photos by Chris La Putt

If you're going to GoogaMooga on Sunday, you might want to eat and drink before you get there. More pictures from Saturday below...

Continue reading "GoogaMooga day 1 in pics (Roots, UMO, Aziz, James Murphy, food, LONG LINES, Marc Maron, Holy Ghost! & more)"

Deer Tick at Brooklyn Bowl on NYE (more by Tracy Allison)

Clearwater Festival is returning to Croton Point Park from June 16-17 in Croton, NY. This year's festival includes Dawes, Deer Tick, Alejandro Escovedo, Punch Brothers, Bela Fleck, Arlo Guthrie, Martin Sexton, Ani Difranco and more. Tickets for the festival are on sale now. Full Clearwater lineup below...

Continue reading "Clearwater Festival returns to Croton Point Park in June"

"The Festival will feature two stages of music per day, both located in the Nethermead Meadow. More artists to be announced. Performances start at noon and end at 8:30 pm on Saturday. Performances start at noon and end at 7:30 pm on Sunday." Announced music lineup for the two day Prospect Park food and music festival, below...

Continue reading "GoogaMooga music lineup announced (and updated)"

Brooklyn's Prospect Park food & music festival The Great GoogaMooga is still somewhat of a mystery, though the food lineup seems to grow by the day. What about the music (and more general admission tickets)? Well, the festival just posted this:

"Turns out we've got just as healthy of an appetite for music as we do for food and drink. On Monday, April 23rd, we'll be laying out the spread of musical enticements so you can come to The Great GoogaMooga ready to rock out between bites - 2 days, 2 stages and 10 acts each day.

Since we'll already have you drooling on Monday, we'll be opening general admission ticket registration the next day, Tuesday, April 24th. More details to come...

Meanwhile, James Murphy/Aziz Ansari/Anthony Bourdain ExtraMooga tickets are still on sale, and we know that that the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is one of the musical acts playing the fest on Saturday, and Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens are playing on the Sunday. Anyone else have any leaks?

Preservation Hall Jazz Band's full tour schedule, below...

Continue reading "Who's playing the Great GoogaMooga?"

The Newport Festivals Foundation continues to celebrate the festival's historic past by featuring emerging young artists alongside some of folk music's most venerable names. This year's festival features: My Morning Jacket, Jackson Browne, Conor Oberst, Iron & Wine, Patty Griffin, Guthrie Family Reunion, Dawes, The Head & The Heart, Deer Tick, Punch Brothers, City & Colour, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Tallest Man on Earth, tUnE-yArDs, Tom Morello, Trampled by Turtles, Gary Clark, Jr., Alabama Shakes, Blind Pilot, Of Monsters and Men, original music from: Jay Farrar; Will Johnson; Anders Parker; & Yim Yames set to the lyrics of Woody Guthrie, Sharon Van Etten, First Aid Kit, Sara Watkins, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Brown Bird, Jonny Corndawg, Jonathan Wilson, Spirit Family Reunion, Deep Dark Woods, Carl Broemel, Ben Sollee, Robert Ellis, Frank Fairfield, The Apache Relay, Spider John Koerner & His Rag Tag Boys, Joel Rafael, Joe Fletcher & The Wrong Reasons, Elizabeth Mitchell, honeyhoney, Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, The Kossoy Sisters, The Berklee City Music Choir and very special guests to be announced.

The 2012 Newport Folk Festival lineup has been announced.

Will Johnson, Jay Farrar, Jim James, Anders Parker

Jim James, Jay Farrar, Will Johnson (who previously collabroated with Jim James in Monsters of Folk), and Anders Parker (who previously collaborated with Jay Farrar in Gob Iron), have teamed up to record an album titled New Multitudes, which comes out February 28 via Rounder Records. The album features twelve tracks, all of which were written lyrically by Woody Guthrie but never recorded, and Jim, Jay, Will, and Anders have written original music to accompany the lyrics.

"Under the invitation of Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter, to tour the Guthrie archives, each of the four songwriters were offered the chance to plumb and mine the plethora of notebooks, scratch pads, napkins, etc. for anything that might inspire them to lend their voices and give the words new life. "These guys worked on an amazing group of lyrics, much of it culled from Woody's times in LA. Lyric wise, it's a part of the story that is still mostly unknown. From Woody's experiences on LA's skid row to his later years in Topanga Canyon, they are uniquely intimate, and relate two distinctly emotional periods in his life.""

A limited edition will be available with twelve additional tracks written by Jay Farrar and Anders Parker and it also includes Woody Guthrie's original lyric sheets. Check out album track, "Old LA," which is streaming below, along with the album artwork and tracklist.

The four folkies will head out on a short US tour together in support of the album this March. That tour hits NYC on March 14 at Webster Hall. Tickets go on sale Friday, 1/20 at noon, with an AmEx presale starting two days earlier. All dates are listed below.

Jim James was just in town to help pay tribute (and perform with) Preservation Hall Jazz Band...

"At Carnegie Hall the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Del McCoury Band, My Morning Jacket, Steve Earle, Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards, and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) were on hand. So were the New Orleans-born musicians Trombone Shorty and Allen Toussaint, who sang a tribute to the band for putting "pride in your stride."

While it's a paradox that welcoming outsiders and trying out hybrids is a survival tactic for a deeply local tradition, that's a fact of life for present-day New Orleans." [NY Times]

My Morning Jacket also apparently played a secret show of some kind while they were in town.

All Guthrie tribute tour dates, stream, album art and tracklist below...

