Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (Photo by Alysse Gafkjen)
Jason Isbell referred to himself, his band, and opening act Waxahatchee as ambassadors for the state of Alabama when they appeared at Wolf Trap on Tuesday evening.
Preview: Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco @ Wolf Trap, 9/22/21
Indigo Girls (Photo courtesy High Road Touring)
Indigo Girls, “one of the finest folk duos of all time” (NPR), and feminist icon and singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco return with a Grammy-winning blend of female-driven folk, rock, and pop on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at Wolf Trap.
Live Review: Lord Huron @ MECU Pavilion — 9/13/21
I have to admit that until a good friend of mine turned me onto them a few years ago, Lord Huron wasn’t on my radar. But one spin of Strange Tails and I was hooked. I hadn’t been able to catch them on stage however — that is until Monday night at the MECU Pavilion in Baltimore.
There’s something to the music of Lord Huron that flows from aesthetics of great fiction, whether it be pulp novels of the turn of the last century in Strange Trails; idealized visions of the future in Vide Noir; or the imagined world of early variety television that inhabits Long Lost, the most recent release from this LA-by-way-of-Lansing quartet. There’s a mystic quality that takes the listener along for a ride and keeps them coming back. So, on a hot afternoon overlooking the Baltimore Harbor, I had the great fortune to witness Lord Huron as they took the stage on their first tour since music touring stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Live Review: Jonny Grave w/ Elizabeth II @ Pearl Street Warehouse – 9/10/21
Two of the finest DC area musicians performed this past Friday evening at Pearl Street Warehouse. Elizabeth II opened with a subdued but nonetheless passionate solo acoustic performance while Jonny Grave’s blues rock provided a raucous counterpoint.
Preview: The Nth Power @ The Hamilton Live, 9/18/21
The Nth Power (Photo courtesy Margaret Willard)
Formed during an impromptu late-night jam during the 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The Nth Power believes in music as a higher power. The trio performs at The Hamilton Live on Saturday, Sept. 18!
Live Review: Lindsey Buckingham @ Warner Theatre — 9/14/21
Lindsey Buckingham performs at the Warner Theatre on Sept. 14, 2021. (Photo by Jason Nicholson)
Lindsey Buckingham took to the stage at the historic Warner Theater in DC yesterday, with his four-piece band covering great ground with six songs from his expansive solo career works from four different albums: Under The Skin, Seeds We Sow, Out of the Cradle, and Go Insane.
Live Review: Durand Jones and the Indications @ 9:30 Club — 9/11/21
Durand Jones and the Indications play to a sold-out crowd at 9:30 Club on Sept. 11, 2021. (Photo by Casey Vock.)
The line stretched around the corner and down the block from 9:30 Club the night of Sept. 11, and for good reason, as Durand Jones and the Indications came to town for one of the first major shows at the nationally recognized club since it recently began hosting shows in earnest and with safety protocols in place.
Interview: Bob Mould (@ 9:30 Club, 9/18/21)
Bob Mould Band (Photo courtesy Big Hassle)
When he plays the 9:30 Club on Saturday, Bob Mould will be making a homecoming of sorts. For nearly a decade, he lived in the District, and he has a long history with the club. For a number of years at 9:30 Club, he DJ’ed at a dance party (called Blowoff) for DC’s gay community.
Over his 40-plus year career, Bob covered wide ground and left an indelible imprint on the American musical scene. A native of upstate Malone, New York, Mould left to attend Macalester College in Minneapolis, where he would found the seminal band Hüsker Dü in 1979. A fast, aggressive punk trio, their music was a bridge between the punk era and the alternative and underground scenes that formed in the early to mid ’80s. Their influence was especially potent in their base in the Twin Cities (on the Replacements, Soul Asylum, and Guided by Voices) but extended to bands as diverse as, on the one hand, Dinosaur Jr. and Nirvana, and, on the other, Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown. New Day Rising was listed in Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums, and several of their albums are considered classics.
After the breakup of Hüsker Dü, Bob embarked on a solo career, moving into more singer-songwriter oriented territory with the well-received, mostly acoustic Workbook. In the early ’90s, he helmed the alternative band Sugar to some of his most commercially successful work. In the 25 years since Sugar disbanded, he has continued to grow and expand his range, running the gamut from his completely self-made, distortion-filled, eponymous 1996 release, to explorations in electronic music, District’s Lines variety of styles and genres, and more pop-oriented material like Life and Times. As he describes in this interview, his latest record, last year’s Blue Hearts, is a return to his punk roots.
Parklife DC’s Mark Engleson recently spoke with Bob Mould in advance of his show at 9:30 Club on Saturday, Sept. 18. They touched on a number of subjects, including his history with the venue, his creative cycle, and what still keeps him creatively refreshed and moving forward in his career.
Live Review: Sunny War @ City Winery — 9/9/21
Sunny War performs at City Winery DC on Sept. 9, 2021. (Photo by Casey Vock)
Creatively illustrating heartbreak and other crucial, even if paralyzing, human emotions is the sign of a masterful musician. And there’s no way to fabricate any level of that understanding — only persevering through hardships can empower someone with such an apprised view of this world.
Sunny War, a 30-year-old rising star out of Los Angeles, casually strolled into City Winery DC the night of Sept. 9 to deliver an inspirative and inventive set of music crafted from sounds of blues, folk and punk and built from the challenges she’s overcome along her path.
Interview: Scott Terry of Red Wanting Blue (@ The Hamilton Live, 9/17/21)
Red Wanting Blue frontman, Scott Terry, performing at City Winery DC, June 19, 2018. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
Red Wanting Blue will kick off its “25 and Still Alive” fall tour at The Hamilton Live this Friday Sept. 17. Before the show, lead singer Scott Terry spoke with Ari Strauss about reaching the band’s 25th anniversary, the upcoming tour, and the inherent philosophies in appreciating live and studio albums.
Ari had the opportunity to interview Scott once before in April 2020, and that is referenced in the dialog below. Red Wanting Blue was scheduled to perform at City Winery DC later that year but, of course, COVID-19 made that impossible.
