Category: Southern Tier

Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance Announces 2014 Lineup – Dickie Betts, Anders Osborne, Donna The Buffalo and Many More!

One of the longest running annual music festivals in the country announced the artist lineup for their 2014 installment Thursday and lucky for NYS Music readers; that festival is centrally nestled in Upstate New York.

Celebrating their 24^th festival this year, Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance unveiled the artists who will be gracing the multiple stages at the Trumansburg Fairgrounds July 17-20.

Spawned as a brainchild from Grassroots host band, Donna The Buffalo, the 2014 Grassroots lineup has some notable national acts coming to the Finger Lakes. In addition to multiple sets from the aforementioned Donna the Buffalo, other Upstate artists include The Horseflies, John Brown’s Body, Sim Redmond Band and Jimkata, just to name a few.

However, some of the headlining artists should also assist the box office with ticket sales. (Not that Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance has ever had an issue attracting music lovers.)

“We’re very excited about the lineup,” Festival co-founder and Donna the Buffalo front man Jeb Puryea told on Thursday following the artist lineup. “This year, we’re pretty happy about having Dickey Betts & Great Southern coming. I mean, that’s pretty awesome. We’re also pumped to have Lake Street Dive coming this year. They’re an awesome band, who is real up and coming, so we’re lucky to have them coming by this year.”

Lending to the down-home vibe, no one artist really ever outshines the others 80+ artists each year at Grassroots, but Puryear was quick to mention that Lake Street Dive, who recently donned the March issue of Rolling Stone was heralded by the publication with “This Year’s Best New Band” tag.

“I am also personally excited to have Anders Osborne coming by this year,” Puryear added.

Other notable acts include regulars Preston Frank and His Family Zydeco Band, Keith Frank and Soileau Zydeco, Danay Suarez, Driftwood, Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad, Jim Lauderdale, Big Mean Sound Machine, Black Castle, The Speckers, Afrobeta, Joe Driscoll and Sekou Kouyate and Keith Secola and His Wild Band of Indians.

Ranging from Americana to alt-country, roots/reggae to afrobeat and bluegrass to jam, Grassroots continues to provide festival goers with one of the most eclectic lineups in the country, let alone Upstate New York. Many also still contend the no-hassle, on-festival grounds camping with local foods and drink are some of the most affordable and hospitable atmosphere one can still find amongst music festivals.

For a complete list of artists visiting Trumansburg in July, visit www.grassrootsfest.org or @GrassrootsFest on twitter.

Four-day festival passes are currently on sale for $115 or at the gate for $130.

May 2, 2014
It’s Time for March Madness!

Welcome to March Madness! This is our first year in creating this tournament-style competition between artists and bands that originated in Upstate New York and we think with Upstate New York’s history of incredible musicians, we have the potential for an interesting style of March Madness to share with you all.

For starters, there are four regions, made up of the four parts to Upstate NY – Western NY, Central NY, Southern Tier and Eastern NY. We broke them up by Area Codes – West Region covers 716 and 585, Central Region covers all of 315, South Region includes 845 and 607, while East Region is 100% 518, stretching all the way to Canada.

We chose these bands based on their historical presence in Upstate NY, their origins in Upstate, popularity, a selection of many genres (but no cover bands, sorry), focusing on who comes to mind in each of these four regions. We ranked them based on the best known band/artist from each region, 1 through 16.

Did we miss some? Let us know! There were some bands that didn’t make the cut, and some we might have overlooked in this process.

Voting will begin on March 17th at Noon with the first round, which ends on March 20th. Round 2 will start the 21st, with more announcements as each round progresses. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and .com for details and to see who advanced to the next round!

– Pete Mason, Managing Editor,

A note to moe. fans – we know they started out in Buffalo and then developed a larger following while in Albany, but have had 14 (soon 15) moe.downs in 315 – we split the difference to place them there.

Update 3/19 7pm: Due to an OVERWHELMING response to our Upstate March Madness, voting for Round 1 has been closed. The vote totals have been counted and we will share the winners of Round 1 tomorrow afternoon, with a complete bracket of all the teams.

The response has been greater than we expected, with THOUSANDS of votes cast by fans and bands. There are some upsets, a few Cinderallas to look out for and key Round 2 matchups to which to look forward to.

Stay tuned for Round 2 of Upstate March Madness!!

