Upcoming Shows

Rap J

TodayAugust 16, 20258:00pm $10.00

Rap J is an artist born and raised in Milwaukee, WIsconsin. At the age of six years old, he started freestyling and discovered his passion for hip hop. Born with cerebral palsy, Rap J uses music to express himself and showcase that the condition does not define him. His musical influences include Michael Jackson, Biggie,....

Rory Block

TomorrowAugust 17, 20258:00pm $25.00

Rory Block is a legendary blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter, known for her powerful and authentic interpretations of traditional country blues and her own original compositions. Born in Princeton, NJ, she grew up in Manhattan and was immersed in the Greenwich Village folk music scene, where she met influential....

Reggae "One Love" Party

MondayAugust 18, 20257:00pm $8 advance / $10 door

International Roots Rock Reggae Meltdown/wnov-860am-106.5fm wnovmusic.com hosted by Reggae DJ Ras Joel presents REGGAE "ONE LOVE" PARTY featuring Madison Award Winning Reggae Band NATTY NATION REGGAE BAND with Special Guest: Ras Amerlock Dub Band.

Recently Added Shows

Shadowgrass

MondaySeptember 1, 20258:00pm $20.00

When their instrumental prowess earned them a vast following on social media, childhood friends turned all-star act Shadowgrass found sudden success. But as a young band, the expectations that went along with a large audience proved daunting. "We felt a lot of pressure to make something uniquely us, because we had such a....

Red Leather

TuesdaySeptember 2, 20258:00pm $20 advance / $25 door

Red Leather is an anonymous alternative-rock artist from Reno, Nevada. Rising to fame in 2023, he has amassed millions of streams and a dedicated fanbase on all platforms and at his live shows. Red Leather's music tells a raw and honest story of his battles with addiction, his journey to sobriety, and his pursuit of the....

The Imaginaries

ThursdaySeptember 18, 20258:00pm $12.00

The Imaginaries sophomore album, Fever, out August 22, is a salvation-after- struggle themed album, bursting with gritty blues-rock riffs, mesmerizing vocal harmonies, driving pop-rock tunes, heartfelt singer-songwriter ballads, delicious guitar tones, and dazzling solos. The 12-song collection boasts guitar-solo cameos....

Early James

FridaySeptember 19, 20258:00pm $20.00

Mason Jennings

ThursdayOctober 16, 20258:00pm $25.00

Adam Ezra Group

WednesdayNovember 5, 20258:00pm $20.00

Iam Tongi

FridayNovember 14, 20258:00pm $35 advance / $40 door

For Iam Tongi, music is about transformation -- and it always has been. A Hawaiian-born singer- songwriter and the Season 21 champion of American Idol, Tongi first picked up a ukulele in the fifth grade, immersed in a deeply musical world filled with the traditional singing and dance of Pacific Island cultures. Tongi....

Thomas Dolby

SundayNovember 16, 20258:00pm $45.00

Perhaps best known for blinding us with science, Thomas Dolby has always blurred the lines between composition and invention. Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the....

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

ThursdayNovember 20, 20258:00pm $20 advance / $25 door

The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band has performed in 38 countries and 48 states. They have been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, Living Blues, Elmore, donned the cover of Vintage Guitar Magazine, had #1 records on the Billboard Blues Charts, and have been nominated for three Blues Music Awards by the Blues Foundation in....

Panorama: A Tribute to The Cars with DJ Paul H

SaturdayDecember 6, 20258:00pm $15 advance / $20 door

The Cars were the prototypical American new wave band. Known for their refreshing and clever songwriting in an era of bombastic art rock and mindless disco, The Cars were a unique blend of analog synthesizers, muted power chords, catchy choruses and muscular guitar heroics. Milwaukee music stalwarts Mike Benign, Don....

Anthony Gomes

SaturdayDecember 13, 20258:00pm $20 advance / $25 door

Teenage Bottlerocket, Boris The Sprinkler, Rodeo Boys

FridayDecember 19, 20258:00pm $20.00

GeminiiDRAGON

SaturdayJanuary 17, 20268:00pm $20.00

The New Orleans, LA vocal dynamo. From the murky bayous of Louisiana, comes a fresh face to the Blues music scene. The BLUES vixen GeminiiDRAGON has channeled her love for the late 60s era and 70s blues and AOR bands/artists the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, Freddie King, , Koko Taylor, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ....

Alternative Concert Group Presents

Dream Theater

WednesdaySeptember 24, 20258:00pm

At the Miller High Life Theatre, Milwaukee, WI.

Tickets on sale at here.

Violent Femmes SOLD OUT

SaturdayOctober 18, 20258:00pm

At the Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI.

Tickets on sale at here.

Violent Femmes

SundayOctober 19, 20258:00pm

At the Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI.

Tickets on sale at here.

Ryanhood

FridayDecember 19, 20258:00pm

At Linneman's Riverwest Inn

An evening of songs and storytelling, heartstrings and laughter, A Winter's Evening with Ryanhood is a live holiday touring show based on the duo's record, On Christmas, that showcases the high-energy, big-harmony, dueling acoustic guitar approach that Ryanhood fans across the country have come to expect.

Featuring a blend of original holiday compositions, wintry covers, and reworked classics woven together with holiday stories and memories, Ryan David Green and Cameron Hood invite audiences to experience the joy, depth, intimacy, and excitement of the holiday season by sharing A Winter's Evening with Ryanhood.

Named 'Best Group/Duo' in the International Acoustic Music Awards, acoustic-duo Ryanhood got their first break more than a decade ago as street-performers at Boston's Quincy Market. It was there that they were spotted by a college booking agent and thrust into the college touring scene, where Campus Activities Magazine would name them "one of the most requested acts by college buyers all across the country." They've since gone on to perform more than a thousand shows in 46 U.S. states over the past decade, and have shared stages with Jason Mraz, Matt Nathanson, Train, and many more.

And, their star is still on the rise. Ryanhood was recently named the "Discovery of the Year" by John Platt at WFUV in New York City, and was a featured act at Australia's National Folk Festival in 2018.

Their latest album Under the Leaves, sees the pair's lead guitarist Ryan David Green stepping into the role of sole producer, weaving a tapestry of lush strings and rich harmonies. The album, like their shows, is driven by strong acoustic guitar performances and is at turns energetic, hopeful, and quietly moving--a musical invitation to breathe, and to soak in a river of melodies and harmonic hooks.

Cameron Hood, the band's primary lyricist, has waded into those musical rivers with dream-like verses about seeds and forests, breath and wind, and the cycles and seasons that frame our lives. Throughout the album's songs, a question is asked: How do we create meaningful and lasting change in a world filled with division and turmoil? The offer on Under the Leaves is to slow down and face the one thing we have the power to change -- ourselves -- as the duo sings on the album's second track, "the only revolution is the one within."

Green and Hood currently reside in their hometown of Tucson, Arizona, where they have won more than a dozen Tucson Music Awards including "Best Folk Band" and "Best Rock Band" (you can decide for yourself which is most accurate).

Pete Correale

FridayFebruary 6, 20268:00pm $45

At the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, Brookfield, WI.

Tickets on sale at here.

Gregorian Pure Chants World Tour featuring songs of Enigma

WednesdayMarch 18, 20267:30pm

At South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, WI.

Tickets on sale online, at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center box office or by phone at 414-766-5049.

Quick Calendar

Dan Navarro's long and eclectic resume includes "songwriter," "recording artist," "singer", "voice actor", "producer", "road warrior" and "arts advocate" in its extensive range of credits.

His former acoustic duo, Lowen & Navarro, released 13 albums from 1990-2008, enjoyed widespread Triple A radio airplay and performed 1500 shows before Eric Lowen's retirement in 2008 and passing from ALS in 2012. Dan set out solo in 2006.

In March 2024, he debuted as a co-producer of Jesse Lynn Madera's acclaimed album, "Speed of Sound", including the touching co-written duet "Last Call", now making waves at Americana, Folk and Triple A radio.

Dan's 2022 album, "Horizon Line", reunited Dan with Grammy® winning producer Jim Scott, who helmed six L&N albums. The album features performances from Chris Stills, Steve Postell (David Crosby, The Immediate Family), Doug Pettibone (Lucinda Williams), Brian Whelan (Dwight Yoakam), Jimmy Paxson (Lindsay Buckingham), Mai Leisz (David Crosby, Jackson Browne), Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing), Taras Prodaniuk & Michael Jerome (The Richard Thompson Trio), Phil Parlapiano (John Prine), Peter Adams, Aubrey Richmond (Shooter Jennings), Carlos Murguia, Leyla Hoyle and Derek Nakamoto. The album twice charted Top Ten at NACC Folk, and reviews have been the finest of Dan's career.

