Upcoming Shows

Griffin House

TomorrowJune 22, 20188:00pm $20.00

Shooter Jennings, Bottle Rockets

ThursdayJuly 12, 20188:00pm $35.00

The Missing Letters

FridayJuly 13, 20188:00pm $7.00

In October 2012, drummer Shannon Drymalski and Matt Whitaker met through friends and quickly began working on a project called "The Missing Letters". They later met Bryan Peterson and Josh Ripley and the project was complete!! A rock band with everything from loud hard hitting rock songs to beautiful melodic songs. The....

Recently Added Shows

The Alarm

ThursdayJuly 26, 20188:00pm $25.00

Wayne Baker Brooks

FridayJuly 27, 20188:00pm $15.00

Born and Raised in Chicago, Illinois Wayne Baker Brooks is considered one of today's top guitarists who's signature style combines powerful vocals with liquid fire guitar playing that honors his rich blues heritage yet effortlessly expands the boundaries of the genre. In 1997 he formed the Wayne Baker Brooks Band. In....

Kinky Friedman, Jim Hoehn

MondayAugust 6, 20188:00pm $25.00

Circa 62

SaturdayAugust 11, 20188:00pm $12.00

CIRCA 62 is a Rock n Roll/Americana band from Los Angeles whose core members consist of Max Goldman and Milwaukee native Gina Romantini (Whiskey Of The Damned, Trapper Schoepp). The two are veterans of the LA music scene who have made their careers as musical hired guns, backing up such artists as The Wallflowers,....

Shelby Lynne

SundayAugust 19, 20188:00pm $25.00

With a style ranging through country, blues, Southern soul, roots rock, Western swing, jazz, and adult contemporary pop, Shelby Lynne has found herself embraced not by the country mainstream, but by rock critics, British audiences, and the alt-country/Americana crowd. By the time Lynne won her Best New Artist Grammy in....

Danielle Nicole

TuesdayAugust 21, 20188:00pm $10 advance / $12 door

Lucy Spraggan

SaturdaySeptember 15, 20188:00pm $10 advance / $12 door

If 2018 is anywhere near as eventful as the previous year, Lucy Spraggan is set for an interesting 12 months. The singer-songwriter netted her fourth top 40 album in January last year, and followed that success with more than 22,000 ticket sales across her UK and European tours. I Hope You Don't Mind Me Writing....

Alex Clare

SundayOctober 14, 20188:00pm $15.00

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....

El Ten Eleven

WednesdayNovember 14, 20188:00pm $13 advance / $15 door

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....

Altered Five Blues Band

FridayDecember 14, 20188:00pm $10 advance / $12 door

For 16 years, Altered Five Blues Band has been winning audiences with a swaggering stomp of bruising, barrelhouse grit. According to Downbeat magazine, frontman Jeff Taylor "sings powerfully" and "Jeff Schroedl's live-wire guitar reaches the high bar of mixed invention and fluidity." Blues Bytes magazine declares the group....

Alternative Concert Group Presents

Justin Hayward "Voice of the Moody Blues"

TuesdayAugust 28, 20187:30pm $70 / $50

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.

Justin Hayward "Voice of the Moody Blues"

WednesdayAugust 29, 20187:30pm $70.00

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.

Justin Hayward "Voice of the Moody Blues" with special guest Mike Dawes

ThursdayAugust 30, 20187:30pm $70.00 / $50.00

At the Barrymore Theatre, Madison, WI.

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

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

FridayOctober 26, 2018

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, 2018

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).

Quick Calendar

It is a true, and nowadays rare, musician who writes lyrics so vulnerable and authentic that an audience is irrevocably captured by the powerful experience of sharing the journey. An album that is essentially an autobiographical account of personal mistakes, change, and growth, offers listeners a chance to reflect on their own experiences and connect with another's story.

With Griffin House's upcoming album, So On and So Forth, it is clear the artist digs deep and offers up his narrative after much reflection. House is now a young family man and artist who is choosing sobriety and celebrating the path to his success, through songs which share his perspective on how people remember the past with rose-colored glasses, how we grow up and realize what we deeply need, and how we must find happiness in ourselves in the present.

"The record has a lot to do with recognizing the ego in one's self and letting it die. It can feel like your whole identity is being wiped away, and you don't even know who you are anymore. For the person singing these songs, holding on to one's own individuality in order to remain special or important in the world has started to became far less important than being content with being a good, decent, and loving person. But old habits die hard," adds House.

The project was tracked last summer at Lakehouse Recording Studios, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. House's ties to Asbury Park go all the back to 2004, when he was invited to tour with Patti Scialfa. His first show in the boardwalk town was opening a show for Scialfa at the Paramount Theatre. It was there that Griffin met her husband, Bruce Springsteen, and all the wonderful characters in their crew and band. Those memories and experiences made returning to Asbury Park over a decade later to record So On and So Forth feel like a full circle moment in his career.

House recorded the essentially live project with no click track and very little overdubbing. Lakehouse owner, Jon Leidersdorff, helped assemble the band. Prior to walking into the studio, House had never met the musicians and had no idea how the songs would turn out. He adds, "The experience ended up being one of the most fun and positive of my career. The process was stress-free and freeing." The resulting album reflects this journey -- a leap of faith with triumphant results.

Recording and performing for over a decade, House has toured with Ron Sexsmith, Patti Scialfa, Josh Ritter, John Mellencamp, Mat Kearney, and The Cranberries. He received early critical acclaim on the CBS Sunday Morning, and his songs have since been featured in countless films and television shows such as One Tree Hill, Army Wives, and Brothers and Sisters. He has also appeared on Late Night with Craig Ferguson. Most recently, CNN Newsroom invited House to perform "Paris Calling," from So On and So Forth, live on the air, and the song has been picked up by radio prior to being serviced. House has released ten albums and continues to headline his own national tours. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife Jane and their two daughters.

When you hear about the son of two country music legends, the product seems inevitable... But what you get from Shooter Jennings is a little bit of that, and a whole lot of what you didn't realize you wanted.

A musician, song writer, producer, and video game creator, Jennings has released eight studio albums, two live records, and has produced and released various projects courtesy of his own record label Black Country Rock. Jennings' career hasn't ever stuck to one format, and you can find him all over the map when it comes to where he is at in the game.

His latest album, released in 2016, Countach (For Giorgio), came in at #7 on the US Dance/Electronic charts, and was Jennings' ode to electronic music innovator and songwriter, Giorgio Moroder. The album features songs with various artists including Marilyn Manson, Brandi Carlile, and Steve Young.

With his 2005 debut solo record, Put The O Back In Country, Jennings enlisted Dave Cobb as producer (who remained producer on his first four solo records) and the album included southern rock tracks "4th Of July" and "Steady At The Wheel". The record debuted at #22 on the US Country chart.

Fast forward to 2010, and you'll find Jennings releasing Black Ribbons, a heavy, psychedeliccountry-rock concept album that included narration from Stephen King as the album's character Will O' The Wisp. At the time, the album was a left turn for Jennings, but created a new path for fans of all genres, and somewhat of a cult-following of the record. Black Ribbons will be re-released on November 8th, 2016 (Election Day) as an "Ultimate Edition"

While some stay in the safe-place of their genres, Jennings continues to place himself where he wants to be, and creates exactly what he feels is needed for the time. Music.

The band was unceremoniously birthed in 1992 and they very quickly became a forebearer for the new style alongside Uncle Tupelo, the Jayhawks, Old 97's, Blue Mountain and Whiskeytown.

When The Bottle Rockets hit the scene in the mid '90s, the world wasn't quite sure what to do with them. With their punk-rock pedigrees and arena-rock energy, their tougher-than-Springsteen storytelling and their romantic hearts sewn bare on their denim sleeves, the pride of Festus, MO confounded musical generalities as they laid waste to clubs across the Midwest and then, soon enough, the nation.

Back in a time when the critical language and resulting idioms for mixing underground rock with country was in its infancy, The Bottle Rockets were fearlessly -- and quite loudly -- playing rootsy weepers alongside howling rave ups, with singer/guitarist Brian Henneman (who paid some dues as a roadie for Uncle Tupelo and playing on their March 16-20, 1992 album and Wilco's debut A.M.) leading the charge as some sort of Roger Miller of the indie set. It's a sound propped up (and hopped up) just as much on the pillars of Leslie West & Mountain as it was on those of the Ramones and the Clash.

Until every regular guy gets a fair shake, the songs and sentiments of the Bottle Rockets will never get stale. The band, and their sound and their message, goes beyond a time or a place or a fad. The Bottle Rockets are true folk music, albeit it with beards, biker wallets and a lot more muscle.

RENNIE SPARKS DISAPPEARED one afternoon while waiting for a flight at O'Hare. A middle-aged businessman, McDonald's bag in one hand, rolling-bag dragged by the other-- walked up to Rennie and, without pause, turned and sat down on her lap. A second later his french fries and rolling bag were on the floor and he was sputtering apologies, insisting he'd seen an empty chair.

Rennie often has trouble with automatic faucets ignoring her waving hands but this unexpected airport invisibility was in 2014, the year the TV show True Detective used her song, "Far From Any Road" as its opening theme. This was the year The Handsome Family (aka husband and wife Brett and Rennie Sparks) became visible to millions. Even as she was getting sat on by strangers, youtube counts for The Handsome Family's 'hit' song climbed from two million to ten million, twenty million and more. The song was in the top 10 in US and UK Spotify charts and spent months in itunes top 100 in countries as far-flung as Vietnam, South Africa, and the Ukraine.

Millions of viewers 'broke the internet' watching the final episode of True Detective S1, but Rennie and Brett watched in their little house in Albuquerque, NM feeling oddly alone. The Handsome Family were now known around the globe for a song they'd written 12 years earlier about fire ants and desert plants, a song now linked forever to a show about cops in a psychic swamp. The Sparks were arguably famous now, but at the same time unknown. They were not their famous song nor was their famous song written for the show that made it famous. All these disconnections, though, are fine when you're a writer of songs.

For almost as long as they've been married (26 years) Brett and Rennie have written songs together (Brett, music; Rennie, words). Their finished work is never fully one or the other's, but lives in unseen space between them. William Burroughs claimed he walked busy streets without being seen simply by seeing everyone else first. This is similar to the Sparks' approach to songwriting and why Rennie embraces her power to vanish. You have to willingly disappear in order to write lyrics for someone else's voice or to write music for someone else's words. Invisible songwriters are happiest when their songs outshine them, leaving their creators unseen in the dust.

