NYC based singer songwriter Anthony D’Amato released the first single, “Wrong Shade of Blue,” from his upcoming EP, Five Songs From New Orleans, out on Velvet Elk Records.
Captured almost entirely in the living room of an historic 1860’s Garden District home, Five Songs From New Orleans feeds off the Crescent City’s irrepressible creative energy and draws inspiration both from its stately beauty and its haunted decay.
D’Amato engineered, produced, and mixed the whole EP himself, treating the songs as raw, unfiltered snapshots of his time in town, and the performances documented here are loose and improvisatory to match. The end result is a spare and organic collection, one that’s comprised exclusively of acoustic instruments and draws on an eclectic array of New Orleans sounds, from Cajun fiddle to blues guitar, from Dixieland clarinet to washboard shuffle, from classic country to fingerpicked folk.
“This whole experience really caught me by surprise,” said D’Amato, a New Jersey native who now calls New York City home. “I came to New Orleans for a housesitting gig in between tours, and I ended up writing and recording a whole new collection with a whole new band and a whole new sound.”
While each of the songs on the EP grew out of D’Amato’s
experiences in New Orleans, some tracks are more explicit in their lyrical
portraits than others. D’Amato spins an Ash Wednesday hangover into a metaphor
for post-honeymoon love on the playful “Party’s Over,” imagines life after
death in one of the city’s largest cemeteries on the bluesy “Metairie,” and
uses New Orleans as a lens through which to examine the widening economic,
racial, and political divides that have come to define modern America on the
twangy “Some Folks.”
I came to New Orleans for a housesitting gig in between tours, and I ended up writing and recording a whole new collection with a whole new band and a whole new sound.
Anthony D’Amato
Those who pre-order the EP ahead of its November 15th release on D’Amato’s web site, will get access to bonus materials (signed CDs, vintage New Orleans postcards, handwritten lyrics, t-shirts, fine art prints).
Anthony will be celebrating the EP’s release at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City on November 13th. He will be joined that night by very special guest John Gallagher Jr. (TONY Award winner ‘Spring Awakening’, HBO’s ‘The Newsroom’), Tickets can be purchased in advance of the show.
The ‘Roy Orbison & Buddy Holly: The Rock ‘N’ Roll Dream Tour’ will be coming to New York in November. This once in a lifetime tour began in September and has made several stops along the way throughout North America. Now fans from New York will have a turn to see this duo in concert. First up will be at The Egg in Albany on Nov. 15 before moving to Rochester’s Auditorium Theatre on Nov. 17.
Developed and produced by BASE Hologram, the audience will be treated to a high tech holographic performance with the accompaniment of a live band and back-up singers, all coming together to bring to life many of Orbison and Holly’s best hits. Eric Shaeffer (Million Dollar Quartet) will return as the director. In 2018 Shaeffer led the extremely successful ‘In Dreams: Roy Orbison in Concert’ tour across the world breaking many records.
“When you look at the architects of the Rock and Roll era, the names that come to mind are Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly,” said Brian Becker, Chairman and CEO of BASE Hologram, the leading content developer, producer and distributor of concerts, theatricals and spectacles that combine holographic cinema and mixed reality with live entertainment. “Both of these men weren’t just gifted musicians, but skillful innovators who helped influence others in game-changing ways.”
“These men weren’t just one thing – they were artists in every sense of the word,” said BASE Hologram CEO of Production Marty Tudor. “Like Roy, Buddy has a truly impressive songbook and in many cases, audiences may not have realized he was the one behind so many hits. Part of the beauty of these productions is we get to share the legacy of these performers and remind people of the full range of their talent.”
Despite several jam and recording sessions, these two rock and roll trailblazers have never toured together. Combined they have earned 16 platinum and 19 gold records, dozens of hits and 10 GRAMMY Awards combined. Being of a different era has not stopped these two from having three million Facebook followers and five million streams monthly on Spotify. To this day their musical capabilities captivate millions.
Information is available here for the tour that continues throughout the month of November.
