Lake Street Dive will conclude their extensive 2019 US tour in October in support of its critically acclaimed 2018 album, Free Yourself Up. The band will perform in Brooklyn in support of the Avett Brothers on Oct. 5, then head north to Albany for a solo performance at the Palace Theatre on Oct. 6. They swing back to the Empire State in mid-October with stops in Buffalo on Oct. 18 and Geneva on Oct.19.
Free Yourself Up was released last year on Nonesuch Records to critical and popular acclaim, spending a remarkable seven and a half months on the non-commercial radio charts and an equally rare eighteen weeks on Billboard’s Top Current Albums chart. The record debuted at No. 4 on the Top Album Chart and No. 8 in the Billboard Top 200 Chart, and the lead single “Good Kisser” was in the Top 5 at Americana radio for more than a month.
Lake Street Dive Tour Dates
Oct. 2 – Lebanon Opera House – Lebanon, NH (Sold Out)
Folkfaces will hold their second annual music fest this October 3-6 at Cherry Hill Campground in Darien Center, NY. The four-day event boasts 42 local and touring acts from a plethora of different genres, with an emphasis on original American roots music. The festival will also include vendors, food, art, workshops, games, raffles, bonfires, late-night jams, camping, yoga, and more.
The festival kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 3 with early set-up and a pre-party featuring Pennsylvania bluegrassers, the Jakobs Ferry Stragglers. Friday through Sunday, music will start at noon and run until midnight or later. Headlined by Spoon Lady and the Tater Boys, these American roots musicians are a YouTube sensation and busking extraordinaires from Asheville, NC. Abby (Spoon Lady) met up with Folkfaces on their 2018 spring tour and became fast friends. She’ll bring her spoons and some friends (The Tater Boys) to play with, and also giving a Spoons workshop.
Other notable acts on the festival bill include folk multi-instrumentalist Aaron Jonah Lewis, two sets by Adirondack freight train stringers The Blind Owl Band, NOLA buskers Yes Ma’am, delta blues-inspired slide guitarist Cristina Vane, down-home folk swingers Woody Pines, roots/Americana/old-time multi-instrumentalists Aaron Lipp & Bobby Henrie, and Finger Lakes-based bluegrassers Dirty Blanket. Not to mention, two sets from Folkfaces.
For more information on Folkfaces Fest in Darien Center, visit the event’s website or Facebook event.
On Saturday, Sept. 28, Riverboat Bar will host the first annual ‘Alex Bay Summer Send-Off,’ a full day of live music, with doors opening at 2:00 p.m., to close out the summer season. The headlining performance will be funky reggae-jam fusion band, Annie in the Water. Other scheduled acts throughout the day include Root Shock, Eggy, The Old Main, Big Sexy and the Scrambled Eggs, and Trampoline Jetstream. In between sets, there will be DJ sets provided by D.C. area’s Schwa and Proper Philth.
The night is capped off with an All-Star Super Jam featuring musicians from throughout the day. On top of all that, Ben Carrey of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong will be the artist-at-large for the day.
Annie in the Water has played a significant role in shaping the original music scene in Upstate New York and their shows are always high energy and filled with positive vibes. A couple of bands will be making their Riverboat debut on Sept. 28 including Root Shock, a Syracuse-based soulful roots-reggae based act, and Eggy, a 4-piece improvisational rock band from New Haven, CT. Utica’s The Old Main returns to Riverboat with its original Americana folk jams. Commemorating the amazing summer season, Trampoline Jetstream and Big Sexy and the Scrambled Eggs will both return to the Riverboat after making their debuts earlier in the summer.
The music starts at 3:00 p.m. and continues all day long. Click here for more ticketing and event information.
Chris Thile, as a member of Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, has won multiple Grammy Awards and sold millions of albums. As the host of Live From Here, he has spanned genres and brought a wide range of musicians together for weekly performances at Manhattan’s Town Hall, where the latest season kicked off earlier this month.
