For the past 18 years the Northwest String Summit has been a festival catering to all things string. Country, folk and bluegrass artists, well-known and just discovered, would descend upon Horning’s Hideout. Festival-goers can listen to the music and enjoyed a myriad of activities including but not limited to arts and crafts, glamping, yoga, and instrument building.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 has created the conditions in which having a traditional festival would be dangerous. In the interest of public safety, the event has closed its on-site activities. Even though the physical festival is no longer possible, the lockdown has not stifled the creativity of the artists that were slated to attend the summit this year.
To connect fans to artists, the Northwest String Summit has gone virtual.
Over 28 different artists will be streaming their performances live or remote this July 17-19 on LiveXLive. Archival footage spanning the history of the event will be sprinkled in-between sets. Thirty hours of never-seen-before footage will be shown. All of the proceeds will go back to the artists, crew, and industry. The Early Bird special pricing of $29.99 will be available until July 7 for this three-night event.
Check out this stream and more through our series NY Stream and Support. You’ll discover artists around the Empire State streaming nightly, with ways to support musicians and charitable groups close to home!
NYC-based art punks, Rich Girls, released their single “The Fighter,” an anthem of low-key defiance. Frontwoman Luisa Black shares her thoughts on what the song means.
“Fuck bigots, it’s all I thought about this year. If it’s about anything, it’s about that.”
Photo Cred: L. Black
Rich Girls combine British art rock polish with primitive energy of American garage. Black started the band as the solo recording project after the breakup of her San Fran garage band The Blacks. It evolved from series of dark pop demos Black wrote while living in London.
A steady stream of EPs cemented the Rich Girls high/low sound and found a small following in unexpected outposts across the UK and Europe. Rich Girls live create a big, urgent sound out of minimal elements. All proceeds from Bandcamp digital purchases of the single will be donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Drag” was written before the countless changes of the past few months. The song explores the pre-pandemic ‘normal,’ but doesn’t paint it as being perfect. It looks into the monotony of life.
“I love New York City, though, some days it feels like a dysfunctional landscape of ill-routine. Living here, you realize you’re functionally necessary but of small significance or importance within the larger enterprise. I’m immersed in a series of habits: standing in line, getting on a train, heading to work, buying coffee, buying booze… Are these choices I want to make or am I just keeping the machine going?”
Sean Cahill, Songwriter.
This will be the band’s second album after I’ll See You in the Art You Love, released three years ago. The Next Great American Novelist, or NGAN for short, wanted their music to be something that could be enjoyed best live, by all sorts of people. Art You Love delves into depression with an emo-folk sound. Careless Moon includes songs that will “make sense live.” Atwood Magazine, who debuted the album’s first song “Blackberry,” notes that that the band’s new songs have “a heavy alternative sound that simply wasn’t present in NGAN’s previous repertoire — and yet, this growth feels natural and exciting.”
The upcoming album comes from a place of joy rather than sadness and is marked by their new sound. Despite the band’s evolution, fans will still be able to recognize NGAN in Careless Moon from their three-part harmonies and meaningful, storytelling lyrics. It explores the relationship between romance and indifference. The two can coexist at the same time within one symbol.
Watch The Music Video for “Drag” Below:
Cahill has gone through ups and downs with his relationship with music. Yet he realized that it is his calling. “For a while I felt guilty about playing music, playing shows, as if it was a shameful or self-serving pursuit,” he tells Atwood. “After some reflection, I’m realizing that music is the best way I can spend my time, as it brings more light into the darkness and opens up an avenue for sharing joy.” Cahill eventually met Helm and Cummings through a “chance encounter,” and the three then formed NGAN through a shared music taste and interest in becoming creative collaborators.
Atwood reports that Careless Moon is “bigger, edgier, and more alternative; an unabashed outpouring of raw dynamism. The Next Great American Novelist are ready to be your Next Favorite American Band.” “Drag,” along with “Kubler,”“Baby Duck Song,” and “Blackberry,” are available for streaming now.
After tirelessly recording live at Long Pond (The National’s Studio) and elsewhere, Alan Braufman is releasing the second album under his name, The Fire Still Burns, will debut Aug. 28, 2020 (Via Valley of Search). Accompanying Alan Braufman (alto sax, flute) is Cooper-Moore (piano), James Brandon Lewis (Tenor Sax), Andrew Drury (Drums), and Ken Filiano (bass).
In preparation for the album’s release, Alan shares the lead single off The Fire Still Burns titled, “Sunrise.” This dreamy track rises and falls amidst the dance of Alan’s saxophone, and Cooper-Moore’s Piano, producing another heightened evolution of the “Loft Jazz” Alan is so well known for.
Born in Brooklyn, Alan moved into a vacant building at 510 Canal Street in Manhattan with several other musicians, after studying at Berklee College of Music. Considering the fact that rent at the time for a whole floor was $140 a month, the space quickly became an area for rehearsals and a venue for shows. It was in this gritty atmosphere that the tradition of a “do-it-yourself” attitude was forged for the creatives of the city as well as Alan’s cult classic ,Valley of Search, released with the label India Navigation in 1975 and rereleased by Alan in 2018 amid popular demand.
