NYC based alt-pop artist Rachael Sage will perform alongside her band, The Sequins at the Towne Crier in Beacon, NY on Aug 11.
Anyone with a dinner reservation can hear Sage perform songs off her latest record Another Side. Aside from being a singer-songwriter she is also a visual artist. Her artwork will appear at the Bank Square as part of Beacon Open Studios from July 19 to 21.
Sage is a woman of many hats. Before her musical career she was a dancer with New York City Ballet. Two decades ago, she started her own independent record label MPress records and has toured with Grammy award winning artists Judy Collins and Shawn Colvin. Sage is also a philanthropist and has helped raise money for WHY Hunger, American Refugee Committee, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital and National Network For Youth.
Another Side is the companion album to The Other Side. All the tracks are the acoustic counterparts. The album has a folk-pop sound and the instrumentation breaks down the individual elements to the songs. Her cover of Yazoo’s “Only You” reached #32 on the Mediabase Top 40 radio chart.
Sage and the Sequins will perform on the Salon Stage at the Town Crier. The venue and cafe hosts a number of local Hudson Valley artists and bands like Ryan Lee Crosby on Aug 16 and Boom Kat on Aug 9. To find more information on the show you can visit the Town Crier website here.
Rock singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins announced an East Coast Tour starting in September with a show at Daryl’s House in Pawling, NY. Justin & the Cosmics will serve as support for the entire run.
A prominent figure in rock music for over two decades, Nicole Atkins has been actively touring and producing music since 2002. Mostly inspired by 1960s and 70s psychedelic rock artists like The Doors and The Sundays, she started writing what she termed “a mix of Americana, 60s, and indie rock.” In 2003, Atkins released her first EP, Bleeding Diamonds.
Along with her tour, Atkins is currently working on her sixth studio album. “Now, with a bunch of new songs and a great band and some time before the studio, I can’t wait to figure out what these new songs want to be at the shows!” Atkins says about her upcoming album. “I’ve always wanted to do it that way like I did it before my first record, but now it actually feels like time is on my side and I have some to make it happen.” Her previous album, Italian Ice (2020), was her best-reviewed album to date, drawing rave reviews internationally.
For the last two decades of her career, Nicole Atkins has performed in several festivals and concerts. Halfway into 2024, Atkins has already had an incredible year, opening for both Stevie Nicks and also her friends, The Mavericks, whose new album she is featured on. Now, after remarkable stretches with rock icons and showstoppers, she reemerges with her own headlining tour.
Starting on September 5, Atkins heads to Pawling, NY, for a night in Daryl’s House. Catch her at Woodstock and Ridgewood, Queens, on September 7 and 21, respectively. Atkins’ new album, which is yet to be named, is set to release in 2025.
The full tour dates are listed below. Tickets are available now on Nicole Atkins’ website, linked here.
SEPTEMBER
5 – Pawling, NY – Daryl’s House
6 – Montclair, NJ – Outpost In The Burbs
7 – Woodstock, NY – Levon Helm Studios
9 – Boston, MA – City Winery – Boston
11 – Philadelphia, PA – 118 North
12 – Asbury Park, NJ – Wonder Bar
15 – Manchester Center, VT – Billsville House Concerts
Spillway, a brother duo from Woodstock, made their musical debut on July 9, with their first release, “Are You Having Fun Yet?”
Twin brothers, Aaron and Wyatt Mones have been making music for years as singer-songwriters and multi-instrumentalists. However, this time around, they’re making music under their new project, Spillway. Named after the street they grew up on in Woodstock, the project emphasizes the sentiment of their musical upbringing and collaborations as brothers, even when they live on opposite coasts.
Their new single “Are You Having Fun Yet?”, gives listeners a folky tune mixed with a more universal pop sound and hints of country western. Inspired by the music of artists like Blake Mills, Frank Ocean, and Sufjan Stevens, the song represents the artistic direction of each brother respectively, coming from different perspectives and environments. The song is successful in evoking nostalgia and reflection and truly has appealing features for vast tastes in music.
