NYS Music 20​15

Tag: The Egg

  • Best of NYS Music 2015: Staff Pick for Best Music Town in New York State

    With an expansive state such as NY, there’s a multitude of large cities and small towns that are home to some widely diverse music venues and scenes abroad.  Teetering as the fourth most populated state in the country, New York houses just under 20 million people with the majority of the larger cities snuggled along interstate 90.  It’s a seamless route for bands to travel and schedule shows as they pass through the Empire State.  However, our team of merry music lovers here at NYS Music voted upon one town to be the best scene for live music.  I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that this 5-borough concrete jungle was the top pick for best music town in New York State.  That’s right, New York City indeed.  Coming in hot at #1 is the largest city in the United States and has been declared as the Best Music Town for many years now.   It’s probably not going to be topped anytime soon either.

    Jim Houle - NYC - New York City - Manhattan

    To a surprising degree, Albany and Buffalo were not so distant behind the Big Apple in the standings.  The Capital District has much to offer with many venues of all capacities spread throughout the city. A brief list starts with The Hollow Bar & Kitchen, The Palace Theatre, The EGG, The Fuze Box, and The Times Union Center.  Buffalo also has an impressive list of stages and events such as the Town Ballroom, The Tralf, The Waiting Room, Buffalo Iron Works, Nietzsche’s, and the First Niagara Center.

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    Oh, but the city that never sleeps has far more venues than anyone can imagine.  Clubs, bars, city parks, warehouses, basements, rooftops, to numerous theatres and stadiums are abundant in the melting pot.  It’s glorious!  The most regarded venue in NYC would have to be Madison Square Garden.  It’s beautiful, accommodating, spacious, acoustically dynamic, and it is just historically pleasing to be in and around.  MSG holds only the world’s largest acts and will be home to Phish for four consecutive nights at the end of 2015.

    The Barclays Center is home to the Brooklyn Nets, seats about 19,000 people, and opened in 2012 with a major list of performers, including Jay-Z and Pearl Jam.  Its rivals in size would be MSG, Nassau Coliseum, Nikon at Jones Beach Amphitheater, and the IZOD Center (located in NJ).

    Radio City Music Hall is the queen of all theaters in NYC with its 5,933 seat capacity, historical Art Deco interior, prestigious location, and Grand Stage.  The elevator system in the theater is so advanced, that the U.S. Navy had incorporated identical hydraulics into WWII aircraft carriers and had security personnel guarding the theater during wartime.  The Hall is sprinkled with depression-era artwork in the lobby, hallways, and the mezzanine.  It’s deserving of the nickname, Showplace of the Nation.

    Though, just because NYC is ample in size, poses home to the largest/most popular arenas and theaters in the country, doesn’t mean that’s where the real glory is.  People tend to have more fun in the intimate venue, smaller capacity rooms where you can practically reach out and touch the artists from any angle of the room.  The venues that sell tickets at reasonable prices, have great selection of beverages, are decorated with passion, and cater to the individual concert go-er rather than consumers in bulk, are what makes the experience favorable.  The Empire City has all of that and more.   Some other venues that hold NYC so high are: The Beacon Theatre, The  Hammerstein Ballroom, Carnegie Hall, Playstation Theater, City Winery, Terminal 5, Brooklyn Bowl, Governors Island, Central Park, Bowery Ballroom, Village Vanguard, Cake Shop, and Saint Vitus are just a sliver of the pie.

    New Years Eve in New York City, well really, the whole week around New Years, is chock full of music. Just check out this list put together by Catskill Chill Music Festival!

    NYENYC2016chill

    Aside from being the music mecca of the world, it’s almost in a class of its own.  Until that changes, go visit the Big Apple and enjoy some live music!

  • Leftover Salmon Lays it Down at The Egg

    Twelve years after last appearing at The Egg, Leftover Salmon returned to Albany for a nearly two-hour set in the intimate Swyer Theater. Fans danced in the periphery, while others remained seated, tapping their feet to the rhythm and mouthing the words to familiar lyrics, yet rarely seen live in these parts. Going in with no expectations, this marked my first opportunity to see Leftover Salmon after 14  years of patient listening.