Thile looks at art as a conduit to conversation, and towards collaboration with the audience as creating art together. It is in this way that he fits as a natural host of a two-hour weekly show broadcast on public radio, one that will see very special guests appearing each week this season – Grace Potter, Dawes, Trey Anastasio, and Wynton Marsalis, to name just a few.
Chris performs this Saturday, September 21 at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts as part of Vibrations Series which celebrates the power and possibility of the ’60s and what that decade means to us today. Launched in 2019, “the series has brought together change-makers, artists, and influencers to open conversations, inspire thinking and awaken purpose.” With an emphasis on the arts and civic engagement, Vibrations brings the legacy of the past into conversation with the movements of today, something that Thile can relate to. Chris spoke with NYS Music about the role of artists in bringing about change, music that has engaged audiences, and what gave him an early glimpse at what hosting a show like Live From Here might be like.
Pete Mason: With the upcoming Vibrations Series at Bethel Woods this weekend, when growing up, how did you come to discover the era of the 1960s – the change, the conflict, the music – and in what way did that seep into your songwriting and understanding of American culture?
Chris Thile: That’s a spectacular question. The Beatles were the first non-rootsy thing I was intentionally exposed to by my folks. Up to that point, I was listening almost exclusively to folk music in various forms and a very specific swath of folk music at that. For example, bluegrass music and fiddle tune music and almost no popular music of any kind, and just a little bit of classical music on the radio and jazz via my dad’s record collection. All of a sudden, my parents were raising a child with no real sense of popular music, particularly the popular music of their childhoods. So they checked out Rubber Soul from the library for me and it blew my mind. People writing songs about things other than having a little home on a hill and “Mule Skinner Blues” and “John Henry.” These were songs about people’s lives and they were contemporary songs, not that “John Henry” wasn’t in their day, but just updated by 100 years or so. I think it was becoming socially difficult to write about a vast amount more than it had been up until that point. It would still be many years before I heard Dylan at that point and, generally, cover songs by artists from the roots community, such as Tim O’Brien who made a beautiful album of Dylan songs called Red on Blonde.
So it has seeped in there. Particularly, the biggest lesson is that its ok to write a song about anything, provided that you do it well – that’s the big rule. I think above all, that’s a lesson to learn from the ’60s.
PM: How do you see your role, and the role of artists, in capturing pivotal moments in American history, especially from the past 20 years or so?
CT: I think that art exists for a variety of reasons. It turns on a camera in the documentary film of our life, our experience in the world, and we gain some perspective. I think that is one of art’s most noblest responsibilities – to help us gain perspective on the world and what’s going on and what it means to be alive, not just in our moment but in the moments previous and be able to better serve our respective moments if we’re aware of other people’s moments. And it also serves as respite, what we’re collectively experiencing. There are so many different things that it can do that I would hesitate to look at one thing and point that out and say that’s the one thing that art’s supposed to do in times of turmoil and in times of peace. It’s just so good at doing a variety of things.
PM: What can aspiring artists do to bring about civic engagement through their music and performances? What is there that they can do beyond inspiring an audience to step away doing something more?
CT: I think that the very best thing an artist can do is to make their art well. I think there’s a lot of reasons you make what you can make. Sometimes I think that art made with the specific intent to elicit a particular reaction can actually be fairly compromised, by dictating the feeling your audience should have. For instance, Dylan is at his best as a lyricist (and at his best very often). I think that any one of us could have a unique reaction to a Dylan lyric, that he leaves a great deal of room in every lyric for you to cultivate your own sense of meaning. And so when you talk about things like ‘what an artist can do to bring about civic engagement,’ I would be wary of art that makes that its directive and explicit aim, because I feel like the way to engage a person… I think the best art is collaborative with the audience, with the person who is sitting in front of it, listening to it, looking at it, reacting to it. And that if you as an artist attempt to dictate what your listener is to think or experience, then they’ll switch off, they’re not going to engage, they’ll feel manipulated, bullied into feeling a certain way. I don’t think art is good at proving points or answering questions, it’s good at asking questions and good at getting people talking to one another about things. So I would go back to the way an artist can engage his or her audience is engaging them as artists, and asking them to enter into a collaboration as to the meaning of the art that they are working on.