In July 2021, he released a duo album with James Lee Stanley, "All Wood and Led", with acoustic "Laurel Canyon" re-imaginations of Led Zeppelin tunes which saw extensive radio action at Americana stations nationwide.

As a songwriter, Dan has written or co-written heartfelt songs for Pat Benatar (the Grammy® nominated "We Belong"), The Bangles, Japanese girl group Wink (the #1 hit "One Night in Heaven"), Dutch superstar Marco Borsato (the Top Ten "Je Hoeft Niet Naar Huis Vannacht"), Dave Edmunds, The Temptations, Dionne Warwick, and Austin outlaw country legend Rusty Weir.

His songs have appeared in the films Deadpool 2, Pitch Perfect 2 and Talladega Nights, TV series This Is Us, Mare of Easttown, Halt and Catch Fire, American Idol, The Voice, American Dad and The Office and national commercials for Corona Beer, Sargento Cheese, Pepsi, Sheraton Hotels, Chase Bank and the United Way.

As a bilingual singer and voice actor, he sang in Oscar® winners Encanto (including the #1 hit "We Don't Talk About Bruno"), Coco and Happy Feet, the 2022 hit Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, the new Latin-themed Father of the Bride, plus Sing 2, The Addams Family, Dora and the City of Lost Gold, The Lorax, and two Ice Age films; TV series The Simpsons, Prison Break, Close Enough and American Dad; voiced characters in the films Pirates of the Caribbean 5, The Book Of Life, The Playmobil Movie, and TV series Invincible, The Boys: Diabolical, Pantheon, Ultra City Smiths, We Bare Bears, and nearly 500 episodes of Family Guy and American Dad; dubbed English voices on foreign TV series Team Chocolate, Love Is Blind: Brazil, La Ultima, 4Ever and Machos Alfa; sung on albums by Luis Miguel, Andrea Bocelli, Jose Feliciano and Neil Young; voiced video games Red Dead Redemption II, Fallout 4 and Uncharted 4, and performed vocals and voice-overs in literally hundreds of commercials for Toyota, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Honda and more.

During the 2020 Covid pandemic lockdown, Dan launched his "Songs From the CoronaZone" live stream series, running almost daily for much of the run of over 250 2-hour+ live streams in 13 months, on Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Twitch and the now-defunct Periscope. He then taught live stream techniques in workshops for SAG-AFTRA and Folk Alliance's "FAR-West" region (earning FAR-West's 2021 Humanitarian Award in the process), as well as online songwriting classes dubbed "Songwriting and the Creative Muse".

In his "spare" time, Dan serves on the Board of SAG-AFTRA, the AFL-CIO actor-performer-broadcaster's union; is a Trustee on the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Fund; serves on the Unclaimed Royalties committee of the Mechanical Licensing Collective and is a past president of Folk Alliance International. He has been a vocal activist in Washington DC for intellectual property rights for over 20 years, having testified in 2023 before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on IP and the US Patent and Trademark Office on AI and copyright, as well as the US Senate Judiciary Committee and the Copyright Royalty Board.

Dan Navarro's music probes life at its most resonant. In his rich baritone, he sings songs of heart and insight, steeped in experience, soulful tales from a long road well-traveled.

He's the proud father of a 27-year old filmmaker son, thinks art is food, music is love, and sleep is for babies.

In a town known more for generating pop country 'hat acts' and contemporary Christian music, there is a storm brewing. Small independent bands with no management, booking, record labels (or even local media support) are changing the way people think about Nashville Tennessee.

Now they've got three full length CD's under their belt. 'Sucker Punched', (Dec.2006), 'Three Step Windup' (April,2008) and 'Hang Your Stockings..... Say Your Prayers' the band's Christmas CD (Nov, 2008). Each one totally DIY, produced and engineered by Firebaugh and Dickson and recorded in Andrew Dickson's garage, lovingly known as 'Studio D'. Each CD blends elements of honkytonk, rockabilly, psychobilly, and straight up rock and roll. Every member of the Hillbilly Casino brings their own special flavor to the band, from Nic's background in hip hop and rockabilly, to Geoff's love of old school punk rock and ska, and you'll find elements of all of this in every Hillbilly Casino record and show. 2008 also saw the release of 'Buy-in' a full length Documentary by Doug Farrar at Rockstep Creative. Doug followed the band around for over a year, attending dozens of shows, and collecting performance, and interview footage, which he compiled into a revealing look at a band just trying to make a living and have fun.

While you'll see a lot of bands sitting around waiting to get 'signed', the Hillbilly Casino took a cue from bands like Black Flag, Fugazi, and Youth Brigade, booking their own tours, and producing and releasing their own CD's and T-shirts, and spending hundreds of hours in their old grey Econoline van getting the rock 'n' roll out to the people. From thirty minute opening slots, to 3 and 4 hour marathon sets, these boys are gonna bring their 'A' game, and you'll probably get tired before they do.

The Hillbilly Casino has performed along with the following national Acts...
Brian Setzer Orchestra (7 shows), Rev. Horton Heat, Rancid, Los Straightjackets, Southern Culture on the Skids, Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, The Horrorpops, The Blasters, The Supersuckers, Doyle Bramhall, 7 Shot Screamers, Koffin Kats, Flatfoot 56, Lonesome Spurs, Three Blue Teardrops.

The Hillbilly Casino has performed at these festivals and venues... Gibson Amphitheater (Hollywood CA), Ryman Auditorium (Nashville, TN), House Of Blues (Chicago, IL), Headliners (Louisville, KY), Exit/In (Nashville, TN), Mercy Lounge (Nashville, TN) Bergenfest (Bergen, Norway), Kilkenny Rhythm and Roots Festival (Kilkenny, Ireland), Rockin' 50's Fest (Green Bay, WI), State Theater (Detroit, MI), Tractor Tavern (Seattle, WA), Rocketown (Nashville, TN), Rodeo Bar (New York, NY)
Members of the Hillbilly Casino are endorsed by King Doublebass, Gretsch Guitars, and Fender Amps.

The Grovelers, based out of Milwaukee, WI, are a high energy rock & roll band with a scorching original sound that draws influence from late 50's rockabilly, early 60's garage rock and 80's punk rock.

Formed in August 2013, The Grovelers were a project conceived by life long friends vocalist Skip and guitarist Graff. They quickly added Dane on drums and bassist Lemonie Fresh and since then they have been consistently in demand, performing throughout the Midwest and have had the privilege of opening for acts such as X, Shooter Jennings, Southern Culture on the Skids, Paul Collins, and more.

In the spring of 2019, The Grovelers released their second full length album, Cream City Nights, which garnered positive reviews and heavy radio play on local radio station 91.7 WMSE. The LP title track earning the number one spot for 4 weeks in a row, and the most played LP for 3 months.

In 1985, Alligator Records dropped Showdown!, a three-headed axe grind from blues guitar gods Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, and Robert Cray --a lean, electrifying session that still cuts through the noise four decades later. Now, in 2025, Texas Headhunters picks up that torch with a fire all its own.

Ian Moore, Johnny Moeller, and Jesse Dayton--three of Texas' fiercest fretmen--join forces at last as Texas Headhunters, a band born from deep roots, old friendships, and a shared reverence for the raw, swaggering spirit of Texas blues. Their self-titled debut isn't a nostalgia trip. It's a declaration.

Cut over five days at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio, Texas Headhunters deals 12 tracks of grit, groove, and gut-level truth. No smoke, no mirrors--just seasoned musicians in a room, plugged in and turned up. The chemistry is real. The result is mind blowing.

Clifford Antone looms large in the story of Texas Headhunters--the spiritual godfather of the project, and the man who first recognized the fire in each of its members. All three-- Johnny, Jesse, and Ian--were among the last generation of young guns taken under his wing.

"We all go back to Antone's, man," says Dayton. "We were the next wave after the greats. Clifford saw something in each of us, and that club--that scene--was our proving ground."

The idea for Texas Headhunters emerged from a conversation between Dayton and his manager about CliUord's lasting influence. "You, Ian, and Johnny--y'all were CliUord's last real discoveries. That's not nothing. You oughta cut a record together. Feels like it's time." Dayton called Moore, who immediately brought up Showdown! as a reference point. When Moeller signed on, the wheels were in motion.

From the first sultry lick of "Pocket" to the final bends of "Burnin' Daylight," Texas Headhunters walks the line between swagger and soul--honoring the blues lineage while playing for keeps. "Pocket" sets the tone early: raw, vulnerable, and undeniable. "I love a modern lean into blues," says Ian Moore. "I'm using this Paoletti guitar--it just had the right snarl." It's a standout moment, all ache and punch.

