Asleep at The Wheel will be bringing their tour celebrating the music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys to The Egg this Sunday, March 8. Their tribute album, Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys came out this past week and included guest appearances from Willie Nelson, Del McCoury, George Strait, Amos Lee, The Avett Brothers, and many more. Asleep at The Wheel has been going strong for over 40 years and show no signs of slowing down.
Bob Wills is of course one of the originators of Western Swing and is considered “The King” of it. Throughout the ’30s and ’40s Wills and his Texas Playboys toured throughout the country becoming early stars of American country music. They were a dance band with a country string section that played pop songs as if they were jazz numbers. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame, and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Ray Benson has said that he is still amazed me how well this music, born in the 1920s and ‘30s, thrives in the present day.
This is the only Upstate New York show before the band heads south and west for the remainder of the spring. Tickets are still available at The Egg’s box office and online. The show has a 7 PM start time, so don’t be late for this great Sunday show to finish up your weekend.
Two years ago today – brothers Matt and Ben Pickering and axe man Andrew Chamberlaine came together with multi-instrumentalist/sit-in wizard Scott Hannay to form Albany’s Mister F. Despite their short tenure – the F have grown exponentially – building crowds up and down the coast and deep into the mid-west. They are also attracting some top name attention with Umphrey’s Joel Cummins sitting in at a recent F show.
BDL Photo
Mister F is celebrating the occasion by releasing three brand new videos to say thanks to their fan-base – known as F-Squad. The first is “Don’t Lose Your Watch”. NYS Music caught up with keys man Hannay who shared the thought process behind the song’s creation:
When we were writing and had the song pretty much put together, we decided it would be cool to lay down vocoder vocals for this one. I ended up getting hooked on the game Portal 2 that same week, and there is an omnipresent computer talking to you the whole game, taunting you and playing mind games with you. I thought to write it from the perspective of a similar computer, as the human is trying to get it to understand music based in 5 beats per measure (most of the song itself). The computer is basically saying “yeah, not gonna happen. doesn’t really matter, I’ll still be around when you’re gone” but encounters some frustration when it really tries to figure it out. In the end, the computer doesn’t really need to understand it, because it’s a computer, and tells the human to stop wasting its time with such a futile endeavor – “Don’t lose your watch, your time is wealth” – Scott Hannay
Check out the new tune below and watch for two new videos the next two Sundays. After all three videos are released the songs will become available on the F bandcamp page as a new EP titled: The Snow Day Sessions.
As they closes out their Winter Tour, Umphrey’s McGee wrapped things up at The Palace Theatre on February 21 alongside TAUK, a great pairing of bands both rising and established. For the first time, Umphrey’s was brought to the Palace and out of the doldrums of Upstate Concert Hall, and finally, Jefferson Waful’s lights could properly shine and the band could show they could fill a theatre in Albany-proper.
cOpening up was the instrumental funk of TAUK, who only a year ago were playing Parish Public House to 100 or so fans. The growth of this band over the past year was remarkable and now a tour with Umphrey’s has only solidified their ascendance among the jam world. To cap the set, TAUKwas joined by Joel Cummins, Ryan Stasik and Andy Farag during “Mindshift”. TAUKis incredibly talented and worth seeing in any capacity.
Umphrey’s dove in deep for their tour closer and resurfaced only briefly for air in what was an entire rocker of a show. After an introductory “Dump City” the relatively light “Piranhas” and heavier “Educated Guess” off Similar Skin mixed the set up early, as well a shredding “Atmosfarag”. A 14 minute “Plunger” was a clear highlight of the first set, dropping into an exploratory jam that segued into “Andy’s Last Beer”. The fluidity exhibited by Umphrey’s is one of their musical trademarks amid what some may perceive as musical chaos and overly complicated compositions; what they are missing is the core of this prog-rock jam band and soaring peaks and valleys of songs and jams that few bands can come close to replicating.