PM: Can you think of any songs that stand out to you that fit this mold, where they don’t go in with a specific intent, but it just naturally comes out and the audience is engaged rather than pressured?
CT: I would say that Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring did a pretty spectacular job engaging its audience. Along with Diaghilev’s ballet, his choreography, it engaged people to the point that they rioted over it. That seems like it was pretty powerful, it really came out of the clear blue sky, not that there weren’t hints to the possibility of this beforehand, but I think a lot of musicians interacted with that piece. And it’s called Rite of Spring, it depicted a certain kind of reality and the art was so good that people got talking about it. “Is this OK? Can we do this?” Meaning not “Is ritualistic sacrifice OK?” but rather, “Can we make art about it?” I think that piece did an extraordinary job engaging its audience and I sincerely doubt that riots were the intended result, but that’s what happens when you pose a specifically well-worded question.
I feel like Radiohead has been excellent in writing art that gets people thinking about climate change and just the environment in general. It often is in the abstract lyrically. I think that someone like Gillian Welch has done an extraordinary job in the ways in which lives led, say, 60-100 years ago and the study of those lives might be relevant to the living of theirs. I think she operates in this beautiful, undefined aesthetic that has a foot in American folk music of the early part of the 20th century but also right now. There’s so much, I don’t even know where to begin.
Think of someone like Ornette Coleman with a record like The Shape of Jazz to Come. Kind of making people think about music that is made up on the spot, and in what ways is that music to you and in what ways is it not. I think a lot of people talked and debated about that and we ultimately felt that Ornette’s take on that was ultimately brilliant, but it created a lot of controversy in its day. I love that. I do think that art is better at asking questions than answering them. I’ve noticed that in young writers and in my young writing. It always seems like I’m answering a question and I see young writers now… it starts to sound like we think we know what’s going on. Looking back on particularly younger lyrics, I think, “My god, you really thought you knew what you were talking about and you really did not. You thought you had an answer to something. At least from where I’m standing, at 38, I do not think there’s an answer to that question, my 23-year old self. Nice try.”
PM: With two weeks of Live from Here in the books, how has the transition from Minnesota to NYC been, and how has curating and preparing shows at Town Hall been?
CT: I love Town Hall, I adore making music there, it feels like home at this point. Last year we did more shows at Town Hall than at any other place, so the transition has been happening, just gradually, and this year was sort of completing something that was already happening pretty naturally. I live in New York, and there are so many people, so many artists coming in and out of the city. Regardless of where they live here, everyone comes through here – this is one of America’s biggest windows to the world and the world’s biggest window to America. It’s nice to be here for that reason. We have this two-hour canvas that we get to paint every week and there is a lot of space for things to happen and it feels good being in a place like this where on any given night there are hundreds of wonderful things happening and it seems maybe like it’s a little easier to coax a few of those things onto the show week in, week out. And that’s nice, it takes some of the edge off.
PM: With all the years of Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, was there ever a point where you expected to be the host of Live from Here, or any similar roles? Looking back, did you ever think ‘oh yeah, I always wanted this job.’?
CT: Certainly not this specifically. There have been times when I wondered whether doing something of this sort would be interesting. Punch Brothers had a residency at The Living Room on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and we called it P-Bingo night. It was a one-band musical variety show, with one guest per show who would do a couple things with us. And we’d try to make funny things happen, some covers, an original of sorts each show, and stylistically try and get all over the place, in service of our general mutually held belief that genre is really a discussion of the cover of the book and not the book. Which is fine, it can be interesting, the aesthetics of the thing can be really, really interesting, but it is a question of aesthetics largely. And that’s one of the thesis statements of Live From Here, but I had a great time doing that, particularly because it was thrilling and hair raising to come up with a show that was entirely different on a weekly basis.
