page McConnell and drummer Jon Fishman also make appearances.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Keller Williams plays Pearl Street on Friday, December 9th and delivers Bass, his 17th album the week after

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Most artists would bristle at the term self-indulgent, but Keller Williams often invokes it in describing his own approach to music. To Williams, being self-indulgent means creating music that satisfies him—if he likes what he’s produced, he figures, then his audience is more likely to embrace it too. If he’s not happy with it, why would they be?

And so, when Williams describes his first-ever all-covers collection, the amusingly titled Thief, as “self-indulgent, like all of my albums,” that signifies not an inwardly pointed diss but a thumbs-up from one of the most tireless musical seekers around. Recorded with the Keels—husband and wife duo Larry and Jenny Keel—Thief is a sequel to the trio’s 2006 collaboration Grass, and to those of us on the receiving end, there’s nothing self-indulgent about it. If anything, it’s about as accessible and welcoming a record as Keller’s ever made.

Granted, Thief does require a certain amount of blind faith on the part of the listener: This is, after all, an album that includes songs originally written and recorded by as wildly diverse an assemblage as anyone’s ever likely to dream up, from Amy Winehouse (“Rehab”) to the Grateful Dead (“Mountains of the Moon”), the Butthole Surfers (“Pepper”) to Kris Kristofferson (“Don’t Cuss That Fiddle,” which opens the album, and “The Year 2003 Minus 25,” which closes it). The set is filled out with tunes by Ryan Adams, the Presidents of the United States of America, the Raconteurs, Patterson Hood, Danny Barnes, Cracker, the Yonder Mountain String Band and Marcy Playground. All over the place, yup, but that’s the way Williams likes it. And in his hands it all makes sense—like everything he’s ever touched, whether from his own pen or someone else’s, it all becomes Keller Williams music.

“I’m a music lover first, a musician second and a songwriter third,” Williams says, “so a covers record is a natural progression for me. I love writing songs and I love performing my songs—almost all of them. But I go out and do about 120 shows a year, and I just can’t write enough to play new songs all the time. There are always different cover songs to learn though; just flipping around on the radio, next thing you know you’ve got a song stuck in your head. If you change it around and play it completely differently, it sounds like a whole new song.”

Since he first appeared on the scene in the early ’90s, Keller Williams has defined the independent artist. Most of his career has been spent performing as a one-man band—his stage shows are built around Keller singing his compositions and choice covers while accompanying himself with an acoustic guitar connected to a Gibson Echoplex delay system that allows him to simulate a full band. That approach, Williams explains, was derived from “hours of playing solo with just a guitar and a microphone, and then wanting to go down different avenues musically. I couldn’t afford humans and didn’t want to step into the cheesy world of automated sequencers where you hit a button and the whole band starts to play, then you’ve got to solo along or sing on top of it. I wanted something more organic yet with a dance groove that I could create myself.”

Williams’ solo live shows—and his ability to improvise to his determinedly quirky tunes despite the absence of an actual band—quickly became the stuff of legend, and his audience grew exponentially once word spread about this exciting, unpredictable performer. Keller’s albums, meanwhile, beginning with 1994’s Freek, were embraced by a wide community of music fans. Unlike his live gigs, Williams has nearly always invited fellow musicians to contribute to his albums, and an alliance with String Cheese Incident led not only to Williams signing with the band’s label SCI Fidelity, but a collaborative effort on 1999’s Breathe album.

Among his other albums—Thief is his 15th—Williams singles out 2003’s Dance, consisting of remixes from the earlier Laugh record, as a personal favorite. He’s also fond of his twelfth album, appropriately titled 12, the 2007 compilation for which he chose one track from each of his preceding 11 albums. “That’s kind of interesting to hear my history one song at a time,” Williams says.

That history begins in Virginia, where Keller was born 40 years ago, and where he lives today. Growing up just south of Washington, D.C., he remembers being exposed to a wide variety of music at an early age, starting with country and bluegrass and working his way up through hip-hop and go-go, a brand of funk particular to that part of the country. Once he began playing guitar, Williams’ sphere expanded to what he calls “the post-pseudo-skateboarder punk-rock rebellious type of thing, Black Flag and Sex Pistols and Ramones, Dead Kennedys, things like that. That slid into the more melodic college rock, like the Cure and the Cult, the Smiths, R.E.M.’s first five or six records.”

His introduction to the music of the Grateful Dead would become a game-changer for Keller. “I studied and learned their music and went to the shows,” he says, adding that the impact of Jerry Garcia on his attitude toward music remains incalculable. Another major influence was Michael Hedges, the late virtuoso acoustic guitarist. “He was really excelling in a whole different world from what I knew,” says Williams. “What an amazing force Michael Hedges was as a solo artist.”

After moving to Colorado for a few years, further exposure to bluegrass music and progressive acoustic artists such as Béla Fleck and the Flecktones also had a major impression on Williams. As he began to develop his own distinctive compositional and performing style, Williams incorporated all of the lessons he’d learned from the long list of artists who’d found their way into his world, then filtered their music through his own experiences until something wholly unique emerged.

Today he is still exploring and expanding—although Thief (each of Williams’ albums bears a single-word title) stays close to traditional bluegrass, eccentric song choices aside, Keller says that his most recent music incorporates elements drawn from electronica and DJ culture. Whatever direction he goes in musically, however, Williams is likely to continue to surprise lyrically. Known for writing about subject matter most simply described as unusual, Keller has no intention of going conventional any time soon. “In the history of music,” he says, “there are trillions of love songs and there are so many political songs. I try to find subject matter that’s not been written about or maybe hasn’t been written about that much.”

Keller’s thirst for music of all kinds has also led him to the world of radio. For the past seven years he has hosted Keller’s Cellar, a weekly syndicated program available on both terrestrial stations and online at www.kellerwilliams.net. Williams describes the show as “a self-indulgent (there’s that word again), hour-long narrated mix tape of stuff I’m into. It’s rule-less except for what the FCC says we can’t do. I don’t play contemporary country music. I don’t play contemporary Christian music—however, there is possibly some old gospel. I don’t play opera. Everything else is fair game. World music from all around—African music from all the countries, jazz, funk, reggae, techno, chill, lounge, lounge singers, rub-a-dub, dancehall. I pretty much stay away from smooth jazz. It’s definitely a fun outlet for me.”

And more recently, to satisfy his bottomless music jones, Williams has also launched “Once a Week Freek” (www.theonceaweekfreek.com), an online repository of unreleased studio and live tracks, nuggets from his archives, etc. “It’s a series that’s been going on almost a year. It’s me releasing one song a week for download. I started it with the Oddrecord,” he says, referring to his 2009 album release. “I’m trying to do something different.”

And it’s that last sentence that, in a sense, best sums up what Keller Williams has always been about—something different. Call him “self-indulgent,” call him “odd” or even a “thief” if you like (those record titles don’t come out of nowhere, you know). Just don’t even think of calling him predictable. Wherever else Keller Williams may go from here, you can be sure that he will never title one of his albums Repeat or Bore or Snooze. Anything else, your guess is as good as his.

On December 13, 2011, Keller Williams delivers Bass, his 17^th album. Starting with 1994’s Freek, Keller has done solo albums, live albums, one with The String Cheese Incident, another with Bob Weir, Michael Franti, Bela Fleck and a bunch of other personal heroes, a bluegrass covers album with Keller & The Keels, a children’s album, a remix album, and more. Here Keller shows off, you guessed it, his bass skills with his first record that finds the multi-instrumentalist only on bass guitar.

Bass is also the first album to be recorded with Keller’s live reggae-funk band Kdubalicious. Formed in late 2010, in addition to Keller on bass and vocals, the group features Jay Starling on keyboards and Mark D on drums. Though Keller’s music, both what he listens to and what he puts out, may always be changing and evolving, there’s always one constant: his unique, playful songwriting. Bass is no different in that regard. This may be reggae music - with heavy doses of dub, funk, jazz and even bits of pop and psychedelia - but at the core, it’s a Keller Williams record, his warm voice and equally inviting attitude driving the positive vibrations.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

The Dark Star Orchestra channels The Grateful Dead at the Calvin Theatre this Friday

2011-11-17T12:45:00.001-05:00

After 13 years - and quickly approaching its 2,000th live performance - the Dark Star Orchestra, a Grateful Dead tribute band, helps to keep the memory of one of America's most famous bands very much alive.

The Grateful Dead, rated by Rolling Stone magazine as No. 57 on its list of "100 Greatest Artists of all Time," formed in San Francisco in 1965 and created its own genre, mixing several musical styles. It was quickly and wildly accepted by throngs of adoring fans - Deadheads - who have proven to be some of the most dedicated music fans in history: Many Deadheads spent hours on the road, dropping everything, to follow The Grateful Dead to gigs all over the country.

The legacy of The Dead, as the band is affectionately known, has lived well past its split in 1995, and after the death of guitarist and vocalist, Jerry Garcia, the band's frontman. The Dark Star Orchestra aims to tap into that legacy and passion by offering live performances that are based on actual Grateful Dead performances.

The music The Grateful Dead played, the melodies, really tapped into "Americana," said Dark Star guitarist and vocalist Jeff Mattson in a recent phone interview. "The music reflects blues, country, jazz, blue grass, and of course, psychedelic. It's a mix of American music."

Dark Star Orchestra fashions its concerts using The Dead's actual set lists. Since the orchestra's first performance in Chicago in 1997, the band has toured across the United States to Japan and Europe. It performs Friday, at 8 p.m. at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton.

Dark Star's own audience, Mattson says, is generally a mix of old-time Grateful Dead fans, as well as people who aren't old enough to have experienced the band first-hand.

"There's people that followed the offshoots, and people who never got to see The Grateful Dead, and they can experience what they were like, since they didn't get to see the original, we're their band." The audience's enthusiasm contributes to the band's continued success, Mattson says. "We feed off of the audience," Mattson said. "It's a circular thing. We get the audience going and they feed it back to us and then we get excited."

Mattson, who calls himself the "new guy" in the band, has played the part of Jerry Garcia since 2010. He replaced John Kadlecik, the orchestra's first "Jerry Garcia" who went on to play with original Grateful Dead members, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, in their band, Further.

Mattson says he was a "hard-core" fan of The Grateful Dead growing up and saw his first show in 1973.

"I loved the music and Jerry Garcia was my biggest influence as a guitar player," he said. Although he mimics The Grateful Dead's style to an extent, Mattson says, he makes the music his own.

"I think that is true of every member of the band," Mattson said. "The thing about playing their music is that it has so much room for personal inspiration. It's not like playing in a band where you have to play the same notes every night. Every solo I do is different, there's purely improvised jamming that goes in that is unique to each song."

The seven-member band has changed players through the years. Only two of the original players remain: bass player, Kevin Rosen, who plays the part of Lesh, and Lisa Mackey, vocalist, who plays the part of Donna Godchaux. The other members are Rob Eaton, rhythm guitar and vocals, who plays Weir; Dino English, drums, who plays Mickey Hart; Rob Koritz, drums, who plays Bill Kreutzmann; and Rob Barraco, keyboardist, who represents all five keyboardists who performed over the years with The Grateful Dead.

Everyone in the band is a full-time musician, Mattson said. They have all studied The Grateful Dead's music, as well as music in general.

"There's high production values in the shows, great light show, sound engineering, it's all top notch." Mattson said. "Everyone takes it very seriously and we work on our music all the time."

The Dark Star Orchestra plays a different show each night; each set list is either a replication of one that The Grateful Dead played in its 30 touring years and close to 2500 shows, or a unique combination of its original songs. According to the band's website, www.darkstarorchestra.net, "The band adapts their stage positioning, vocal arrangements, specific musical equipment and instruments to fit the era of the show they are performing. Following each performance the band announces the date and venue of the original performance. Dark Star Orchestra could dip into any incarnation of The Dead at any of its shows, allowing fans to experience shows that happened long before they were born."

So even though the band has played in Northampton before, it is guaranteed to be a different show than the audience saw previously, Mattson said. Each show is a surprise for the audience.

"You're not going to see a note-for-note replication for everything but what you will see is real musicians playing real music, in real time but it will be based on the same parameters of The Grateful Dead," Mattson said.

The Dark Star Orchestra will perform this Friday 11/18 at 8 p.m. at the Calvin Theatre, 19 King St., Northampton. Tickets cost $27. They are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main St. Northampton, 586-8686, or online at IHEG.com.

By MARIAH SYLVAIN Gazette Contributing Writer

From the Daily Hampshire Gazette (Subscription Required)

The Felice Brothers, Gill Landry of Old Crow Medicine Show play Pearl Street Ballroom this Thursday night

2011-11-16T16:22:00.000-05:00

Here’s what’s already known about The Felice Brothers: they are a close-knit band of two brothers and three longtime friends, all in their twenties. They are self-taught, not one of them played an instrument prior to the band’s inception in 2006 when they started busking in New York City subway stations. The Felice Brothers have released three full-length albums; their last, Yonder Is The Clock, on Team Love Records (2009). The majority of their work was recorded in a converted chicken coop in upstate New York near their hometown of Palenville. Esquire, Filter, The New York Times, NPR, Spin, Time Out New York, Uncut, and Under The Radar have praised them, among others. They are on virtually constant tour in the States and overseas, and have performed at festivals including Bonnaroo, All Points West, Outside Lands, Langerado, and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Recognized for their live show, The Felice Brothers will play for their audience come hell or high water; the foremost example is their transcendent performance at the 2008 Newport Folk Festival, where they soldiered on, unplugged, in the rain, and barefoot in the mud after a lightning bolt shorted their stage’s power supply.

Gill Landry is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Louisiana. With his beginnings as a busker on the streets of New Orleans, he released his first solo album The Ballad of Lawless Soirez in 2007 on the Nettwerk label, and since 2005 has been performing as a member of the band Old Crow Medicine Show. His new album Piety and Desire is a love song to New Orleans. Named after two streets that run parallel through the city’s 9th ward where Landry cut his teeth for years. With the album he paints a dark and beautiful landscape of characters and loves from “quarter rats” to barmaids, merchants to thieves. Backed by the Felice Brothers who co-produced the album with Landry and Jeremy “The Searcher” Backofen the album also features the talents of Jolie Holland, Brandi Carlile, Ketch Secor, Sam Parton and many others artists, creating an album that is timeless and at times other-worldly.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Trampled By Turtles punk-prog bluegrass and Jonny Corndawg's cheeky country flirts with the white trash hipster fringe this Tuesday, November 15th at the Pearl Street Ballroom

2011-11-08T10:20:00.002-05:00

Duluth, Minnesota five-piece Trampled by Turtles have come a long way since their 2004 self-release of "Songs from a Ghost Town," though they've never quite shrugged off that haunting, old-timey vibe summed up by their debut's title. TBT's progressive brand of bluegrass draws inspiration from Townes Van Zant and Neil Young alike, melding influences from all over into galloping, fast-paced heart-racers that ooze talent in the form of stunningly deft instrumentation. The breathtaking complexity of their songs allows every member a chance to shine - Dave Simonett's acoustic guitar and husky vocals serve as centerpiece at one minute, then Tim Saxhaug's bass, Dave Carroll's rollicking banjo, Erik Berry's mandolin, and Ryan Young's impossible fiddle mastery take over in turn or meld together into an orchestral bluegrass jam. Somehow, the band's live sets bring as just as much (if not more) energy to the table - after blowing the minds of festivalgoers all summer they'll bring their highly honed performance chops to the Pearl Street Ballroom stage this coming Tuesday, November 15.

Here's the music video for "Wait So Long," probably the most rollicking and addictive track on the band's latest record Palomino. It's probably thanks to songs like this one that "Palomino" was sitting pretty on the Billboard bluegrass charts for a year after its release.

