Upcoming Shows

Mo Lowda & the Humble, The Lately

TomorrowOctober 16, 20188:00pm $10.00

Known for their progressive song writing and energetic live performances, Mo Lowda & The Humble's beginnings were in the beer-soaked basements of Philadelphia. Following the release of their first full length album in 2013, the trio, consisting of Jordan Caiola, Shane Woods, and Nate Matulis began playing venues throughout....

Reina del Cid

ThursdayOctober 18, 20188:00pm $20.00

Part singer songwriter group, part rock band you can find REINA DEL CID and company at the intersection of lyrical storytelling, catchy riffs, and scorching solos. After building a devoted online following as a solo artist, Del Cid teamed up with instrumentalists Toni Lindgren, Andrew Foreman, and Nate Babbs to develop....

Steven Page Trio

FridayOctober 19, 20188:00pm $25.00

Steven Page's distinctive and powerful tenor is among the most instantly recognizable voices in popular music. Newly minted as a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame with former bandmates, Barenaked Ladies, Steven Page reunited with the band he co-founded for their induction this past March -- a night capped off by an....

Recently Added Shows

Maria Muldaur

SaturdayOctober 27, 20188:00pm $20.00

Maria Muldaur is a Grammy nominated American folk, roots and blues singer. Beginning her career as a member of the Even Dozen Jug Band (also featuring John Sebastian and David Grisman), Muldaur was a staple in the Greenwich Village folk revival of the early 1960's. In 1973, her first solo album included the mega hit....

James McMurtry, Bonnie Whitmore

MondayNovember 5, 20188:00pm $25.00

Peter Asher & Jeremy Clyde

WednesdayNovember 7, 20188:00pm $35.00

Peter Asher of Peter & Gordon joins forces with Jeremy Clyde of Chad & Jeremy to star together in an unforgettable evening of music and memories featuring songs and stories from their sixties heyday as recording artists to Jeremy's success on stage, television (Downton Abbey) and film (The Iron lady) and Peter's....

7Horse

MondayNovember 12, 20188:00pm $10 advance / $12 door

David Sancious, Will Calhoun

MondayNovember 19, 20188:00pm $20 advance / $25 door

Otep, The World Over

TuesdayNovember 27, 20188:00pm $20.00

OTEP is an explosion of inspiration and motivation, empowered by their dedication to the arts, being a voice for the voiceless and fighting injustice. OTEP follows in the footsteps of fellow activism-focused recording artists like Prophets of Rage, Woodie Guthrie and others as the next, most aggressive chapter of musical....

Reverend Horton Heat with Big Sandy, Junior Brown, The Blasters

ThursdayNovember 29, 20188:00pm $50.00

Samantha Fish, Jonathan Long

TuesdayDecember 11, 20188:00pm $25.00

Metal Chick's Rockin' New Years Eve featuring Killmister (Motorhead tribute) and Aces High (Iron Maiden tribute)

MondayDecember 31, 20188:00pm $12.00

MilwaukeeMetalChick.com presents: Metal Chick's Rockin' New Years Eve, featuring Aces High-A tribute to Iron Maiden and KILLMISTER !! Get ready to end 2018 with the BIGGEST party in MILWAUKEE!!!! Milwaukee's ONLY Iron....

Slow No Wake

SaturdayJanuary 5, 20198:00pm $10.00

Along the beautiful backwaters of where seven rivers meet emerges the smoothest radio sounds of 70s AM gold & 80s backseat listening. Toto, Steely Dan, Hall & Oates, Mr. Kenny Loggins, Seals & Crofts, Ambrosia, Boz Skags, Michael McDonald, Mister Mister, Lionel Richie, Billy Ocean, The Eagles, Little River Band, and all....

Substitute (Who tribute), Brainstewed. (Green Day tribute)

SaturdayJanuary 19, 20198:00pm $12.00

With a look and sound that captures The Who at the height of their 70s peak, Substitute plays the songs that have become part of rock legend. From the hits (Pinball Wizard, Who Are You and Won't Get Fooled Again) to lesser-known classics (The Seeker, Bargain and The Real Me), Substitute is becoming a regular at some of the....

Kasim Sulton's Utopia

FridayMarch 8, 20198:00pm $30.00

On the heels of a sold-out tour earlier this year, world renown Bass Player Kasim Sulton will once again be celebrating his longtime association with the ground breaking progressive rock band Utopia and their legacy by performing a limited number of shows consisting entirely of Utopia music with a full band. The set list....

Plasticland

SaturdayMay 11, 20198:00pm $25.00

Plasticland is an American Neo-Psychedelic and Garage rock (revival) band, formed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,in 1980 with two members of Arousing Polaris, Glenn Rehse and John Frankovic. Several guitarists and drummers would rotate in and out of the band over time, but Glenn Rehse and John Frankovic have remained the core of....

Alternative Concert Group Presents

Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary

FridayOctober 26, 20187:30pm $75 / $55

At South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, Milwaukee, WI.

Tickets on sale at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center box office, online at southmilwaukeepac.org/tickets, or by phone at 414-766-5049.

Bruce Cockburn

SaturdayOctober 27, 20188:00pm $55 - $40

Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul

SaturdayNovember 3, 20188:00pm $45 / $35

At Meyer Theatre, Green Bay, WI

Tickets on sale at meyertheatre.org, the Resch Center box office, any Ticket Star location, online at ticketstaronline.com or by calling 800-895-0071.

Hot Tuna

SundayDecember 9, 20187:30pm $75 / $40

At the Barrymore Theatre, Madison, WI.

Tickets on sale at barrymorelive.com, or by phone at 608-241-8633 (Mon-Fri noon-5pm).

Steve Earle

TuesdayDecember 11, 20187:30pm $60.50

At The Grand, Oshkosh, WI.

Tickets on sale at thegrandoshkosh.org, 920-424-2350 or 1-866-96GRAND or at The Grand box office Monday-Friday 11:30am-5:00pm, Saturday 11:00am-2:00pm.

George Winston

SundayDecember 23, 2018

At the Wilson Theatre at Vogel Hall at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, Milwaukee, WI.

Tickets on sale at the Marcus Center box office, all Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster.com or 414-273- 7206.

Jesse Cook

ThursdayJanuary 17, 20197:30pm $43-$54

Randy Bachman

FridayJanuary 18, 20198:00pm $67 / $47

At the Grand Theater, Wausau, WI.

Tickets on sale at grandtheater.org or at the Grand Theater box office Monday-Friday 9:00am-5:30pm and 9:00am-noon on Saturdays from September through May.

Randy Bachman

SaturdayJanuary 19, 20198:00pm $55 / $45

At the Pablo Center for the Arts, Eau Claire, WI.

Tickets on sale at pablocenter.org.

Randy Bachman

SundayJanuary 20, 20197:30pm $70 / $50

At the Barrymore Theatre, Madison, WI.

Tickets on sale at barrymorelive.com, or by phone at 608-241-8633 (Mon-Fri noon-5pm).

Randy Bachman

TuesdayJanuary 22, 20197:30pm $75 / $55

Quick Calendar

Emily Kinney is a little too old to be daydreaming in the back of a classroom, soaked in unrequited love for a guitar player in a pop punk band she used to watch on MTV, but on Oh, Jonathan, Kinney's upcoming release, she just can't seem to help herself.

It's been a couple years since Kinney's last album, "This is War" and she's been using the time both professionally, in acting and music, and personally to mature and explore.

In acting, Kinney's transitioned from her young role as Beth Greene on AMC's hit tv show 'The Walking Dead,' where her music and singing were often featured, to more mature roles in shows like Masters of Sex, Ten Days in the Valley, and to her current gig as an emotional, tenacious mother of a young girl battling cancer in the upcoming Netflix series Messiah.

In music and life, Kinney's path to adulthood has been a little less straightforward. "After I got done touring with This is War, I was tired from traveling so much. There were a lot of opportunities coming off of The Walking Dead, and I started to feel a little like I was on a hamster wheel and not always making the best creative choices, I was just saying yes to whatever opportunities came my way. There was also a lot to learn about the music business. I often felt in the dark making decisions. I wanted transparency. Then, my little sister, who's seven years younger than me got married, and I started to notice the gray in my Dad's hair. Even though I had been traveling the world and doing all these things, I felt like I was the one who was stunted."

You can hear Emily's plea for adulthood in one track on the album, "Popsicles."

"I knew I needed to see my family more. I knew I needed a change of direction with my music and a rest. Time was going by a little too fast.

