Opening party for Sean W Spellman’s ‘Carvings, Etc’ exhibition at Folklore Studio in Laguna Beach, CA.
2pm, March 2
Free and open to the public.
Featuring performances by:
Matt Costa
Adam Arcuragi
Adam Ditt
DJ Brindles
Food by Ahbah
Open bar by Caldidad and Spigot
Coffee by Bear Coast
Lounge by Business and Pleasure Co
Buy tickets HERE.
Click HERE to sign the mailing list for future show announcements!
Festival Schedule below:
Haley Heynderickx and Max Garcia Conover with Special Guest LéPonds
Dec 2, 2023 at Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI
Get Tickets HERE.
Valerie June, Rachel Davis, Thao & Yasmin Williams
Nov 18th, 2023 at United Theatre, Westerly, RI
Get Tickets HERE
Kabaka Pyramid
with opener TBA
June 17th, 2023, United Theatre, Westerly.
ALL AGES
Ticket Link:
Sunday June 4th, 2023 in Wilcox Park.
FREE SHOW
The Walkmen are reuniting and have included this special show in Westerly in their limited run of tour dates.
April 22th, 2023 at The United Theatre in Westerly, RI.
ALL AGES
Ticket Link:
About The Walkmen:
“The detachment you can feel throughout our younger records is gone. We felt like it was time to make a bigger, more generous statement.”
When describing the new album, Heaven, the Walkmen lead singer Hamilton Leithauser portrays a band hitting maturity, comfortable in its mastery, after a decade together. Adds guitarist Paul Maroon, “when you’re starting out, you’re sitting there trying to come up with a big idea, but after a while, you learn about the process of writing. You learn about your friends in the band and how they work best.”
It’s been ten years since the Walkmen made their debut album, Everybody Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone. Ten years since they mixed the lovingly recorded analogue tapes down to the cheapest CD burner they could find. Ten years since lead singer Hamilton Leithauser snapped guitarist Paul Maroon’s arm in a celebratory wrestling match. Ten years since critics attached them to a New York scene they never wanted any part of.
But when Leithauser sings “We Can’t Be Beat,” on the opening track of their new album, he means it, like Cool Hand Luke getting up off the floor for one more round. “The world is ours,” he declares. This time, he may be right.
This spring, the band played a series of 10th anniversary shows that demonstrated how far they have outstripped their peers: two sets over two hours, no filler, rapturously received. In contrast, fellow graduates from New York’s celebrated rock revival class of ’02 have burned out or faded from view.
The Walkmen are the great New York band of their generation, and in Heaven, they have delivered their third killer album in a row. Although Leithauser argues that “our biggest accomplishment is just being here,” they are making the best music of their career and filling their largest venues yet. Their spot at the top of the bill at May’s Crossing Brooklyn Ferry festival, curated by The National, demonstrates the respect in which they are held by the current wave of bands making music in the city.
All five members of the band have kids now and if the impact of parenthood is hard to pin down in a single lyric, there is definitely a new openness and emotional honesty to the songs. Most importantly, the old gang mentality has deepened, becoming something worthwhile and lasting. “I’m very proud of what we’ve done. We’ve stayed friends and those friendships have grown,” says Bauer. “We have survival experience and real love that children generate in your life.” Heaven is a definitive statement of purpose and commitment, from a band at the peak of its powers that is finally winning the recognition it deserves.
- Andrew Purcell
March 17th, 2023
at Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2023/3/17/the-felice-brothers
A special solo performance with Hiss Golden Messenger.
with guests TBA.
April 7th, 2023 at The Knickerbocker Music Center in Westerly, RI.
ALL AGES
Ticket Link:
https://knickmusic.com/events/2023/4/7/hiss-golden-messenger
From Newport Folk Festival to Pitchfork Music Festival, and dozens of other great music festivals in-between, Hiss Golden Messenger has brought his songs of hope and reality to the people in the form of true American songcraft. On September 4th, Westerly Sound presents a very special performance with M C Taylor and his band. Please buy your tickets in advance.
About Hiss Golden Messenger:
Hallelujah Anyhow is the latest studio album from Hiss Golden Messenger, out September 22 worldwide on Merge Records. Its ten new songs, penned by HGM principal M.C. Taylor, were recorded with Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Chris Boerner, Josh Kaufman, Darren Jessee, Michael Lewis, and Scott Hirsch. Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, Tift Merritt, Skylar Gudasz, Tamisha Waden, Mac McCaughan, and John Paul White provided vocal harmonies.
“I see the dark clouds. I was designed to see them. They’re the same clouds of fear and destruction that have darkened the world since Revelations, just different actors. But this music is for hope. That’s the only thing I want to say about it. Love is the only way out. I’ve never been afraid of the darkness; it’s just a different kind of light. And if some days that belief comes harder than others, hallelujah anyhow.” —M.C. Taylor
Old Time Music Gathering
Every Sunday @ High Hope Tavern in Westerly, RI.
