It seems like ages ago, but it was actually only 11 or so months when the year began – with a bang.

January and February exploded with concerts and new albums like no other year we can remember. We spent time on the tour bus with Josh Ritter for a pair of shows, we caught concerts by the Decemberists, Lissie, the David Wax Museum, and more in those early months.
New albums rolled in as well – by Iron & Wine, the Submarines and Lori McKenna.

While that early torrid pace did not continue for the whole year (thank goodness, we wouldn’t have been able to keep up), the great music kept coming, including some surprises.

Gillian Welch released “The Harrow & the Harvest,” her first album in eight years and it was every bit worth the wait. The Decemberists morphed into a top-notch Americana act with “The King Is Dead,” which mixed ’70s Neil Young and R.E.M. influences. Iron & Wine churned out its most accessible album to date with “Kiss Each Other Clean,” Eilen Jewell followed up her critically acclaimed “Sea of Tears” with the stellar “Queen of the Minor Key” and Jeffrey Foucault offered up a dusty-trail pleasure in “Horse Latitudes.”
Concert halls, clubs and festivals were the place to be, and while we couldn’t make it to every show we wanted to, we did catch our share: Anais Mitchell’s fabulous Hadestown show at the Me & Thee Coffeehouse, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals (twice!), Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers, Lake Street Dive at the Lizard Lounge, and both the Green River and Newport Folk festivals. And then there was a band called Barnstar! – five ace local musicians playing bluegrass that blew the, well, barn doors off their gig at Passim.

In our cover feature, we highlight three acts we feel had breakout years: Dawes, an LA band that looks as if it’s on its way to national stardom; the exuberantly fun David Wax Museum, from Boston but making its mark nationally; and Amy Black, a Boston singer-songwriter who appears to be ready to take Nashville by storm.

These three deserve all the attention they’ve received this year and I’m sure next year will be just as fruitful for them.
Let’s hope it’s just as fruitful for us music fans. Happy New Year.

To download the full magazine, click HERE

To download the new issue, click HERE

It’s easy to knock commercial radio stations. Most are owned by corporations out to keep profit margins high and risk-taking low.
This translates into computer-generated playlists that strictly follow formats – adult contemporary, alternative rock, classic rock, dance music – that cater to the public relations machines of record companies and their stable of stars.

It leaves little space for DJs to play something different or for listeners to hear something new.

But Lisa Garvey, at WXRV-FM out of the Boston area, has actually broken out.

In a time when jazz has all but disappeared on commercial radio, Garvey embraces it, along with soul and blues on her Sunday morning show “Brunch By the River.” It’s a mix of music that has an uncanny groove, and is a perfect weekend wake-me-up.

And guess what? Listeners love it.

Turn to Page 8 and check out what Garvey’s fans already know: Her show has got soul.

And if you are looking for other cool radio stations to tune in to, check out our list of favorites. Even if you don’t live in the city they broadcast from, you can listen to them all via the Internet.

Also, in this issue, we take you along with us on our whirlwind summer of concerts.

We go from intimate clubs to see songwriting duo Thao & Mirah and up-and-comer Amy Black, to large-scale outdoor venues to catch the Green River and Newport folk festivals featuring such acts as Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers, jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, Gillian Welch and the Decemberists, as well as the Bank of America Pavilion to catch up with Grace Potter & the Nocturnals. You can relive all the excitement in words and pictures.

And after that, it’s on to the fall for more shows. See you there!

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). It was three months of solidly being absorbed in music.

And then we hit the breaks.

With a daughter graduating high school and turning 18, applying and touring colleges and all the hoopla that goes with this personally very exciting and emotional time, music took a back seat.

It wasn’t that we weren’t still listening, and we did occasionally got ourselves out to a club to see a band. But the writing stopped. There was very little time to stop and analyze or put down in words what we felt about a song or album or idea.

But now summer is upon us and she is well on her way to independence, so we are ready to jump back in. We have festival dates and club shows lined up and we’re ready to refocus on music.

There is really no better way to get back into it than a new album from Gillian Welch. It’s been eight years since her last album (we think we were gone a long time!), but all is forgiven. “The Harrow & the Harvest” is everything we hoped for.

There are a bunch of other albums – albums that have an old-time feel, whether they be filled with dusty country tunes or ’60s or ’70s era-rock – that we’re excited to share, including Eilen Jewell’s “Queen of the Minor Key,” a great follow-up to our favorite album of 2009, “Sea of Tears.” Other stellar releases include Jeff Foucault’s “Horse Latitudes,” Zoe Muth’s “Starlight Hotel,” and newcomer Amy Black’s “One Time.”

Finally, a word about the new website.

In the past, our blog was on one site, the magazine was on another. People who read the blog didn’t know about the magazine and vice versa.

At the new ModernAcoustic.com, everything is in one place, easily accessible.

So check it out. Yes it may have been slightly neglected the last couple months but we promise that’s about to change.

Happy summer.
To download the new album, click HERE

To download the complete issue, click HERE

Issue 32, March 2011

Musically, a new year generally starts off slow. The Northeast is in a deep, dark, snowy, cold, crappy-weather funk. (Did I mention snowy?) Even if bands decide to travel this way this time of year, it’s hard enought to motivate ourselves to trudge out for groceries let alone to make the potentially hazardous drive into the city to hear music.

As for new recordings, many groups target their CDs for the holiday season so the early part of the year is usually pretty slow for new releases. As for music fans, like all consumers, money is tight come January, at least until the tax returns come back.

So, in general, the music scene slows down in winter. You may catch an act in a cozy pub, generally listening to the music that warms your soul.
And you hibernate.

But this year has been different. Favorites such as the Decemberists and Josh Ritter, and newcomers like David Wax and Lissie have been rolling through town and it just didn’t make sense to pass them up.

So like a nice cold slap in the face, we got our motor runnin’, braved the conditions, looked for adventure in every parking space.
And on our way to town, we packed our iPod with tunes from new albums from Iron and Wine, the Decemberists, the Submarines and more.

That inspired us to pack this issue with reviews of early-year concerts and CDs that had us out of our seats and dancing in the aisles – or around the sofa.

We also invite you to check out excerpts from our popular blog column called Lyrically Speaking, which delves into the lyrics to some of our favorite songs. Here we present three stellar songs, Bob Schneider’s “2002,” Gillian Welch’s “April the 14th” and Lucinda Williams’ “Drunken Angel,” and try to explain why we love them so much.

What? You want more? Sorry. After all is winter is just ending and we need to shake ourselves out of hibernation.
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