Virginia-via-Montana country singer Jonny Corndawg will warm up the stage for TBT. Drawing his inspiration from the catchy Americana of '70s country artists (a style he calls "the lost art of the Real Deal"), Corndawg's prone to singing in his warm country-star croon about cars, girls, and drinking over incredibly fun, toe-tapping guitar riffs and irresistible melodic hooks. Don't worry, you'll have time to learn the lyrics before the show - you can stream his latest brilliantly titled record "Down on the Bikini Line" here.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

By Genevieve Oliver

Mentored by Albert Collins, guitarist for John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, guitar slinger Coco Montoya plays the Iron Horse on Tuesday, November 1st with the Wildcat O'Halloran Band

2011-10-25T16:30:00.001-04:00

Mentored by legendary bluesman Albert Collins, Coco Montoya went on to become the guitarist for John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers for ten years before leading his own band. A self taught guitar slinger who plays with an emotional intensity few string benders possess, he plays left-handed and up side down in the style of Albert King and Jimi Hendrix.

I Want It All Back, Coco's Montoya's 7th solo album, was released March 23rd, 2010. The disc was produced by Keb' Mo' and Jeff Paris, who also play on the entire album: Keb' on rhythm guitar and Jeff on keyboards.

"In a world of blues guitar pretenders, Coco Montoya is the real McCoy. Be prepared to get scorched." - Billboard

"The fiery blues that issue forth from Coco Montoya's guitar are awe-inspiring and boogie requiring." - The Village Voice

"Blistering contemporary blues... piercing attack, funky, shivery guitar tones and aggressive, soulful vocals" - Blues Revue

"He is one of the truly gifted blues artists of his generation" - Living Blues

Best New Blues Artist Winner at the Blues Music Awards (1996).

Tickets for Coco Montoya at the Iron Horse on Tuesday, November 1st at 7PM with the Wildcat O'Halloran Band are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Mat Kearney plays Pearl Street in Northampton Tuesday 11/1, hits his stride chronicling 'Young Love'

2011-10-25T15:31:00.001-04:00

Singer/songwriter Mat Kearney will perform at 8PM Tuesday, November 1^st at the Pearl Street Ballroom. Nashville combo Leagues opens.

On his major label debut disc, 2006's "Nothing Left to Lose," singer-songwriter Mat Kearney chronicled his journey — "a kid from Oregon/by way of California" — making his way to Nashville and a record deal. It gave him a gold-selling Top 10 hit with the title track
On his sophomore disc, 2009's "City of Black and White," Kearney told of what happened when he got there: A soul both lost and found in a musical metropolis. It, too produced a hit, the Top 20 "Closer to Love."

Now, on his new album "Young Love," released Aug. 2, Kearney quite autobiographically sings about what the title suggests: falling for his wife, Annie, and getting married in 2010.

"It's pretty amazing finding that person that is maybe like a rock that you come back to," he says in a recent telephone call on a tour that Oct. 27 brings him to Allentown's Crocodile Rock Café.

"As an insecure artist, when there are moments when you're not sure what you're supposed to be doing or moments where you're frustrated, there's someone outside of all that who's kind of a voice of reason or a voice of truth and a voice of love."

And not only has "Young Love" given Kearney another hit, the Top 20 "Hey Mama," but it has become his highest-charting album ever, debuting at No. 4 on Billboard's albums chart, and topping both the digital and Rock Albums lists.

"It's really amazing, surprising," Kearney says. "It's like you work on this, like a greeting card for someone for a year, and you're trying to get it perfect. And finally you deliver it to them, and then it's nerve-wracking, 'cause all this work, a whole year went into it. And so to have it received so well is incredibly gratifying."

Kearney says he wanted the album to be a "beat-driven, honest, storytelling record. That was really my goal. I wanted to write songs that were incredibly literal and honest — almost like a documentary."

To help him along in the process, Kearney became a licensed cab driver in Nashville, drawing inspiration from the conversations he overheard. "I think it took me for twists and turns in directions I didn't know it would go as a record," he says.

That also helped Kearney give the record the "Paul Simon-kind-of-whimsical story-telling" he sought. For example, he says "Hey Mama" is the true story of teasing a friend of his sister-in-law whom he ran into while shopping.

"I was doing the whole 'Hey ladies, can you help me pick out a dress' kind of deal. And she was like, 'Not buying it. The dress is ugly, and I know what you're trying to do.' That was kind of her approach," he says, laughing heartily.

Kearney says the "love" part of "Young Love" prompted him to both look "forward and back at the same time. I think it's definitely the next chapter of my life and it's incredibly literal. But there's also a lot of looking back."

"When you decide to commit to someone and the butterflies are in your stomach, all of a sudden you're faced with this reality that you have to deal with your past to make it work," he says with a laugh.

"And I think that there's a lot of that happening in 'Young Love.' So there's these songs that are happening when I'm 20, and high school and I even go back to dealing with my father when he was a child."

One surprise of the success of "Young Love" is that it topped the rock albums chart.

"I think it's that the hardest part of my job is trying to define what I do — and sometimes to my fault," he says. "When you can't put words to it, it's hard to make people care sometimes about it.

"I think I've flirted with a lot of different genres and I don't think I'm the most rocking guy in the world. And the funny part is, this record has the least rock influence, 'cause it's was real keyboard-beat driven. It's like almost more hip-hop influenced than rock."

Kearney probably is best known for his songs' emotional content, which often translates into them being used for scenes of TV shows such as "Grey's Anatomy," "Friday Night Lights" and "One Tree Hill." But he says he says he hopes the joy he's found in his life comes through on "Young Love,"

"I've actually always been a very joyful character," he says. "I've always been very serious, but I'm also the guy who starts the dance party on the bus. … So I think I allowed myself to show a little bit more of that on this record.

"There's definitely a side of life that is hard, but there's a plan. And you've probably experienced some tough things and finding redemption and grace in those moments. I've definitely written those songs, and that's a huge part of who I am as a person and as an artist.

"But I think I did allow myself to write more joyful stuff, and I also am in a very joyful place. You know, falling in love with another human being should be pretty fun — most days," he says.

Tickets for Mat Kearney plus Leagues in the Pearl Street Ballroom in Northampton a6 8PM on Tuesday, 11/1 are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Béla Fleck and the Original Flecktones (a reunion that’s kind of a big deal) Thursday, November 10th at 8PM the Calvin Theatre in Northampton

2011-10-25T12:37:00.001-04:00

Béla Fleck is one of the world’s most pioneering and premiere banjo players, and the only musician to ever be nominated for Grammys in jazz, bluegrass, pop, country, spoken word, Christian, composition and world music categories. Performing with the original Flecktones, Béla Fleck combines music from multiple genres—from classical and jazz, to bluegrass and African music, to electric blues and Eastern European folk dances—making it one astounding concert experience.

Béla Fleck is an incredible virtuoso on the banjo. If all he had ever done was play banjo in a traditional bluegrass band, he would still be renowned as the finest banjo player ever but as an artist, he also took bluegrass and infused it with a modern style that redefined the genre—and even that was not enough for him. Refusing to be pigeonholed, he continued his boundary-breaking exploration by taking the banjo to modern jazz, classical and African music. His curiosity and artistry know no bounds.

Béla Fleck and the original Flecktones come to Northampton as part of their limited North American tour, celebrating the release of their new album “Rocket Science.” “Rocket Science” marks the first recording by the first fab four Flecktones in almost two decades, with pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy back in the fold alongside Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten and percussionist/drumitarist Roy “Futureman” Wooten. Far from being a wistful trip back in time, the album sees the Grammy Award-winning quartet creating some of the most forward thinking music of their long, storied career.

Béla Fleck started playing the banjo when he was 15 years old. His interest sparked when he heard the bluegrass music of Flatt & Scruggs. While still in high school, he began experimenting with playing bebop jazz on his banjo, mentored by fellow banjo renegade Tony Trischka. Not long after, he released his first solo album, entitled “Crossing the Tracks.” Since then he has released more than 40 in-studio and live performance albums.

Fleck first united the Flecktones in 1988, presumably for a single performance on PBS’s “Lonesome Pine Special.” From the start, there was a special kinship between the four musicians, a bond forged in a mutual passion for creativity and artistic advancement. Three breakthrough albums and a whole lot of live dates followed before Levy decided to move on in late 1992.

Visionary and vibrant as anything in their already rich canon, “Rocket Science” feels more like a new beginning than simply the culmination of an early chapter. Where the band goes from here remains undetermined, but all four members agree that the promise of Béla Fleck & the Original Flecktones has yet to be fulfilled.

One of the wonderful things about a Béla Fleck concert is that you never know exactly what to expect. That's what makes them so exciting. But two things are guaranteed: that there will be some incredible music-making and that a good time will be had by all.

Tickets for Béla Fleck and the Original Flecktones on Thursday, November 10^th at 8PM the Calvin Theatre in Northampton are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Young@Heart Chorus, Northamptones, UMass Dynamics to Harmonize for Health at the Calvin Theatre Sunday, October 3oth to benefit Cooley Dickinson Cancer Center, Nurse Development Programs

2011-10-12T14:23:00.003-04:00

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. – On Sunday, Oct. 30, at 3 p.m., three local musical groups take to the Calvin Theatre stage to celebrate Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s 125th anniversary and to support the future health of the community.

“We are in the fortunate position to give back to the community that has supported the Young@Heart Chorus for the past 30 years,” said Chorus Director Bob Cilman. “We perform yearly benefit concerts for local non-profit organizations, and as part of their 125th anniversary year, we’ve selected Cooley Dickinson. CDH is our local hospital that has a special place in the hearts of our chorus members.”

When the Chorus was just a fledgling group and performing their first concerts in Europe, the hospital donated new wheelchairs to the Chorus. Cilman said the connection to the hospital is a relationship that really matters to the Chorus. “We are committed to helping Cooley Dickinson. We hope to raise significant funds through this event,” Cilman added.

The Young@Heart Chorus will sing songs from the stage/theater show, End of the Road by No Theater, a show that they have performed internationally at venues in Manchester, England; Rotterdam, Netherlands; Gent, Belgium and Poznan, Poland. They will also perform from their concert show line-up.

The world-renowned Young@Heart Chorus, whose members range in age from 73 to 89, will headline the benefit concert. Special guests include a capella groups, The Northamptones and The UMass Dynamics.

“We are honored and excited to have these inspiring and talented groups perform in support of Cooley Dickinson’s Building Our Future Campaign,” Diane Dukette, vice president of Development for Cooley Dickinson, said.

Funds raised will benefit two current hospital initiatives, a new comprehensive cancer center and educational programs for nurses. Both projects, Dukette said, will have a direct impact on the care and services provided to local patients and families far into the future.

To purchase tickets ($25, $35 or $100, plus service charges), call or stop by Northampton Box Office 76 Main Street, (413) 586-8686 or buy online at IHEG.com. The $100 ‘VIP’ tickets include first-row seating and admission to an after-concert reception with the Young@Heart Chorus hosted and sponsored by the Hotel Northampton.

About the Young@Heart Chorus

The Young@Heart Chorus, whose members range in age from 73 to 89, is well-known and loved locally by audiences of all ages. The Chorus is also world-renowned, selling out large theaters across the U.S. and the world. An inspirational documentary film, Young@Heart, was released worldwide several years ago and includes scenes shot at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

About The Northamptones

The Northamptones, Northampton High School's own a cappella group, have had the pleasure of performing at the Massachusetts State House, in The Silver Chord Bowl, at The Iron Horse Music Hall and on countless other stages throughout the East Coast. After hours of rehearsals filled with music and laughter, their contagious energy is sure to light up the stage and warm concert-goers’ hearts.

About The Dynamics

The Dynamics are a group of sixteen, talented, hardworking, and motivated students committed to creating fun and exciting a cappella music at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Established five years ago, the group has recorded three successful albums, performed at weddings and festivals, traveled to sing alongside some of the best collegiate groups around, earning quite a name in the a cappella world.

About Cooley Dickinson Hospital

Cooley Dickinson, a full-service community hospital, is ranked in the top 5 percent of all U.S. hospitals in patient safety by HealthGrades®, the country's leading independent health care ratings organization. It is the only hospital in the Springfield area to achieve the HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award™ for three consecutive years. Cooley Dickinson’s staff of 1,650 professionals and nearly 400 affiliated physicians comprise a network of emergency, surgical, clinical, rehabilitative, hospice and home care expertise that treats 40,000 emergency patients per year, delivers 800 babies, and collaborates with Massachusetts General Hospital to deliver comprehensive cancer care. Cooley Dickinson's vision is to be the nation's premier not-for-profit community hospital, able to provide local access to the most advanced clinical treatments in a caring and neighborly setting. Learn more at www.cooley-dickinson.org.

Dick Dale, King of the Surf Guitar, kicks cancer and returns to the Iron Horse stage this Monday, October 17th at 7PM

2011-10-12T13:13:00.001-04:00

Generations of loyal fans will be looking forward to seeing guitar legend Dick Dale take the stage at the Iron Horse this Monday, October 17^th at 7PM.

Dale, 74, is often hailed as the "King of the Surf Guitar," is known for hit songs like "Misirlou" (of "Pulp Fiction" fame) and has been performing since 1959. He has also been credited for his innovations in electric amplification and recently, in acoustic guitars. Through the years, Dale has also played sold-out concerts in large venues and smaller clubs, where Dale says he has gotten to know his fans.

"When I'm through performing, we have this meet and greet thing and we talk about all we've been going through. I've gone through so many things with the families in the past 20 years and there's a camaraderie with everyone that has followed me," he said.

No one has followed Dale, however, like his 40-year-old wife Lana, whom he called "my love of my entire life."

Dale said that when Lana Dale was only two-years-old, her mother showed her one of Dale's albums. The moment the St. Petersburg, Fla., native saw Dale's face, she was mesmerized.

"He has beautiful eyes," said the tot. "I am going to be with him one day for the rest of my life."

She followed him through his career and watched him as he married and had a son, Jimmy, who is currently 19 and tours with his father in guitar duels or as a drummer.

The future Mrs. Dale, who never married, only contacted Dale after hearing about his battle with cancer and other health problems, he said. They began communicating daily, talking seven to eight hours per day on the phone, Dale said. One day, she saw Dale shaking and ill via Skype and decided to finally be with him.

Dale credited her for saving his life. His wife, a medical researcher, spotted leaks created by radiation in Dale's body that doctors overlooked on x-rays, he said.

"She's the only thing in my life. We love the same things -we were raised Big Band style, we love Louis Armstrong. When I play the trumpet or piano, she has tears in her eyes. She's very emotional, she's a hopeless romantic like me."

Today, Dale and his wife drive across the country as he fights to stay healthy and continue rocking out for sold-out crowds.

"We're gonna have a lot of fun, I'm really looking forward to it," said Dale, who says he has performed at the Iron Horse before. "It's always a wonderful experience!"

Dick Dale performs at the Iron Horse in Northampton this Monday, October 17^th at 7PM.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

SPF-4 will also perform.

Watch "Misirlou" by Dick Dale.

Legends of the Fall, by the dozen, at the Iron Horse & Calvin Theatre in Northampton

2011-10-04T17:57:00.001-04:00

Stephen Stills Thursday, October 13^th, 8PM Calvin Theatre

Legendary guitarist/singer-songwriter Stephen Stills is one of the most influential and enduring figures in rock and roll. The only artist ever to be inducted twice in the same night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - for The Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash - Stills' work spans five decades, four iconic groups (Manassas and CSN&Y in addition to the two already mentioned), two era-defining anthems - "For What It's Worth" and "Love The One You're With" - and a rich canon of solo material. Ranked 28 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, Stills also has a trio of album masterpieces on their compendium of The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: Buffalo Springfield Again, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Deja Vu.

Dick Dale Monday, October 17^th,7PM Iron Horse

Dick Dale isn't nicknamed "King of the Surf Guitar" for nothing. He invented the style single-handedly, and no matter who copied or expanded upon his blueprint, he remains the fieriest, most technically gifted musician the genre has ever produced. Dick Dale invented surf music in the 1950's. Not the '60's as is commonly believed. He was given the title "King of the Surf Guitar" by his fellow surfers with whom he surfed with from sun-up to sun-down. He met Leo Fender the guitar and amplifier Guru and Leo asked Dale to play his newly creation, the Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar. The minute Dale picked up the guitar, Leo Fender broke into uncontrolled laughter and disbelief, he was watching Dale play a right handed guitar upside down and backwards, Dale was playing a right handed guitar left handed and changing the chords in his head then transposing the chords to his hands to create a sound never heard before.