Kinney had always moved at full speed. Heading to NYC from Nebraska at just 19 to pursue a career in music and acting. She started going to auditions she found online and in 'Backstage' and would sing back-up for a couple singer-songwriters at places like Rockwood Music Hall, and the now closed Park Slope spot Bar 4. But it wasn't until she booked 'Spring Awakening," her Broadway debut in 2008, that Kinney felt confident to start sharing her own poems and songs which turned into her first EP, Blue Toothbrush, produced by Rod Stewart bassist Conrad Korsch. As Kinney's acting career progressed, the audience for her music also grew and she continued to release music: a 9 song EP, Expired Love, debut album This is War and a single on 7inch vinyl, Back on Love.

"I started working out of NYC a lot. I would come back to the city for just a couple days and it was great but I had changed and I didn't feel it fit me the same way it used to. My favorite restaurants or bars closed. It was new bands I didn't know playing at Rockwood. I had some close friends move to LA, so after tour I got an apartment and moved from NYC to LA too."

After a long Christmas break in Brush, Colorado listening to Cage the Elephant's Me talk Pretty and Less in her parents attic on repeat, Kinney returned to LA with new goals for her music and for her romantic life. "I really wanted to find a steady boyfriend, someone who could be a partner and I really wanted a major label record deal. Unfortunately, I didn't get either. But I did keep moving. I left my management company, I took a bunch of meetings, I tried out songs with different producers, and I did writing sessions with anyone....But I kept coming back to Ben from one of those first exploratory sessions,(Ben Greenspan, producer), so finally, I just stuck with him. He's amazing. I can be myself and i just really trust his taste."

Likewise, Kinney explains that she didn't set out to make a whole album all about one relationship, but it just kept coming back around. "At first, I thought Okay fine, I'll make an EP called Jonathan, but I don't want to....But they were always the best songs and this person just keeps coming up in my writing and in my life! No matter how hard I tried at new relationships, I just couldn't seem to move on."

Kinney's breakthrough and forward momentum came to fruition with the creation of "Mermaid Song," which she first released last fall via AWAL. "When I wrote that song, I suddenly felt a lot of freedom. I had been sending songs to managers and labels to get notes as I finished them, but with "Mermaid Song," I truly didn't care what anyone else thought. I loved the way it sounded. The synths that you hear became the sonic landscape and starting point for the whole record. Ben and I had just made the coolest song, and I had such a great response from fans. I stopped fighting making "Oh Jonathan," and felt motivated to get it out in the world. I realized I didn't need anyone's permission to put out the record or to legitimize my song-writing ability. I had stories and fans waiting to hear them. I could just do my own thing."

As for Kinney's romantic goals, you learn all about her hot-and-cold failed attempt at love with a rocker named Jon by listening to the record.

"But I don't think this album is about Jon." Kinney protests, "I always feel a song is more about the person who wrote it. It's my experience. One-sided and unfair. I'm not always a perfectly nice person. I can be a fan-girl, and emotional, and I can fall in love with people who don't love me back. My imagination runs away with itself. I'm not always a grown-up, but I think by the end of the record, I've grown. I've learned to move on, but I guess I've also learned to take my time."

American Wilderness, the striking new Rock Ridge Music album by Nashville-based singer-songwriter Matt Hires, pays off the promise the musician makes to himself in "Begin Again," one of the album's key songs, to "shake the dust and start over."

Produced by Randall Kent in Music City, the 10-song collection is a unified and probing work in which Hires -- previously known for his work on F Stop Music/Atlantic Records -- has created an intensely personal and self-revealing song-suite where he contemplates his life and his beliefs amid the oft-cacophonous backdrop of modern America.

Hires says, "It's the most cohesive body of work that I've put out, and I didn't intend it to be that way -- it just happened. One of the first songs I wrote for the album was the first track, 'Fighting a Ghost.' The second verse contains the line that the title of the album came from. A lot of the ideas behind a lot of the other songs came from that -- feeling a little lost amidst all the noise and commotion of culture and society. There's a lot of struggling and wrestling with faith in the record, too."

The making of American Wilderness was prefaced by a period of profound personal change for Hires. The well-traveled artist had previously issued two full-length albums, Take Us to the Start (2009) and This World Won't Last Forever, But Tonight We Can Pretend (2013), on F Stop/Atlantic.

As that label relationship ended, Hires and his wife of eight years decided to relocate from Tampa, Florida, where they had both lived all their lives, for Nashville, home of both the U.S. country music production line and a burgeoning scene for independent songwriters and musicians. They arrived in the city the day after Christmas in 2014.

"I think that was a big part of the change in my music," says Hires. "There's something about moving to a new city, and experiencing new things that helped in opening up my songwriting to new levels of honesty."

Hires quickly fell in with a group of like-minded indie musicians, and began exploring new avenues in his songcraft during informal living-room sessions with them.

He recalls, "We started doing this thing called 'Scotch 'n' Songs.' The average size of the group was five or six of us. We would get together every other week and share new stuff
that we'd been working on, and share a bottle of scotch or bourbon. We'd talk about the songs. Pretty much all of this album was born out of that, partially out of necessity. A few
weeks would roll by, and I'd say, 'Oh, man, I need a song to bring to the group,' so I would sit down and force myself to write. I'd say, 'What do you want to write right now? If you could turn on your radio or your iPod right now, what would you want to hear?'" The encouragement and feedback of the Scotch 'n' Songs crew moved Hires to set aside some of his earlier notions about his craft.

"When I would write songs before," he says, "I would have these things hanging over my head -- 'What's my A&R guy at the record label going to think? What are my parents going to think?' I tried to shed all of that, and just write what I wanted to write. I remember talking to one of my friends in the songwriting group, and he said, 'Write what scares you.' I took that idea and ran with it, and it made the record what it is."

The material on American Wilderness drew its stylistic inspiration from old and new strains of Americana and contemporaries whose work reflects Hires' own engaging pop sensibility.

"Influences of mine who have been favorites over the years are Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Wilco," he says. "While I was writing the material for this album, I got way into Jason Isbell's Southeastern. During the last year, I was listening to Brandon Flowers' solo record The Desired Effect -- I'm a big fan of The Killers. What I tried to do with this record was create songs that were lyrically interesting with something to say while remaining musically accessible, without being candy-coated."

Many of the album's songs explore an individual's uncertain place amid the roiling tumult of modern life in the U.S. Others -- like "Holy War" and "Glory Bound" -- candidly observe Hires' own internal conversation about religion and belief.

"I grew up in the church -- my dad was a pastor," he says. "It was something I was familiar with and comfortable with my whole life. Moving to Nashville, we stepped away from the church and stopped going for a little over a year. I feel that was a really good thing for me. I didn't stop thinking about that sort of thing. I wanted to look at it from outside the lens of Christian culture, and try to delve into what I actually believe, and be able to question things and not be afraid of that."

It is perhaps fitting that Hires and producer Kent recorded the basic tracks for the album at a Nashville facility, the Chapel.

Though American Wilderness looks deeply and unflinchingly into the darkness of personal and spiritual experience, Hires emphasizes that his new album concludes on a bright point of light.

"A strong theme on the album is rebirth, new beginnings, and the idea that tomorrow doesn't have to be like today," he says. "The last song is 'Don't Let Your Heart Grow Cold.' While it can go to some fairly dark places, I wanted to make sure it ended on a hopeful note. You can make it better. Winter always turns into spring."

American Wilderness is itself a creative spring for Matt Hires, marking the blossoming and emergence of a bright voice in American songwriting.

JD Eicher, the Youngstown, OH-area born and bred musician is set to release his new album (his first under just his name due to the very personal nature of the songs), The Middle Distance, via Rock Ridge Music on May 6, 2016. Eicher went for more of a journal entry/diary-type approach this time around, with the album being moodier, and focusing on a lot of internal struggle. Songwriting and superb singing are at the center of each track on The Middle Distance, with Eicher's Rust Belt upbringing evident as the foundation of his songwriting; Pittsburgh, not far from his hometown of Youngstown, has also embraced the performer and his music as their own.

With his band, The Goodnights, Eicher's soaring and graceful pop-rock songcraft garnered favorable comparisons to Coldplay, Keane, The Script, The Killers, and Death Cab for Cutie. Alternative Addiction named the group one of the top 10 unsigned bands. Live, JD Eicher & the Goodnights shared the stage with such diverse and respected artists as the Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, Train, Maroon 5, Hot Chelle Rae, Pete Yorn, Anberlin, Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams, Kelly Clarkson, Cartel, Sister Hazel, and Matt Nathanson, among many others.