Jesse Dayton's "Maggie Went Back to Mineola" follows, turning up the heat with a dirt-and- neon redemption tale. "A girl from Mineola goes to Dallas and becomes a stripper," Dayton says. "She gets into all this stuU, then comes home to work at the Dollar General and try to go to church. That's Ian on lead."

Johnny Moeller takes the mic on "Everybody Loves You (When You're Down)," opening with a gut-punch: "When you hit rock bottom, everybody loves you, Jack." "I knew Johnny had to sing that one," says Dayton. "He brought this whole vibe--wise, crafty, real as hell. People won't see that Johnny coming."

Long known for his razor-sharp guitar work with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Moeller steps out with a vocal style that's sly, soulful, and cooler than the other side of the pillow. His drawl channels the grit of Ray Wylie Hubbard and the shadowy swagger of Mason RuUner. He doesn't just sing--he inhabits these songs. And on "Gimme Some Love," he trades bravado for something deeper. A hopeful plea. From hell to the train outta there.

Moore's "Kathleen" delivers a vocal that cuts through a wall of snarling guitar. "Kathleen sounds like me," he says, "but we're all in there. We're weaving." Moeller brings the sting again on "Fool Don't Play With Fire," and Side A wraps with "Headhunters Theme"--a tight, swaggering instrumental that sounds like the band kicking in the door.

Side B opens with the roadhouse stomp of "Gun Barrel Boogie" and moves through the haunted grace of "Independence Day" and the simmering groove of "Seeing Around Corners." Moore's "Who Will Your Next Lover Be" adds late-night shimmer, while Moeller's "Gimme Some Love" brings emotional gravity. Then comes "Burnin' Daylight"--a tone- drenched instrumental coda that nods to JeU Beck and Roy Buchanan, leaving nothing but smoke in its wake.

The interplay is the magic: Moore's psychedelic edge, Moeller's deep-pocket sting, Dayton's outlaw grind. All three sing. All three write. All three bring fire. Yet it never feels crowded. When one steps forward, the others lean back just enough. It's a dance, not a duel.

The three aren't all Austin-based anymore--Moeller recently moved to New Orleans, Moore in the Pacific Northwest--but the bond remains unshakable. This is a record forged in shared experience, mutual respect, and that rare, intangible cool that once defined Austin blues. The album lands during the 50th anniversary of Antone's, the legendary club that brought them all together.

"We all grew up on that sound," says Moore. "Tailgators, LeRoi Brothers, T-Birds, Stevie. The blues in Austin was just cool. That's what we're feeling here."

Texas Headhunters isn't just a summit of three badasses with guitars. It's a reclamation. A statement. A reminder that Texas blues, in all its grit and glory, still matters. It's not retro-- it's revival. And it's not a tribute--it's a shot across the bow.

Dayton sums it up: "We tracked it live in the room. The way our heroes did. It felt right. We've all done records with other people, but this one... this one feels like the start of something."

And why wouldn't they? In a time when roots music often plays it safe or leans too hard into the past, Texas Headhunters stands tall--bold, bluesy, and unmistakably Texan. Not a throwback. A throwdown.

Ruthie Foster's musical journey is as eclectic and vibrant as her soulful voice. Born into a family steeped in gospel tradition, Ruthie's earliest influences were the voices of her mother, grandmother, and the gospel singers she grew up listening to -- artists like the Gospel Keynotes and the Blind Boys of Alabama. However, her path to becoming a solo artist wasn't a straightforward one. Despite a deep love for music, Ruthie initially shied away from the spotlight, preferring to play guitar, piano, and write songs for others.

Growing up in the rich musical tapestry of Gause, Texas, Ruthie found herself drawn to the diverse sounds and arrangements of local gospel choirs and musicians. Despite her reluctance to take center stage, Ruthie's talent was undeniable, and her mother encouraged her to step up and sing out. She stood out as a young black girl with a guitar in a choir scene dominated by pianos, but with her grandmother's vocal coaching and encouragement from her mother and the church community, she recognized her own power -- as a songwriter, a musician, and as a captivating singer.

After studying music at a community college in Waco, Ruthie decided to take a break from music and enlist in the Navy. The stage drew her once more, and she was selected to sing for the Navy band Pride, where she honed her skills as a vocalist and performer. A development deal with Atlantic Records led her to New York City, where she immersed herself in the songwriting community and learned the craft of writing songs that spoke to the soul.

However, Ruthie's journey took a turn when her mother fell ill, prompting her to step back from music and return to Texas once again. It was a period of introspection, caregiving, and deep bonding with her mother, and upon her return to writing and performing, it was to shape her voice as a singer-songwriter and storyteller. Drawing on her experiences and her musical roots, she began to craft blues, folk, and gospel-tinged songs that spoke to the universal themes of love, loss, and resilience.

Turning down a major record deal in pursuit of authenticity, she has stayed true to herself and her vision as an artist, signing with independent label Blue Corn Music to release Runaway Soul in 2002, followed by The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster in 2007, The Truth According to Ruthie Foster in 2009, Let It Burn in 2012, Promise of a Brand New Day in 2014, Joy Comes Back in 2017, and Healing Time in 2022. She has also released three live albums, Stages in 2004, Live At Antone's in 2011, and 2020's Live at the Paramount.

Now, with five Grammy nominations to her name, Ruthie Foster has achieved a long-awaited milestone: her very first Grammy win. Her latest album, Mileage, released on the legendary Sun Records, won Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2025 Grammy Awards -- a triumph not only for Foster, but also a historic first-ever Grammy win for Sun Records. The recognition underscores the power of Foster's artistry and the enduring legacy of a label that continues to champion timeless voices. With soulful melodies, heartfelt lyrics, and unwavering commitment to her craft, Foster continues to carve out a path that is uniquely her own -- inspiring audiences and fellow musicians alike.

Zachary Scot Johnson is both a well traveled singer/ songwriter, having shared the stage with artists like Shawn Colvin, Keb' Mo', Marc Cohn, Jane Siberry, The Be Good Tanyas, Suzanne Vega, Lisa Loeb, Steve Forbert, The Verve Pipe, Richard Shindell, The Greencards, Cheryl Wheeler, Lucy Kaplansky, Susan Werner, Juliette Lewis, Shawn Mullins, Julia Nunes, Catie Curtis, Peter Mulvey, Willy Porter, Maria Muldaur, Rita Wilson, Kevin Costner and Modern West, Steve Poltz, Billy Joe Shaver, John Fullbright, Vonda Shepard, James McCartney, John Hammond, Natalia Zukerman and others and a strong internet presence, including a YouTube channel with well over 43 million views, a strong Facebook fanbase, and more. He has performed for legends including Tony Bennett, Bernadette Peters and others. He has been touring nonstop since 2001 and has performed just about everywhere within the US. He has released six cds, including 2004's "Moment of Clarity", 2008's "To Whom It May Concern", 2011's "Live at the Guild" with longtime collaborators Mark Paffrath and Jeff Ward, 2017's "Sad Songs", 2023's self-titled "Zachary Scot Johnson" (also released on vinyl) and 2025's "Echoes", which is an instrumental piano tribute to George Winston. Born and raised in Racine, WI, Johnson now resides in Saint Paul, MN. He graduated in 2006 from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI as a triple major student of music performance, theatre arts and psychology. As an actor, he has over 50 regional credits, including national tours and is proud to have founded and run an improv comedy group for four years at Lawrence University. Zach's music has brought him to stages of all sizes across the country and onto multiple NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX morning and evening shows, radio around the country and more. Johnson's mastery of many instruments lead to exciting live shows, where Johnson performs on piano, 6 and 12 string acoustic and electric guitars, baritone guitar, dobro, banjo, mandolin, violin, lap steel, harmonicas, octave mandolin, viola, bass, drums, percussion, banjolin, dulcimer, ukulele, pedal steel and more. His repertoire covers a wide range of styles and genres, from folk to jazz, rock to spoken word, blues to pop, country to a cappella, gospel to instrumental and more. Johnson is a nationally touring artist, performing 100 or more dates annually and is a proud member of the Grammy Recording Foundation. His hit YouTube channel, thesongadayproject has Johnson bringing a song--either original or cover--from wherever he is on any given day and has run for over 4, 700 consecutive days (over 12 and a half full years without a single missed day), and garnered an astonishing number of loyal viewers. Over 350 guests have appear on the channel in collaboration with Zach including Donovan (who flew Zach to Ireland to record together), Shawn Colvin, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Marc Cohn, Jeff Daniels ("Dumb and Dumber", "The Newsroom", etc.) Noel Paul Stookey & Peter Yarrow (from Peter, Paul and Mary), Creed Bratton ("The Office" and The Grass Roots), Lisa Loeb, J.D. Souther, Paula Cole, Carlene Carter, Mary Gauthier, Melissa Manchester, Nellie McKay, Eliza Gilkyson, Cheryl Wheeler, John Gorka, Gretchen Peters, Ruthie Foster, Collective Soul, Over The Rhine, Stephen Kellogg, Jeremy Messersmith, Mary Black, David Wilcox, Tom Paxton, Ellis Paul, Lucero and many more.