FREE
Free shows in Wilcox Park, Westerly, RI on the first Sunday of every month beginning on June 4th, 2022. Noon-4pm.
Billy Bragg
October 7th, 2022 at The United Theatre, Westerly, RI.
with opener Alice Phoebe Lou.
Ticket Link: https://prod5.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=199684~ae6f70ea-4db0-4925-9e15-dd5a2c53fa7f&
Alice Phoebe Lou<br>October 7th, 2022
with Billy Bragg
October 7th, 2022 at The United Theatre, Westerly, RI.
Ticket Link:
at Knickerbocker Music Center
Ticket Link:https://knickmusic.com/events/2022/9/29/josiah-johnson
September 11th, 2022 at The Knickerbocker
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2022/9/11/vetiver
Caleb Klauder and Reed Willms Country Band
August 17th, 2022 at The Knickerbocker Music Center in Westerly, RI.
Ticket Link:
https://knickmusic.com/events/2022/8/17/caleb-klauder-reeb-willms
Reeb Willms and Caleb Klauder, of the internationally acclaimed Foghorn Stringband, make a dynamic duo that has been playing and singing together since 2008, performing professionally across Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and North America.
Festivals that have hosted these musicians include the Newport Folk Festival, the Tonder Music Festival in Denmark, the Bluegrass Jamboree in Germany, Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and the Portland Old Time Gathering, they also teach at traditional music camps across North America.
With wonderful harmonies, strong mandolin, and solid guitar playing, Caleb and Reeb deliver a pure and classic sound that makes you want to cry out in joy and tears, both at the same time. One listener says, “You two are like the sun, radiating warmth and joy straight into my body!” “I dislike most of what I hear in modern music but I love what these two create when they get together.” -Marc Savoy
Caleb grew up on Orcas Island, Washington and began playing and singing at the early age of twelve. He moved to Oregon in 2002 and has contributed to a number of influential and successful groups, namely: The Foghorn Stringband, Pig Iron, Calobo, and his own honky tonk band, the Caleb Klauder Country Band. His unique, powerful voice has captured many a heart. His recent collaboration with Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy and the Cajun Country Revival, is a combination of Caleb’s honky-tonk country band and legendary Cajun musicians Jesse Lége and Joel Savoy.
Reeb was raised in Waterville, Washington by a family of wheat farmers. She grew up listening to her father and uncles, the Willms Brothers, singing country and traditional songs. Reeb began singing and player guitar in her early twenties and quickly displayed a strong vocal style that is clearly her own. She is a respected and well-loved singer and joined the Foghorn Stringband in 2010. Her love for old time fiddle tunes and old country songs roots her in a classic American musical style.
Tre Burt
with Ward Hayden and Avi Jacob.
August 14th, 2022 at Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
Ticket Link:
A night with Stephane Wrembel.
August 26th, 2022
Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
"Perhaps the most creative improviser in Gypsy jazz today, Mr. Wrembel plays the guitar with a rich and colorful lyricism." - The New York Times
https://knickmusic.com/events/2022/8/26/stephane-wrembel-band
Ward Hayden
with Tre Burt and Avi Jacob.
August 14th, 2022 at Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
Ticket Link:
August 14th, 2022 at Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
with Tre Burt and Ward Hayden.
Ticket Link:
April 2nd, 2022 at The United Theatre, Westerly, RI.
with opener Cassandra Jenkins.
Andy Shauf is “a gifted singer-songwriter. More than that, a gifted storyteller.” - (NPR Music)
Ticket Link: https://prod5.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=184986~ae6f70ea-4db0-4925-9e15-dd5a2c53fa7f&
Julian Lage
June 4th, 2022, United Theatre, Westerly.
ALL AGES
Ticket Link:
April 2nd, 2022 at The United Theatre, Westerly, RI
Ticket Link:
Andrew Marlin (from Watchhouse/Mandolin Orange)
with opener TBA
and Craig Edwards & The Root Farmers in the Tap Room before and after the show.
December 17th, 2021, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
ALL AGES
Ticket Link:
About Andrew Marlin:
Outside of summer festival appearances at notable events Newport Folk and Telluride Bluegrass, this tour marks the first time Andrew Marlin’s solo material will be performed live in venues.
Marlin has produced six albums of original works of American roots music with Watchhouse and regularly contributes instrumental performances to other artists and albums. Recent work includes playing mandolin on recordings for Tyler Childers, Waxahatchee, Dead Tongues and Phil Cook. Marlin is also an in-demand producer, and has produced albums for artists including Mipso, Kate Rhudy,Rachel Baiman and Ismay.
