NYS Music 202​0

Category: Folk/Americana

  • Walkin’ in a Colorado WinterWonderGrass

    Music scenes are riddled with a lot of traditions, a lot of staples that go hand in hand with the community and culture that is created around every genre of music . The bluegrass/jamgrass scene has grown exponentially in the last few years and, with that, the traditions have grown as well. One of these is WinterWonderGrass, held this past weekend in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. In its eighth year, the tiny, homegrown festival boasted an amazing lineup for its 2020 edition and was a blessing for bluegrass & string music fans across the nation.

    This winter wonder festival takes place in the famous mountain town of Steamboat Springs. Nestled in the upper valley of the Yampa River, the picture-perfect, post card scenery overshadowed the fact that temperatures for the weekend didn’t surpass 30 degrees. Day one included intimate sets in each of the three tents from Buffalo Commons, John Stickley Trio, and an amazing new and rising artist, Molly Tuttle, with headlining sets from Grammy-nominated Nashville band Della Mae, the incomparable Keller and The Keels, and one of the hottest acts in music right now, Billy Strings. His first headlining set of the 2020 festival season included a fitting “Steamboat Whistle Blues,” “Highway Hypnosis,” and a “Train Train” encore that concluded an amazing first day of music, and reminded fans in attendance why Billy Strings is everything they love about this great event.

    The second day on the mountain started off with a new tradition, a set entitled WinterWonderWoman. A collaborative set of covers and some bluegrass and country classics was performed by a group of amazing female musicians who performed throughout the weekend. On the main stage Nikki Lane, the extremely gifted country rock songwriter, proved to a packed audience that her blues guitar and vintage ’60s country-pop swagger fit right in with the WinterWonderGrass family. Despite all the firsts on the second day of the festival, it was a headlining set by festival veterans Greensky Bluegrass that reminded fans what WinterWonderGrass is all about. With a chilling and emotional “Wish I Didn’t Know” to start it all off, Greensky filled the rest of their set with tracks like “Worried about the Weather” and “Old Barn” and, with Jennifer Hartswick as a special guest, they rocked the mountains with a debut cover of Pat Benatar’s smash hit “Heartbreaker”. There is a special bond between Greensky Bluegrass and WinterWonderGrass that proves year after year how special the bond is between their music and its fans.   

    As a festival in its eighth year, WinterWonderGrass is very in tune with how quickly things change in the music industry, and the only way to survive and attract new and old fans year after year is to adapt. Day 3 was a look into the future of the festival and how the recent rise of the proclaimed “Outlaw Country” genre has become a perfect companion to bluegrass, this blend of new blood, veterans, country, and bluegrass was the theme of the final day of the music event. With sets from bluegrass legends The Travelin’ McCourys, and another smoking hot set from Billy Strings, the strings element to this eclectic blend was complete. It was the Sunday headliner that added a new sound to this festival and a brand new flavor to this blend of great music. Margo Price has exploded into the country music scene since her debut in 2016 and she did nothing short of that to make her WinterWonderGrass debut. She debuted a new song “Twinkle Twinkle” and even welcomed Billy Strings for a special cover of Janis Joplin’s “Move Over.” She closed out her debut set by sparking a joint, sharing it with the crowd, and encoring with Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5,” a perfect way to close out an amazing weekend of music.

    The roving cold weather music festival will continue its 2020 run with stops in Squaw Valley, California from March 27-29 and Stratton, Vermont on April 10 and 11. It still remains one of the top festivals in the country after almost ten years, bringing together multiple genres of music, community, sustainability, and family in some of the most welcoming, majestic mountain communities in the country. 

  • America Begins Their 50th Anniversary Tour on Long Island

    On Friday night, America played a sold out show at The Tilles Center on the LIU Post campus in Brookville, Long Island, the first show of the band’s 50th anniversary tour, celebrating the release of their 1971 self titled album.  “A Horse With No Name,” originally titled “Desert Song,” was released in the US a few weeks before the album came out and sold over a million copies, being awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. The album went platinum shortly after. The band was opening for acts like The Who, Elton John, Pink Floyd and worked with Beatles producer George Martin from 1974-1979. 

    america 50th anniversary

    Friday night’s show was filled with hit after hit, spanning their 50 year long and counting career. Gerry and Dewey sounded just as good today as they did when they started harmonizing 50 years ago. Songs from the setlist included “Tin Man,” “Ventura Highway,” “Sister Golden Hair” as well as a covers of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” and  The Mamas & Papas’ “California Dreamin’.” The 18-song set concluded with  “A Horse With No Name.”  You can see the full setlist below. 