Update 3/21 12pm: Vote in Round 2 here!

518 East Region

1 Ominous Seapods
2 Blotto
3 Skinless
4 Peter Prince
5 Phantogram
6 Conehead Buddha
7 Stellar Young
8 Eastbound Jesus
9 Wild Adriatic
10 Stigmata
11 Titanics
12 Restless Streets
13 Mister F/Timbre Coup
14 Digital Dharma
15 Formula 5
16 Lucid

315 Central Region

1 Ronnie James Dio
2 Blue Oyster Cult
3 moe.
4 Joe Bonamassa
5 Joanne Shenandoah
6 Martin Sexton
7 Tony Trischka
8 Ra Ra Riot
9 Gym Class Heroes
10 Sophistafunk
11 Floodwood
12 Dexter Grove
13 Los Blancos
14 House on a Spring
15 Joe Driscoll
16 Birdseed Bandits

716/585 West Region

1 Goo Goo Dolls
2 Rick James
3 Ani Difranco
4 Cannibal Corpse
5 Dr. Dirty (John Valby)
6 Neal and Alan Evan (Soulive)
7 Snapcase
8 Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
9 Thunderbody
10 Buddhahood
11 Spyro Gyra
12 Aqueous
13 Big Leg Emma
14 Manhattan Project
15 Funktional Flow
16 Smackdab

607/845 South Region

1 Pete Seeger
2 Donna the Buffalo
3 John Brown’s Body
4 Perfect Thyroid
5 Sim Redmond Band
6 Big Mean Sound Machine
7 Jimkata
8 Driftwood
9 Solaris
10 Yolk
11 Wingnut
12 3
13 Revision
14 Spectacular Average Boys
15 Notorious String Dusters
16 Professor Louie and the Crowmatix

March 17, 2014
607/845 South Region: Vote in the First Round of March Madness!

The 607/845 region of New York is filled with talent and a few big name musicians, both new and old. Starting off the list at number one is a legend, the late Pete Seeger. Since the 1940’s Seeger has been a musician, activist, pioneer of American Folk Music, making him our top seed. Spots 3 and 5 are home to the area’s hottest Americana/Reggae bands, John Brown’s Body and Sim Redmond Band, whose popularity has grown immensely in the festival scene and across the country. An interesting match-up to look out for is between No. 6 Big Mean Sound Machine and No. 11 Wingnut. These groups are known for the unique sounds they have created, from Big Mean’s complex Latin and dub to Wingnut’s unstoppable funk. With a considerable amount of clout in the local music scene, these bands should prove to be an exciting pairing. Lastly, Jimkata must be mentioned for their rapidly growing fan base and rigorous tour schedule. This electronic/jam quartet has really made a name for itself in the past three years, playing Gathering of the Vibes, Summer Camp and opening this year’s Snowball in Colorado. – Zach Luckin

All 8 polls for the bracket are listed below – make sure you vote for each!

See the full field of 64 bands and artists!

607/845 South Region

1 Pete Seeger v 16 Professor Louie and the Crowmatix
2 Donna the Buffalo v 15 Notorious String Busters
3 John Brown’s Body v 14 Spectacular Average Boys
4 Perfect Thyroid v 13 Revision
5 Sim Redmond Band v 12 3
6 Big Mean Sound Machine v 11 Wingnut
7 Jimkata v 10 Yolk
8 Driftwood v 9 SOLARiS

Polls are now closed! Stay tuned for Round 2 matchups coming Friday, March 21st!

March 17, 2014
Upstate Metal is Merging with UpstateLIVE

It is rare to find a music fan who devotes their time to only one type of music. When speaking with the musicians that you read about on our websites, you will find a huge diversity of bands that had influenced their love for music.

And, that is the basis behind our most recent change.

Upstate Live is excited to announce its merger with Upstate Metal. Each has focused on the same mission – to promote live music and the local talent here in the Empire State.

Through the years, we have come to recognize the best way to follow through with this mission statement of ours would be to combine our efforts. Music fanatics appreciate a wide spectrum of sound that carries them through different genres. As these tastes mature and musicians continue to push the envelope on the characteristics that define their given category, it has become difficult to discern where one genre ends and another one begins.