The Sparks have released 10 albums since 1995's Odessa. Their songs have been covered by countless youtubers and well-known artists like Jeff Tweedy, Amanda Palmer, Christy Moore, Cerys Matthews and Andrew Bird (who released an entire record of HF covers). Guns 'N Roses used, "Far From Any Road" as stage entrance music for a South American tour and both Bruce Springsteen and Ringo Starr are fans. Decades into their careers, after winning the TV theme-show jackpot-- the Sparks still find their greatest reward in disappearing into new songs.

And so in the strange light of 2014 they began again to write. 2016 brings the release of Unseen-- 10 songs by a couple both world-famous and happily invisible. Each song on the record has a guiding color--gold, silver, green, red, white. Rennie is also a painter known for her vivid and surprising use of color and she finds herself painting even when her brushes are made of words. The stories of Unseen are mostly inspired by real events-- "Gold" began when a bunch of twenty-dollar bills blew in Brett's face in a parking-lot dust storm. "Gentlemen," is a tribute to William Crookes who built the first vacuum tube in 1875 hoping to detect spirits from unseen dimensions. And "Tiny Tina"-- Rennie still hasn't seen that little horse.

Unseen is about the light that emanates from things we can't see-- behind "The Red Door," in the empty hands of blackjack losers ("The Silver Light"), and amidst desert bones bleaching in the sun ("King of Dust").

Since 2001 Brett has made their albums in a converted garage at the back of their house. He recorded Unseen on a Mac and played most of the parts at night with only hawk moths listening. There were guest musicians-- David Gutierrez: mandolin on "Tiny Tina" and dobro on "The Silver Light." Alex MacMahon: guitar on "The Silver Light," baritone guitar and pedal steel on "Gold." Jason Toth: drums throughout (except "Green Willow Valley"). Rennie wrote all the lyrics. She sang and played banjo and autoharp, but didn't bother to write down on which songs.

The Sparks' music is steeped in the western gothic of New Mexico life. The unseen is powerful here. Nothing rusts, but entire oceans have disappeared. Ski masks mean robberies, but in the slow dive of the sun enormous bugs awaken in thorny yards and unseen sirens and coyotes cry out to the purple sky. Just about anywhere you stand there's been some blood drawn.

In 2016 The Handsome Family continue to sell out venues worldwide that they couldn't have filled before TV fame. Live, Brett (guitar/vocals) and Rennie (banjo/bass/ vocals) are joined by drummer Jason Toth (worldwide) and multi-instrumentalist Alex MacMahon (USA). Their shows are full of humor and chit-chat. The Sparks aren't afraid to reveal their ordinary humanness. The invisible couple is also very happy to be seen.

Armored Saint are a colossus, and Win Hands Down will long be remembered as one of the seven wonders of modern metal. The album -- the band's seventh studio offering in a career spanning more than three decades -- is all things Armored, a vintage crush of classic power propelled by a cathartic blast of life in the year 2015. This is Armored Saint, and this is nothing short of magnificent.

The fist-pumping adrenaline rush starts with the title track and escalates from there, "Win Hands Down" delivering an album-opening rally cry that re-introduces the players after their five year sojourn since the release of La Raza in 2010. As always, they are the same Saints we've grown to know and love -- frontman John Bush and bassist Joey Vera, guitarist Phil Sandoval and his brother, drummer Gonzo Sandoval, and guitarist Jeff Duncan -- five masters of metal that combine to forge one of the genre's most criminally-unsung forces.

"When we started work on this record, I said, 'Let's pretend we are a really big band and can do whatever we want'," says Bush of the spark that ignited Win Hands Down. "Technology allows us that luxury, and we can take that luxury when it comes to writing. In the end, we know who we are, so we don't have those boundaries that other bands might have -- you push yourself, dig deep and write stuff that makes you feel happy and fulfills you. That's really important, and I think it came through. This means a lot more to us than just, 'We made a rock/metal album...'"

As has been the case since their reunion album Revelation in 2000, Bush and Vera are the principal songwriters, the bassist writing the music, the frontman writing the lyrics, and the band joining the fray to add their studio punch to the musical maelstrom.

"I wanted more music sections, and didn't want to be tied to verse/chorus/verse/chorus/guitar solo/end of song -- if I felt inspired to write a bridge, and I wanted it to appear twice, it could," says Vera of his slight shift in perspective for this album. "I wanted to be able to play with the music. Some of the songs are a little long on the Armored Saint side, so I might have had to pull the reigns back a little bit with John and say I wanted one section to be just music, but we were able to play with the arrangements a bit to fit what we both wanted to do... The results are great, and there are great performances from everyone."

The Armored Saint machine is firing on all cylinders, and Win Hands Down isn't for the faint of heart or slight of metal. At the helm of the onslaught are the vocals, Bush proving yet again why his name needs to be in any discussion of the Big 4 metal singers. "There's a lighter side to some of the lyrics, like 'Up Yours,' but I'm not afraid to strip myself emotionally and lyrically and divulge my feelings," adds Bush of the nine tracks clocking in at just north of 50 minutes. "To be honest, a lot of what I write is reminding myself how to live -- 'If you want to live like this, put it in a song...' I strive to be a better person and father, and a good human -- this is a reminder. I'm not trying to be [Bob] Dylan, I don't have that much foresight, but -- especially being a little older -- you can identify things. I try and write things people can relate to, but I'm also writing about things that have an impact on me. It's the platform I have, and it's nice when people are able to relate."

From the bombast of "In An Instant," inspired by the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon and the harsh reality that one second can change our lives forever, to the more personal "Muscle Memory," an epic reflection about one's legacy and leaving something behind that will make your family and peers proud, there's as much lyrical substance as there is instrumental prowess, Vera and Gonzo forming a rhythm section thick enough to rival any in metal, with Duncan and Phil Sandoval leading the charge with their fret boards ablaze.

There are even a few firsts on the album. Pearl Aday joins the Saint on "With A Full Head Of Steam," it's galloping gate marking the first time Bush has ever shared lead with a female singer, and "Dive" features piano as the lead instrument for the first time in the expansive Armored catalog. "'Dive' was the last song that we wrote, a midnight hour sort of thing," recalls Vera. "I wanted to do something different, and we've never had a song with piano as a lead instrument. There was a little piano overdub that I played on "Another Day," but this is the first time it was the backbone of the song." Adds Bush of the track, "Everyone can write a sweet song, everyone can write a dark song, but can you write both? That's what we were trying to do. The song was Joey's idea, and I endorsed it highly. Our lives are so fast-paced, you forget to take a moment and enjoy that moment that you are living in."

Then there are the moments that are a little more tongue-in-cheek, without losing the trademarked Armored stomp. "An Exercise In Debauchery" is about people's fascination with porn -- "I'm not lecturing, it's just my way of busting balls about it," says Bush -- and "That Was Then, Way Back When" rides the band's power metal groove as the singer pokes fun at his generation's desire to be connected online -- "People who weren't friends in high school need to be now? I'm not being mean, I just have a hard enough time communicating with the people I want to communicate with!"

"When we first got back together and decided to make Revelation back in '99, we didn't get the band back together to conquer the world," says Vera, looking back as he reflects on the current state of Armored Saint. "That was Plan A, and Plan A didn't work out. Now, we are doing this for the same reason we started making music to begin with -- the right reasons. We know who Armored Saint fans are and we know we have an obligation to the people that support us, so we try and make choices that are smart and relevant to what we're about. This isn't the place to start my polka career."

Maybe not, but don't put anything past Armored Saint. As they decree in the album's opening track:

With boots on ground
Win hands down
A giant sound
Win hands down
Just maintain
Then drop the reins
And place my crown
Win hands down

There's no polka here -- just heavy metal the way it was always mean to be. Win Hands Down? Armored Saint have... Hands down.

With their 2015 debut Birth And The Burial, Act Of Defiance delivered a blast of pure and unadulterated metal that ignored fads and hit home hard. Returning with the crushing Old Scars, New Wounds, they have only upped the stakes. "Act Of Defiance is built around the idea of writing and composing the way we want without any other influences on the music, and if people don't like it, that's fine," guitarist Chris Broderick states plainly. Drummer Shawn Drover agrees. "We don't write to please a certain musical demographic or try to sound like another trendy band at the moment. We just write how we write and formulate heavy metal songs that we like, and hopefully others may like as well." With titanic anthems such as "Overexposure" and "Rise Of Rebellion" and the in-your-face blasts of "Molten Core" and "Another Killing Spree", they prove their mettle time and again. Moreover, each of the eleven tracks sound fresh and urgent while wielding a timeless quality that will connect powerfully with metal fans new and old - and there aren't many contemporary bands who can make such a claim.

Naturally blending a plethora of metallic styles and never recycling ideas, Old Scars, New Wounds is an even more dynamic and diverse collection than its predecessor, which was written solely by Broderick and Drover prior to recruiting bassist Matt Bachand and vocalist Henry Derek. "I think 'Birth And The Burial' is a great debut record, and I honestly cannot believe we released it literally nine months after Chris and I formed the band!" the drummer enthuses. "We then toured for a year on that record and played over a hundred shows, and spending that kind of time on the road you really get a sense of what your bandmates are like and what they are capable of, which has definitely worked to our benefit on this new record." With a fully-seasoned, tour-hardened band in place, there was room for everyone to bring something to the table this time around, and their varying styles helped shape the record. "Matt brings his east coast vibe, Shawn is pure metal, Henry has almost a Scandinavian vibe, while I've gone back to my roots and gotten a little more technical with my writing," Broderick states. The title - plucked from the blistering "Conspiracy Of The Gods" - stands as a metaphor for life in general, and the breadth of lyrical matter covered is as broad as the styles of heavy music found on the record. "Another Killing Spree" looks at hardcore drug use, while "Lullaby Of Vengeance" is an angry song about singing angry lyrics, and "Overexposure" is an anthem dedicated to not selling out. There is also some very topical material, most notably on "Mis-Information Age" and "Broken Dialect". "'Mis-Information Age' is very applicable in today's social climate, where we can no longer blindly trust the source of facts that determine our view," Broderick explains. "It asserts that we should be skeptical, making sure we have the truth and not someone's propaganda, while 'Broken Dialect' conveys the idea that people can no longer hold a conversation with each other where their views differ, instead turning to sources that only support the view they want to hold on to." With every track featuring a blistering solo from Broderick, fans of his shredding can rest assured that the guitarist has not held back - though that was not his initial intention. "I actually wanted to tone it down a bit technically in terms of my solos but the opposite happened! This was because I inadvertently ended up creating a few new techniques to use in my trick bag and saw their potential, so I worked really hard on the execution so they could make the record."

