Just when you thought it was safe to put your wallet away, out trots another apple product.
But with more than two dozen bands cranking out more than 32 hours of music Aug. 21-23, Gary Phelps’ Apple Jam Roots Music Festival is a relative bargain, with three-day festival/camping combo passes currently available for $75.
According to Phelps, the core goal of his annual Apple Jam has been interspersing some of the better known homegrown acts with tried and true nationals.
“We have such a rich musical culture in the Northeast that it would be a crime not to showcase it,” he says.
After months of his cultivating contacts and otherwise sewing sonic seeds via his present band, Mutherload, Phelps recently revealed the fruits of his labor in the form of the final Apple Jam 2015 roster.
Holding down the center is Saturday night headliner Anders Osborne, a New Orleans-based six-stringer with a penchant for serious slidework. He will be preceded by Amy Helm, daughter of Levon Helm, the former drummer for The Band. Brooklyn’s Spirit Family Reunion and North Carolina’s Holy Ghost Tent Revival round out the weekend with local notables Opel, DPR, Primate Fiasco, and Bella’s Bartok representing the 413.
“Such an awesome bill, and it communicates the exact vibe we are looking for,” he says. Incidentally, those looking to lock in that awesome $75 ticket price — and other discounts — should hit up theapplejam.com post-haste, as the early bird discounts expire May 18.
In other news, those thinking it would be a long time before they’d catch Amherst College freshman Nina Shallman in the area in the wake of her much ballyhooed May 3 Iron Horse debut will be happy to learn she’s opening for Holly Near at the same venue May 18.
“WRSI 93.9 The River also added Nina’s song ‘Daisies’ to the playlist, so we’re very pleased at how things are going for her,” publicist Laura Grover notes of the 19-year-old singer/songwriter.
Mercies, Mercies me: Suffield, Connecticut’s Mercies debuted the video for “Zalea” — the first single from their new CD Blue Against Green — on Entertainment Weekly recently. The Crawler recently caught up with drummer Sammy Dent to talk about the indie rock trio’s high-profile media collaboration and West Coast migration.
“Of course, the object is always to have as many people as possible be exposed to what you are doing, so any mention anywhere is great,” Dent says. “We are out in L.A. now, and as you can imagine, it’s much different than our rural Connecticut. We certainly miss how beautiful and lush it’s starting to become back home this time of year, but there are a lot of upsides to being in L.A. Besides the general benefit of the music community, they also have great restaurants, hiking, and of course, coffee!”
Dent and bandmates Josh Rheault and Jordan Flower are currently on the road in an effort to get Blue Against Green into the black. To monitor their movements and musical endeavors, kindly point your browser to merciesmusic.com.•
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 394-4262 or email garycarra@aol.com.