    Drummer Alwyn Robinson stood out immediately, not only because of his presence behind the kit in a bluegrass band, but especially because he did not overshadow his bandmates. He was not driving the songs nor was he reserved to the point of a feigned presence on stage. Robinson is the ideal bluegrass drummer.

    Giving a nod to recent corruption news from the nearby Capitol, Vince Herman introduced “Hey Woody Guthrie,” calling on the fabled folk legend to return as the good fight is still being fought. “Flight of the Durban,” led by Andy Thorn on banjo, was upbeat and a long journey through a composition that could double as a soundtrack for a travel video. “Troubled Times” and “High Country” were on the country side of things, while an upbeat version of Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” was a refreshing take on a classic folk tune.

    Drew Emmitt showed masterful prowess on the mandolin and switched to electric guitar during an extended jam, following the same style of Robinson—not taking an overpowering Warren Haynes-esque solo, but augmenting the existing jam. Herman introduced “Two Highways,” a song he dedicated to his wife to-be (as of next week) in Mexico during Strings n Sol festival prior to band intros, capping off the set with a lively cover of T. Rex’s “Bang a Gong (Get it On).” The band returned to the stage with a standing ovation from the audience and performed “Gold Hill Line” for an encore, prior to signing autographs in the lobby for the ardent fans.

    Leftover Salmon performs tonight at Higher Ground in Burlington, VT, Brighton Music Hall in Boston, MA, on Dec. 4 and The Wolf Den in Uncasville, CT, on Dec. 5.

  • Leftover Salmon Returns to The Egg on December 2

    Jamgrass legends Leftover Salmon make their return to The Egg on December 2. Bassist Greg Garrison spoke with NYSMusic about the group’s first time back in Albany since the 2003, the group’s influence on the jamgrass scene, their songwriting process and release of the live album 25.

    For fans of bluegrass and its speedier cousin, jamgrass, the welcoming atmosphere can be felt as “a happy, fun festival vibe,” as Garrison describes it. The upbeat, progressive improv nature of Yonder Mountain String Band and Greensky Bluegrass can trace itself back to Leftover Salmon, whose unique genre of Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass is an instant jolt of energy to audiences around the country. Bringing the audience to their feet at The Egg will be thanks in part to drummer Alwyn Robinson, a role often not filled in typical bluegrass acts. “The fact we have always had a drummer and looked to find a well-versed and good drummer, and with our current drummer Alwyn Robinson from Brooklyn, kept up with the tradition of energetic drummers that we’ve had,” noted Garrison.

    There are of course other bands who preceded Leftover Salmon in their contributions to the jamgrass scene. Hot Rize, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Newgrass Revival paved the way for Leftover, marking a lineage that dates back to the early 1980s, connecting current jamgrass-descendants with their predecessors. Over the years, Garrison has seen bands come and go, and the sound changed ever so slightly over time. “The faces and names of the bands have changed, and some have done better than others, like Railroad Earth and String Cheese Incident, who are paving the way for how far you can push the genre as far as crowd and sound. The ones who stay a little truer to roots – Yonder Mountain String Band and Greensky Bluegrass and the like, you could listen to them 10 years ago and now, while the material might change and playing has gotten better, it has matured, it’s still the same.”

    Greg Garrison, photo by Andrew Wyatt
    Greg Garrison, photo by Andrew Wyatt

    The evolved newgrass sound can be found within their recorded albums as well. On their albums High Country and Aquatic Hitchhiker, listeners can find songs that change as they are performed live, whereas Garrison notes, “some will stretch out a little bit and we see where it takes us, and take a simple arrangement and continually use it as a vehicle live.”

    Songwriting on recent studio albums has been fresh songs that had not been road-tested. Songs were written individually outside the studio and once in the studio, arranged as a band and lyrics edited to polish the final product. “Andy Thorn (banjo) was a live player since before he joined us. He used to see us when he was 15 years old. Now, he’ll come up with a tune that is a fully formed Leftover Salmon tune before we get a hold of it.”