Hi, I'm Dan. I'm a whiskey & beer drinking, fishing & hunting loving, motorcycle riding, quality food eating, hippie sympathizing, people loving, husband & father who lives in Minneapolis and shares a life with my amazing wife and adorable son. I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, MI, and moved to Minneapolis when I was 18 to study music, and I stayed because I'm one of those crazy people that enjoys the snow and cold weather. Music is my trade & performing it for people is my passion. When I'm not in my studio writing songs and cutting records, or on the road playing shows, I'm usually tending to our backyard chickens, eating fresh veggies from my wife's huge garden, or out doing one of my many outdoor hobbies.

Now here are a few things about my music career that I should probably share in a music bio:

In September 2014 Budweiser released their "Friends Are Waiting" commercial campaign featuring me singing my song When You Come Home.

The Summer of 2015 marked the release of my fourth, and most prolific and widely distributed album, Come On Home, featuring the Budweiser song When You Come Home and singles Rum River and California.

Over the years I've had the honor of sharing the stage with some really cool artists & bands including The Civil Wars, Andy Grammer, Eric Hutchinson, NeedtoBreathe, Augustana, Tyrone Wells, Haley Reinhart, John McLaughlin, Will Hoge, Drew Holcomb, Sister Hazel, and more.

In February, 2018, I released my newest album 25 Years. One of my favorite producers, John Fields, produced it and I couldn't be more excited for you to hear it.

Following another stint in an Irish show band based in Dublin, Legg moved back to London and continued to gig in bands that played clubs and pubs and toured around and outside Britain. When one bandleader asked him to play acoustic guitar chords up against a microphone, he became fascinated with the notion of blending the tonality of an acoustic with the amplified power of the electric guitar.

Thus began an electro-acoustic quest that continues today to find the holy guitar grail that melds tone, technique and technology to allow him to create, perform and record the music his imagination envisions, eventually incorporating synthesizers and computerized MIDI programming to augment and enrich his one-man musicality. "I wanted something that had the harmonic content roughly like an acoustic, and that had the flexibility in terms of stringing and volume levels, whatever you wanted to do, of an electric," he explains.

Starting to gig as a solo artist in the mid 1970s, Legg won a Guitar magazine solo acoustic competition in both the composition and performance categories, and began writing articles for that magazine and other guitar publications (and later Guitar Player in America), plus authored his first of a number of books, The All Round Gigster. He released his first of five albums in Britain in 1976. Soon after he began working for Rose Morris & Company's musical instrument and equipment store on London's legendary Denmark Street music business strip doing guitar repairs, quality control and manufacturer contact. That led to collaborations and consultations with numerous guitar makers and amplifier and pickup manufacturers and technicians over the years as well as guitar clinics and product demonstrations at musical instrument and equipment shows in Britain, Europe and later America and Japan. His compositions began being used by English radio and TV programs, and London's Ballet Rambert also choreographed one of his songs as a dance piece.

With his 1990 American recording debut on Guitars & Other Cathedrals, Legg found even greater success across the pond as a regularly touring solo act, headlining and sharing bills with fellow guitarists Richard Thompson, David Lindley, Eric Johnson (whose 2005 album Bloom Legg plays on) and Joe Satriani (on both his own shows and as part of his G3 Tour package with Johnson and Steve Vai, whose Favored Nations record label released two Legg albums). Guitar Player named his records Guitar for Mortals and Mrs. Crowe's Blue Waltz as Best Acoustic Album (1992 & '93) and Wine, Women & Waltz as Best Overall Guitar Album (1994) in its annual readers' polls. He has three instructional videos on the U.S. market (Beyond Acoustic Guitar, Fingerpicking & Open Tunings and How To Cheat At Guitar) as well as two books (Customizing Your Electric Guitar and a collection of his compositions in tablature and standard notation, Pickin' and Squintin'). In addition to his commentaries for "All Things Considered," the popular public radio news show regularly uses a number of his varied guitar interpretations of its theme music.

Throughout his career, he has earned the highest praise from the media. "Legg is, above all, a guitarist of great power, invention and versatility," observes the St. Petersburg Times. "Through fast-fingered picking, spontaneously layering parts and occasional ringing harmonics, he sounds like an orchestra." Guitar Player heralds how he "combines a sublime melodic sense with a mighty right-hand groove, creating pretty music with rhythmically aggressive undercurrents," while Acoustic Guitar notes that "the guitar is the most versatile instrument in the world, and nobody demonstrates this better than Adrian Legg." But the Atlanta Journal-Constitution likely summed up his impact on listeners best when it exclaimed, "Mr. Legg's compositions, with their narrative melodies and nakedly emotive tones, offer an antidote to the guitar-hero syndrome."

For Legg, the fulcrum and essence of his creativity is in live performance. "Playing live is the whole point," he stresses. "Everyone makes a journey, an effort; we all come together -- me, the audience, the people who run the venue -- to share this wonderful, universal, human emotional interaction. This is where music lives.

"Before we had all this mechanical stuff that's what we did," Legg notes. "We got together and did it ourselves, or somebody came and did it for us. Everybody is involved in some kind of effort for that to happen. So everybody contributes to the musical event, and everybody is engaged in it. It has a huge social value which I think is very important."

Described by Audio magazine as a "kind of cross between Robert Fripp and Garrison Keillor," Legg is a genuine entertainer who excels at not only painting pictures if not frescoes and telling stories with music but also wittily regaling his audiences with tales from his life and travels and his cogent and often oblique yet thought provoking observations on a spectrum of topics. It's all part of his dedication to making his performances a full-blooded emotional experience. "If you haven't shared a laugh with someone," he insists, "you certainly can't share a tragedy."

So it's no wonder that popular BBC radio personality Andy Kershaw says of Legg, "Quite simply, there is no one else like him," citing his "dazzling technique and equally large dollops of spirit, humor, passion, eclecticism and spontaneity." For his part, Legg appreciates all the praise, but views his mission as far more basic, and more than anything else an expression of his soul and humanity. "I don't see what I do as particularly eclectic; I see it as perfectly normal. In terms of the music that has gone before me, I simply reflect my forebears like every other musician." The results of that approach, however, are simply irresistible and unforgettable.

The famously political songwriter, James McMurtry, has been keeping a close eye on the troubled Trump administration from across the pond while touring overseas. "A few years back, I put out a song called 'Cheney's Toy,'" McMurtry explains. "It was often misinterpreted due to a reference to an unknown soldier. People thought I was calling the soldier 'Cheney's Toy' when I actually was referring to then-President George W. Bush. It seemed to me that Cheney was the puppeteer in that administration, while Bush was the puppet, the toy. At several shows during my current tour of the UK and Europe, people have called out for me to sing,'Bannon's Toy.'"

Fans hoping for more sociopolitical commentary from the singular songwriter got a taste with his recent single "Remembrance." ("It's election time, but I couldn't get my head around modern politics," McMurtry says of the song. "Perhaps history holds a lesson or two.") Meanwhile, the longtime Austin resident continues riding waves of universal acclaim for his latest offering Complicated Game. "At a stage where most veteran musicians fall into a groove or rut, McMurtry continues to surprise," Texas Music magazine recently noted. "[Complicated Game] is a collection of narratives as sharply observed as any from McMurtry, but with a contemplative depth that comes with maturity."

Indeed, McMurtry's latest collection spotlights a craftsman in absolutely peak form as he turns from political toward personal ("These Things I've Come to Know," "You Got to Me"). "The lyrical theme is mostly about relationships," the longtime Austin resident says. "It's also a little about the big old world verses the poor little farmer or fisherman." Either way, McMurtry spins his stories with a poet's pen ("Long Island Sound") and a painter's precision ("She Loves Me") throughout.

Folks notice Complicated Game delivering McMurtry's trademark story songs time and again ("Copper Canteen," "Deaver's Crossing"). "[McMurtry] takes listeners on a road trip of unprecedented geographic and emotional scope," No Depression raves of the new record. "Lyrically, the album is wise and adventurous, with McMurtry -- who's not prone to autobiographical tales -- credibly inhabiting characters from all walks of life." "[McMurtry] Fuses wry, literate observations about the world with the snarl of barroom rock," National Public Radio echoes. "The result is at times sardonic, subversive and funny, but often vulnerable and always poignant."

Longtime fans know McMurtry's vibrant vignettes have turned heads for a quarter century now. "James McMurtry is one of my very few favorite songwriters on Earth and these days he's working at the top of his game," says Americana all-star Jason Isbell. "He has that rare gift of being able to make a listener laugh out loud at one line and choke up at the next. I don't think anybody writes better lyrics." "Yes. Spin "South Dakota." You'll hear. "They took their time with this one," Texas Music magazine notes, "and it was well worth it. He's always been wise beyond his age, but middle age suits him well."

