Teaching up-and-coming fiddlers, speaking and playing at Tedx and writing with war veterans are only a few of the ways Brooklyn-by-way-of Austin songwriter Phoebe Hunt is sparking change with her music. While her lauded 2017 release Shanti’s Shadow was inspired […]
Proving the adage “good things come to those who wait,” Paige Clem’s debut album Firefly, recorded after more than 25 years of writing songs and singing in numerous rock and jam bands, is a sonically excellent and fittingly exuberant reflection […]
After living and performing in the San Francisco bay Area for a quarter of a century, drummer Pete Devine hit gold when he teamed up with guitarist Josh Howell and bassist Joe Kyle, Jr. to form HowellDevine. The formidable blues […]
BIGGER THAN THIS by Melody Walker & Molly Tuttle. Recorded at Carter’s Vintage Guitars in Nashville.
The day after the presidential election, I, along with 30,000 other (perhaps similarly stunned and heartsick) souls downloaded Rebecca Solnit’s 2004 book “Hope In the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities.” The prescient tome details the history of activist victories against […]
If there was ever a time to present a collection of expanded, reworked and new American music, it was several days after the 58th United States presidential election. Premiering a program resulting from the inaugural FreshGrass Composition Commission he was awarded by […]
Managing to stay connected to his muse while keeping his feet on the ground, Oakland, CA-based songwriter/guitarist Joe Rut wields an impressive toolkit of wit, lyricism and musicianship. His latest CD, Stolen Tools & Stereos (out Oct. 25), exemplifies this […]
With a smile and a wave Amy Helm and The Handsome Strangers lit into their Berkely set at full speed, no preamble, no slow warming up to a boil. No, Helm and company — Daniel Littleon on guitar; David Berger […]
A hum of anticipation ran through the audience assembled to see Rosanne Cash for the first of her two sold-out shows in Berkeley. After more than a dozen studio albums, multiple Grammy awards, and numerous other accolades including induction into […]
San Francisco-based songwriter Bob Hillman enlisted his friend, mentor, and master of song Peter Case to produce 2016’s Lost Soul, a 12-song collection that marks Hillman’s return to music after a decade away from stage and studio. Invigorated by Case’s […]