    The band’s current lineup includes original founding members Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell, as well as Ryland Steen on drums, Steve Fekete on guitar and Richard Campbell on bass. The tour continues across United States and Canada until July when they head to Europe for shows in France, the U.K. and Germany. You can see all the tour dates here at https://www.venturahighway.com/. There is also a biography about the band written by Jude Warne, titled America The Band: An Authorized Biography that is available for pre-order now and will be released on May 15, 2020.

    Setlist: Tin Man, You Can Do Magic, Don’t Cross The River. Daisy Chain, Riverside. I Need You Here, Ventura Highway, Eleanor Rigby, Cornwall Blank, Hollywood, The Border, Woman Tonight, Only In Your Heart, California Dreamin’, Lonely People, Sandman, Sister Golden Hair, A Horse With No Name

    • america 50th anniversary
    • america 50th anniversary

  • The Great South Bay Music Festival Announces 2020 Lineup

    The Great South Bay Music Festival announced their 2020 lineup which will include performances from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Rebelution, The Tedeschi Trucks Band, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and many more. The festival will take place from July 16-19 across five stages and will include 75 performances. 

    The festival will be celebrating its 14th anniversary at Shorefront Park in Patchogue, NY and will consist of classic and contemporary rock, folk, blues, indy, jam-band, pop, prog, Americana, country, reggae, and funk music. The festival also has a new partnership with Blue Point Brewing Co. The new beverage sponsor will be serving up a wide assortment of their most popular brands, as well as some new “Exclusive Festival” brands to watch out for. 

    Both Friday and Saturday have a loose daily theme. Friday is the rock-reggae-ska day with headliner Rebelution, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones (who are returning for their second appearance at Great South Bay), Pepper, Sublime Tribute: Badfish, and Oogee Wawa. And Saturday is the jam band day with headliner one of The Grateful Dead’s most proud and popular tributes: Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, moe. and Vulfpeck guitarist, composer and producer: Cory Wong. Great South Bay will close on Sunday with the highly anticipated Tedeschi Trucks Wheels of Soul Tour, featuring the full 13-piece band playing a rocking two hour set. There will also be performances by St. Paul & The Broken Bones, as well as Nashville-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Gabe Dixon.

    The festival opens on Thursday, July 16 at 3 pm and runs until 10 pm. On Friday, July 17, doors open at 3 pm and music will go until 11 pm. On Saturday, July 18, doors open at 1 pm and close at 11 pm. And the festival will wrap up on Sunday, July 19 with doors opening at 2 pm and finishing up at 10 pm. For more information and to purchase tickets visit The Great South Bay Music Festival’s website.

  • In Focus: JRAD At The Cap 2/21/20

    Grateful Dead cover band heavyweight champions Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD) continue their reign at a legendary venue with three nights at the historic Capitol Theatre, starting on Friday, February 21, 2020 (2/21/20)

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    • JRAD 2/21/20
    • JRAD 2/21/20

  • Hearing Aide: Rhys Tivey releases latest single “Ready”

    In his new single “Ready,” Rhys Tivey captures loss and revival of self through the epiphany of love song simplicity and precision. Sober in its depth and playfulness, we taste a life after disappointment, the epiphany of renewal. The song narrates the journey of melting regret and defiance to avail oneself to new possibilities. Its January release references the New Year temperament of resolution and release of past griping.

    Rhys Tivey – Photo courtesy of Gramophone Media

    The track begins in a nostalgic vibe with Rhys’s sotto voce vocals accompanied by soft piano chords. As a minimal, driving beat drops in to counterbalance distant trumpets and alluring vocal pads, the song builds with hints of hope, before hitting a bridge of soaring yet contained chaos.  “Ready” is a triumphant glimpse at his upcoming album Unsteady, where the intimate undertakings of an artist simultaneously reveals past stories and tentatively persists towards the hope of new chapters. 

    Rhys is definitely on the “ones to watch” list, so plan on catching one of his shows in the future.  Rhys performs at prominent venues all around the Northeast and is currently in the works of an epic album release set to premiere in spring 2020. 

    You can stream “Ready” on all music platforms, and follow his social media: SPOTIFY / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER

  • Iron & Wine and Calexico Join Forces at Webster Hall

    Back in June 2019, Sam Beam (a.k.a. Iron & Wine) joined forces with folk/Americana group Calexico for the full length LP, Years to Burn. This would mark the second time the two bands collaborated, the first being EP In the Reins from 2005. The bands musical styles perfectly complement one another, resulting in luscious harmonies and arrangements.

