Upcoming Concerts

Pete Correale is a professional stand up comedian originally from New York. His comedy is reflective of his life and the experiences he’s been through. Being married for almost twenty years and having a young daughter, Pete’s never at a loss for material. With a conversational delivery and disarming regular New York guy attitude, Pete makes you feel like your listening to the funniest guy at a party as opposed to just another comedian on a stage. Combined with top notch writing skills, this has led Pete to the top of the stand up profession.

Pete has performed numerous times on The Tonight Show, Letterman and The Conan O’brien show. As well as filming two of his own one hour television comedy specials. The first special-The Things We Do For Love aired on Comedy Central and was voted by Time Out Magazine as the #2 Comedy special of 2008. His second one hour special debuted on Showtime in 2016 this one titled Let Me Tell Ya. It was filmed at the famous Vic theatre in Chicago and Pete once again delivered a stellar performance. Pete has also released two comedy albums, Give It A Rest in 2010, and his second album Made For Radio which was released in June 2018 and quickly rose to number one on the iTunes comedy charts.

Aside from stand up Pete has used his comedic skills in various other platforms throughout his career. As a writer he’s been hired for several projects, most recently as part of the staff on the CBS sitcom Kevin Can Wait which he did for both seasons. He also made a few guest appearances the show playing Larry the fish guy.

Pete was also the co-host on a daily two hour live comedy radio show on SiriusXm titled Unleashed. He did this show with comedian Jim Breuer for four years from 2008 to 2011. And In 2012 Pete began a podcast with comedian Sebastian Maniscalco titled simply enough The Pete and Sebastian show. Starting off with a couple of microphones and an internet connection Pete and Sebastian kept at it and today the show airs every Friday afternoon on Siriusxm the Raw Dog channel before being released as a free podcast episode. Currently up to episode 310 and still going strong, the Pete and Sebastian show is one of the most popular comedy podcasts on air today and the fans have been showing their support in full force most everywhere Pete headlines.

THE NEAL MORSE BAND—Neal Morse (lead vocals, guitars, keyboards), Mike Portnoy (drums, vocals), Randy George (bass), Bill Hubauer (keyboards, vocals), Eric Gillette (guitars, vocals)—will take fans on THE GREAT ADVENTURE with their latest double concept album due out January 25, 2019 on Radiant Records via Metal Blade Worldwide. It will be available in three formats: a two CD package, two CD/DVD Special Edition featuring behind-the-scenes video clips of the making of the album, and three vinyl LPs. Pre-orders begin December 4 on Radiant Records’ website.

The follow-up to 2016’s critically acclaimed THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM, which critics hailed as “a masterpiece,” will be the ninth studio album with Morse, Portnoy and George, and the third as a true collaboration with this current lineup. Together, Morse and Portnoy have launched four bands, but the one that has endured the longest and thus with the most musical output has been THE NEAL MORSE BAND.

“Let the great adventure now begin…” The closing line of THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM, has proved to be strangely prophetic. The new album is exactly that: a perfect companion piece to TSOAD’s partial retelling of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. It has everything that fans would expect from an album by THE NEAL MORSE BAND, and more: rock, metal, classical and jazz elements appear throughout, as well as some killer melodies, all played faultlessly by some of the greatest rock musicians on the planet.

As Neal Morse explains, “This band continues to amaze me! I have to say it was a little daunting to follow up THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM as it was such a special album and it delivered every night at our concerts, but I believe that THE GREAT ADVENTURE will have a tremendous impact as well. This new double album is everything that I hoped it would be! I listened through last night and I was in tears at the end!“

Mike Portnoy emphatically agrees. He says, “How do you follow an epic double concept album??? Well, create another epic double concept album!! Hahaha. I always knew topping THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM was going to be difficult, if not impossible, as I held it in such high regard, but alas, I am absolutely blown away with what we achieved here! We’ve created what is the ultimate companion to TSOAD.”

“Sometimes there are things that you just can’t mess with,” Randy George continues. “On THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM we tapped into something special. I was sure that the follow up should be something quite different, but you have to follow your heart and follow the music where it wants to go. THE GREAT ADVENTURE is nothing short of a miracle. It’s similar to SIMILITUDE in concept and form, but yet it’s tougher and deeper in its tone! This is a powerful work and I look forward to playing it live!

True to the album’s title, the creative process was indeed a “great adventure.” Unlike many previous Morse albums, which have often been written and arranged within weeks, this time around these prolific and world-class musicians spent almost a year working on the end result, producing an abundance of top quality material. This meant some ruthless decision-making: some already completed songs and characters had to go, and-–with studio time running out–new links and ideas were being composed and recorded up to the eleventh hour. “A lot of work and re-work has gone into this,” says Morse, “but I know that some of the most successful and far-reaching albums I’ve been involved with have been just like that. SOLA SCRIPTURA and Spock’s Beard’s SNOW album come to mind.”

