Kristian Mattson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth (who is, if anything, slightly less than average height), has a lot of energy. It takes a certain amount of presence and charisma to command a stage playing solo, especially in a room the size of Strathmore. Kristian has it in spades, though, and he captivated the audience in his recent performance there.
In the middle of their recent set at The Anthem, Franz Ferdinand performed “Audacious,” one of the new songs from The Human Fear, which constituted half the show. Lyrically, “Audacious” was a call for perseverance in the face of adversity, and not only is the catchy tune a message for our times but also perhaps an appropriate song for a band that very smartly grown and adapted since its extraordinary self-titled debut album in 2004.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada native Bella White may be in her early 20s, but her songwriting shows a maturity well beyond her tender years. Raised by a father who came from Virginia and played bluegrass and influenced by the songwriting of John Prine and fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell, White signed with Rounder and made her first album, 2021’s Just Like Leaving, while she was still a teenager.
Two years later, after moving to Nashville, she released her second record, Among Other Things, produced by Jonathan Wilson with Big Thief’s Buck Meek on guitar, to strong critical response. She recently made her return to the DMV, playing the sold-out Pearl Street Warehouse.
At 60 years old, Trey Anastasio shows no signs of slowing down as a guitar player. Widely revered for his ability to improvise and turn just about any composition into a psych rock epic, he’s now vigorously jamming into his senior years, much to the delight of Phish fans far and wide.
Anastasio was out on solo tour from early March to early April, hitting major and mid-size cities on the East Coast and into the Midwest — including a date at Warner Theatre in DC. It was his first “extended solo tour” since 2019, and he sold out stop after stop while presenting upward of 30 songs a night from his wooden chair.
The 2025 version of the Experience Hendrix Tour recently stormed into DC with a thunderous stop at Warner Theater for another outstanding edition of the annual project.
Phil Cook’s been through some hard times and a great deal of change in the past five years.
The Durham-based piano player and songwriter’s been involved in bands since he was in high school, and his musical connections and his own talents have taken him to great heights.
But like it was for many, the pandemic years proved to be a turning point, a catalyst that altered his relationships — including a divorce — and thrust him into a period of deep reflection.
The night of April 3 at The Hamilton Live in Washington DC, Cook opened himself up to an intimate audience with his words at the microphone and by way of a front-to-back performance of his latest instrumental recording, Appalachia Borealis, released just a few weeks ago on Psychic Hotline.
Jazz greats Leni Stern (vocals, guitar), Mimi Fox (vocals, guitar), Dennis Chambers (drums), Mamadou Ba (bass), and Alioune Faye (percussion) recently performed in a series of shows at Blues Alley in DC. Steve Satzberg was there to photograph one of the late shows!
The Weather Station, the project helmed by Canadian singer-songwriter Tamara Lindeman, has evolved over its life. Lindeman’s early recordings were spare, rootsy folk, mostly acoustic and made with traditional instrumentation. In more recent albums, beginning with her 2021 critical and commercial breakthrough, Ignorance she’s incorporated jazz. While the next year’s follow-up, How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars, returned to a more intimate, acoustic format, she pushed herself even further on this year’s Humanhood, embracing electronica. Her sonic palette has grown more varied and sophisticated, and her lyrics increasingly sharp and incisive.
In their recent show at the Atlantis, the Weather Station showed just how much its evolved in an engaging, smart set.
Brit-turned-Nashville-resident Joanne Shaw Taylor recently introduced herself to the audience at The Hamilton Live with a bit of an apology. The blues guitar prodigy mentioned how she’d had to cancel her previous two shows because of bronchitis, and that she’d have to talk a bit less than usual during the evening’s performance. She soldiered on admirably though, delighting the crowd with fantastic playing, great songs, and some delightful stories.
Taylor got started early in the music business: Influenced by players like Jimi Hendrix, Albert Collins, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, she’s been playing in bands since she was just 11, and she was leading her own by the tender age of 13. She’s been a professional musician since she was 14, headlining clubs in the UK. When she was 16, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics recruited her to play in his band. Her first two albums, 2009’s White Sugar and the following year’s Diamonds in the Dirt, placed in the Top 10 of the US blues charts.
Packed into a dark, narrow backroom of a basement bar with limited sightlines and a sort of-sketchy sound system — it might not be the ideal way to enjoy a must-see, must-hear band. But by golly, that’s exactly how a pack of eager patrons took it at Quarry House Tavern the night of April 1.
Fust, an alt-country group out of Durham, has quickly caught on with choosy listeners, and for good reason. With just a few recordings, founder Aaron Dowdy has shown himself to be a remarkable songwriter who utters arresting lyrics with a heart-wrenching drawl.
Dowdy and his band visited Silver Spring recently, filling Quarry House Tavern and delivering a stunning set of songs, including tracks from the latest Fust album, Big Ugly, released in early March on Dear Life Records.