Going into writing the record, the quartet had no grand plan, and spread across the continental US, the individual members worked separately, bouncing demos back and forth and building on each others' ideas. Like many contemporary bands, through taking advantage of available technologies they made a record that is very much a collaborative effort, despite the distances lying between the members' home bases. Recruiting producer Dave Otero (Cattle Decapitation, Allegaeon) they tracked the record likewise, with Broderick laying down guitars in his own Ill-Fated Studios in LA, Derek and Broderick's vocals tracked at Red Light Studios also in LA, with Bachand tracking his contributions at Manshark in South Hampton, MA and Drover's drums were laid down at Atlanta's Glow In The Dark Studios. "Atlanta is near where I live, which oddly enough was the first time I have recorded there in my career, so it was nice to be able to track all day then go home and relax before heading back the next day. It was an overall great experience for me," the drummer says, and cognizant of the time available to them the entire process ran smoothly and without a hitch. When it came down to artwork the band looked once more to the vision of Travis Smith - whose visuals have accompanied records from the likes of King Diamond, Opeth, Avenged Sevenfold, and Strapping Young Lad. "As always he's delivered a great, bizarre piece of artwork," Drover enthuses. "He has such a great sense of what we're looking for, and working with him again has been really rewarding."

Having proven themselves on the road in support of Birth And The Burial both as headliners and supporting the likes of Killswitch Engage and Hatebreed, the band are looking ahead to the expansive touring that will accompany Old Scars, New Wounds, and their hunger to get back in front of crowds has not abated in the slightest. "The immediate goal is to tour hard in support of 'Old Scars, New Wounds', play live everywhere we can, and expose as many people to our music as possible," Drover asserts. "Touring is the best way to reach the people, as it always has been - and we will do whatever it takes for Act Of Defiance to get as much exposure as possible."

The Alarm was made in Wales, UK and by the time of 1981's debut single 'Unsafe Building', featured a daring mix of amped-up acoustic guitars, harmonica and passionate vocals that invited the enduring description "Bob Dylan meets The Clash".

This is the sound of The Alarm that has been heard around the world ever since, with 17 Top 50 UK singles, a host of successful albums and over 6 million sales worldwide, a career that has also seen founding member Mike Peters sing on stage with the likes of Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and U2.

In fact, The Alarm scored their first chart success in the USA in 1983 with 'The Stand', before flying back from America to make their first UK TV appearance on Top Of The Pops, notching up their first British chart hit with the rousing 'Sixty Eight Guns'. The hit 'Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke?' was to follow in early 1984 before the release of their debut LP, 'Declaration', which went to Number 6 on the UK chart.

The Alarm's second album, 'Strength' (the title track becoming The Alarm's first U.S. Top 40 hit), was released in 1985 and spawned the autobiographical 'Spirit of '76'. It was at this time The Alarm made history by playing the world's very first global satellite concert, live from Los Angeles. An estimated audience of 26,000 fans turned up on the day for the original 'Spirit Of '86' concert that was ultimately watched by millions around the world. The set list included all The Alarm's greatest hits of the time such as 'The Stand, 'Absolute Reality, 'Sixty Eight Guns', 'Strength' and 'Spirit Of '76', songs that would see The Alarm break North America on a grand scale.

The 1987 album, 'Eye Of The Hurricane', followed with the international hit, 'Rain In The Summertime', backed by a series of world tours (including an extended US outing with Bob Dylan). The release of the band's first live mini album 'Electric Folklore', furthered The Alarm's reputation for engaging live shows.

'Change', The Alarm's fourth studio album was released in late 1989), and the band saw out the '80's with a sell-out concert in New York City were they were joined on stage by Neil Young to perform 'Rockin' In the Freeworld'. 'Change' went on to become a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, with 'A New South Wales' reaching the UK Top 40 in 1990 and 'Sold Me Down the River' becoming a U.S. Number 1 Rock Hit.

'Raw' was the last record to feature the original line-up of the band when, in the summer of 1991, the demands of the road were at the heart of a very public swan song at London's Brixton Academy.

A decade of solo action followed with guitarist Dave Sharp releasing 'Hard Travelling' in the month after Brixton and (following a relocation to New Orleans later in 1994), a second solo album - Downtown America.

In 1992, The Alarm became one of the first bands to have a dedicated internet site www.thealarm.com when Mike Peters registered the domain and to coincide, founded 'The Gathering', an 'Alarm' event held in North Wales which now attracts fans from all over the world.

Throughout the rest of the nineties, Mike Peters went on to establish himself as a respected solo artist with the release of the independent long player 'Breathe' in 1994 (Number 5 on album chart), followed by 'Feel Free' (1996) and 'Rise' (1998), two records which would document Mike Peters first engagement with the cancer (Leukaemia), that has followed him throughout life ever since. The recording sessions for 'Rise' featured a guest collaboration with the then ex-The Cult guitarist Billy Duffy and in 1998 the two created a short lived band called Coloursøund which (following an appearance at SXSW), attracted widespread interest within the music industry. A headline gig at London's LA2 was seen by original Alarm bass player Eddie Macdonald and The Cult vocalist Ian Astbury. Soon after The Cult was back together and reiginiting their career by playing at the new Woodstock Festival and an album of Coloursøund demos was released retrospectively.

In 1999, Peters went on to record a fourth solo album that formed the soundtrack to the stage play - 'Flesh & Blood', the recording sessions saw Mike Peters reunite with original Alarm song writing partner Eddie Macdonald. Following this collaboration, Mike Peters and Eddie Macdonald decided to reconvene as - The Alarm (without, but with the blessing of Dave Sharp and drummer Nigel Twist). Originally billed as The Alarm MM, the reconstituted band featured Mike Peters and Eddie Macdonald, backed by members of the Mike Peters solo band, namely guitarist James Stevenson (Gen X, Gene Loves Jezebel, The Cult), bass player Craig Adams (Sisters Of Mercy, The Mission, The Cult) and drummer Steve Grantley (Stiff Little Fingers).

The band's first dates were with fellow Celt Rockers - Big Country but after just eight dates including a concert at London's Shepherds Bush Empire, Eddie Macdonald decided to quit, leaving Mike Peters to forge a path that would lead to the release of new Alarm music.

In 2000, 'The Alarm Complete Collection' box set was released, bringing together The Alarm's entire 1980's musical output into a nine-CD box set, along with a bonus 'audio dedication' CD personally recorded by Mike Peters.

In 2003, and in just 5 months, the 'In The Poppy Fields Bond' was written, recorded and released (via the alarm.com website). A massive five album, 59 song set, that allowed the new line up to come of age with new music of its own and ready to face the world as a creative force once again.

In late 2003, the cameras of VH1 struck and brought the original band members together to perform for the show Bands Re-United at La Scala in Kings Cross. In the aftermath, everyone once again, went their separate ways with Mike Peters taking the 'new' Alarm back to the USA for the 'The Alarm Make A Stand In The USA Tour', which involved the band playing New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles on a weekly basis over one month.

In 2004, The Alarm's first brand new single of the millennium - '45 RPM' would ultimately take their signature electro-acoustic sound into the UK top 40, into the mainstream rock culture of North America causing worldwide controversy at the same time.

'The Poppy Fields' "fake band" escapade was conceived to conceal the identity of The Alarm from a media concerned with only playing brand new bands and brand new music.

The true identity of The Alarm was eventually revealed by the BBC on Top Of The Pops and instantly triggered a rush of global media exposure, culminating in a US TV appearance on CBS Headline News with Dan Rather.

Following this unlikely success, a new record deal with EMI was signed although The Alarm's return to prominence was halted almost immediately when, in late 2005, Mike Peters was re-diagnosed with an incurable cancer (A rare B-cell form of Leukemia), forcing the band into playing select shows only, dictated by the chemotherapy / treatment regime that has kept Mike Peters alive ever since.

In January 2006, Mike Peters was given the go ahead to resume touring duties and the group continued with the release of 'Under Attack' which was bolstered by another Top 30 record in the shape of 'Superchannel' and live anthem Without A Fight'.

In that same year, Mike Peters was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Welsh Music Awards and also coming eleventh in a Welsh Assembly Government-backed poll of the top 100 Welsh heroes.

Whilst continuing with a lengthy rehabilitation program of constant chemotherapy throughout 2007, Mike Peters founded the Love Hope Strength charity which is dedicated to 'Saving Lives - One Concert At A Time' and now firmly established as one of the world's leading rock and roll cancer foundations with over 3,500 lives potentially saved through its 'Get On The List' program.

At the beginning of 2008, Mike Peters and The Alarm recorded an Eight EP Collection - 'The Counter Attack Collective', that gave birth to the single album 'Guerilla Tactics' that was released on the day Mike Peters performed an 'pop up' concert in New York's Times Square. The album's opening cut 'Three Sevens Clash' was released to American Rock Radio and made it's way into the top 5.

In 2010, the Direct Action album followed with the cover version of 'One Guitar', that would later be performed by Bruce Springsteen along with writer Willie Nile, and a guest appearance from Mike Peters. The 'Direct Action' tour saw the band tour North America and the U.K. only this time (following the departure of Steve Grantley to take up a full time role with Stiff Little Fingers), with new permanent drummer 'Smiley' from Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros.

The 'Sound and the Fury' album was released in 2011 to mark The Alarm's 30th Anniversary. The 'Sound and the Fury' featured re-workings of songs from all eras of the band's history.

On New Years Eve in that same year, Mike Peters walked out onto the stage at Glasgow's ABC to take up guest vocal duties with Big Country and sing for his long time friend and original Big Country vocalist / guitarist - the late Stuart Adamson, whom Mike had met onstage while performing with U2 back in 1983.

Mike Peters continued to tour with Big Country throughout 2012/13, going so far as to record an album of original material entitled 'The Journey' that was received enthusiastically by fans and critics alike.

2013 was also the year of the cinematic release of the Alarm / Poppy Fields inspired movie - 'Vinyl' starring Phil Daniels (Quadrophenia/Blur), Keith Allen, Perry Benson and Jamie Blackley. Rreleased to British cinemas nationwide the 'Vinyl' - Soundtrack Album and Tour featured a collection of brand new Alarm music composed specifically for the film such as the movie's recurring theme song 'Free Rock And Roll' which was recorded by The Alarm with 'Vinyl' star Phil Daniels on guest vocals.