Over the last decade, he has toured with Watchhouse throughout the U.S and Europe and appeared on high profile programs such CBS This Morning's Saturday Morning Sessions and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. As a band Watchhouse has headlined (or is headlining) notable rooms including the Ryman, Red Rocks, The Grand Ole Opry and the Beacon Theater.
Kabaka Pyramid
March 1, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
Kabaka Pyramid is Jamaica’s newest root-reggae sensation.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/3/1/kabaka-pyramid
Booker T Jones
with special guest Matt Dorrien
May 11th, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/5/11/booker-t-jones
Recent comments on Booker T:
“…Tight urgency that is the foundation of the entire album, driving the funky guitar and bass lines through a brilliant reinvention of the M.G.’s soul chemistry, ramped up for the 21st century.” – MOJO
“After all these years, he remains so soulful, and so good.” – NPR
“A showcase for Jones’ ever-sinuous way around his Hammond B-3, which sings, purrs, moans and shouts with often near-human expressivity, under his skilled touch.” – LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Transports listeners to the ’60s heyday of Stax, where [Jones] and the MGs defined soul music.” – USA TODAY
About Matt Dorrien:
“Matt Dorrien’s new release is almost entirely performed on piano, a subtle ode to his songwriting heroes Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman. And like those legendary musicians, Dorrien has a wry sense of humor, a solid grasp of songwriting fundamentals, and a deep love of melancholy, binge drinking, and rain.” - NPR Music
Ward Hayden and The Outliers
with JP Harris and Dan Blakeslee
February 2nd, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
ALL AGES
For its first show of 2019, Westerly Sound presents a co-headline show with JP Harris (from Nashville) and Ward Hayden and The Outliers. Respectively, the musical outfits of JP Harris and Ward Hayden have been traversing the modern roots-country circuit for years now, becoming staples of the new “Americana’ movement and livening honky tonks from East Nashville to East Providence and everywhere in between. Westerly Sound brings this two band country music billing to the Knickerbocker on February 2nd for the first time.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/2/2/ward-hayden-and-the-outliers
JP Harris
with Ward Hayden and the Outliers
and Dan Blakeslee
February 2nd, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
ALL AGES
For its first show of 2019, Westerly Sound presents a co-headline show with JP Harris (from Nashville) and Ward Hayden and The Outliers. Respectively, the musical outfits of JP Harris and Ward Hayden have been traversing the modern roots-country circuit for years now, becoming staples of the new “Americana’ movement and livening honky tonks from East Nashville to East Providence and everywhere in between. Westerly Sound brings this two band country music billing to the Knickerbocker on February 2nd for the first time.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/2/2/ward-hayden-and-the-outliers
Elvis Perkins
with Hiss Golden Messenger
and Erin Rae
March 2nd, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
ALL AGES
From Newport Folk Festival to Pitchfork Music Festival, and dozens of other great music festivals in-between, Hiss Golden Messenger has brought his songs of hope and reality to the people in the form of true American songcraft. On March 2nd, Westerly Sound presents a very special solo acoustic performance with M C Taylor, a showcase of his songwriting in the most stripped-down form. An intimate engagement from one of the best modern songwriters around. Please buy your tickets in advance. Up and coming Nashville crooner Erin Rae opens the show.
About Hiss Golden Messenger:
Hallelujah Anyhow is the latest studio album from Hiss Golden Messenger, out September 22 worldwide on Merge Records. Its ten new songs, penned by HGM principal M.C. Taylor, were recorded with Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Chris Boerner, Josh Kaufman, Darren Jessee, Michael Lewis, and Scott Hirsch. Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, Tift Merritt, Skylar Gudasz, Tamisha Waden, Mac McCaughan, and John Paul White provided vocal harmonies.
“I see the dark clouds. I was designed to see them. They’re the same clouds of fear and destruction that have darkened the world since Revelations, just different actors. But this music is for hope. That’s the only thing I want to say about it. Love is the only way out. I’ve never been afraid of the darkness; it’s just a different kind of light. And if some days that belief comes harder than others, hallelujah anyhow.” —M.C. Taylor
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/3/2/hiss-golden-messenger
“Newport Folk Festival show stealers…” - Rolling Stone
Spirit Family Reunion
with Ian O’Neil (from Deer Tick)
February 23rd
Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
Spirit Family Reunion began singing together on the street corners of New York City in 2009. Since that time they have travelled the highways of America delivering raw, high energy, honest music. They have shared the stage with musical heroes such as Pete Seeger and Levon Helm, and have given notable performances at festivals including Stage Coach, Austin City Limits, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and the legendary Newport Folk Festival three times.