Another key question that had to be addressed in the studio was how to pull all the ideas together into a coherent whole. In the end, what unlocked this “adventure” for Morse was the realization that THE GREAT ADVENTURE needed a new voice and perspective. This time, it is that of the Pilgrim’s abandoned son, a younger, perhaps angrier, voice than was heard on THE SIMILITUDE OF A DREAM.

At a recent performance, the host made the mistake of introducing Adia Victoria as an Americana artist. Victoria leaned into the microphone with a correction, “Adia Victoria does not sing Americana, Adia Victoria sings the blues.” From there, the artist let her guitar and powerful lyrics speak for her. After a self-released single that drew the attention of Rolling Stone and others, Victoria continued to dazzle and confound with her first studio album, Beyond the Bloodhounds. The album takes its title from a line in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. Just as Jacobs sought to get beyond the reach of her master’s bloodhounds, Victoria is always reaching beyond the facile notions of what a Black woman artist should look like and sound like.

Instead of following the model of the folks that she saw around her who had been worn down by white supremacy, poverty, and oppression in the rural South Carolina town she grew up in, Victoria set off to shape a life of her own making. She dropped out of school and worked a series of odd jobs. At 18 she went to Paris and then spent time in Brooklyn, Atlanta, and now is based in Nashville. Victoria is a polymath who studied ballet, acting, wrote poetry, before finding a home in the blues. It was when a friend gave Victoria an acoustic guitar that things began to click. “I fell in love with the practice, the discipline of learning. It was the first time in my life that I felt capable of learning and progressing at something.” According to Victoria, this practice was a lifesaver. “I don’t know if I would be alive if I had not found that. Had I not found this outlet of expression. Probably in prison or dead.”

In the wake of Beyond the Bloodhounds, touring, press and enormous expectations a lesser artist would have just rested on her laurels. Instead, Victoria released two short albums that show the immense wingspan of her talent and curiosity. How It Feels is a French-language short album that reimagines French pop classics with a blueswoman’s edge. Victoria returned to her roots with the EP Baby Blues, a trio of classic blues covers that first inspired her.

A mere two years after Beyond the Bloodhounds, Adia Victoria returns with her
second full-length studio album, Silences. After a season of dealing with others trying to define, claim, and name her art and artistry, Victoria went inward. “I found when I went back home that the thing that disturbed me the most was the lack of activity. Having to deal with myself once again on an intimate level.”

Reading and literature helped her find her way back in. The title of the album comes from Tillie Olsen’s Silences, which deals with the myriad ways that the stories of oppressed people’s stories have been silenced over the years, even though they continued to create despite being ignored. “I struggled to write this album in a way that I never had to before. I took for granted I guess my freedom and my alone time and I felt that something had been taken away from me. And I felt like I didn’t have a voice anymore. This album was the therapy that I needed to find that voice that had been silenced.”

We find a voice in full holler on Silences. The listener is thrust into a completely formed world that opens with a twisted creation tale. “Clean,” is reminiscent of the story of the Garden of Eden, but instead of withering under God’s judgement for her shame, our protagonist announces that “First of all / There is no God / Because I killed my God.” This bold act instills in her “The kind of calm I hope to keep.” Any student of stories or life knows that this is can only be the beginning. A calm so deep must be earned along the way.

Silences is at its heart the mythic journey of a woman coming back to herself. “It’s just very much this character is acting out from various oppressions. You’ve been held down, you’ve been smothered, and she reaches her breaking point.” From this departure, the album moves her protagonist out into the world where she meets up with the devil and her own desires for her life in the uptempo rockers “Pacolet Road” and “Different Kind Of Love.” In the next movement, we find a woman daunted and damaged but still resolved. Once we get to “The Needle’s Eye” and “Cry Wolf” she’s gained some well-earned maturity down in the dark of the world. In Silences, Victoria brings the topics of mental illness, drug addiction, sexism, and all the things that try to consume the very lives of women attempting to make a world of their own making to the forefront. The album closes with “Get Lonely,” a plaintive, urgent ballad that our hero could be imploring to “get lonely” with a lover. Or she just as easily could be pleading with this new woman in the mirror that she has found along her journey to be still and marvel at all that she has created and survived.