Shawn Phillips Wednesday, October 26^th,7PM Iron Horse

Shawn Phillips, a veritable Zelig of rock, made the scene in various musical meccas around the globe. He, Paul Simon, and Donovan were roommates in sixties London and he played guitar on several of Mr. Leitch’s LPs. He instigated the sitar's first historic fusion with pop music through Sunshine Superman and later tutored George Harrison on the instrument. He opened the landmark Isle of Wight festival in 1970, taught a young Joni Mitchell guitar, and sang backup on Sgt. Pepper's "Lovely Rita." His solo albums, spanning 40 years are ambitious outings that showcase his willowy fingerpicking, multioctave vocal range, and penchant for high-flown lyrics. His persona as a mystical hippie troubadour has stayed pretty much intact. His guitar work is as masterful as ever, with contrapuntal picking and deft chording that sometimes make it sound like he’s playing rhythm behind his own leads, and his voice can still leap nimbly from a rumbling baritone through a full-bodied tenor to a soft-edged falsetto. Perhaps no one has made more contributions to rock music with so little recognition than Shawn Phillips. Few artists have stayed in touch with the '60's bred ethos with such constant exploration or never-ending evolution.

Ian Hunter Thursday, November 3^rd7PM Iron Horse

Legendary Mott the Hoople front man and renowned solo artist, Ian Hunter, quickly established himself as an incredibly inventive songwriter with his gritty and thought provoking songs which paved the way for the original wave of punk rock. The 1972 David Bowie produced breakthrough album All The Young Dudes catapulted the band into the British Top 10 and the American Top 40. As a solo artist, Mr. Hunter has been responsible for instantly recognizable classics as “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” “Cleveland Rocks” (used for The Drew Carey Show), and many, many more. Both Ian Hunter and Mott the Hoople have been cited as major inspirations for numerous artists including The Clash, Kiss, R.E.M., Oasis, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Motley Crue, Blur and Primal Scream among others. Hunter’s influence on modern rock and roll music has been immeasurable, with over 150 different cover versions of his songs. Ian Hunter has worked with many musical legends such as the members of Queen, David Bowie, Mick Jones of The Clash, Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, Mick Ronson and Ringo Starr’s All Star Band.

Jorma Kaukonen Sunday, November 6^th 7PM Iron Horse

In a career that has already spanned a half-century, Jorma Kaukonen has been the leading practitioner and teacher of fingerstyle guitar, one of the most highly respected interpreters of American roots music, blues, and Americana, and at the forefront of popular rock-and-roll. He was a founding member of two legendary bands, The Jefferson Airplane and the still-touring Hot Tuna, a Grammy nominee, a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the most in-demand instructor in the galaxy of stars who teach at the Fur Peace Ranch Guitar Camp that he and his wife operate in picturesque Southeastern Ohio.

Joan Baez Wednesday, November 9^th 7PM Iron Horse

It’s been told that some artists live in history – and the lives of other artists are history. From the very beginning of her musical career, Joan Baez has never sought to draw lines between real world, real time events and her own artistic vision. She remains a musical force of nature whose influence is incalculable - marching on the front line of the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King Jr. and forty years later saluting the Dixie Chicks for their courage to protest war. She introduced Bob Dylan to the world in 1963 and focused awareness on songwriters ranging from Woody Guthrie, Dylan, Phil Ochs, Richard Farina, and Tim Hardin, to Kris Kristofferson and Mickey Newbury, to Dar Williams, Richard Shindell, Steve Earle and many more.Her music, all along, has remained vital.

Richie Furay Thursday, November 10^th7PM Iron Horse

Richie Furay formed Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin. In the late 60s he formed the country-rock band Poco, with Jim Messina and Rusty Young. He left Poco in 1974 to join the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band. Since the early 1980s, Richie Furay has been senior pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Broomfield, Colorado. He’s written two books: For What It’s Worth: The Story Of Buffalo Springfield and Pickin Up The Pieces. Buffalo Sprigfield was inducted into the R&R Hall of Fame in 1997 and had a much ballyhooed reunion this year at Bonnaroo.

Bela Fleck & The Original Flecktones Thursday, November 10^th8PM Calvin Theatre

Groundbreaking banjoist/composer/bandleader Béla Fleck has reconvened the original Béla Fleck & The Flecktones', the extraordinary initial line-up of his incredible combo. Rocket Science marks the first recording by the first fab four Flecktones in almost two decades, with pianist/harmonica player Howard Levy back in the fold alongside Fleck, bassist Victor Wooten, and percussionist/ Drumitarist Roy “Futureman” Wooten. Far from being a wistful trip back in time, the album sees the Grammy Award-winning quartet creating some of the most forward thinking music of their long, storied career. While all manners of genres come into play – from classical and jazz to bluegrass and African music to electric blues and Eastern European folk dances – the result is an impossible to pigeonhole sound all their own, a meeting of musical minds that remains, as ever, utterly indescribable. Simply put, it is The Flecktones, the music made only when these four individuals come together.

David Bromberg Saturday, November 12^th7PM Iron Horse

Originally a “must-have” session man for everyone from Bob Dylan to Jay & the Americans, David Bromberg is a master practitioner of folk, blues, bluegrass and other musical genres. After years of inactivity on the touring front and numerous "retirements", David Bromberg is beginning to reappear on the live concert scene. Bromberg has reunited the “big band” several times over the years and his live shows remain as unique as ever. Concerts by David and his band are extraordinary events, and performances follow no set pattern of selection. Give and take between performer is complete, spontaneous, and totally sincere. Bromberg’s remarkable musical versatility and innovative resourcefulness have earned vast critical and popular acclaim. He is impossible to classify: a product of blues, country, jazz, folk, and classical music. From his early success as a guitar virtuoso, Bromberg has developed into a brilliant entertainer. His new album, Use Me (2011), features John Hiatt, Levon Helm, Los Lobos, Tim O’Brien, Vince Gill, Widespread Panic, Dr. John, Keb’ Mo’ and others.

Leon Redbone Sunday, November 14^th 7PM Iron Horse

When Leon Redbone burst on the scene in the early 1970s, he did so under a shroud of mystery. No one, not even those considered his friends, knew where he was from, how old he was, or his real name. A walking caricature, Redbone shuffled through folk festivals in his rumpled three-piece suits from the Twenties, a wide-brim hat, sunglasses, and thick mustache. The only thing widely known about him was that he was a gifted singer and guitarist with a thorough knowledge of blues, urban folk, jazz, and ragtime. "Mr. Redbone doesn't just dig up the past, he embodies it," wrote New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden in 1981, "by dressing himself in the clothes of an old-time traveling minstrel and singing in a voice that is a stylistic composite of early Southern blues and vaudeville performers." Although today his voice is familiar to many, due to countless television jingles hawking everything from beer to laundry detergent, he remains an enigmatic figure whose musical tastes and presentations have gone unchanged for more than twenty years.

Dan Hicks Sunday, December 4^th7PM Iron Horse

Singer-songwriter Dan Hicks is truly an American original. Since the early 1960s, Hicks has deftly blended elements of Swing, Jazz, Folk and Country music to create the appealing sound he sometimes calls "Folk Jazz". The lyrics of his songs range from the simply sublime to the sublimely ridiculous, all presented with his uniquely skewed and inscrutable touch. Dan's irresistible sense of rhythm, hip lyrical styling, laid-back vocalizing, and infamous on-stage wit will make most who listen fans for life. He's a snappy dresser, too. Tom Waits called Dan Hicks “fly, sly, wily, and dry!” Featuring a world-class collection of musical talent including instrumental virtuosos David Grisman, Charlie Musselwhite, Bruce Forman, and slide-guitarist Roy Rogers, and produced by Grammy-winning roots music producer Chris Goldsmith, his latest album "Tangled Tales" is served up with Dan's unique fashion, attitude, and swagger.

Elliot Murphy and the Normandy All Stars Wednesday, December 14^th 7PM Iron Horse

More then thirty-five years have passed since the release of Elliott Murphy's ground-breaking first album Aquashow in 1973 (recently declared an Album Classic by the UK's prestigious UNCUT magazine) and since that time Elliott Murphy, singer-songwriter, rock troubadour, indefatigable road warrior (over 100 shows a year!) and prolific author of fiction has once again proven his dedication to his music and his commitment to his growing legion of fans with the release of his new CD Notes From the Underground featuring eleven new Elliott Murphy songs, five of which are co-written with long-time guitarist Olivier Durand. The album is already being hailed as his best in a decade. Scott Kempner of the Del Lords and the Dictators opens.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem bring their intoxicating blend of rogue roots music to the Iron Horse this Friday, October 7th at 7PM. They Might Be Gypsies open.

2011-10-03T11:42:00.001-04:00

All of roots music is a stage for daisy mayhem, and this four-piece string band loves nothing more than choreographing a jubilant mix of traditional, original, and contemporary sounds. With Arbo's bewitching alto at the helm, stunning vocal harmonies, a 100% recycled drum set, fiddle, guitar, and bass, daisy mayhem "has a grand knack for pumping new blood into old music" (The Boston Globe). [Imagine, for example, a pre-civil war song from the Georgia Sea Islands sung over a New Orleans-style groove. Or, an old Irish fiddle tune with new lyrics, capped with a solo on a South American box drum.

A Sondheim tune done jug band style? An original Unitarian funk gospel song? You begin to get the idea.] With influences from Doc Watson to Django Reinhardt, from Ghanaian drumming to the funky Meters, and from Fiddlin' John Carson to Bob Dylan, Daisy Mayhem celebrates America's rich musical past and brings it into the present with good humor, impeccable musicianship, powerful songwriting, and a clear love of playing together. Here are four musicians who pick up what's lying around—from tin cans to old songs and wry observations of modern life—and create something new.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

"Neo old-timey with cosmopolitan splashes of modern pop and jazz" -- The Boston Globe

"Arbo is a force to be reckoned with" -- The Boston Globe

"A reminder that musical categories are a necessity for catalogs and record stores, not for lovers of music." -- Sing Out Magazine

"This quartet has a rare gift for fashioning hip, sleek sounds from the solid cloth of vintage American music." -- The Boston Globe

"Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem's sweeping, timeless melodies float above ingenious arrangements." -- The Boston Globe

"As hard to classify as it is to praise highly enough...an intoxicating blend of roots music styles, with deep traditional roots and a healthy futuristic outlook. Strongly recommended." -- The Rogue Folk Review, Vancouver BC

Sidi Touré, singer-songwriter from Mali honors African sonic traditions at the Iron Horse in Northampton this Tuesday, October 4th at 7PM

2011-09-30T16:48:00.000-04:00

Sidi Touré is a singer-songwriter from Mali who has garnered global acclaim for thought provoking songs that honor African sonic traditions in a manner that appeals to listeners from any continent.

Born in 1959 in the ancient town of Gao, Mali, he made his first guitar as a child, constructing it from his wooden writing slate. Growing up, Sidi Touré faced a conflict between the inexorable pull of music and the expectations of family and society, plus the significance and onus of a past that came with being born into a noble family. The Touré family had been sung about, and sung to, by traditional griots for centuries, but until Sidi challenged the rules as a small boy, the Tourés did not sing.

Throughout his time making music, Sidi's sound has both captured and challenged his roots. His music moves from the translucent swaying takamba to the trance inducing Holley, while the lyrics often address many non-traditional issues. Sidi has a critical mind and his songs have a purpose. His just-released album, 'Sahel Folk', a SPIN pick, features spontaneously recorded duets with other Malian musicians.

Sidi Touré is a worthy successor to Ali Farka Touré. Among Songhaï musicians, Sidi is the best. Sidi Touré has all the talent, quality, simplicity, playing and singing skills, it's incredible. We need people like Sidi." – Bassekou Kouyaté.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

The Lemonheads perform It’s A Shame About Ray at Pearl Street in Northampton at 8PM on Saturday, October 15th

2011-09-30T12:10:00.001-04:00

Evan Dando-led three piece THE LEMONHEADS will be performing their classic 1992 album, IT’S A SHAME ABOUT RAY, from beginning to end in the Pearl Street Clubroom in Northampton on Saturday, October 15th. Joining Dando at the show, one stop on an extensive US and UK tour, will be guitarist Josh Lattanzi (The Candles) and drummer Brian Nolan (American Hi-Fi), along with support from San Diego’s The Shining Twins plus The New York Rivals opening.

It’s A Shame About Ray was released in 1992 and was The Lemonheads’ second album for Atlantic Records. The album featured the trio – Evan Dando (guitar, vocals), David Ryan (drums) and Juliana Hatfield (bass, backing vocals) – breezing through 13 songs in just under 30 minutes, including the title track, “My Drug Buddy,” “The Turnpike Down” and a romping cover of the Simon and Garfunkel classic “Mrs. Robinson.”

Rhino Records re-released a collector’s version of the classic album with bonus tracks and a DVD in 2007 for the US and now the UK will get their chance thanks to the Edsel imprint of the UK-based Demon Music Group later this fall.

The Lemonheads’ released Varshons – a collection of covers including tracks by GG Allin, Wire, Gram Parsons, Leonard Cohen and more – in 2009. The album was produced by Butthole Surfers frontman Gibby Haynes and featured guest vocal performances from Liv Tyler and Kate Moss.

The past year has seen Evan Dando performing sold-out acoustic dates in the US with former band-mate Juliana Hatfield as well as performing both solo and band dates in the UK, Australia, and Europe.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

IT’S A SHAME ABOUT RAY track listing:

“Rockin Stroll”
“Confetti”
“It’s A Shame About Ray”
“Rudderless”
“My Drug Buddy”
“The Turnpike Down”
“Bit Part”
“Alison’s Starting To Happen”
“Hannah & Gabi”
“Kitchen”
“Ceiling Fan In My Spoon”
“Frank Mills”
“Mrs. Robinson”

http://www.thelemonheads.net/

http://www.facebook.com/TheLemonheads

http://twitter.com/thelemonheads

Local rock renaissance men Orange Television's new EP is due October 22nd preceded by the single Assembly Line

2011-09-29T14:39:00.000-04:00

Orange Television can get about as quirky as their band name. Getting their start playing parties at Umass Amherst, 'OTV' has transformed itself to a local rock n' roll act to be reckoned with.

Well planned and meticulous about their craft, Orange Television is constantly writing new material and reworking older songs already beloved by OTV fans. As they take the stage knowing what they expect from themselves, they are also aware of the mental journey their audience takes on, similar to psychedelic rock bands of the sixties such as Pink Floyd and The Doors. Their sound, spanning from post-rock to alternative, jam, psychedelia and classic, cannot be pinned down to one genre.

In their recently released single “Assembly Line,” Feibusch brings you in with a lap steel guitar intro reminiscent of early blues, quickly culminating into a head banging yet danceable rock influenced jam, completed through Arnstam’s use of the cowbell and Heffernan's heavy bass lines. Feibusch’s vocals, which are quickly accompanied by newcomer Nate Martel’s, have a very different feel than that of Orange Television’s previous EPs, One Old Fashion Doughnut & Welcome to the Pink House, recorded with former members. Feibusch and Martel croon in perfect harmony, each allowing the other’s radically different vocal styles to accompany and compliment the other.

Fans of Orange Television have come to expect the band’s continually diverging sound from EP to EP as well as the intensity OTV delivers during live performances, showcasing their enthusiasm by dancing wildly to new tracks, which include; Aisha, Bill Cosby, What to Do, Before I Part, and others. OTV newcomers can expect to be spellbound by the band’s use of distortion, delay, and other modulation effects that create their heavily psychedelic stage performance one beat short of hypnosis, while old fans wait eagerly to see what will come from this highly anticipated third EP, wondering what mental journey Orange Television will take them on next.

Their upcoming EP, "Extended Play" will be released October 22nd. For more information, visit www.orangetelevision.tv or facebook.com/orangetelevision

By Amanda Ressler.