You can find Alan’s work on his Bandcamp and follow along with updates on the new album on hisFacebook.
Beau Fleuve Music & Arts Festival will be continuing its celebration of local art and culture with a 4th annual festival. Titled “Ultimate Sunday Funday,” it will take place on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020 at Silo City.
The Beau Fleuve Music & Arts Festival will have art installations, culture exhibitions, a silent disco, vendors, food trucks, and a diverse musical lineup for all ages. Additionally, there will be an indoor and outdoor event space provided for festival guests. A virtual experience curated by “The Fleuve,” Beau Fleuve’s multi-media brand, sets this even up for all.
More event details about the festival will be announced in the coming weeks, you can follow these updates on Beau Fleuve’s Instagram @beaufleuvemusicarts and website.
Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival announced plans to put on a Virtual Festival. The “Spirit of Grey Fox” will take place on July 16-19. There will be never-seen-before footage of original 2020 artists for the festival. The festival will be a benefit fundraiser for COVID-19 relief for artists.
The festival will include archived performances from past years on top of the performances from the original lineup. Some of the highlighted 2020 lineup includes The Infamous Stringdusters, Jerry Douglas, and Delle Mae. Some of the highlighted archived lineup includes the Del McCoury Band, Sam Bush, and Hot Rize.
The festival will benefit the IBMA Trust Fund COVID-19 Relief Fund to help artists crushed by the pandemic. This Fund is specifically trying to help the bluegrass community. The Board of Trustees set aside up to $150,000 for COVID-19 crisis assistance and has established an account specifically for COVID-19 Relief. Musicians can be awarded up to $500 of relief pay. People will be able to donate by going to IBMA Trust Fund COVID-19 Relief Fund’s website.
The festival will stream for free on nugs.tv and Grey Fox’s YouTube and Facebook Page. For more information the “Spirit of Grey Fox please visit Grey Fox’s website.
Check out this stream and more through our series NY Stream and Support, where you’ll discover artists around the Empire State streaming nightly, and ways to support musicians and charitable groups close to home!
The new play contest is produced by the Capital Repertory Theatre and features new works written by artists in the Capital Region and around the country. TheREP is the only professional theatre in the Capital Region, and has been creating, “meaningful theatre with an authentic connection to the community” since 1981. The theatre donates more than 83% of their profits back to their local community and tries to ensure that all young people are able to experience live theatre before they graduate high school.
TheREP also hosts an annual weekend-long summit to produce new plays. The New Play Summit “seeks to highlight new works that use theatre to address injustices, inequities, and cultural collisions, providing a voice for the unheard and unrepresented.” The Summit has drawn more than 4,000 audience members to date, but will take place online this year due to COVID-19.
The Summit will be held from July 13-16, and will kick off on July 13 at 7PM with the New Voices: Young Playwright Contest with readings from the winning six short plays written by young people ages 13-18 in the Capital Region. The top plays selected are: An Artist’s Hand (Grace Bombard), Just a Normal Friday (Jeremiah Choudhury), Almost a Fairytale (Megan Dellenbaugh), The Deadly Dinner Party (Clare Reilly & Regan Roberts), Our New Colossus (Maya TerryStein), and A Series of Unfortunate Ideas (Jasmine VanDyke & Jonathan Jordan). The plays include the poetic, the hilarious, the profane, and the poignant.
Pictured: AEA Actor, Joshua Redfield and local actress Emily Curro
On Tuesday, July 14 at 7PM, SLAM!, the winner of the NextGen contest, will be read. NextGen is a collaboration between theREP and SUNY Albany’s Fresh Acts festival, which puts on new plays written by students. SLAM!, a comedy written by junior Billy Feerick, was chosen among the plays written and submitted to UAlbany’s Fresh Acts. The play is about students in a college poetry club vying for the coveted title of “Best Poet.” SLAM! was written entirely in iambic pentameter verse with rhyming and hip hop rhythms.
The play chosen to headline this year’s festival is A Distinct Society, written by director and playwright Kareem Fahmy. It was selected from more than 350 across the country and is inspired by the true stories of Iranian families reunited at the Haskell Free Library & Opera House at the border between Quebec and Vermont. Fahmy was raised in Canada by his Egyptian parents, but now lives in NYC.
The play is directed by theREP’s Megan Sandberg-Zakian, who directed Lobby Hero and The Royale during past seasons. Sandberg-Zakian and Fahmy are the founders of Maia Directors, a group which supports artists from the MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, South Asia) region. Fahmy is also a founder and chair of the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at The Lark. The reading of A Distinct Society will be at 7PM on Wednesday, July 15.
Photo by Albany Business Review
The Summit will end on July 16 at 7PM with The First 15: You Be the Judge!, a reading of the first 15 pages of 4 plays submitted to Next Act. After 15 pages, the audience will be asked whether or not they would like to read the rest of the script. The show will be interactive and include a discussion.
Although all events will be available for free, theREP is accepting donations to help fund their new work development. The donations will allow theREP to continue to develop scripts and produce world premieres of new works every year. You can donate by going to www.capitalrep.org or by texting NEXTACT to 41444.