“Wappy Sprayberry” with TAUK’s Alric Carter (keys) and Isaac Teel (drums) sitting in was a chance for these incredibly talented musicians to shine under a brighter spotlight. A clean segue into “Pay the Snucka” with a shredding ending capped a superior first set.
An abbreviated “All in Time” opened up the second set, seguing into the lyrically and musically powerful “Hajimashite” which launched into a great expanse of a jam, one not seen too often in “Haji”. The jam that ensued worked off of Pink Floyd’s “Breathe” and dipped into the funk of “Day Nurse” accented by Joel Cummins’ airy synth framework.
“Phil’s Farm” took some huge swings and had a great pay off, with a bonus of the drummer from local band moe., Vinny Amico, sitting in on drums. Working back into August and into the closing of “All in Time” made for a filling second set sandwich and capped off a monster set from start to finish. A big “Bad Friday” encore was the icing on Umphrey’s first ever performance at the historic Palace Theatre, a perfect venue for them for the foreseeable future.
Set 1: Dump City, Piranhas, Educated Guess, Atmosfarag > Plunger > Andy’s Last Beer, The Weight Around, Wappy Sprayberry* > Pay the Snucka
Set 2: All in Time > Hajimashite > Day Nurse, Ringo, Phil’s Farm^, August > All in Time
After the show was over, fans flooded Pearl Street looking for their late night fix and a sold out crowd found just that at The Hollow. With Mister F performing, friends stopped by for a few songs, including Joel Cummins’ sitting in next to Scott Hannay on “Answer the Dog”, and an extended “Vocoder” jam featuring Alric Carter and Isaac Teel of TAUK as well as Justin Henricks of Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan.
The newest and funkiest beep on the musical radar of the NY scene is Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan. The high-powered collaboration is led by the one and only Beau Sasser on the Hammond organ, vocalist Mary Corso, dueling guitarists Justin Henricks from Way Down/The Chronicles and Danny Mayer from Alan Evan’s Playonbrother with drummer Bill Carbone from Max Creek, fusing together rock ‘n’ roll attitude with a strong funk foundation. The funky five piece has been traveling across the country and back to bring a fresh, explosive sound that drops jaws and blows mind with serious guitar shredding, fierce rhythm and soulful key pounding.
Check out Beau Sasser’s Escape Plan TONIGHT Feb. 27 at The Putnam Den in Saratoga Springs with The Nth Power. Doors are at 8:30 pm with music starting at 9:30pm and a cover charge of $15 at the door for the 18+ event. Click here to buy tickets in advance and to guarantee that you won’t miss out on a great show. The last stop for the Escape Plan of their winter tour will be Saturday Feb. 28 at the historic Nectar’s in Burlington, VT.
I was lucky to catch up with Beau Sasser to talk about his escape plan, covering rock classics and highlights of their winter tour.
Susan Rice: What are you escaping from and what’s the plan?
Beau Sasser: The show is an escape for the audience for a little while, our goal is to create art through music and connect with the crowd and share in that journey, and its an escape for us too! The plan is make the world a better place through feel good music. The band has such a great vibe, we just want to share that with the audience.
SR: How did you come to assemble the Escape Plan band members?
BS: I’ve played with our drummer Bill Carbone in various bands over many years. We played together in the Melvin Sparks Band and now currently in The Z3. I met our guitarist Danny Mayer 3 years ago when Alan Evans(Soulive) put together his own group Alan Evans Trio which became Playonbrother, we traveled and played together alot over that time. I’ve connected with guitarist Justin Henricks and vocalist Mary Corso more recently in the last year or so and invited them to come play Funk Night at Bishop’s Lounge in Northampton, Ma, a weekly gig we do each Wednesday. This band really came together on those gigs and we realized quickly that it was something special.
SR: You’ve been touring heavily all over the area to promote your new sound. How have fans been responding to your new collaboration?
BS: The response has been really incredible! A ton of buzz around this group and we’ve had alot of support and great shows, I think its fun for the fans to watch the evolution of a new band and be involved in the process.
SR: What are three key factors for having a fantastic funk set/show?