North America Tour Dates
Nov.1 – Au-Rene at Broward Center – Fort Lauderdale, FL Nov.2 – Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts – Melbourne, FL Nov.3 – Ruth Eckerd Hall – Clearwater, FL Nov.4 – Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall – Sarasota, FL Nov.6 – Florida Theatre – Jacksonville, FL Nov.8 – Atlanta Symphony Hall – Atlanta, GA Nov.9 – Memorial Auditorium – Raleigh, NC Nov.10 – Scottish Rite Auditorium – Collingswood, NJ Nov.12 – State Theatre – New Brunswick, NJ Nov.13 – AMP by Strathmore – North Bethesda, MD Nov.15 – The Egg – Albany, NY Nov.16 – Boch Center Shubert Theatre – Boston, MA Nov.17 – Auditorium Theatre – Rochester, NY Nov.19 – FirstOntario Concert Hall – Hamilton, ON Nov.20 – Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON
Celebrating their 45th anniversary in 2019, Sweet Honey In The Rock remains among the most vibrant, versatile and ever relevant musical collectives around today. Together, they perform an inspiring signature mix of soul, gospel, folk and world music, with elements of hip-hop and jazz.
While founding member Bernice Johnson Reagon has since retired, the torch continues to be carried by longtime members Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, and featured musician Romeir Mendez. This powerful and unique female a cappella vocal quartet is best known for their uplifting concerts.
Sweet Honey in the Rock will “Celebrate the Holydays” with a selection of traditional American holiday spirituals and hymns, as well as songs from other cultures.
One of the fall’s best tours made their way to Putnam Place on Saturday, October 26 for a night of PR&J (prog-rock and jams) with Aqueous and Lespecial, two bands that highlight the fantastic Northeast music scene, who are just starting out their 13 shows together, which run through November 10 in Louisville, KY.
For Lespecial’s opening set, the Massachusetts power trio performed an industrial set of standards “Donut Ghost House I” and “Gallows Hill.” They dipped into their Primus playbook for “Too Many Puppies” and invited up Jaq from Burning Monk, a Rage Against the Machine tribute band out of Burlington, for “Know Your Enemy,” which had the crowd jumping up and down as if Morello and De La Rocha were on stage.
For Aqueous, their two sets were a build over the night from prog-inspired tunes “20/20” and fan favorite “Warren in the Window” in the first set towards more dance-filled numbers including “Strange Times” and “Half In, Half Out” in the second set. A cover of the Raconteurs “Steady as She Goes” and a debut of Tame Impala’s “The Less I Know the Better” gave fans a taste of familiar and new tunes inspiring Aqueous. An encore of “Uncle Phil’s Parachute” found drummer Rob Houk working the drum pad for a venue filled get down.
The bands next perform at The Rex Theatre in Pittsburgh on October 31, then The 8×10 in Baltimore on November 1, and Richmond Music Hall in Richmond, VA on November 2. Find more tour dates here and download the show from Nugs.net.
Lespecial photos by Sean Bemand, Aqueous photos by Jim Gilbert.
Lespecial Setlist: Improv > Donut Ghost House I , Gallows Hill , Fruit Wolf Dance, Too Many Puppies > Hello Skinny > Too Many Puppies+, New Fish, Know Your Enemy*, The Vessel, Tonberry^
*Rage Against the Machine, with Jaq from Burning Monk
+ Primus
^bad guy, Billie Eilish tease
Aqueous Setlist:
Set 1: 20/20, Warren in the Window (1), Realize Your Light, Steady As She Goes (2) > Weight of the Word, Going Nowhere
Set 2: Strange Times (3), Mosquito Valley, Pt II, The Less I Know the Better (4), Half In, Half Out, They’re Calling For Ya > Kitty Chaser (Explosions) (5)
Encore: Uncle Phil’s Parachute (6,7)
1- Closer to the Heart (Rush) tease 2- The Raconteurs 3- Gordon’s Mule tease 4- Tame Impala cover, debut 5- Crepes the Sloth Jam 6- Schism (Tool) tease 7- Falling Away From Me (KoRn) tease
Louis Cole created a jazz-trance dance celebration in the Ballroom, while Tia Fuller brought a more traditional jazz approach with horns to the Stoop. These are just two of the artists from the third night of the 2019 BRIC JazzFest Marathon. This year’s festival led up to a three-day music marathon, with simultaneous performances over three stages, held at the BRIC House in downtown Brooklyn.