Just as Victoria has been intentional about creating the kind of life that she wanted to live, she’s done the same thing with her collaborators. The band has changed a lot like Destiny’s Child since the first album, to get the perfect presentation and I think I finally found it. Victoria’s guys are Mason Hickman- Lead Guitar, Jason Harris- Bass, Peter Eddins- Keys, Timothy Beaty aka Knapps- Drums, Chazen Singleton- Horns, and Austin Wilhote aka Willé- Horns. “No. This is the greatest possession that I have. I have a bunch of guys now that I’ve been with and they allow me the ability and the space to command them, to direct them. They have faith in me.”

When it was time to record Silences with Aaron Dessner of The National who has also produced albums for Sharon Van Etten, Frightened Rabbit, Mumford & Sons, Local Natives, and more, Victoria remained hesitant. “I want to let you into my art, but I was so very, very cautious. And I just found that as a human being and as a fellow artist he had the warmth and the understanding and the respect that you don’t come across too often in this industry. He opened his home and his studio to me and my guys and it was like there was no ego. We were just free to experiment and together and we got work done.” With Adia Victoria’s steady hand and fearless vision at the helm, Silences does indeed get work done. Of the recording process, Dessner notes, ““From the very beginning of our collaboration, it was clear to me that Adia’s vision for this album had a cohesive and very particular narrative thread. It was incredibly rewarding to help realize it. The substantive nature of her writing and strength of Adia’s lyrics really guided us through the entire recording process. Every sound and direction, whether subversive, experimental or leaning into a groove, it was all in service of her broader vision and the text. Ultimately, the album is both an incredibly personal narrative of Adia’s journey and a powerful, broader statement of resistance.”

(Late Show) Smokin' Betties Burlesque Presents: From the Betties, with Love. Featuring Amoxie Villain, Macabre Noir, Eden Ivy, Morigana Regina and Hosted by Lillith Deville

Yahoo’s “Band To Watch” in 2017 isn’t slowing down in 2018 (nor 2019!).

The Accidentals (Sav Buist, Katie Larson, and Michael Dause) are kicking off the year as major label artists, having released their debut album, Odyssey, with Sony Masterworks in August of 2017. They followed the album release with two-hundred days of touring nationally, sync placement with Turner Classic Movies and FOX sports, and a RAM Trucks BANDvan #tourtough commercial.

Press that have followed the band for some time call them “genre melding” and caution that you should try to catch a couple shows before deciding what they are all about. Every night they create a set list specifically for their audience.

Billboard Magazine says, “The Accidentals display a genre-hopping range of influences and some smart songwriting skills to go with their abundant musical chops” and PopMatters Magazine says, you can’t define them by comparison to any one band, comparing them to a mashup of influences including, “The Beatles, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Led Zeppelin, Ani Difranco, Neko Case, Brandi Carlile, etc.” NPR says, “they display equal interest in the focused musical forms of indie rock and pop and the expansive potential of orchestral arrangements, jam band open-endedness and impressionistic singer-songwriter expression.”

Texas Lifestyle Magazine made The Accidentals their “must-see” band of SXSW 2018, and staff writer Daniel Ramirez raves about their live show, saying, “They are defiant, young, powerful, and undaunted. You’re gonna wanna say you saw them before they were everywhere”.

LEEDS
LEEDS is Royston Langdon, former lead singer of Spacehog, with a name that's a nod to his hometown and an album, Everything's Dandy, that is a culmination of his 24 years in New York, both in its content and its production.

"I've lived here longer than I've lived anywhere on the planet," says Langdon of New York. "I feel like I'm part of the city in a way."

Originally from Leeds, Langdon got his start playing music in the U.K. In 1994, however, he followed his brother Antony to New York and fell for the city immediately. Not long after the move, Spacehog formed. In the fall of 1995, they released the debut album Resident Alien, which spawned the hit single "In the Meantime." Three more albums followed over the next 18 years.

More recently, Langdon has worked on the industry side of music, using his own experiences to help up-and-coming artists. Yet, he remained a musician at heart. Langdon kept his new work fairly private, telling only a few people as he built a new collection of songs

The evolution of Everything's Dandy began two years ago, after Langdon's son moved to London. The changes in Langdon's own life, as well as the changes in the city that has been his home for so long, sparked new ideas.

"They put up these new shops," says Langdon of the urban landscape of New York. "Still, the memory of the kind of experience of that thing remains." He sees a connection between waves of gentrification diminishing the city's creative spirit and his "experience of loss and also growth." In his songs, Langdon writes of this not necessarily with nostalgia in mind, but with a sense of "awe" at how life moves forward.

