Notes From The 2025 Annapolis Songwriters Festival: A Haimish Haven for True Listening Annapolis isn’t the sort of town where you usually see folks with guitar cases on the sidewalk. For most of the year, pink polo shirts far outnumber black T-shirts, and you’ll spot twenty pairs of topsiders for every pair of boots. But […]
Soccer Mommy at Central Park SummerStage, NY, NY, September 16, 2025 On a late summer evening in New York City, Soccer Mommy brought her intimate, emotionally charged songs to Central Park’s SummerStage, offering a performance that felt both grounding and dreamlike. As the world seemed to spin with unease, Sophie Allison’s voice rose through the […]
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Greensky Bluegrass and Margo Price at Red Rocks This summer, I realized that bluegrass is my get-right music. Specifically, I’d struggled writing a review of a highly anticipated, but ultimately disappointing, new album, and I remembered that I’d just received an advance of a new Greensky Bluegrass single. Just listening to it made the angst […]
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AmericanaFest 2024 – Day 4 Friday would be my last day in AmericanaFest this year – there was music back home in Colorado, too! But my last day in Nashville was filled with memorable moments. The California Country Show – ACME Feed & Seed Anchored by California Country Radio Show host Dave Bernal, this year’s […]
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AmericanaFest 2025 Day 3 Day 3 of AmericanaFest began with a couple of opportunities to learn, then gave away to (what else) more great music in and around Nashville. Staying Ahead in the Age of AI This panel discussion, moderated by Todd Dupler, Chief Advocacy & Public Policy Officer for the Recording Academy (the GRAMMY […]
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Redd & The Paper Flowers at OKC’s Blue Note Lounge Redd & The Paper Flowers, touring behind Appalachian Bell Jar their independent debut album which released in May earlier this year, had arranged a fairly last minute gig for this past Tuesday in Oklahoma City at the Blue Note Lounge. The Knoxville, TN band was […]
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AmericanaFest 2025 – Day 2 Day 2 of AmericanaFest is when existing legends are honored and new legacies are started (at the Americana Music Association Honors and Awards), but it also proved to be a contrast in styles and guitar tones around Nashville all afternoon. Shawn Camp Album Release This private listening party, put on […]
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Tedeschi Trucks Band Mad Dogs & Englishmen Revisited (Live at LOCKN’) Picture Joe Cocker on stage, contorting his body like he’s being electrocuted while his shoes are glued to a board. That wild, almost painful physicality wasn’t showmanship – it was pure soul pouring out through every muscle, every spasm, every desperate gesture. Cocker couldn’t […]
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AmericanaFest 2025 – Day 1 AmericanaFest is about, first and foremost, getting more of our favorite young bands in the public eye. But it’s also become a place for me to learn more about the history of our brand of country music. Tuesday – Day 1 – gave me two great opportunities to do just […]
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Brandi Carlile at Red Rocks 2025 Every pandemic-less year since 2019, I’ve seen Brandi Carlile live. And each time, I’ve come away saying, “No one in America enjoys their job more than Brandi.” But, in 2025, when LGBTQ+ folks are more directly targeted than at any time in my adult life, I had to wonder, […]
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