Two greats from Mali come to the Iron Horse: Boubacar Traore this Wednesday and Sidi Toure on Tuesday, October 4th at 7PM

2011-09-27T15:54:00.000-04:00

Boubacar Traoré (click photo for hish res) is one of the great veteran exponents of the African blues, a guitarist, singer and songwriter with a long, and sometimes pained history. At the time of Mali's independence, 50 years ago, he was a national celebrity, and the young sharp dressers of Bamako would dance to his songs such as Mali Twist and Kar Kar Madison: he was known as Kar Kar ("Dribble") because he was also a footballer. But by the late 1960s he had returned to his home region to work as a tailor and farmer, and later, after the death of his wife, he moved to France as a migrant labourer on building sites. Thankfully, he was persuaded to start recording again in 1990, since when he has revived his career in Mali. Mali Denhou (2011/Lusafrica/Proper ) is his first album in six years and shows he's still in impressive form, matching his thoughtful, soulful voice against an acoustic guitar style that mixes blues riffs with west African influences. His easy going, gently rhythmic playing is backed by n'goni, calabash and balafon, with outstanding contributions from the French harmonica player Vincent Bucher, whose inventive, sensitive or driving solos perfectly complement Traoré's laid back style. In his late 60s, he's still one of Mali's finest musicians.

Boubacar Traore “Mariama” Video (heartbreaking)

“Sidi Touré is a worthy successor to Ali Farka Touré. Among Songhaï musicians, Sidi is the best. Sidi Toure has all the talent, quality , simplicity, playing and singing skills, it's incredible. We need people like Sidi." - Bassekou Kouyaté

Sidi Touré (click for high res) was born in 1959 in the ancient town of Gao, Mali. He made his first guitar as a child, constructing it from his wooden writing slate. Growing up, Sidi Touré faced a conflict between the inexorable pull of music and the expectations of family and society, plus the significance and onus of a past that came with being born into a noble family. The Touré family had been sung about, and sung to, by traditional griots for centuries, but until Sidi Touré challenged the rules as a small boy, the Touré’s did not sing. Despite his family’s disapproval, Sidi became the lead singer of his school’s band, and then became the youngest member of Gao’s regional orchestra, the Songhaï Stars, who played bi-annual festivals like the Bamako Biennale and toured both regionally and nationally. After winning the award for best singer twice, he took the band to the northern regions of Mali and to Niger, and toured much of the western Sahel region. Throughout his time making music, Sidi’s sound has both captured and challenged his roots. His music moves from the translucent swaying takamba to the trance inducing Holley, while the lyrics often address many non-traditional issues. Sidi has a critical mind and his songs have a purpose.

Sidi was featured on The Takeaway Show with Vincent Moon. Watch the film here!

SPIN EDITOR'S PICK: Meet Malian Singer Sidi Toure

Tickets for all shows at the Iron Horse in Northampton are on sale at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

"For the Committed," a Sean McCann ticket offer for Iron Horse show on Monday, October 3rd. Win an extra FREE pair of tickets to their show for two of your friends plus a chance to introduce your guests to Séan, who will provide a private bodhran lesson before the show!

2011-09-13T16:02:00.002-04:00

A message from Great Big Sea's Sean McCann and his band The Committed: We've been inspired by fans who have been telling us that they're bringing friends and family along to some of the upcoming US shows in the northeast (can't wait to see you!) and we love that you continue to help spread the word about Sean & The Committed and Great Big Sea. The group really DOES have some of the best fans in the world.

To honour your commitment, Sean would like to offer any advance ticket buyers the opportunity to win a FREE pair of tickets to their show for two of their friends. Not only will you be able to introduce your guests to the live Sean McCann & The Committed experience, but you will also have the opportunity introduce your guests to Sean at a pre-show meet and greet! Just email toshcontest@greatbigsean.com, post on the Facebook tour event page, or tweet@greatbigsean - letting us know which show you've committed to and who you're looking to bring along!

As a follow up to last year’s release, Lullabies for Bloodshot Eyes, Great Big Sea’s Séan McCann returns with the release of his second solo effort, Son of a Sailor. Having grown up in Newfoundland and spending nearly 18 years touring with the band, it’s not difficult to hear the musical and maritime influences on songs like “Rather Be a Sailor” and the title track. Drawing inspiration from the road, family, home, love and longing, Son of a Sailor provides the listener with a collection of first person narratives. When he’s not on the road, Séan returns home to his native St. John’s to write and spend time with his family.

Tickets for Sean McCannat the Iron Horse on Monday, October 3rd are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Texas guitarist Carolyn Wonderland comes to the Iron Horse on Wednesday, October 19th. Her new album is out on 9/27 and includes a collaboration with Mike Nesmith of the Monkees.

2011-09-08T16:25:00.000-04:00

“Carolyn Wonderland is the real deal! She’s an amazing guitar player. And damn, can she sing.” – Los Angeles Times

On ‘Peace Meal’ (9.27, Bismeaux Records), “blues guitar goddess” (NY Post) Carolyn Wonderland reaches into the depths of the Texas blues tradition with the wit of a poet and the grit of a survivor. Best known for her astounding vocal energy and musicianship, Wonderland is a true legend in her time, equipped with the soulful vocals of Janis Joplin and the guitar slinging skills of Stevie Ray Vaughan.

‘Peace Meal’ is a career benchmark for Wonderland. She collaborated with expert producers Larry Campbell, Ray Benson and famed musical impresario Michael Nesmith of The Monkees. Not one to take comparisons to Joplin Joplin lightly, Wonderland dug deep into Joplin’s vault to find a rare, bootleg recorded in Austin of the little-known gem “What Good Can Drinkin’ Do.” Additional stand-out tracks include the Vince Welnick / Robert Hunter composition “Golden Stairs” as an epic goose-bump-inducing ride, “Two Trains,” a tribute to Wonderland’s Houston mentors like Little Screamin’ Kenny and Wonderland’s fresh take on Bob Dylan’s “Meet Me In The Morning.”

‘Peace Meal’ shows just how far Wonderland has come in her career, touring non-stop across three continents, performing on PBS’ Austin City Limits, and a Janis Joplin tribute at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and collaborating with a long list of luminaries such as Levon Helm, Guy Forsyth, Susan Tedeschi and John Jorgenson. For some time after relocating to Austin from Houston, Wonderland was living out of an old van – flat broke and looking for a gig. It’s been a tough fight and the experience lends a unique credibility to her music and to her life. As a constant advocate for the homeless and peace, the Texas Homeless Network’s John Paul DeJoria Award recognized Wonderland’s efforts in 2010.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

The Kind Buds, who play the Iron Horse this Saturday at 10PM, represent everything that is beautiful about the music of The Grateful Dead and the scene that grew up around the band.

2011-09-08T12:46:00.000-04:00

Bud & Budd ~ The Kind Buds take the stage at The Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Ma for a special Rex Musical Caravan Event this Saturday, Sept 10, 2011 for a 10 PM show. Tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. The performance will also feature A.minor who will be projecting live video art behind the musicians.

The Kind Buds entertain their audiences with inspiring covers & incendiary originals, trading fiery-sweet licks on a roller coaster of tension & release. A truly acoustic duo, Bud and Budd perform raucous, intuitive, wide-open jams with stunning guitar interplay. Tight vocal harmonies compliment and complete their sound. No effects of any kind are used in live performances.

Coming off a busy East Coast Festival Tour including The Gathering of the Vibes, StrangeCreek, Bears Picnic, Bella Terra Fest, Sterling Stage and the Grateful Dead Fest at Warwick Wineries, The Kind Buds are eager to share with thier fans new Kind Bud originals to be showcased at the Iron Horse Music Hall.

The Rex Foundation genesis was the Grateful Dead and today continues as part of that family and legacy. Since 1984 the Rex Foundation has granted over $8.6 million to cover over 1,000 recipients. The Rex Foundation aims to help secure a healthy environment, promote individuality in the arts, provide support to critical and necessary social services, protect rights of indigenous people and ensure their cultural survival, build a stronger community, and educate children and adults everywhere.

Other collaborating musicians with the Rex Foundation include: Bob Weir & Ratdog; Trey Anastasio. Dark Star Orchestra; The String Cheese Incident; David Gans; Steve Kimock; Warren Haynes; Peter Rowan; Railroad Earth; New Riders of the Purple Sage; Bruce Hornsby; Mickey Hart.

Uncle Dave of the syndicated radio show "Dead Air" 88.7 WNCW out of Spindale, North Carolina says of The Buds, "The Kind Buds represent everything that is beautiful about the music of The Grateful Dead and the scene that grew up around the band." They have opened for such greats as The New Riders of the Purple Sage; Jefferson Starship; Big Brother and the Holding Company; Tom Constanten and David LaFlemme of Its a Beautiful Day. The Kind Buds were also a part of U-Mass @ Amherst’s Symposium on the Legacy of the Grateful Dead held in November of 07.

For more information, listen to The Kind Buds’s music and see pictures of this dynamic duo, please log on to http:www//thekindbuds.com or on Facebook log on to Bud & Budd ~ The Kind Buds.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

BoomBox mixes Southern rock with vintage Motown and psychedelic dance beats at Pearl Street in Northampton on Thursday, September 15th at 9PM. Psylab opens.

2011-09-06T13:31:00.006-04:00

Boombox: Zion Rock Godchaux and Russ Randolph are both producers and multi-instrumentalists. They both bring diverse musical backgrounds containing a rich history from Muscle Shoals, AL. They had a vision for a unique sound and culture that only could be achieved together.

BoomBox creates a digital blend of Southern rock and roll with a vintage mix of Motown and psychedelic dance beats. Using a multi-track platform, they are free to create their sound on the fly with a rhythm that moves the people and opens eyes into Godchaux and Randolph’s way of life.

Each live show is unique to the venue and the crowd, who are the driving force of the live, rhythmic BoomBox experience. Since there is no set list, it’s about taking in what is presented to them that night, and serving the music to that group of people, for that experience. It’s about what feels right and making each note play for the better of the music.

Performing at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado was one of the summer’s highlights. The vibe of the amazing venue that is Red Rocks alongside the energy of the fans was electric and Russ and Zion felt every second of it. To capture the day, they were joined by the multi-media production company NoCoast, to document their set. The footage includes both live the performance and interviews about the allure of Red Rocks, their new direction and the forthcoming release. Check it out here.

Openers Psylab have been Holding down the sounds of the Boston underground since 2004; touring the Northeast, performing at clubs, lofts, raves, festivals, and regional Burning Man events for thousands of fans, friends and freaks.

Tickets are $12.50 in advance at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Coming soon:

Umphrey’s McGee- Friday, September 16^th- Calvin Theatre

MASS EDMC presents MSTRBASS- Friday, September 23rd Pearl Street Ballroom (The newest dance night from our friends at MASS Electronic Dance Music Society featuring a mix of local and national DJs spinning your favorite bassheavy tracks!

Beats Antique- Friday, October 7^th –Pearl Street Ballroom

EOTO – Sunday, October 9^th- Pearl Street Ballroom

Lotus- Friday, October 21st- Calvin Theatre

MiMOSA- Saturday, November 12^th- Pearl Street Ballroom

April, come she will. April Verch, master fiddler and step dancer, plays the Iron Horse- Wednesday, September 14th at 7PM

2011-09-01T17:30:00.001-04:00

Canadian fiddler April Verch, doesn’t just perform music, she exudes it. Her ability to play any kind of roots music as though it was her native tongue is awe-inspiring. Whether singing or playing her own songs, exploring Appalachian traditional tunes, playing Ottawa Valley music, or stepdancing the rhythms of these traditions, April is always being April. Dirk Powell, a multi-instrumentalist, who’s worked with Jack White, Joan Baez, and Riverdance, is awed by April’s ability to play any kind of roots music as though it was her native tongue. Powell says. “She’s so fluent in the language of music that she never needs to imitate. She hears the heart of it and lets that become part of her core. April’s just got that, man; she’s always speaking the language for real.”

On her eighth CD, That’s How We Run, April explores the Southern mountain traditions known as old time music, but always brings her Northern roots with her. Plucky, straight-backed Canadian tunes fit so snugly beside ancient Southern airs that you’d think they’d been neighbors for centuries.

Verch is not only a world-class fiddler in many styles, but also sings rich melodies and is a wickedly fast step dancer, achieving speeds approaching undanceable. She explained that the Ottawa Valley style of dance was born in logging camps inhabited by Irish, Scots, French, Germans, and Poles, “so it’s a mixture. A little bit of tap dancing, a little bit of clogging, some Irish hard shoe, some French Canadian, all rolled into one.”

Tickets for April Verch plus Abby and Harrison Adams at the Iron Horse on Wednesday, September 14^thare $12.5o at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Eric Olsson Band celebrate the release of "Dirty Little Secret" this Friday at 7PM at the Iron Horse with cameos from the Trailer Park Horns, the MaryJane Jones, the Giggle Water Girls, and Elvis.

2011-09-01T11:21:00.002-04:00

Retiring the name of his old band Unit 7, Eric Olsson’s songwriting has evolved significantly since he mostly shelved the guitar and began obsessing over the piano. Dirty Little Secret showcases every aspect of this transformation, from ragtime to jumpy, Blues Brothers/zydeco-inspired fare to intimate ballads. At its best, it’s achieved something as genuinely Chicago blues/New Orleans Cajun as you can get in New England (we’ll call it “Dr. John Kerry” gumbo-chowdah groove). Some tunes nearly verge on the icky commercial blues/pop of Randy Newman, though mostly it’s too legitimately jazzy to get there and instead veers into melodic English rock/pop a la Queen or cabaret-style numbers (“Broken Clock”) that recall the Dresden Dolls or Bowie’s Aladdin Sane, and certainly don’t come from any place that’s sunny all the time. There are truly soulful moments in numbers like “November Song” that are 1970 Van Morrison-worthy. —Tom Sturm

Tom Mahnken reports that the Trailer Park Horns (Tom, Rick, and Greg) will be performing 4 songs with the Eric Olsson Band this Friday and you can also expect appearances from the MaryJane Jones, the Giggle Water Girls, and Elvis.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com or at the door.

The Nostradamus of modern times, The Amazing Kreskin brings his marvelous mentalist show to the Iron Horse on Saturday, September 17th

2011-08-31T16:04:00.001-04:00

With a showman’s flair, a comedian’s wit, and the capacities of a bona fide Mentalist or thought reader, The Amazing Kreskin has, for some six decades, dramatized the unique facets of the human mind…his own. His very name has become an integral part of pop culture throughout the world, invoked in comedy clubs, comic strips, print stories, and TV shows from sitcoms on through national magazines.

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, it was during the childhood game “hot and cold” that Kreskin’s remarkable ability to find hidden objects emerged. His ability to read thoughts expanded, and by his teens he also became nationally recognized in the United States as “The World’s Youngest Hypnotist”, resulting in his collaborating in psychological clinical studies extending into the realm of Parapsychology and the Power of Suggestion. By his late teens, this icon of thought transference developed a mental test that has become the highlight of his performances all over the world. This signature piece has Kreskin requesting that his check be hidden somewhere within the venue he is appearing. If he fails to find it, he will forfeit his fee.

Through the decades, audiences of all ages have been drawn to this legendary figure. How many other celebrities can boast their own television series, their own board game, over some sixteen books, their own theme song arranged by the renowned Skitch Henderson at Carnegie Hall, let alone hundreds of appearances on almost every talk/variety show to be had. His performances have been seen all over the world, and he has flown over 3 million miles.

The Amazing Kreskin has also become a training consultant to law enforcement and security personnel throughout the western world in the development in their own powers of observation and intuitive skills. Kreskin continues to offer “$50,000 to anybody that can prove that he employs paid secret assistants or confederates in any phase of his program”. It is an offer that he has held for many, many years.

Finally, through the years, Kreskin has received international recognition for extraordinary predictions often dealing with world affairs. Regarding the US Presidential Election in 2008, he logged the results with a written statement made 11 months earlier, on December 6, 2007. In the year 2008 on FOX Business News, he predicted the results of the Super Bowl three days before the game.

A few years earlier in Canada, one month before a national election, he predicted the re-election of Prime Minister Martin, and named the exact amount of seats he would carry. On the day after the election, on National Canadian Television, he reflected that the government could collapse in 14 months. He was off by 5 days. He has been called by many the Nostradamus of the twentieth century.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Keb' Mo' plays the Calvin Theatre in Northampton at 8PM on Thursday, September 22nd and the Somerville Theatre in Boston at 8PM on Friday, Sept. 23rd.

