Preview // FreshGrass Festival @ Mass MoCA 9/21-23

Words // Scott Pingeton

Mass MoCA is becoming a destination known as much for their excellent music programming as world class modern art.  Wilco's annual Solid Sound Festival has played a big part in putting the Western Mass museum on the map, but there are plenty of other events throughout the year that are well worth the drive.  One of those events that I personally will be happily making the 3 hour trek from Boston for is the FresGrass Festival in late September.  You really don't need a reason to visit the Berkshires in late-September - it's just gorgeous out that way as summer starts to fade into fall - but if you really need your arm twisted, a top-notch bluegrass festival should do the trick.  The lineup includes David Grisman, Trampled By Turtles, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Devil Makes Three, Infamous Stringdusters, Spirit Family Reunion and lots more.  Spread out over 3 days, it's the perfect excuse for a long weekend away from the city.

Tickets are on sale now for the incredibly reasonable price of just $46 for the whole weekend.  Make your plans now, I am.  Here is some brand new music from three of my favorite artists that will be at FreshGrass:

Alone - Trampled By Turtles

Boodle-De-Bum-Bum - Carolina Chocolate Drops

I Want To Be Relieved - Spirit Family Reunion

Willis Earl Beal - "(773) 295-2135"

No words required.  Just watch.

Review: Kalispell - Westbound

Words // Scott Pingeton

I think you're gonna dig this one, so listen up.  Kalispell is the work of Shane Leonard, and it brims with the earnestness you may have come to expect from fellow Eau Claire Wisconsin locals Justin Vernon, S. Carey and Chris Porterfield.  Westbound is a gorgeous and deeply personal record, perhaps influenced at least in part by the circumstances around Leonard's move from Massachusetts to Wisconsin. I think Kalispell's bandcamp page paints a better picture than I could:

It's like when good friends gather, perhaps around a fire in someone's backyard as the night settles or on the front stoop of your house, cigarette in hand—the setting doesn't matter. It's about the moment after the laughter quiets and the tone shifts, when you venture to say what's been heavy on the mind, so near the tongue, so hard to admit: 

How you've grown impatient with the "state of summer's same."
How you feel alone with the person who should know you best.
How "there was no devotion / in our frozen poses."
How you said yes when you meant no.

Intimate confessions set to folk music is nothing unique, but I think Kalispell does it particularly well - combining confident lyrics with intricate, textured compositions.  From the clawhammer banjo on "Methodist Lift" to "Marion, MT", a folk-dirge that recalls The Low Anthem, to "Lucky A Hundred Times", a gently rolling highlight, the album covers enough sonic ground to hold the listeners interest throughout.  It's a great listen - highly recommended.

Kalispell - Lucky A Hundred Times

Kalispell was at the Middle East in Cambridge last week -- my timing sucks.  Shout if you were there!

Songs for Wednesday // Lemolo, Shakey Graves and more

Words // Adam Sharp

'On Again, Off Again'- Lemolo
Dreamy, echoing goodness. I absolutely cannot wait for this album.
Website: http://lemolomusic.com/

Lemolo - On Again, Off Again

'Thumper'- The Wedding Band
You like Mumford & Sons? Then you’re going to love The Wedding Band
(because it’s just all the same guys playing under a different name,
basically).
Website: http://www.mumfordandsons.com/

'1904'- The Tallest Man on Earth
Kristian Matsson is back with a gorgeous, brisk song that expands on
his sound ever so slightly.
Website: http://www.thetallestmanonearth.com/

1904 - The Tallest Man on Earth

'Word of Mouth'- Shakey Graves
Music for cowboys from the heart of Texas.
Website: http://shakeygraves.tumblr.com/

'Float'- KO KO
This song will give your ears a sunburn.
Website: https://www.facebook.com/longlivekoko#!/longlivekoko

Float - KO KO

New music // Spirit Family Reunion - I Am Following The Sound

Words // Scott Pingeton

Two of my favorite artists will put out their debut albums this June - Field Report and Spirit Family Reunion.  SFR's debut No Separation drops June 15, perfect timing to claim its spot as my summer roadtrip jam.  The band's irresistable blend of ramshackle folk and back-porch bluegrass is the perfect soundtrack to a summer jaunt -- whether a camping trip, a weekend at the lake or just a long drive with the windows down.  "I Am Following The Sound" is the first studio take I've heard from the record, and I'm happy to report that the recording captures the perfectly-ragged, stomp&clap of the band's live sound.  If this isn't the perfect music for that moment when the hazy late-summer sun softly gives way to purple dusk, then nothing is.

Spirit Family Reunion - I Am Following The Sound

You can catch the band at Newport Folk this summer, or in Biddeford Maine at The Oak & The Axe on June 7 or June 8 in Williamstown MA where they will play a Billsville House Concert.

In case you missed it - here's the band playing "I'll Find A Way" from a recent house show in Boston (also, don't miss the full live recording)