Antonio Sanchez and his band
Night three featured many jazz musicians from around the globe: Kassa Overall, Louis Cole, Antonio Sanchez, Myra Melford’s Snowy Egret, Claudia Acuña, Tia Fuller, and Boyfriends, featuring Joe Russo, Ben Perowsky, Josh Kaufman and Stuart Bogie.
Tia Fuller
Louis Cole was a one man jazz band, playing drums and synthesizer while looping his drum and bass heavy trance beats with pedals and a laptop. He also provided outstanding vocals and had a guest saxophone sit in during the encore.
Louis Cole
Boyfriends is an ambient rhythm exploration with Joe Russo (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead) and Ben Perowsky (John Scofield, John Medeski) on drums and percussion, multi-instrumentalist and producer Josh Kaufman (The National, Bob Weir), and Stuart Bogie (Arcade Fire, Iron and Wine, Antibalas) on woodwinds/keyboards. Both Russo and Perowsky showed off their subtle yet incredible drum and percussion skills.
Joe Russo
This year’s JazzFest might be over, but BRIC puts on awesome jazz programming throughout the year at this delightful venue. Head on over to their website for details about future events.
Keller Williams is in the midst of a huge tour that’s stopping in for two upcoming Upstate NY performances in Albany at Skyloft on October 24 and in Syracuse at Westcott Theater on October 25. Keller has been touring extensively this year in support of the release of his latest album, Add. NYS Music was lucky enough to catch Keller Williams for a brief interview during his busy tour schedule. He was very down to earth and easy to talk to. We quickly digressed from talking about his tour to talking about his favorite shows at Red Rocks and Phish at Lockn‘.
Williams’ upcoming record, SPEED, features his bluegrass outfit Keller & The Keels (Williams on vocals, along with progressive flatpicker Larry Keel and bassist Jenny Keel) as they reinterpret popular songs in their trademark psychedelic Appalachian bluegrass style. Some of the covers heard on SPEED include Fiona Apple’s “Criminal,” Kacey Musgraves’ “Slow Burn,” Weezer’s “Island In The Sun,” and many more. SPEED is the trio’s third collaboration together, following their 2006 release Grass and 2012’s all-covers album Thief.
When asked about where the name for the new record came form he said, “The inspiration was an excuse to hang out with my friends, the Keels”.
Melting with Larry Keel at Floydfest 2016
Keller’s got so many projects going on like Grateful Grass, Grateful Gospel, Keller & The Keels, it’s hard to keep up! That guy stays on the move. Yet he manages to be on the road for three and a half days and home for three and a half days. Very balanced. Jokingly, Keller says it only took him thirty years to develop an ideal schedule.
Keller will be playing a two-day NYE run in St. Louis at the Old Rock House. On the first night, Keller will play with The Keels, and the second night with Grateful Grass. Lots of surprises are in store, but Keller likes to keep ’em that way. You know, surprising! He is also very excited to play in the psychedelic labyrinth known as Meow Wolf.
On favorite places to play: “Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado…it’s very historic and there’s a certain amount of honor. A certain amount of history that went down there. As a music fan, I just love it. But there’s so many other places that are as epic or as historic as Red Rocks that I love playing. Any given night, any given gig, could possibly be my favorite place to play ever”.
“It’s like the best camera you have is the one you have in your hand,” I said.
“It’s like there’s two types of weed. Some and none,” Keller replied as I burst into laughter.
Yay Keller! At Lockn’ 2019
Keller is a staple of the jam community, a part of the Dead scene, and a “phan.” His music is so easily accessible to the ones around him because he is one of them. He is a Deadhead playing to Deadheads. They breathe the same air, and drink the same Kool-Aid. Keller gets it. He makes it look easy and fun, just like a good show should feel. When he plays five sets at a festival, which isn’t rare for Keller, plan to dance at all five.
All smiles. Keller at Lockn’ 2018
So we digress and start to dig into show stories from Keller’s vault…
On Red Rocks concerts that stood out and Phish: “In 1990, I started seeing Phish. In the early ’90s they started to go into arenas kind of early. And I was used to pushing my car to the Grateful Dead show ’cause the line to get in would take hours. And I would always be in these old cars that would overheat, so you had to push them in…
So I started going to Phish shows, it was probably right after Jerry died. Probably like ’96 or ’97, the run of three Phish shows at Red Rocks. I remember those being super intense.”