2011-08-31T12:49:00.001-04:00

Keb’ Mo's music is a purely post-modern expression of the artistic and cultural journey that has transformed the blues, and his own point of view, over time. His distinctive sound embraces multiple eras and genres, including pop, rock folk and jazz, in which he is well-versed. In total, it owes as much to contemporary music's singer-songwriter movement, encompassing his longtime friends and collaborators Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, as to the spirit of blues godfather Robert Johnson that dwells in his work. For Keb' Mo', the common bond between these influences is the underlying storytelling ethic, the power of song to convey human experience and emotional weight.

The Reflection is the first new studio album by Keb Mo since Suitcase in 2006. These twelve songs are the product of an important period of personal and professional growth for the artist formerly known as Kevin Moore. In that time, he started a new family; moved from Los Angeles to Nashville; built a state–of–the–art home studio, and founded his own label, Yolabelle International, distributed by Ryko and the Warner Music Group.
Keb Mo is a three–time Grammy Award winner for Best Contemporary Blues Album; and a key figure in the acclaimed 2003 PBS series Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues. But The Reflection is not, in essence, a blues album. In sound and spirit, it’s closer to the work of African–American "folk soul" singer/songwriters like Bill Withers, Bobby Womack, and Terry Callier.

The Reflection brings together all of this singular artist's diverse influences – pre–disco R&B, American folk and gospel, rock, blues, and more – in a sound that is truly and uniquely his own.

Through all the changes of the past several years, Keb Mo found time to play a couple of hundred shows on several continents. He composed and recorded music for the acclaimed TNT series "Memphis Beat," starring Jason Lee and Alfre Woodward. And he wrote some of the best songs of his career for The Reflection – material strong enough to attract such notable guests as country music superstar Vince Gill, nouveau–soul chanteuse India.Arie, saxophonist Dave Koz, and veteran session guitarist David T. Walker.

Tickets for the Calvin Theatre show are available at Northampton Box Office,76 Main Street. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Tickets for the Somerville Theatre show are available at SomervilleTheatreOnline.com

The new vanguard of subtle, intelligent, nuanced, and virtuoso Jazz piano IS 32 year old Robert Glasper. The Blue Note artist's trio plays the Iron Horse on Sunday, October 9th.

2011-08-30T17:20:00.002-04:00

One artist, two distinct but interwoven concepts: this is the captivating logic behind Double-Booked, pianist Robert Glasper’s third album for Blue Note, following up Canvas (2005) and In My Element (2007). An artist who “unfailingly gets the feeling right” (New York Magazine), Glasper has made waves throughout the music world as leader of both the acoustic Robert Glasper Trio and the electric, hi...p-hop-oriented Robert Glasper Experiment. With Double-Booked the 32-year-old Houston native puts his enviable versatility front and center, emphasizing these different hemispheres of his musical brain at the same time.

Career-wise, this creates a constant balancing act, and on occasion literally being double-booked, appearing with the Trio and the Experiment on the same night. Such is the storyline that emerges on Double-Booked, with conflicting voicemail messages from Terence Blanchard and Roots drummer Ahmir ?uestlove Thompson, each pulling for a different Glasper band.

“Most people, if they have different bands, they do separate albums,” says Glasper. “But I felt I’d be making more of a statement if I put it all on one joint.” The result, in essence, is a snapshot of Glasper’s life. “This is what I’m dealing with,” he continues. “It’s not like I play jazz but I also play hip-hop now and then. I’m in it, for real, both sides of the spectrum. That’s my life. A lot of people go in stages—they might focus on trio for a long time, then they change or whatever. My thing is both, all the time.”

The first six tracks on Double-Booked feature Glasper in Trio setting with longtime bassist Vicente Archer as well as drummer Chris Dave, who plays in Glasper’s Experiment band but recently came on board the Trio as well. “It’s hard to find that common thread in one cat,” Glasper enthuses. “Very few cats out there are extremely convincing in all genres of music. There’s always a wink-wink somewhere, like they play jazz really good but the hip-hop’s a little strange, or vice versa. Chris has both sides down on an even level, and he keeps on creating. He and Vicente used to play together with Kenny Garrett, so they have a history that made the linkup a lot easier. He knows the Chris-isms and Chris knows the Vicente-isms.”

As on In My Element, Glasper underlines the Trio’s hip-hop leanings with short fade-in interludes (“little Pete Rock-isms,” Glasper says) that function as short codas to some of the tunes. From the outset, with the lyrical flow and supple interaction of “No Worries,” one hears what Nate Chinen of The New York Times describes as “spongey, changeable adaptations of hip-hop rhythm tracks…Glasper himself plays as if he’s a living sample…in a kind of real-time loop.” “This is a little ditty I came up with when I was in London at a soundcheck,” Glasper recalls. “We played it that night at the show. I kept hearing people in London say ‘no worries,’ and that seemed like the title. It has a real positive, bright, ‘It’s ok’ vibe.”

“Downtime,” set mainly in 7/4, evokes a memory of Glasper looking out the window at the rain—“kind of like the ‘F.T.B.’ of this record, if you will,” Glasper says, referencing a standout track from In My Element. Both “Yes I’m Country (And That’s OK)” and “59 South,” meanwhile, touch upon Glasper’s hometown environment in Texas. The latter references a heavily trafficked highway in Houston, a cultural reference not unlike the Brooklyn Bridge in Glasper’s current home base, New York. “Yes I’m Country” prompts Glasper to explain: “I have a country swing when I play sometimes, and I like playing that way.” The vamp of the tune, an intriguing five-bar phrase, exemplifies the sort of off-kilter rapport that sets the Glasper Trio apart. “I love odd phrases that vamp,” he adds. “It brings a whole different feeling than a regular vamp.”

The Trio portion of Double-Booked culminates with an astonishing treatment of Thelonious Monk’s “Think of One.” In an ingenious and totally natural overlay, Glasper seizes an opportunity in last A section to quote Ahmad Jamal’s “Swahililand,” the chord progression that formed the basis of De La Soul’s 1996 hip-hop classic “Stakes Is High,” co-written by Glasper’s hero and friend, the late beatmaster J Dilla. “Monk and Dilla are both passed away, so when I play live I sometimes say they’re both probably in heaven, chillin’. Maybe they’re talking about this arrangement! I always wanted to mix a jazz joint with a hip-hop joint but make it dope, not contrived. Chris’s drumbeat is so crazy at the end, the hi-hat with the placement of the bass drum—you don’t get this on a jazz record, ever. That’s why I made it the last Trio tune, because it’s a perfect segue.”

From that point forward, we are firmly in Experiment-land, with Chris Dave remaining on drums—although the drum sound on this half of the album can be markedly different from the first. “4Eva,” a live excerpt featuring rap icon Mos Def, leads us straight into another world. “Butterfly” is originally from Thrust, Herbie Hancock’s 1974 landmark album. Hancock, as both a pianist and a genre-crossing innovator, is of course a huge influence on Glasper. “It just happens that every one of my records has a Herbie tune—it seems like I’m doing it on purpose,” Glasper says. “I’m not. But I had to put this on the record because it’s dope.” Casey Benjamin’s vocoder effects heighten the mystery of the melody, and a J Dilla beat called “F--- the Police” serves as a rhythmic foundation.

Benjamin’s arsenal of sonic effects is at the fore of “Festival,” colored by Glasper’s Fender Rhodes, taking wild, digressive turns over the course of 10 minutes—the Experiment sound at its most representative and expansive. “Casey has so many pedals, it’s a whole thing when he sets up, he has to go to the gig before us,” says Glasper with a laugh, noting that Benjamin is playing only alto saxophone and “nothing’s overdubbed.” A short transitional piece, “For You” by Benjamin and drummer Sameer Gupta, leads into “All Matter,” a striking, unclassifiable original by vocalist Bilal Oliver. Glasper offers: “You can really do this song in any situation, and it does stick with you. So pretty.” Derrick Hodge, the Experiment’s bassist, an accomplished composer as well as a top-shelf jazz and hip-hop sideman, contributes the final track, “Open Mind,” also featuring Bilal. It’s “a spiritual tune” in Glasper’s words, with additional textures and voice elements from turntablist Jahi Sundance, the son of alto saxophone great Oliver Lake.

Hailed by listeners and critics, Glasper has also garnered the respect of the toughest audience of all: musicians from across the jazz spectrum. In a May 2008 Blindfold Test for Down Beat magazine, a fellow pianist instantly identified Glasper and praised him as “a fantastic musician,” pinpointing characteristics of his unique style: “a harmonic maze, but also an insistent rhythm, certain turns and filigrees and ornaments, some of them sort of gospelish.” With Double-Booked, Glasper further develops all these elements and pulls them together in a new synthesis, continuing his ascent to the top ranks of modern jazz artistry.

Tickets for the Robert Glasper Trio at the Iron Horse on Sunday, October 9th are available at Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686 and at IHEG.com

Perfect-pop trio Ivy plays the Iron Horse on Tuesday, September 13th featuring Dominique Durand, Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and Andy Chase. Local sensations the Sometimes open.

2011-08-30T15:51:00.002-04:00

After tossing off so many near-perfect pop songs during the ‘90s (and a few last decade), Chelsea-based trio Ivy is finally back. Side projects have kept members Adam Schlesinger, Dominique Durand, and Andy Chase busy, but their album All Hours, set for a September release, represents the band’s first new material in five years. Said Durand earlier this month from Los Angeles, “We’ve all been very busy.”

Schlesinger is in Fountains of Wayne, while her husband, Chase, is co-owner of a busy Chelsea studio where acts like Depeche Mode recently recorded music. A few years ago, Ivy actually did record a full album, but the band decided to scrap it. “We decided to start all over again,” said Durand. “We were like, Fuck it, it’s not good enough for us.”

But last year, Ivy got serious about exploring an original sound and began the recording process all over again. “We started from scratch and got very inspired,” she said. “These new songs we are very excited about.” So what does the new Ivy sound like? A lot like old Ivy, but mostly without their trademark jangly guitars. “We wanted it to be a more upbeat and happier-sounding record,” Durand said. “There’s more energy and light to it. It’s more dance-y, for Ivy,” she said, before quickly adding that All Hours is “not a dance record.”

Songs like “Fascinated,” the new single set to drop next week, sparkle with a catchy confidence that’s filtered through an ‘80s pop prism, and seem to draw danceable inspiration from acts like Cut Copy or MGMT. But it’s lead single “Distant Lights” that sets the tone for the new record with repetitive, siren-like synths and pulsating drums, eventually giving way to sweet melodies. It’s a radical departure for the band, but a welcome one. –Charlie Amter/Blackbook

Tickets for Ivy plus The Sometimes at the Iron Horse at 7PM on Tuesday, September 13th are $12.50 at Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686, and online at IHEG.com

Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, Allman Brothers, The Dead plays Thursday, September 8th at 8PM at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton

2011-08-29T16:43:00.000-04:00

Warren Haynes is a generation-spanning guitar hero; he wasn't out of grade school when some of his best-known collaborators were at the peak of their fame, but he's earned a powerful reputation for his fiery guitar work, steeped in blues and Southern rock traditions, and has distinguished himself as a songwriter, bandleader, and solo artist as well as a gifted sideman. As rock’s foremost MVP singer-guitarist, the burly native of Asheville, North Carolina has been constantly on the move and in the spotlight for the past two decades.

During that time Haynes has maintained his tenure in Gov’t Mule, the Allman Brothers Band and the Dead, and while barely catching his breath between their tours and studio sessions, he’s also performed or cut tunes with a diverse array of musicians including Phil Lesh & Friends, James Hetfield, Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews, Kid Rock and most recently with his longtime hero BB King.

Warren Haynes’ long-anticipated solo album, Man In Motion (Concord Records), is a timeless collection of songs that crackle with modern vitality yet draw on his deepest roots as an artist. He cut the album at Willie Nelson’s studio in Austin, Texas. Haynes is known for his work in jam bands, but on the new disc he focuses on soul music – with help from Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan along with Meters members George Porter, Jr. on bass and Ivan Neville on keyboards. In the nearly two decades since his last solo outing, Gov't Mule has commanded most of his attention. "That's kind of my laboratory to do whatever I want to do," he says. "I feel like Gov't Mule is going to be recording and touring for years to come, when The Allman Brothers decide to stop, and when The Dead decide to stop. So solo records are kind of on the back burner."

The disc pumps fresh blood into the heart of soul and blues, stoked by Haynes’s Herculean prowess as both a powerhouse singer and guitarist — a reputation he’s earned as a member of three of the greatest live groups in rock history: The Allman Brothers Band, The Dead and his own Gov’t Mule.

All tickets are $28 at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Challenge your musical boundaries with the Iron Horse Breakout! Emerging Artist Series: Five hand-picked shows for September.

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Reading Rainbow, Eternal Summers at the Iron Horse Thursday, September 15^th at 10PM

Philadelphia's Reading Rainbow (above) is a two-piece boy and girl couple, utilizing a metronomic drum beat underneath an irresistible guitar crunch; nothing short of beautiful bashing beats, mesmerizing melodies, and an overall crushing display of songwriting simplicity done right. They are one of a handful of new bands with an instantly unique and penetrating sound all their own, driving a deep groove down the center of each well-beaten track on the Prism Eyes LP, creating the addicting and awe-inspiring hum of fuzz-laden pop noise that will have your heart palpitating in seconds. WATCH

In Roanoke, VA the scene is mostly cover bands but both members of the duo Eternal Summers (above) are a part of the Magic Twig Community, a collective of like-minded musicians that cherish boundless creativity and weirdo indie pop. When Yun hooked up with Cundiff, they immediately knew they had the right musical chemistry, and what resulted was something very, very punk. When they call it dream punk, they’re only partially joking. Taut, hooky and often wide-open, their sound is simple but it takes up room. They employ the quietest quiets and the loudest louds—from hazy, clanging reveries to rapid No Wave squalls calling to mind early indie legends like the Raincoats, Galaxie 500, Beat Happening, and Unrest. Eternal Summers spent the fall and winter of 2010 touring the east coast and midwest, playing with the likes of Harlem, Dum Dum Girls, Best Coast, Dan Deacon, Beach Fossils, Jenny and Johnny,and Wild Nothing to name a few. WATCH

These Unites States, Southeast Engine at the Iron Horse on Thursday, September 22^nd at 10PM

These United States (above) , from Washington DC and Lexington KY, surrender themselves to unbridled rock and roll exuberance: ringing guitars, thundering drums, desperate yearning bordering on hope. By turns larger-than-life and disarmingly intimate, this is folk in the truest sense - a sound of the moment, of the cultural and emotional forces that animate everyday existence somewhere down below the headlines. And These United States play it the way folk was meant to be played: hard, fast, big, slow, long, loud, loose, at last unburdened. They play like they mean it. Like there's never been a better time to be alive. WATCH

Southeast Engine’s (above) folk-rock aesthetic emerged from the Ohio underground in 1999. The Wrens discovered them in 2006 and led Misra Records to the band later that year. The esteemed A Wheel Within a Wheel was released in 2007 and followed with 2009’s From the Forest to the Sea. While preserving the signature sound that garnered Forest/Sea critical acclaim, the new Canary marks a dramatic step forward in regards to both songwriting and arrangement. In 2010 the band toured extensively with Deerhoof. WATCH

Dark Dark Dark, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Pillars and Tongues at the Iron Horse, Saturday, September 24^th 10PM

If you visit Dark Dark Dark's (above) website, brightbrightbright.com, you will first be greeted with the three naked asses that panel the cover of the Minneapolis sextet's newest album, Wild Go. Don't worry — these aren't anonymous asses; they belong to band members. Scroll down, though, and click the play button on their media streamer to hear "Daydreaming," and let the beautiful melancholy transport you. Dark Dark Dark revel in the world around us. On Wild Go, the chamber-folk sextet creates a stirring reminder to seek out the wonder and magic to be found in the everyday. Their sound sets Nona Marie Invie's soaring, haunting voice against an array of acoustic instruments, all the while leaving room for the listener to nestle themselves inside and take part. WATCH