In the coming weeks, regular readers of may notice a few new names. With the merger, we welcome within the talented writers and photographers that helped earn success for Upstate Metal. This talented group of writers, photographers and editors will only enhance our ability to spread great music across the state to bring you the coverage you have already come to expect from us.

In addition, you should expect to see a new look to our website very soon. It is not all about aesthetics. We promise this will help all of our readers to navigate clearly by region, genre, and news category.

March 12, 2014
Primus Announces New York Dates for June 2014

Les Claypool may be focusing on his project Duo de Twang at the moment, but come June he will return to the road with Primus. The five date tour sees two stops in New York in June, with the first night being an “evening with” show that takes place at The Capitol Theatre in Portchester on June 24, 2014.

Then on June 27th, Primus will be joined by The Dean Ween Group at The Summer State at Tags in Big Flats. Les and Dean recently started their own reality show that is based around fishing, so it’s no surprise that the two are joining up to tour together.

The Capitol Theatre show goes on sale Friday March 7th at Noon, while The Summer State at Tags show goes on sale Friday March 7th at 10 AM. Both shows are on presale right now through Primus.

March 4, 2014
Neutral Milk Hotel Return to Upstate New York for First Time in 15 Years

Following the 1998 release of the sophomore album from Neutral Milk Hotel, frontman Jeff Mangum played an opening set for fellow Elephant 6 Recording Company members, Elf Power, in an Athens, Georgia basement; the performance became Mangum’s last before his band’s fifteen-year hiatus. On Monday night, the same Neutral Milk Hotel lineup that recorded In an Aeroplane Over the Sea, a release that has since become considered one of recent history’s most influential albums, made their return to the stage after an opening appearance from longtime friends, Elf Power.

While Elf Power continued to make new music and consistently tour behind their various releases during NMH’s fifteen-year period of absence, the members of NMH went their separate ways. Collaborating with other members of Elephant 6, multi-instrumentalist Julian Koster formed The Music Tapes, while horn specialist Scott Spillane fronted The Gerbils. Drummer Jeremy Barnes also joined The Gerbils, which became one of his several side projects, including the Eastern European instrumental group, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, and the experimental jazz band, Bablicon. Mangum, whose apprehension with the attention gained from In an Aeroplane’s success spurred the initial disbandment of NMH, appeared sporadically throughout the hiatus, performing infrequently at charity concerts and eventually touring the west coast prior to a slot on Coachella’s 2012 lineup.

Just as “King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1” opens In an Aeroplane with Mangum’s imagery-driven lyricism atop acoustic guitar chords, Monday’s show began with the frontman alone on stage, playing the opening track with eyes shadowed by a baseball cap and the lower portion of his face engulfed by the bulk of his microphone. As the song progressed and the remaining Neutral Milk Hotel members joined Mangum for the introduction of full instrumentation in the subsequent “King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2 & 3,” Mangum stepped away from the microphone, visibly becoming more comfortable as the spotlight broadened to recognize the entirety of the band.

The onstage addition of Koster, Spillane, and Barnes brought about a newfound energy to the State Theater; as the distorted, quick-paced opening chords of “Holland, 1945” rang throughout the venue, Koster’s spastic grooving and Spillane’s sing-along enthusiasm inspired the realization that Neutral Milk Hotel has, in fact, made their return.

While pursuing various projects in Neutral Milk Hotel’s decade and a half of disbandment, its members sharpened their skillsets and integrated these improvements into the band’s reunion. Koster’s work on the singing saw and the bowed banjo showed incredible musicianship, and the collective sound created by the band, along with appearances from Elf Power’s Laura Carter and Mangum’s wife Astra Taylor, swept over the audience throughout the entire set.

As the future of Neutral Milk Hotel never seems quite certain, Upstate fans can only hope it won’t take another fifteen years to see them perform again.

Setlist: The King of Carrot Flowers, Part 1, The King of Carrot Flowers, Pts. 2 & 3, Holland, 1945, A Baby for Pree, Gardenhead / Leave Me Alone, Everything Is, Two-Headed Boy, The Fool, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Naomi, Ferris Wheel on Fire, Oh Comely, Song Against Sex, Ruby Bulbs, Snow Song, Part One

Encore: Ghost, [untitled], Two-Headed Boy Pt. 2, Engine

January 20, 2014
Channeling the Spirit of Jerry on New Year’s Eve with The Garcia Project

The Garcia Project brought a crowd from near and far with some people coming simply out of nostalgia and a desire to spend New Year’s Eve reveling in the spirit of Jerry Garcia, but everyone, including those not previously familiar with the Garcia Project, left Oneonta having had a real good time this New Year’s Eve. The Garcia Project typically covers a Jerry Garcia Band show from years past, giving the audience something to think about during the set.

