Music
A farewell tour in four-part harmony: New York Voices headline Northampton Jazz Fest, culminating two days of live music, Sept. 26 & 27
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer The Northampton Jazz Festival will return on Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27, for live jazz at a variety of downtown Northampton venues. This year’s headliner will be New York Voices, a vocal jazz quartet that began as an...
Sci-fi or not so far-fetched?: New opera ‘The Onion’ explores the power and perils of AI-driven memory retrieval
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer If you could exist inside any memory from your past as it happened around you, would you? The new opera “The Onion,” about an eponymous AI device that can bring back memories in an immersive way, will premiere at Amherst College’s Holden...
Mixtape: Three psychedelic trips to ease your musical soul: New releases from locals: Gold Dust, Princess Ghoul and Bunnies
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Gold Dust, “In the Shade of the Living Light” Gold Dust originated as a solo project for Stephen Pierce, a local punk musician who wanted to step outside of that genre and into traditional folk and psychedelia. After...
How to grow a creative community: Meet the eight artists selected for CitySpace’s 2025 Pay It Forward program
By SAM FERLAND Staff Writer CitySpace’s Pay It Forward Program offers performers funding to produce a show. But it is also building something greater that cannot be staged: a tight-knit artistic community. The Pay It Forward Program is in its fourth year, and will...
20 hours to celebrate 20 years: Valley Free Radio host to broadcast for nearly a day, Aug. 7
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer A local radio host is gearing up for an uninterrupted 20-hour broadcast next week. Yes, that’s right – 20 hours straight. Jack Frisch, who hosts the jazz program “The Downbeat” on Valley Free Radio every Tuesday afternoon, will host a...
Living, breathing, label-free music: Etchings Festival is ‘the natural habitat for something that doesn’t fit any specific mold’
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Etchings Festival is all about showcasing original contemporary music in a way that transcends boundaries. It’s not exactly a classical festival, though its Ecce Ensemble is made of classical musicians. It’s not exactly a world festival,...
Mixtape: New heavy music to initiate summer: Reviewing Warm’s ‘Fastidium’ and TueTewsday’s ‘Shoulda Been Larz’
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Warm “Fastidium” The moment I pressed play on this album, I couldn’t stop listening to it. At home, mid-chore, I just sat there in a trance-like state until the last track ended. “Fastidium” is the latest release from local...
‘My heart requires it’: Pioneer lesbian singer-songwriter Linda Shear will perform benefit show in Northampton, May 31
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Celebrated lesbian singer-songwriter Linda Shear will play a benefit show for Straw Dog Writers Guild on Saturday, May 31, at 4 p.m. at Northampton Center for the Arts. Shear founded the band Family of Woman, the first openly lesbian band...
‘Space is the place’: Sun Ra Arkestra plays the Academy of Music, May 18
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Legendary Afrofuturist bandleader, composer, and musician Sun Ra had an eye on the cosmos. Though he passed away in 1993, the members of his 13-person musical ensemble, the Sun Ra Arkestra, have since kept his legacy alive through shows...
Mixtape: Feeling lucky: ‘Second Tongue’ is the new album from local indie rockers The Lucky Shots
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Local musician Noam Schatz has been playing drums in bands since he was 14 years old. I took a look at his website for his band The Lucky Shots, and I was in awe: The list of bands he’s been in since the ’90s is impressive....
Resonating through generations: Lady Pills releases new concept album, ‘Renowned in the Roaring Twenties’
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer A recording artist is connecting her family’s western Massachusetts roots to her new album. Lady Pills, the solo indie pop/alt-rock project of multi-instrumentalist Ella Boissonnault, released the album “Renowned in the Roaring Twenties”...
‘His notes will linger forever’: Remembering Young@Heart accordionist and Springfield College professor Chris Haynes
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Chris Haynes, longtime accordionist for the Young@Heart Chorus and associate professor emeritus of music at Springfield College, died on Wednesday, March 12. “Chris was somebody who really cared about people, really made sure they were...
Vinyl addict since 1984: A review of two vinyls: J Prozac’s “Obsession” and Oh He Dead’s “Ugly”
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate After a show in Rhode Island, I once told Thom Yorke (Radiohead, The Smile) that he was my antidepressant. “Good. I’m easier to come off on,” he said, then paused and smirked, “Oh that didn’t come out good, if you know what...
Passionate on and off the bandstand: Jazz community mourns the loss of bassist George Kaye
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Jazz bassist George Kaye, longtime member of the Valley’s Green Street Trio, died on Monday, Feb. 10, at the age of 73 after a period of failing health. “He was a very deeply caring person,” said Ruth Griggs, president of the Northampton...