A Hawk and a Hacksaw, (above) from Albuquerque, are accordionist Jeremy Barnes, who was previously the drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel and Bablicon, and violinist Heather Trost. Their music is inspired by Eastern European, Turkish and Balkan traditions, and is mostly instrumental. The band's self-titled first album (released in 2002) provided the soundtrack for the documentary Zizek!, directed by Astra Taylor, which features Slovenian cultural theorist Slavoj Žižek. Darkness at Noon (released in 2004), was the band's second release, and was recorded in England, the Czech Republic and New Mexico. WATCH

Chicago trio Pillars and Tongues focus on the abstraction of form and language in musical form. On Protection they present a portrait of how the trio's musical history executing both prepared and improvised work, responding to a wildly varied panoply of environments, performing in basements, in temples, and in state parks - has grown as a language. It is a language peppered with considerable representations of visceral forms of distinctly American art and musics: there is gospel and there is blues, there is folk, and there are even hints of Tonalism. WATCH

Elephant Revival at the Iron Horse on Tuesday, September 27^th at 7PM

Elephant Revival,(above) a neo-acoustic transcendental folk quintet from Nederland, Colorado, reveals hidden treasures deep within a vast repertoire of original material. In one show, the quintet can be seen delving into original folk pieces fused with traditional style ballads, Scottish/Celtic fiddle tunes, psychedelic country, indie rock, powerful reggae grooves, 40s/50s jazz standards and an occasional hip-hop beat amongst other styles. Elephant Revival tours in a vegetable oil powered 1989 International School Bus which was converted in 08' by the great mechanical mind of Sage Cook. The group is continually inspired to spread the message of sustainable community and eco-consciousness in this constantly changing world. WATCH

Joy Kills Sorrow at the Iron Horse on Friday, September 3oth at 7PM

Joy Kills Sorrow’s (above) new album This Unknown Science , out 9/13 on Signature Sounds is so good you could fill a bathtub with the tears of recognition it evokes. With its bold new brand of acoustic music, the Boston-based string band brings a decidedly modern sensibility to an old-world sound, channeling the prodigious talents of its individual members into elegant arrangements and well-crafted songs. While the group pays due homage to its Bluegrass roots—its name refers to one of the first radio stations to broadcast the music of Bill Monroe, the result is a radical new strain of indie “folk” music, one that bravely breaks with tradition even as it salutes the past. They have a walk-in closet full of simply stunning original songs with hauntingly profound lyrics. The songs that emerge are dark and often funny, ruminating on modern life and love with eloquence and wit. WATCH

Tickets for all these shows cost less than a large pizza and are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

New shows on sale this Friday 8/26: Australian Pink Floyd on Halloween, Brandi Carlile on Wednesday 11/2 both at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton

2011-08-22T13:10:00.001-04:00

Halloween with the Australian Pink Floyd Show, Monday, October 31at 8PM at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton

Having sold over three million tickets in concerts that have taken place in 36 countries, The Australian Pink Floyd Show is rightfully hailed as one of the most in demand touring entities currently operating. This act is so good they were even engaged by David Gilmour to perform at his 50th birthday celebration! Continuing to wow the crowds globally, TAPFS turn in jaw-dropping performances to reconnect people with the music that they love. After 23 years the shows keep rolling and the band keep doing what they love. It is still all about the music - Pink Floyd - and delivering the absolute best performance each and every night.

Brandi Carlile plays Wednesday, November 2^nd at 8PM the Calvin Theatre in Northampton

Brandi Carlile's new album "Live at Benaroya Hall" with the Seattle Symphony marks the realization of two dreams for the acclaimed singer/songwriter: "We got to work with a world class symphony and record in this legendary venue in our hometown."As Brandi's fans well know, her concerts are near legendary in their perfect communion between performer and audience. Whether she is rocking or standing quietly, tantalizingly close to the edge of the stage singing a capella, Carlile brings a riveting intensity to her shows.

Tickets for The Australian Pink Floyd Show in 3D on Monday, October 31^st at 8PM and Brandi Carlile on Wednesday, November 2^nd at 8PM at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton are on sale THIS Friday, August 26th at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Rave On: A Tribute to Buddy Holly at the Iron Horse in Northampton, on his 75th Birthday, Wednesday, September 7th at 7PM

2011-08-19T15:59:00.000-04:00

A selection of the area's best musicians and performers pay musical tribute to Buddy Holly (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959) on his 75th birthday, Holly rose and fell in the era after rock'n'roll had become a distinct art form, between Elvis and the Beatles. His best songs are spare, nervy miniatures about puppy love riddled by anxiety made manifest in itchy percussive tracks and an inability to sing more than two lines without breaking into hiccups, the musical equivalent of sweaty palms.

Performer Lineup: Fancy Trash, Salvation Alley String Band, Rocky Roberts and Friends, Stewart James & The Juke Joint Allstars, Philip Price, Jason Bourgeois, the Original Cowards, Jeff Potter, Betsy-Dawn Williams, The Lonesome Brothers

Tickets are $10 at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

The Frank Zappa/Alice Cooper connection; a bizarre history whose paths intersect this August at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton with Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa on Sunday, August 14th and Alice Cooper on Thursday, August 25th.

2011-08-11T13:52:00.000-04:00

There’s little that needs to be told by way of the straight biography typical of press releases for two artists of this stature so we thought we’d connect the dots between a shared chapter of their history.

In 1966 Vince Furnier (later Alice Cooper) and his Detroit band The Spiders graduated from high school. The band scored a local #1 radio hit and by 1967 had begun to make regular road trips to Los Angeles to play shows. They soon renamed themselves The Nazz and by the end of the year had relocated to Los Angeles permanently.

In 1968 upon learning that Todd Rundgren also had a band called Nazz, Furnier chose the gimmicky "Alice Cooper" as the band's name and adopted this stage name as his own.Cooper later stated that the name change was one of his most important and successful career moves. His look was inspired in part by one of the band's all time favorite movies; What Ever Happened to Baby Jane starring Bette Davis. "In the movie, Bette wears disgusting caked makeup smeared on her face and underneath her eyes, with deep , dark, black eyeliner." Another movie watched over and over was Barbarella. "When I saw Anita Pallenberg playing the Great Tyrant in that movie in 1968, wearing long black leather gloves with switchblades coming out of them, I thought, 'That's what Alice should look like'. That, and a little bit of Emma Peel from The Avengers".

In a 2010 interview he stated, "Why do we always have rock heroes? Why not a rock villain? I was more than happy to be rock's Darth Vader. I was more than happy to be Captain Hook.

One night after an unsuccessful gig at the Cheetah Club in Venice, California in 1968 where the Alice Cooper band emptied the entire room of patrons after playing just ten minutes, they were approached and enlisted by music manager Shep Gordon, who ironically saw the band's negative impact that night as a force that could be turned in a more productive direction. Shep arranged an audition for the band with composer and renowned record producer, Frank Zappa, who was looking to sign bizarre music acts to his new record label, Straight Records. For the audition Zappa told them to come to his house "at 7 o'clock." The band mistakenly assumed he meant 7 o'clock in the morning. Being woken up by a band willing to play that particular brand of psychedelic rock at seven in the morning impressed Zappa enough to sign them to a three-album deal. Another Zappa-signed act, the all-female GTOs, (Girl’s Together Outrageously, which included Frank Zappa’s future wife Gail) who liked to "dress the Cooper boys up like full size barbie dolls," played a major role in developing the band's early onstage look.

Alice Cooper's "shock rock" reputation apparently developed almost by accident at first. An unrehearsed stage routine involving Cooper and a live chicken garnered attention from the press, and the band decided to capitalize on the tabloid sensationalism, creating in the process a new subgenre, shock rock. Cooper claims that the infamous "Chicken Incident" at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival concert in September 1969 was an accident. A chicken somehow made its way onto the stage during Cooper's performance, and not having any experience around farm animals, Cooper presumed that, because the chicken had wings, it would be able to fly.He picked it up and threw it out over the crowd, expecting it to fly away. The chicken instead plummeted into the first few rows occupied by disabled people in wheelchairs, who reportedly proceeded to tear the bird to pieces.

The next day the incident made the front page of national newspapers, and Zappa phoned Cooper and asked if the story, which reported that he had bitten off the chicken's head and drunk its blood on stage, was true. Cooper denied the rumor, whereupon Zappa told him, "Well, whatever you do, don't tell anyone you didn't do it.”

Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa- Sunday, August 14^th 8PM Calvin Theatre

Led by his eldest son on guitar, Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa is devoted to performing the music of the late American composer and musician Frank Zappa. The band features Scheila Gonzalez on Saxophone, Flute, Keyboards & Vocals. Billy Hulting on Marimba, Mallets & Percussion. Pete Griffin on Bass. Jamie Kime on Guitar. Ben Thomas on Vocals, Joe Travers on Drums & Vocals and Chris Norton on Keyboards & Vocals. "As tribute tours go, 'Zappa Plays Zappa' is a cut above the rest." - Chicago Sun Times

Alice Cooper- No More Mr. Nice Guy Tour- Thursday, August 25^th 8PM- Calvin Theatre

Without Alice Cooper, there might never have been the NY Dolls, KISS, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Motley Crue, Slipknot or Rob Zombie ... maybe not even David Bowie, or at least not Ziggy Stardust. It's been a long and illustrious career which began in 1969 with the release of Pretties for You on Frank Zappa's Straight label. The iconic hard rocker, who literally invented the concept of the rock concert as theater, returns to what he does best on the No More Mr. Nice Guy Tour performing songs from throughout the years with a full stage show bound to horrify and delight.

Tickets for Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa at 8PM on Sunday, August 14^th and Alice Cooper at 8PM on Thursday, August 25th at the Calvin Theatre are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

“Buckner’s Bolero” and “Chin Music?” It’s The Baseball Project: Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows), and Linda Pitmon (Steve Wynn’s Miracle 3). They step up to the plate at the Iron Horse on Friday, August 26th at 7PM. Boston Red Sox feature prominently.

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"It's weird that a Yankee fan like me would end up writing more about the Red Sox, but tragedy just makes for better songs and stories than a litany of successes." Steve Wynn

What happens when your band's debut album is a run-scoring hit with both music and baseball fans? If you're The Baseball Project, you grab some friends to fill out your bench, take batting practice by writing songs for ESPN and deliver a strikeout pitch with Volume Two: High and Inside. The new album from the Baseball Project (l-r above: Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Linda Pitmon, Steve Wynn. Click photo for high res) is another winning collection of songs about the game's greats that will be pleasing to those who love America's pastime -- and fans of intelligent, melodic and fun rock. The Baseball Project makes their Northampton debut on Friday, August 26^th at 7pm at the Iron Horse Music Hall.

High and Inside is a collection that sees the quartet deftly mix witty lyrics about baseball players past and present with a sharp melodic sensibility and engaging choruses. "Fair Weather Fans" describes the band's widespread allegiances to the Giants, A's and Mariners for McCaughey, the Dodgers and Yankees for Wynn, and the Twins and Yankees for Pitmon. Yet the team most represented on High and Inside is none of those -- it's the Yankees' rivals the Boston Red Sox. McCaughey imagines a world where Bill Buckner's legacy wasn't tarnished by a groundball in "Buckner's Bolero." Wynn sings of a different tarnished legacy in "Twilight of My Career," which explores the glorious but sordid post-Sox career of Cy Young Award-winning pitcher Roger Clemens. And "Tony (Boston's Chosen Son)" is a violin-driven piece that recalls Bob Dylan's Desire as it honors late beloved Boston player and announcer Tony Conigliaro. Wynn admits, "It's weird that a Yankee fan like me would end up writing more about the Red Sox, but tragedy just makes for better songs and stories than a litany of successes."

The new album features contributions from Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard, Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, The Decemberists' Chris Funk and John Moen, Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan and The Hold Steady's Craig Finn.

The Baseball Project was born out of McCaughey and Wynn discussing their love of the game over dinner and drinks a few years ago. "It finally took flight at the R.E.M. pre-Hall of Fame induction party in New York," Wynn remembers. "Everyone was happy. The wine was flowing, the food was incredible and spring training had just started. Scott and I talked baseball until most of the party guests had cleared out. And we actually remembered it the next day."

Listen to and watch The Baseball Project

Listen to The Baseball Project on Soundcloud

And here is a special message from The Baseball Project's Steve Wynn:

"If our first tour of the year last March was dubbed the "Spring Training Tour" and then was followed in May and June by the "Regular Season Tour," it only makes sense that the end of the Summer would have to bring -- drum roll, please -- the "Pennant Race Tour." Yes, The Baseball Project is hitting the road once again and this time our endless barnstorming will take way up to the tippy-top of the Northeast and then down the Atlantic Coast. Peter will be back at First Bass (sorry, couldn't resist) and we'll be hitting new cities this time around and a few old favorites as well.

Come out and see us mix and match from our three albums (a veritable dynasty!) and be dazzled and surprised as we toss in some odd choices from our mutual back catalogues as well as some oddities from our various record collections. Anything can (and will) happen when the four of us get together. After all, we're kicking into high gear to make sure that we make it to the post-season." - Steve Wynn

Tickets for the Baseball Project with support from Winterpills at the Iron Horse in Northampton on Friday, August 26th at 7:00 PM are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Hacienda to support City and Colour on December 3rd at Pearl Street

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Los Angeles, CA – August 1, 2011. Hacienda has been announced as support on the City and Colour Fall US headline tour in support of City and Colour’s acclaimed new release, LITTLE HELL (Vagrant/Dine Alone Records).

Hacienda recently finished tracking songs for their next album with producer Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Hacienda’s album will be released in early 2012 by Collective Sounds in North America and overseas, following their album BIG RED & BARBACOA, which was released in 2010 on Alive Records.

The band has previously toured with The Greenhornes, The Black Keys, Dr. Dog, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Alberta Cross and My Morning Jacket. Hacienda also toured as Dan Auerbach’s backing band, The Fast Five, on his 2009 solo project and will be performing on several of the Daytrotter Barnstormer 5 dates later this month and in early September, alongside White Rabbits, Doug Paisley, Princeton, and Wildlife.

Tickets for City and Colour plus Hacienda in the Pearl Street Ballroom on Saturday, December 3rd are available at Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Austin’s renowned roots-steeped rockers the Band of Heathens play the Iron Horse on Friday, August 5th at 7PM. Boston’s Will Dailey opens.

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If Uncle Tupelo taught us anything, it was that two incredibly talented and hyper-creative personalities will find it difficult to co-exist within the same band structure. Apparently, the principals of the Band of Heathens didn’t bother to learn that particular lesson, as their Austin quintet is that rarest of all musical entities; a band with three distinct frontmen.

Since meeting at a mutual residency as solo acts on Austin’s fabled Sixth Street five years ago, Ed Jurdi, Colin Brooks and Gordy Quist, singers, songwriters and multi-instrumentalists to a man, have had no trouble conceding the spotlight to one another in the context of Band of Heathens’ classically inspired Americana hymns and anthems.

On their third full length, Top Hat Crown & the Clapmaster’s Son, the Heathens continue to channel the spirits of some of American music’s most powerful personalities; the swampy Rock gumbo of Tony Joe White, the inclusively freewheeling embrace of The Band, the funky Blues swing of Leon Russell, the heartland Rock ethic of Tom Petty, the Folk/Blues/Jam jump-and-run of the Grateful Dead, and the bayou translation of CSNY’s harmonic brilliance. Along with the skilled touch of producer George Reiff (Chris Robinson, Courtyard Hounds, Ray Wylie Hubbard), the Band of Heathens have crafted Top Hat Crown into a marvelously timeless extension of some of the greatest music ever made, adding their own potent contemporary twists while working within a familiar framework that has remained vibrant and vital for the past four decades.

The Band of Heathens make their Northampton debut at the Iron Horse on Friday, August 5^that 7PM with Boston-based singer/songwriter Will Dailey, whose heartfelt lyrics and folk inspired sound has resonated deeply among fans.