BS: I would say we try to keep energy, crowd connection and high voltage onstage vibe at the forefront of our live show.
SR: When I saw your show at The Hollow in Albany on February 13th, you covered Frank Zappa, The Allman Brothers and Earth Wind and Fire. How do you pick which songs/artists to cover? Are the songs difficult to funkify?
BS: We’ve been careful to pick some choice covers that fit in the funk vein. We love Frank Zappa and have a pretty good arsenal of FZ covers that are more from his seventies era band that really leaned on funk music a little harder than some of the other eras. Also we really try to take advantage of our double guitar situation, incorporating a few Allman Bros. tunes which lean more towards a southern rock vibe, we try to do our own arrangements to make them fit the show. “Taxman” by the Beatles is another cover we have been working on and we’ve taken more of a James Brown approach to it, utilizing two guitars in a rhythm/comping situation, making it easy to put some funk sauce on it.
SR: Your Winter Tour is coming to an end. What was your favorite part? Would you change anything in particular? What’s next for the Escape Plan?
BS: As the winter tour comes to an end I would have to say the highlight was our week run in California, we played House of Blues and had members of Fishbone, Pfunk, Umphrey’s McGee and Snarky Puppy join us onstage. Unbelievable vibe during the show and it was certainly a great party! The other highlight would be our show last weekend in our hometown of Northampton, MA at Iron Horse Music Hall. So many friends and family and great to play for the hometown crew here where it all started. That show was recorded and is being spread around the internet, the band played great and there is wonderful sound quality on that recording. The only changes we are making are to keep working on perfecting our set and our overall live concert experience, we’ve been using lights and lasers in the show on some choice performances and I’d like to make that a more regular part of the show. Up next is recording our new album which will come out in April, our spring tour that will bring us to jazz fest in New Orleans, and then festival season when all this snow melts!!!!
Check out their live performance of “Love is Free” from Church of Boston on January 10 below.
The soul of the south warmed up Albany at The Egg on February 19 with JJ Grey and Mofro performing a riveting and inspired set of classic songs and new tracks from their new album Ol’ Glory, due out this month.
Opening was The London Souls, now a duo, but still with a heavy sound that resembles a trio, even though the band didn’t seem to be as loud as they could have been. With a London rock sound and smooth blues base, they were augmented with the influence of The Beatles, The Guess Who, and especially Cream and The James Gang, particularly on the open-ended “Under Control” that closed their set.
JJ “50 shades of” Grey, with a slight twang in his voice from his Northern Florida home, where the accent fades a little, brought southern soul along with Mofro, a band that has been on the march for nearly 15 years and a perfect combination of forces. The stage was setup as an intimate room, inside another intimate room, The Hart Theater in The Egg Performing Arts Center. The lighting resembled a chandelier, a tapestry was the backdrop and floor and table lamps made it feel like JJ Grey and Mofro were performing in your own backyard. The band opened with “Hide & Seek” which had a hint of “Hush” by Deep Purple, followed a few songs later by the debut of “The Island,” a mellow and personal song off the upcoming release Ol’ Glory.
“Brighter Days” displayed a building energy throughout which carried over in the back-to-back high power combo of “Orange Blossoms” and “Everything Good is Bad” to which the crowd roared with approval. The understated organ player Anthony Farrell shone on “Ho Cake” and “A Night to Remember,” the latter of which had hints of Bachmann Turner Overdrive.
The encore was an expected “Lochloosa” starting with a dark stage and soul-filled organ and the band slowly assembling, and as Grey sang the opening line, the audience sang the second verse, knowing this heart and soul tune from 1100 miles away from its origin.
JJ Grey and Mofro, The Egg – February 19, 2015
Setlist: Hide & Seek, Every Minute, 99 Shades, The Island, Your Lady, Light a Candle, Brighter Days, Everything is a Song, Orange Blossoms > Everything Good is Bad, Slow Hot Sweaty, Ho Cake, Night to Remember
Upstate New York rock band, Hard Soul, have successfully completed their Kickstarter campaign in raising over $12,000 to fund their latest EP, Fairer Shores and touring needs. The local Albany band had over 150 backer’s support them on this mission proving the dream of Rock n Roll is far from dead. Kickstarter is a crowd based, fund-raising site for creative projects that helped Hard Soul and millions of others reach goals from the help of friends and supporters.
