Music
by Advocate Staff | May 9, 2017 | Articles, Get Out With Staff Picks, Music, Newsletter
The Greys at The Still in Agawam • Friday The Greys came in a couple months ago to perform a Sessions set with us and the duo had me in awe. The powerful, whispering voice of singer Cait Simpson folds perfectly inside the jazz-styled stand up bass plucking of Chris...
by Chris Goudreau | May 5, 2017 | Featured, Get Out With Staff Picks, Music, News, Newsletter
David Crosby — the founding member of legendary 1960s and 1970s rock groups such as the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, & Nash — is coming to Northampton’s Academy of Music Theatre on May 19 for a show with his electric backing band. The two-time Rock n’ Roll Hall of...
by Jennifer Levesque | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
The nostalgia of Pearl Street in Northampton always brings back so many MMM’s (magical music memories) from my past. The way the street light illuminates that bend in the road where the tour buses usually line up is always a happy trigger for me. We can hear the...
by Kristin Palpini | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Thunder Down East If you hear rumblings coming from Easthampton Saturday, come running — it’s the Thunder in the Valley Festival. This all-ages event will feature rock and roll, food trucks, craft beer, wrestling — with students from Kevin Landry’s Pro Wrestling...
by Advocate Staff | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Forever Young@Heart Young@Heart, a chorus of people age 70 and older who love singing contemporary tunes, is celebrating 35 years of belting out the hits with a show this Saturday at the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton. Hear new arrangements of songs by...
by Chris Goudreau | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Music, Newsletter
The blues has always been about addressing heartbreak and strife going back to 1930s Depression-era America. Northampton-based indie garage rock blues duo Old Flame seem to share that sentiment for today’s world. The band’s debut seven-song EP, Wolf in the Heather,...
by Advocate Staff | Apr 28, 2017 | Articles, Featured, Music
Bright-eyed and bolstered by a rapidly growing fan base, the award winning NYC duo has set out to make the world of singer-songwriters a more cheerful place. Although they’ve been favorably compared to Simon & Garfunkel and The Indigo Girls, these ladies have an...
by Kristin Palpini | Apr 26, 2017 | Articles, Music, Newsletter
Nice photo ^^ Nice video vv Can’t wait for more Sessions? Head over to the Sessions page and listen to more of the best local bands you might not have heard of – and a couple you probably have.
by Jennifer Levesque | Apr 17, 2017 | Columns, Featured, Music, News, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
After a full day of sitting inside a dankly weed-scented office — we did a photo shoot of some nuggets for this 4/20 issue — my first thought walking into The Root Cellar in Greenfield for an experimental show is “damn this place smells good” … and familiar. I’m...
by Kristin Palpini | Apr 19, 2017 | Articles, Music, News
Who is Hammydown? To see more come back Friday afternoon when we’ll post the full 20 minute concert and interview with Hammydown. Want more Sessions? Check out past performances from bands that include Mammal Dap, The Suitcase Junket, Mikey Sweet, Ray Mason, The...
by Advocate Staff | Apr 13, 2017 | Articles, Featured, Music
Rick Murnane is a Northampton-based singer-songwriter who has played with more area bands than you can shake a drumstick at, but his guitar skills are equally impressive when he plays his powerful and tender songs solo. Whether you’re listening to “Last...
by Will Meyer | Apr 10, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music
On the road with The Sun Parade From the streets of Nashville I called Lynne Bertrand, who manages the Northampton band The Sun Parade. There was a problem.I had stopped by the venue earlier and noticed the sign outside said they were going first. This wasn’t going to...
by Hunter Styles | Apr 10, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Stage
We’re still a few months out from July’s annual Green River Festival in Greenfield, but we’re right on time to share a special early announcement from producers Signature Sounds. This year, the festival will add a new stage called the Next Wave Stage, which will host...
by Advocate Staff | Apr 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Leisure, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Tweet Puppets for the People From its founding in New York’s Lower East Side in 1963 to its decades-long residence in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, Bread & Puppet Theater remains one of the country’s most inventive and internationally recognized performing...