In 2014/15 respectively, The 30th Anniversary of The Alarm albums - Declaration (2014) and Strength (2015), were acknowledged with the release of newly recorded collections (including companion discs 'Peace Train' and 'Majority' respectively).

The new recordings centred on re-imagined takes of all the songs and b-sides from each period. A two year commitment to constant touring from Mike Peters, featured full length presentations of each of the albums via a unique one-one man band 'Mike Peters presents The Alarm' stage show that took Mike Peters all around the world.

In April 2014, the reworked 'Declaration' album was presented 'live' on BBC Wales with a stripped back 'acoustic / orchestral' version of The Alarm and the Welsh Symphony Orchestra. A surprise video message from all the members of U2 singing Alarm anthem 'Blaze Of Glory', went viral on the internet.

A second concert to celebrate the anniversary of the 'Strength' album took place at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff in October 2015 with The Alarm again, backed by a huge orchestra (conducted by arranger John Quirk). The event was filmed and recorded for release as Poppies Falling From The Sky', which took it's title from the moment when millions of red poppies literally fell 'from the sky', and down on to the unsuspecting audience during the finale.

The 'Spirit of '86 event was revisited in 2016 as 'Mike Peters presents The Alarm' concert experience returned to UCLA, (the scene of the original MTV broadcast), and performed the exact same setlist at the James Bridges Theatre. An exhaustive tour followed with The Alarm making it's first ever appearance at Glastonbury Festival.

That summer, Mike Peters wife Jules, was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and tour dates had to be cancelle. The BBC filmed events surrounding the Peters family in real time and created the documentary 'Mike and Jules - While We Still Have Time', which also featured contributions from long time family friend Bono from U2.

Whilst caring for his wife during this tense time, Mike Peters poured his feelings into song and before the year came to close, took The Alarm back into the recording studio to work on the new material.

2017 opened with a 25th Anniversary Gathering event (that was recorded by the BBC for a National Television Broadcast), and two first ever Gathering events in both New York and Los Angeles. Both the US Gathering events featured guest appearances (from Billy Duffy of The Cult in L.A.), and David Bowie producer Tony Visconti joining the band in New York to perform 'Sold Me Down The River' that he had originally produced in 1989.

The US Gathering events also coincided with premiere screenings of the Mike Peters, Alarm, Love Hope Strength movie 'Man In The Camo Jacket', which received numerous awards on the American Film Festival Circuit and was also screened at the Grammy Museum in Hollywood. A vinyl edition of the movie soundtrack was released on Record Store Day with the band performing live at stores in California and with Jules Peters now in remission and on keyboards, the band joined up with the Vans Warped Tour for select US, for an 8 week 59 date coast to coast run including a special night at The Chapel, San Francisco during which the group were joined on stage by original drummer Nigel Twist.

A UK October Tour (with original Alarm guitarist Dave Sharp joining as special guest), would see The Alarm play out one of the most creative years in it's history. A new album and tour dates are expected for 2018.

For Americana godfather David Bromberg, it all began with the blues.

His incredible journey spans five-and-a-half decades, and includes -- but is not limited to -- adventures with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jerry Garcia, and music and life lessons from seminal blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis, who claimed the young Bromberg as a son. A musician's musician, Bromberg's mastery of several stringed instruments (guitar, fiddle, Dobro, mandolin), and multiple styles is legendary, leading Dr. John to declare him an American icon. In producing John Hartford's hugely influential Aereo-Plain LP, Bromberg even co-invented a genre: Newgrass.

Add in a period of self-imposed exile from his passion (1980-2002), during which he became a renowned violin expert, and Wilmington, Delaware's cultural ambassador; top that off with a triumphant return to music-making, and you have an amazing tale leading back to one place: the blues.

Now, with The Blues, the Whole Blues, and Nothing But the Blues, his first release for Red House Records, Bromberg and multi-Grammy-winning producer/accompanist Larry Campbell (Dylan, Levon Helm, Paul Simon) focus on the music David discovered in high school, when, circa late 50s, he was introduced to a friend's dad's collection of blues 78s. He'd only just taken up guitar as a means to pass the time while in bed with the measles.

"I loved those 78s so much," says David, "I taped them on a portable reel-to-reel, so I could listen at home and learn."

That love is evident in The Blues, the Whole Blues and Nothing But the Blues. The album is both blues primer and an opportunity to witness a master embracing this distinctly American music with passion and grace.

"There's a lot of different types of blues on there," Bromberg notes. "We decided to start it off with a dyed-in-the-wool blues [Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues"], but there's also country blues ["Kentucky Blues"], and gospel-influenced blues ["Yield Not"]."

Bromberg, a onetime sideman himself, is quick to give props to his long-running road-and-studio cohorts: Butch Amiot (bass), Josh Kanusky (drums), Mark Cosgrove (guitar), Nate Grower (fiddle), and Peter Ecklund (cornet). Of producer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, fellow Reverend Gary Davis acolyte, and old friend Larry Campbell, he says, "To use a baseball analogy, Larry is like a star at any position in the infield, because he can play them all."

Since meeting in the early 80's, Campbell and Bromberg had crossed paths many times. They finally worked together in Levon Helm's studio for David's 2013 return-to-form Only Slightly Mad. "He wanted to do a Chicago blues album then," Larry says. "But we decided to remind folks of what he does better than anyone: the whole gamut of Americana, the full Brombergian. And we got some new fans. For this one, we went back to the blues, and made use of David's great vocabulary in all veins of the genre."

Bromberg's guitar work remains a marvel; amped electric lead -- both slide and fretted -- and delicately powerful acoustic fingerpicking propel these songs with the same force that made him the go-to guy for acts ranging from the Eagles to Link Wray to Phoebe Snow. This is a man who can go full-on Chicago gutbucket with "You Don't Have to Go" (a Bromberg original), then slay with the jazz inflections of Ray Charles' "A Fool for You," rendered here intimately solo. Although Bromberg points out he's not the same guitarist he was before his two decades away from performing and recording. "I play differently," he says. "I can't play as fast, but playing slower gives me more time to think about what I'm doing."

"He's always able to plug into the emotion of a song," Campbell says. "He's incredibly inventive as a player. Sometimes restrictions can be good."

Listeners can actually hear what the years have given Bromberg in the spartan, acoustic "Delia." Bromberg originally covered this traditional nugget on his 1972 self-titled debut -- a live, solo rendition with a spoken-word break. The new version features Campbell and Bromberg in the studio, revisiting Bromberg's live arrangement from their occasional duo tours. It is mesmerizing, with gravitas only experience can bring. "Larry and I have played 'Delia' a lot," Bromberg says. "I love what he does on it."

Longtime fans will notice another difference: Bromberg's voice; he's really singing. The vocals cover a broad range: impassioned, vibrato-laden testifying; pew-jumping soul shouts; soft, confident, crooning; and, of course, his peerless raconteur chops (particularly in "You Been A Good Old Wagon").

"When I first started," Bromberg says, "singing was something I did between guitar solos. But during the period I did so little performing, I took some voice lessons, and now, I know more what I'm doing. I love singing now. Love it."

Larry Campbell was impressed at the newfound vocal chops, too. "He is a better vocalist than ever," he says. "He's strong, and present. None of the songs took more than three takes. And he was able to take the old folk song '900 Miles' [a "railroad song" made famous by Odetta and Woody Guthrie], and turn it into an electric blues that's a real high point of the album for me."

Although he remains the proprietor of the beloved David Bromberg Fine Violins in Wilmington, Delaware -- "I love my shop," he says -- Bromberg makes time to tour with his quintet, and he's already included every song in his live repertoire (save "Yield Not," which requires a choir), from The Blues, the Whole Blues and Nothing But the Blues. As ever, he brings his characteristic devotional intensity to the music, invigorating his surprise third act with the same passion he felt as a teen, spinning those blues 78s, just before the road called.

Where does one go in life, when you wrote your first song at age 11 ('Ole Ben Lucas'), shortly after nearly playing a chess Grand Master (Samuel Reshevsky) to a draw? If you're Kinky Friedman. there was only one way to go: up.

Like so many cool people in the boom generation, Kinky Friedman first saw the world through the Peace Corps in the sixties. Kinky did his PC time in Borneo as an agriculture extension worker, wherein he introduced the Frisbee to the natives and taught farming techniques to people who had been farming successfully for thousands of years. But it was in Borneo that Kinky began to write the tunes that would propel the rest of his life.

Kinky had formed his first band, King Arthur & the Carrots while a student at the University of Texas, prior to his Peace Corps stint, but when he returned to the states, he really got serious with his second band, Kinky Friedman and The Texas Jewboys, the unit for which he is most famous, musically.

For his first album, Kinky released 'Sold American' in 1973 for Vanguard Records. His repertoire mixed social commentary ('We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to You') and maudlin ballads ('Western Union Wire') with raucous humor (such as 'Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed'). His 'Ride 'Em Jewboy' was an extended tribute to the victims of the Holocaust, and one of his most famous tunes from this session, 'They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore,' is still on many hip playlists.

In the mid-'70s, Friedman and the Jewboys toured with Bob Dylan & the Rolling Thunder Revue. By 1976 he had recorded his third album, 'Lasso From El Paso,' featuring appearances by Dylan and Eric Clapton. The Texas Jewboys disbanded less than three years later, and Friedman moved to New York, where he became a Sunday night fixture at the legendary Lone Star Cafe. His performances, often featuring guests like Robin Williams and John Belushi, were equally legendary.

During the seventies, Kinky set several high water marks in his early performance career. In 1975, Friedman and the Jewboys taped an Austin City Limits show which was never aired. According to the show's executive producer, Terry Lickona, this was the only time in the show's long history that an episode went unaired. Lickona told the Austin Chronicle "I've seen it many times -- I think it was a great show, and it might be as offensive today as it was back then."

Kinky was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live in October 1976, the first year of SNL, and he claims to have been the first full-blooded Jew to take the stage at the Grand Ole Opry. Apparently, this is true.

Starting in the early eighties, Friedman shifted his creative focus to writing detective novels, after a bizarre incident at an ATM machine. Kinky spotted a woman being robbed and dashed to her rescue using his bank card to gain entry to the locked ATM lobby. The episode unleashed Kinky Friedman, the private detective, and sparked a series of detective novels that have become world-famous. Featuring a fictionalized version of himself solving crimes in New York City and dispensing jokes, wisdom, recipes, charm and Jameson's whiskey in equal measure, the books are written in a straightforward style which owes a certain debt to Raymond Chandler, though Kinky has also quite fairly been referred to as the "Mark Twain of Texas."