    John Convertino of Calexico at Webster Hall – Photo: Joseph Buscarello

    Before the show started, stage hands marched a seemingly endless amount of instruments on stage. Nine acoustic guitars moved in alone, followed by accordions, upright basses, electric guitars and horns. I have experienced seeing both of these bands individually and this collection of instruments is not surprising. Sam Beam typically brings a dozen or more musicians out for an Iron & Wine show and Calexico has such a full Americana sound with dense horns and strings. None of these attributes were lost in bringing the two bands together.

    Sam Beam of Iron & Wine at Webster Hall – Photo: Joseph Buscarello

    The set drew heavily from the two collaborative projects, but they also performed covers of each other’s songs and other bands. This first one was a cover of “Glimpse,” a track off Calexico’s 1996 debut Spoke. Sam introduced the song by saying “this song was the first Calexico song I ever heard.” The other Calexico cover was “Flores y Tamales” from 2018s The Thread That Keeps Us. While there were no Iron & Wine covers at Webster Hall, they were playing songs like “Boy With A Coin” and “Naked As We Came” at other stops. Full setlist below.

    Joey Burns of Calexico at Webster Hall – Photo: Joseph Buscarello

    The show ended with two more collaborative tracks, but with opening band Half Waif joining them on stage to provide additional vocals. Had you not known that this show was a collaboration between two separate groups, you would think this was a band that has been writing and performing together their whole career. Their musical styles are already complementary and there is a clear friendship that adds a ton of energy to the stage.

    Iron & Wine at Webster Hall – Photo: Joseph Buscarello

    Setlist: Father Mountain, Prison on Route 41, Follow the Water, In the Reins, Glimpse (Calexico cover), Sixteen Maybe Less, The Bitter Suite, Bring on the Dancing Horses (Echo and the Bunnymen cover), Flores y Tamales (Calexico cover), [Solos], Red Dust, I Lost It (Lucinda Williams cover), Midnight Sun, Burn That Broken Bed, What Heaven’s Left.

    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)
    Photo by: Buscar Photo (www.buscarphoto.com)

  • The Wood Brothers Feel at Home in Rochester

    Rochester is a strong music city, based mostly on its flourishing local scene. Touring acts aren’t as kind to this city between cities. But every once in a while a band comes through, latches on, and rides the tide to local hero-dom. The Wood Brothers are such a band.

    First opening for the poster-child of Rochester hero bands, Tedeschi Trucks Band. Then breaking through as a club pass band at the Rochester International Jazz Fest. They quickly returned as a main stage headliner, and headlined at the Lilac Festival soon after that. Wednesday night they were back at the Kodak Center for a rare wintertime visit. Tedeschi Trucks, Jazz Fest, Lilac Fest, Kodak… hitting all the Rochester sweet spots, it’s no wonder they’ve found a place in the city’s hearts.

    On top of that, they welcomed Rochester-native, Kat Wright, to open their whole tour. Excited to be back in her hometown, she recalled Rochester memories, got shout outs from friends, family and fans in the crowd, and dedicated a song to a friend celebrating her birthday. Her usual eight-strong Indomitable Soul Band was stripped down to her, Bob Wagner on guitar and Josh Weinstein on bass. They rearranged some older tunes for the occasion, threw in a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “Love Me Like a Man,” and introduced a few new ones, like the sultry slow burning “Let Me In” and the bluegrass-infused reggae of “Can’t Explain.”

    The Wood Brothers had some new songs in their arsenal as well, coming with a stellar new album in tow. They opened with the first track, “Alabaster,” with “Little Bit Sweet” and the West-African inflected “Don’t Think About My Death” not too far behind. Though for the most part they stuck to the tried and true classics, digging through their songbook generously, presenting the full spectrum of their wares.

    The seated crowd was soon on its feet, filling the aisles, dancing and singing along. The best dance moves as always though, belonged to bassist Chris Wood. His fancy footwork only outmatched by his fancy fretwork, both on display during a rumbling bass and drums segment during “Who the Devil.”

    Midway through their set, during the old-school format portion of the evening with Jano Rix out front on his ‘shitar,’ the band injected the excellent Rochester local scene into their set. They invited Aaron Lipp on banjo and Wright on vocals for a rollicking rendition of the Wood Brothers oldie “One More Day.” The set peaked at the penultimate “Happiness Jones” with its funky grooving soul on full display.