    25, a celebration of Leftover Salmon’s 25 years of music, was released over Thanksgiving weekend. Selecting the tracks was a feat, taking three years’ worth of shows and trimming the list down to 50-60 recordings to choose from. “It took a better part of a year to dig through it all and get what we wanted. Mario Casilio (sound engineer) spent time in the studio together mixing it and making sure it sounded good enough as a representation of the band. It’s the first album I’ve been able to produce for the band. I feel like we picked some interesting tunes that don’t get played very often, like an old version of “Blister in the Sun,” which we play once a year, so to capture a good one of those is great.

    “Bill Payne (Little Feat) playing with us for the past couple years (all but one track features Bill) has helped us move in the direction of filling some spaces in a collective improvisation kind of way. We had a horn section with us at the Boulder Theater last year – it sounds like Leftover Salmon but the stuff is definitely unexpected and made it sound really good, and much better than just pulling something off of archive.org, but there’s nothing wrong with that, I do it too.”

    Back in the Northwest for New Year Eve, Leftover Salmon will be joined by Skerik and Bill Payne in Portland, followed by shows in Alaska, Fort Collins, CO, a three week run in March and April, as well as the annual Ski Tour, which will include a mini-festival at The Stanley Park Hotel in Estes Park, CO. Unique to the Rocky Mountain-based band are events like Winter Wondergrass in Lake Tahoe, NV and Colorado, an outdoor bluegrass fest in the winter. “Everyone braves it and has a good time, plus we have a few shows in Chicago at The Vic Theater. We’ll be out and about doing our thing.”

    Leftover Salmon continue their Northeast run with stops at Higher Ground in Burlington, VT on December 3, Brighton Music Hall in Boston, MA on December 4 and The Wolf Den in Uncasville, CT on December 5.

    [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/213885659″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

  • Dave Rawlings Machine Cranks It Up In Buffalo

    If you go see a Gillian Welch show, you’ll see her husband Dave Rawlings accompany her on guitar and vocals. If you go see a Dave Rawlings show, you’ll see Welch accompany him on guitar and vocals.

    The difference is who’s driving. At a Welch show they’ll play mostly Welch songs, ceding the floor to Rawlings for a number or two. At a Rawlings show, the opposite. And most of the time, Rawlings will round out his band with a few more players. For the current tour they’re on, supporting Dave Rawlings Machine’s just released Nashville Obsolete, they were joined by Brittany Haas on fiddle, Paul Kowert on bass and Willie Watson on guitar, all who make appearances on the album as well.

    Bedecked in head-to-toe denim, cowboy hats and long prairie dresses, they certainly dressed the part of the deep-rooted folk they were slinging. With an opening salvo of “Ruby,” “To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)” and “Candy,” they came out guns blazing. Rawlings immediately showcasing his impeccable chops, with Haas entering as the clear and capable second soloist of the group.

    Welch grabbed her harmonica for the next song but Rawlings had her return it. “Dave wants me to sing a bummer of a song,” she remarked as they kicked into “The Way That It Goes” off of her Harrow and the Harvest album. This was Rawlings’ show after all. Later in the set he would prompt Watson to swap out his guitar for a fiddle mid-song. “More fiddle!” like the conductor of his own folk freight train.

    Everyone, not just Welch, got their turn in the shotgun seat. Watson sang a pair of songs off his Rawlings-produced album Folk Singer Vol. 1 and Kowert was featured on a traditional gospel tune. All members but Haas sang, though she got numerous turns to highlight her fiddle playing throughout the night. Her accompaniment and harmonizing with Rawling’s complicated solos was the secret additive making the Machine run extra hot.

    The Machine was most certainly Rawlings’. His clean yet furious picking of his 1935 Epiphone archtop created a highlight-reel’s worth of material. The audience hung on every note, collectively holding their breath as the solos wound to a peak, producing an audible exhaust of CO2 once he made the turn. Just a simple guitar, no pedals or tricks, yet he was able to elicit a library of sound.

    During the second set the band would accordion back and forth from the full five-piece down to a couple different trio configurations, and all the way down to the Rawlings/Welch duo for a take on “Sweet Tooth.” Back up to a trio with Watson on banjo, they worked a “This Land Is You Land” perfectly into “I Hear Them All” that turned into a big old singalong just as Pete Seeger would have wanted. Rawlings noted “It’s starting to sound like a real folk concert in here!” To keep the spirit alive they kicked into a Watson-led rendition of “Stewball,” in which the crowd helped balloon the quintet to a band of hundreds.