Complete with “wall of sound” banners bordering the stage, and drummer Bob McKeon positioned front and center on stage, a true recreation of the Jerry Garcia Band experience began. As soon as the first set started with “How Sweet It Is”, the dance floor immediately filled up, but when “Run for the Roses” came on, that’s when the crowd really got into the groove, and the band seemed to play off of that, with bassist Dan Crea asserting himself on this one. “Struggling Man” featured drummer Bob McKeon crisply and cleanly landing on the upbeats, with guitarist/vocalist Mik Bondy playing some of Jerry’s well-known triple-time guitar riffs. The first set closed out with a more obscure cover of “Ain’t No Bread In The Breadbox”, followed by classics “My Sisters and Brothers > Deal”, which left the crowd wanting much more as the night continued.

Before the show and between sets, as part of the ticket price, a buffet meal was provided, which gave the audience time to refuel and chat with like-minded reflective fans. Many a conversation was overheard about various Jerry stories experienced by most in attendance at this show. While the Oneonta Theatre typically serves only beer and wine, they often offer up a specialty drink, which tonight was a tasty tropical bay breeze to help everyone get through the cold night.

The band returned to the stage for a “wildcard” set of tunes leading up to the midnight hour. The mini set started off with a hopping version of “Mississippi Half Step Uptown Too-Da-Loo”, followed by a boogie/blues-style “Mystery Train”, and ended with a driving rendition of “Cumberland Blues” with a rocking organ send-off by Greg Marshall, who had a real mastery of the keyboards, especially the Hammond sound of which he seemed to have a true command. Mik invited the audience to join the band in the downstairs theater to watch the Times Square Ball Drop on the big screen (a champagne toast was also included in the price of the ticket, by the way), and then to head back upstairs to “party like it’s 1999”!

After the festive NYE countdown and ball drop, Mik’s mom proudly brought out the first of two huge cakes they had brought for the occasion, and handed out pieces to the crowd; the sugar rush definitely helped at this hour, as the band still had a whole second set to play! (Apparently, the Jerry Garcia Band show the band chose to play tonight was a request from an audience member and they just decided to run with it.)

The first two songs of the set were perfect examples of how impeccably balanced the four instrumentalists are. The audience really got into the beautiful harmonies between Mik and Kat Walkerson, with lots of slow dancing going on during one of this evening’s more romantic tunes, “Shining Star”. “Waiting for a Miracle” featured some great ascending then descending progressions, and the band really started to funk it up during this tune. Bassist Dan Crea really got to shine during “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”, which is a song that often has a somewhat monotonous bass line. It was hard to believe that some of the notes he was pulling out of that bass were actually coming from his instrument! He went way beyond the range of notes typically heard on the bass. “Evangeline” was a swingy number that had many audience members doing the twist. Another example of the spot-on harmonies between Mik and Kat was showcased in “Don’t Let Go”, and the set ended with a perfect, slightly funky cover of “Let’s Spend the Night Together”.

Following the end of the second set, the band revealed the Jerry Garcia Band show they covered, and the show was (drum roll please) … 11/12/91 at the Philadelphia Spectrum! Expressions of recognition could be heard throughout the crowd. The encore was a particularly lullaby-like rendition of “(What a) Wonderful World”, and The Garcia Project decided to throw the crowd a bonus double encore of “Lonesome and a Long Way From Home” to send us on our way. The Garcia Project truly gave everyone in attendance at the Oneonta Theatre on New Year’s Eve a night to remember, giving us the opportunity to bask in the all the glory Jerry was kind enough to share with us for all those years.

Set 1: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), And It Stoned Me, He Ain’t Give You None, Run For The Roses, Struggling Man, Ain’t No Bread In The Breadbox, My Sisters And Brothers > Deal

Set 2: Bright Side Of The Road, Shining Star, Waiting For A Miracle, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, Evangeline, Don’t Let Go, Let’s Spend The Night Together

Encore: (What a) Wonderful World, Lonesome and a Long Way From Home

January 9, 2014