Evidence: McMurtry's Just Us Kids (2008) and Childish Things (2005). The former earned his highest Billboard 200 chart position in nearly two decades and notched Americana Music Award nominations. Meanwhile, Childish Things scored endless critical praise and spent six full weeks topping the Americana Music Radio chart in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, Childish Things won the Americana Music Association's Album of the Year and "We Can't Make It Here" was named the rapidly rising organization's Song of the Year.

Of course, Complicated Game doubles down on literate storytelling longtime enthusiasts expect. Recall high watermarks past: "Childish Things," "Choctaw Bingo," "Peter Pan," "Levelland," and "Out Here in the Middle" only begin the list. (Yes, Robert Earl Keen covered those last two, "Levelland" remaining a live staple.) Just Us Kids alone includes fan favorites "Hurricane Party," "Ruby and Carlos" and "You'd a Thought." High watermarks deliver equal measures depth and breadth and pierce hearts with sharp sociopolitical commentary ("Fireline Road").

More history: McMurtry critically lauded first album Too Long in the Wasteland (1989) was produced by John Mellencamp and marked the beginning of a series of acclaimed projects for Columbia and Sugar Hill Records. In 1996, McMurtry received a Grammy nomination for Long Form Music Video for Where'd You Hide The Body. Additionally, It Had To Happen (1997) received the American Indie Award for Best Americana Album.

In 2004, McMurtry released the universally lauded Live in Aught-Three on Compadre Records. The following year, Childish Things notched notched arguably his most critical praise, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the Americana Music Radio Chart in 2005 and 2006. In September 2006, Childish Things and "We Can't Make It Here" won the Americana Music Awards for Album and Song of the Year, respectively. McMurtry received more Americana Music Award nominations for 2008's Just Us Kids. This album marked his highest Billboard 200 chart position in more than nearly two decades.

In 2009, Live in Europe was released, capturing the McMurtry band's first European tour and extraordinary live set. Along with seasoned band members Ronnie Johnson, Daren Hess, and Tim Holt, the disc features special guests Ian McLagan (The Faces) and Jon Dee Graham (True Believers, Skunks). Also, for the first time ever, video of the James McMurtry Band's live performance is available on the included DVD.

The poignant lyrics of his immense catalog still ring true today. In 2011, "We Can't Make It Here" was cited among 'The Nation's' "Best Protest Songs Ever." "'We Can't Make It Here,'" Bob Lefsetz wrote, "has stood the test of time because of its unmitigated truth."

McMurtry tours year round and consistently throws down unparalleled powerhouse performances. The Washington Post notes: "Much attention is paid to James McMurtry's lyrics and rightfully so: He creates a novel's worth of emotion and experience in four minutes of blisteringly stark couplets. What gets overlooked, however, is that he's an accomplished rock guitar player...serious stuff, imparted by a singularly serious band."

In a country where interstates don't take you to new places, but to the same places, where everywhere you go you've already been or you've just left, The Bottle Rockets' new album absolutely nails a sound and a vibe with a palpable sense of place. Lean Forward is suffused with the determination and resilience of their distinctly midwestern roots; theirs is a celebration of pragmatism and tempered optimism, not the delusions and exhortations of glassy eyed zealots--they aren't going to fall for that. Oh, it's a flat out, smoking rock record, too.

Lean Forward continues the Rockets' creative resurgence ignited by 2006's Zoysia. Reunited with producer Eric "Roscoe" Ambel (who ran the knobs on the Bottle Rockets' seminal albums The Brooklyn Side and 24 Hours A Day), the Bottle Rockets do what no other band does better -- look into the hearts and minds and faces of the dying small towns in America and crafts populist anthems with the sympathetic eye of Woody Guthrie and sonic stomp of Crazy Horse. They are songs that demand the windows be rolled down and the volume turned up. And with the hooks, you'll wonder how they make such problems sound so good ...

Lean Forward is stacked with a sharp lyricism and gritty fatalism that looks off the front porch for inspiration, and has the locked down groove of a band on top of its game. "The Long Way" looks on the bright side of the path not intentionally taken and works into a joyous song-ending jam. Songs like "Done It All Before" and "Get on the Bus" shine with an irresistible buoyancy, as does "Shame on Me" which gets to the meat of the relationship matter that, despite our best intentions, we're all gonna screw up. "Hard Times" whips up a ZZ Top-inflected boogie with effortless mastery and a dual guitar attack that'll put some much-needed flare back in your jeans.

On "Kid Next Door," the lyrics bypass protest in favor of simple commentary on a war coming home, making it a far more powerful song no matter where one stands on the issue. It's a stone cold classic and handled with the deftness and conviction that speaks to the Rockets' sober-minded realism. To see that they've still got scruffy punk moxie to spare, look no further than "The Way It Used To Be" and the channeling of Bo Diddley via the Stooges on "Nothing but a Driver."

With their 15th anniversary now in the rear view mirror, the Bottle Rockets show no signs of letting up. Lean Forward is an album that celebrates the forces of erosion not earthquakes, of the marathon not the sprint. Honed in their towns and on their back roads, it is distinctly the Bottle Rockets. Rather than be confining, this identity broadens the appeal and strength of their music far from their backyards into our own. Their specificity speaks universally and the message is a simple one: Lean forward, man, because it beats falling back.

"You're never going to be as good as something you copy. So, we want to invent our own space," says Phil Leavitt, one half of the stalwart rock/blues duo 7Horse. "And if you want what we've got, we're the only ones who have it."

Formed in 2011 by Leavitt and longtime friend and musical partner Joie Calio, 7Horse has blazed their own trail across three well-reviewed albums: Let the 7Horse Run (2011), Songs for a Voodoo Wedding (2014) and Livin in a Bitch of a World (2016). Along the way, their raw, swaggerin' catalog of "dark, sexual rock'n'roll" has racked up 13.5+ million streams on Spotify and been featured across TV shows (Amazon's The Grand Tour, the NFL playoffs on Fox), video games (Far Cry 5) and one very, very big movie -- The Wolf of Wall Street, which showcased the band's left-of-center hit "Meth Lab Zoso Sticker."

"There's a level of validation when Martin Scorsese thinks your song is good enough for his movie," says Calio. "That was the proverbial shot in the arm for us. We weren't looking for it, but we had worked our asses off -- sometimes stuff like that comes to you."

But ever restless, the band has toyed with their musical formula on their new album Superfecta. Written and recorded in the Hollywood Hills over a six-month span, it marks a true sonic evolution for the group, and adds a few new voices to their swampy mix.

"We started as a two-piece, blues-influenced, Black Keys-styled band, but we couldn't stay there," says Leavitt. "We have all these influences. I'm a product of growing up in Vegas, so I love showbiz, and I love rock'n'roll. To me, it's like Dean Martin fronting the Stones. Is there room for that? We want to find out."

In lieu of self-producing, the band brought in Grammy-winning mixer/producer Dave Way (Ben Folds, Jakob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Foo Fighters, Paul McCartney, Pink). "He's mixed some of our stuff before, and he's a great collaborator," says Leavitt. "He has the same appreciation for the '60s and '70s bands we like -- and he cut his teeth as an engineer/mixer for a lot of R&B records, so he gets the groove that's part of our sound. And he's a great hang."

As well, the band also started working with Brian Whelan, a multi-instrumentalist who recently served as the guitar player for Dwight Yoakam. "He's a great bass player and keyboardist, and he really frees us up live," says Calio.

For Superfecta, the group upended their unorthodox songwriting process. "We live in two different cities, so we used to send each other lyrics and ideas, and finish the song when we went into the studio, to create that last-minute spark," says Calio. "That worked for three records. This time, we did a lot of pre-production and wrote for several months together. It was a conscious effort to up our game."

The result is an expansive, daring take on 7Horse's blues-rock sound. Take the thunderous opener "Victorious," a foot-stomping anthem that plays like "We Will Rock You" cycled through classic ZZ Top. It's certainly a diverse record, but a cohesive one: the spaghetti western vibe of "What Kind of Man" and sped-up rockabilly of "Die Behind the Wheel" pair nicely with the more languid break-up rocker "Broken String" (featuring Joie on lead) and the slow din of "Burn," a song written at 5 a.m. after Leavitt witnessed images of the 405 on fire.

Lyrically, Superfecta, the band's fourth record, centers on four themes -- death, money, love and the duo's relationship to music (hence the title, a reference to betting on the four winning horses in a race). The album also touches upon the frazzled state of our country -- see the toe-tapping, what-do-you-believe first single "What Is America."