The new song is Spillway’s first release on Indiana-based independent label, Wally Opus Records. The brothers self-produced the record themselves, having to either work remotely from each other or commute across the country to do so. So far, the song is gaining traction quickly on streaming services for having been out just less than a week. If “Are You Having Fun Yet?” is any indication of what Spillway will produce in the future, fans of folk and indie are going to want to keep them on their radar.
Listen to “Are You Having Fun Yet?” on your preferred streaming platform here.
The Brewster Summer Music Series has returned to Brewster, New York, for its fourth annual year, with an exciting lineup of musical artists performing through the end of July. All shows will take place at the Gazebo at Southeast Veterans Park on Wednesdays between 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Located in Putnam County, Brewster is an intimate village about an hour north of New York City. For a town with a population of only about 2,500, the Brewster Summer Music Series is a significant yearly musical gathering for the community.
Coming into its fourth year, the annual series is returning to its regular spot at the Gazebo at Southeast Veterans Park for shows every Wednesday until July 31.
The event is fully organized by the Town of Southeast Cultural Arts Coalition (CAC), a non-profit group that aims to create and preserve the cultural arts of the Town of Southeast and nearby communities.
All artists still performing for the rest of the month are M80s New York, Genevieve Faivre Jazz and Jay Prince and Friends.
Please note that everyone attending the concert is required to carry out everything they brought in, including their own trash. Lawn chairs and blankets are encouraged.
Visit here for more information about the series. See below for the full lineup with descriptions of the artists. In the event of weather concerns, please check here.
Full Event Lineup
7/17 – M80s New York
Bringing New York’s premier rock experience with a big sound that harkens back to your favorite rock and roll songs from the ‘80s, is M80s New York. Recently seen at Putnam Golf Summer Series to a sell-out crowd, they are sure to get you on your feet and dancing.
7/24 – Genevieve Faivre Jazz
Genevieve Faivre, a homegrown singer-songwriter and Brewster High School alum will bring her signature voice and style to Brewster. She has played all throughout the area and NYC, including 54 Below in Manhattan, The Red Lion in NYC Village and The Red Pavilion (Taboo Jazz) in Brooklyn, as well as branching out for recordings for AMC, EI Ride Entertainment and Astarte. Attendees will be treated to jazz standards, bosa nova as well as specialty songs, with a collection of the finest jazz musicians from the NYC area who appear regularly at clubs and Broadway shows. Special guest Tony DePaolo will also be leading off the night at 6:30 with his talents on the guitar.
7/31 – Jay Prince and Friends
For the final show in the series, Jay Prince and Friends, an outstanding and professional entertainment group that boasts, “Rock, Funk, Groove, Repeat,” will gather the best local professional musicians to the gazebo once again. Remember to bring your lawn chairs and picnics!
The legendary British blues band Ten Years After will release their Woodstock performance on streaming and physical media. This release is the first time their Woodstock set has been released as a standalone recording. The album will release on Friday, August 16.
Singer/guitarist Alvin Lee and bassist Leo Lyons rose to local fame in Nottingham, England as the Jaybirds in the early 1960s. Following the addition of drummer Ric Lee and keyboardist Chick Churchill in 1966, the band rebranded themselves as Ten Years After. Throughout the 1960s, the band released four studio albums, including the live LP Undead. This album contained the first rendition of their anthemic hit “I’m Going Home.”
As the band made a name for themselves, they quickly began playing shows across the United States. In July 1969, they broke barriers being one of the first rock groups to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival. Following a summer of cross country touring, the band arrived in Bethel, NY for the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
Alvin Lee on stage at Woodstock
Ten Years After were slated to perform on Sunday, August 17th: the festival’s third day. Following acts like Joan Baez, Santana, and Long Island’s Mountain, they certainly had a high bar to meet. By the time their 8:15 set began, conditions were gloomy. The sun had begun to set, and rain poured down covering the stage and turning the fields into mud pits. These conditions in tandem with a jet-lagged band seemed to spell disaster for their performance.
However, their set was anything but a disaster. Looking out to the audience, Alvin Lee calmly said “This is a thing called ‘I’m Going Home’… by helicopter!” In no time, Lee’s guitar erupted into a fiery breakneck solo, before the rest of the band joined. The 12 minute long jam seamlessly switched between funky numbers and psychedelic guitar passages enthralling the audience of 500,000. Throughout the live recording, the audience can be heard whistling, hooting, and clapping along illustrating just how captivating their performance was.