    Oliver Wood made sure to seal the deal on the mutual feelings between band and crowd before calling it a night, “We love Rochester!” One thing seems certain, it won’t be long before the two meet again.

    Setlist: Alabaster, American Heartache, Atlas, Little Bit Sweet, Shoofly Pie, Don’t Think About My Death, Luckiest Man, Mary Anna, Little Bit Broken, Postcards from Hell, Pray Enough, Who the Devil, Loaded, One More Day*, I Got Loaded, Happiness Jones, Snake Eyes.

    Encore: Chevrolet (Ed & Lonnie Young).

    * with Aaron Lipp on Banjo and Kat Wright on vocals.

  • In Focus: Bella’s Bartok and West End Blend at The Hollow

    A packed Hollow Bar & Kitchen welcomed Bella’s Bartok and West End Blend back to the Capital Region for an intense night of dancing and revelry. The two bands, from western Mass and Connecticut, respectively, have built up sizable followings around the state and when converging together in Albany on Friday, a welcoming crowd got down with them from the first note to the last. West End Blend’s funk did more than warm up the crowd, and set the tone for the night with “Smile.” Bella’s Bartok followed shortly after with a set full of klezmer-infused, high energy numbers, with inflated eye balls bouncing around the crowd and a daring band member who crowd surfed to the bar (for a shot) and back to the stage with the support of their fans.  

    Following these two glorious sets of music to shake the week off, the bands spoke to NYS Music about why New York is such an important part of their careers and how they have grown as a result of touring across the state.

    Drummer Sam Horan of West End Blend: “I feel like playing around the New York scene, that’s not New York City, it’s just been really good to us, and we’ve seen a lot of progress and steady progression which keeps us fueled to come back. This show, specifically, was a surprise because our last show was, it was good, but tonight really felt like a turning point for the market. We have a really great audience in Saranac Lake, and we throw our festival ‘The Blender’ in Saranac Lake, and that’s its own thing, but for Albany tonight it really felt like a turning point for us, with an early opening set, and it was a full room. It was a really good, reassuring thing for us to see a full room, starting pretty early, so that’s kind of the thing the New York scene has just been really good to us, and that’s what keeps us coming back.”

    Bella's Bartok

    Likewise, Asher Putnam, lead singer of Bella’s Bartok shared: “We’ve been playing upstate New York and the Hudson River Valley since 2009-2010 when we were just a street band, and we’ve always enjoyed ourselves. We’re out of western Massachusetts, the Great Barrington area, so it’s a hop, skip, and a jump, and it’s really nice to see people coming up to the show who’ve been seeing us for 7-8 years, singing along to the old songs and hearing the new tunes. From Saranac Lake to Albany, and sometimes to NYC even, the Capital Region and Upstate is where we find our people.”

    Bella's Bartok

    Catch West End Blend on Saturday February 8 at The Waterhole in Saranac Lake, and Bella’s Bartok the night before at The Waterhole on Friday, February 7. Bella’s then returns to the state on Saturday, March 7 at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, and then again on Thursday, March 19 at Funk ‘n Waffles in Syracuse.

    Check out the photo gallery below!

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  • Hearing Aide: The Wood Brothers ‘Kingdom In My Mind’

    Late in the summer of 2018, The Wood Brothers were putting the final touches on their new workshop, The Studio Nashville. After it was fully wired for sound, they decided to break in this new space by testing the energy, atmosphere and sound of each room. These initial jam sessions would lay the framework for Kingdom In My Mind when the band listened back to their performances and realized that there was something special to the recordings. It wasn’t until they took these newly recorded improvisations and began to construct verses and choruses that their creative prowess took a new leap.

    While this may be a new path for the band, the members are no stranger to experimentation. The Wood Brothers came to be after Oliver Wood sat in with his brother Chris’ band, Medeski, Martin and Wood, in the early 2000’s and Jano Rix may be best known for creating the ‘shuitar’ – an acoustic guitar with a twist of percussion. In the past, the band would write large batches of songs and try to capture them all at once, but their new studio offered them so much more. “We weren’t performing songs,” explains Oliver. “We were just improvising and letting the music dictate everything. Normally when you’re recording, you’re thinking about your parts and your performances, but with these sessions, we were just reacting to each other and having fun in the moment.”