With Punch Brothers it was a shorter show but also it was all us, so it was a lot of material and we ended up stressing ourselves out so we did it less and less. But we did at a certain point wonder if we could make the thing it into a show, a radio show or television show, and even pitched it to a couple people, although we never got any interest. So when this came along, it wasn’t thinking about whether I wanted to do it, but this legendary time slot was being offered to me with a chance to commune with the public radio listening faithful on a weekly basis. It was too tempting to resist and it put me back in the mind of doing P-Bingo night with Punch Brothers and how much fun and how thrilling and dangerous it felt making all that new content. The energy that comes with thinking about the transition from doing that at a 100-person club on the Lower East Side and doing it for a couple million people on the radio live, it got a little too exciting to resist and I’m really happy and having a great time.
It has been eight years since Of Monsters and Men released their mega-hit song “Little Talks” from their debut album My Head is an Animal. This past July they released their third full-length project, Fever Dream, and have now embarked on a North American tour in support.
The second stop on the tour found the band playing a sold out show at New York’s famous Radio City Music Hall with support from Lower Dens. The hall quickly filled with a crowd of truly all ages and backgrounds, from teenagers to adults, with many different foreign languages represented. Of Monsters and Men have a reach that is truly worldwide and fans in NYC could not wait for their chance to see them.
Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
The show kicked off with the opening track from Fever Dream, “Alligator.” The band ended up playing nearly 3/4 of the new album throughout the show. It was not until the second to last song of the main set where OMAM finally gave in and played “Little Talks” to a crowd shouting the entire song.
Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
The band continues their run of US shows until the end of September, with one Vancouver show on September 28. They wrap up the tour with a triumphant hometown festival appearance in Reykjavik, Iceland at Iceland Airwaves 2019 on November 6-9.
On Wednesday September 11, the Outlaw Music Festival made its stop at the historic Forest Hills Stadium. The traveling festival treated fans to a lineup that included Lukas Nelson & The Promise of The Real, Alison Krauss, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, and the return to the stage for the legendary Willie Nelson. On a day when we remember the biggest tragedy in the history of our nation, we also remember the unity it brought, and that’s the message these amazing musicians spread to a united New York City audience.
Wallis Bird‘s upcoming album, Woman, is both a rebellious act of self-advocacy and a call to action. Wallis Bird is an accomplished musician from Ireland with a unique sound. When she was young, Wallis was involved in an accident where she lost all of the fingers on her left hand. Fortunately, all but one were able to be reattached. This has impacted the way she plays her guitar. She performs with it flipped, lending to her distinct musical quality.
Womancomes twelve years after her first album, and it is a reflection on the things Wallis has learned, both about herself and humanity. It serves as a way to impart what she has discovered and to rouse her audience into wanting change. To change the world around them; to be a kinder place.
In “Life Is Long,” Wallis reminds us that while a lifetime may seem like a long period, time itself is very brief. Each moment needs to be savored, which is something that is easy to forget in a world of instant gratification and constant distractions.
In “Salve,” a previously released track from the album, Wallis sings, “I’m practicing what I’m preaching, no else is going to save me,” a lyric which shows she has learned responsibility for her own self-growth. It’s easy to be sold on a version of yourself when you’re constantly fed images via social media. The desire to model yourself after someone else, who appears to be living an ideal lifestyle is tempting, but Wallis seems to ask you to step back from all of that, to evaluate yourself based on your own standards and decide what it is that you truly value. Create your own rubric to measure yourself by and define your own happiness.
Wallis invites introspection in her track “Brutal Honesty,” where she is, as the title suggest, with herself and shows awareness about how her own words impact others. She invites the listener to step inside her thoughts, where an act of intimacy becomes a shared experience with many. In “Repeal” she advocates for the right to decide what is best. In the current political climate, as a woman, others in power feel that it is up to them to make decisions for you. Wallis Bird speaks out against this, fighting to take ownership of her own choices in life.