Ian O’Neil is a Providence, RI based musician best known for his role in Deer Tick. Ians debut solo album will be released in 2019.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/2/23/spirit-family-reunion
with special guests
April 13th, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
“The Thieves find new ways to blend the old-school pop and country sensibilities of Etta James and Willie Nelson with gang harmonies and rumbling folk for a sound that’s bigger and sturdier than ever before”. - Consequence of Sound
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/4/13/ballroom-thieves
Ian O’Neil (from Deertick)
with Spirit Family Reunion
February 23rd
Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
Spirit Family Reunion began singing together on the street corners of New York City in 2009. Since that time they have travelled the highways of America delivering raw, high energy, honest music. They have shared the stage with musical heroes such as Pete Seeger and Levon Helm, and have given notable performances at festivals including Stage Coach, Austin City Limits, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and the legendary Newport Folk Festival three times.
Ian O’Neil is a Providence, RI based musician best known for his role in Deer Tick. Ian’s debut solo album will be released in 2019.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/2/23/spirit-family-reunion
Matt Dorrien
with Booker T Jones
May 11th, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI
“Matt Dorrien’s new release is almost entirely performed on piano, a subtle ode to his songwriting heroes Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman. And like those legendary musicians, Dorrien has a wry sense of humor, a solid grasp of songwriting fundamentals, and a deep love of melancholy, binge drinking, and rain.” - NPR Music
Ticket link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/5/11/booker-t-jones
Erin Rae
with Elvis Perkins
and Hiss Golden Messenger (solo)
March 2nd, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
ALL AGES
From Newport Folk Festival to Pitchfork Music Festival, and dozens of other great music festivals in-between, Hiss Golden Messenger has brought his songs of hope and reality to the people in the form of true American songcraft. On March 2nd, Westerly Sound presents a very special solo acoustic performance with M C Taylor, a showcase of his songwriting in the most stripped-down form. An intimate engagement from one of the best modern songwriters around. Please buy your tickets in advance. This will be Elvis Perkins’ first appearance in Westerly since his set at the United Folk Festival. Up and coming Nashville crooner Erin Rae opens the show.
About Hiss Golden Messenger:
Hallelujah Anyhow is the latest studio album from Hiss Golden Messenger, out September 22 worldwide on Merge Records. Its ten new songs, penned by HGM principal M.C. Taylor, were recorded with Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Chris Boerner, Josh Kaufman, Darren Jessee, Michael Lewis, and Scott Hirsch. Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, Tift Merritt, Skylar Gudasz, Tamisha Waden, Mac McCaughan, and John Paul White provided vocal harmonies.
“I see the dark clouds. I was designed to see them. They’re the same clouds of fear and destruction that have darkened the world since Revelations, just different actors. But this music is for hope. That’s the only thing I want to say about it. Love is the only way out. I’ve never been afraid of the darkness; it’s just a different kind of light. And if some days that belief comes harder than others, hallelujah anyhow.” —M.C. Taylor
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/3/2/hiss-golden-messenger
Thor Jensen debut album release
with special guest
March 23
Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
Thor Jensen is a guitar master. His playing lands somewhere between Jerry Garcia’s and Django Reinhardt’s, with a good helping of Duane Allman. Thor has traveled the world as a touring member of indie band Quiet Life and gypsy virtuoso Stephane Wrembel and he returns to his hometown of Westerly to debut his first solo studio album.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2019/3/23/thor-jensen
Knickerbocker Tap Room, Westerly, RI.
“Charming and delightful, full of infectious melodies, shimmering harmonies and pungent, pulsing rhythms.” - Huffington Post
Bio:
Swimming Bell is the solo project of Brooklyn-based folk singer Katie Schottland, who has spent the last two years playing in various bands. She began to write her own songs after she broke her foot in the fall of 2015. Katie learned some basic chords by printing out a chord sheet to learn to play Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”. Having had no musical training she approached writing melodies and progressions by ear, and with the intention to develop harmonies.
The Golden Heart was recorded in London at the home studio of producer Oli Deakin, who writes and records his own work under the name Lowpines, and as producer has worked with Toothless, Lyla Foy and Germans.
Katie and Oli met in New York in the fall of 2016 and they immediately knew each other. After hearing some Lowpines music, the lo-fi, layered, and intricately hushed lyrics, Katie knew they’d work well together. Katie travelled to London in spring of 2017 and they began mapping out each song on guitar and voice, before adding layers of different instruments, vocals and ambient sounds. Katie played many of the instruments herself, looking to find a unique voice in the parts they came up with together.
Dan Blakeslee
with Ward Hayden and the Outliers
and JP Harris
Feb 2nd, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI
Dan Blakeslee, a renaissance man of good humor, natural talent and a knack for storytelling. Dan will play two FREE sets of music in the Tap Room.
with opener:
Soulshot
November 17th, Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly.