    The Wood Brothers’ 7th album starts with “Alabaster,” a gem that could easily be mistaken for a classic MMW song if it weren’t for Oliver’s jazzy vocals over the track. The funky keys and effervescent bass really highlight the energy of their new space . “Little Bit Sweet” has the honor of featuring the first notes recorded in their studio, which was the impetus for Kingdom In My Mind. This track features beautiful harmonies that rise with the bouncy beat that Jano lays down. In “Jitterbug Love,” Chris Wood’s voice is perfect for this little ditty as Oliver slides up and down his acoustic guitar. It’s near impossible to listen to this track without tapping your feet and singing along to the chorus: “I’m crazy for you. I’m crazy for you!”

    “Cry Over Nothing” is the only song that was developed and composed outside of the new studio, but it invokes the spirit of The Band, especially as Rix plays his soaring organ while simultaneously keeping beat. The most “rocking” song of the album comes in the form of “Don’t Think About My Death.” This track is a mesmerizing mix of dirty electric guitar and Rix’s ever-present but simplistic percussion. Continuing the jump between genres are “Little Bit Broken,” which combines funky tones with a pure gospel feeling that will undoubtedly speak to everyone who listens, and “The One I Love,” a Zydeco track that is sure to get folks on their feet at any upcoming Wood Brothers performance.

    “Little Blue” continues this gem of an album with its funky, bluesy tones while “A Dream’s A Dream” takes things in a filthy direction. And I mean that in the best way possible. This is my favorite track on the album and it’s definitely the one I replayed the most this past week. “Satisfied” is the last full track on the album and Oliver’s vocals paint a tale of optimism and hope while Chris’ harmonica hauntingly floats over Jano’s solid beat. This powerful song really sums up the themes and feelings that are highlighted throughout this beautiful album. No album is complete without a proper reprise and this is no exception as” Little Blue (Reprise)” is a delightful cherry on top of this beautiful cake of an album.

    The Wood Brothers will be in NYC on January 30 and 31, Rochester on February 5 and Albany on February 8.

    Key Tracks: A Dream’s A Dream, Alabaster, Jitterbug Love

    The album can be ordered and more information on tour dates is available at the band’s website.

  • William Prince is Positively Brilliant in Rochester

    Prince, William. That’s one of the hardest working commas you will see, and this isn’t a post about drama with the British Royals. Juno-winning singer-songwriter, William Prince, sprinkled plenty more punctuation throughout his two-set show for Honest Folk at Restaurant Good Luck in Rochester, on Monday night.

    It started with a question mark. “Does anyone know who I am?” he asked in singsong banter before opening the night with “Young,” a song he wrote only two days prior. “Yours are the first human ears to hear that song,” he remarked. It was an unusual start for a musician who is touring ahead of his sophomore album release, due out February 8. But Prince would prove to be someone who plays by his own rules. He opened the second set with another new one written within the last two months.

    After an album is created he just continues to write new music, he explained. It isn’t surprising. The man is oozing music. Songs drifted in and out of each other with ellipses. His banter was sung, spoken over a picked guitar, or both, and was as engaging as the very personal, emotionally attached music. It served to enhance the songs meaning, bring the crowd into his life and turned an already intimate show into virtually one-on-one conversations with each audience member.

    Many incredible words were bracketed by quotation marks throughout the night, both in song and out: from the funny, “if you have marijuana, meet me outside at the break,” to the wise, “You can sit in a garage all you want, but you’ll never turn into a car.” Or the insightful, “Flesh and blood needs flesh and blood, and where there’s blood there’s pain.”

    Prince’s rich voice, fluid guitar picking, and the tenor of his songs, combined for a sound that sat squarely in the most traditional folk music. Unlike much from the genre, his lyrics found optimism, hope and love in even the darkest times. So much of his writing centered on the love of family, his parents, partners, and his son.

    Songs of his parents became songs about his parenthood, songs of his childhood became songs about his child. Passed down like his heritage as descendant of First Nations people in Canada. Songs about his departed father weren’t steeped in sadness, but concentrated more in loving memory. Even songs about his ex were happy and loving. He preferred not to dwell in the negative, putting positive spins on some of the lower points in life and simple misunderstandings alike.

    The show-opening question mark was answered with a resounding exclamation point by show’s end, with multiple standing ovations and a mutual admiration from musician and audience.

    Honest Folk might be batting 1.000 when it comes to eliciting an expression of amazement from the artist upon announcing the next show. And so it was with the announcement that Joe Pug would be playing Good Luck February 17. Early bird tickets are on sale now.