Kinky continued to tour throughout the eighties, this time in support of his novels, and a series of international publishing deals took that touring around the globe. During this period, his musings began appearing in such places as the New York Times, Playboy and Texas Monthly (where he later wrote a regular column). Ebooks and audio books (read by Kinky, himself) of all his great detective novels are available on line.

In 1986, Kinky took a break from writing and touring to try something new - politics. He ran for justice of the peace in his home town of Kerrville, Texas. Though he lost the race, he did discover a passion for politics. It would be another eighteen years, but he would revisit that arena.

In the nineties, Kinky began branching out with more personal writings. Since then he has discussed everything from social mores ('Kinky Friedman's Guide To Texas Etiquette: Or How To Get To Heaven Or Hell Without Going Through Dallas-Fort Worth') to armadillos ('The Great Psychedelic Armadillo Picnic: A "Walk" In Austin'). He's even written a hit children's book ('The Christmas Pig: A Fable').

In 2004, the Kinkster returned to the political field, this time daring the state of Texas to think big and elect him governor in 2006. Running on a shoestring budget, with help from folks like Jesse Ventura and his Minnesota team of political handlers, Kinky garnered over a half million votes - not good enough to win it, but good enough to influence Texas politics long onto the future. Kinky was the first candidate in the history of the state to make it onto the November ballot as an Independent candidate - astounding, considering his campaign motto: "Why the hell not?"

In February 2007, Sustain Records released a compilation of the songs of Kinky Friedman sung by other artists called 'Pearls In The Snow.' The album includes contributions by Dwight Yoakam, Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, and Kelly Willis, and is one of two Kinky tribute albums available today. More recently, hot rising star Jesse Dayton recorded a full cd of Kinky songs, which received enormous interest in Nashville and around the US.

A second return to politics in 2014 saw Kinky running for Texas State Agriculture Commissioner on a full-legalization platform that may not have won him an election, but that has been instrumental in Texas now considering both medical use and personal use marijuana legalization in its state legislature, proving once and for all that the Kinkster is truly the "governor of the heart of Texas."

In 2015, Kinky reinvented himself yet again, this time with his first all new studio album in nearly forty years. Signed to Avenue A Records/Thirty Tigers, Kinky, with the help of producer Brian Molnar and guitarist Joe Cirotti, presented an "all new Kinky," with his cd, 'The Loneliest Man I Ever Met.' Filled with never-heard-before Kinky originals and beautifully rendered covers of such artists as Tom Waits, Warren Zevon and Willie Nelson, the cd is all about Kinky's ultimate ability to deliver much more than just a funny line or humorous tune. The spare, yet lush arrangements all pointed up Kinky's unique talent as both a songwriter and interpreter of great material. Guest performers Nelson, Little Jewford and Mickey Raphael supported but never overrode the simplicity and grace of the tunes and the artist.

And there is more on the horizon too! Kinky has ten more brand new songs in the can for what has become an eagerly anticipated 2018 release from the ever-evolving Kinkster. In November 2017, a full-on biography from Back beat Books hit the shelves. Authored by Mary Lou Sullivan, who recently published the highly regarded Johnny Winter bio, and titled 'Everything's Bigger In Texas - The Life And Times Of Kinky Friedman,' it has received enormous interest, and it has been exactly that: an enormous hit.

Kinky has also co-authored a new book (pub date: early 2018) that also promises to be a huge winner. Working with Louie Kemp, lifelong friend and associate of Bob Dylan, Kinky has helped write perhaps the definitive book about Bob Dylan - not so much a biography as a sort of "tales of Bob" excursion through life from the time of his meeting with Louie to the present day. Also very highly anticipated.

And on July 3rd, he will be releasing bias first all-new self-penned album in nearly forty years, 'Circus Of Life.' He's releasing it on his own terms and on his own Echo Hill Records label. A monster summer tour follows in June, July, and August. Yep, Kinky is finally doing it his way. Harking to his early years, he has chosen to ignore the Nashville ethos, that all must be concertedly "radio friendly," sweetened, and over-produced. What he and producer Brian Molnar have delivered is simply one of the most beautiful albums of this year or any other. The first single, Autographs In The Rain (Song To Willie) is already in heavy rotation on SiriusXM Outlaw Country, and there are at least four more top shelf A sides.

With Joe Cirotti on multiple instruments, and Mickey Raphael, Augie Meyers, Original Jewboy Little Jewford, Clay Meyers and Jim Beal providing amazing grace notes, not a single track on the album fails to reach its very high mark. Kinky may "just have to stick with songwriting" after all. To verify this, he's taking it on the road, for one of the longest, most comprehensive tours of his storied career. After flash mob-style appearances in Galveston, Houston and Nacogdoches, TX, the 'Circus Of Life Tour' begins in earnest in Pittsburgh, and rumor has it that it will continue on forever. Yes, the second act has begun. May it never end.

Jim Hoehn is a Milwaukee-based journalist/author/songwriter who has carved out a surprisingly successful niche as a performing songwriter since first stumbling out of the pressbox with a guitar.

As a career journalist - much of it spent as a sportswriter - Hoehn has covered everything from plane crashes to murder trials to the Super Bowl and the Hong Kong 7s rugby tournament.

As a source of family editorial pride, he's also the guy who broke the Jeffrey Dahmer story for the National Enquirer.

His latest recording project, "Silhouette of a Fool," includes 10 original songs brought to life under the production guidance of Milwaukee's John Sieger, founder of Semi-Twang and cofounder of the iconic R&B Cadets (with Paul Cebar).

Songs off the CD are receiving considerable airplay on alt-country and Americana programs in the U.S.; Canada, Europe and Australia. "Silhouette of a Fool" cracked the Americana Freeform Chart in August (not high, but on the chart nonetheless).

Since winning a songwriting contest and making his first public appearance at Milwaukee's Summerfest, Hoehn has maintained a time-available schedule of dates throughout the Midwest and across the country, drawing an eclectic audience of sportswriters, rugby players and the occasional normal person.

Hoehn has opened for a veritable who's who of American songwriters, including Rodney Crowell, Jerry Jeff Walker, Don McLean, Robert Earl Keen, Don Williams, Rick Springfield, Junior Brown, Todd Snider, Jack Ingram, Warren Zevon, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Steve Forbert, Kinky Friedman, Roger McGuinn and James McMurtry.

His songwriting has led to performances at prestigious music festivals hosted in Texas and Oklahoma by the likes of Gary P. Nunn and Larry Joe Taylor and an appearance on the Mitch Albom national TV show.

He has appeared at numerous Trop-Rock events such as the annual Meeting of the Minds in Key West; Six String Music Festival in New Orleans; Phins to the West in Laughlin, Nev.; Stars Fell on Alabama; Flipperstock in St. Louis; Pardi Gras in New Orleans; and Migration in Las Vegas.

His recordings include "Silhouette of a Fool," "Royalty Check Hotel," "Deadline Penitentiary," "Playa del Pressbox" and "Live at RACAfest" as well as four volumes of "Thongs In The Key Of Life," a compilation of tropical music by the best writers on the sunburn circuit, which he produced.

His CDs, "Royalty Check Hotel" and "Deadline Penitentiary" were recorded in Texas with the help of some of Austin's finest musicians, including guitarist/producer John Inmon who was for many years the lead guitarist for Jerry Jeff Walker as part of the Lost Gonzo Band.

Songs off both CDs received considerable airplay on Americana, folk or alt-country shows around the U.S.; Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

His ode to escaping cubicle life, "Callin' In Gone," was a finalist for Trop Rock song of the Year in 2010; has been recorded by beach circuit favorites, The Boat Drunks, and is a setlist staple for several bands and performers across the country.

For the four years, Hoehn also has been the host of the Trop Rock Music Awards show in Key West, Fla.

Hoehn also is the author of the award-winning book, "The Father's Guide to Birth, Babies and Loud Children," and was the host of the radio show, "The Three-Chord Barbecue," on Radio Margaritaville and Island Dreamz Radio.

The Dick Dale Phenomenon. His style is something different and unique. Since his first appearances Balboa, Ca. at the famed Rendezvous Ballroom, he has set and broken attendance records everywhere he's performed. His appearances at the Rendezvous Ballroom broke every existing record for the Ballroom by drawing capacity crowds of over four thousand screaming dancing fans every weekend each night down on the Balboa peninsula.

Dick Dale invented surf music in the 1950's. Not the '60's as is commonly believed. He was given the title "King of the Surf Guitar" by his fellow surfers with whom he surfed with from sun-up to sun-down. He met Leo Fender the guitar and amplifier Guru and Leo asked Dale to play his newly creation, the Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar. The minute Dale picked up the guitar, Leo Fender broke into uncontrolled laughter and disbelief, he was watching Dale play a right handed guitar upside down and backwards, Dale was playing a right handed guitar left handed and changing the chords in his head then transposing the chords to his hands to create a sound never heard before.

Leo Fender gave the Fender Stratocaster along with a Fender Amp to Dale and told him to beat it to death and tell him what he thought of it. Dale took the guitar and started to beat it to death, and he blew up Leo Fender's amp and blew out the speaker. Dale proceeded to blow up forty nine amps and speakers; they would actually catch on fire. Leo would say, 'Dick, why do you have to play so loud?' Dale would explain that he wanted to create the sound of Gene Krupa the famous jazz drummer that created the sounds of the native dancers in the jungles along with the roar of mother nature's creature's and the roar of the ocean.

Leo Fender kept giving Dale amps and Dale kept blowing them up! Till one night Leo and his right hand man Freddy T. went down to the Rendezvous Ballroom on the Balboa Peninsula in Balboa, California and stood in the middle of Four Thousand screaming dancing Dick Dale fans and said to Freddy, I now know what Dick Dale is trying to tell me. Back to the drawing board. A special 85 watt output transformer was made that peaked 100 watts when dale would pump up the volume of his amp, this transformer would create the sounds along with Dale's style of playing, the kind of sounds that Dale dreamed of. BUT! they now needed a speaker that would handle the power and not burn up from the volume that would come from Dale's guitar.

Leo, Freddy and Dale went to the James B. Lansing speaker company, and they explained that they wanted a fifteen inch speaker built to their specifications. That speaker would soon be known as the 15'' JBL -D130 speaker. It made the complete package for Dale to play through and was named the Single Showman Amp. When Dale plugged his Fender Stratocaster guitar into the new Showman Amp and speaker cabinet, Dale became the first creature on earth to jump from the volume scale of a modest quiet guitar player on a scale of 4 to blasting up through the volume scale to TEN! That is when Dale became the "Father of Heavy Metal" as quoted from Guitar Player Magazine. Dale broke through the electronic barrier limitations of that era!

