All Entries in the "Blog" Category
Grace Potter at Bank of America Pavilion, Aug. 20
The door has swung wide open for Grace Potter, and she is sprinting through it. It seemed to jar open suddenly late last year with her invitation to join Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj on the high-profile MTV “Divas” showcase. She and the Nocturnals followed that with a full circuit through the late-night talk shows, [...]
Newport Folk Festival, July 31
It’s clear that the musicians that play the Newport Folk Festival get it. Yes, it’s a beautiful scene, with its view from the stage looking beyond the crowd to the bay filled with folk-loving yachters. But there are other scenic venues – Red Rocks in Colorado and the Gorge in Washington state come to mind. [...]
Newport folk festival, random thoughts
Some random thoughts about what I saw at Newport Folk Festival. Hopefully soon I’ll have more than 10 minutes to think about what I saw and write it down. But for now…. 1. Colin Meloy is very funny 2. Red Rocks and the Gorge look beautiful (never been to either), but Newport on a sunny [...]
Michelle Bachmann, an American Girl?
A recent post on No Depression about Michelle Bachmann using Tom Petty’s “American Girl” as a campaign song got me thinking. The post, titled Since when does music have to be “red state / blue state”? (click HERE to read it), asked: is the unauthorized use of a musician’s song used in a campaign really [...]
Best Seat in My House: Q&A with Concert Window co-founder
Best seat in my house Can’t make it to Bonnaroo or Coachella? Live streaming technology finally makes it worthwhile to bring the festivals – and even local shows – to your computer. In the past months we dropped in at Coachella in California to catch a set by Jenny and Johnnie, stopped by South [...]
CD Reviews: Gillian Welch, ‘The Harrow & the Harvest’; Eilen Jewell, “Queen of the Minor Key’
Gillian Welch, “The Harrow & the Harvest” (out now) As soon as the first few notes of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ guitars ring out on the opener “Scarlet Town,” all other thoughts fade away. No more worries of when we’ll hear something new from one of the truest contemporary songwriters of this generation. No [...]
Issue No. 33, June 2011
To download the new issue, click HERE It’s been a crazy roller-coaster ride this year at the home offices of Modern Acoustic. The early months of the year were all about music and the magazine. We spent endless hours going to shows, reviewing a bunch of new albums and redesigning our new website (see below). [...]
CD Reviews: Jeffrey Foucault, “Horse Latitudes”; Amy Black, “One Time”; Dawes, “Nothing Is Wrong”
Jeff Foucault, “Horse Latitudes” (out now) How can such contemporary tunes sound so timeless? At times, Jeffrey Foucault’s latest, “Horse Latitudes,” sounds like it came straight from the dusty plains of the Old West, sometimes it seems to capture the spark and spirit of ‘70s electric Neil Young. The Western Mass.-by-way-of Wisconsin native’s 10 tunes [...]
Thao & Mirah, T.T. the Bear’s, June 7
Most times when you go to shows you pretty much know what to expect. Once in a while, though, you get surprised and wonder (in your best David Byrne impression), “How did I get here?” That was somewhat the case the other night at T.T. the Bear’s in Cambridge, where caught three acts that — [...]
Lyrically Speaking: War
There was a time in the mid-’80s when I lived and breathed for Bob Marley tunes. I was in college when the reggae great died in 1981, and, soon after, his tunes were all I played on my car cassette player. I went through phases of which Marley album was my favorite: “Catch a [...]