A season of drastic change is what brought SUSTO frontman Justin Osborne to the band's fifth full-length LP, My Entire Life [New West Records]. There was a divorce, difficulties re-building his band after the pandemic, and the pain and helplessness of witnessing family members struggle with addiction and mental illness. Despite these challenges, Justin ultimately found himself in a new landscape, with new love and a deeper perspective, all of which is masterfully projected into My Entire Life.

While navigating some major life changes, Justin understandably experienced a surge of creative energy. He channeled this into writing and recording with the people closest to him, even as the tides of his personal life continued to shift. Primary collaborators included longtime producer Wolfgang "Wolfy" Zimmerman, SUSTO Co-founders, Johnny Delaware and Marshall Hudson, and his fiancé/co-writer Caroline Foyle.

Much of the album was recorded at The Space, in Charleston, SC, but major sessions also took place at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, NC, and Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA.

Johnny had moved to Mexico shortly after work on the album began, so some tracking was done at his home studio in Mexico City.

The band also took a "recording pilgrimage" to the Mexican town of Tepotzlán (mythical birthplace of mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl), where they turned an airbnb into a remote recording studio, with help from members of Mexican Institute of Sound.

The combined result of these efforts is a compelling blend of rock, folk and psychedelia, with vivid country-esque storytelling. It's as raw and real as anything the band has done so far and everything you'd hope for from a modern rock 'n' roll record.

The album's namesake and lead single, "My Entire Life" is melodically tearful, with an urgency "to keep living."

As a whole, the album documents Justin's personal journey through highs and lows in his life, with many of the details on full display. He narrates the demise and aftermath of an almost decade long relationship, while celebrating the joy of falling in love and the hopefulness of starting over. There is a playfulness at times, but always a clear desire to distill wisdom from experience.

"SUSTO's narrative has always been confessional, and songwriting is my way of trying to make sense of the chaos--good and bad--around me," observes Justin. "These songs cover the spectrum of everything that's happened in my life the last few years. There's been a lot of change, which can be painful, but there's also been a lot of joy and hope, along with everything in between. I figure that's what life is." He continues "...it's a mosaic of all the good, bad, and mundane things we face as we make our way from birth to death. Along the way we ride the waves, but if you stay true to yourself and push through, I believe you can get to where you really want to be, and you can shape that mosaic into something that fulfills you. There is a lot of hope in that for me. This record is my story of navigating a bunch of chaos, but finding ways to carry on and manifest my own happiness...the last few years were a challenge, but I look back and see that I made it through, a better, truer, and more realized version of myself."

It's been quite the ride for SUSTO. In addition to achieving widespread critical acclaim in recent years, the group has built a diehard fan base through captivating live performances and compelling songs.

For as much as My Entire Life is the ultimate vision of what the band can be, it's also a classic story of one person rising from the ashes, wiser and fiery than ever...

"Writing and performing has long been central in my life, and this season of change has only heightened my desire to connect with other people through songs. I've crossed a mountain, so I'm ready to charge forward, and share that story. Everybody goes through difficulty one way or another, we all get worn down, we all chase dreams; songs are there to remind us we aren't alone in that. In my case. I'm thankful for lessons learned, and excited for the future. The privilege of sharing these songs with our audience is something I'm incredibly grateful for."

"It's a house with a lot of character," Auerbach says. "I've always loved it. I always felt inspired when I was there. I knew it would be a fun place to do something. It's over a hundred years old. It's got the old plaster on the walls, plaster ceilings, old wallpaper. There are big oak floors and an oak stairwell. The first floor has twelve-and-a-half-foot ceilings. It's pretty awesome. But it's not a recording studio by any means."

"We had to drag all the gear in there. We set the little mixing console upstairs -- this crazy, wild old '50s Universal Audio tube console that I'd just gotten and fixed up, which was built by FAME Studios' Rick Hall for his studio in Memphis -- in a spare bedroom, and we ran the wires down the stairs. We set up James and everyone in separate little rooms downstairs. James' little Princeton amp was right behind him, there were no baffles or anything, and so when he was Early James recorded his first two Easy Eye Sound albums, Singing For My Supper (2020) and Strange Time To Be Alive (2022), at the studio inside the vaunted label's Nashville headquarters. But for James' third release, Medium Raw, producer and Easy Eye Sound label head Dan Auerbach envisioned something quite different for the Alabama-bred singer-songwriter-guitarist's rawboned, sometimes scarifying music.

"Day of the first session, I had my GPS routed to Easy Eye," James recalls. "We ran into some traffic, and I texted [engineer M.] Allen [Parker] -- 'Hey man, sorry, we're gonna be about 15 minutes late.' And he said, 'It's OK, we're still getting set up at the house.' And I was like, 'What house?' 'We're recording at this house, it's really cool.' It was news to me! It felt unusual in the moment, which I think makes you play the songs differently. But I'm really happy with and proud of the results."

"I wanted to try to find that power of when I first saw him, when it was just him and his guitar," Auerbach explains. "After working with him a couple of times in the studio, I felt like I wasn't going to be able to do it in the same kind of way. The comforts and luxuries of the studio, where you're able to hear everything and make adjustments and changes, wasn't right for this project."

"Some of my favorite albums are those Arhoolie records produced by Chris Strachwitz that were recorded in houses, by Fred McDowell, Lightnin' Hopkins. I felt like we might get better results if we did it in a house."

The house in question, known as "Honky Chateau," was an old Nashville property owned by photographer and artist Buddy Jackson.

soloing it was all bleeding into his vocal mic. Adrian Marmolejo, James' bassist since the beginning, was in the hallway, peeking around the corner. We had these beautiful microphones sucking up the soul of the house. It sounded fucking amazing. When you have headphones on, you can hear that room. You can even see the room when you close your eyes."

James notes that pretty much everything you hear on Medium Raw was, as its title suggests, cut au naturel.

"There are just two overdubs, on 'Rag Doll' and 'Nothing Surprises Me Anymore,'" he says. "We had intended to get a violin solo on 'Nothing Surprises Me Anymore,' and Dan said, 'Ah, I came up with something.' On the trio tracks, it was a challenge. Jeff Clemens, who drummed, was two rooms away -- I couldn't see him. We didn't have in-ear monitors, and it was the first time for him hearing any of those songs. I love his drumming with G. Love [& Special Sauce] and Kenny Vaughan so much. You can hear Jeff kind of tiptoeing through it, and it makes the song move in a really cool way. It's not hyper-polished, but it has Jeff's confidence, and you can't teach that."

In many ways, the approach harkened back to James' very first recording, a four-song EP he cut in Birmingham and released in 2017. "Someone said, 'You should just release an EP,'" he recalls. "So me and Adrian, on his lunch break, recorded those four songs. There was construction outside of the studio, so we had to do it in the console room, which is not unlike this new record. If you listen closely, you can hear power saws next door."

Like that first quartet of recordings, Medium Raw lives up to its name, presenting its brace of smart, playful, and often fiercely rocking original songs to intimate life with a stunningly vital sound that thrives on its lived-in real-world ambiance.

Beyond seven James originals -- six previously unrecorded numbers and the fan favorite "Dig To China," which dates back to that first EP -- the new album includes songs co-written with Auerbach and top Nashville songwriter Pat McLaughlin ("I Got This Problem"); Sheryl Crow's frequent collaborator Jeff Trott ("Nothing Surprises Me Anymore"); roots singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim ("Go Down Swinging"); Irish songwriter Mick Flannery ("Upside Down Umbrella"); and James' former Birmingham roommate Ryan Sobb ("Unspeakable Thing").

The writing continues to display the hallmarks of James' distinctive, one-of-a-kind style: whip-smart wordplay, upended clichés, humor both light and dark, and a deep intelligence that frequently reflects a literary sensibility.

The self-deprecating musician says, "I'm really good about picking up books and getting what I need from 'em. I'm really bad about picking up something and getting what I need and putting them back down again. I am a huge Cormac McCarthy fan. Some of his books are very hard to read, just because of the way they make you feel. I'm working on Blood Meridian now for the third time."