Keeping the music alive, the legendary Wailers band returns to bring its revolutionary sound to fans around the world. Steered by famed bassist and founder Aston “Familyman” Barrett, and joined in solidarity with original Wailers’ guitarist Junior Marvin, The Wailers continue to make musical history. From 1973 to 1980, Bob Marley & The Wailers recorded, toured, and performed before countless millions worldwide. Since 1981, Familyman and Junior Marvin have carried on the mission to “keep The Wailers together,” just as Bob requested, affirming: “By doing that, you keep me alive through the music.” In tribute to the late co-founder and drummer Carlton “Carly” Barrett, The Wailers present Aston Barrett, Jr. on drums. It’s startling how the young powerhouse delivers with his uncle’s inspiring landmark style. Lead singer Joshua David Barrett is a Rastaman by lifestyle and culture. Josh delivers Bob’s powerful message of Jah love and unity through his performance and interaction with the audience. Also on stage is Anne-Marie Thompson, an experienced gospel singer and veteran Owen “Dreadie” Reid on guitar/bass and Andres Lopez on keyboards.
Ticket Link: https://knickmusic.com/events/2018/11/17/the-wailers
with Joseph Allred
La Grua Center, Stonington, CT.
Ticket Link: https://tinyurl.com/ycj4bhyj
"The best guitarist you never heard of." –The Boston Globe
Bio:
Glenn Jones is a master of American Primitive Guitar, a style invented in the late 1950s by John Fahey, whose traditional fingerpicking techniques and wide-ranging influences were used to create modern original compositions. Jones, who led the post-rock ensemble Cul de Sac, brings his own made-up tunings, the use of custom-crafted partial capos, and a highly skilled picking style on both banjo and guitar, to create personal compositions that are lyrical, emotive and elegant.
What sets him apart from the myriad guitarists playing today is his ability to tell stories with the guitar and banjo, and to convey a range of emotions. This process starts with the compositions themselves and carries through to his selection of recording environment and engineer.
Jones turned away from standard tuning years ago, inventing tunings as a way of escaping the known. The pieces he writes in these tunings are his way of navigating new and unfamiliar landscapes. “But it’s my hope,” he says, “that what you hear are not the tunings and partial capos and all that, but the music — the feeling within these pieces.”
To date, Jones has issued six full-length solo albums, many of which have made several critics' year-end "best of" lists. HIs most recent were Fleeting (2016) and Waterworks (2017), and An Idea in Everything (2017), a collaboration album with Chris Corsano and David Greenberger.
Jones has written extensively about the leading lights of the American Primitive guitar style, namely John Fahey (with whom he was friends for nearly 25 years), and Robbie Basho (Jones was friends with the guitarist until Basho's untimely death in 1986, and hosted the guitarist / singer's final tour of the East Coast).
He's written liner notes for five Fahey albums to date, including, notably, Fahey's final album, Red Cross, and he produced Fahey's posthumously issued 1968 live album, The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick (Water) as well as a 1980 live recording by Robbie Basho, Bonn Ist Supreme (Bo' Weavil) and the issue of demo recordings for Basho's last solo guitar album, Twilight Peaks (Smeraldina-Rima).
Jones also produced a massive five-CD box-set of John Fahey's earliest recordings, Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You(2011; Dust-to-Digital), which he worked on for 11 years. The album received rave reviews.
Glenn first began touring solo in 2003, opening for Jack Rose in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the UK. Jones guests on several of Jack's albums, including his last, Luck in the Valley. The Things That We Used to Do, a DVD featuring hour-long solo sets from each artist, and a pair of duets, was issued in April 2010 (Strange Attractors).
Jones' latest project is The Thousand Incarnations of the Rose -- An Introduction to American Primitive Guitar & Banjo, 1963-1974, a double LP / CD package for which he selected the tracks and wrote extensive liner notes. It's slated for release in late 2017.
Glenn also just finished recording a brand new studio album for Thrill Jockey, which will be issued in 2018.
with opener Chrissy Stewart.
Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
Ticket Link: https://tinyurl.com/y9x6okss
“Traditional roots music from a fresh, modern perspective.” - Rolling Stone
Bio:
Mandolin Orange's music is “laced with bluegrass, country and folk...often wistful and contemplative without being somber, and always firmly grounded in the South" (WNYC). The Chapel Hill, NC duo has built a noteworthy catalog of recordings and performances since their founding in 2009. Their live shows are filled with vibrant chemistry, effortless instrumentation, and breezy, fluid harmonies that continue to win over local and far away fans. Recent performances include Telluride Bluegrass, Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo and Pickathon, with support performances at Red Rocks Amphitheater and the Ryman Auditorium.
Hailed by No Depression as “one of the most talented acts making music today,” Mandolin Orange’s most recent album Blindfaller debuted #3 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album Chart, was featured on NPR’s Heavy Rotation and made Rolling Stone’s “40 Best Country Albums of 2016.”