Wallis Bird presents you with singable tunes that are joyous in sound yet carry deep messages that comes from introspection and reflecting on the changing world at large. It is a blend of soul roots and her love of the various genres that have influenced her. It stands as a testament to who she is and who she has built herself to be.
“Woman” will be released on September 27th. To catch her on tour, you can find her upcoming shows here.
Key Tracks: Salve, Brutal Honesty, As the River Flows.
The staff at the Historic Colgate Inn in Hamilton, NY have been working extra hard this summer in preparation for their new music venue. “The Library” speakeasy will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday each weekend featuring music, special events and opportunities for private parties. The venue is set to open September 14 with Colgate University Professor, Glen Cashman (saxophone/keys), with a three piece band visiting from the West Coast.
The Colgate Inn in Hamilton NY
This new venue is sparking interest among locals and more, as they put the finishing touches on the cocktail menu and small plates offered. The space in the basement of the Colgate Inn is also finishing a renovation with new lighting, seating including lounge furniture and bar stools as well as a stage for musicians. The Inn features 40 rooms and suites as well as several dining areas, a patio that overlooks downtown Hamilton and a cozy tavern room complete with a fire place.
The Tavern Room at The Colgate Inn
The music series is complete with jazz acts, folk singers, horn and rhythm pieces and much more. For the complete line up scroll to the bottom. The Library is billed as a sophisticated speakeasy serving a variety of bourbon, whiskey, wine and chef inspired plates to pair. This prohibition era style venue will offer music that compliments the dusky, intimate atmoshphere where you can settle into comfy seats or join patrons at the bar. It’s a great reason to visit Hamilton, NY and try this new space and see local, regional and national acts in a fun space.
List of Events:
GRAND OPENING: September 14, 8-10 PM.
GLENN CASHMAN TRIO: Seattle based trumpeter Jay Thomas and former Ithaca College Jazz Director/guitarist Steve Brown join jazz organist/Colgate Associate Professor of Music, Cashman.
STOCK MARKET SWING ORCHESTRA TRIO: September 27, 8-10 PM.
They will take you back to those swinging days of flappers, speakeasies, and doing the Charleston til dawn. Playing the best popular music of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the band’s library consists of several hundred arrangements from the Great American Songbook, including well-known tunes of the era. Greats such as Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Rudy Vallee, Fletcher Henderson, Harry James, Bunny Berigan, Fred Astaire, and Bing Crosby form the backbone of the group’s repertoire. “Party Like It’s 1929!”
MARK SHINER’S STRUGGLEBUS: October 5, 8-10 PM.
Part jazz, part funk, and a whole lot of fun! Mark has played with musicians all over the world and as a Hamiltonian knows how to make any space better with his presence alone. With Dave Solazzo riffing on keys these guys will have you moving and grooving and you never know you might pop in and sing along!
THE DOVETONES: October 12th 8-10PM.
The Dovetones! Classic hits of the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond! Popular Swing, Blues, and Rock-n-Roll Classics; Ska & Rocksteady hits, Americana & more.
CHRISUNITED: October 19th 8-10 PM.
Left handed 17 year-old guitar prodigy ChrisUnited has been playing guitar for 17 years. Chris’ passion arose from within when he was two years old. His influences range from such artists as Bob Dylan, classic rock and even the classics. At a young age, Chris is becoming quite a name on the scene and we are so happy to have him in our series.
THE JES SHELDON DUO: October 26th 8-10 PM
Jes has been on the circuits her whole life, music being her passion since she could walk and talk. She is the lead singer of Syracuse, NY favorites, The Lightkeepers, and can transition from a rocking original or cover into a smooth jazz sing along. It will be a delight to hear her pipes soaring at this intimate show!