His musical sensibility has leaned toward the hard stuff from an early age: "I remember getting obsessed with the blues and getting obsessed with old country. My first favorite musician was Hank Williams. There was something about how dark that music was. I could listen to Hank Williams on repeat and never get tired of it. Hank Williams, Jr., lives in my hometown of Troy, Alabama, and he and my dad were hunting buddies. They still run into each other at Julia's Restaurant in Troy. I listened to a lot of Howlin' Wolf, and his guitarist Hubert Sumlin -- I thought that was Howlin' Wolf playing the guitar."

With Medium Raw now ready to be served, James is embarking on touring (backed by Marmolejo and drummer Joey Rudisell) that will take him through the U.S. and return him to Europe, where he has developed an enthusiastic fan base, for dates in the Netherlands, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, and Denmark.

Like the rambling bluesmen of old, whose repertoires would mutate from night to night, James says audiences should expect him to work some new wrinkles into his songs on stage: "I'm trying to play dress-up with this record on the road. You never know what it's going to be wearing. It depends on what thrift store we get to."

Lene Lovich, the Post-Punk/New Wave icon who could count John Lennon and Frank Zappa among her fans, is set to return to the United States for the first time in 18 years this fall. She will undertake her first full North American tour in 35 years, playing 25 shows across the country.

Lovich moved to London in the mid-1970s just as the Sex Pistols were about to seize the nation by the proverbial throat, forming a band with her partner Les Chappell, and soon beginning to make a name for herself with her flamboyant style and effervescent live performances. She came to the attention of Oval Music moguls Charlie Gillett and Gordon Nelki, whom had recently helped to launch the careers of Ian Dury and Elvis Costello, taking Lene to the same independent record label, Stiff Records, that had been at the vanguard of punk and New Wave in the UK, with debut releases from The Damned and Devo, as well as the aforementioned Dury and Costello, and Stiff Records house producer Nick Lowe.

Lene rocketed to the top of the UK charts with her second single on Stiff, the unforgettable "Lucky Number", in 1979. The success of the single propelled her debut album Stateless to instant cult status, where it remains to this day, a classic of its time and hugely influential on the burgeoning 1980s post-punk Goth subculture. Lene's second album, Flex, released in 1980 was arguably even more influential in the United States than Stateless.

Lene toured America successfully many times during the 80s, and her band included Thomas Dolby on keyboards, with whom she co-wrote her biggest selling US single "New Toy". Her third album, No Man's Land, released in 1982, seemed poised to become her commercial breakthrough in America. Alas by then her relationship with Stiff had deteriorated. She released the album March in 1989 on the independent label Pathfinder Records, and toured America one more time, in 1990, subsequently retreating from the limelight to raise a family in rural England.

Sporadic collaborations and extremely rare live appearances was all that was seen of her for many years, until the release of the album Shadows and Dust in 2005. With her daughters now grown up, Lene returned to regular live performances in 2012 when she and guitarist Jude Rawlins formed the Lene Lovich Band to take her classic material back on the road. The band garnered huge acclaim across the UK and Europe, where they have toured consistently ever since. Finally, in 2025, America will get the chance to see what they've been missing for far too long, the iconic and unique Lene Lovich at full volume.

How to honor the legacy of a band deemed sacred? To tread on holy ground is perilous, and must be done with the intent and spirit of a disciple--Pay attention to the intricacies of the magic, explore the far ends of the innovation, strive for ever-growing ability, and let the purity of the love for the music drive it all.

Drummer Clementine is the founding member of ZEPPARELLA. From the beginning of her musical career, her goal has been to be onstage every night. The pursuit of that goal has led Clementine to constantly tour the US and Europe in projects as diverse as Bottom, AC/DShe, The House Of More, The Solid, Francis Bakin, Stars Turn Me On and Beaux Cheveux. She tackles the best rock drumming ever written with her own emotionally powerful style, bringing the Motown influence of the Bonham groove to the forefront. The profound musical connection established with Gretchen Menn (guitar), Holly West (bass), and Anna Kristina (vocals) creates the bond required to do this great music justice.

It was under the tutelage of classical guitarist Phillip DeFremery, a student of Andrés Segovia, that guitarist Gretchen Menn began her path on the instrument. Playing with tireless passion and constantly seeking out new challenges, her projects are often unconventional, genre-bending expressions combining elements of classical, rock, progressive, jazz, and metal. On influences, Gretchen has never tired of her initial inspirations--Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, Frank Zappa, and Jeff Beck. But she has loved Jimmy Page's guitar playing longer than she has played the guitar. It was through the music of Led Zeppelin that she found a gateway into music that resonated deeply with her, creating a love for guitar-oriented music, and, ultimately, the guitar.

Bassist Holly West began her musical journey full-steam ahead, and more recently than her stellar playing belies. Her unstoppable will and drive have truly propelled her to this moment and her place in the powerhouse Zepparella. A self-taught bass player, she is also a blossoming vocalist with rich rock pipes. Her time on stage has been well spent, developing an impressive attack, impeccable feel, and a technique which seems to have come completely naturally to her, not to mention her dazzling stage presence and joyful performance style. Her influences span the rock gauntlet, from Clutch and the Rival Sons to Slash, ZZ Top, and of course, the mighty Zeppelin.

Singer Anna Kristina is a soulful, fiery, and rocking vocal powerhouse who has stepped into Zepparella's Plant spot for a second time. Anna was with the band for 5 years, became known for her performance in the band's 15 million-view "When The Levee Breaks" video, took a 6-year hiatus, and now returns in 2018 to front the band. Her career has spanned acoustic, jazz, soul, rock, and her charisma and power delivers captivating performances every night. About her brilliant harp playing she says: "getting a chance to blow on the harmonica is an added bonus! Plant isn't just a singer he's a musician. He brings his blues background and natural percussive feel to his harmonica playing as well and I love getting lost in that. Playing the harp allows me to express on a whole different level and it's so freeing."

Now more than ever, Zepparella explores their own improvised magic within the framework of Zeppelin's mighty songs!

The universe of guitar knows no boundaries for The California Guitar Trio. Since 1991, the group has enthralled listeners with a singular sound that fearlessly crisscrosses genres. The trio's questing spirit drives it to explore the intersections between rock, jazz, classical, and world music. It even throws in the occasional surf or spaghetti Western tune for good measure.

Comprised of Bert Lams, Tom Griesgraber and Paul Richards, the group has established a unique, personal connection with audiences. In addition to dazzling musicianship and interplay, The California Guitar Trio's (CGT) shows are full of captivating stories and humor that enable concertgoers to feel like they're part of the music, not just spectators. In fact, the group's CGT's 21 albums, streamed over 115 million times on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, offer diverse snapshots of the group's mercurial muse.

The trio's latest album "Live In Scottsdale -- On Tour With King Crimson" is a recording of the final opening set from the 2021 tour with the legendary King Crimson and features the new CGT 2.0 line up with Tom Griesgraber on Chapman Stick. CGT's most recent studio release Elegy showcases its acoustic side, with beautiful lush originals and innovative cover arrangements of Beatles, Radiohead and more.

The trio's output has made a major global impact, having served as the soundtrack for Olympics coverage, and programs on CNN, CBS, NBC, and ESPN. They have fans in high places too: NASA used their music to wake the crew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor.

CGT's lineup is truly the sum of its distinct parts: A Utah native now residing in Los Angeles, Paul Richards immersed himself in rock, blues, and jazz during his early days and while attending The University of Utah's jazz guitar program. While on and off the road, Paul enjoys doing landscape photography.

Bert Lams, originally from Belgium, graduated from the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, winning awards in classical guitar performance. Bert Lams currently lives with his family in Jupiter Florida.

Tom Griesgraber, the only California native in the group, is from Encinitas. Tom is a virtuoso player of the Chapman Stick, a guitar/bass hybrid tapping instrument invented in California by Emmett Chapman. Tom is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music on Boston.

Tokyo-born Hideyo Moriya began his guitar journey with surf music and British rock, before relocating to Boston to study at Berklee. Hideyo is currently on hiatus from touring and lives in Chiba Japan.

Lams, Richards and Moriya felt the call to push themselves to the limit by enrolling in Robert Fripp's challenging Guitar Craft courses, where they first met in 1987. They went on to tour together as part of Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists, before forming the California Guitar Trio in Los Angeles four years later.

Recently, the trio expanded its collaborative possibilities by working within a six-guitar format with the Montreal Guitar Trio. During these groundbreaking, highly-entertaining shows, the acts perform inventive arrangements of each other's repertoire, and new music for guitar sextet. In 2019, this powerful "phenomensemble" released In A Landscape featuring innovative arrangements for six guitars.