By fall of 2017, Langdon was ready to solidify those ideas in the studio. He enlisted Bryce Goggin to produce and engineer Everything's Dandy. The two have known each other since Langdon's early days in New York, when he interned at the recording studio where Goggin was head engineer. While Langdon played many of the instruments himself on the album, he enlisted a few longtime friends to play on select cuts, including drummer Parker Kindred (Jeff Buckley) and multi-instrumentalist Timo Ellis (Yoko Ono, Joan as Police Woman). The song "Your Day Will Come" was co-written by Langdon and Rich Robinson of Black Crowes. "What Became of the People" is a songwriting collaboration between Langdon and his brother Antony, who also shot two videos for the album.

Everything's Dandy is set for release on May 4 on vinyl and digital formats.

George Watsky is a rapper, writer and performer from San Francisco now living in Los Angeles. A versatile lyricist who switches between silly and serious, technically complex and simply heartfelt, George won the Brave New Voices National Poetry Slam in 2006. Immediate after, George appeared on the final season of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry in 2007 while a himself college Freshman and subsequently performed at over 150 universities across the country. Rapping all the while under the name ‘Watsky,’ George self-released the barely-heard jazz-hip hop record ‘Invisible Inc’ in 2007 and the self-titled ‘Watsky’ in 2010, which peaked at #7 on the iTunes hip hop charts. In January 2011 George’s fast rapping went viral and led to two appearances on the Ellen Show, a slot on Last Call with Carson Daly, and an exploding online profile. George has performed at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, the NAACP Image Awards on FOX, three times at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and has been featured in XXL, Billboard Magazine, the New York Times Magazine. Watsky’s social media presence made him one of only 23 artists dubbed by ‘The Next Big Sound’ as a ‘Big Sound of 2011,’ alongside Mac Miller, Kreayshawn and Skrillex.

Every generation or so a young bluesman bursts onto the scene. Someone who sends a jolt through blues lovers. Someone who has mastered the craft for sure, but who also has the blues deep down in his heart and soul.

At the age of 21, bluesman JONTAVIOUS WILLIS may be the one.

“That’s my Wonderboy, the Wunderkind,” Taj Mahal said after inviting Jontavious to play on stage in 2015. “He’s a great new voice of the twenty-first century in the acoustic blues. I just love the way he plays.”

“When I heard him play I said to myself: this is how the blues, as I know it, is going to stay alive,” said Paul Oscher.

“Only a few like him emerge every decade or so, when even the most hard core blues fans realize immediately that this is the real deal,” writes Frank Matheis in Living Blues Magazine.

Hailing from Greenville, Ga., Jontavious grew up singing gospel music at the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church with his grandfather. At the age of 14, he came across a YouTube video of Muddy Waters playing “Hoochie Coochie Man” and was hooked. That’s when he set his course on the blues. All types — Delta, Piedmont, Texas, gospel. As a fingerpicker, flat-picker and slide player. On guitar, harmonica, banjo and cigar box.

And four years later he was playing on Taj Mahal’s stage.

Currently Jontavious is finishing his studies at Columbus State University, majoring in sociology. But on most weekends you can find him playing a small house show, up on the main stage or posting music videos for his friends and fans around the world.

A musician and actor, Tyler Hilton has accomplished a lot in his career so far. As a teenager, he released two Top 40 singles. He starred alongside Taylor Swift in her video for "Teardrops on my Guitar." He played the role of one of his musical idols, Elvis Presley, in the Oscar-winning Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk the Line,' and co-starred with Robert Downey Jr. in the acclaimed indie film 'Charlie Bartlett.' He may be most known for his musical role on the show 'One Tree Hill,' which earned him a devoted fan base around the world. His new album 'City On Fire,' out January 18th 2019, comes from a much more personal place for the California native, who grew up in a family of musicians and songwriters and spent much of his childhood performing and jamming alongside of them. Steeped in country, blues, folk and rock traditions, the album captures the loose, organic musical style that runs in Hilton’s blood. Hilton remembers trying to explain that style to producers in Nashville as a young songwriter. "I’d play them my favorite records; Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Townes Van Zandt, Weezer’s ‘Pinkerton,’" he says. “I’d just get blank stares like, ‘So...are you rock, pop, blues, country...?’ And the answer was always, ‘Yes, all that.’” It may not have been the easy answer they were looking for, but as Hilton explains, “there’s a common denominator in all of that music to me. Maybe it’s a feeling of adventure, or rebellion, or just hearing real people,” he says. “Whatever it is, that’s what my feelings sound like, and that’s what the music that comes out of me sounds like.” Hilton recorded the album both in California with bandmate and childhood family friend, Jaco Caraco, as well as in Tennessee with his former roommate and another longtime collaborator, Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum. Hilton and Caraco had started recording what was supposed to be a side project for film and TV soundtracks in their spare time. Hilton was on hiatus from filming a pilot for CMT, and Caraco was on break from touring in Miley Cyrus’ band. It was during this time that Kelley called Hilton about working together as well. "I knew this was rare, to have both of my favorite collaborators available at the same time. It just hit me, this is way more than a side project." That collaborative spirit is in Hilton’s songwriting DNA. He’s written with Taylor Swift and Michelle Branch, co-wrote on Joe Cocker’s final studio album and is currently in the studio working on new music with Billy Ray Cyrus. For Hilton’s new album, the title track and first single, "City On Fire," was written around the 2016 election, a period where Hilton found himself listening to a lot of traditional folk songs and western movie scores. "It was strange and comforting to listen to that music during a time of so much change. Everything seemed to be changing," he recalls. "And then a good friend of mine from high school passed away, and all of my friends came together. I sang some songs, we cried, but mostly we were just left numb and blinking. A lot happened really fast." "'City On Fire' came out of me really quickly," he explains. "It was kind of like a dream I should have had, but instead the images came out as a song, a fully formed murder ballad. It was
eerie, but I think it painted the picture just right. It really felt like the city was on fire and a lot was being lost very quickly." The accompanying music video was directed by Hilton's wife, Megan Park, who is most recognizable for her work as an actress ('Secret Life of the American Teenager,' 'Central Intelligence') but has recently made waves directing music videos for Billie Eilish, Alina Baraz, Blackbear, and Gucci Mane. For the video, Park teamed with production company PRETTYBIRD, the studio behind videos for Beyonce’s “Lemonade” and Rihanna's “We Found Love," and choreographer Andrew Winghart (‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ Lorde's 'Melodrama' tour, Kahlid's 2018 tour). Tyler will showcase the new music from his album, “City On Fire,” on a February and March tour of the U.S. 'City On Fire' will be released on January 18th, 2019 from Hilton's label, Hooptie Tune Records.