J. METTLER: November 1st 8-10 PM
Poetic, profound, folk-rooted and often blues oriented acoustic epics. Melodies that plod along on an R.S. Muth parlor guitar. An occasional pause for breath, perhaps a story, an account of his childhood or of a lingering sentiment. Frontman of the forthcoming band “Rabbit in the Rye,” his contrasting peaceful presence and soulful intensity during his performances rouse the faintest of hearts and instil a sleepy fondness for the romanticism of our everyday lives. Joseph lives in Sherburne, New York with his rabbit.
JJ MURPHY TRIO: November 9th 8-10 PM
JJ Hamilton, born and bred musician, will delve into all areas funk and jazz with his bandmates from Nashville, TN. This intsrumental three piece can regale you, and hear a pin drop on a Bill Frissell cover, then throw some country-jazz twang on a Hank Williams tune. They move in and out of jazz, funk and cover many standards as well.
THE DOVETONES: November 16th 8-10 PM
The Dovetones! Classic hits of the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond!; Popular Swing, Blues, and Rock-n-Roll Classics; Ska & Rocksteady hits, Americana & more.
MASON MCDOWELL: November 22 8-10 PM
Mason McDowell is equal parts storyteller and songwriter. He creates intricate stories from a theatrical perspective, and delivers them with a powerful voice and piano rock edge.
CHRIS “ISTO” WHITE: November 23 8-10PM
Hamilton favorite and native Chris White returns from Brooklyn for a special one night only, live and in person rendition of his favorite and covers and amazing originals.
JESS NOVAK (SOLO): November 29th 8-10 PM
She got a fiddle on fire and a pen on the page. Jess writes songs and writes stories. She plays shows all over this great country and is happy to call Syracuse home. With a passion for music, she was just voted The Best Female Vocalist of 2018 by the Syracuse New Times!
MARK SHINER’S STRUGGLEBUS: December 6th 8-10 PM
Part jazz, part funk and a whole lot of fun! Mark has played with musicians all over the world and as a Hamiltonian, knows how to make any space better with his presence alone. With Dave Solazzo riffing on keys these guys will have you moving and grooving. You never know, you might pop in and sing along!
MELISSA GARDINER (feat. ANDREW CARROLL):December 14th 8-10 PM
Emerging jazz trombonist, Melissa Gardiner, has been described by Curtis Fuller as ‘technically creative and emotionally powerful.’ Her improvisation is inspiring and motivating for the listener, and she draws you in with a raw expression that directly relates to life experience. Gardiner has shared the stage with several legendary musicians including: Aretha Franklin, Geri Allen, Wycliffe Gordon, Steve Turre, Gerald Wilson, Patti Austin, The Temptations, and Vulfpeck. As a bandleader, she performs regularly with her jazz organ trio, MG3, and Second Line Syracuse.
Since their inception back in 2004, The Wood Brothers have been creating their own flavor of American traditional music on their own terms. The trio is comprised of brothers Chris (bass & vocals) and Oliver (guitar & vocals) Wood , as well as Jano Rix (percussion & shuitar). Together they have been successful in creating a unique musical gumbo which includes the combination musical styles including Blues, Folk, Country, and Rock.
The Wood Brothers also recently received critical acclaim for their latest studio release, 2018’s One Drop Of Truth, which included a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album. If that weren’t enough to keep the band busy, The Wood Brothers have just released Live At The Fillmore a new live album, their fifth, that was recorded over a two night stint at San Francisco’s famed musical landmark. The trio is famous for their live performances and the band shines on the stage. The opening track on Live At The Fillmore is “Blue and Green,” which is a stripped down, intimate number off of 2011’s Smoke Ring Halo LP. The deft vocals that Oliver and Chris deliver, as well as the ambient noise of the crowd, easily transports the listener to the gig at the historic Fillmore.