31 years and 2000+ gigs later, the CGT remains intensely committed to explore, evolve and communicate a wide-ranging musical worldview. -- Anil Prasad

When he calls, Bob Mould is finishing work on his 15 th solo album, Here We Go Crazy. A distillation of the unfailing melodic skill, the emotional lucidity and dynamic fluency he's developed over more than four decades, it's also a typically bold realignment of his sonic paradigm. Its turbulent vignettes are scored by Mould's familiar bruised tunefulness, but the sound is pared back to its fundaments, 11 songs blistering past in just over 30 minutes. "I've stripped things back to what excited me as a young guitarist," he explains. "The energy, the electricity."

Part of the inspiration for this more primal aesthetic is the heavy itinerary of touring he's lately undertaken, several years spent circling the globe, either in the company of bandmates Jon Wurster (drums) and Jason Narducy (bass) or just by himself. "I was really throwing myself in the songbook and feeling where the audience is at," he says. "And they were really responding to this very simple, just-me-and-a-guitar setup. And I thought, maybe I shouldn't be overcomplicating things, 'word'-ing or 'craft'-ing it up. Just grab for the simple bits of life we still have control over: our emotions, our relationships."

After shows, Mould would hang out signing merch and talking to fans. "Sometimes people bring a lot of their lifetime emotional content to me," he says, "like they've compressed all this coal into a tiny little diamond. Sometimes I'm surprised at the weight of it, the heaviness. I'm like, 'I'm here for you. I'm listening.' I'm shocked and grateful they share so readily with me. I don't know what I did to earn that trust."

Mould has earned that trust with every record he's made, channelling his own "lifetime emotional content" for songs of wisdom, honesty and volcanic intensity. His first band, Hüsker Dü, bared his angst over furious noise and turbulent melody, an indelible influence on generations that followed. But by the time Nirvana infiltrated the mainstream, Bob Mould had already moved on, having sequestered himself in a farmhouse to lick his wounds and learn new ways to sing his songs. His solo debut, 1989's folk-rock masterpiece Workbook, was a record of depth and sophistication. Then he pulled another sharp turn, his power-trio Sugar alloying his most melodic songs with his fiercest noise, yielding his most commercially successful work yet.

Over the solo career that followed Sugar's own mid-90s flameout, he's displayed a maturing gift for songwriting, transcending the 'alternative' tag and recognised alongside key influences like Pete Townshend and Pete Shelley. He's adrenalized classic forms, alchemised angst into something addictive and powerful. "I'm just trying to figure myself out," he says. "After 64 years of life -- 55 spent writing songs -- it's what I do." The concepts that shaped the songs of subsequent albums reflect those years. The ruminative Beauty & Ruin (2014) and Patch The Sky (2016) were written in the wake of losing his parents and other loved ones. 2019's Sunshine Rock was a homage to the early Capitol singles of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, constant companions through his turbulent childhood. The terse, political Blue Hearts (2020) was written and recorded amid the dying days of the first Trump administration.

Here We Go Crazy, meanwhile, arrives at another moment of uncertainty, a time of disruption and fear. Mould sees the songs unfolding like the three acts of a play, each act exploring distinct but related themes. The first handful of songs concern "control versus chaos", Mould explains. The opening title track contrasts images of nature -- deserts, mountains, fault-lines -- with the tumult of human life. Inspired by a riff that Mould says "sounded like a fistfight", 'Neanderthal' is "a snapshot from inside my head as a young kid: growing up in a violent household, everything being unsettled, feeling that fight-or-flight response at all times," while 'Breathing Room' is "about feeling isolated, cramped-up, and literally needing that breathing space".

The furious, dynamic 'Fur Mink Augurs' signals the second act, where the darkness descends. The song channels claustrophobia, and "the cold, crazy, late-winter feeling I grew up with in the Adirondacks and in Minnesota. When the cabin fever really sets in deep -- when the permafrost is set and it never gets warm -- you become frayed, and things can really unravel, quickly." 'Lost Or Stolen' chronicles lives undone by "people losing themselves in their phones," Mould explains. From this focus, he pulls back and digs into "ideas about depression, addiction, self-medication and collapse... The words just fell out of me." This anguished middle-passage of the album concludes with the cathartic 'Sharp Little Pieces', exploring "the end of innocence, the idea of a young child's trust being violated. For those of us who lost trust as children, it disappears in a flash, and we spend years struggling to regain that innocence. And maybe it never comes back."

The song ends bluntly (Mould says the album's "lack of sophisticated ornamentation is key -- I was trying to stay out of the way of the songs, to strip away all the things I used to think were important, all those extra colours and complexities. I didn't want to get deep into decorating the tree. I wanted to keep it simple, to use the simplest words"), raising the curtain on the closing act. The theme here is lifting oneself out of the darkness; 'You Need To Shine' is a song about "looking for the bright sides, the good parts of life, despite everything that's happened", Mould says, a sentiment borne out by the song's spirited holler that "all that madness doesn't matter anymore". 'Thread So Thin' is "about trying to protect the one you love, and trying to feel protected", Mould explains, while the closing 'Your Side' is a powerful love song from the edge of the darkness, Mould howling "If the world is going down in flames, I want to be by your side". "We're heading into a great unknown here," Mould says, of the wider geopolitical and climate anxieties that inspired these songs. The message here is, simply, focus on that which can save you and deliver you from this moment. "This album talks a lot about uncertainty, helplessness, being on edge," Mould adds. "How much can we control? How much chaos can we handle? In the end, the answer, the remedy, is placing your trust in unconditional love."

Mould knows Here We Go Crazy is an album freighted with darkness; "There's soothing melodies, and there's lyrical discomfort," he deadpans. "It's manic, frantic, complex." But no one ever came to Bob Mould for good news, for the easy answers. Pop music runs through his veins, as surely as the electricity that drives his chiming hooks into the realms of distortion, but he's here to give you the truth, his truth. To give you songs that ring true when howled against a tornado of guitar, that compress all that "lifetime emotional content" into some kind of sonic diamond. There's eleven of those precious gems here, sculpted to make the heaviness easier to bear, somehow. Treasure them.

David Barbe is an Athens musician sometimes referred to as having the widest involvement of any single figure in the Athens, GA music scene. David Barbe has appeared on over 400 albums as producer, engineer, or musician, frequently working at his Athens studio, Chase Park Transduction. At various times he has made music either live or in the studio with hundreds of artists including Sugar, Deerhunter, Drive-By Truckers, Kevn Kinney, The Glands, Son Volt, Cracker, Ill Ease, Bloodkin, Stef Chura, Bettye LaVette, Booker T. Jones, Lee Bains, Olivia Tremor Control, Mercyland, Bar-B-Q Killers, and Harvey Milk to name a few. Barbe's most recent release '10th of Seas' (Orange Twin) was released to high critical praise. He has most recently finished recording projects with Stef Chura, Shehehe, and Drive-By Truckers.

Minneapolis songwriter Mason Jennings shares his new video for the single, "Only Lovers Welcome" from his brand new album, Underneath The Roses out now via Loosegroove Records. Underneath The Roses is available on limited-edition colored vinyl and is available here. Watch and share the video for "Only Lovers Welcome" here.

Jennings writes that the songs from Underneath The Roses were, "Written in an unprecedented burst," following the birth of his son, Western, in March 2022. Jennings explains, "I hadn't written any songs in about a year. I had been dealing with the psychological after effects of the pandemic as well as the loss of my dad. So, when Western was born I didn't expect to be writing much. But immediately he was responding to music in a very intense way. For this album, between May and November 2022, I wrote 48 songs! They certainly uplifted me and connected me with the creative spirit, and spirit in general, again. They cover all kinds of ground but, when I listen back, I think the central theme is overcoming fear with love."

Jennings also released a video for, "No Ordinary Friend," which he explains, "Depicts two of the most important decisions a person can make. One, whether or not they believe in a loving higher power and two, who they decide to choose as a life long romantic partner. This song is referring to both of those and the choices I've made."

"Stone Gossard and Regan Hagar from Loosegroove Records helped me edit the 48 down to 11. I then enlisted the help of my Painted Shield bandmates to record the songs."

Jennings and Gossard are ongoing collaborators in the band Painted Shield, who released their 2021 debut album on Loosegroove, the influential indie label that Gossard founded back in 1994 issued records from acts such as Critters Buggin, Malfunkshun, Weapon of Choice and Devilhead, and was the launching point for Queens of the Stone Age's debut album in 1998.

Jenning's previous album 'Real Heart' came out in January 2022 and received Triple/Non-comm radio across KCMP Minneapolis, WFPK Louisville, WPYA Birmingham, KRCL Salt Lake City, WMMM Madison, WQKL Ann Arbor, KCSN LA, KRVB Boise, WCLZ Portland, WDSE Duluth, WRLT Nashville, WXPN Philly, WXRV Boston, & WZEW Mobile.