‘If you can hit one note and hit it hard’: Western Mass Sacred Harp singers ready for biggest annual event
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer On Saturday, March 8, and Sunday, March 9, the Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Community (WMSHC) will host their biggest annual event, the Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Convention, at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Florence...
Artwork from the ashes: Heather Maloney’s new album, ‘Exploding Star,’ was almost too personal to share
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Heather Maloney almost didn’t release her upcoming album, “Exploding Star,” to the public. An album born of grief and loss was too raw, too personal, to go public, she felt, so she kept it for herself. But when her closest friends and...
Bluegrass lovers, rejoice: Monthly CitySpace Bluegrass jam session starts Feb. 1
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Bluegrass music (like this reporter) is native to the American South, but starting next week, it’ll have a new home here in the Valley. CitySpace in Easthampton will host CitySpace Bluegrass, a new monthly bluegrass jam session for...
‘The road to hell starts with good intentions’: New opera tells the story of Northampton’s notorious revivalist preacher, Jonathan Edwards
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Jonathan Edwards, one of Northampton’s most famous residents, was a revolutionary preacher whose legacy has endured through centuries. He was the first minister in Northampton to baptize African Americans, yet he did not free those he...
Can’t take that away from me: With Jan. 20 on the horizon, the Queer Joy Collaborative sings, dances and fights for its life
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES For the Valley Advocate Glitter. Sparkle. Bedazzle. Shine. When Mara Levi and Nova Wehman-Brown started dreaming of a Winter Ball, these four words came to mind. The executive director and the board president of the Queer Joy...
Mixtape: A collection of albums for the end of the year
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate As the year comes to a close, I have to say, I’m still very grateful for the gift of music. So here’s an end-of-the-year mixtape befitting this time of year, a taste of what I’ve been listening to lately. Joshua David...
Love is in the airwaves: Queer dating radio show creates connections and community
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Finding love is all about finding someone on your wavelength. A radio show at the University of Massachusetts Amherst wants to help the local queer community make romantic connections, one guest DJ at a time. On the show “Queer Yenta...
Eat to the beat: New event series in a new venue mixes music, meals, and job training
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer At an upcoming new concert series at a recently opened venue in Holyoke, guests can listen to live music while they eat themed meals and help local students build career skills. The series, Feast & Harmony, will debut next week at De...
‘The magic that existed back then’: Academy of Music to screen time capsule film of New Year’s Eve 1984 concert at The Rusty Nail
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer It’s been 40 years since the band NRBQ played at Sunderland’s The Rusty Nail on New Year’s Eve, but a devoted fan and friend of the band kept the night alive with his concert footage. Later this month, the Academy of Music will screen...
Drum roll, please: Longtime UMass percussion instructor Thom Hannum inducted into Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Thousands of University of Massachusetts Amherst students have learned from percussion instructor Thom Hannum, whose 40-year career at the college included a tenure as the assistant director, then associate director, of the Minuteman...
Rock for all: Whole Children’s resident Friendship Band to perform alongside indie rockers Yo La Tengo at 20th anniversary concert, The Bash, Oct. 23
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer The Northampton organization Whole Children, which serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with indie rock band Yo La Tengo at 33 Hawley on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 6:30 p.m. At...
Farewell to the ‘Doctor of Rock’: Sept. 29 Iron Horse concert pays tribute to Smith professor before he hops the pond
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer After more than two decades at Smith College, a beloved music professor will say goodbye to Northampton with a farewell concert at the Iron Horse next week. Professor Steve Waksman, who has taught at Smith for 23 years, will complete his...
‘Jazz without borders’: Multicultural theme defines Northampton Jazz Festival, Sept. 27-28
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer In a year of international strife, the Northampton Jazz Festival is aiming to bring people together with music that transcends borders. The Northampton Jazz Festival, which will return for its 12th year on Sept. 27 and 28, is celebrating...
Mixtape: The doctor will see you now
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Michael Brady is a psychotherapist and songwriter based out of the Berkshires. His debut release, “Second Skin,” is a concept album written about fictional case studies Brady has concocted from inspirations from his...
Curated for your viewing and listening pleasure: Amherst Cinema presents Sound & Vision series through Sept. 18
By SCOTT MERZBACH Staff Writer A documentary profiling Swing-era clarinetist Artie Shaw, a musical comedy featuring 1960s-pop band The Monkees and one of African cinema’s first musicals are among this year’s selections in an annual summer celebration of music culture...
Something for everyone: UMass Fine Arts Center announces robust 2024-2025 season lineup
By PAIGE HANSON For the Advocate Earlier this week, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Fine Arts Center announced its lineup of performances for its 2024-2025 season, which includes quite a few notable offerings, including “a one-time Grateful Dead keyboardist,...