The boys tear it up on the third track “Snake Eyes” with a great percussion intro by Rix, which leads into a nicely executed guitar accompaniment by Oliver, featuring some heavy feedback. The Wood Brothers infectious performance, along with the a little on stage prompting from Oliver persuaded the audience to join the band in the chorus of the upbeat number, creating a vivid picture in the mind’s eye of the listener. The trio’s harmonies were spot on and the track wrapped up with another nice guitar fill by Oliver.
The Wood Brothers keeps the energy flowing with “Raindrop,” the fifth track from Live At The Filmore LP. Oliver and Jano constructed an intro featuring guitar and percussion which effortlessly leads into the jamming number. With the catchy opening vocal “Broke a heart for a cheap thrill. Seemed worth it at the time. There’s a hundred of ’em out there still. You can hear ’em all cryin’,” Oliver is able to evoke the frustration that anyone can feel while trying to get over a painful breakup.
The sixth tune, “Chocolate On My Tongue,” has an infectious groove that will get your foot tapping along with The Wood Brothers as they expertly ply their trade. Catchy riffs and smooth harmonies make this tune a true gem of a performance and a highlight on the LP.
Overall the fourteen tracks on Live at The Filmore are successful in proving The Wood Brothers are at their comfort zone on stage, playing for a live audience. It also illustrates how proficient the trio, who have had extensive time on the road performing, are able to anticipate and coordinate their playing together as a road tested unit. Oliver Wood once said while talking about selecting songs for a set list: “Sometimes it is like choosing between your children, you don’t want to have to do that but sometimes you have to.” Luckily for fans of The Wood Brothers, the band chose extremely well on Live At The Filmore, creating a voyeuristic experience where the listener gets to experience the best of two nights in the life of a great live band playing at a historic musical venue.
To fully appreciate Intelligence Is Rising one must step back from the business (and busyness) of everyday life. As the nature shot on the album cover suggests, the music draws its inspiration from singer/songwriter Chaz Hearne and their getaways to national parks.
In the title track, Chaz Hearne & The Dazzlers encourage the listener to set down their devices and go out seeking enlightenment. This jaunty tune leads us deep into a lush soundscape. Layers of sublime harmonies and a medley of stringed instruments and piano send spirits soaring as high as the treetops on the album cover. No, higher. And the mood continues to lift through the next few tracks, cresting like the lofty mountaintops referenced in the songs “Montana” and “All The Peaks Sing.” The reverb on vocals resounds like echoes in the canyons. And twinkling piano notes spill over in a rambling cascade in “Under The Falls.”
“Now We March” starts like a typical folk song, featuring Hearne’s signature banjo-playing, perhaps signifying the start of a hike with one foot in front of the other. “Match your stride to meet my own / Now we’re two never alone,” Hearne sings. About halfway through the song, the trumpet breaks out in joyous celebration, like that moment when a wooded trail opens to a breathtaking vista.
The collection takes a turn with “Holy Moly.” The heavier musical elements lend an air of gravity to this song about the damage people have inflicted upon the environment.
Well we thought it never ended so
We lived with no consequence didn’t we
And we didn’t want a drastic solution
But it was too late, isn’t it
Isn’t it
Is it?
– lyrics from “Holy Moly”
At times infused with rock and at other times pulling in psychedelic dream-pop elements, Intelligence Is Rising surpasses expectations. You’ll find Hearne’s trademark fingerpicking on the banjo and clear tenor timbre. He also recorded the guitar, piano and organ parts for these songs. For this project, he was joined in the studio by a host of “dazzling” musicians: Susanna Rose on vocals, John Delmonico on cello, Emily Dipaola on trumpet, Willa Finck and Katie Knudsvig on violin, Reilly Solomon Taylor-Cook on bass, and Hannah Weidner on drums. The album cover was photographed and designed by Jacqueline Goodman.
Intelligence Is Rising represents both a celebration of nature and a call to action to protect and preserve the environment. Chaz Hearne & The Dazzlers have created an instant classic you’ll want to add to your playlist for your next back-to-nature road trip, or for anytime you need a breath of fresh air in your life.