One of Austin’s most celebrated musicians, Bob Schneider, is set to release his new album, ​Blood and Bones​ – his 7th studio album since his 2001 solo debut ​Lonelyland​ – on June 8th via his Shockorama Records imprint. ​Blood and Bones​ captures Schneider at a unique, and distinct, place. “Most of the songs are about this phase of my life,” he admits. “I’m re-married, I have a 2-year-old baby daughter who was born over two months premature because my wife had life threatening preeclampsia. So dealing with that traumatic event while getting older and looking at death in a realistic, matter of fact way, experiencing the most joy I’ve ever experienced along with feelings of utter despondency in a way that would have been impossible to experience earlier in my life, all comes out in the songs. My relationship with my wife is the longest committed relationship I’ve ever been in, so there was a lot of unchartered territory there to write about.”

The songs on ​Blood and Bones​ reflect this. Recorded quickly with producer Dwight Baker, who has worked with Schneider on 6 of his previous releases, the album highlights the chemistry that Schneider and his backing band of Austin’s very best musicians have developed while relentlessly playing live, most notably at the monthly residency Schneider has held at Austin’s Saxon Pub for the last 19 years. “I didn’t want to overthink the songs,” Schneider says. “I really respect Dwight’s ability to make great calls when it comes to what works and isn’t working when we are recording the songs. I felt pretty good about the quality of the songwriting, so I figured that would come through in the end if we just went in and played them the way I do live.”

While the performance and production are stellar, the songwriting finds Schneider in a particularly reflective mode. Sure, there are live favorites like “Make Drugs Get Money” and “Texaco” that will get even the most reserved crowds dancing. But more often the album finds Schneider reflecting on marriage, parenthood, and mortality. “I wish I could make you see how wonderful everything is most of the time, but I’m only blood and bones,” he sings on the title track, a meditation on the beauty and the limits of marriage. Later, on “Easy,” he tells his daughter “it’s always been a scary thing to do, to let my heart fall down into the endless blue, but it’s easy with you.” Through it all, there is a clear sense of mortality, of just how fleeting all of this is. “The hours and days stack up in the mirror,” he sings on “Hours and Days”. “We’re just snowmen waiting for the summer” he sings on “Snowmen”, before adding “we can’t bring them back, can’t bring nothing back.”

One thing Schneider has excelled at in his career is bringing audiences back. Though he has received little national press or major label support, he has managed to become one of the biggest acts in Austin, if not in Texas. His fans, who often discover him from being brought to his shows by their friends, are fiercely loyal. Many have attended dozens or even hundreds of shows. Thanks to these fans, Schneider has won more Austin Music Awards than any other musician, including Best Songwriter, Best Musician, and Best Male Vocals, rounding in at 54 total awards to date.