Food, friends, music and beer: Food Truck Fridays is the place to be in Easthampton this summer
By ALEXA LEWIS Staff Writer Going out with friends can be challenging when clashing tastes in food make it impossible to choose a restaurant. But for Abandoned Building Brewery in Easthampton, the solution to this predicament is simple, and it comes rolling in on four...
Music in the sky: Summit House Sunset Concert Series returns to its 173-year-old home
By PAIGE HANSON For the Advocate For the first time in two years, The Friends of Mount Holyoke Range have returned the Summit House Sunset Concert Series to its namesake, Skinner State Park’s historic Summit House. The Summit House, which sits at a 935-foot elevation...
Mixtape: Bucket list concerts: Big names on tour this summer
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Everyone should have a bucket list of concerts they want to go to before, ya know, the end — artists you’ve been in love with since you can remember, or just for the ‘Wow, I can’t believe I saw them’ factor. If live...
Live from Argentina: Acclaimed tango guitarists to play in Northampton for dancers and music lovers alike
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer If you go to a milonga, or social dance, to do tango dancing in Buenos Aires, you’ll likely be doing it to live music. In western Massachusetts? No so much. Now, though, Western Mass Tango, which has hosted tango lessons and dances in the...
Rattling those musical bones: Folk/blues veteran Chris Smither releases his 20th album ahead of 80th birthday
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer When Chris Smither found his live gigs shut down during the worst months of COVID-19, he figured it might at least be a good opportunity to write some new songs — something the veteran folk/blues singer and guitarist admits is not the...
The Iron Horse rides again: The storied Northampton club will reopen at last, May 15
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer In late March, the fabled Iron Horse Music Hall, slated to reopen in mid May, was still a pretty raw construction site. Boards, pipes, boxes, and other materials were piled on the floors, along the walls, and on tables. Extension cords to...
Mixtape: Reviews of 3 new releases and where to catch the bands play
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Hero and the Horror, “Old Ghosts” Western Mass’ Hero and the Horror recently released their first full length album, which was highly anticipated by the local music scene. The band had a handful of shows recently leading up...
You’re up next: Western Mass open mic scene heats up post-pandemic
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Not so long ago, there was a general lament sometimes heard among Valley musicians: “There aren’t enough places to play around here.” That might have been true for professional players who wanted to be paid — and maybe, despite the...
Mixtape: An album decades in the making: Chris Croteau releases ‘Mesmir’
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Local musician Chris Croteau took a musical hiatus to focus on parenthood, but is now back with an album that is worth the wait. Released in November of last year, “Mesmir” is Croteau’s comeback. The 16-track album has...
In time for downbeat: Jazz record designer Jack Frisch hosts new show on Valley Free Radio to ‘get the music out there’
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Back in the 1980s, Jack Frisch, then in his early twenties, got bitten pretty hard by the jazz bug, taking the ferry from his home in Staten Island, New York, over to Manhattan with some friends and haunting record shops. His interest had...
‘Creole love call’: Gombo launches new music series starting Feb. 2 with jazz reedman Evan Arntzen
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer When John Piskor opened his Cajun-style restaurant, Gombo Nola Kitchen & Oyster Bar, in Northampton last year, he said he eventually wanted it to turn it into something akin to a New Orleans cafe, where people come out for a drink and...
Mixtape: First Night performers, Lexi Weege and JJ Slater’s albums reviewed
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate Notorious for her vocal range, local singer/songwriter Lexi Weege releases her second solo record, “lw.” Weege started performing when she was really young with her mother’s traveling cabaret show. “I was exposed to all types of...
Reviving a local treasure: Parlor Room raising renovation funds to fix up Iron Horse Music Hall; reopening set for May 1
By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL Staff Writer When Chris Freeman was in eighth grade, his father took him to the Iron Horse Music Hall for his first concert at the venue, where he was immediately entranced by the atmosphere, sitting at one of the tables by the wall plastered...
Jump for joy: The Lindy League of Western Massachusetts makes swing dance accessible and fun
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES For the Advocate As snow mingles with rain this Tuesday evening, the door to Spare Time Northampton is cool to the touch. But inside the bowling alley’s City Sports Grille, the cracks of falling pins fade into the warm pulse of swing music. The...
New life for Iron Horse: Parlor Room buys longtime entertainment venue, plans to reopen early next year
By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL Staff Writer At long last, the Iron Horse Music Hall has a new owner, and music could be emanating from the venerable Center Street location as soon as February. The Parlor Room, a nearby music venue run by a nonprofit, announced last month...
