Richie & Rosie “Nowhere in Time” Self-released richieandrosie.com “Nowhere in Time” doesn’t drop until sometime in November, but I felt compelled to let you in on it now so you can clear your calendar. What I particularly dig abut Richie & Rosie’s new CD is the room; you can hear the walls as they take […]
Americana
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Album review: ‘Rand I Pronounced Rand-Eye’
Bob Bunce’s Rural Delivery “Rand I Pronounced Rand-Eye” Self-released bobbunce.com Being a musician means immortality, even if you no longer walk this Earth. Groveland’s off-the-grid cat, Bob Bunce, recently suffered the loss of his brother, Randy. And while resting up from a shoulder injury last winter, he started going through his brother’s journals full of […]
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Album review: ‘here now’
Sharon Coates “here now” Self-released sharoncoatesmusic.com The title, and to a greater degree the words on “A Bullet Ain’t Got a Name” — the opening track on Sharon Coates’s beautiful new CD, “here now” — caught me unaware right out of the gate. It’s been rolling around in my head for the past two days; […]
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Album review: ‘Sleepless EP’
Fleeting Frame “Sleepless EP” Self-released fleetingframe.bandcamp.com Rochester duo Fleeting Frame follows up its “Sleepless” single, released last November, with the corresponding EP. This is a great record of guitar-on-guitar play and harmonious introspection. At first glance, it’s apparent all five songs found on the EP are simple and could survive being played simply — thankfully, […]
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Wisewater finds charm in the harmonies
Some voices are just made for one another. That’s not to say they can’t beautifully intone alone, but there’s just something about when voices fit together. The Everly Brothers come to mind. And so does Wisewater, the string-centric duo of mandolin player Forrest O’Connor and fiddler Kate Lee, a Webster native. The two musicians are […]
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Album Review: ‘City Lights’
Driftwood “City Lights” Self-released driftwoodtheband.com Americana quartet Driftwood is a long-time regional favorite among folk music lovers. Yet with the release of its fourth studio recording, “City Lights,” the Binghamton-based band delivers a full-fledged pop record chock-full of radio-friendly melodic hooks and head-bobbing rhythms — while still delivering substantive songs brimming with outdoorsy energy, barn-burning […]
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Junior Brown
Junior Brown’s playing is a hybrid blur of chicken pickin’ prestidigitation and salaciously slick slide. It’s as if he was channeling Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West simultaneously and couldn’t decide which one to pick. Flummoxed by the dilemma, Brown came up with an instrument that can do both — an instrument that can be played […]
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Everything galore
The mid-90’s music scene in Rochester was a blur: a whirling cascade of bands and clubs packed with fans, their iPhone-less hands in the air. Back then, a phone call — on a plain phone — cost a quarter. And it seems that the technology developed to promote bands wound up being their undoing. But […]
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Panic pop
To really test a song’s credibility and worth all you need to do is unplug it. Take away the electricity, the layering, the studio magic, just strip it down to its bones and see if it still breathes. See if it survives the evisceration; if it still sounds good. Then, chances are it’s a good […]
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ALBUM REVIEW: “The Dan Eaton Band”
The Dan Eaton Band “The Dan Eaton Band” Self-released facebook.com/daneatonband From its red velvet cake cover, to its blue collar endurance, The Dan Eaton Band’s new self-titled release is a powerful and sweet affair. The album kicks off rough and tumble with “Happy Man,” a tune that has the guitar scratching the sky while trading […]
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Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
What a long, strange trip it’s been. From playing to 10 people on the roof of an upscale East End watering hole, to creating a booty shake quake with thousands of fans in Red Rocks, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad is clearly the master of roots reggae in the jam band world. It doesn’t lampoon […]
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AMERICANA | Hayes Carll
The last time Hayes Carll came through Rochester he sold out Abilene Bar and Lounge in a matter of hours. And for good reason: Carll is a natural storyteller. The Austin-based singer-songwriter has a gift for humor, honesty, and reflection, vocalized — with a swaggering Texas twang — over stout Americana. Carll has shown immense […]