Their Woodstock performance and the ensuing 1970 Woodstock film propelled Ten Years After to newfound levels of fame. The concert footage made the then up-and-comers seem like rock gods. Throughout the performance Alvin Lee’s long hair waved in the wind, as Lyon’s headbanged in the background.
Following the release of the Woodstock film, the band’s shows began to grow larger and larger. Soon audiences of all ages were attending their shows, propelling their releases even further up the charts. 1970 also saw the band’s highest chart success with the release of “Love Like a Man,” which reached no. 10 on the UK Singles Chart. This success however worked to destroy the band. Growing arguments and disillusionment with touring slowly ate away at the group. Lee remembered ““You’d walk on stage and people would be shouting for I’m Going Home, which was the last song. I often wonder what the rest of our career would have been like if the Woodstock movie had used another song. As it was, everything became focused on the last song, the high-energy number.”
Following the release of their 1974 record Positive Vibrations, the band broke up. Throughout the 1980s, the band occasionally reunited to play shows like the 1983 Reading Festival. In 1988, the band permanently reunited, releasing four albums and touring – albeit with varying lineups.
Now for the first time in history, the original recording of Ten Years After’s Woodstock set will release to the public. This release features a new remaster of the original 2” multitrack tapes. In addition to streaming platforms, the album will also release on physical media. The album releases as a 2LP, 180gm black vinyl, and single-disc CD. There will also be an independent record store exclusive release on pink tie-dye vinyl. All releases come with liner notes from legendary music journalist Chris Welch.
For more information on the August 16th release of Woodstock 1969, visit the link here.
After an incredibly successful debut, making their way back to the Avalon Lounge in Catskill, NY, is the highly anticipated DromFest.
Hosted by Kingston-based micro-indie record label Dromedary Records, DromFest celebrates Dromedary artists, DJs, and some of indie rock’s biggest names, including The Figgs, King Missle, and Aeon Station. From August 30 to September 1, join Dromedary Records in Catskill for this year’s rendition of DromFest.
Initially conceived in 2023 as a party to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Dromedary Records, DromFest reached smashing success that inspired the label to make it an annual event. “The weekend was so much fun for the bands and attendees alike, that there was demand to do another,” explained Dromedary founder Al Crisafulli. “So we’re all going to get together in the Catskills and have a big, weekend-long party, hopefully feel like kids again, and celebrate this amazing community of artists we’re so proud to be a part of.”
However, this year, DromFest plans on making history. This festival sees the return of Cell, a New York-based indie rock band that played a major role in the emergence of alternative and indie rock onto the music scene of 1990. The band unfortunately disbanded in 1995 and has not played a show since, until now, that is. For the first time in almost three decades, Cell will not only be performing, but co-headlining the closing show with Aeon Station on Sunday, September 1.
Performing alongside Cell are several Dromedary artists, including Cathedral Ceilings, Karyn Kuhl, Dew Claw, Overheard, Sleepyhead, and Matt Hunter & the Dusty Fates. The entire festival will be emceed by comedian and musician Doug Stoley, known for his work on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Manhattan. “It’s a great lineup,” says Crisafulli, “an excellent blend of indie rock royalty, great bands that haven’t played together in years, and newer bands that wear their 90s indie rock influences on their sleeve.”
Admission for Friday night’s events will be $25, and Saturday/Sunday passes will be $80, with VIP passes that include a new Sleepyhead 7″, bonus sampler CD, and a donation to a local food bank priced at $100. Passes go on sale at 12 pm Friday, June 14 at noon and are available HERE.
DromFest 2024 Lineup
August 30 – 7pm-midnight The Figgs, Chris Brokaw Rock Band, The Royal Arctic Institute
August 31 – 12pm-midnight King Missile (Dog Fly Religion), Scrawl, Antietam, Thalia Zedek Band, Poem Rocket, Moviola, Karyn Kuhl & the Gang, Dew-Claw (Stephen Hunking (Hypnolovewheel) w/Chris Xefos, Dave Rick & Dave Ramirez (King Missile, Bongwater, et al), DJ sets
Readings by Bela Koe-Krompecher, John S. Hall, Karen Schoemer
Sept 1 – 12pm-midnight Aeon Station (3/4 of The Wrens w/Tom Beaujour and Lysa Withay), Cell, Cathedral Ceilings, Sleepyhead, Tuscadero, Human Hearts (Franklin Bruno & friends), Matt Hunter & the Dusty Fates, DJ sets
Sun Ra Arkestra band leader and saxophonist Marshall Allen has lived on Earth for a century, but on Saturday night at Opus 40, he pointed to the sky and asked the sold-out crowd “why can’t we go somewhere there?” suggesting he’s still not done with his exploratory, interplanetary jazz mission.