“The outpouring of support from all the fans has been absolutely incredible and very humbling,” said Hard Soulfront-man Johnny Salka. “We’re beyond excited for the opportunity to hit the road and share our music in front of new faces and cities later this month.”
Hard Soul consists of guitarists Johnny Salka, Steve Thompson and Nick Kossor, bassist Ryan Klaeysen, drummer Mark Podbielski, all contributing to vocals of original heartfelt lyrics. The band’s LP Heart of Plaster from 2014 grabbed regional attention as the Albany Times Union placed them on the “Best Records of the Year” list. The first single off their latest EP “The Sweetest Heart” was released on January 20th with a laid back music video. Fairer Shores drops on February 24th on CD and digital formats with limited-edition vinyls later this year.
Eager to share their new music with loving fans, Hard Soul is kicking things off at The Hollow in Albany on Friday Feb. 20 where they will be opening for Frank Iero (formally of My Chemical Romance) to start their Winter Tour of Upstate NY and beyond. The show starts at 8pm with $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Get there early to support local music from Hard Soul as they bring their modern-day rock with vintage soul to Pearl St.
Moon Hooch is an interesting concept – two saxophones (Mike Wilbur and Wenzi McGowen) and one drummer (James Muschler) combine energies to create a fusion of jazz and EDM with intensely high energy. Focused and committed to their craft, Moon Hooch are dialed in when they perform, driven by Muschler’s powerful drumming and phenomenal interplay between Wilbur and McGowan, leading to gyrating crowds pumping fists to the beat. “Number 9”, the first track off their eponymous debut album garnered an intense response from the audience, along with many other choice compositions.
It will be interesting to see how their live performance translates at music festivals this summer. In the meantime, go see Moon Hooch on tour this winter. Opening the night was Ampevene, a new local act from Albany who are slowly gaining ground with their progressive rock with a hint of open ended jamming. The young band are not to be missed and will be back at The Hollow next month.
JJ Grey & Mofro will perform at The Egg on Thursday, February 19 at 7:30 PM as part of the American Roots & Branches concert series. JJ Grey & Mofro’s blend of front porch soul, funk, R&B, blues, southern rock and down-home storytelling has made them a popular fixture on the American roots music scene for the past decade. The NYC-based band The London Souls, who draw inspiration from British bands such as Cream, The Beatles and The Hollies, will open the night.
Tickets are $28 and are available at The Egg Box Office at the Empire State Plaza, by telephone 518-473-1845 or online at Theegg.org
Umphrey’s McGee, the midwestern-based progressive jam rock band, will be playing shows in Syracuse and Albany on their current North American tour. The dates follow recent appearances at The Beacon Theater in New York City and The Paramount in Huntington, where reported on two consecutive nights of fantastic performances.
The sextet’s first Upstate stop will be the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse on February 20. Tickets are on sale now, priced through Ticketmaster at $39.90. Umphrey’s will be supported by Long Island act, TAUK.
The tour will make its way to Albany’s Palace Theatre the following evening. Tickets for the show can be purchased for $36.55. An official aftershow at the Hollow will feature local band, Mister F.
While Umphrey’s McGee is known for its tight, high-energy live sets, the band’s latest studio release, Similar Skin, offers a genuine, accurate presentation of their signature sound. Getting to know the album is a helpful preface to seeing Umphrey’s live show; it can be streamed on Spotify or purchased on iTunes. Additionally, Umphrey’s surprised fans with a release of The London Session, recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios in 12 hours time.
Follow for upcoming coverage on both the Syracuse and Albany concerts on Twitter and Instagram.