"The musical tapestry of Blindfaller is delicately woven with lush threads of acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin and pedal steel, all ever-present without ever overplaying. However, it's the vocal interplay of Frantz and Marlin that is the band's most distinctive calling card" (Rolling Stone). Lean in to the album and you’ll understand why. You’ll hear the way it magnifies the intimacy at the heart of the North Carolina duo’s music, as if they created their own musical language as they recorded it.
with Darren Hanlon (from Australia)
United Theatre, Westerly, RI.
Ticket Link: https://tinyurl.com/y8bpvqc2
"Whether weaving a yarn about a mysterious hog or comparing the human heart to a mechanic's toolbox, Mr. Hurley create(s) elaborate vistas in a musical version of outsider art"
- Ann Powers / New York Times
Bio:
Michael Hurley grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As a teenager in the 1950s he fell in love hearing the music of Fats Domino, The Everly Brothers and Bo Diddley blast from the radio, and was enthralled by the records of Blind Willie McTell, Hank Williams and Uncle Dave Macon that he sought for his own. This love for music, true and unvarnished, supplied him with a finely tuned musical compass he has not wavered from for 50 years and counting. Hurley's music sounds old, like it has always existed, and simultaneously singular, like something you've never heard anyone else play quite like that before. This timeless quality ensures that Hurley's audience constantly renews itself. From the the beatniks in the NYC Village where he started in the early 60s, to the hippies in Vermont, to the Americana fans, indie rockers and freak folkers from the last two decades, Michael's music never fails to find fresh new ears. Pressed for a description, Hurley has called it "jazz-hyped blues and country and western music".
Hurley's early records were released on Folkways, Warner Brothers/Raccoon, and Rounder, while in recent years stalwart independent labels like Gnomonsong and Mississippi have been carrying the torch. The great news is that there is no stopping Michael Hurley. An album with brand new recordings, Bad Mr. Mike, was released on the Mississippi label last year and another new one with archival 1990s live material recorded in Lublijana is due on Feeding Tube Records this summer. Besides being a truly unique musician, Hurley is also a cartoonist and watercolor artist of note — the instantly recognizable results of which grace his album covers.
Hurley now resides on the west coast, so east coast appearances have been scarce the last decade. Old and new fans should not pass up the rare opportunity to catch Michael in action on various New England and New York state stages.
with opener TBA.
Knickerbocker Tap Room, Westerly, RI.
Free show.
Bio:
Nick Panken has been singing his songs with his band Spirit Family Reunion for the better part of the past decade. His songs are bare in structure, with lyrical content evoking the commentary of Woody Guthrie and ruminations of Leonard Cohen. His recent solo work presents a more stripped-down approach, with material old and new furnished simply with fingerpicked electric guitar and occasional harmonica.
Westerly Sound and United Theatre present the Time and Tide Surf Film Festival at United Theatre in Westerly, RI.
Live film score by William Tyler.
Ticket link: https://unitedtheatre.yapsody.com
“Tyler’s record is free and weird, big and wild. In it are expanse, elegy and celebration. Everywhere is wonder.” - NPR
Bio:
Modern Country is the fourth full-length album by guitarist and composer William Tyler and his first recorded outside of his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. It features an ensemble backing group consisting of multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook (Hiss Golden Messenger, Blind Boys of Alabama), bassist Darin Gray (Tweedy, Jim O’Rourke), and percussionist Glenn Kotche (Wilco). The album was tracked at April Base Studios in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and finished in Nashville, recorded and mixed by Jon Ashley, and produced by Tyler and Brad Cook.
While there is never a comfort zone in instrumental music, Tyler attempts to leave any perceived one behind with Modern Country. His first album for Merge, 2013’s Impossible Truth, found Tyler exploring the boundaries of composition for solo guitar in a manner that paid homage to everyone from Leo Kottke to Brian Wilson. It was an epic song cycle that veered from cathedral-like psychedelic hymns to pastoral folk melodies. In contrast, Modern Country finds Tyler exploring more focused melodic themes rather than ethereal wanderings. These aren’t pop songs, per se, but they are closer in spirit to Neu!, Penguin Cafe Orchestra, and Bill Frisell.
Primarily written while Tyler was on sabbatical in Oxford, Mississippi, where he stayed at the cabin of a family friend within a stone’s throw of William Faulkner’s house, Modern Country is a collection of songs about the vanishing America that still exists on back roads, in small towns, on AM radio stations. In an election year when so many certainties and assurances have vanished, Tyler doesn’t offer optimism or pessimism but rather a calm and measured commentary in our age of anxiety.
Time and Tide Film Festival Afterparty, Upstairs at The Malted Barley in Westerly, RI.