When a contract issue arose while Keller was in Boulder, Colorado, he checked out Odesza at Red Rocks. “I used some connections to get me and a couple of friends in. I remember standing on the top, towards the back, where you can see the stage, and hear just beautifully, and you can see the whole skyline of Denver. And I remember elevating, I think I elevated, I elevated, I rose up higher than where I was standing. It was real, it happened.”
When asked about his favorite festival, he narrowed it down to just festivals in his home state of Virginia. “Floydfest: one of the very few festivals I can go with my family. Lockn’, I go and hang out there, me and my wife go. But we don’t take our kids there.”
Keller at Floydfest 2016
His two favorite festivals are right in his home state of Virginia, both at which he makes an annual appearance. “The Blue Ridge Parkway is really popping now with color,” Keller stated as we drooled over the beauty of that mountainous state.
At Floydfest 2016, Keller was seen on stage more than anyone else. They even put him in charge of what is now an annual super jam of epic proportions. “Greg Allman had cancelled, and we put that set together. It’s become a staple at that festival every year since, with me in charge.”
With The T Sisters at Floydfest 2016, filling in for Greg Allman
If he had to be stranded on an abandoned island with one musician, Keller would like no one else to spend his time with than his already good friend and band member, Larry Keel. According to Keller, he’s also a master fisher.
Keller is just so relatable and down to earth, it’s hard to not gravitate towards him. One time at Floydfest I asked a stranger for a lighter only to realize it was Keller who I was asking, another time I ran into him at a festival in Tennessee, and we were both sweaty guys with vapes at Lockn’ in the media tent.
Keller sitting in with Twiddle at Lockn’ 2016
On the hot, hot 2016 Lock’n music festival,”
On the hot, hot 2016 Lockn’ music festival: “That was a really interesting year. There was a couple years, they’d plug in my motor home right behind stage. The year that Phish was there…you know when they come to a festival they create their own fenced in zone. It’s not just like, here’s your trailer, Phish. No, they have their own fenced in area. That extended out the fence between the public and the festival. So I could go to the fence and be in front of the speakers and in front of the screen.
And I saw so many shows sitting in a folding chair, sitting by the fence, looking up. And it was just loud as hell! And it was so hot that year we had to take naps in the day ’cause we’d been up all night, and our motor home would become a subwoofer. And would just vibrate. Yeah, that was a fun year, I remember that year very well.”
Keller Williams Grateful Gospel at Lockn’ Festival 2019
Keller is an incredibly hard working and inspiring musician who seems like he never stops, hence the new album SPEED. This man cannot be stopped. But seriously, Keller is a true staple of the jam community, the scene if you will, and it was an absolute honor to wrack his brain about his music and his relationship with the music we love.
Greensky Bluegrass has announced an expansive Winter Tour to kick off 2020 with stops in Ithaca, NYC and Albany.
With the first show in St. Louis, MO at The Pageant on January 15, the tour winds through the Midwest and East Coast, and finishing with a two-night stand at The Tabernacle in Atlanta. Ghost Light will joining Greensky as the opener for a majority of the dates, with another act being announced in the near future. General on-sale begins on Friday, October 18.
Ahead for Greensky Bluegrass this fall include appearances at Hulaween & Hangtown festivals, then an epic Midwestern Halloween weekend run kicking off in Chicago at the Chicago Theatre on Halloween, then off to Kansas City and St. Paul. The band will appear at ‘What The Night Brings’ tribute to Jeff Austin on November 4 then a duo of shows in their hometown of Kalamazoo, MI Nov. 29 & 30. Greensky will debut at Denver’s new Mission Ballroom on Dec. 6 & 7 before heading to Mexico for Cloud 9 Adventure’s Strings & Sol. The band will ring in 2020 with a three-night stand at The Riverside in Milwaukee, WI – with support from Horseshoes & Hand Grenades on 12/29 and 12/30, and a three-set Greensky NYE event to close out the year.
The band’s third incarnation of its Camp Greensky Music Festival is the latest confirmed 2020 date, happening June 4 to 6 in Wellston, MI, tickets are available now.