On the Arkestra’s second of two nights headlining Opus 40, part of an eclectic series from Hudson Valley promoters Chosen Family Presents, the 17 piece big band played an energetic 100 minute set, and the 100-year-old Allen never let up for a minute. His ostinato, high-register alto sax and NASA-approved EVI synth sax playing excited the crowd who were in reverent awe of the living legend.
And while recent pieces about Allen’s 100th birthday have populated the pages of The New Yorker and The New York Times, and have certainly enhanced his celebrity, Marshall Allen is pretty much the same musician he’s always been – an acolyte and torch bearer for the life’s work of his old boss Sun Ra. Perhaps that’s why Allen closed the night with this message: “Going to outer space as fast as I can. Ain’t got time to shake your hand.”
It’s hard to shake hands when you’re busy wailing on the sax and tapping your feet. And, let’s face it, the Arkestra isn’t really about one player: it’s an ensemble of the first order, and perhaps the most colorful one going. Adorned in the brightest of future-Egyptians-from-space garb, each member of the Arkestra added his or her individual hue to a melting pot of American, world, and extraterrestrial music. Only the Arkestra can vacillate genres so easily, from free jazz to New Orleans second line to Afro-Futurism to deep blues, to the sound of pure, carefree joy encapsulated in the divine vocals of Tara Middleton.
While it was a hot and muggy day, the evening shade was pleasant and the setlist included a number of shout outs to the cooperation of Mother Nature. While night one was punctuated by some rain, Saturday’s weather got cooler as the band got hotter. Lyrical references to sunsets, sunshine, and the open sky only seemed to help things. And while the band is largely composed of older men, the audience was diverse in age. Children danced alongside parents and hipsters sat on blankets next to aging Deadheads – it was a reminder that Sun Ra music is wonderfully uniting. You can parse it for its academic significance to avant-garde music and the Black experience, or you can let your mind go entirely and just shake your ass to the polyrhythms as the band encouraged in “Carefree”.
Aside from Middleton’s exceptional performance, it’s important to note another member of the Arkestra who stole my attention for long periods of the set. Knoel Scott’s fiery performance on alto sax, baritone sax, conga drum, and vocals stood out. For a number of years now, Scott (who actually played with Sun Ra back in the 80s) has been the de-facto music director and it was fun to watch him signal for the trombones to punctuate a repeating-phrase, or when he called the band back to the head. The guy was intense in the best way possible, with his eyes often rolling back in his head and he attacked his conga drum. At one point, he was noticeably perturbed that the band (who might have been having a little issue with their monitors early in the set) didn’t end a tune together. But, this was just the galactic forces having some fun because one of the lyrical themes of the night was “What do you do when you know that you’re wrong? You’ve got to face the music. You’ve got to listen to the cosmic song” and “You made a mistake. Make another mistake and do something right”.
There were far more “right moments” than mistakes during Saturday’s set. Pretty much every time the group went into “big band mode” for the head of a tune, it was striking just how loud and dynamic the horns were. Trumpeter Cecil Brooks took a number of fine solos and bassist Tyler Mitchell had several shining moments where his soulful walking bass lines ignited the rest of the group. Younger band members Anthony Nelson (baritone sax) and Robert Stringer (trombone) also impressed. Nelson enhanced the low end all night, doubling basslines. Stringer’s solo with a mute late in the set was a particular crowd pleaser. Farid Mitchell also did more than a yeoman’s job as the Sun Ra stand-in on keyboards, especially when he played some rad organ sounds in the set-closer while wearing an incredible mask (my vote for the best Arkestra stage costume).