In retrospect, it appears inevitable that Bob Schneider would become an artist. He was born in Michigan and raised in Germany, where his father pursued a career as a professional opera singer. As a boy, Schneider studied piano and guitar, often performing at family parties and backing his father on drums at nightclubs throughout his youth in Germany and Texas. He went on to study art – his other primary passion and avocation – at the University of Texas El Paso, before moving to Austin and establishing himself as a musician. He performs relentlessly, creates new music compulsively, writes poetry, and regularly shows his visual art in galleries around Austin. With ​Blood and Bones​, Schneider further cements his reputation as one of the most versatile, inventive, and engaging songwriters working today.

The south side of Chicago has a tough working class reputation, it’s also known for one of the largest populations of Irish people this side of the Emerald Isle. So it’s not entirely incongruous that a hard luck kid from the south side of town would choose to play traditional Irish folk music in pubs around the neighborhood. At 18, Anthony (T.) Duggins, was doing just that – playing pub favorites and covers of greats like Christy Moore, and Ewan MacColl. Before long his brother and his best friends were playing the original songs he had written as well, and so became The Tossers. The name was taken from an old slang term used for worthless British coins in Sean O’Casey’s play The Plough and the Stars. The coins became useless after the southern Irish Free State won independence from Britain, and started to print it’s own currency. The term tosser has since come to mean wanker, or it’s American equivalent, jag off.

{please note this is a general admission, open floor / non-seated show}

Chris Trapper is a storyteller. With his soulful, honeyed tenor, sly humor and an uncanny knack for melody, Chris has traveled the world over, performing to a dedicated and ever growing fan base with nothing but his guitar and his songs. Raised on Prine and Kristofferson, Trapper's first foray in the music industry was as frontman of the critically acclaimed alt-rock band The Push Stars (Capitol Records). Over the past decade, Chris has become a modern day acoustic troubadour, performing over 150 dates a year as a headliner and sharing the stage with the likes of Colin Hay, Martin Sexton and even John Prine himself.

The New York Times has called his work “classic pop perfection.”

The new CD SYMPHONIES OF DIRT & DUST is a collection of 12 songs written and performed by Chris Trapper and Produced by Jason Meeker at Silver Top Studios, Boston, MA. Guest musicians include Dan McLoughlin of The Push Stars on bass and NYC singer/songwriter Amy Fairchild on harmonies.

"I have to mention Jason, the producer of Symphonies of Dirt & Dust. He is my old friend, who not only worked the clubs in rock bands but also worked for Geffen records in their heyday, so he has a good sense of the music business as a whole. What I love about Jason is that he is absolutely obsessed with his craft and getting songs right.

Every record tells a story. For me, much more than gimmicks, my albums are like diary entries, or truthful accounts of where I'm at in life. I suppose that might be the same for most songwriters, but in the spectrum of the music business, it's still an animal that's nearly extinct." Chris Trapper

Chris has toured North America and the UK with multi platinum songwriter COLIN HAY.

In the Spring of 2013 Chris performed a duet with his songwriting idol JOHN PRINE at the Portsmouth Songwriter Festival.

“It’s an incredibly rare musician, particularly in the world of popular music, who is able to forge a career based on quiet dignity and steadfast integrity.” The Buffalo News

A prolific songwriter, Chris has garnered several high profile film placements including There's Something About Mary (Ben Stiller, Cameron Diaz), The Devil Wears Prada (Meryl Streep), Say It Isn’t So (Heather Graham) Gun Shy (Sandra Bullock, Liam Neeson) and most recently, Some Kind of Beautiful *Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek) as well as significant television placements including All My Children, Women's Murder Club, Malcolm In The Middle, a coveted placement in George Clooney's final episode of ER, the theme song for WB Networks dramedy Pepper Dennis and a cameo on-screen appearance with the show's star, Rebecca Romjin.

Chris has written 7 songs with/for Canadian band GREAT BIG SEA, including their #1 single "Sea Of No Cares" from the certified-platinum Sea Of No Cares CD. Great Big Sea covered Trapper's song "Everything Shines” and their version served as the debut single off their certified-gold Road Rage CD album. Chris’ songwriting collaborations with Great Big Sea earned him two prestigious SOCAN awards. Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty and Antigone Rising have performed other notable versions of Trapper's songs.

Trapper’s live show is a favorite among fans of alt–acoustic music. His on–stage persona is warm and inclusive, his organic understanding of classic pop melody, infectious. Audience members seem to particularly appreciate the lighthearted moments with the ukulele.

Northern PA’s rock trio, the Charlie Wheeler Band, delivers rippin’ guitar jams that make their bad-ass live shows a high energy experience where fans party hard all night long. The band’s hard-driving, blue-collar soul music is reminiscent of the Black Crowes and The Allman Brothers Band, coupled with the blunt force of Pearl Jam. With lyrics that can at times be light, heavy, deep, and even funny, the band’s songs tell stories of life, love, and living life on the edge.