Dale still wanted to go further, and as the crowds increased, Dale's volume increased, but he still wanted a bigger punch with thickness in the sound so that it would pulsate into the audience and leave them breathless. The JBL-D130 was doing its job until Dale froze it in the frame that held the speaker, the speaker cone would twist from the heavy playing from Dale and it would soon twist and stop to fluctuate back n forth.

Leo, Freddy and Dale went back to the JBL speaker company and told them to rubberize the front ridge of the speaker allowing it to push forward and backward from the signal of Dale's guitar without cocking and twisting. The new updated version was called the JBL D-130F; the F stood for Fender.

Leo, Freddy and Dale designed a speaker cabinet and in which they installed 2 -15''-JBL-D130F's. This caused Leo Fender to have to create a new and more powerful output transformer, they would call it the Dick Dale Transformer and it was made by the Triad Company.

This became the 100 watt output transformer that would actually peak 180 watts. Nothing like this had ever been done before in the world of guitars and amplifiers. This became known as the Dual-Showman Piggy Back Amp. This is why Dick Dale is called the Father of all the power Players in the world!

It is a Phenomena, that Dale is still playing with not only the same vengeance as he did in the 50's, but his playing is unleashed and shredding into the 90's with a focus and power as if from mother nature. He shares the stage with fellow players of all generations up into the alternative's of the 90's. Being completely self taught, Dick Dale plays left handed upside down which was a result of holding the guitar left-handed. The strings became upside-down, chords are designed for right handed players making it very difficult for a left handed player unless he were to change the strings for a left handed guitar, something that Dale never did.

Dale is also a master at the Acoustic, Electronic, Bass and Spanish Guitars'. As well as the Ukulele, Banjo, Drums, Piano, Organ, Electronic Keyboard, Harpsichord, Trumpet, Trombone, Saxophone, Harmonica, Xylophone and, believe it or not... the Accordion!

Dale was also responsible for another creation to the world of guitar players, "The Fender Tank Reverb". As Dale sang in his shows, he found that he did not have a vibrato in his voice, and he did not like the straight flat dry sound. to sustain his vocal notes, he turned to an old Hammond organ and found a reverb unit and showed it to Leo Fender and together they came up with the "Fender Tank Reverb". Dale then plugged a Shure Dynamic Bird cage Microphone into it and as Dale sang, his voice took on a very rich, sexy and full sound. Later, Dale then plugged his Fender Stratocaster guitar into the Reverb Tank to sustain his guitar notes which became Dale's trademark sound.) (NOTE) Dale had already been titled "King of the Surf Guitar" by his surfer friends before his creation of the Fender Reverb, Dale's first album called "Surfer's Choice" was the first Surfing album to be commercially sold with a picture of Dale surfing by the pier in San Clemente, Ca. with a surfing title on it. This album alone sold over eighty-eight thousand albums in the late 50's and today in the 90's it would be like 4 million. There was not one song on that album that had a Reverb for effects, everything was played with nothing but Dale's sheer force and power. A bit of trivia, Dale's recording of "Miserlou" became the title song for Quentin Tarantino's Blockbuster movie "Pulp Fiction".

Dick Dale has been called one of the hardest working men in show business. In the past five years he has maintained a heavy concert tour and public appearance schedule throughout the world. Focusing in Europe, Australia, Japan, Canada, South America and the U.S.

"I'm definitely taking more chances now," Danielle Nicole says of Cry No More, her second solo album and the follow-up to her widely acclaimed 2015 solo debut Wolf Den. "I grew up playing the blues, and the blues is still a big part of what I do. But now I'm reaching out more and trying different things. It still sounds like me, but I'm stretching out a lot more than I have previously."

Indeed, while Wolf Den served as a powerful intro to the young singer-bassist-songwriter's funky, blues-steeped songcraft, Cry No More, set for release on February 23rd, 2018 via Concord Records, takes the artist into fresh new creative territory, delivering 14 emotion-charged new songs whose rootsy musical edge is matched by their air of hard-won personal experience.

Danielle Nicole's expansive approach yields deeply compelling musical results throughout Cry No More. With seasoned veteran Tony Braunagel (Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Burdon) producing, such heartfelt, groove-intensive new tunes as "Crawl," "How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore," the Bill Withers-penned "Hot Spell" and the heart-tugging title track find Danielle cutting loose and focusing on the storytelling and character-development aspects of her songwriting.

"I wanted to open up more about myself, and I think it shows in the songs," Danielle asserts. "I thought really hard about the stories I wanted to tell in these songs. I really dug into my personal experience, and worked to be more open and expose more of myself than I have in the past.

"There's a song there about my father, 'Bobby,' who passed away a long time ago," she continues. "That was a big one for me, because I'd never gone there before. And I've had lots of changes going on in my life, so the title track, 'Cry No More,' is about moving on and letting go, and about getting over things and moving past them. There are a lot of songs on this album about moving on, although that wasn't a conscious direction. Every song is a different story, and every song has a purpose and a perspective."

While Danielle wrote or co-wrote nine of Cry No More's 14 songs, the seductive "Hot Spell" was given to Danielle by its author, long-retired R&B legend Bill Withers. Withers was a surprise visitor to the album's recording sessions at L.A.'s Ultratone Studios, and was so impressed with Danielle's singing that he dug into his archives and offered her the song, which he wrote back in the '70s, but which had gone unrecorded since then.

"Bill is one of my all-time musical heroes," Danielle notes. "We played him a couple of the songs we'd been working on, and he said 'Come on, let's go out to my car for a minute.' So we were hanging out in his SUV, and he's shuffling through his glovebox and he pulls out this disc and says 'I've got this song; it's a bit risqué, but if you don't mind, I'll play it for you.' It was this demo that he'd done, with his daughter doing the vocals. It was real moody and had a great groove, and it was Bill all the way. He told me that if I liked it, I was welcome to record it."

She didn't have to be told twice. "There was a section on the demo where Bill's scatting where the guitar solo would be. We asked him to do that on my version, but he's retired, so he respectfully declined to sing on it. So I sang the scat line and harmonized to it, in his honor. He dug it!"

Danielle enlisted an old friend, Braunagel, who also produced the last two albums by her old family band, Trampled Under Foot, to record the album. The pair's longstanding creative rapport is apparent throughout Cry No More, on which Braunagel co-wrote five songs with Danielle.

"I really wanted to work with Tony on this record, because I knew that he would get the best out of me," Danielle explains. "We've really developed a great working relationship and we write together really well, and I knew that Tony could help me develop these stories into songs.

"This whole record was like a dream come true," she adds. "I got to do the songs I wanted to do, work with the producer I wanted to work with, and record in the studio I wanted to record in. It was really cool how everything fell into place. All of the songs were what I wanted them to be, and all of the players were perfect for the songs. Every aspect of this album, from the birth of the songs to the mastering, was really free and organic."

In addition to Danielle on bass, producer Braunagel on drums and longtime Bonnie Raitt guitarist Johnnie Lee Schell (who also engineered the sessions), Cry No More features appearances by such notable guitarists as Kenny Wayne Shepherd (on "Save Me"), Luther Dickinson (on "Just Can't Keep From Crying"), Walter Trout (on "Burnin' for You"), Sonny Landreth (on "I'm Going Home"), Danielle's touring guitarist Brandon Miller (on "Baby Eyes"), and her brother and former bandmate Nick Schnebelen (on "Crawl").

The musical expertise and emotional depth of Cry No More reflect of a lifetime's worth of music-making. Born Danielle Nicole Schnebelen, Danielle comes from a long line of singers and musicians, and showed an affinity for singing almost from birth. Growing up in Kansas City, Missouri, she performed in public for the first time at the age of 12, singing Koko Taylor's "Never Trust a Man" as part of a Blues for Schools program at her elementary school. In her early teens, she began singing in local coffeehouses and at open mic events, often jamming with her parents at clubs that would allow minors. At 16, she became lead singer in her father's band, Little Eva and the Works. In 1999, she started her own band, Fresh Brew, with some older local musicians. Fresh Brew performed for four years and represented Kansas City in the prestigious International Blues Challenge.

It was during this time that Danielle and her brothers Nick and Kris launched a family band, Trampled Under Foot, relocating to Philadelphia in the process. To maintain the family concept, Danielle learned to play bass, eventually mastering the instrument. Trampled Under Foot traveled the world and recorded several self-released albums, building a sizable national fan base through years of nonstop roadwork. For their 2013 album Badlands, produced by Braunagel, Trampled Under Foot moved to the Telarc label, a division of Concord Music Group. Badlands debuted at #1 on Billboard's Blues Chart.

As Trampled Under Foot wound down after an eventful 13-year run, Danielle formed her own band and signed with Concord Records, releasing a self-titled EP and the Anders Osborne-produced album Wolf Den in 2015. Those releases established Danielle as a formidable solo artist and bandleader.

"I learned a lot from the last album," Danielle states. "It was the first time I was writing and recording and choosing all of the material on my own, which was a big thing for me. I had been in a band with my brothers for 13 years, but it's a whole different thing when it's your name that's on the line. That aspect feels a lot more comfortable now, and I can make decisions without worrying about what everybody else will think."

Nicole's distinctive, inventive bass work--which resulted in her becoming the first woman to win the Blues Foundation's 2014 Blues Music Award for Best Instrumentalist, Bass--is the product of years of intensive roadwork. Although she had no experience with the instrument when she became Trampled Under Foot's bassist, now she can't imagine life without it.

"Playing the bass definitely influences the way I sing, the way I write and the way I approach music," she says. "As I've progressed more, the bass lines have been getting a lot more intricate. It's still a challenge to sing while playing bass, because it's very rare that the bass line and the vocal go together. I still get tripped up sometimes, but at this point I'd never give up the bass.

"When I started doing my solo thing," she continues, "someone asked me if I was gonna hire a bass player. No, of course not! I originally picked up the bass to keep Trampled Under Foot a family band, but I really fell in love with it. It was a huge challenge, and it still is. But I really love being part of the groove and getting to sing on top of that. I had learned some stuff on acoustic guitar before I started playing bass, but I never really felt connected to it the way I do with the bass. It's empowering, walking onto a stage full of grown men who can play their asses off, and it's 'OK, I'm gonna play this bass, we're gonna do this, and it's gonna rock.'"

With Cry No More marking a substantial creative step forward, Danielle Nicole is ready to reap her musical destiny.