Tickets are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Global beats and rhythms in the Valley with a wide range of internatonal artists coming to the Iron Horse in Northampton

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Ilo Ferrera, Changes in Latitudes- Wednesday, August 3^rd 7PM Iron Horse

So Jimmy Buffett walks into a bar… This being Jimmy Buffett, the bar is on some remote corner of the map – in this case Cape Verde, the Portuguese archipelago off the coast of West Africa. The travelers dropped their bags at a hotel and went off to look for food, liquor and music. They hit a few saloons and found great music everywhere. It was like Cape Verde was Beale Street, Memphis 1955 – everybody was a musician. But even in this player’s paradise, one young man stood out and knocked the world-weariness out of these music veterans. Ilo Ferreira was called onto the small stage at a local restaurant where everyone seemed to know everyone else. Ilo was young – looked like a college senior – and handsome. He showed quiet confidence as he picked up his guitar and adjusted his microphone. Then he started to play and sing and Buffett leaned forward... As a singer/songwriter, Ilo tends to line up with Pop Rock, and country music styles. Today he’s on the road with his American band and playing with Jimmy on his tour as special guest. By his own words “… to be part of the Buffett’s family on the road is like a rock n’roll dream taking shape. The first show I did with Jimmy got me in front of 57 thousand people from day to night. The biggest crowd I ever seen before was about 3 thousand. It’s being a terrific experience for me to see how this world of rock n’roll works…” . Opening the show, a local band who tours nationally; Changes in Latitudes - Americas Premier Jimmy Buffett Tribute Show.

The Itals Sunday, August 14^th 8:30PM Iron Horse

One of Jamaica's signature harmony groups, The Itals were chiefly responsible for keeping the sound and spirit of roots reggae alive well into the dancehall era. The Itals have a genuine roots sound akin to Culture or the Mighty Diamonds. They've never really gotten their due, overshadowed by roots acts like these, not to mention Israel Vibration and the Wailing Souls. After having worked together in the late 1960's as The Westmorelites and going on to have successful solo careers, Porter, Ricketts and Davis formed The Itals in 1976. Their debut single In A Disya Time topped the Jamaican chart. Brutal Out Deh -- their first and often considered their best album from 1978-- is well-respected. Heartfelt gems like "Herbs Pirate," "Smile Knotty Dread," and "Truth Must Reveal" give an impression of why The Itals have lasted as long as they have and are about as pure as roots reggae gets. They return to the Iron Horse, with original members Keith Porter, Lloyd Ricketts and Ronnie Davis who have reunited for the first time in 15 years.

Listen to “Satisfaction” from Rasta Philosophy.

Vieux Farka Touré, Shokazoba Thursday, August 25^th7PM Iron Horse

With his 2010 World Cup performance before a billion people in Johannesburg, South Africa, Vieux Farka Touré has become one of the most celebrated African guitarists in history. Vieux now takes a dramatic next step with his new record, The Secret, produced by Soulive's Eric Krasno and featuring Dave Matthews, John Scofield, Derek Trucks, and Vieux's final collaboration with his legendary father, Ali Farka Touré. A highly talented guitarist, singer, songwriter, and percussionist, Vieux has crafted a global-minded style all his own. With flourishes of rock and reggae amidst Saharan Blues and traditional Malian melodies, Vieux Farka Touré ushers in the next generation of Mali blues. Seriously, the guy is an AMAZING guitarist and will transport you to another place.

“Vieux Farka Touré's beautifully realized debut recording both honors and extends the life work of his father, Ali Farka Touré: to explore and promote the rich music of Mali's desert north.” - Afropop Worldwide

Rolling Stone’s glowing review of Vieux Farke Toure’s new album “The Secret.”

Vieux Farka Toure VIDEO- "All the Same" featuring Dave Matthews

Sergent Garcia- Sunday September 4^th 7PM Iron Horse

Sergent Garcia, an original figure in the Latin Alternative and European mestizo music scenes, is returning to North America with a burning live show a new album out on the Cumbancha label titled “Una y Otra Vez” (Time and Time Again). A pioneer in blending the fiery Caribbean sounds of salsa, reggae, ska and dancehall with a punk attitude and continental style, Sergent Garcia's latest musical adventure finds him traveling to Colombia to dive into what is currently the epicenter of some of the world's hottest sounds. Una y Otra Vez marks this former rocker's return to his independent roots and renewed creative energy.

Cumbancha y La Gwagwita Presents : UNA Y OTRA VEZ, TIME AND TIME AGAIN, THE MAGNIFICENT RETURN OF SERGENT GARCIA. The salsa-reggae superstar solidifies his legacy and explores exciting new directions with guests from Colombia's scorching electrotropical music scene.

“Fans of Manu Chao will find Sergent Garcia immediately recognizable: insistently catchy reggae and salsa rhythms, sing-song rap, horn riffs propelling the whole mix.” - Financial Times (UK)

Boubacar Traore Trio- Wednesday, September 28^th 7PM Iron Horse

Boubacar Traoré is one of the great veteran exponents of the African blues, a guitarist, singer and songwriter with a long, and sometimes pained history. At the time of Mali's independence, 50 years ago, he was a national celebrity, and the young sharp dressers of Bamako would dance to his songs such as Mali Twist and Kar Kar Madison: he was known as Kar Kar ("Dribble") because he was also a footballer. But by the late 1960s he had returned to his home region to work as a tailor and farmer, and later, after the death of his wife, he moved to France as a migrant labourer on building sites. Thankfully, he was persuaded to start recording again in 1990, since when he has revived his career in Mali. Mali Denhou (2011/Lusafrica/Proper ) is his first album in six years and shows he's still in impressive form, matching his thoughtful, soulful voice against an acoustic guitar style that mixes blues riffs with west African influences. His easy going, gently rhythmic playing is backed by n'goni, calabash and balafon, with outstanding contributions from the French harmonica player Vincent Bucher, whose inventive, sensitive or driving solos perfectly complement Traoré's laid back style. He may be in his late 60s, but he's still one of Mali's finest musicians

Boubacar Traore “Mariama” Video

Sidi Toure –Tuesday, October 4^th 7PM Iron Horse

"Sidi Touré is a worthy successor to Ali Farka Touré. Among Songhaï musicians, Sidi is the best. Sidi Toure has all the talent, quality , simplicity, playing and singing skills, it's incredible. We need people like Sidi." - Bassekou Kouyaté

Sidi Touré was born in 1959 in the ancient town of Gao, Mali. He made his first guitar as a child, constructing it from his wooden writing slate. Growing up, Sidi Touré faced a conflict between the inexorable pull of music and the expectations of family and society, plus the significance and onus of a past that came with being born into a noble family. The Touré family had been sung about, and sung to, by traditional griots for centuries, but until Sidi Touré challenged the rules as a small boy, the Touré’s did not sing. Despite his family’s disapproval, Sidi became the lead singer of his school’s band, and then became the youngest member of Gao’s regional orchestra, the Songhaï Stars, who played bi-annual festivals like the Bamako Biennale and toured both regionally and nationally. After winning the award for best singer twice, he took the band to the northern regions of Mali and to Niger, and toured much of the western Sahel region. Throughout his time making music, Sidi’s sound has both captured and challenged his roots. His music moves from the translucent swaying takamba to the trance inducing Holley, while the lyrics often address many non-traditional issues. Sidi has a critical mind and his songs have a purpose.

Sidi was featured on The Takeaway Show with Vincent Moon. Watch the film here!

SPIN EDITOR'S PICK: Meet Malian Singer Sidi Toure

Tickets for all shows at the Iron Horse in Northampton are on sale at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Austin banjo adventurer Danny Barnes plays the Iron Horse at 7PM on Thurday, August 11th. Experimental cellist Gideon Freudmann opens.

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Danny Barnes brings the punk and jazz worlds together on his country banjo. It is the natural progression of a life filled with all kinds of music. He grew up with a love for bluegrass, surrounded by the music of his father and grandmother. Later he picked up a passion for blues and punk from his two brothers. Always producing music with a strong bluegrass feel, he adds a punk flavor and often pushes into other genres.

The 47-year old artist has over 15 years of experience writing movie scores and playing in other bands, but he seemingly broke onto the scene with last year’s multifaceted album Pizza Box, released by Dave Matthews label ATO. It’s only fitting his unique style, complete with looping and electronic percussion, has been a huge hit on tours with the Dave Matthews Band, Nickel Creek, Bela Fleck, Yonder Mountain String Band, John Popper and Keller Williams. Pizza Box highlights his often humorous, always honest and poetic voice through a wisely interconnected album that took 3 years to formulate and only 2 weeks to record.

Besides his musical skills, Barnes is also a licensed pilot, skateboarder, motorcyclist, flyfisher, unicyclist, trap shooter, and disc golfer.

“Danny’s latest effort is a fantastic collection of stories set to an Americana soundtrack. There’s something for just about everyone.” – Twangville.com

“The Bad Livers co-founder Danny Barnes is at it again with Pizza Box, his latest release that soothes our longing for John Hartford-style humor mixed with soulful banjo pickin’ and a fresh injection of inspiration.” – UncommonMusic.com

Opening the evening is Gideon Freudmann, a talented, experimental cellist that got the ear of producers from NPR's All Thing's Considered. Gideon has a sense of humor, a spirit of eclectic adventure and mastery of classic and jazz forms.

Tickets for Danny Barnes plus Gideon Freudmann at the Iron Horse in Northampton on Thursday, August 11th at 8:00 PM are on sale at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Dan Tyminski interview! Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas at Mountain Park in Holyoke this Sunday, July 24th at 7PM

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Scott Gargan, Staff Writer CT Post Published 07:46 p.m., Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Had it really been that long?

It was hard for Dan Tyminski to believe, but when Alison Krauss and Union Station returned to the studio in 2010, six years had passed since the band had recorded its last album, "Lonely Runs Both Ways."

"In some ways, it didn't feel like we had taken any time apart," Tyminski, the singer, guitarist and mandolin player, said during an interview last week.

After all, the band has spent the better part of the last two and a half decades performing and recording as a unit. Just like old friends, whose bond outlasts distance and time, they picked up right where they had left off.

"It was as if nothing had changed," Tyminski added. "Well, maybe we all looked a little older."

Fans of the bluegrass megastars will have the chance to see Alison Krauss and Union Station back together when the band performs at Mountain Park in Holyoke this Sunday, July 24th.

Following a hiatus that saw the members of AKUS pursue various solo and side projects (the most notable being "Raising Sand," Krauss' Grammy-winning collaboration with Robert Plant), the group reunited to record new material at Sound Emporium Studios and the House of Blues in Nashville, Tenn.

The result was the band's fifth studio album (Krauss' 11 overall), "Paper Airplane." The 11-track record, which features cover versions of Jackson Browne's "My Opening Farewell" and the title track written by AKUS mainstay Robert Lee Castleman, was Krauss' first No. 1 album on the Billboard Top Country Albums.

But despite the commercial success, the creation of the album didn't go so smoothly at first. After recording an initial batch of songs, the band listened back to the tracks and realized "we didn't have everything we needed for the album to be complete," Tyminski said.

"We've spent a lot of time playing together. That's the easy part," he said. "But something was missing from the song selection. It took a few weeks for us to go back and find some more material" -- including Castleman's track, which the band instantly fell in love with -- "to complete the journey and vision for the record."

Once the song selection was complete, "everything just clicked," said Tyminski, who is known for his updated version of the song "Man of Constant Sorrow," which was featured in the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

The record finds the band taking on a somber tone, with melancholic tunes focusing on themes of hardship and determination. Krauss' voice is at once angelic and heart-rending as she belts out lyrics concerning lost love. "Dust Bowl Children," a wrenching romping bluegrass number, showcases Tyminski on vocals.

Though the band's spirits were high during recording, Tyminski explained that it takes a certain degree of "emotional exploration" to "bring yourself into the place of the songs your recording."

"You can't get the point across unless you bring yourself to that level," he said.

The band members accomplish this feat, in part, by feeding off each other's energy. Even after years of being apart, the band, which has dozens of Grammy Awards and millions of record sales under its belt, has easily rediscovered that connection.

Next time, Tyminski said, they'll try harder not to let the time get away from them.

"We never intended to go that long between records," he said. "Now, we can't help but think about what we're going to do next."

Tickets for Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas at Mountain Park in Holyoke on Sunday, July 24th at 7PM Tickets at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, by phone at 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Celtic music and flamin’ fiddles galore at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton this summer from Valley locals and international troubadours alike!

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Zoë Darrow and the Fiddleheads - Friday, July 22^nd 7PM

Zoë Darrow and the Fiddleheads is a traditional Celtic band from Blandford, Massachusetts. Zoë Darrow, born in 1989, began fiddling when she was 4 years old and now leads her trio in Scottish, Irish, and Cape Breton fiddle tunes. Backed up by her dad Phillip on guitar and Tom Coburn on piano, Zoë Darrow and the Fiddleheads have been performing publicly since 1999. Zoë is currently studying anthropology and ethnomusicology at Mount Holyoke College, but still maintains a performance schedule along with her academic pursuits. Zoë's recordings Please Don't Eat the Fiddleheads! and Fiddle Me This include both traditional and contemporary fiddle tunes. Current performances feature favorites from those recordings plus new inspirations from her trips to Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, and Ireland. Zoë's fiddling, step dancing, and charming persona add up to a show that has been pleasing audiences throughout the Northeast.

Karan Casey & John Doyle, Buille - Monday, August 1^st 7PM

Karan Casey and John Doyle were both founding members of the Irish supergroup Solas, and they both left the group for successful solo careers. In 2008, they got together to produce a CD, but before they could release it and tour together, John was offered a position as musical director and guitarist for Joan Baez. Now, finally, John and Karan are heading out on tour to sing the songs from the new CD, Exile's Return. Karan has been twice voted Best Female Traditional/Folk artist by Irish Music Magazine readers and her nomination for a prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Award. Doyle has spent most of his life enveloped by traditional Irish music, his main focus being the guitar. He’s worked with several prominent figures in the Irish community, including Frank McCourt (author of Angela’s Ashes).

Buille was formed in 2004 by Armagh born brothers Niall and Caoimhín Vallely along with Paul Meehan and Brian Morrissey as a vehicle to perform a body of new tunes written in a traditional style with contemporary arrangements. The groups’ debut album. “Buille” was released in 2005 to rave reviews and was described in the Irish Times: "Buille is as fresh a breath that's blown through traditional (and roots) circles in a long, long time." Buille are back now with a new project and album entitled “Buille 2”. This is a much more ambitious project featuring more large scale compositions and arrangements and utilizing a much bigger ensemble.

Coyote Run, Sarah The Fiddler- Thursday, August 4th 7pm

Bagpipes, guitars, accordion, whistles, didgeridoo, electric bass, killer drums, and much more greet the audience at a Coyote Run concert. Something in the alchemical mix of players and their unique backgrounds creates a seamless, adrenaline filled show that never lets up. From the growling, rhythmic screams of the didgeridoo, to the rich, polyrhythm of the drums, to the monstrous and intricate bass lines, the wailing lead guitar, the filigree of the accordion, the triumph of the bagpipes and the lyrical whimsy of the whistles, this is a band that is unlike any other and is not soon forgotten.

The moment her bow touches the strings (Sarah Michel) Sarah The Fiddler's passion for music is evident. Combining her influences of classical, bluegrass, and celtic music to create a unique style and sound. For the first few years of her playing career in New England Fiddle contests, Sarah was known as the girl with the red hat. Eventually it was her playing that was being recognized. Although classical music has been a staple in Sarah's music career, her passion lies with fiddling. At the age of six, she began lessons and was introduced to fiddle contests. She has entered and won over three hundred contests throughout New England and during her twenty year career.

April Verch - Wednesday, September 14^th 7PM

The photos on April Verch’s seventh album are a bit deceiving. The freshly scrubbed beauty could be mistaken for a young television star versus an accomplished player and composer, who started step-dancing at age three and playing the fiddle at age six. Who, by the age of ten, was winning fiddle contests and touring Canada -- releasing two solo albums before graduating from high school. Now, Verch, who leads her band with her own simultaneous fiddling and dancing (selling out prestigious venues and festivals for years), is giving notice that she is emerging to take the role of one of the top women in the roots genre with her recent release, Steal The Blue. April Verch performed in the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC.