Greensky Bluegrass Winter Tour dates
1/15 – The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
1/16 – Old Forester’s Paristown Hall, Louisville, KY
Goose has let loose their third studio single of 2019, “Butter Rum,” ahead of the start of their Fall Tour which kicks off in Albany on Friday, October 18. The track is the band’s third consecutive song mastered by Grammy award winner Emily Lazar (Beck, Vampire Weekend).
“Butter Rum” is a playful tale of holiday romance heartbreak. The song’s lively tropical momentum will carry you through butterflies, barbeques, and blue Hawaiians as a boy and a girl wander aimlessly hand-in-hand for days. The couple weave through sweat-soaked night clubs and piercing 6 AM sunshine until the vacation ends he’s left with “nothing but the rum.” Grab a drink and prepare to have your heart broken by the sweetheart you were never meant to have.
As their fall tour kicks off, Goose has four sell out shows and surely more to follow given the buzz they’ve been gaining over the year. A stellar Peach Festival set is just one of the highlights of this Norwalk, CT based indie-groove outfit. At the tour opener in Albany at Parish Public House, Eggy will open the night, with music starting right at 9pm, followed by two sets of Goose.
The rest of the 20+ date tour carries Goose to NYC on Halloween, Buffalo in mid November then out to with a year end show at Goosemas, the band’s annual holiday extravaganza, held at the Wall Street Theater in Norwalk.
Fall 2019 Tour Dates
OCT 18 – Albany, NY, Parish Public House Sold Out
OCT 19 – Cambridge, MA, Sonia Sold Out
OCT 25 – Wilkes-Barre, PA, River Street Jazz Cafe
OCT 31 – New York, NY, Mercury Lounge Sold Out
NOV 02 – New Haven, CT, College Street
NOV 07 – Harrisburg, PA, Club XL
NOV 08 – Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
NOV 10 – Richmond, VA, The Camel
NOV 14 – Pittsburgh, PA, Roxian Theatre
NOV 15 – Columbus, OH, The Summit
NOV 16 – Buffalo, NY, Nietzche’s Sold Out
DEC 05 – Fort Collins, CO, Aggie Theatre
DEC 06 – Denver, CO, Cervantes Other Side
DEC 07 – Steamboat Springs, CO, Old Town Pub
DEC 08 – Steamboat Springs, CO, Old Town Pub
DEC 11 – St. Louis, MO, The Bootleg
DEC 12 – Chicago, IL, Lincoln Hall
DEC 13 – Cincinnati, OH, Top Cats
DEC 14 – Indianapolis, IN, The Mousetrap
DEC 21 – Goosemas VI – South Norwalk, CT, Wall Street Theatre
The historic Bardavon 1869 opera house in Poughkeepsie will kick off the Hudson Valley Philharmonic 60th Anniversary Season with the opening concert, Moon Landing, on Saturday, October 26 at 8 p.m.
More than 80 years ago, the Dutchess Philharmonic Community Orchestra was founded by four local amateur musicians, and 60 years ago conductor Claude Monteux elevated the orchestra to a fully-professional ensemble, renaming it the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. The 60th season also represents the HVP’s 21st year under Bardavon management and the 27th under the music direction of conductor Randall Craig Fleischer, who will conduct Moon Landing.
The Hudson Valley Philharmonic 60th anniversary opening concert at Bardavon celebrates the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with Mozart’s “Jupiter,” Prokofiev’s violin concerto with an HVP String Competition winner and Ravel’s suite from Daphnis et Chloé with projected images from outer space. The program includes:
Mozart: Symphony no.41, K.551, C major (Jupiter) Prokofiev: Violin Concerto no 2, op. 63, G Minor w/ 2018 HVP String Competition winner Cherry Choi Tung Yeung Ravel:Daphnis et Chloé Suite no. 1 & 2 w/visuals from outer space by Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado
Audience members are invited to a pre-concert talk with the conductor and soloists and/or members of the orchestra one hour prior to the performance.