You can watch the performances from July 13-16 on theREP’s Facebook page, the Proctors Collaborative Youtube channel, or the Open Stage Media’s .
Holly Bowling will releasing a new Grateful Dead album full of solo piano renditions this fall. The new album, Seeking All That’s Still Unsung, is made of music recorded at 25th Street Recording in Oakland, CA.
Holly Bowling Photo Provided by Press Release.
Holly Bowling is a classical pianist who is based in San Francisco. Bowling uses the influence of jam band music to create an unique style. Her sound is emotionally rich and highly technical. She has already created albums focusing on Phish in the 2013’s Distillation Of A Dream album and the Grateful Dead focused Better Left Unsung (released December 9, 2016 through The Royal Potato Family). She known for her new band Ghost Light with Tom Hamilton, Raina Mullen and Scotty Zwang.
In this new album Bowling is attempting to create a record that feels similar to her live performances. Bowling is also using this album to create unique sounds that can only be done in a studio. The album will have the feel of a live album while accomplishing things that are impossible from a musical standpoint to create live on the road.
How Holly Bowling is Making the Album Possible
The album has been in the works for the last year and a half and has been recorded and mastered. But Bowling has a Kickstarter to get the album out to fans. The freedom that’s given her using a Kickstarter makes it so she can be an independent artist. The contributions to it will help to cover mechanical license fees, vinyl creation, and expenses associated with the release of the album. Some of these expenses include distribution, marketing, publicity. The mechanical licensing allows her to release covers of Grateful Dead songs and makes sure the original creators are fairly compensated
For more information on Seeking All That’s Still Unsung and Holly Bowling visit her website and her Kickstarter.
NYC Based Band Jeremy Beck & The Heavy Duty Horns dropped their Take Me By The Hand EP on June 26th. The four song EP has a soulful, gospel, jazzy sound. Band leader Jeremy Beck has roots in rural Alabama and New Orleans. These roots influenced his music and sound greatly which can be heard throughout the EP.
The Eight piece band decided to release their EP amidst COVID-19 and the fight for racial justice and equality in the United States. They understood the implications of releasing this EP during a pivotal moment for civil rights in America with it’s soulful, gospelly, and jazzy roots. “In a musical context, Black music has created what we know as American music. Without the great Black musicians, artists and writers, plain and simple, American music would not exist.” Beck explains, “So much of the music I’ve played and produced throughout my career has been directly inspired by Black musicians and I will be forever grateful. Growing up in Alabama and during my time in New Orleans, Black music and culture molded me into the musician and person I am today.”
Jeremy Beck & The Heavy Duty Horns. Photo provided by Jeremy Beck & The Heavy Duty Horns press release.
The EP includes the title track, “Take me by the hand” and then the love song “Oh Baby!.” The EP wraps up with the upbeat, high tempo, song “Somebody Call Frank,” and ends with “Sing Hallelujah,”about a perfectly imperfect love. This Ep marks the first compilation of songs credited to a band composed of sidemen who have cut their teeth playing with big names like Bonnie Raitt, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Missy Elliot.
Take Me By The Hand is out and available everywhere now. For more information on Jeremy Beck & The Heavy Duty Horns visit their website or their official Facebook page.
Swing Your Concerns features two new tracks along with three of her singles “Swim,” “WHATISTODAY?,” and “Deserve This.” “I believe that as humans we see the option of distracting ourselves from our current reality as a better route than to truly work on bettering who we are. Why feel and work through what’s wrong when you can be numb instead. With the combination of expectations and eyeballs tracking your every move, that’s what ‘Hilary Duff’ is about,” Maggie comments on “Hillary Duff.” This song, along with “Deserve This” and “Swim,” seem to come at a perfect time in this global pandemic when emotions are high.
Maggie grew up surrounded by music as her father was in a Celtic rock band. She did not perform solo in front of an audience until she was 18, but has quickly gained popularity after being discovered by Bruce Gates at Pearl Street Warehouse in Washington, D.C. Since then, she has gained over 60K monthly listeners on Spotify, and her song “WHATISTODAY?” has been featured on several of the app’s playlists, such as Indie Pop and Fresh Finds. She has gained attention from Billboard, Variance, and American Songwriter.
This new single and EP follow an endorsement deal with Yamaha Music along with the emerging artist program WAY Up. Maggie spoke at a panel at the Yamaha Ginza Hall in Tokyo along with several other acclaimed up and coming artists. They spoke about their experiences creating music and conveying their inner emotions through it.
Photo by Jimmy Fisco
Maggie Miles, much like other alt pop artists, shows authenticity in her music by showcasing her wit and personality. At only 21 years old, Maggie likes to use comic relief as a means to poke fun at the hilarity that is the coming-of-age time in life. She draws inspiration from 90s grunge artists but still produces a unique sound that’s personal to her. Maggie says: “I make music for the utter reason alone that I need to create something for myself that makes sense, when nothing else around me does.” She has notable vocal talent, but can also play the piano, drums, guitar, ukulele, mandolin, banjo, bass, and keytar.
Maggie’s first full-length album will be out later this Summer.