Seven Nations - Thursday, September 15^th 7PM

Seven Nations — the name refers to the seven original Celtic nations of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Galecia, Isle of Man, and Brittany — officially began in 1993 in New York City with a standard line-up of drums, guitars, and bass,” notes lead singer and guitarist Kirk McLeod. With a passionate, tender, and rollicking style that winningly veers from roots and folk to dance and fusion-rock, Seven Nations has earned a growing reputation as an adventurous band with a charismatic stage presence. Seven Nations has been touring full-time since 1994 with successful stops in Europe, Canada, Puerto Rico, and virtually every state in the US. The band’s latest album, Time as the Enemy has been praised for “having the appeal of the original albums, yet a mature songwriting style. The lyrics are relatable, surprising, and the pipe/fiddle hooks stir a desire to listen to the album over and over.”

Coming Soon:

Saturday, September 17^th at 10PM The Big Bad Bollocks

Monday, October 3^rd at 7pm Great Big Sea frontman's new project: Sean McCann and the Committed

Tickets for all of these shows at the Iron Horse in Northampton are for sale at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com. Doors and dinner from 5:30. Music starts at 7PM.

Spicy urban beats from French-born Chilean MC Ana Tijoux at the Iron Horse on Sunday, July 31st at 7PM

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There’s a surprising gap between MTV mainstream hip-hop and the uber-coolness of what’s actually happening to the music nowadays. Unknown to the mainstream audiences, French-born Chilean MC Ana Tijoux may very well be that elusive next best thing in hip-hop music. Ana’s album 1977 pays tribute to the old-school hip-hop, mixing organic vinyl scratches, urban grooves, jazzy horn samples and Latin sounds. Ana’s voice is velvety and smoky, some times whispery, yet always seamlessly flowing with the the beats. One song standing out is the largely autobiographical title track “1977″ with its strong melody, Mexican trumpets, dynamic rhythms and truly excellent production.

Anamaría Merino (born 1977), commonly known by her stage name Ana Tijoux or Anita Tijoux, is a French-Chilean musician. She became famous in Latin America as the female MC of hip-hop group Makiza during the late 1990s. In 2006, she crossed over to the Latin mainstream pop due to her collaboration with Mexican songstress Julieta Venegas in the radio hit "Eres para mí". She is currently promoting her second solo album, 1977.

Tijoux is the daughter of Chilean parents living in political exile in France during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship of Chile. After the return to democracy in Chile, Tijoux flew back to her father's land. Being a teenager, she found home in the emerging hip-hop scene of Santiago and she started rhyming first in French, then in Spanish. For a while, she formed part of a group that included Zaturno, later of Tiro de Gracia. In 1997, she joined Seo2, Cenzi, and DJ Squat to form Makiza.

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Tickets for Ana Tijoux at the Iron Horse in Northampton on Sunday, July 31st at 7:00 PM are $15 at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Bright Eyes, Titus Andronicus join summer schedule at Mountain Park in Holyoke on Sunday, August 28th at 7PM. Tickets on sale this Friday, 7/15.

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The summer line-up at Mountain Park in Holyoke continues to roll out, adding Bright Eyes plus Titus Andronicus on Sunday, August 28^th at 7PM. Combined with The Decemberists on July 31^st, Bon Iver on August 6^th and Fleet Foxes on September 25^th, Mountain Park is presenting a top-shelf representation of some of the brightest and most original new bands of this generation.

Bright Eyes became a household name (in a certain kind of household) when, for a few months in early 2005, they seemed ubiquitous. From magazine covers to late night talk shows, they were name-checked by everyone from sports casters to country stars. Conor Oberst has spent much of the last few years recording and touring with friends and musicians, The Mystic Valley Band, as well as releasing a a highly acclaimed album and tour as part of the so called indie supergroup Monsters of Folk. The People’s Key – the band’s seventh studio album – is the eagerly awaited follow-up to 2007’s acclaimed Cassadaga.. Fully realized and bursting with charisma, The People’s Key is assured and accomplished, artfully arranged and filled with the engaging and mesmeric songwriting for which Oberst is renowned.

Titus Andronicus is a punk/indie band from Glen Rock, New Jersey formed in 2005. The group takes its name from the Shakespeare play Titus Andronicus. Their debut album, The Airing of Grievances received widespread acclaim. The album's loud, heavily distorted guitars are influenced by the shoegaze genre, while the lyrics and song titles are references to various books and other forms of entertainment (such as the album title, from the Seinfeld episode, "The Strike", about Festivus). Titus Andronicus' second album, The Monitor, was released on March 9, 2010, the same month that Rolling Stone magazine named the band one of the 10 best new bands of 2010.

Tickets for Bright Eyes plus Titus Andronicus at Mountain Park in Holyoke on Sunday, August 28th at 7:00 PM are $30 (General Admission) on sale THIS Friday, July 15th at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Jimbo Mathus (of the Squirrel Nut Zippers) and his band the Tri-State Coalition roll into the Iron Horse on Monday July 18th at 7PM. TheWildcat O’Halloran Band opens.

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The late, great producer, raconteur, pianist, session man, artist and sage Jim Dickinson once called Jimbo Mathus "the singing voice of Huck Finn." Outside the South, Jimbo is likely best known as the ringleader of the hyper-ragtime outfit Squirrel Nut Zippers, or as the catalyst for Buddy Guy's breakthrough “Sweet Tea” in 2001 and Guy's Grammy-winning Blues Singer album. In his native Mississippi, and throughout the South, Mathus is recognized as the prolific songwriter of born-in-the-bone Southern music, the torchbearer for Deep South mythology and culture. Think Delta highways, bowling-pin Budweisers and "innerplanetary honky-tonk" for the masses. His credits include vocals on the North Mississippi Allstars' “Electric Blue Watermelon” and was, himself, Grammy-nominated for his participation on the Jim Dickinson memorial album, Onward and Upward as a member of Luther Dickinson & The Sons of Mudboy. He recorded Confederate Buddha, his latest solo album, with his current band The Tri-State Coalition, featuring solid talent cut from the same Delta cloth. He describes the sound as "...a true Southern amalgam of blues, white country, soul and rock-n-roll."

On August 2^nd, Katharine Whalen will release her newest full-length album, “Madly Love”. Best known as a founding member of 1990’s band Squirrel Nut Zippers (with whom she sold over 3 Million records), Whalen’s work post-Zippers has ranged from her own take on jazz standards with “Katharine Whalen’s Jazz Squad” to the avant-pop of her “Dirty Little Secret” release. Whalen started writing the songs on “Madly Love” during her last couple of years with the Zippers and says that the songs, “manifest a very true voice for me”. It’s hard to categorize the music on “Madly Love”, but one could make the case that its blend of Irish blues and Southern-tinged rock falls under the rather broad definition of “Folk Music”. Whalen notes, “As I wrote these songs, I was accessing very early memories of the grown-ups playing records constantly around the house. Arlo Guthrie, The Everly Brothers, Mitch and Mickey, The Folks Men, and “The ‘New’ Main Street Singers were in heavy rotation, not to mention Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs!”

Whalen is a chronic passionate creator, and the common thread winding its way through her creations – be it music, building dollhouses, drafting posters, or writing her column on picnics for a local paper in her North Carolina hometown – is a general contagious exuberance. With “Madly Love”, she offers up a raucous (yet, at times bittersweet) collage of news-clipping from the pages of her life; swinging and swaying, our heroic belter throws open the barn doors, and we can’t help but join the party!

Tickets for Jimbo Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition plus the Wildcat O’Halloran Band at the Iron Horse on Monday July 18^th at 7PM and for Katharine Whalen and Her Fascinators plus the Primate Fiasco at the Iron Horse on Wednesday, August 17th at 7PM are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Gillian Welch to play Northampton’s Calvin Theatre on Monday, November 28th at 8PM. Tickets on sale next Friday, July 15th.

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Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings met at an audition for a country band while attending Berklee College of Music. Together, they moved to Nashville where most of their work together has transpired. They have since influenced and inspired new generations of country and folk singers, songwriters and players and earned the slavish admiration of many of the most lauded and loved voices of the Americana milieu. They’ve had their songs recorded by the likes of Willie Nelson, Emmylou Harris, and Solomon Burke.

Gill and Dave’s body of work is deeply rooted in the world it has sought to portray in song: the American South. The Harrow & The Harvest, Gill and Dave’s new record is the product of two people who have become so entwined in one another that the songs and the singing and the playing on this record seems to exude from a single voice. The sound of two people playing live, with no overdubs, and very few takes. Two people making music together as if they were one soul combined.

Tickets for Gillian Welch at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton on Monday, November 28th at 8:00 PM are on sale next Friday, July 15th at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Disappears, The Psychic Paramount - Psychedelic shoegaze haze and Krautrock grooves on a very heavy co-bill at the Iron Horse Monday, July 25th at 8:30. Amherst band Lord Jeff opens.

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Disappears: Drawing on a combined reverence for reverb, heavy tremolo, distortion, delay and repetition, Disappears play minimal rock music inspired by everything from Kraut to American gospel to punk. Started as a recording project in 2008, Disappears inevitably left the studio - supporting Wire, Deerhunter, Tortoise, German legends Cluster and beyond.

WATCH Disappears “Superstition” video.

Initially designed to explore the simplicity of early American music and it's reinterpretation by UK acts of the mid 80's, the band self released a series of 7" singles and a live album in 2008, signing to the Kranky imprint in 2009. Their debut album Lux was released in the spring of 2010. Sans a few early champions, Lux was initially met with little fanfare and went largely unnoticed. Dark and hazy, it showed the band experimenting with minimal arrangements married to the attitude of bands like Suicide and The Fall.

A series of US tours followed, the band criss crossing the states playing to small but enthusiastic crowds. Undeterred, Disappears entered the studio a mere month after Lux's release to record their follow up Guider. Propulsive and violent, Guider perfectly represents the state of the band - uncompromising and uninterested in a world deluded with hype and numerical evaluations. Anchored by the 16 minute "Revisiting", Guider showed the band locking in on the minimalism hinted at on earlier releases as well as fully giving into the ideas of repetition and space explored by influences like the Staple Singers and Neu!.

A chance meeting with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth proved not only instrumental in the band supporting Michael Rother on his Hallogallo tour (on which Steve played drums) but also to his eventual joining of the band following Gibson's amicable departure. Bolstered by Shelley's presence as well as the critical acclaim upon Guider's release, Disappears launched a series of successful tours in the US, United Kingdom and Europe. Shelley joins them for the Iron Horse show.

The Psychic Paramount: The key to The Psychic Paramount is rhythm. It's easy to invoke Can and Faust if any band has that essential kraut-rock beat, which is certainly here, but Jeff Conaway is so loose on the jam and so fierce on the fills that he's like a jazzier John Bonham. In fact, that's what separated The Psychic Paramount then, as it does now: a collective looseness that suddenly zeroes in like a machine gun on its target. Their sound is instrumentally driven and often heavily psychedelic with cosmic Rhys Chatham guitar exercises — a drone-like bed with subtle, bluesy leads — and sudden turns into acrobatic noise that threaten a spectacular crash. But the trio always finds its way back to the essential jam, its quick-cut twists and turns like a Bourne Supremacy for the senses.

Watch The Psychic Paramount “N5” video.

"Like the instrumental way stations within a bloodthirsty performance by a band with songs (like, say, The Who's Live at Leeds)... or like free jazz with rock syncopation and dynamics. There’s some pacing, some narrative, lots of purpose, but the basic idea is to be always exploding in your face." New York Times

"Huge jams that soar, crash, and smolder-- often at the same time-- the band pumps extra blood and muscle into their sound, as if stretching a balloon into a blimp." –Pitchfork

Lord Jeff—aka Lord Jeffery Amherst—is most certainly the only Valley band to lose members to Scientology, a drive-by shooting, and Katy Perry. The group has been a working concern for almost a decade, playing countless shows and releasing a string of recordings, including the recent eponymous album for Ecstatic Peace! The group incorporates a diversity of styles into its music. “We are droney, reverbed-out, Dirty South, crunk, psychedelic rap with or without drum machines” says lead singer Sean Goggins. "It's all been a blur. I think we've played close to 400 shows by now, self released three albums and five tapes, toured the country four times." Over 20 musicians have passed through the ranks of Lord Jeff, but Goggins is convinced that the current lineup sounds better than any assembled in the last decade.

Tickets are $10 at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.co

Summertime Blues at the Calvin Theatre and the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton

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Jonny Lang - Friday, July 22^nd 8pm at the Calvin Theatre

At times Jonny Lang sounds more like a seasoned bluesman from the Delta than a contemporary musician from North Dakota. His extraordinary singing and guitar playing stamped him as a once-in-a-generation blues talent. His 1997 debut, “Lie To Me” topped the charts and critics marveled at the poise and maturity the 16-year-old artist displayed. Lang has toured with Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, and Blues Traveler, as well as headlining around the world. The late Luther Allison said, "Jonny Lang has the power to move the music into the next millennium by reaching the ears of a new generation. The great musicians have the power to break all of the ‘isms’ -race, age, sex, etc. Jonny Lang is one of those musicians."

Johnny A- Saturday, July 16^th 7PM Iron Horse

Johnny A played as a sideman with such artists as Bobby Whitlock and J. Geils frontman Peter Wolf. He belongs in the rarified ranks of players like Jeff Beck, Bill Frisell and Carlos Santana; he's recognizable from the first note. He has created a unique voice, not just playing guitar - he plays music. Gibson Custom Guitars introduced the Johnny A. Signature Model in 2003, designed from the ground up per Johnny's specs. Devotion to melodies, tight dynamics and succulent tones perfectly temper Johnny's balance of fire and ice.

Kenny Neal - Saturday, July 30^th 7pm at the Iron Horse

The album Let Life Flow marks the return of multi-instrumentalist and modern swamp-blues master Kenny Neal, with an inspired set that draws musically from the sizzling sounds of his native Louisiana. Kenny Neal, born in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge, began playing music at a young age. Learning the basics from his father, singer and Blues harmonica master, Raful Neal. Family friends like Lazy Lester, Buddy Guy and Slim Harpo also contributed to Kenny’s early musical education. In fact, it was Harpo who gave the crying three-year-old a harmonica to pacify him. Kenny stopped crying that day. Whether performing songs of soulful catharsis or hip-shaking celebration, Neal pays tribute to his diverse influences, while injecting a heartfelt sentiment born of the real-life, human struggles that any listener can relate to.

Shemekia Copeland - Saturday, August 6^th 7PM at the Iron Horse

At a young age, Shemekia Copeland is already a force to be reckoned with in the blues. While still in her 20s, she’s opened for the Rolling Stones, headlined at the Chicago Blues Festival and numerous festivals around the world, scored critics choice awards on both sides of the Atlantic (The New York Times and The Times of London) and shared the stage with such luminaries as Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Taj Mahal and John Mayer. Heir to the rich tradition of soul-drenched divas like Ruth Brown, Etta James and Koko Taylor, Copeland’s shot at the eventual title of Queen of the Blues is pretty clear. By some standards, she may already be there.

Samirah Evans and Her Handsome Devils -Saturday, August 13^th 7PM at the Iron Horse

In New Orleans, a city known worldwide for its music, Samirah Evans was one of its most popular jazz & blues vocalists. She first performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 1990, and became a regular fixture as either a leader or featured vocalist for fourteen consecutive years. She has toured Europe, Asia, and both North and South America as a headliner, and shared stages with a multitude of legendary artists from B.B. King and James Brown, to New Orleans own Queen of Soul, Irma Thomas. Samirah’s connection to the jazz lineage and her message of love and excitement radiates from the entire band like a giant light beam! She purrs, she roars, her voice subtle then huge, nuanced then powerful, her phrasing always exact.

Tommy Castro Band Tuesday, August 23^rd 7PM at the Iron Horse

R&B singer, songwriter and guitarist Tommy Castro is one of the most popular and creative roots artists to emerge in recent years. Castro, winner of the 2008 Blues Music Award for Entertainer Of The Year, is famed not only for his hard-hitting, impassioned vocals, soaring guitar work and his blues-infused, rocking R&B sound, but also for his striking, original songwriting and exhilarating stage show. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, “Castro navigates seriously funky Southern soul, gritty big city blues and scorching rock…his silvery guitar licks simultaneously sound familiar and fresh.”