by Jennifer Levesque | Apr 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
A Woman Alive As I walked into Gateway City Arts in Holyoke for the first time, I came to a dead stop to admire the factory-style architecture. The ceilings are very high, with a huge industrial ceiling fan staring down. The large stage was lit up awaiting performers,...
by Hunter Styles | Apr 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Stage
War and Music Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes has jumped onto our cultural radar many times over the years — she received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Water by the Spoonful, and she wrote the book for the musical In The Heights alongside future...
by Hunter Styles | Apr 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Tribe That Quests In recent years, ensemble theater group Children of the Wild has managed something nifty: the full integration of the musical band dynamic into their touring acts. Music and theater fused completely in the show The Wastelands, an original...
by Hunter Styles | Apr 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
One of the Greats New Orleans native Terence Blanchard has become one of America’s most respected jazz musicians, working as a trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. He was an integral figure in the 1980s jazz resurgence, and his trumpet...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 27, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Music, Newsletter
The World in Frame Since opening its historic church doors in 2011, Next Stage Arts Project has been working to bring world-class events into the small town of Putney, Vermont (just north of Brattleboro). Never has that mission been more clear than with the group’s...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 27, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Smile! (Or Don’t) Artist, photographer, and punk for the ages Cynthia Connolly made a name for herself in one fell swoop when she published Banned in DC: Photos and Anecdotes from the D.C. Punk Underground (79-85). That scrappy yearbook-style achievement snuck into...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 29, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music
Jazz-inspired indie duo on vocals and bass When Cait Simpson sings and Chris Merritt plucks his upright bass, something simple and enchanting happens. The friends just released their first EP, The Landing, available on iTunes and Spotify. Catch the full video this...
by Will Meyer | Mar 27, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
How a fictional psychdrone collective from Berlin took form in Greenfield In 2015, a real writer and real College of the Atlantic professor named Daniel Mahoney published a real book called Sunblind Almost Motorcrash. In it, he wrote fictional reviews of imaginary...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 27, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Guitar Around the World To hear NPR tell it, musician Jason Vieaux is “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation.” Vieaux’s album Play won the 2015 Grammy award for best classical instrumental solo, and he has played in hundreds of...
by Azrael Viles | Mar 27, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
More often than not, the hustle and bustle around me is white noise. Throughout the day I hear a cacophonous array of sounds from outside: cars, dogs, the wind, the mailman, humans in general, and even other cats. I stare out the window for most hours of the day, my...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Stage
One-man band plays blues, rock, and folk on improvised instruments Some of us spend our days sitting at computers in nondescript rooms. In the new, handmade music video for his love song “Beta Star,” Matt Lorenz gives that a shot. He wakes up in the morning, washes...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music
Amherst-based psychedelic dream-pop and surf-blues infused band Calico Blue released its second album early this month, 15 Sunrise, which presents songs that could be best described as meditations on life. They confront the ghosts that live in the corridors of the...
by Kristin Palpini | Mar 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Stage
Nasty Jazz The Ladies of Jazz music series is dedicating its Saturday, March 25, concert to all the “nasty” (aka “strong”) women fighting for female and reproductive rights. And all proceeds are going to benefit Planned Parenthood of Northern New England in...
by Kristin Palpini | Mar 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music
DIO know DIO is coming to town? Jump on your tiger, Holy Diver, because DIO is coming to town. Last in Line, a DIO cover band that includes members of the original DIO, is playing the Waterfront Tavern in Holyoke on Wednesday, March 29. The group will play some...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Team Raja “With spidery limbs and a sprawling imagination,” writes Dance Magazine, “Brooklyn-based Raja Feather Kelly brings a vivid boundlessness to all he does. Whether dancing for the likes of Reggie Wilson or cooking up his own darkly entertaining...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 13, 2017 | Arts, Music, Stage
Stay Classy, South Africa For over 50 years, South Africa’s male a cappella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo has warmed the hearts of audiences worldwide with their uplifting vocal harmonies, signature dance moves, and charming onstage banter. With a deep respect...