"I think that it's a good time for the kind of thing I'm doing," she states. "From my years of playing blues festivals, I've seen that younger and younger audiences are getting into the blues. I think that people want to hear authentic music again."

Chuck Prophet describes his new disc BOBBY FULLER DIED FOR YOUR SINS as "California Noir." He says, "the state has always represented the Golden Dream, and it's the tension between romance and reality that lurks underneath the surface in all noir films and paperbacks, and that connects these songs. Doomed love, inconsolable loneliness, rags to riches to rags again, and fast-paced violence are always on the menu on the Left Coast."

Who is Bobby Fuller? He's the star of the ultimate Rock and Roll Babylon feel-bad story.

The title track came out of an obsession Prophet shares with co-conspirator klipschutz. Prophet explains, "One day we were sitting in my so-called office South of Market listening to LPs, when out of frustration --I picked up a guitar and shouted, 'I hear that record crackle, the needle skips and jumps!' and klipschutz shot back, '"Bobby Fuller died for your sins!'"
One thing led to another, and ten months later he found himself at the legendary Hyde St. Studios in the heart of the Tenderloin "slaving over a hot two-inch tape machine, cutting tracks with Brad Jones, Paul Q. Kolderie, and Matt Winegar riding herd." And pumping it all into the echo chamber. No computer in sight and two-inch tape boxes stacked up to the ceiling.

Prophet realizes that the title track makes a heavy claim, and laughs at the suggestion it might shine new light on the mystery long surrounding Bobby Fuller's early demise. Fuller, who migrated from El Paso to L.A. in the early 1960s, has been described as "a greaser in a world of Beach Boy bangs and Beatle boots, hopelessly out of step with the times." Found dead in his car at the age of 23, to a devoted coterie of fans, old and new, he'll always remain the skinny guy singing "I Fought the Law," on countless teen dance TV shows, and radio playlists. Ruled a suicide, his death has haunted investigators (and biographers Miriam Linna and Randall Fuller) since 1966. "Some resolution would be nice," Prophet says, "but I run a band, not a Cold Case squad."

The Mission Express, Prophet's band, which includes his wife Stephanie Finch, provided the backing. "Talented, difficult people who all played their hearts out. You can hear it," he says. And recording at Hyde Street -- walking distance from his apartment -- was a homecoming of sorts. "I did my first session there, in high school no less," says Prophet. He even dragged out his '64 Stratocaster, a guitar that Jonathan Richman said sounds, "like gasoline in the sand, like a motorcycle at a hot dog stand."

Prophet says, "there's a serious Link Wray jones that you might not hear in here too. But it's there. Guitars and drums. Rock and roll. I just haven't found anything that hits me the same way. That two guitar, bass and drums feeling."

With titles such as "Bad Year for Rock and Roll," "Post-War Cinematic Dead Man Blues," "We Got Up and Played, and, "If I Was Connie Britton," Prophet allows that, "there just might be some songs on this one. John Murry, who is never at a loss for words, says the goal is to make a record you can be proud and unsure of at the same time. Naked and belligerent, but sweetly so... I can't improve on that."

"Bad Year for Rock and Roll" is a timely homage to rock greats lost this year, Prophet name-checking David Bowie in the opening lines: "The Thin White Duke took a final bow / there's one more star in the heavens now...I'm all dressed up in a mohair suit / watching Peter Sellers thinking of you."

The album closes with the blistering "Alex Nieto," which Prophet calls "my first protest song. I know you've listened to me rant about Twitter and how I believe San Francisco is under siege by techie man-children and billionaires." But still, he never dreamed he'd be in the middle of a culture war with real bodies. Born and raised in the City, Alex Nieto was on his way to work as a security guard when he ended up with 59 bullets in and around him, all fired by the police. There's a lot more to the story, and the details are available to anyone who wants to know. The song is a two-chord homage to a good man who should still be alive.

Just one more sign of the apocalypse.

In today's musical landscape inundated by cheap hooks and overproduced studio tricks, Jeremy & The Harlequins are here to keep the fire and spirit of rock'n'roll alive. That's something the New York five-piece have been doing since forming just a few short years ago, both with their debut album American Dreamer (2015) and its follow-up Into The Night (2016). They're continuing this approach with their third album in three years, entitled Remember This, which they started writing at home in New York, immediately after the recording of Into The Night.

"By the time that record was released," explains front man Jeremy Fury, "I had about two thirds of Remember This written. I wrote the songs in my apartment in Hell's Kitchen and then we worked on the majority of the arrangements as a band together at the infamous Music Building near Times Square."

Remember This has all the hallmarks of a Jeremy & The Harlequins record, but at the same time it sees the five-piece expanding on their own musical boundaries. While Jeremy & The Harlequins' music has been permeated by nostalgia for the classic licks, riffs and aesthetic of rock'n'roll's golden age, this new record sees the band widening their sonic horizons with the help of producer Rick Parker.

"We wanted to make a classic American rock record," explains front man Jeremy Fury. "When we made American Dreamer, I was really bored with rock music in general and I felt the only place to go was to strip it down and pull from the past. I was listening to a lot of '50s and '60s rock'n'roll at that time, but for this record, I didn't want to limit myself to drawing from a certain amount of influences. And I feel these are the strongest songs we've ever written. It's a definite progression, but also a reaction to what we've done in the past."

This next phase of the band's career was marked by first single "Little One" hitting the airwaves in August of 2017, and the band plans to release a series of songs until the album is released in 2018. The new material comes with a shift in direction due to the fact that Jeremy & The Harlequins -- completed by guitarists Craig Bon and Patrick Meyer, bassist Bobby Ever and Jeremy's brother Stevie Fury on drums -- are a band who have never stopped moving or creating. Recorded in LA with producer Rick Parker (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Lord Huron, Scott Weiland & The Wildabouts) in the historic Beachwood Canyon and Boyle Heights, Remember This offers a widescreen vision of America that focuses on the urgency of the present moment but which also retains the band's magical, romantic vision of and reverence for the past.

"I'd say I have a pretty decent record collection," says Jeremy. "I love music and I wanted to take the best aspects of the things that I like and roll them into our sound. I feel like America is in a period of reinvention right now -- everything from fashion to what we drink to the restaurants we eat at are all being reinvented -- and I wanted to take things from the past that I loved and create something refreshing and new."

The band were able to easily and naturally shift their sonic direction on their own, working with Parker enabled them to fully realize that vision.

"It wasn't until the bulk of the material was arranged that we realized this record would sound a little bit better a little more polished than our previous albums," says Jeremy. "We had phone calls with various producers and studios but in the end, we knew Rick was the right man for the job. He has a knack for getting the best performances and gets a lot of good instrument sounds. Also, he's incredible at mixing."

At the same time, these are songs that very much exist in the context of America in 2017, and under the cloud of a tumultuous political landscape. That's something Jeremy found was impossible to not confront, but that's not to say these are vehemently political songs, however. Rather, they offer a glimpse of the world as it could and should be.

"Lyrically, these songs are concerned a lot more with what's going on around us," says Jeremy. "I think it's important to remember that everyone's still human. You walk down the street in any city and people co-exist, so I think our message when it comes to the more political songs isn't picking a side and rallying against the other, but more saying we're all here together, and that it's important to reach across the table and realize we're all human."

In a few short years, Jeremy & The Harlequins have made a sizeable impression in the streets and venues of New York, becoming a vibrant part of the city's alternative scene. Given their heritage, that's not surprising.

"Craig and I had been working at putting together a new band after we parted from our previous endeavors," explains Jeremy on the band's origins in Ohio. "We were at our wits' end trying to find the right sound. My brother had been living in Paris and was back in town visiting family. While he was back, we started working on a bunch of songs I had written over the course of eight years. He was like, 'We're back for three weeks, why don't we make an album?' It's easy to put ideas like that off, but we just did it and it went from there. Craig met Patrick a day before he came out to Detroit, which was where we made American Dreamer."

Jeremy admits that, initially, the band "didn't really have any aspirations beyond making the record" but then momentum started to gather. "Trip Into The Light", the first song on American Dreamer, was featured in the Tom Cruise movie Edge Of Tomorrow. It was also voted 2015's 'coolest track in the world' by the listeners of Little Steven's Underground Garage radio show, and topped the Best of 2014 Readers and Fans' Poll of New York's emerging music magazine The Deli. The band even enlisted The Big Short actor John Magaro to direct the video for "Into The Night."

That momentum continues to push the band forward. Each track is one part of a brand new whole, a sound that Jeremy terms "new American rock'n'roll." It's a simple yet effective description, one that captures both the mood and the sound of the band's music. Because these are songs which span the past, present and future, songs which are deeply rooted in the history of rock'n'roll but which brim with urgency of now. These are tunes you'll be humming for years, and which, in your heart of hearts, you'll swear you've been singing for decades already.

"I've always wanted to have a song or a few songs that become part of people's lives," says Jeremy. "I think that'd be my highest aspiration."

"I live the kinda life most men only dream of/I make my livin' writin' songs and singin' them,"Merle Haggard, "Footlights"

For fans of his late, legendary father, country music great Merle Haggard, his youngest son Ben is no Stranger -- in fact, he's been the lead guitarist in Hag's longtime band of the same name for the past eight years, since he was 15 years old, fitting in easily with veterans like musical director Norm Hamlet and Scott Joss.

Ben was a regular on Merle Haggard's recordings, took the stage with him and the Highwaymen (Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson) as well as Blake Shelton for a memorable performance at the 2014 Grammys and for the 2012 "All for the Hall" show besides two of his idols, Vince Gill and Keith Urban. Earlier this year, Ben was featured with the Strangers backing Toby Keith for a Merle tribute on the nationally televised American Country Countdown Awards. He also contributed versions of "Mama Tried" and "Sing Me Back Home" to 2014'sWorking Man's Poet:Tribute to Merle Haggard album which also featured Toby Keith, Jason Aldean, Jake Owen, Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley.

Since Merle's death on April 6, 2016 -- which was also his 79th birthday (a fact he had eerily predicted)-- Ben Haggard hasn't missed a beat, passing on the legacy of his dad's music with brother Noel and the Strangers, joined on several dates by longtime friend Kris Kristofferson, opening for another frequent Hag partner, Willie Nelson.

Taking the torch from the Haggard paterfamilias, Haggard recalls a conversation he had with Merle, who sported what his son described as "a look of great depth in his eyes... He was always right about something he said because he had thought about it for so long. He overanalyzed everything to the finest degree in the most artistic way possible."

Ben recalls Merle telling him, "You'd be an idiot not to take my guitar and my bus, not to sing my songs for as long as you can... Go out there and play until there's nobody to play to."