Free Show.
“Folk-soul compositions, which reach out towards the stars yet are distinctly of this earth, sounding like your feet sinking into the soil and crossing through into the cosmos.” - Stereogum
Bio:
For the last decade, James Wallace & the Naked Light recorded and released music from the fringes of Music City USA, touring all over with a singular vision and purpose. All the while, James Wallace’s name figured in as a trusted companion to a few scenes in particular: the Spacebomb sound coming out of his hometown Richmond, Virginia alongside old friends Natalie Prass and Matthew E. White; inside the new Nashville “underground:” where his bands’ magnetic performance listed them as a favorite among Alabama Shakes' Brittany Howard; producing records, occasionally filling in on keys with cult-treasured Promised Land Sound; and roaming with the Oakland collective of songwriters centered around a converted school bus who travel under the banner “Splendor All Around.” But now the name is Skyway Man. Solo tours in Japan and China, a new batch of songs intertwined with his fascination with UFO religion, signaled a shift in direction. His inner mercury nudged him toward a new role, and the name Skyway Man rose to the surface again and again. Was it the trickster of mythology, the soul of some eternally missing astronaut, or the old singing storyteller trying to get through?
Wallace possesses a knack for getting caught up in outlandish events - discovering a trove of mysterious letters written by a Ufologist to a woman, describing the New Jerusalem and the 4th dimension, or months spent playing Mahjong in a smokey trailer behind Opryland, working as a Mandarin interpreter for Chinese Ice carvers in Nashville. This knack also extends to orchestrating outlandish events, getting interesting people on board in his endeavors–sweet-talking the flow of life into altering its course. Time for a new name and new record. Seen Comin' From a Mighty Eye is a dense undertaking, recorded in different locations, simmering influences, channeling all the correct energies, paying the people and spirits who need to be paid, finishing the work the right way over the slow course of time. He recorded the last Naked Light record in Matthew E. White’s attic, and returned to that revered spot to track this new psych opera about strange futures, haunted pasts, and the Mighty Eye in the sky. Spacebomb house bassist and composer Cameron Ralston provided the horn arrangements and Spacebomb house drummer Pinson Chanselle sat at the kit. Wallace sang, compiled and mixed back in Nashville. It’s the usual stew of B-movie scifi, cosmic American boogie, psychedelic folk and it’s apocalyptically good, focused and potent, an immersive fully realized song cycle and visionary sonic structure.
From his modest rancher in Bordeaux on the Cumberland River, the lights of downtown Nashville are visible at night, shining sweetly or casting a lurid glow depending on atmospheric conditions and the viewer’s mood. Music City is changing fast, but James Wallace is invested in its community and spirit–the true believers, auteur session aces and acid cowboys and cowgirls who need each other to survive the sweltering industrial music machine. Skyway Man transcends this landscape, tapping into an older, more spiritual commerce. Seen Comin' From a Mighty Eye offers the kind of music you would want on the radio for a first or last kiss, the incidental music from some forgotten Spielberg adventure, a soundtrack for the later (not quite latter) days of earth. If lightning strikes and the car radio explodes, it might just be part of the track. Music for driving along the skyway, and thank god the skyway is made of music anyway.
Knickerbocker Tap Room, Westerly, RI.
with Barn Burning.
Free Show.
"This is the kind of music that the genre tag of Americana was custom-made for." - Robert Ham, Paste Magazine
Free show.
"Silverteeth is an exercise in stripping pop of anything superfluous to let the melody and the songwriting shine." - The Deli Magazine Best of NYC
Bio:
Silverteeth is a Providence, RI based band comprised of Bill Bartholomew (guitar/vocals), Gabriela Rassi (bass/vocals) and Tom Berglund (drums). Formed in Brooklyn, NY, the band relocated to Rhode Island following the release of their 2016 debut ep, where they have maintained regional touring and media appearances while prepping their next release.
Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
with Slyne and the Family Stoned.
Bio:
The music of The Grateful Dead transcends time, age and space. Their high energy, soul touching jams and family like environment was a core part of the counter-culture experience. Over the past 19 years Dead Sessions has grown to become one of the favorite Grateful Dead experiences in the Northeast. Playing since 1998, the collective is known for their authentic but unique renditions of Grateful Dead classics, thick with spiritual connectivity and heartfelt jams that make the most jaded Deadhead rejoice. Dead Sessions is composed of a rotating cast of musicians throughout the country, but the roots of origin are easily traced to the Green Mountain State. With an unmasked joy that pours off the stage and blurs any boundaries with their audience, the Sessions are beloved from both the casual fan to the dedicated Terrapin warrior.
Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
with Dead Sessions.