As for the compositions, the Sun Ra-written hard bop composition “Dancing Shadows” was an exceptional blend of Arkestra poly-rhythm percussion, a tightly played head, and trumpet and alto solos that dipped their toes into the avant-garde stratosphere. The current incarnation of the Arkestra plays jazz a lot more “in” than “out” with Allen adding the “free” elements as more of a garnish than a main dish. Certainly adventurous Ra adherents know that exploring Arkestra albums is sonic adventuring of th first order. Some albums are pretty straight and others send your ears to Jupiter. Those seeking to hear a well-recorded version of “Dancing Shadows” might take a look at the Sun Ra release on ESP-Disk “Nothing Is…”. The album (a personal favorite) features an excellent live performance from a 1966 tour of New York State colleges.
“Boma”, a Marshall Allen composition inspired by a river in Congo, was also a noteworthy moment for a couple of reasons. The piece only exists in the repertoire of the Arkestra in the “under the direction of Marshall Allen” era and it’s a reminder that this particular group of musicians have released a few stellar records in their own right that not only carry on a tradition but have mined new asteroid belts and continue to write. “Boma” is African-influenced and it sounds timeless like much of this music. It could be ancient or from the year 2250, it’s hard to say. What it shares with the Sun Ra music of the past is percussion that extends beyond the jazz cannon and into the African continent in particular (it’s kind of like the music the Arkestra was playing in the early 80s with Salah Ragab and the Cairo Jazz Band and not all that far removed from the reverie of artists like Fela Kuti who just relentlessly groove).
During the show, I saw a fair amount of people rocking t-shirts with stealies, skulls, and roses on them and I was struck by just how much the live music of The Grateful Dead shares with the Arkestra. Even though the bands operate in different genres, their most analogous characteristics are their emphasis on collective improvisation, which makes it so fun to watch various members of the group to see just exactly how they are coloring the mix. Both groups also have an incredible ability to hold an audience in the palm of their hand. At times the music may fall short of expectations, but when it’s firing, like it was during “Carefree” towards the end of Sun Ra Arkestra’s set, the divide between performers and audience crumble and EVERYONE knows that the music is right. You can see it on the faces of the musicians and you can turn around and see that just about everyone is out of their lawn chairs and dancing. It’s a special kind of magic, especially when you’re on top of a mountain in a gorgeous sculpture park like Opus 40.
And like bearded Bobby Weir, Marshall Allen is a mainline back to the origin of Sun Ra, an American original just like Jerry. Just as Jerry took his roots in bluegrass and folk music and mined new territory in psychedelic rock music, Sun Ra left a world of big band jazz standards and oddball lounge music in search of something bigger, more spiritual, and decidedly weirder (and consequently more original).
Let’s be glad that Marshall Allen continues to play and preserve this music so that new ears can fall down the wormhole of endless recordings that the Arkestra left behind. And what’s more, let’s celebrate that this music can still be shared in person, where the experience is transcendent, immediate, and always unexpected.
Marshall Allen is here on Earth, but only to remind us that space is the place. His final frontier feels distant yet, and I’m ecstatic that because of his recent birthday, his star is burning brighter than ever.
Setlist: Face the Music, Sunology, Dancing Shadows, Dorothy’s Dance, Love in Outer Space, Boma, Make Another Mistake, Space is the Place/If We Came From Nowhere Here, Blues Jam, Care Free, Watch the Sunshine
Poughkeepsie-based jazz artist Cory Wong released his newest single, “Quotidian Fields,” on June 28. The second single off of his forthcoming album, Starship Syncopation, “Quotidian Fields” saw Wong collaborate with Metropole Orkest and piano icon Bruce Hornsby. Moreover, this newest single brings a bright, fresh sound to the world of jazz, and creates excitement for Wong’s newest album.
Known for his solo work with artists including the Dave Matthews Band, Vulfpeck, and many more, Cory Wong has been refreshing jazz since the late 2000s. In like manner, his newest single with Bruce Hornsby and Metropole Orkest, a jazz orchestra based in the Netherlands, is just the latest addition to his laundry list of fantastic collaborations.
