Hey Vermont: Show You Should Know- The Quahogs at Light Club Lamp Shop 10/19 Featured Concert Music Features by Brian Carroll - October 18, 20170 The Quahogs are a band I had seen being mentioned around town for a bit, then I finally dove into last year's 'Sunny Waste' after Ken had reviewed it and was totally in the know of why they are one of Providence's finest. (check out that full review here). "From the first notes of Sunny Waste, the latest effort from the Providence-based Quahogs, you find yourself unwinding. It’s not a mellow album at all, but it’s not stuffy–the band plays in a loose and connected way. Steve Donovan’s lead guitar work is a real highlight – he complements Steve Delmonico’s growling vocals perfectly with perfectly timed blues runs. He reminds me of the way Mike Bloomfield punctuated Paul Butterfield and Bob Dylan’s work
You Got To Know: Session Americana After Party @ The Skinny Pancake (9/16 Burlington, VT) Featured Concert Featured Videos Music Features by Brian Carroll - September 8, 2017September 8, 20170 Next week marks the kick off of Grace Potter's yearly Grand Point North. With bands like Dawes, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Tank and the Bangas and Trey Anastasio Band gracing the stage alongside Grace (see what I did there?), if you are in the vicinity of Burlington...like anywhere even driveable to get there, that is where you need to be next weekend. While the music ends overlooking Lake Champlain after Potter's 8:45 PM set, the party will have just begun as our compadres with the condenser mic will be joining around their round table like knights of americana-lot, throwing back whiskey's and swapping songs with doors at 10 PM. For those of you in Vermont that have yet to experience
Show You Should Know: Molly Pinto Madigan (Album Celebration) & Jenee Halstead at Riverview Sound (8/9) Featured Concert by Brian Carroll - August 8, 2017August 8, 20170 For those not "in the know" there is a really special place sitting on the banks of the Charles River in Waltham, MA. The sprawling views of an old cemetery across the still waters, an occasional kayaker dipping their paddles into the mirror still water and the spire of an old clock factory looming back in the distance, its a tranquil and peaceful place as the music slowly seeps from the top floor as records are being made. This place is Riverview Sound and the brain behinds the new "Live from the Living Room" series is its proprietor Sam Margolis. Sam is a name you probably have heard before. Be it his work with the New England Americana Festival and last
Show You Should Know: The Rationales Release Party at the Middle East Down TONIGHT! (8/3) Featured Concert Music Features by Brian Carroll - August 3, 20170 The Middle East downstairs is a big room and could be hard to fill up...but The Rationales aren't concerned. The bill that they have put together to celebrate the release of their new record "Upstream" is packed with some of the best that Boston has to offer and will surely add up to a killer night for the artists on stage and the fans in the audience. Oldjack, Red Red Rockit, The Curtis Mayflower, and Nate Rogers all join The Rationales for a talent-studded evening of tunes. Soul, indie-pop rock n'roll and songwriting extraordinaire will infuse this evening and mix and mingle with the faint smell of nostalgia and Gansett soaked cement flooring. I mean, what else do you need? You can
Show You Should Know: Molly Tuttle At Club Passim Tonight (7/13) Featured Concert Uncategorized by Brian Carroll - July 13, 2017July 13, 20170 We live in an age where modern day bluegrass music isn't necessarily what Grampa Bill originally started all those years ago. 'Grass has been a fusion genre in many respects. Mixing and mingling with in depth and complex story telling or over the top instrumentals that are almost athletic feats of impossibility in what many have aptly named "chamber-grass". Molly Tuttle's music falls somewhere in the middle of all those things. Tuttle, being raised on the style in which her music breathes, surely embraces the history and roots of the genre, but extends past the surface of the style. Her playing is head turning and will leave you awestruck. The way in which she handles her instrument is astounding and witnessing
HEY VERMONT! Show You Should Know: Anthony da Costa/Adam Levy (Light Club Lamp Shop, 7/6) Featured Concert by Brian Carroll - July 5, 20170 Reasons for going to see this show: Anthony da Costa's last record landed high on my favorites list...this one is equally as beautiful Adam Levy is an accomplished instrumentalist who has played alongside Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman and more...and his songs are killer Just this, just listen to this new record and that is your reason: <a href="http://levydacosta.bandcamp.com/album/neighbors">Neighbors by Adam Levy &amp; Anthony da Costa</a>As you probably have come to know, Light Club Lamp Shop is our favorite little spot in Burlington. I just had the privilege of performing on that stage for the first time since we stumbled upon the venue about a year ago and playing there is just as magical as taking a show in there. And unleash
Countdown: Green River Festival Artists You Should Dig Featured Concert by Brian Carroll - June 28, 20170 Hot air balloons drifting in the evening haze of a mid-July's day as music echoes in the distance. Running stage to stage to catch as much of each artists set as you can, feverishly devouring each song (and food truck delectables) while festival season is still upon us. Its Green River time my friends and we are here to clue you in a few of those artists who's band names appear in slightly smaller print on the show poster but encompass just as huge of a sound (and heart) as the headliners. Read on amigos and amigas and we will see you in Greenfield, MA in 16 days. Twisted Pine recently broke the internet with their mash up video of a
Show You Should Know: Country Club 617 Presents Zach Schmidt / These Wild Plains TONIGHT (Loretta’s Last Call, Boston) Featured Concert Music Features by Brian Carroll - June 21, 20170 I shouldn't have to tell you this, but when it comes to balancing well written, heart felt songs with music that will kick your ass into gear and make you dance, Zach Schmidt is the king. Over the years Schmidt has gone from a songwriter I dig to a songwriter that my level of respect for has soared to heights I didn't realize were in existence. His last record "The Day We Lost The War" wound up one of my two favorites last year and remains one of my favorite records (ever) to this day. It was a record "that makes you question ‘what makes a song great versus good?’ In the end I think its the conviction and attitude that the
Brewster Productions Announces 2017 Acoustic Nights Series Line-up (Plymouth, MA) Featured Concert Music Features by Brian Carroll - June 13, 20170 The cool breeze off the ocean, the scent of boiled crabs in the air and the sound of sweet music twirling in unison with the salt sprayed air in Plymouth's downtown. No, its not a really fantastic dream you have over the cold winter months, another season of the Brewster Productions' Acoustic Nights Series is about to roll out. Though I have been lucky enough to perform at these shows myself, it was after the playing was done and being able to sit back on the lawn of the Hedge House and take in some of the best that New England has to offer that really stuck with me and kept me wanted to go back again and again to catch
Show You Should Know: Ruby Rose Fox, Halo Circus, Florie Namir and George Woods (Brighton Music Hall 6/10) Featured Concert by Brian Carroll - June 9, 20170 Its one thing to go to a show and see a great act on a bill, its another thing when a bill is completely stacked with talent and you better be damn sure you get there early for the opening acts. That will happen tomorrow evening at Brighton Music Hall when Ruby Rose Fox, Halo Circus, Florie Namir and George Woods take to the stage. Fox has dug her way deep into our heart with her sultry tone and larger than life on stage presence. An artist, a songwriter and so much more. Ruby's songs speak to the current climate of the world. "Her voice has the capacity to rumble you to the core" and last year's "Domestic" sat high on