Press highlights include: American Songwriter, Relix, No Depression, Grateful Web, Take Effect 9/10 review, & Jam Bands

Jennings adds "I called it Underneath The Roses because I feel like these songs are musical roses and when I look below them there are many thorns and so much dirt and soil. All of it was needed for them to come into existence and bloom. It's been a long hard road of self-discovery and discernment for me the last few years and the roses wouldn't be here without what lies underneath. Hope you enjoy the music!"

Mike Silverman (a.k.a. That 1 Guy) is a classically trained bassist. From the age of 15, this gifted musician seemed destined for a musical career his parents could be proud of: playing bass in promising ensembles, winning a Dave Brubeck Jazz Scholarship competition, studying classical upright at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and jazz bass at Los Medanos College. But at some point on the path to respectable mainstream success, something went fantastically wrong.

In 2003, Silverman wrote, recorded, produced and mastered the debut album from his demented alter ego That 1 Guy -- a magnificently insane one-man show that has been making waves across America since the late '90s. He made the record with an unwieldy homemade instrument called The Magic Pipe, wrote songs called "It's Raining Meat" and "Weasel Potpie," and titled the disc�Songs In The Key Of Beotch. Whatever drove the mild-mannered Silverman to do this is debatable, but one thing is for sure: fans of the musically bizarre will be forever grateful.

That 1 Guy began quickly and unexpectedly, after Silverman finished a gig with his beloved Bay Area group The Fabulous Hedgehogs. After the club owner paid the 5-piece band a meager $50, Silverman joked that the next time around he'd play the show alone. The owner took him up on the offer, and right then and there, That 1 Guy was born. In a fit of experimentation, Silverman removed all his bass strings except for one and picked up a drum machine as accompaniment. That 1 Guy's first show, at Dr. Bombay's in San Francisco's Mission District, was a learning experience. The club had no stage, so Silverman performed standing on the bar, his head touching the ceiling, his microphone plugged into the jukebox. "It was the worst gig ever, yet somehow my greatest musical accomplishment up to that point," Silverman reminisces.

Since that fateful night, Silverman has worked hard on perfecting his one-man show and building the beautiful monstrosity that is The Magic Pipe. Seven feet of galvanized steel and hardware store trinkets, the metallic, one-stringed instrument is brought to life by an array of electronic gadgets. Silverman claims the pipe, "not only has a limitless harmonic and sonic range, but limitless rhythmic possibilities as well."

When That 1 Guy performs live, his imagination is what truly seems limitless. On top of his infectious, innovative style, the artist throws more avant-garde treats into the mix, like impassioned Whodini covers and electrified cowboy boots. His indisputably original show has attracted the attention of a wide range of artists, and as a result, Silverman has shared the stage with the likes of Ani DiFranco, Soul Coughing, Saul Williams, Bob Weir and Ratdog, Yo La Tengo, Fabolous, Drums & Tuba, Naughty By Nature and countless others.

❖ He takes a month out of each year to visit the living rooms of his fans around the country...
❖ His band and nonprofit organization RallySound host a free festival every summer that raised $151,000 for homeless veterans in 2024...
❖ He live-streamed for 500 nights in a row during the pandemic...
❖ They co-produced an album with 163 fans...

If you haven't connected with Adam Ezra Group yet, these are just a few examples to help you understand how this underground, Americana songwriter and his bandmates seem to have popped out of nowhere, establishing a connection with their fans unlike any other, and are suddenly selling out theaters throughout the Northeast.

Adam Ezra will joke with you that while the "nowhere" part might be accurate, nothing has ever just "popped" for this folk musician, activist. Without resources, connections, or any kind of clue how the music world works, Ezra began playing shows over 20 years ago. When music venues wouldn't hire him, he played bars, bookstores, fields, and parking lots, often raising money for causes he cared about; a practice that grew into his nonprofit organization RallySound.

"We'd play 5 hours a night," Adam reminisces, "more often than not, in danger of outnumbering the audiences we were playing for..."

So how did this band operating so far outside the traditional music world come to win New England Music Award's "Americana Act of the Year" in 2023? What could have happened to inspire John Oates to call Adam and invite him to begin a songwriting friendship that would lead to John producing their latest release and co-write, "Hold Each Other Now"? What happened to catch the attention of The Wallflowers, who recently invited AEG to join them on their spring tour, or SPIN Magazine who recently proclaimed, "This Independent Underground Folk Band Is Blowing Up Without Selling Out"?

If you ask Adam, he'll tell you:

"One person at a time, over many years and thousands of shows, decided to turn their heads to listen. One person at a time decided to share our music with folks they care about. That's always been our story. It's no fairytale, but it sure makes me proud and humbled when I look out from the stage to watch theaters full of people singing along to our music."

These days you'll find Adam and his bandmates, Corinna Smith (Fiddle), Poche Ponce (Bass), and Alex Martin (Percussion), constantly out on the road. If you look at their tour schedule now, you can buy tickets to see them at festivals, rock venues, and theaters around the country, but you will also see their tour continuously peppered with activism and grassroots events; a testament to an artist who will never forget where he came from, and whose mission is about much more than music.

The R&B Cadets played their first gig shortly after New Year's in 1980 and their last in the summer of 1986. In that time they got a lot of folks out on the dance floor, playing a distinctive mix of of deep soul cuts from Paul Cebar's massive record collection and some sparkling originals, written by John Sieger, often in tandem with Michael Feldman, a friend and now longtime host of Public Radio's Whad'ya Know?

Splitting lead duties with Sieger and Cebar was the lovely chanteuse, Robin Pluer. Owner of one the lovelier voice heard in the midwest, Ms. Pluer was a dollop of sweetness at the top of the band's deep range. Rounding out the lineup was Mike Sieger, John's brother and vocal doppelganger, who played bass. Original drummer Cy Costabile, was later replaced by Bobby Schneider and the saxophonist Juli Wood was replaced by keyboard/sax man Bob Jennings.

In it's prime, the band had a large following in Milwaukee, where they were pretty much the house band at the late, lamented Century Hall. They travelled well too, with fans in the Twin Cities, Chicago, Madison and even New York where they played legendary clubs like CBGB's, The Knitting Factory and The Lone Star. Their only record, Top Happy, came out in 198-. It featured a song produced by Nick Lowe, a fan who had stumbled across them after playing a show in Milwaukee. The record got great reviews and could have been the start of even bigger things, but like many bands, people were pulling, and being pulled, in different directions.

The positive result of their breakup was two, then three very vital and entertaining acts. There was Semi-Twang, which concentrated on John's songs and did a record, Salty Tears for Warner Brothers that gathered more love than sales. John later moved to nashville and had many of his songs recorded by artist like Dwight Yoakam, Flaco Jimenez and The Bodeans.

Paul and Robin continued with the beefed up and ever-popular Milwaukeeans, releasing a record in the 1990s on Shenachie that got radio play around the country. That lineup stayed around until Robin bid adieu. Tired of touring and now married, she headed to New York for a while, before returning. She has carved out a special niche between soul, swing, standards and the French chanson that she loves, and is still performing today.

In 2009 Semi-Twang reunited and have released two CDs, both of which garnered raves. Paul has continued non-stop, his latest was out last year with his most recent moniker, Tomorrow Sound. The three headed beast has been in rehearsal, tightening up songs old and new. The crowd at their first reunion gig in many years was up and dancing at the first down beat, you probably will be too.

"Davina Sowers creates her own Americana mishmash -- a little Amy Winehouse-worthy neo-soul here, a little Great American Songbook-influenced songcraft there." Rolling Stone Magazine

"Davina and the Vagabonds combat heartache with sugar and sass." DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE

Davina Sowers and the Vagabonds have created a stir on the national music scene with their high-energy live shows, level A musicianship, sharp-dressed professionalism, and Sowers' commanding stage presence. With influences ranging from Fats Domino and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Aretha Franklin and Tom Waits, the band is converting audiences one show at a time, from Vancouver to Miami and across Europe.

Much like the music, the story spurns era, expectation, and classification. The often unbelievable, sometimes harrowing, and wholly inspiring journey of Davina Sowers gave birth to her eponymous band Davina and The Vagabonds in 2004. As the tale goes, she grew up in the economically depressed Allegheny town of Altoona, PA, which she now describes as "awesome in the industrial era, but horrible for high school." She was adopted by her much older stepfather when he was in his 80s; he passed away when she was just 13. Through him and his Edison phonograph, she first heard The Ink Spots, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and Louis Prima, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and many others. "Great man. He was my angel and still is," she says.