In support of the September release of a rollickin' cover of Johnny Cash's "Man in Black" (recorded for the movie VENOM) and their newest album out in late 2018 -- the band is itching to hit the road. "We want to tour. A lot," says Leavitt. "I love playing in front of people. That inspires us."

Interestingly, the group found great success touring with rather unexpected musical pairings, including country/Southern rockers The Cadillac Three and blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd. "Those were great tours, and that's the kind of tour I want to be on." says Calio. "You're there to show up and change minds. I love doing that."

For Leavitt and Calio, 7Horse marks the incredible evolution of a friendship and musical partnership that goes back over two decades -- with some brief detours into book writing, solo records and the Blue Man Group -- starting when the two served as the rhythm section and Joie sang lead for the platinum alt-rock trio dada. "We've always been unified in thought," says Calio. "We agree on almost everything. And we know that even as we expand our band, the two of us will always be the foundation."

Armed with merely a double-neck bass/guitar, drums and a dizzying array of foot pedals, El Ten Eleven creates complex, deeply felt music, from scratch, onstage, with no help from laptops or additional musicians. Made up of Kristian Dunn (bass, guitar) and Tim Fogarty (Drums), they utilize multiple looping pedals to create songs that sound as though they are being played by at least six people. Most first-timers to an El Ten Eleven show are stunned that the band is a duo. It's a refreshing site in this age of letting the computers do all the work.

Since the band's inception in 2002, they have always been just two people who produce their own records. That attitude of self-reliance led to the band launching their own Fake Record Label, where they have self-released 6 full length albums over the past decade plus. For 2018's Banker's Hill,the band brought producer Sonny Diperri into the fold and moved up to the beautiful Panoramic House studios in Stinson Beach, CA for a month to create their 7th long-player. The decision to bring another collaborative force onboard has proven well worth the change of process.

Part of El Ten Eleven's success has come from tasteful licensing to Film &TV. Their music has been used in everything from Lexus commercials to the MTV Video Music Awards but the most notoriety has come from licensing partnerships with Gary Hustwit's award-winning design documentary trilogy, "Helvetica," "Objectified" and "Urbanized." Featuring both original music from El Ten Eleven and scores from Kristian Dunn, the films' beautiful precision are a perfect marriage for El Ten Eleven's meticulously-layered sounds.

The words "We will destroy the Earth and all we've made" taken in their most literal form appear to be strikingly brutal. Approach it via its position in the opening track on Thunder Dreamer's new LP, however, and the tone feels altogether more enigmatic and alluring. With its crushingly somber delivery, the words immediately create a palpable and dark romantic mood that sets the tone for the album to come. Indicative of a record that never once settles, even when it opens up into far more embracing moments of splendor, "Why Bother" immediately plunges the listener in to the heart of Thunder Dreamer's work: 'Capture,' the band's most fully realized and affecting work to-date.

Released in May via 6131 Records (Julien Baker, Touché Amoré), 'Capture' takes the stifling small-town isolation that has peppered the bands work thus far -- through their 2013 eponymous EP and 2015's debut LP -- and imbues it with the things that have always led to the most endearing of rock and roll records: hardships and heartaches, lethargy and crushing indifference in the face of it all. Absorbing such things from the Midwestern heartland they call home, that tough, resilient authenticity runs through the band's new record like hot blood through cold, hard-working limbs.

Sprawling out across eight monumental tracks, 'Capture' finds frontman Steven Hamilton in torch-bearing form. Once his solo project but now expanded to a four-piece, Thunder Dreamer specialize in writing songs that feel remarkably human. The emotional connections to the people and places that fade in and out of the record are not just a pertinent inclusion, but a vital one. Even when the band are crafting a gleaming slice of Americana -- think Whiskeytown at their most opulent, or Songs: Ohia's rollicking pomp -- the whole thing is underpinned by an overwhelming poignancy.

Some five years on from their initial outing, Thunder Dreamer offer an about-turn on 'Capture,' shaping the rawness of their previous work in to something altogether more complete and substantial; a gritty take on the great American songbook, with its arms and heart left open to all.

Thunder Dreamer is: Steven Hamilton (vocals, guitar), Corey Greenfield (drums), Alex Wallwork (bass), and Zach Zint (piano).

David Sancious is one of the most talented and sought after keyboard players in the music industry. Just off a recent tour with Sting, David is back in his studio completing his ninth album entitled "The Treehouse Sessions". His other most recent recordings include "9 Piano Improvisations", "Cinema" and "Live in The Now".

David has always been inspired and motivated by the composing aspect of music. He thinks of himself as a composer who plays well, rather than a person who is proficient on a given instrument. His recordings have attracted the attention of artists the world over.

Since his first big break as a member of the original Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in the 70's David has also worked with Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton, Santana, Jeff Beck, Seal, Yousou Ndour, Zucchero, Francis Dunnery, Aretha Franklin and many others over the years, David is admired and referred to by many as a 'Musician's Musician". David has used his talents as a pianist, synthesist, guitarist, arranger, and producer on recording sessions and concert tours, playing an eclectic and diverse range of music.

David, who has played with Sting, on and off, for the past twenty years joined a strong line up of musicians at Sting's 60th birthday bash at New York's Beacon Theater. The charity event featured a stacked lineup where David reunited with Bruce Springsteen and accompanied Lady Gaga, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, Rufus Wainwright, Mary J. Blige and will.i.am and others all covering Sting's songs.

David describes his music as a mixture of harmony and melody from the jazz and classical traditions, combined with rhythms from the rock and R&B tradition.

Will Calhoun, the widely acclaimed drummer from the Bronx, New York, graduated from the Berklee School of Music in Boston, where he received a Bachelors degree in Music Production and engineering. He was also the recipient of the prestigious Buddy Rich Jazz Masters Award for outstanding performance by a drummer.

Will Calhoun's unique blend of improvisational and hard rock drumming can be found on each of Living Colour's four Epic releases: the ground breaking multi-platinum debut, Vivid, the critically acclaimed sophomore LP, Time's Up, the Biscuits EP, and Stain, as well as their latest release on Sanctuary Records, CollideØscope. A prolific song writer, Will has co-written many Living Colour compositions and wrote the critically acclaimed song, Pride, on the Time's Up album and Nothingness on the Stain album. As a member of Living Colour, Will received a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance by a group and another Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Living Colour also won an International Rock Award for Best Rock Band.

In addition to his work with Living Colour, Will has recorded and/or toured with diverse artists including B.B. King, Mick Jagger, Jaco Pastorious, Harry Belafonte, Pharoah Sanders, Jack Dejohnette, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, The Allman Brothers, Lauryn Hill, Marcus Miller, Dr.John, Carly Simon, Herb Alpert, Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, Wayne Shorter (on the Grammy-winning CD "High Life"), and recorded with rappers Run-DMC and Public Enemy. As a producer, player, and songwriter, Will has worked on Herb Alpert's Grammy-nominated CD, Colors.

During Will's down time he has managed to record two solo projects Housework and Drum Wave. These discs provide an alternate canvas for his acoustic drumset artistry as well as his push for electronic tonal expressions.

Will, Doug Wimbish, and Vinx joined forces to form the groundbreaking Ambient World Music band JUNGLE FUNK. Their live CD Jungle Funk is available on Zebra Records in the States. The group combines mastery of technology with musicianship. This rare and cutting edge disc was given the Album of the Year mention in Australia.

Will's first jazz CD as a bandleader is entitled The Will Calhoun Quintet: Live at the Blue Note. The disc is an adventurous journey through Will's approach to acoustic Jazz, World and Ambient music. The line-up features Bobby Watson-sax, Terrell Stafford-trumpet, John Benitez-bass and Orrin Evans-piano. Will's song writing, arrangements and drumming on this CD are ground breaking. Although this was Will's first attempt at fronting a jazz group, Down Beat Magazine, Jazz Times, and BillBoard Magazine have given the CD top ratings. Drum Magazine's readers poll voted Will's CD 1st runner up for Drummer/Band leader.

Will has worked with rapper Mos Def, both as a producer and performer. Will brought together an all-star lineup for this project, featuring artists like: Bernie Worrell on keys, Doug Wimbish on bass, Doc Know, the guitarist from Bad Brains, and other special guests. The Band is titled Black Jack Johnson, and several tracks from this band were featured on Mos Def's CD The New Danger. Keep your eyes and ears open for a full length Black Jack Johnson CD. It will be in the usual cutting-edge Calhoun fashion.