Bio:
Slyne and The Family Stoned is a caravan of punk hippies from New London, CT. The group is an ever-revolving door in a big family of friends with influences ranging from Dead Moon to The Grateful Dead. Their spirited jams and classic tone shifts from night to day like the transition of a psychedelic trip to an innocent reverie, all saddled in the guise of a wise old man out for a morning stroll.
Knickerbocker Tap Room, Westerly, RI.
Free show.
“Dan Mills is a hot rod, as in a souped-up fast car, steeped in a honky tonk, Hank Williamsy world of fast tunes and deep balladry.” - No Depression
Bio:
Singer/Songwriter Dan Mills fronts a 5 piece Folk/Americanaband that's based between Brooklyn NY and Cambridge MA. Mills portrayed country-guitar legend Carl Perkins in the Broadway cast of Million Dollar Quartet, and his song "Best I Could" earned him a nomination for Sirius XM Coffeehouse's “Singer/Songwriter Discovery of the Year".
Currently celebrating the release of his new full length album Something Good (7/7/17), Mills has combined his knack for writing honest, lyrically driven folks songs with the raw Sun Records twang that has seeped into his artistic voice. Sincere and bittersweet, Something Good is a love letter to cheap wine and deep love, dive bars and indecision, quiet train rides, and the unwavering hope of a hungry artist.
Knickerbocker Tap Room, Westerly, RI.
Free show.
Bio:
Olive Tiger is an evolution of sound and texture: a nontraditional trio hailing from New England that lushly combines electronics with organic elements of chamber-pop, defying the boundaries of genre in favor of obsessive exploration. Grounded in the stunning songwriting and soaring voice of its bandleader, Olive Tiger arcs continuously toward more meticulous, more rich and more seductive arrangements.
Based in New Haven, Connecticut, Olive Tiger orbits the vision of singer-songwriter and musician Olive (cello, guitar, vocals, looper), joined by Jesse Newman (violin, electronics), and John McGrath (drums). In 2016, the group asserted its powers and range with a debut full-length record, Until My Body Breaks (Telegraph Recording Company). Pulling thoughtfully from artists like tUnE-yArDs, St. Vincent and Andrew Bird, Olive Tiger created with refined curiosity a collection of detail-rich songs that evokes a broad spectrum of images and emotions—all awash in rich arrangements, elevated by Olive’s pristine and haunting vocals.
Since the project began in 2013, Olive Tiger has garnered growing attention for its work; in January 2017 the band was named Emerging Artist of the Month by The Deli Magazine, and received a 2017 nomination for Best in State during the New England Music Awards. Olive Tiger has also shared the stage with acts including Kishi Bashi, Xenia Rubinos, Kyp Malone, Rubblebucket and Diane Cluck—kin in sonic exploration. The band is currently touring its full-length record with dates throughout New England, and has played everywhere from the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, to The Ballroom at the Outer Space, the Bowery Electric, the park at MASS MoCA and New London’s I Am Fest.
The band flows from Olive’s creative well, an inspired, strong and sensitive force. Even the band’s most electronic offerings are grounded deeply in the human and the vulnerable; Olive writes from personal experience—heartbreak, hope, healing and growth. Translated into the language of the band, the result is a soundscape upon which Olive takes captivating risks and delivers unpredictable melodies.
With a Master’s Degree in music therapy, Olive founded the project as a deliberate space for growth and expression, engaging with music as an emotional transaction of energy. Listeners have responded in kind, placing Olive Tiger among Connecticut’s most notable up-and-coming musicmakers. With a shifting array of collaborators, Olive’s philosophy toward creativity quickly carried the project from its folk-jazz roots to a spacey plane of experimentation in 2013, when she began to manipulate her voice and cello with a looper pedal. The evolution is only set to continue.
supporting Mandolin Orange.
Knickerbocker Music Center, Westerly, RI.
Ticket Link: https://tinyurl.com/y9x6okss
Bio:
Knickerbocker Tap Room, Westerly, RI
Free Show.
“Aisha Burns' 'Must Be A Way' will break and fill your heart.” - NPR’s All Song Considered
Bio:
Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, and currently residing in Beverly, Massachusetts, violinist, vocalist and songwriter Aisha Burns began playing violin when she was 10 years old, and has been touring and recording since 2006. Soon after moving to Austin in 2005, she gained her start with folk-rock outfit Alex Dupree and the Trapdoor Band, and joined the instrumental ensemble Balmorhea on violin in 2007. After years of secret singing, she released her solo debut Life in the Midwater in 2013. Called "twisting, ethereal...arresting" by Dazed Magazine, and praised for its "delicate intimacy" by NPR, Life in the Midwater explored mortality and relationships with candor and wisdom.
Her new album Argonauta, is a collection of songs about her struggle with the grief of losing her mother, while also navigating a new relationship, and ultimately trying to figure out what the new normal is for her life.