On her own, she vividly recalls hours in front of the record player where she religiously spun Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Simon and Garfunkel records belonging to her folk singer mom.

To this day, Davina still refers to music as "my first and eternal love." Despite early dalliances with classical piano and guitar, she developed a heavy drug habit in high school, which morphed into heroin dependency, left her homeless, sent her in and out of jail, and brought on all manner of trouble. Kicking dope on the streets, she "got clean, started the band, and worked [her] ass off every day since."

Davina and the Vagabonds shine every time they play. To date, they've performed in forty-five states, twelve European countries, and two Canadian provinces. Not to mention, they've earned feverish acclaim from the Chicago Tribune, NPR, and more in addition to performing on BBC's international favorite late-night program Later... With Jools Holland and appearing on PBS's Bluegrass Underground.

With a guitar slung over his shoulder and the amps turned up full tilt, Anthony Gomes electrifies blues and rock at a 21st century crossroads of his own. The Canadian vocalist, guitarist, songwriter and producer wails with all the force of a hurricane in the Mississippi Delta and enough fret-burning fireworks to leave his strings in flames. Over the years, he's toppled the Billboard Blues Chart at #1, earned the endorsement of legends such as B.B. King, tallied tens of millions of streams, and packed shows on multiple continents. In April 2025, Anthony Gomes is back with his much- anticipated 14th studio album, Praise the Loud, set for release on Rat Pak Records.

"I've learned how to embrace my voice as a guitarist and as a singer," he states. "I understand who I am, and I use my strengths to my advantage. I have a blues soul and a rock 'n' roll heart. I love to jump back and forth between both with a modern day approach. When I play rock, it's got a little more dust on it."

Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, he fell in love with music as a kid, listening to everyone from Muddy Waters and Jimi Hendrix to Jeff Beck and Eddie Van Halen. At 14 years old, Anthony gravitated to the guitar and his relationship with the instrument was born. After grinding it out, his chops caught the attention of B.B. King's bus driver at a jam night. Blown away, the driver introduced him to B.B. who invited him to open up a string of tour dates in 2005. Gaining invaluable knowledge from "The King," he went on to share the stage with the likes of Buddy Guy, Robert Plant, Joe Bonamassa, Heart, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and more. Along the way, his concert attendees have included Academy® Award winner Morgan Freeman, John Goodman, and Vince Vaughn as well as Eric Clapton, to name a few.

2022's High Voltage Blues vaulted to #1 on the iTunes Top Blues Albums Chart, #1 on Amazon Music's New Release Blues Chart and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues chart. It remained on the Billboard Blues chart for 58 consecutive weeks, landing on 'Billboard's Top 15 Blues Albums of the Year' for both 2023 and 2024.

Meanwhile, Total Guitar listed Gomes as 'One of the 100 Greatest Blues Guitarists of All Time' in 2024. Guitar World readers voted him one of "The 30 Best Blues Guitarists in the World Today" in 2019, and the publication noted, "Gomes is another power player who is at his best when his gear is in the scorched earth between blues and rock."

Anthony's latest release, 2025's Praise the Loud, delivers 12 fresh studio tracks that showcase Anthony's musical evolution while staying true to the no-holds-barred sound that has earned him a global fanbase.

Reflecting on the new album, Anthony shares, "On Praise the Loud, we pushed our musical boundaries in every direction. We wanted it to rock harder than anything we've done before, but at the same time, we wanted it to have a deeper, more soulful blues feel. When people ask me what I sound like, I say, 'If B.B. King was in AC/DC, that's what it would be'. That's Praise The Loud in a nutshell."

Gomes cites the track 'Rock & Roll Bluesman' as the thesis of the album. "My favorite line on the album comes from the song 'Rock & Roll Bluesman': 'I don't care if they love or hate us, gonna turn it up so they won't forget us.' That lyric captures the spirit of the album-- declaring that we're playing blues rock on our own terms, no matter what."

From the powerful rhythms of the album opener "Praise the Loud" to the ZZ Top-inspired groove of "Netflix & Chill," Anthony tackles a range of emotions and topics with his signature blend of layered harmonies, infectious rhythms, and blues-infused grooves. Tracks like "Meet My Maker," "Black Diamond Heavy," and "Electric Blues Crusade" highlight his ability to stretch his creative boundaries and expand his lyrical scope, while songs like "Love Song Gone Wrong" and "In the Name of the Blues" showcase his unmistakable blues guitar mastery. Produced by Peter Carson/Anthony Gomes and mixed by Chris Collier, Praise the Loud packs the punch and energy fans have come to expect from this world- class blues artist.

In the end, Anthony Gomes is just the kind of guitar hero we need for today.

"I still believe in a world of guitar heroes," he smiles. "I strive for a world where you don't have to be 19 years old to sell a lot of records and tickets and to make a statement. I'm one of those people who doesn't think rock, or the blues is dead. I'm looking for fresh ways to bring them together. I'm at the table rolling the dice all in the name of blues and rock 'n' roll. I know there's never been a more exciting time for music, and I'm here for the journey."

Teenage Bottlerocket was formed in Laramie, Wyoming in 2000 by twin brothers Ray and Brandon Carlisle, following the dissolution of their previous band, Homeless Wonders. The band's music is heavily influenced by guitarist and co-vocalist Kody Templeman's other band, The Lillingtons, and punk rock acts such as Ramones, Screeching Weasel, Green Day, The Bouncing Souls, and Misfits; Their music has been referred to as "Ramones-core", "Weasel-core" and "leather jacket punk".

Boris The Sprinkler were formed the night of the 1992 ShopKo fireworks in Green Bay. Veterans of numerous local bands (including minor Beer City sensations Suburban Mutilation), they opted to forgo most then-popular musical routes -- long-stale hardcore, vaguely melodic emo-esque muttering, dull strummy plugged-in acoustic guitar crap -- for the then highly-unpopular music they grew up playing: The punk rock of the late 70's and early 80's.

With vocalist and Maximum RockNRoll columnist Rev. Nørb (once memorably described by Ben Weasel as "a grown man who resembles a gigantic grasshopper") flailing around the stage in a variety of increasingly ridiculous costumes and mighty guitar titan Paul #1 acting as a sonic anchor amidst the high-energy lunacy, punk rock inexplicably got big again -- that wasn't exactly Boris's doing, but it floated their boat accordingly.

When label-shopping the band's first album -- 8-Testicled Pogo Machine -- proved to be too slow and annoying a process for the band's liking, Nørb launched Bulge Records, thereby releasing Boris product himself and bypassing the whole record label bit entirely.

Now augmented by the madcap drum antics of Paul #2 -- a man occasionally led to the stage in chains while clad in nothing but a wrestling mask, trunks, and boots -- the band released their second album, Saucer To Saturn, and exported their thoroughly Midwestern hijinx to a nationwide audience on a summer tour with the Riverdales and the Mr. T Experience.

With charming science-nerd bass whiz Ric Six entering the picture for the band's third album, Mega Anal, the classic Boris lineup was complete, and the Earth wobbled on its axis to the group's cheese-punk clamor.

Figuring (somewhat correctly) that punk rock wasn't a particularly stable gravy train for thirty-somethings to permanently hitch their wagons to, the band never quit their day jobs. This neverending cycle of forty hour workweeks and weekend road gigs led to a high turnover rate among band members; amidst overly-frequent lineup changes and flagging enthusiasm, the band sputtered to a halt in 2003, leaving a legacy of five albums, nearly twenty 7-inches, a double live record, and Ramones and Circle Jerks tribute albums.

In 2009, the classic lineup of the band was cajoled out of retirement for an appearance at Insubordination Fest in Baltimore; in 2017, they started playing more-or-less annual shows. In 2019, they found themselves (under mysterious circumstances) in a recording studio together, with Vespa To Venus being the result. The band enjoys socks, soup, and most polkas.

On their Don Giovanni debut, Home Movies, Rodeo Boys are upping the ante. Their music owes as much to the twang of country as it does to the fuzz of grunge, and it's a winning combination.

Lead single "Sugar" sits somewhere between Bully and SPICE, a gritty slice of feedback-drenched rock 'n' roll that immediately makes it clear where Rodeo Boys' passions lie--in loud, crunchy, catchy alt rock. "Dog Leg" plays out like a supersized take on classic rock, all roaring solos and guttural hooks, and epic closer "Tomboy Radio" is a proggy masterclass in dynamics.

Home Movies hardly lets up all through its 40 minutes, the space folk of "Hail Mary" allowing a couple minutes to breathe, but it all seems to zip by. Vocalist Tiff Hannay says Rodeo Boys' goal as a queer blue-collar band is "to give a voice to young queer people in small towns," and what a powerful voice it is.

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