Earls of Leicester (Photo courtesy Rounder Records)
Jerry Douglas formed the Earls of Leicester to present the music of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and their band the Foggy Mountain Boys to modern audiences. The Earls do some presenting at The Birchmere on Sunday, Sept. 2!
Australian DJ Alison Wonderland, born Alexandra Sholler, released Awake, her second studio album, in April via EMI Music. It of course hit #1 on the US Top Dance/Electronic albums chart. This weekend, Alison Wonderland will perform two nights at Echostage. The first night is sold out, but tickets are still available for Saturday, Sept. 1.
Papercuts performs at The Anthem on Aug. 25, 2018. (Photo by Jason Nicholson)
Los Angeles quartet Papercuts will release Parallel Universe Blues, its sixth album, on Oct. 19. Meanwhile, the band has been opening for Beach House, and they dropped by The Anthem for a show on Saturday, Aug. 25.
Joe Ely and Alejandro Escovedo perform at City Winery in DC on Aug. 21, 2018. (Photo by Chester Simpson)
I had a personal reason for attending and photographing the show of Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely recently at the City Winery in Washington, DC, I knew them in the ole days of the ’70s.
Aaron Lee Tasjan (Photo courtesy by Curtis Wayne Millard)
Singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan will release Karma for Cheap, his latest studio record, on Aug. 31, via New West Records. On Tuesday, Aug. 28, he will host a record release party at Union Stage!
Beach House performs at The Anthem on Aug. 25, 2018. (Photo by Jason Nicholson)
In May, Beach House released 7, their seventh studio album via Sub Pop. The dreampop duo recently embarked on a summer tour, hitting The Anthem on Saturday. Jason Nicholson photographed the show!
Dawes performs at the Lowell Summer Music Series on Aug. 6, 2017. (Photo by Tim Carter)
Headlining their largest show to date, SoCal folk rock band Dawes brought their literate melodies to Wolf Trap on Thursday. The quartet of Taylor (guitar, vocals) and Griffin (drums) Goldsmith, Wylie Gerber (bass), and Lee Pardini plied their classic Laurel Canyon sound to a highly appreciative, diverse audience.
Debbie Harry fronts Blondie at the New York State Fair on Aug. 22, 2018. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
At the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York, you can still get a baked potato for $1 and a cup of chocolate milk for 25 cents (they reportedly dispense over 30,000 cups of milk a day). You also get the unparalleled value of seeing a performance by New Wave legends Blondie, as I did last week.
Shooter Jennings performs at Pappy and Harriett’s in Pioneertown, California, on Aug. 9, 2018. (Photo by Harmony Gerber)
Shooter Jennings brought his raucous brand of outlaw country music to DC on Wednesday, rocking the house at City Winery.
He’s spitting image of his daddy, the legendary Waylon Jennings, right down to the prominent proboscis, albeit carrying a more slender figure. Touring behind his new album, Shooter, he’s picking up the torch his father carried, turning his back on Nashville and Hollywood, making music his way, as he expressed in the song “Solid Country Gold/The Outsider.”
Ann Wilson of Heart performs at Wolf Trap on Aug. 20, 2018. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
Some songs, no matter when I hear them, cause my memory to immediately jump back in time to a random moment of my childhood. When Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist Ann Wilson (of Heart) took the stage at Wolf Trap recently and sang “Barracuda,” the iconic galloping guitar riff immediately drew my memory back to a warm summer day many, many years ago at my childhood community pool.
“Barracuda” was playing on the pool’s PA system (courtesy of Philadelphia’s 93.3 WMMR) when I learned to dive through a hula-hoop into the deep end of the pool. For some reason, I will always associate the song with that memory.