    Early in the set an audience member cried out, “Doesn’t have to be now, but can you play that Dylan song?” Welch quickly retorted, “Which one?!” before Rawlings sought to take back control of his show by stating “We’ve descended into chaos.” But they did play that Dylan song, closing with “Queen Jane Approximately.” They closed out the show in big fashion, with Rawlings grinning widely and bouncing up and down like a rock star, through a blistering solo. It was met with, what wasn’t the first, or last, standing ovation of the night.

    Dave Rawlings Machine let Welch take the helm again for an encore of her “Look At Miss Ohio” followed by an a cappella take on “Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby” that finally got Haas behind a mic. The crowd wouldn’t let the Machine stop working there though. After another relentless ovation the band was back again for a cover of The Band’s “The Weight.” Another chance for everyone to do some singing, except Haas of course, who ‘sang’ a verse with her fiddle instead. And with that, the Dave Rawlings Machine finally came to a rest.

  • Joan Baez Announces Ithaca and Albany Performances February-March 2016

    Joan Baez, one of the most recognizable and beautiful voices in folk music will be making two appearances in early 2016 in Upstate New York as part of a tour spanning January through March.Joan Baez

    Now 74, Joan Baez has reeled over 50 years of a memorable music career intertwined with activism in social and political movements, from the 1960s civil rights movement through the Iraq War and more recent Occupy Wall Street movement. With her first record released in 1960, she has released 23 more studio records and about half of that number in live recordings. A Staten Island native, Baez began her career spreading out from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her father took a position at MIT before her professional career took root at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival.

    Baez has recently announced several tour dates in early 2016. Her first New York stop will be at the State Theater in Ithaca on Feb. 26. Tickets are available in a pre-sale now, with a public on sale starting at 11 a.m. Nov. 6. Her second New York performance is March 25 at The Egg in Albany.

    Baez also has a few other performances scheduled for the northeast including New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont. Check out her tour website for more information on her other performances.

  • An Evening With The Lone Bellow

    On a warm Friday night in June, a fairly packed house at The Egg‘s smaller room, The Swyer Theatre, The Lone Bellow were just as excited to be in Albany as Albany was excited to see them.

    The Lone BellowWith lots of smiles, jokes, and music, the five piece band based out of Brooklyn wowed the crowd for close to two hours. Starting the evening off Zach Williams, Kanene Donehey Pipkin, and Brian Elmquist came to the stage and surrounded a mic to deliver three songs with just acoustic guitars and beautiful harmonies. This would happen again near the end of the show in the crowd and for the encore. The way the three of their voices blend together is gorgeous and needs to be heard by people who love music.

    After Jason Pipkin and Justin Glasco, Bass and drums respectively came out, the evening turned from a folk vibe to full on rock and roll. The band played much of the material from the two albums they have released so far and many in the audience knew every word. Zach has a lot of energy and engages the crowd at all times, almost like a preacher making sure his sermon is heard while Brian plays the guitar like there is nothing else in the world for him to do. Kanene, when she was not switching instruments be it keys, mandolin, or bass, soothed the souls of the crowd with her fantastic voice.

    The band had to restart parts of songs a couple of times, but they took it in stride and joked with the crowd about it, giving the evening a relaxed feeling and that it’s all part of the show. The Lone Bellow was on fire all evening and when they come back to Albany, which hopefully will be sooner than later, it would not be surprising to see them playing to bigger audiences once word gets out about what people missed out on.