Mixtape: Music for the people, by the people: New arts cooperative, THCC, seeks home for member-run music venue
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The music scene just hasn’t been the same post-COVID. Many venues remain vacant and are quite literally decaying. Some opened for a short period of time, then closed indefinitely....
On the big stage: UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center offers music, dance, theater and more in new season
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Like so many other arts venues, the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts had to resort to online productions during the worst of the pandemic. As FAC Director Jamilla Deria told the Gazette at the time, planning for the...
Book Bag: ‘A Fool’s Journey: To the Beach Boys & Beyond’ by Carli Muñoz; ‘A Boston Love Story’ by Lawrence B. Siddall
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer A Fool’s Journey: To the Beach Boys & Beyond By Carli Muñoz Interlink Publishing Jazz pianist Carli Muñoz has had a long and successful career in music, both as a jazz and blues player but also logging time with rock and pop bands,...
Music with a message: Northampton Jazz Festival takes over downtown next weekend with a celebration of music and civil rights
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Max Roach is celebrated as one of the most influential drummers in jazz history, a pioneer of Bebop who led groundbreaking ensembles in every decade of his long career. As a drummer and a composer, he’s credited with making drums a more...
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood: Easthampton joins national movement with inaugural Porchfest throughout New City neighborhood, Sept. 30
By MADDIE FABIAN Staff Writer As many Easthampton residents do, Marjory Zaik has deep ties to the historic New City Neighborhood. A 1930s family photograph pictures her aunts Stella and Helen laughing while cheerfully leaning against the rail of their Federal Street...
Lights, camera, action — and more: Black box theater at Holyoke Media becomes a forum for the arts and other events
By STEVE PFARRERStaff Writer Musicians are always looking for another venue to play. Actors and playwrights search for a new place to stage a show. Dancers want another floor to move on. At Holyoke Media, they all can find room. The independent, nonprofit...
Time to swing: Jazz drummer and South Hadley native Joe Farnsworth returns to the Valley for a concert honoring his idol, Max Roach
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Joe Farnsworth was 10 or 11 when he got the chance to meet a drumming legend: Max Roach. It was at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in 1979, where Roach taught. Farnsworth, who grew up in South Hadley, remembers how one of his...
End of summer mixtape: A selection of some of my favorite recent releases from Oozie, VIDEORENTAL and Pamela Means
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate Years ago, the late musician Ted Pratt made a Facebook post stating he wanted to start a thrash band and call it “Uzi Jacuzzi.” Intrigued, vocalist and guitarist Tristan Jorud reached out to Pratt and the two got together that...
Hoping for a drier September: Three outdoor music festivals on tap for Easthampton toward summer’s end
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer July was a challenging month for outdoor music shows, with the heavy rain that flooded local farms and roads also washing out some concerts and threatening others. Organizers for upcoming music festivals in Easthampton are hoping things...
Straight from the heart: Grayson Ty and Laura Buchanan plumb their own relationship on their debut album as a duo
By STEVE PFARRER STAFF WRITER Several years ago, Grayson Ty and Laura Buchanan first met as separate working musicians. That night, Ty, a singer-songwriter, was co-billed at the Iron Horse Musical Hall in Northampton with Eavesdrop, then an acoustic folk-pop trio that...
Who run the world: Jacob’s Pillow honors 50 years of hip hop with many leading ladies
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES For the Advocate When it was time for the hip hop tribute at this year’s Grammys, Black Thought took center stage to introduce his girl: “Fifty years ago, a street princess was born to be an icon. The art form took the entire world by storm....
Mostly, About a Girl: Tom Sturm’s latest release ‘Vagus Nerve Reset’ was decades in the making
“Do you want to absorb the musical equivalent of a York Peppermint Patty? A rich, chocolatey yet also refreshingly minty sensation that filters through your nervous system like a blast of Arctic air to every forgotten corner of your body and soul?” The press release...
Rocking in the real world: UMass Amherst band tours with writer Jeff Kinney to highlight a new ‘Wimpy Kid’ book and movie
Like so many other artists, author and illustrator Jeff Kinney felt stymied by the pandemic. The visits he’d typically make to bookstores to talk about the newest additions to his popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series were reduced to parking lot encounters and other...I Wrote This For You: Catching up with local favorites, The Big Sway
The Big Sway formed in the Valley in 2007 and have been in their current lineup consisting of Joe MacFadzen, Tim Zucco and Mike Grenier since 2013. Their genre-bending music is a shopping spree where there is something for everyone all in one spot. Combining punk,...E-Edition
Best Of 2025
Readers Choice 2025