After all, Cory Wong’s “Quotidian Fields” gives us a glimpse into his mind. In the early stages of the single, Wong and Hornsby used samples and previously discarded tunes to brainstorm their ideas. When Hornsby sent Wong the piano riff heard at the beginning of the single, he knew that it was the perfect symbol of what he envisioned in his mind: a grandfather clock in the middle of the desert with mountains in the background. Hornsby’s piano tunes represent the clock, as something classic, elegant, and easily recognizable. The additional guitars and bass represent the mountain ranges in the background: something strong, powerful, and grounding that doesn’t take away from the grandfather clock standing before it. As a result the orchestra parts, mainly brass and drums, are meant to represent the desert, where the whole landscape is.
Additionally, the arrangement and orchestration are inspired by a lot of classic American classical music. Inspiration from American classical composers like Aaron Copeland, George Gershwin, and Leonard Bernstein is obvious, as the single moves forward to a rising crescendo, then transitions into a full orchestra that still manages to uphold the elegance of Hornsby’s original piano riff.
Cory Wong officially begins his tour in October. In addition to his Fall Tour, Wong will be performing two shows at the 2024 Caroga Lake Music Festival from July 30-31. He will also be part of the Caroga Arts Collective on Wednesday, July 31, where a raffle for a limited edition Fender guitar will be held. Moreover only 100 raffle tickets will be sold at $100 each and can be purchased HERE.
Below are Cory Wong’s official Fall Tour dates. For more information and tickets, visit his official website.
On the weekend of Oct. 4-6, Hudson Hall at the Hudson Opera House will hold the 2024 Hudson Jazz Festival for fans of all ages. Ekep Nkwelle, Riley Mulherkar, and the Ethan Iverson Trio will each headline a night of the festival respectively. With the event being held in October for the first time, the festival will succeed a Community Day on Sept. 28.
Top (left to right): Ekep Nkwelle, Ethan Iverson Bottom (left to right): Riley Mulherkar, Melanie Charles
Hudson Jazz Lineup
A selection of renowned jazz musicians with diverse backgrounds will take the stage in the historic town of Hudson for crowds of jazz fans every night at 7 PM. Starting on Oct. 4, the first mainstage performance will be Ekep Nkwelle, with her renditions of Ella Fitzgerald tunes. The Cameroonian-American vocalist has significantly exhibited her talents at Julliard, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and Radio City Music Hall. Her performance at the Hudson Jazz Festival will be the perfect way to kick off the weekend of Jazz.
The next day, on Oct. 5, the Riley Mulherkar Quartet will headline the mainstage with a versatile performance. The set will feature Riley Mulherkar on trumpet and Chris Pattishall on piano, with bass and drums to be announced later. The quartet’s music presents classic jazz while bordering on more contemporary sounds. Especially with songs labeled “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” by NPR Music, the performance will definitely be a special one.
To close out the Hudson Jazz Festival on Sunday, Oct. 6 the Ethan Iverson Trio will undoubtedly close out the festival with an enamoring performance. Made up of Ethan Iverson on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass, and Gerald Cleaver on drums, the group will give a multi-faceted performance. With a dynamic layering of jazz and classical music, the trio’s performance will appeal to attendees regardless of taste.
We are thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase not just some of the most exciting jazz artists of today, but the unique beauty of our region during the spectacular fall season and the unique community that embraces it.
Tambra Dillon, Hudson Hall executive director
More From Hudson
For fans who want to experience more of what Hudson Hall has to offer, the Hudson Jazz Festival Community Day will take place ahead of the festival. On Saturday, Sept. 28 from 2-6 PM, jazz fans can experience different activities and musical performances. At 2 PM at City Hall Place, there will be a drum circle with Kuumba Dance & Drum as well as a Barbeque for attendees.
The main event will take place at 3 PM with the Make Jazz Trill Again Mega Jam. Additionally, the improvised jam will feature Melanie Charles on vocals and flute, with Yunie Mojica on vocals and sax, Zacchae’us Paul on keys and key bass, Jerome Jennings on drums, Malik Kiyoshi McLaurine on upright, and E Bass and DJ OOOChild on the turntables. This performance will exemplify the pride of jazz musicians and the love the artists and fans have for the genre. This particularly energetic show with talented musicians is an exciting treat ahead of the festival.