José Francisco Salgado is an Emmy-nominated astronomer (BS in Physics, Univ. of Puerto Rico; PhD in Astronomy, Univ. of Michigan), experimental photographer, visual artist, and public speaker who creates multimedia works that communicate science in engaging ways. As the Executive Director and co-founder of KV 265, a non-profit science and arts education organization, Dr. Salgado collaborates with orchestras, composers, and musicians to present films that provoke curiosity and a sense of wonder about the Earth and the Universe. His Science & Symphony films have been presented in more than 350 concerts and lectures reaching a combined audience of more than 400,000 people in 18 countries.
Cherry Choi Tung Yeung was born in Hong Kong, 22 years ago. Cherry studies with Ms. Ida Kavafian at The Juilliard School and has been admitted to the highly selective accelerated program, where she will finish both Bachelor’s and Master’s Program in four years; she is currently a senior/ first year master student. Cherry was accepted to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) Junior Program as a scholarship student at the age of 6. Cherry skipped high school and later at the age of only 15, she was accepted as a full-time student at the HKAPA.
Single tickets to all HVP concerts are $20 – $58 based on location. For more information visit the Bardovan website.
I can imagine it is sometimes difficult to be called an Americana band. I’ve heard a number of music fans hear that description and respond, “You mean they sound like Mumford and Sons, or The Avett Brothers?” That response is not only limiting, it’s unfair. Listening to The Drunken Hearts pending release, Wheels of the City, dispels the notion that they are a one dimensional entity. There is country, with pedal steel and banjo, as well as elements of soul, some of the classic Laurel Canyon sound, touches of rock comparable to Drive-By Truckers, and alt-country stylings reminiscent of Son Volt.
The Drunken Hearts
The album, recorded at Denver’s Silo Sound Studios, starts out with “Fire in a House,” slowly building an intro, leading to a verse, a piano melody, and continuing with layers of other instrumentation and backing vocals. The tune eventually deconstructs to some degree toward the end, sonically arriving back where it began. “Alive ‘n Free” reflects the overall upbeat feel of Wheels of the City, as evidenced by the lyrics
“Sometimes in life, you get to where you want to / Sometimes in love, you fall just where you’re meant to / Sometimes this world shows you how to be free / Alive ‘n free.”
The addition of strings and a female accompanying vocal on “Passchendaele” lend a sense of sad elegance to a song about one of the most prolonged battles of World War I, and a soldier discovering lost love after returning home from war. “In the Middle” is an uptempo tune that can easily have the listener singing along, tapping their toes and swaying to the music.
“Two Hearts (On a Limb)” perhaps best fits the “Americana” genre, although The Drunken Hearts display a much broader range than any one single style. That range is displayed on “Wheels of the City.” The title tune begins with a country music feel, and as horns come in midway through the song, it morphs a bit into a soul sound. That subtle transition reflects the chameleon-like qualities of the songs, and the band as a whole. By virtue of the way the songs take advantage of multiple band members’ instrumental skills, this may well be a group that hits its stride in live performances more so than in a recording studio. That’s not to say Wheels of the City is lacking in any way, it’s simply that some bands build their chops over the course of hundreds of live gigs, and the band took a decidedly different approach to this release – writing and recording eleven new songs in eleven days, rather than recording familiar pieces that had been road tested.
The album closes with “The Cave,” which begins with a spoken word intro and leads into an instrumental section which is markedly different than the rest of the album. As noted, the band’s novel approach to this recording was a rather daring roll of the dice, with unknown possibilities.
Wheels of the City will be released on multiple platforms as well as the band’s website on Friday, October 18. For more about the band, click here.
Key Tracks: Alive ‘n Free, Two Hearts (On a Limb), Wheels of the City
The Drunken Hearts current tour will provide opportunities to see them throughout New York State. All five of those shows are in support of Yonder Mountain String Band. The Saturday, October 19 show will be a homecoming of sorts for bassist and vocalist Jon Macartan, a native of nearby Guilderland, New York, in the capital region. The New York State days are listed below.
Wednesday, October 16, at Buffalo’s Tralf Music Hall Tickets here.
Thursday, October 17, at Center for the Arts of Homer Tickets here.
Saturday, October 19, at Putnam Place in Saratoga Springs Tickets here.
Thursday, November 11 at Brooklyn Bowl Tickets here.
Sunday, November 17 at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock Tickets here.
