Tool (Photo by Travis Shinn)
Tool have embarked on a mammoth 2022 tour, with the Los Angeles-based band spending 3 months traversing the United States and stopping in DC at Capital One Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
Red Wanting Blue frontman, Scott Terry performs at Tally Ho Theater in Leesburg, VA, Jan. 28, 2022. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
Red Wanting Blue’s “Hey 22!” tour rolled through Leesburg, Virginia, recently for a performance at Tally Ho Theater. Remarkably, for the band who recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and regularly plays over 200 shows a year, it was their first ever visit to Leesburg and the Tally Ho.
Brent Cobb (Photo by Andrew Hutto)
Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and musician Brent Cobb’s debut gospel album, And Now, Let’s Turn To Page…, is out now via his own label, Ol’ Buddy Records.
Chris Wood performs at 9:30 Club on Jan. 26, 2022. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
At one point during The Wood Brother’s set at 9:30 Club recently, I pointed out bassist Oliver Woods’s unusual technique on the electric bass. Rather than the standard overhand overhand method of playing the instrument, he was using the hand positioning that is standard for the guitar. That wasn’t the only thing that was unusual about Chris’s playing: When he plays the upright bass, he typically uses a bow.
This versatility and use of unusual techniques in Chris playing comes from his background prior to the formation of The Wood Brothers, He studied jazz bass at the New England Conservatory of Music, after which he cofounded the jazz fusion group Medeski, Martin & Wood.
Washed Out (Photo by Blair Greene)
Washed Out is Atlanta-based producer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ernest Greene. Over the course of three uniquely enchanting, critically-lauded albums and an EP, the music he makes has proved both transportive and visual, each new effort inviting listeners into immersive, self-contained universes.
With Purple Noon, his fourth album, and return to Sub Pop, he delivers the most accessible Washed Out creation to date. Travel with Washed Out in his performance at 9:30 Club on Wednesday, Feb. 9.
Griff performs at Songbyrd Music House on Jan. 25, 2022. (Photo by Ben Eisendrath)
I took my cameras to Songbyrd Music House a couple nights ago to shoot Amy Allen and Griff for Parklife, and I have to relay that both acts are definitely worth checking out.
Tedeschi Trucks Band (Photo by Caitlin Moore)
Following a very challenging yet creative year, Americana roots and soul powerhouse, Tedeschi Trucks Band, eagerly returns to the road in 2022. Highlights include a series of multiple-night residencies in Washington DC (6), Nashville, TN (4), Chicago, IL (4), Red Bank, NJ (3), Port Chester, NY (3), and a two-night engagement in New Orleans, LA. Led by renowned guitarist Derek Trucks and singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, these shows will feature the full, reunited 12-piece band including new drummer Isaac Eady.
Rachael & Vilray perform at The Miracle Theatre in DC on Jan. 23, 2022. (Photo by Mark Caicedo)
The human voice is, indeed, miraculous. It can be used to convey love and hatred, compassion and anger. It can be soft, barely a whisper or a shout, like a foghorn. But in the hands (to mix a metaphor) of a master, the voice is a tool, a device, an instrument to create melody subtle and pleasing — a way to elicit a range of emotions that transforms both listener and artist in ways neither could have anticipated. Above all, it can even suspend the moment, crystallizing what music is meant to do: inviting one to live in the moment, completely and absolutely.
On a recent (and chilly) Sunday evening, Rachael and Vilray (pronounced VILL-ree) sang songs of myriad emotions and created a warm and intimate evening for a packed Miracle Theatre. Their music recalls the days of Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Johnny Mercer while simultaneously showcasing Vilray’s witty and charming modern-day compositions that, undoubtedly, will also one day easily reside in the American Songbook.
Josh Abbott Band (Photo by Joseph Llanes)
Lubbock sits alone in the arid plains of northwest Texas. far closer to the New Mexico border than to the populous Texas Triangle (Dallas-Houston-San Antonio) in the eastern part of the state. It’s not a small city, with a population of more than a quarter-million, one that has grown precipitously since WWII, along with the rest of the Lone Star State.
Its impact on popular music, however, far outstrips these numbers. Early rocker Buddy Holly was a native, as was country outlaw Waylon Jennings (who performed in the former’s band). Somewhat lesser known but influential country-rock and Americana acts like The Flatlanders and Terry Allen (who appears this weekend on PBS’s Austin City Limits) also hail from there. Josh Abbott, frontman of the seven-piece band that bears his name, may not be a native, but he’ s absolutely carrying the spirit of the city forward with his music.
Jake Xerxes Fussell performs at Pie Shop in Washington DC on Jan. 23, 2022. (Photo by Casey Vock)
Authenticity might be the most essential quality for any musician, but that trait seems to be either intrinsic or elusive for humans in general. It’s presumable then that an artist who lives and breathes or — in some rare cases — was brought up on the music they eventually make is better equipped than most to capture listeners through recorded sound and live performance.
A wizardly fingerpicking guitarist and singer who grew up in a Columbus, Georgia, household steeped in traditional music and art, Jake Xerxes Fussell has managed over the course of four studio albums to inventively restore and refashion a wide cross section of folk music from different times and places in American history.