  • David Crosby Captivates Egg Audience With Timeless Acoustic Prowess and Free Spirit

    Amid a barren, intimate stage at The Egg stood a wily old man, alone with his acoustic guitar, serenading the audience with his raspy, seasoned folk-style voice for nearly three hours on Tuesday night. David Crosby, the singer-songwriter best known for his work with The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, impressed with his ageless tone, playing songs across six different decades. His banter with the audience was terrific, as he made wise cracks about music reviewers and politicians, and reminisced about working with Neil Young.

    david crosbyCrosby made his general distaste for Young well known. When audience members cried out the name of Crosby’s former acquaintance and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, he’d mock them, comparing their cries of “Neil” to the sound a peacock makes. Towards the end of the show when informally taking requests from the crowd, someone shouted “For What It’s Worth,” the iconic song of Young’s band Buffalo Springfield. Crosby didn’t let the teasing of his former nemesis get to him, as he scoffed, chuckled, and candidly replied, “You do know whose show you bought a ticket for, right?”

    The 73-year-old Clausian figure spoke about how he thought history would remember music’s greatest songwriters as “crazy old Bob [Dylan] and Joni [Mitchell],” two of his heroes that he regarded as “poets.” After poking fun at Bob Dylan’s lackluster singing ability, he performed “For Free,” a cover of Mitchell’s. Crosby demonstrated his own lyrical prowess, however, singing songs about his 1982 stint in Texas prison and the corruption he sees in today’s politics.

    At one point during his second set, David Crosby said, “I don’t like politics. Actually, that’s not true. I don’t like politicians.” Crosby went on to discuss how he felt like big business and corruption had overrun the government and threatened American democracy. One politician he claimed to be an exception to his general political stance, however, was the populist senator from Vermont and presidential nominee Bernie Sanders. “I like Bernie,” Crosby professed, drawing applause from the capacity crowd of about 1,400.

    Crosby played two consecutive songs from his newest album, Croz, towards the end of his show. The music from his new album, produced by his son, were more upbeat than some of his older tunes, but had a similar kind of lyrical genius and the sophisticated strumming technique that Crosby has become almost synonymous with. Several of the songs he played during the show had an irregular string tuning, some of which gave the timbre of the piece a majestic or creepy aspect to it.

    While Crosby may still be the same old, free-spirited, anti-establishment hippie that rose to stardom in music festivals in the 60’s, he also demonstrated that he can still captivate an audience in an acoustic environment–a difficult task for someone on the wrong side of 70. When he concluded his encore tune, his 1971 outlaw country ballad “Cowboy Movie,” he belted some of the final notes in his gritty upper register, nailing the notes in every definition of the word. While some artists’ voices deteriorate in their elder age, Crosby proved again that he has yet to reach that point.

  • Ginger Baker Sets Albany Ablaze, a Night of Improvised Jazz

    Ginger Baker brought his new band Jazz Confusion to The Egg for a grand evening of music for a packed audience. Playing two sets, though the second was a little shorter, and an encore, Ginger and his band had the crowd sitting on the edge of their seats to see what they would perform next. Ginger Baker is of course known most famously for being in the super groups Cream and Blind Faith, but at the heart of his playing has always been jazz. He was just getting over a bout with pneumonia, but the only time you would have know he had been sick was when he talked to the audience or stood up from his drum kit. When he was sitting behind the kit, his hands still flew all over the kit with ease. After all these years and problems he has gone through in life, it is a joy to be able to see him still be able to play the drums so effortlessly.

    The band that Ginger put together displayed their power during the show, seamlessly weaving in and out of one anothe. Pee Wee Ellis, formerly James Brown’s band leader, played beautiful solos and dotted the songs with intricate melodies on his saxophone, while Alec Dankworth’s bass playing kept the music steamrolling forward. Abass Dodoo, a tremendous percussionist from Ghana, added a flair of Afrobeat to the music of the others and complimented Ginger’s playing perfectly. Anytime one of the members had the chance to take a solo, it was great to see the other three members of the band watch as if they were in the audience and seeing the other member play for the only time on the short tour the band is on. Though there may not have been any “famous songs” played by the group, the crowd at The Egg got their moneys worth and then some from the four virtuoso musicians.