Get out your spandex and Aqua-Net – 80’s hair metal pioneers Def Leppard are making several Upstate visits on their just announced 2015 summer tour, and sailing along for the ride are Styx and Tesla. Tour kicks off June 23 in Tampa, Florida. New York will be able to go Def July 11 in Bethel, July 12 at Darien Lake, July 23 in Wantagh and July 24 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Fans that join the Rock Brigade Concert Club can get an early VIP shot at tickets Feb. 17 – general public can purchase Feb. 20 at 10am EST. Check the whole tour out below.
U.S. Tour Dates:
June 23 – Tampa, FL (MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre) June 25 – West Palm Beach, FL (Cruzan Amphitheatre) June 27 – Birmingham, AL (Oak Mountain Amphitheatre) June 28 – Atlanta, GA (Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood) June 30 – Charlotte, NC (PNC Music Pavilion) July 2 – Bristow, VA (Jiffy Lube Live) July 3 – Virginia Beach, VA (Farm Bureau Live) July 5 – Uncasville, CT (Mohegan Sun Arena) July 7 – Gilford, NH (Bank of NH Pavilion at Meadowbrook) July 9 – Mansfield, MA (Xfinity Center) July 11 – Bethel, NY (Bethel Woods Center for the Arts) July 12 – Darien Center, NY (Darien Lake Performing Arts Center) July 14 – Toronto, ON (Molson Canadian Amphitheatre) July 15 – Youngstown, OH (Covelli Centre)* July 17 – Clarkston, MI (DTE Energy Music Theatre) July 21 – Mt. Pleasant, MI (Soaring Eagle Resort & Casino)* July 23 – Wantagh, NY (Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre) July 24 – Saratoga Springs, NY (Saratoga Performing Arts Center) July 25 – Holmdel, NJ (PNC Bank Arts Center) Aug 7 – Sturgis, SD (Buffalo Chip Campground)** Aug 8 – Sioux Falls, SD (Sioux Falls Arena) Aug 10 – Oklahoma City, OK (Chesapeake Energy Arena)* Aug 11 – Kansas City, MO (Starlight Theatre) Aug 14 – Sedalia, MO (Missouri State Fair) Aug 15 – Des Moines, IA (Iowa State Fair) Aug 17 – Cincinnati, OH (Riverbend Music Center) Aug 18 – Nashville, TN (Bridgestone Arena) Aug 21 – Dallas, TX (Gexa Energy Pavilion) Aug 22 – Woodlands, TX (Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion) Aug 23 – Austin, TX (Austin360 Amphitheater) Aug 27 – St. Paul, MN (Minnesota State Fair) Aug 28 – Grand Forks, ND (Alerus Center) Aug 30 – Noblesville, IN (Klipsch Music Center) Sept 1 – Allentown, PA (Allentown Sept 3 – Louisville, KY (KFC Yum! Center) Sept 4 – Maryland Heights, MO (Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre) Sept 5 – Tinley Park, IL (First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre) Sept 16 – Auburn, WA (White River Amphitheater) Sept 17 – Ridgefield, WA (Northwest Amphitheater) Sept 19 – Mountain View, CA (Shoreline Amphitheater) Sept 22 – Chula Vista, CA (Sleep Train Amphitheatre) Sept 23 – Phoenix, AZ (Ak-Chin Pavilion) Sept 25 – Albuquerque, NM (Isleta Amphitheatre) Sept 26 – Denver, CO (Pepsi Center) Sept 28 – West Valley City, UT (USANA Amphitheater) Sept 30 – Spokane, WA (Spokane Arena) Oct 2 – Bozeman, MT (Brick Breeden Fieldhouse) Oct 4 – Bismarck, ND (Bismarck Civic Center)
cOpening up was the instrumental funk of TAUK, who only a year ago were playing Parish Public House to 100 or so fans. The growth of this band over the past year was remarkable and now a tour with Umphrey’s has only solidified their ascendance among the jam world. To cap the set, TAUKwas joined by Joel Cummins, Ryan Stasik and Andy Farag during “Mindshift”. TAUKis incredibly talented and worth seeing in any capacity.
JJ 
