Bluegrass legend Del McCoury was at his home in Hendersonville, Tenn. "About a 15-minute drive out of downtown Nashville, out in the country," as he put it. Speaking of his life in music, he spun a long winding tale about growing up on a farm up in York County, Penn., and hearing Bill Monroe and […]
Music
Coverage of the music scene in Humboldt County with upcoming shows from locals and out-of-town acts, reviews, interviews and more.
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Red Hot Country
Humboldt County is a rural sort of place and as such, there’s a fair amount of country music hereabouts … whatever that means. For some — fans of Big Red Country KRED for example — that might mean the latest from some mainstream Nashville artist like Taylor Swift or Brad Paisley. Then you have musicians […]
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Call From Restricted
The music community from the Midwest have a deep affection for classic pop: a combination of influences that range from the initial British Invasion of the ’60s, to bubblegum pop (like Edison Lighthouse and 1910 Fruitgum Company), to Memphis’ Big Star. The Midwest cultivated a wide community of pop bands, including The Raspberries, Dwight Twilley, […]
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Life on Earth
Seattle-based singer/songwriter Jesy Fortino, under the apt nom de guerre of Tiny Vipers, writes and performs music from a place of isolation — like, say, Nova Scotia or Newfoundland — a place, an environment set apart from a larger body. Tiny Vipers’ sophomore release, Life On Earth, evokes an atmosphere both foreign and familiar. Even […]
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Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible!
Rewriting the Bible is a pretty audacious undertaking. Jonathan Goldstein doesn’t seem like the most likely candidate for the challenge, either. He’s best known for the cringingly funny and self-deprecating stories he tells on radio programs like This American Life and Wiretap (the latter of which he hosts on CBC radio in Canada), stories about […]
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Wailing
A few years back, guitarist Jonah Lipsky dropped out of the jamband he’d been playing with, patched together a mess of effects pedals, looping devices, keyboards and electronic drums and became J Wail, solo electrojammer. Born in NYC and now based out of Denver, Mr. Wail has been coming through these parts since around 2005 […]
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Mythomania
The SF-based band, Cryptacize, a branch from the Deerhoof family tree, has definitely grown and solidified with its sophomore release, Mythomania. It’s an angular, oddly melodic and engaging piece of work, expanding upon its preceding 2007 release, Dig That Treasure, the band’s spare, more minimal debut. Founded by former Deerhoof guitarist Chris Cohen, Cryptacize bears […]
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The 48th Annual Orick Rodeo
Orick. The settlement past the elk and the schoolhouse. Land of tall trees and unrivaled ocean shores. Blink your eyes and you’re past it. Most of the year Orick is an insulated community, a hardscrabble town dealt a raw deal in terms of economic opportunity. Orick. The rodeo. This town’s premiere weekend put on by […]
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Crooked Music
Crooked is not a term most would associate with music, but that’s how Susan Anderson described a tune played by the local Quebecois band, Mon Petite Chou, at the Humboldt Folklife Festival last Saturday. I knew what she meant because a few years back, when I interviewed Jeff Kazor, leader of The Crooked Jades, he […]
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Harlan Ellison: Dreams With Sharp Teeth
Dark fantasist Harlan Ellison is an anomaly: a writer working in the most collaborative of mediums (television and film) who sees his words as sacrosanct, an award-winning short story writer who demystified his art by practicing it publicly in bookstore windows, and a controversial social critic who came to prominence in the revolutionary ’60s, yet […]
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Humboldt Folklife Festival
The commitment to people’s music was evident in the layout and performers of the 2009 Humboldt Folklife Festival. The week-long series of folk concerts and dances culminated in a free Saturday festival in Blue Lake. Wandering musicians, vendors, workshops on musical techniques, dancing and singing fostered both appreciation and skill. Add in a staggering amount […]
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Emotional Landscapes
First time I heard Boz Scaggs he was playing guitar and sharing vocal duties in the seminal ’60s version of the Steve Miller Band – Children of the Future was one of my favorite records, particularly side 2, where Boz reigned. Raised in Oklahoma and Texas, Scaggs met Miller in 1959; they played in bands […]