Hailing from a small town called Ridgway, PA, the Charlie Wheeler Band exudes a toughness that can only be cultivated in the working class environs from which they’ve emerged. Powered by the rhythm section of Rad Akers on Drums (Big Leg Emma) and Dave Fink on Bass (That Dog In Egypt), Charlie Wheeler describes the band as a “song first” type of band. Fans and critics alike appreciate the band’s balance of sharp songwriting, engaging vocals and skilled musicianship. With songwriting that is entertaining, even a little irreverent at times, the Charlie Wheeler Band never disappoints with a powerhouse show and sick guitar jams.

While expansive, improvisational jamming is a key component to their live show, their third album Rewind is a solid group of structured songs which allow Wheeler to tear into his vocal and lead guitar work with reckless, pent up hostility. Raves Lou Lombardi of Blue Rock Review, “While Charlie is a great guitarist and vocalist, what really makes Rewind work is the songwriting. Strip away the crushing rhythm section, smoking guitar work, snarling vocals, and we are left with a set of very beautiful and touching songs.” Michael Greenblatt of the Aquarian Weekly said of the album that he was excited to “find some good rock ‘n’ roll again after almost giving up!” The summer of 2016 promises a new release and touring up and down the East Coast and into the Midwest.

Los Angeles-based band -comprised of Cody Carson (vocals), Dan Clermont (guitar), Zach DeWall (guitar) and Maxx Danziger (drums)- have become known for creating their own original brand of pop music, infusing bold electronic elements that guide loud, driving rock instrumentations with guitar riffs as catchy as the choruses and an overall feel-good, dance-worthy vibe. Commanding attention, Set It Off bring authenticity back to pop music in a bold and unapologetic way. The group’s latest full-length release, Upside Down, was noted as one of the “Most Anticipated Albums of 2016” by Alternative Press Magazine and follows the band’s sophomore album, Duality, which debuted at No. 18 on the Billboard Independent Chart. The band’s debut full-length, Cinematics, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard South Atlantic Heatseekers Regional Chart, No. 4 on Billboard Heatseekers Chart, No. 9 on Billboard Next Big Sound Chart, and even broke into the Billboard Top 200 chart. Now, Set It Off of come to Fearless Records for their next chapter with the dynamic new single, “Killer In The Mirror,” which affirms the band have reached a higher level of musicianship. The new track serves as a preview to some of the band’s upcoming, most edgy and pop-driven anthems to date.

For Upstate, the last few years have been a time of profound exploration and self-discovery. As the band knocked off milestone after milestone on the road, their sound, their lineup, and even their name all underwent dramatic metamorphoses. Challenging andthrilling all at once, those changes have finally culminated in the sextet’s dazzling new album, a collection that showcases both their remarkable growth and their adventurous blend of folk, R&B, jazz, gospel, and rock and roll.

Recorded primarily over six days at the Clubhouse studio in Rhinebeck, NY, ‘Healing’ is the band’s first release with new member Allison Olender, their first with four contributing songwriters, and their first since shortening their name from Upstate Rubdown. It’s also their firstproject to be produced by Wood Brothers percussionist Jano Rix, who helped the group embrace their transformation and lean in to their unique lineup without sacrificing any of the gorgeous harmonies, eclectic arrangements, and unforgettable performances that have defined the band since their earliest days.

Upstate first emerged from New York’s Hudson Valley in 2015 with their critically acclaimed debut, ‘A Remedy.’ The Poughkeepsie Journalraved that the group “need[s] nothing more than their voices to channel rhythm and stoke your emotions,” while Chronogramhailed their “infectiously sunny organic stew,” and The Altcalled them “toe-tapping, contagious, and fun.” The album earned the band festival performances from Mountain Jam to FreshGrass, as well as a slew of national headline dates and support slots with everyone from The Felice Brothers and Phox to Marco Benevento and Cory Henry.

Upstate is:
Melanie Glenn, Mary Kenney, Allison Olender -Vocals
Harry D'Agostino -Bass
Ryan Chappell -Mandolin
Dean Mahoney -Cajón

In the lush tobacco fields of North Carolina where BJ Barham was raised, people work hard. Families stay nearby, toiling and growing together. BJ loves those farms and his tiny Reidsville hometown, but he had to run off and start American Aquarium, a band now beloved by thousands.

BJ couldn’t stay. But he couldn’t really leave, either: he’s still singing about the lessons, stories, and lives that define rural America––and him.

“I moved to the big city to go to college and fell in love with music,” BJ says. “But half the songs on our record are about small towns––little pieces of my childhood. I’ve had moments where it turns out a piece of broken English my father repeated twice a week is the most accurate way to say something. So I put it in a song.”