For all you Living Colour fans, the band is touring again and working on new material. They have performed regional U.S. tour, as well as tours in South America, Australia and Europe over the past several years. Check the Tour Schedule page often for updates.

One of Will's latest creations is his follow-up release on the Halfnote label: Native Lands. Native Lands can be described as Jazz meets World, meets trance-inducing Urban music. This is a double package - CD/DVD in which Calhoun marries his far reaching interests in a genre-bending collection that taps key expressionists from various backgrounds. Among those contributing are Pharoah Sanders, Mos Def, Buster Williams, Stanley Jordan, Kevin Eubanks, Marcus Miller and Wallace Roney, as well as Nana Vasconcelos from Brazil and Cheick Tidiane Seck from Mali. The album includes a DVD with over ninety minutes of music videos and documentary materials that chronicle the last ten years of Will's life and travels. Will is presently touring in support of this project with his group, variously called "AZA" or "Native Lands", which features various artists from the album and other outstanding musicians.

Not many artists have the vision and artistic energy to be Grammy winners and contribute to so many genres: jazz, rock, hip-hop, ambient, et al, while concurrently producing, touring, creating new projects, working on films, and continually pushing the envelope. Will Calhoun has this creative vision, and he is doing an extraordinary job keeping music a spiritual and motivating force in his life.

The R&B Cadets played their first gig shortly after New Year's in 1980 and their last in the summer of 1986. In that time they got a lot of folks out on the dance floor, playing a distinctive mix of of deep soul cuts from Paul Cebar's massive record collection and some sparkling originals, written by John Sieger, often in tandem with Michael Feldman, a friend and now longtime host of Public Radio's Whad'ya Know?

Splitting lead duties with Sieger and Cebar was the lovely chanteuse, Robin Pluer. Owner of one the lovelier voice heard in the midwest, Ms. Pluer was a dollop of sweetness at the top of the band's deep range. Rounding out the lineup was Mike Sieger, John's brother and vocal doppelganger, who played bass. Original drummer Cy Costabile, was later replaced by Bobby Schneider and the saxophonist Juli Wood was replaced by keyboard/sax man Bob Jennings.

In it's prime, the band had a large following in Milwaukee, where they were pretty much the house band at the late, lamented Century Hall. They travelled well too, with fans in the Twin Cities, Chicago, Madison and even New York where they played legendary clubs like CBGB's, The Knitting Factory and The Lone Star. Their only record, Top Happy, came out in 198-. It featured a song produced by Nick Lowe, a fan who had stumbled across them after playing a show in Milwaukee. The record got great reviews and could have been the start of even bigger things, but like many bands, people were pulling, and being pulled, in different directions.

The positive result of their breakup was two, then three very vital and entertaining acts. There was Semi-Twang, which concentrated on John's songs and did a record, Salty Tears for Warner Brothers that gathered more love than sales. John later moved to nashville and had many of his songs recorded by artist like Dwight Yoakam, Flaco Jimenez and The Bodeans.

Paul and Robin continued with the beefed up and ever-popular Milwaukeeans, releasing a record in the 1990s on Shenachie that got radio play around the country. That lineup stayed around until Robin bid adieu. Tired of touring and now married, she headed to New York for a while, before returning. She has carved out a special niche between soul, swing, standards and the French chanson that she loves, and is still performing today.

In 2009 Semi-Twang reunited and have released two CDs, both of which garnered raves. Paul has continued non-stop, his latest was out last year with his most recent moniker, Tomorrow Sound. The three headed beast has been in rehearsal, tightening up songs old and new. The crowd at their first reunion gig in many years was up and dancing at the first down beat, you probably will be too.

Loaded .38s, space heaters, and big skies. Welcome to the lethal, littered landscape of Jim Heath's imagination. True to his high evangelical calling, Jim is a Revelator, both revealing & reinterpreting the country-blues-rock roots of American music. He's a time-travelling space-cowboy on an endless interstellar musical tour, and we are all the richer and "psychobillier" for getting to tag along.

Seeing REVEREND HORTON HEAT live is a transformative experience. Flames come off the guitars. Heat singes your skin. There's nothing like the primal tribal rock 'n roll transfiguration of a Reverend Horton Heat show. Jim becomes a slicked-back 1950?s rock 'n roll shaman channeling Screamin' Jay Hawkins through Buddy Holly, while Jimbo incinerates the Stand-Up Bass. And then there are the "Heatettes". Those foxy rockabilly chicks dressed in poodle-skirts and cowboy boots slamming the night away. It's like being magically transported into a Teen Exploitation picture from the 1950s that's currently taking place in the future.

Listening to the REVEREND HORTON HEAT is tantamount to injecting pure musical nitrous into the hot-rod engine of your heart. The Reverend's commandants are simple. Rock hard, drive fast, and live true. And no band on this, or any other, planet rocks harder, drives faster, or lives truer than the Reverend Horton Heat. These itinerant preachers actually practice what they preach. They live their lives by the Gospel of Rock 'n Roll.

From the High-Octane Spaghetti-Western Wall of Sound in "Big Sky" to the dark driving frenetic paranoia of "400 Bucks" to the brain-melting Western Psychedelic Garage purity of "Psychobilly Freakout" The Rev's music is the perfect soundtrack to the Drive-In Movie of your life.

Jim Heath and Jimbo Wallace have chewed up more road than the Google Maps drivers. For twenty-five Psychobilly years, they have blazed an indelible, unforgettable, and meteoric trail across the globe with their unique blend of musical virtuosity, legendary showmanship, and mythic imagery.

With his unique voice, more unique song writing, and even more unique double necked "Guit-Steel" guitar, there has absolutely never been ANYONE like Junior Brown. He's an American Original. Born in 1952 in Cottonwood, Arizona, Junior Brown showed an affinity for music at an early age when the family moved to a rural area of Indiana near Kirksville. In the following years, Junior began to experience Country music and remembers it as "growing up out of the ground like the crops -- it was everywhere; coming out of cars, houses, gas stations and stores like the soundtrack of a story, but Country music programs on TV hadn't really come along much yet; not until the late fifties." Discovering a guitar in his grandparent's attic, he spent the next several years woodshedding with records and the radio. Junior was also able to tap into music he couldn't hear at home which older, college aged kids were listening to. This was possible due to his father's employment at small campuses throughout the next decade as the family moved twice again. As a young boy he was able to experience the thrill of performing before live audiences, at parties, school functions even singing and playing guitar for five thousand Boy Scouts at an Andrews Air Force Base jamboree; then while still a teenager, getting the chance to sit in with Rock and Roll pioneer, Bo Diddley. Armed with this broad spectrum of influences, he began to develop a storehouse of musical chops.

Early on, Junior realized he had to keep his interest in Country music a secret; "it was like a secret friend I carried around, being careful not to tell anyone (especially girls) about my love for it because I thought they would laugh at me." It wasn't until the late 1960's that Junior Brown would proudly explore the passion for the music he had loved since his early childhood in Indiana. With many prominent figures as his inspiration (Country legends, some who he would work with years later), he spent his nights in small clubs across the southwest. "I played more nights in honkytonks during the Seventies and Eighties than most musicians will see in a lifetime... I did so many years of that, night after night, four sets a night, fifteen minute breaks; I mean after that, you've gotta get good or you gotta get out. The early 1970's California Country dance club scene was particularly competitive, but I learned professionalism and stage demeanor which has served me well to this day." More recently however, Junior has shown himself to be equally adept at a wide variety of American music styles beyond Country. These include Rock and Roll, Blues, Hawaiian, Bluegrass and Western Swing.

There is a dependable consistency in Junior's writing style (he writes nearly all his material) yet he's always full of pleasant surprises. Though Junior always knew he could sing and play what he wanted, he had yet to explore his potential as a songwriter. "I realized no one was going to walk into a club and discover me...so I started hanging out with some songwriters who I'd played some jobs with, and they showed me how to support myself by writing and publishing." With his writing coming together by the mid-Eighties, Brown upgraded his gear in a way that no artist had ever done. Struggling through each show, going back and forth plugging and unplugging guitar to steel guitar while singing, he had a dream one night about the two instruments mysteriously melding into one. The result was Brown's unique invention, the "Guit-Steel", a double necked instrument combining standard guitar with steel guitar. Built by Michael Stevens of Stevens Electric Instruments, the Guit-Steel allows Junior to switch instruments quickly in mid song while singing. According to Brown, his guitar and steel guitar playing became more his own around this time, with less imitation of others and more his own original ideas and licks. This maturation coincided with the development of a completely "Junior Brown" style of songwriting which employs subtle dry wit to some songs -- others can be more overtly humorous, or just plain dead serious; like his playing, there is a wide range of styles that when combined can only spell Junior Brown.