And that is precisely what Ben Haggard has done over these past months and will continue to do in the near-future, effectively putting his own promising musical career on the back burner for the time being -- even as he plans to relocate to Nashville to pursue his own artistic identity when he's ready.

For anyone who's heard young Haggard play guitar with his father, that talent is undeniable, but he's only recently discovered a singing voice that, while borrowing genetically from dad's well-worn gravitas, adds its own fresh take on songs like "Sing Me Back Home" (a performance of which is featured on Ben's Facebook page), "Heaven Was a Drink Of Wine," "Workin' Man Blues" and "What Am I Gonna Do With the Rest of My Life?," all of them taking on new meanings in the wake of Hag's passing.

"I watched him sing on-stage, absorbed the little things he was doing, the tricks with his voice, how he handled the crowd," says Ben, who obviously learned his lessons well. "It was like going back to school. Things I didn't realize I picked up from the eight years I spent on the road with him started to come into play. My fear of the mic kind of slipped away. Things just unfolded in a beautiful way. I'm now starting to feel comfortable singing for people."

Indeed, Ben Haggard has proven as natural a performer as you'd expect from someone with his DNA. "I've always suffered from stage fright. I only sang in front of my father a couple of times, once live and once in the studio. All of a sudden, he's telling me I've got to sing for everybody. I had to grow a pair of balls, get out there and do it."

His next challenge is to carve out his own musical career, lest he be accused, as he says in his own self-effacing way, "of riding someone else's coattails."

Ben describes an incident that took place when he was four years old, and just realizing his father was "somebody special."

"I asked him, 'Since you're famous, does that make me famous too?' And he said, 'Son, you've got to create your own thunder.' That's always stuck with me. I look back at that moment as if it were a movie. It's something I never forget."

When asked what his own musical personality might be, Ben admits, like his father, he feels like a bit of an outsider when it comes to contemporary country music.

"I couldn't really go out there and sing about drinking a beer on a tailgate under the moonlight," he laughs. "I want to sing about things I value within my heart. Honesty is always pushing against the grain, in a way. My dad always said it's easier to force-feed people something they don't want than actually giving them what they do."

Ben admits, "I've started to write and finish songs lately. I used to start writing and then never finish, but now, there's more material to draw from. I'm not writing about being 15 anymore; there are a lot of things I've gone through and had to overcome. I turned that talk I had with my dad about taking over for him into a song. When I record it, I think it's something that will resonate with people. It's about as real as you can get in regard to what he was telling me."

He also admits feeling a creative kinship with Americana artists like Sturgill Simpson, whose Metamodern Sounds in Country Music album proved a throwback to the music his father made. The two have struck up a friendship, with Simpson agreeing to produce Ben's albumwhen he's ready to record.

For now, Ben's content with burnishing his father's legacy, playing his songs and pleasing Merle's many fans, doing his part as the good son.

"When I'm compared to him, I realize it's to someone far greater, but it gives me hope and the drive to emerge from his shadow, and hopefully, one day, to stand just as tall," Ben says humbly. "Merle shot for the moon, and there's no reason I can't aim for it, too."

Back on-stage, Ben leans into one of his father's signature songs, "Footlights," about his own career, and, while fudging his age, the sentiment seems to ring true from one generation to the next.

"But I'm 41 years old and I ain't got no place to go/When it's over/So I hide my age and make the stage and/Try to kick the footlights out again."

For Ben Haggard, this is just the beginning of his artistic journey, and he still has plenty of places to go, but he looks well-prepared to kick out the footlights in his own right.

London-born singer, songwriter and producer Alex Clare is one of those lucky people who will never be short of something startling to tell when the lights dim and true conversation really begins.

"Where do you even start with a story like mine?" he laughs, down the line from his home in Jerusalem - and he makes a good point. Alex signed a major label deal with Island in 2010, released a single and an album then got unceremoniously dropped. When, in 2012, a song called 'Too Close' was pulled from the album and placed on an Internet Explorer 9 advert it prompted millions of sales and, lo and behold, he got re-signed. Eighteen months later he made a new album that the label failed to get behind and, as you might expect, it sold, in his own words, "nothing." He got married, toured the US, Russia and Europe and started a family.

In the summer of 2015 he removed himself to a narrow boat on the River Lea (his debut was also recorded afloat, "I love boats," he says. "The one thing that I miss about the UK, is that Jerusalem, is on top of a mountain. No boats!") with his friend, bass-player and founder member of Submotion Orchestra, Chris Hargreaves and the pair began to record again. What they came up with is a remarkable work called 'Tail of Lions'. Written and recorded in a few short weeks, Alex would spend months with Chris working on exactly the right mix for this new collection, a place where soul, rock and funk meet steel-sharp electronica and iced-out drum and bass.

For production, Alex holds true to lifelong loves like Radiohead's OK Computer and Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. For vibe he's all about that breezy, liquid funky blues of Donny Hathaway's Magnificent Sanctuary Band and Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, in particular, the brilliant Have a Talk With God; not forgetting his beloved iconic New Orleans street singer Snooks Eaglin - "he's the greatest cover band of all time," Alex enthuses, "and all in the one person!"

The title comes from a Jewish expression - as Alex explains. "It's better to be the tail of a lion than the head of a fox," he says. "we live in a society where the focus on success and celebrity seem too far out way the focus on ability and effort - all the money, limited talent.

The emotion behind the record is something else entirely. When Alex had his massive worldwide hit with 'Too Close' it exposed him to millions of new fans, but, as with so many others, it threatened to overshadow and derail his career. "Happily," he says, "a big part of my faith is acknowledging something that's good. So even if someone does you a kindness even for their own self-centered gains, even they deserve credit. How much more so when something comes from a place of true altruism."

For Alex, 'Too Close' took him to another level, it paid for his family home, elevated the attendance at his shows and increased his touring base. "It was an amazing thing to happen," he says, "and I still reap the benefits now. When I lived in London kids would walk down the street and sing it to me and I loved that."

'Tail of Lions' is a very different record from his two previous examples. Alex's perspective has changed so much, on life and love and fatherhood - he has two young children now and much of his time is devoted to them. The realities of his own life have changed. "I've had to step up" he says. "So many big things are happening in Europe and the US and, of course, just over the border from where we are in Syria."

For all the problems, talking to Alex impresses on you a very particular kind of positivity - you can hear his smile from 3000 miles away. The first song the pair started on was 'Get Real'. Alex says he tries to understand himself as much as we can - "although human beings are pretty complicated" - and 'Get Real' is a look at trying to rectify some bad habits and traits. "We only have a short time here, so it's important to work on yourself." "What are my bad habits?" he laughs. "Well, I'm a human being and a man, so it's a fairly wide field. There are always areas to grow and work on..."

'Tell Me What You Need' looks at how some things in relationships are good and some things are confusing, frustrating and sometimes difficult. Alex comes from a family where you shout and scream to make your point while his wife is little more reserved. "You have to learn to ride the bumps," he says. "I talk with my hands, raise my voice and put all my cards on the table, while my wife tends to close up and wait for the storm to pass."

'Bring Me Down' looks at those suffering from an attack of self-righteousness. "There's nothing more aggravating than someone who knows they are right," he says. "It's the tyranny of certitude. The height of arrogance is not to be able to see another person's point of view."

Basic tells the story of a friend of Alex's who suffered a nervous breakdown. "He lost his flat and job," Alex says, "meanwhile people were calling him a wasteman as he was having this psychotic episode. Basic is a tribute to him and what he went through..."

Then there's 'Tired From The Fire', a love song, but one that's decidedly esoteric. The lyrics draw on The Song of Songs, a parable describing the relationship between God and the Jewish people, where God is the husband and the Jewish people are the wife. The literal translation, Alex says, reads like a deep song of yearning for the one your heart desires. A real romantic drama. "It's a powerful and provocative piece of writing and 'Tired By The Fire' takes on that idea of doing right by love."

On 'Love Can Heal' Alex looks at different types of love. "There is infatuation," Alex says. "It's passionate and intense, but it's blown apart by insecurity and paranoia, it's very immature. I had those relationships, all though I'm reluctant call them relationships, before I met my wife. It's much more important to really feel like you can depend on each other, emotionally, intellectually and physically and then make a family together - and that's where I am now.

The gorgeous 'You'll Be Fine' looks at the famous thoughts of Reb Nachman of Breslov who said, "There is really no such thing as despair". But, of course, there is despair and so Alex felt very frustrated. He was thinking about people who've just lost someone, or just suffered some trauma and who can't feel these words. People who do despair, people who feel the world is as bad as it can possibly be. "When your emotions are driving you insane it can be a huge battle to develop self-control," he says. "Especially if, like me, you're impulsive and emotional. So in trying to overcome my own thoughts and feelings - in my own despair - it's been hard to see the woods from the trees. People get stuck in what they can see, if that's all there is. To say there is no such thing as despair means that there's nothing really to despair about. You will learn things from pain and trauma - terrible situations drive solutions from within. When it's nighttime one has to be aware that there's just a few hours till morning."

'Open My Eyes' "It's about people wanting a change," Alex says. "But how we sometimes look to people who might not have our best interests in mind." Alex says Western democracy has looked like "a farce" in the last few years, the song is about frustration, and how whenever there is a revolution, within a couple of years everything's back to exactly how it was. "I was into leftist politics, as a teenager" he says, "but I was very quickly disillusioned with it when I saw how the people organizing, say, the Anti-Sweatshop demos I went on, wore Nike trainers and tracksuits."

When he tried to raise the point he was always told, "the model for living now isn't the model for how we'll live in the future. It's ridiculous - people want to make a noise, but they're not actually willing to do anything."

'Tail of Lions' was A&R'd by the two men on their boat. "We're not trying to make hit records," Alex says. "We're only interested in making nasty sounding music to play live." Alex now revels in a complete creative control he's never had before. "My last two albums were bank-rolled and A&R'd which was great - major labels have the logistics and the admin nailed - but when it comes to creative input, A&Rs often don't know much music and they certainly don't know about my music. I'm trying to get my craziest ideas out there and that's not always easy. There were songs on both my last albums that I didn't like, but the label wanted them on and that meant songs I really liked got left off - and that's crazy."

Of course, the interplay between commerce and art can produce the most amazing things. "The Renaissance happened because of private sponsorship," Alex smiles, "but I like having creative freedom. I want to make music that people dance to. I want to build up that energy so people can really let go and that's my whole focus. Ultimately, I don't need anyone to A&R that."

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