Melanie Charles is an artist that “takes us on a journey that embodies the soul of jazz” (NPR) and a central figure in a vibrant musical community made up of loving, talented, and innovative musicians, poets, DJs, and artists. The festival weekend that follows features three charismatic headliners with wide-ranging musical influences whose virtuosity has earned them acclaim from audiences across the globe.
Cat Henry, festival curator
The last event starts at 4:30 PM with an exhibition opening reception with the artist who is currently unannounced.
For tickets, reservation information, and upcoming announcements visit hudsonhall.org.
Driven by intense local and artist community support, the beloved Oldtone Music Festival has returned from the grave and revealed its full lineup. A one-of-a-kind 3-day hoot taking place from September 5-8 in Hillsdale, NY, the festival is making a miraculous comeback to Cool Whisper Farm after an early demise that turned out to be a one-year hiatus.
After beginning in Wassaic, NY, Oldtone is now held in Hillsdale.
What is Oldtone Music Festival?
The Oldtone Roots Music Festival was founded in 2015 with a one-day show in Wassaic, NY. In 2016, the full three-stage/camping festival was launched at the Schober family’s Cool Whisper Farm in North Hillsdale, NY. The festival ran the second weekend of September until the lockdowns of 2020 forced the producers to cancel. In 2021 and 2022, attempts were made to reboot the festival in limited scope; however, by early 2023, the choice to end the festival was made.
Nonetheless, Oldtone’s motto reads, “Participation is Preservation.” Truly the proud eastern Columbia town aims to preserve roots music and folkways through artist and audience participation and by passing traditions down by hand. As a result the Oldtone Festival has always brought the best of old-time, bluegrass, hot jazz, Cajun dance music, Western swing and other traditional styles to North Hillsdale and was sorely missed in the community. The niche festival remains true to the small town, standing out amongst a sea of corporatized summer festivals, Oldtone is, by design, an intimate, rural, artist-driven festival without the trappings of larger mega festivals. Thus, it was only a matter of time before the vision was brought back to life.
Don’t Call It a Comeback
Thus fittingly, by the fall of 2023 the possibility of reviving the festival as a non-profit event became a reality. Armed with a new management team and the support and enthusiasm of the Schober family, Oldtone Arts, Inc. was formed. Consequently by October of 2023, the new team received not-for-profit status via the New York Foundation for the Arts and the hard work to revamp the festival and make it everything it can be again. Henceforth Oldtone is now co-produced by Jim Wright and Trevor Roush. As a result any of the same people are still working on the show, with some fresh talent. Meanwhile, it is their hope that the festival will have a better chance to be sustainable and continue to promote the same great roots music.
Oldtone Music Festival Returns after a long hiatus.
Oldtone 2024
Moreover, artist interaction remains a high priority, with hands-on workshops, a dance tent, band and instrument contests, and even a side stage in order to pull camper-pickers up for a few numbers, which creates a festival experience unlike any other. This year, Oldtone is adding Latin-American roots music in a big way out of the gate, with Grammy-winners Los Texmaniacs.
Joining previously announced artists like the Grammy Award-winning conjunto band Los Texmaniacs, The Deslondes, JP Harris, and more are Sweet Megg, Down Hill Strugglers, Kiki Cavazos, Ranse Chase, Krissie & the Kranks, The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee, Beg, Steal or Borrow, and Slinky Armadillo.
The Oldtone Festival is back, and it’s coming together as a bigger and better event. We can’t wait to see you all dancing to some of the best roots music being made these days in our big dance tent. And bring your instruments. With some of the best field jams in the Northeast, this pickers’ festival packs the campground with music late into the night.
– Jim Wright, Oldtone founder
Camping Gates will open at noon on Thursday, September 5, for full festival ticket holders who booked to tent camp and for those with RVs and trailers that are longer than 18 feet. Please check the Oldtone website for all event updates.
We are beyond excited to bring back the Oldtone Festival full-on with both the main stage and our beloved dance tent. This year’s line-up is an amazing mix of legends and rising stars across so many genres of roots music. One thing we truly wanted to do for the upcoming festival attendees is keep the ticket price low… as it was in 2019. I think we did that and a whole lot more… It’s going to be the best one ever.
– Trevor Roush, producer
Tickets for the festival are currently on sale here.