by Will Meyer | Mar 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Pavement certainly planted some type of “slacker” flag in the 90s. Whether or not they were the original “slackers” — they weren’t — is irrelevant, but that label has often evoked that band. Today the same label, certainly a compelling angle for write-ups, is attached...
by Amanda Drane | Mar 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, News, Newsletter
Vanessa Carlton may be best known for playing piano on the back of a truck while singing her hit song “A Thousand Miles,” but that doesn’t mean she’ll play just anywhere. The artist has standards — and they’re apparently higher than at least what one Northampton venue...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Food + Booze, Music, Newsletter, Stage
With the SYRUP Festival, Piti Theatre Company in Shelburne Falls has hit on a tradition that most of us would never have realized we were missing: all-ages live performance, featuring world-class artists, mixed with handcrafted food and sweets from local artisans. Now...
by Hunter Styles | Mar 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
A Porch to be Reckoned With Most Valley radio listeners have spent at least a little time on Jim Olsen’s back porch. For years the president of Northampton-based record label Signature Sounds has hosted a Sunday morning radio program on 93.9 The River that focuses on...
by Jennifer Levesque | Mar 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
I consider myself a musical schizophrenic. I can get into just about any genre you put in front of me — especially if it’s live. I may not be a musician, but music has been a passionate subject for me for as long as I can remember. One of the first local shows I went...
by Hunter Styles | Feb 27, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Signs of Light Seattle indie folk band The Head and the Heart formed in 2009, and their third album Signs of Light, released this past fall, captures a radio-friendly pop rhythm that Rolling Stone described as “cozy and stylish at the same time.”That album was...
by Will Meyer | Feb 27, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Pioneer Valley Underground brings new voices to DIY coverage Back in 1999, thousands descended into downtown Seattle for protests against the World Trade Organization, dubbed “The Battle of Seattle.” Not only did protesters successfully get a frank discussion about...
by Jennifer Levesque | Feb 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Spending Valentine’s Day with Thurston Moore and friends A distant droning noise fills the cold air as I get out of my car in a very full parking lot at the 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence. I walk up the steps to the entrance of the club above JJ’s Tavern,...
by Hunter Styles | Feb 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Katz and the Fiddle Click Workspace, downtown Northampton’s coworking HQ, drew a big enough crowd at a January concert to warrant a brand-new live music series. This month’s concert at Click features accomplished local stringster Zoë Darrow on fiddle and Stephen...
by Chance Viles Photos by Jason Murray | Feb 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, News, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Wesley Jillson has been a part of the local metal music scene since the ’80s. He saw Western Mass area metal rise to national prominence in the ’90s, then fade away by 2010.At the fifth annual Promoterhead show at the 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence in early...
by Ken Maiuri | Feb 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music
The new album Malbec and Gingerale serves twists, turns, and a brainy fizz Jack Simons hasn’t just put out a new record. He’s concocted a psychedelic spritzer. Bright bubble-fizz for the brain.It’s an eight-song album called Malbec and Gingerale, twisty-turny pop...
by Will Meyer | Feb 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
December brought with it not one, not two, but three releases from Florence psych punks Thee Arcadians — Ian St. George on guitar, Nico Lapinski on bass, and Elliot Hartmann-Russell on drums. Sure, it sounds like maybe they just put up a mic in band practice, but...
by Chance Viles | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Heartstrings James Hill and Anne Janelle are set to bless Vermont with their folk music this week. Winners of the Canadian Folk Music Award for traditional album of the year, Hill and Janelle focus on traditional folk with an interesting twist. The low sounds of...
by Chance Viles | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
Mortal Heroes Michael Pili Pang and the Halau Hula Ka No’eau dance studio returns to the Northeast to showcase traditional Hula. The company commemorates its 30th year producing traditional Hawaiian dance, chants, and art. Audiences can expect to be captivated...