In the early nineties Brown and his band (including wife Tanya Rae) relocated to Texas to the active Austin music scene and landed a weekly gig at the Continental club. Having worked as a sideman for many of the Austin-based acts over the years, Junior was already well familiar with the town. His unique and entertaining combination of singing, songwriting, instrumental and production skills led to a seven record deal with Curb Records that began with "Twelve Shades of Brown" in 1993. He later released two albums on the TelArc label. There were several Grammy nods, a CMA (Country Music Association) award for "My Wife Thinks You're Dead", movie and repeated TV appearances like Letterman, Conan, Saturday Night Live, Austin City Limits, SpongeBob, X Files, Dukes of Hazzard, Me Myself and Irene, Tresspass, Still Breathing, Blue Collar Comedy Tour 1 and 2, and more recently, Better Call Saul. And there were the Ad Campaigns; The Gap, Lee Jeans and Lipton Tea. As Junior became more well known, he began to collaborate on projects with some of his heroes. These include a duet with Ralph Stanley for which Junior received a Bluegrass Music Association Award (IBMA), a duet and video with Hank Thompson, as well as duets with video and record collaborations with the Beach Boys, George Jones, Leon McAuliffe, Ray Price, Leona Williams, Lynn Morris, Lloyd Green and Doc Watson. He even played guitar for Bob Wills' Texas Playboys in a radio commercial.

Junior is currently finishing up recording on his latest album, "Deep In The Heart Of Me". Release date is slated for Spring 2017. Junior's performance on the promotional song, "Better Call Saul" was recorded and released both as a video on AMC as well as a flexible 33 1/3rd vinyl record included in the show's box set from Season One. Junior, Tanya Rae and the band continue to tear up the highways and no doubt will be appearing in concert near you one of these days. Seeing Junior live is a definite must, so GUIT WITH IT 'cause he's AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL!

From early days growing up in the southeast Los Angeles suburb of Downey, California under the tutelage of T-Bone Walker and Big Joe Turner to their emergence as central figures in the eclectic LA punk/rock scene of the early '80s to their current status as internationally-renowned influences in their own right, the Blasters have spent their lives exploring and expressing the deep and diverse musical legacy that is best described by the title of their first album: American Music.

A performance by today's Blasters--vocalist-guitarist Phil Alvin, drummer Bill Bateman, bassist John Bazz, and guitarist Keith Wyatt--reflects influences that range from George Jones and Carl Perkins to Howlin' Wolf, James Brown and Bo Diddley. The band's 1980 debut album American Music (Rollin' Rock) was a powerful collection of fresh, distinctive performances that shattered the artificial boundaries between blues, rockabilly, country, R&B and rock & roll. The next three albums for Slash/Warner Bros. (The Blasters, Non-Fiction, and Hard Line) increasingly featured the unique songwriting voice of original guitarist Dave Alvin as the band's lineup expanded to include pianist Gene Taylor plus saxophonists Steve Berlin and New Orleans legend Lee Allen ("the man who put a saxophone in rock & roll"). As the Blasters' fame grew, they began to draw accolades from artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton and Queen, and in turn the band encouraged and supported still up-and-coming LA musical peers such as Dwight Yoakum and Los Lobos

In 1986, Dave Alvin left the band to pursue a solo career, and over the next decade a series of renowned guitarists including Billy Zoom, Michael "Hollywood Fats" Mann, Greg "Smokey" Hormel, and James Intveld filled the position. Phil Alvin simultaneously expanded his own musical efforts with the release of two acclaimed solo albums, Unsung Stories (Slash/Warner) in 1986 and County Fair 2000 (Hightone) in 1994.

In 1996, current guitarist Keith Wyatt joined the lineup and the Blasters continued touring steadily in the US and Europe before returning to the studio in 2004 to record 4-11-44 (Rainman). After the departure of drummer Jerry Angel, the band reunited with original member Bill Bateman and subsequently released their 2012 CD Fun on Saturday Night (Rip Cat). Meanwhile, the Blasters' catalog was renewed with reissues of American Music along with two Slash/Warner compilations (Testament and The Blasters Collection) and the live recordings Trouble Bound and Going Home Live (Shout Factory).

Blasters shows have been described as "a cross between Creedence and the Clash," with a display of passion and energy only deepened by decades of experience. For all of the ways in which the world has changed in the past few decades, one thing is still guaranteed: the Blasters play American Music.

Greg Koch and the Koch-Marshall Trio consist of American guitarist Greg Koch, his son Dylan Koch on drums and Hammond B3 specialist Toby Lee Marshall. At the heart of this organ trio is a blues sensibility - but Koch's compositions are an amalgam of rock, funk, jazz and country served up with heavy grooves and dynamic improvisations delivered with no small dose of humor and occasional wild abandon.

Milwaukee native Greg Koch has forged a successful career as a guitar player's guitarist. He has been called "fiendishly talented" by author and former editor- in-chief of Guitar Player Magazine Tom Wheeler and "scary good" by guitar phenom Joe Bonamassa. In addition to his 15 releases on multiple record labels which feature his unique take on a variety of American guitar styles and his versatile compositions, Koch is widely known for his lengthy tenure as an international ambassador for Fender Guitars which listed him in their "Top Ten Unsung Guitarists" on Fender.com. He is also a best-selling author and video instructor for music publisher Hal Leonard. Greg is a contributing columnist for a variety of guitar magazines including Guitar Player Magazine which listed Greg's "Chief's Blues" in their "40 Badass Blues Solos You Must Hear" and Premier Guitar. For the last few years Greg is renowned for his wildly popular internet videos (which number in the thousands with views exceeding 50 million) originating from the legendary Colorado guitar shop Wildwood Guitars.

Dylan Koch gravitated to the drums early on in his life using kitchen utensils to play along with music as soon as he could walk. After digesting an early diet of Ginger Baker, Keith Moon, Mitch Mitchell and John Bonham, Dylan was mentored by the legendary Tom Brechtlein (Chick Corea/Robben Ford). In high school Dylan participated in the Jazz Institute at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and furthered his studies at the McNally Smith School of Music in the Twin Cities. While still in his teens he performed with young guitar guns Tallan Noble Latz and Jared James Nichols and has performed alongside his father with such artists as Robben Ford, Little Feat's Paul Barrere, Jon Cleary, David Grissom, Roscoe Beck and Malford Milligan. Dylan was recently nominated for drummer of the year by the Wisconsin Area Music Awards (WAMI).

Toby Lee Marshall's screaming B3 is the perfect compliment to the musical stew that is the Koch songbook. Hailing from the Twin Cities area he came from a musical family, playing piano for years until falling under the spell of the sound of the organ while at a baseball game at age seven. His fascination for the Hammond B3 took hold after his Dad took him to see Steve Cherewan playing with Dr. Mambo's Combo at their legendary residency at Bunker's in Minneapolis. Steve mentored Toby in the ways of the B3 and he hit the ground running landing a gig with bluesman Lonnie Brooks while still a teen. He would go on to travel the world as a member of Bernard Allison's band. After taking a hiatus to spend some family time, Toby is returning to music with a vehemence and the Koch-Marshall format gives him a long leash to let his freak flag fly, providing groovy bass lines, sinuous chordal work and incendiary solos.

The trio blends the explosive guitar manipulations of Greg, the groove-centric, power-pocket playing of his son Dylan on drums (who share many telepathic musical moments) and the glorious, Hammond organ stylings of the uber-talented Toby Marshall, Greg’s compositions are properly portrayed in the blues drenched, funk, chicken-fried, gospelly, jazz-rock panorama in which they were conceived.

Blues is not for the faint-hearted. Since the genre first drew breath, its greatest practitioners have embraced the darkness, spinning tales of hardship and death, hellhounds and devilry. If the sleeve of Witchy Feelin' suggests that Kim Simmonds, too, has a tendency towards the macabre, then Savoy Brown's iconic leader is happy to confirm it. "Blues has always dealt with themes of the Devil, witchcraft and so forth, and I've always written along those lines. At least three of the songs on Witchy Feelin' have that hoodoo vibe..."