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  • Mike Gordon Tours the NYS Thruway

    Twitter conversationalist, hotline recorder, and Phish bassist Mike Gordon, taking a break from his ongoing couch tour, is on the road in NYS with his solo band. Next week they’ll hit upstate New York hard, with stops in Buffalo, Syracuse (technically Baldwinsville), and Albany. After a few shows outside of New York, Mike will return to play down in Port Chester.

    mike gordon NYSThe tour has already seen the band debut a few originals as well as take on new covers of Fiona Apple, Here We Go Magic and Robert Palmer. Keyboardist Robert Walter was added to the touring band though he won’t be the only one playing the keys. The stage will feature an interactive synthesizer available for the audience to join in the fun. This could be your shot to jam with one of the greats! Dates and details below.

    Read a past interview with Phish bassist Mike Gordon here.

    June 16, Town Ballroom, Buffalo
    Doors 7pm, Show at 8pm
    Tickets $28

    June 18, Paper Mill Island Amphitheater, Baldwinsville (outside Syracuse)
    Doors 6pm, Show 7pm
    Tickets $30

    June 19, The Egg, Albany
    Doors 7pm, Show 8pm
    Tickets $31.25

    June 27, Capitol Theater, Port Chester
    Doors 7pm, Show 8pm
    Tickets $30/$45

  • Seven Day Music Marathon Day 5: Hal Ketchum at The Egg

    During a week of seeing music both new and old, I opted for something Ole, specifically Grand Ole Opry member Hal Ketchum, performing at the Lewis A. Swyer Theater at The Egg Performing Arts Center. Not being too deep into country music (short of Johnny Cash and his peers) Hal Ketchum is a new name to me, but the voice was familiar from the few songs I listened to beforehand, retaining a Warren Haynes solo quality to his seated performance.

    hal ketchum the egg
    Hal Ketchum – The Egg

    Forget the pop country that has ruined the genre for the past 20 years – this was the real deal, with a Texas twang from a local boy – Ketchum grew up in Greenwich, NY, a short drive north from Albany. The mighty fine Kenny Grimes accompanied Ketchum and provided the lead for a variety of old-country tunes. “The Continental” was a hilarious song based on the “Saturday Night Live” skit featuring Christopher Walken, explained by Ketchum with a story before the song, as he did nearly all songs this evening.

    The Continental – Hal Ketchum @theeggpac #country #snl #musicmarathon #nysmusic =yourmoneyisonthedresser

    A video posted by pete mason (@phanart) on

    This was soft country at its finest, but at times the tempo picked up to a good foot tapping and head bobbing and that was the only workout the audience was getting tonight. “Small Town Saturday Night” was one of these songs, a pure American song through and through, full of twang and Mellencamp lyrics and guitar. Meanwhile a chatty crowd began to throw song titles out to him left and right, and while his setlist addressed some of these requests he was clearly growing frustrated, chiding the crowd with “What am I, a jukebox?” He shook his head and an audience member said “Play what you want!” with a bit of applause in favor. “Chickadee” was dedicated to his five grandchildren, and “Mama Knows the Highway” was played despite not being practiced, but came off perfect. Hal said afterwards, “Good country music will never steer you wrong.”

    hal ketchum egg
    Hal Ketchum – The Egg

    The encore, “Trail of Tears” was a sad song to end the night on, but Hal wasn’t looking to go out on a high note. He had played a wide range of songs and appeased some of the audience’s requests while giving a long-awaited performance at The Egg.

    With the show at The Egg ending by 9:15 PM, I made my way down to Parish Public House to catch Dangermuffin, a South Carolina jamgrass band that I have waited a long time to see. Local band Hawbuckees opened the quiet night on Broadway, while Dangermuffin gave a set alternating between covers and originals with mild bluegrass and reggae jamming throughout. Nothing too adventurous, Dangermuffin worked through “Quinn the Eskimo”, “Franklin’s Tower”, Seal’s “Crazy” and a combo of Harry Belafonte’s “Jump in the Line>Iko Iko”, all of which had good jams in the outros. What was most surprising was the lack of a bass guitar, but you would never know it due to guitarist Dan Lotti doing something to produce the bass sound, something you have to see live to believe. An acoustic set in front of the stage with upright bass and acoustic guitars featured the original “Banjo Love” followed by the bluegrass staple “Midnight Moonlight”. Dangermuffin was a perfect musical compliment to Hal Ketchum and drew Day five of this Music Marathon to a close.

    Next up: Mister F with ELM at The Hollow