by Will Meyer | Jan 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
When I started at Hampshire College in 2010, there was this cool band of upperclassmen that kind of blew my mind. They were called Pale Cowboy. They had jazz influences, but it was clear that making irresistible pop music was their thing. One song won me over, which...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 23, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Film, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Reflective Collective What happens when eight talented women — all of whom are involved in creative communities across Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties — meet to make poetry and art together? In the case of Exploded View, they create multimedia exhibits and...
by Gary Carra | Jan 23, 2017 | Arts, Columns, Featured, Leisure, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
After more than two decades delivering the music news in print, Nightcrawler moves online Editor’s Note: Scene stalwart Gary Carra’s Nightcrawler column has long been a fixture at the Valley Advocate — a history that goes back, as he explains here, to the bygone era...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 24, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Metal Shenanigans at Shenanigans • Friday Once a month, Shenanigans in Westfield hosts a free metal night. A night full of metal, with a bar in earshot of the stage? Sign me up. But hey, since there is no cover charge, bring some extra cash in case you wanna buy merch...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 23, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Spiritual Rez Setting in the West Self-released People love reggae songs for the same reason people hate reggae songs: every slow, delirious second laid down is in service to the beat. Everyone from Bob Marley on down has brought flair, trippy switch-ups, and...
by Will Meyer | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Roxy Leblanc has been a mainstay in the Hadley underground for as long as I can remember. She fronted the band Great Smokey, an earnest and groovy psych group that took a few forms between 2009 and 2016, before calling an indefinite hiatus last winter. Since then she...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
EAST COAST NEW ENGLAND BOY Ian Cat Salieri Records If you pick up a copy of Ian Cat’s new album, grab a pair of headphones, too. Or, at the very least, play East Coast New England Boy with the volume turned way up. Within this static and fuzz beats the meticulous...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Off The Prozacs This poppy punk band from Westfield is calling it quits after more than a decade of making music. The band’s last show is Thursday at the 13th Floor Lounge in Florence. Say farewell to the band that rocked you with their three albums and multiple...
by Gary Carra | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
This week, a few of the Valley’s more notable country boys will slap on their Stetsons and give the scene a swift, cowboy boot to the posterior. First out of the gate: on Friday Jan. 13, Trailer Trash will serve up heaping portions of modern country rock at Holyoke’s...
by Jennifer Levesque | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Bone Chilling Metal Turn those cold winter blues into face-melting metal this weekend at the 3rd Annual Hothfest! Two full days of killer lineups featuring local bands scattered throughout touring bands. “When death metal takes over New England!” says the man behind...
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Blogs, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Partway through last Friday’s performance at West Springfield’s Majestic Theater, something unscripted, overdue, and quite wonderful happened. The show was Peter Shaffer’s brilliant examination of genius and envy, Amadeus. The title refers to Mozart, but the...
by Peter Vancini | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, Music
Jammin’ for Justice The nonprofit Watermelon Wednesdays has been providing musical education and holding concerts for the past 17 years. This Wednesday, the group is putting on In It Together, a fundraiser for community, diversity, and social justice to benefit...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 3, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Blue-eyed Rock ’n’ Soul The higher the hair, the closer to God, honey. So you know Christine Ohlman, the Beehive Queen, is tight with The Man Upstairs — and you can hear it in her soulful rock. Ohlman, whom you may recognize from her years as a vocalist in the...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 3, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Take the Stage Now that all the big holiday celebrations and events are in the past, it’s time to get back to regular old life. Do it in style by hitting a karaoke night somewhere in the Valley. There are plenty of bars known for their customer caterwauling:...
by Will Meyer | Jan 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Staying strong in the face of hate and lost spaces Last week, Basemental interviewed a local musician who lost people close to him in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire on Dec. 2 in Oakland, California. That piece sparked a discussion of safe spaces for artists, which...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Floating Rock and Rolling Folk From year to year, over hundreds of live sets, Driftwood has proved a cohesive quartet since its members first gathered in Binghamton, NY in 2005. But the band’s sound, rather aptly, is a shifting, constant collision of styles, from...