Released in 2017 on Ruf Records, Witchy Feelin' proves the Devil still has all the best tunes. From the thrillingly brittle guitar riff that opens Why Did You Hoodoo Me, we are in the hands of a master, with Simmonds reigniting the seismic vocals and searing fretwork that established Savoy Brown as linchpins of the '60s British blues boom. "On this album, I tried my best to get my voice in its power zone," he explains. "I'm a baritone singer. I like listening to singers I can relate to, such as J.J. Cale, Mark Knopfler, Tony Joe White and Tom Rush. For my guitar playing, I still get inspiration from Otis Rush, Buddy Guy and all the Chicago players I grew up listening to back in '63... but I always listen to new music too."

Recording alongside Pat Desalvo (bass), Garnet Grimm (drums) and engineer Ben Elliott, Simmonds leads us into a world of dark nights, wild weather, women and whiskey: all perennial themes given a modern twist by this ageless bluesman. "The songs on this album have been two years in the making," he reflects. "I tried to write songs that had a personal point of view yet can be relatable to everyone. On Vintage Man, I wrote about being the type of guy who doesn't change as he gets older. I wrote about the power of love on Why Did You Hoodoo Me. And with Guitar Slinger, I wrote a song about seeing a great guitar player in an old country bar -- as I did when I first saw Roy Buchanan in '69."

Anyone who witnessed Savoy Brown leave the blocks in 1965 would speak of a similar epiphany. Back then, the band were the spark that ignited the blues-boom, signing to Decca, opening for Cream's first London show and boasting a lead guitarist who was being namedropped in the same reverential breath as peers like Clapton and Hendrix (with whom Simmonds jammed). Already, the guitarist was emerging as the band's driving force. "I had a vision," he reflects. "When I started the band back in 1965, the concept was to be a British version of a Chicago blues band. And the exciting thing now is, that vision is still alive."

Soon, Savoy Brown had achieved what most British bands never did -- success in America -- and became a major US draw thanks to their high-energy material and tireless work ethic. "There's far too much said about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," Simmonds told Classic Rock. "It's a cliché. We were all extremely hard-working guys. When we came over to America, we were like a little army. I look at that time as being filled with incredible talent."
Times changed, of course, and by 1979, Simmonds had moved from a London he no longer recognised -- "The punks were everywhere!" -- to settle permanently in New York. The Savoy Brown bandmembers came and went, and the music scene shifted around him, but the guitarist stuck thrillingly to his guns and reaped the rewards, performing in iconic venues like Carnegie Hall and the Fillmore East and West, releasing thirty-odd albums, and later enjoying a well-deserved induction into Hollywood's Rock Walk Of Fame.

Even in the post-millennium, while his peers grow soft and drift into semi-retirement, Simmonds retains a vision and an edge, spitting out acclaimed albums that include 2011's Voodoo Moon, 2014's Goin' To The Delta, 2015's The Devil To Pay -- and the emphatic new addition to Savoy Brown's catalogue, Witchy Feelin'. "I'm amazed that I still have the energy inside me to play guitar, create music and write songs," he considers. "I've been blessed in my life and I thank God for that. I've never been a believer in holding on to the past -- I don't look over my shoulder and congratulate myself. I always want to climb the next mountain -- and I'm very pleased with this new album..."

Whether one leans towards the blues, opts for Americana or ignites some special fervor by playing with a garage band, there's a common bond that suggests a reverence for the roots. Looking back towards an earlier template -- no matter what the genre -- proves the point that appreciating what came before can be a stepping stone for what comes next.

Samantha Fish knows that all too well, and it's been evidenced in the music she's made her entire career. While she's well known as a purveyor of blues, having been lauded by such legends as Buddy Guy, the Royal Southern Brotherhood and Luther Dickinson, her real love is simply raw, scrappy rock and roll. "I grew up on it," she insists. "Working with Luther on my last album further instilled that spirit in me. It made me realize just how much that basic, unfettered sound means to me, and how well it ties into soul music, R&B, country and so many other forms of music that are essential even today."

It's little wonder then that when it came time to record her new album, Chills & Fever (released March 17, 2017), Fish ventured off in another new direction, one she was exploring for the first time in her career. She traveled to Detroit and joined forces with members of the Detroit Cobras, a band whose insurgent ethic has made them darlings of the Midwest punk/blues scene. The two entities -- which included Joe Mazzola on guitar, Steve Nawara on bass, and Kenny Tudrick along with Bob Mervak on keys, and the New Orleans horn section featuring Mark Levron and Travis Blotsky on trumpet and saxophone -- bonded over a common love of classic soul and rollicking rhythms, so much so that the results testify to a seemingly timeless template. Covering songs from the '60s and '70s -- indelible melodies from the pens of legends like Jackie DeShannon, Jerry Ragavoy, Bert Berns and Allen Toussaint -- and revisiting some earlier demos she cut along with producer Bobby Harlow, Fish and the Cobras created an album that's best described as a pure slab of rocking rhythm n' blues.

"I listened to a lot of soul music, and I dug deep into people like Otis Redding and Ray Charles," Fish recalls. "I was also influenced by people like R.L. Burnside and North Mississippi's Junior Kimbrough. It's a lot less restrained style of music than the sound people may be used to hearing from me, but it's definitely a different facet of my personality. It's far more straight forward."

The fact is, Fish has never been bound by any expectations whatsoever. Growing up in Kansas City, she switched from drums to guitar at the tender age of 15. She spent much of her time in local watering holes listening to visiting blues bands. Samantha caught the attention of Ruf Records. The label subsequently released her album, Girls with Guitars, which found her co-billed with Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde. That led to her forming her own trio and recording three more albums, Runaway (2011), Black Wind Howlin' (2013) and Wild Heart (2015), as reaping an awards for Best Artist Debut at the 2012 Blues Music Awards in Memphis. Along the way she found herself working with other artists as well -- Jimmy Hall, Devon Allman, and Reese Wynans, among them.

Still, nothing she's done before can prepare her faithful fans and followers to the seminal sounds of Chills & Fever.

I don't think I ever enjoyed making a record quite as much as I enjoyed making this one," Fish insists. "I love the sound of the brass and the edgier intensity. One thing's for sure. Nothing ever felt so authentic."

When Semi-Twang reunited in 2009 to play the twentieth anniversary of Shank Hall, the premier showcase club in their home-town of Milwaukee, they showed up to help celebrate a venue they'd played on the club's opening night. Expectations were modest - do a couple of rehearsals, show up, have fun & go home. However, the gig turned out to be an incredible experience for both band and fans and the band decided it was too much fun to stop.

Back in 1988, Semi-Twang thought they'd taken their best shot with Salty Tears, their Warner Brothers debut. That record generated tons of critical acclaim but little in the way of sales. Soon after its release, other opportunities beckoned and the band members went their separate ways. Friendships survived, but the band was history. For John Sieger, the songwriter and main vocalist, Nashville, TN seemed like a good idea. Dwight Yoakam was one of many artists who found Sieger's songs and producers like Pete Anderson and Jerry Harrison were finding slots for his tunes. Mike Hoffmann stayed busy producing other artists and the other fellows in the band, all great players, were soon scooped up by other groups around town.

After the '09 Shank reunion, the band decided a new recording was in order...the one they should have made first. Unlike their debut, (a major label project with a budget just this side of a NASA launch) the band recorded on the sly, mostly at Hoffmann's House Studio and Sieger's Room w/a VU -- both Pro Tools equipped, comfy and cozy. The pace was relaxed with sessions every few weeks for most of 2010. The atmosphere was loose but unwavering in its vision - get in, make the best record you've ever made, get out -- what's so hard about that?

In March of 2011, Wages Of Sin, their first album in 23 years, was released to overwhelmingly positive response - glowing critical reviews, over-the-top fan praise and lots of local airplay. Semi-Twang had always harkened back to classic artists like Dylan, The Beatles and The Band. This approach paid off handsomely on Wages, an album that dares you to to put a time-stamp on it. Songs like the title cut Wages of Sin and When The Wind Kicks Up sound like the kind of country music Nashville might be making if producers and record companies weren't trying to own the middle of the road. Nervous Energy and Move It Or Lose It recall iconoclasts like Dave Edmonds and Nick Lowe in full-tilt mode. Then, there are songs like Just A Train and It's That Time Again that harbor a very distinctly Semi-Twangian Thang... You can imagine, somewhere down the road, some young band trying to reproduce that unique feel.

Which brings us to 2013: On March 23 of this year, the band has released their third project, The Why & The What For, a recording that ups the stakes in a very entertaining way. It is topical and personal with a bit more R&B soul influence that includes a few throwbacks to the duckwalk days of Chuck Berry. Oh, and you'll also be rewarded with one or two of those unclassifiable yet familiar songs you've come to expect from Semi-Twang. The Why & The What For will be getting heavily promoted to the press and radio here in the states and in the UK by Pavement Media.

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