American Aquarium’s seventh studio album Things Change offers the band’s finest collection of folk-infused Southern rock-and-roll to date. Stacked with BJ’s signature storytelling––always deeply personal but also instantly relatable––the record questions and curses current events, shares one man’s intimate evolution, and leaves listeners with a priceless gift: hope.

“In my early 20s, I was not as hopeful,” BJ says. “Now, as I’m getting ready to become a father, I think I have to be hopeful––especially with the situation our country is in now. For her sake, I have to be positive.” He pauses. “Her” is his daughter, due in the spring of 2018. BJ adds, “Being self-aware has always been a blessing and a curse. But that’s what’s always made my songwriting relatable to people. I don’t hold back. I’m almost too honest.”

BJ’s candor has fueled American Aquarium’s runaway appeal, visible most clearly in consistently sold-out shows across the country and throughout Europe – between 200 and 250 dates a year. Much has changed for the band and BJ since their acclaimed last effort, Wolves. In 2017, every American Aquarium member save BJ quit the group. American Aquarium has featured about 30 players since BJ founded the outfit in 2006, and while each member has left indelible marks, the band has always been anchored by the literary songs and sometimes roaring, sometimes whispering, drawl of BJ Barham. BJ’s personal life also underwent seismic shifts: He got sober. He got married. Soon, he’ll be a dad.

Featuring a new band lineup that includes Shane Boeker on lead guitar, drummer Joey Bybee, bassist Ben Hussey, and Adam Kurtz on pedal steel and electric guitar, as well as a reinvigorated frontman in BJ, Things Change is American Aquarium’s first release on a label after selling thousands of records on their own. “As an artist, your goal is for the newest thing you do to be better than the last. You’re slowly whittling away the bullshit to try and get to the truth,” BJ says. “With this album, I learned how to cut some of that fat so that it’s just truth. It’s our best record.”

Recorded at 3CG Records in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Things Change was produced by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter John Fulbright and features cameos from Americana standouts including John Moreland and Jamie Lin Wilson. Brazen album opener “The World is on Fire” is a richly layered rock-and-roll anthem that documents BJ and his wife’s stunned reaction to the last presidential election. Emotional and conversational, the song taps into widespread feelings of confusion and fear: “She said, ‘What are we going to do? What’s this world coming to?’ / For the first time in my whole life, I stood there speechless.” But what begins as despair builds into defiant faith, as BJ growls a call to action to cap off one of his favorite songs he’s ever written. “I’m complaining about the state of things, and then the third verse almost serves as a challenge to myself: hey, you’re in charge of another human being. You can create change,” he says.

Driving rock-and-roller “Crooked + Straight” explores the small-town consequences of questioning religion, and the tightness of family in the face of one member’s rejection. His father’s advice anchors the song. “I come from a blue-collar family. I’m the only one who didn’t go into farming. I learned if you want something, you have to go out and take it. You can’t expect anything from anybody,” BJ says. “You can only go out there and work harder. My dad always said you can outwork anybody else.” Love for hard work and the people who carry it out appears repeatedly throughout Things Change. Guitar-heavy “Tough Folks” is a snarling ode to those with dirt under their fingernails, while bass- and pedal-steel-infused “Work Conquers All” spins a tale in praise and pursuit of Oklahoma’s state motto.

The album’s love songs are the kind of achingly beautiful that only comes with maturity and a willingness to expose one’s own flaws. Haunting “Shadows of You” recalls a lover’s flight as the protagonist longs for what he let get away. Gorgeous “Till the Final Curtain Falls” celebrates loyalty and pledges endless devotion. The moving title track takes an often doleful topic––people’s tendency to change––and turns it on its head, tracing BJ’s personal growth and recognizing his now-wife’s steadfast love.

BJ’s other two favorite tracks are album standouts. Moving “When We Were Younger Men” addresses the break-up of American Aquarium head on. As BJ professes love for his former bandmates over stripped down acoustic guitar, his voice is honeyed and deep. “It’s an open letter to five guys who I spent eight years of my life with seeing the entire world,” BJ says. “I think anyone who has ever had to walk away from a friendship or has had somebody walk away from them will relate to the song.” Stunner “One Day at a Time” is self-perceptive and vulnerable, detailing BJ’s battles with himself. Even within his career full of well-written gems, the song is a towering accomplishment.

“At the end of the day, if you’re not writing songs to affect other people’s lives, you’re in it for the wrong reasons,” BJ says, reflecting on the new album, where he’s been, and where American Aquarium is headed. “Money may come and go. You may never get fame. But if you sit down and write songs to affect people, you can do it your whole life and be happy.”