Continue reading "Jim James, Will Johnson, Jay Farrar & Anders Parker team for Guthrie project album & tour (dates & song stream)"

Givers at Deluna Fest in October (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Givers have announced a North American tour which will take place this January, and be followed by an Australian tour in February. The North American tour includes a NYC show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on January 5. Tickets are on sale now. Two days later, they'll participate in the 50th anniversary Preservation Hall Jazz Band show at Carnegie Hall (1/7) with My Morning Jacket, Mos Def and others. Tickets for that show are still on sale. Most of the dates on the tour are with Young Man, though no opener has been announced for the MHOW show.

The PS22 Chorus recently covered Givers' song "Up Up Up." Check out a video of that cover, along with all Givers dates below...

Continue reading "Givers covered by PS22, announce tour (dates & video)"

My Morning Jacket at Lollapalooza in August (more by Grant MacAllister)

My Morning Jacket are currently on a tour that will conclude in NYC at Madison Square Garden on December 14 with Band of Horses. Tickets are still on sale and we're also giving away a pair. Details on how to enter to win are below.

My Morning Jacket will also be special guests at the 50th Anniversary of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Carnegie Hall on January 7 along with Mos Def, GIVERS, Tao Seeger, Allen Toussaint, Blind Boys of Alabama, Del McCoury Band, and Trombone Shorty. Tickets go on sale Friday (12/2) at 11 AM.

MMJ were just nominated for a Grammy for "Best Alternative Music Album" and performed too songs off that album on Jimmy Kimmel last night. Check out videos of their performance below.

All dates, contest details and videos below...

Continue reading "win tix see My Morning Jacket @ MSG, see them play Carnegie Hall w/ Preservation Hall Jazz Band, watch them on Kimmel..."

If on you're way out of the subway in late July you happen to notice a busker that looks a helluva lot like Billy Bragg surrounded by an army of other guitar-weilding maniacs, don't be alarmed. The spectacle is just the opening act for the two+ week Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, which will feature shows with Mavis Staples (as discussed), "Laurie Anderson and Friends", Bettye LaVette, a girl-group heavy Ponderosa Stomp, the 28th Annual Roots of American Music Festival, The Bar-Kays, and many, many others at the Damrosch Park Bandshell and other Manhattan locations from July 27th until its close on August 14th. The full schedule is below.

Billy Bragg leading The Big Busk in the UK

The Big Busk is the first performance scheduled (and it happens twice on July 27th), and will see Bragg leading a play-along concert flanked by an army of cue-cards detailing what chords he is playing. Check out a video from a 2008 'Big Busk' that took place in England, below.

Billy Bragg will also make up his cancelled dates from earlier this year around that 7/27 appearance. He'll play City Winery in NYC on 7/26 (tickets), 7/28 (tickets) and 7/29 (tickets).

All Lincoln Center festival dates and lineups, and all Billy Bragg tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Lincoln Center Out of Doors 2011 schedule announced, rescheduled Billy Bragg dates too"

photos by Alysse Gafkjen

"The Preservation Hall Jazz Band suffered a serious blow, earlier this week, with the passing of bassist Walter Payton. Still, they played on (bassless) - with a photo of Walter, surrounded by flowers, sitting on a pedestal amid life-size wooden cutouts depicting departed PHJB members like John Brunious and Sweet Emma Barrett. My Morning Jacket's Jim James joined the band, as he had at Jazz Fest 2010 (MMJ appears on the band's latest album, "Preservation") for a short set that included a fierce double interpretation of "St. James Infirmary." James sang it straight, as a bluesy dirge; once he concluded, Hallahan grabbed a pair of sticks and joined drummer Joe Lastie for a hot, swung-out version. Hall vocalist Clint Maedgen scorched the mic; plenty of cowbell and tambourine gave the number a street-parade, Mardi Gras Indian feel (sort of like Wardell Quezergue's famous production of the Dixie Cups' "Iko Iko," which, legend has it, utilized ashtrays and water glasses for its unforgettably clanky percussion.)

After the song, the band second-lined out and into the crowd, then returned to the stage for a closing version of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene."

From somewhere, Payton surely felt well sent off." [Nola.com]

As noted in the setlist, Preservation Hall Jazz Band also joined My Morning Jacket on stage at Voodoo over the weekend. Preservation Hall Jazz Band's next show is at City Winery in NYC TONIGHT (11/3). More dates, pictures from Voodoo Fest, and some videos too, below...

Continue reading "Preservation Hall Jazz Band played Voodoo w/ Jim James (pics, video), on tour (RIP Walter Payton) "

photos by Alysse Gafkjen

MGMT / My Morning Jacket

"It's more than an average sweat-your-brains-out, suffer-in-the-mud music festival. It's the Voodoo Experience, and it went down at City Park this weekend in New Orleans.

Voodoo Fest, one of the world's largest Halloween parties, housed thousands of attendees who, for three days of musical bliss, watched some of the world's most notorious names -- including Muse, Ozzy Osbourne, MGMT and My Morning Jacket -- and donned costumes ranging from zombies to superheroes, fictional characters to condiments and anything and everything in-between." [The Daily Reveille]

MGMT probably had the most talked about costumes of the weekend. The band dressed up as the cartoon cast of Scooby Doo. More pictures and a bunch of videos from this past weekend's Halloween-themed New Orleans fest (not necessarily in order - a big mix of all three days), and MMJ's setlist (they covered Black Sabbath again), below...

Continue reading "Voodoo Experience 2010 in pics & video - part 1 (MGMT as Scooby Doo, My Morning Jacket, Jonsi, Muse, Metric & more) "

MSG photos & words by Jacob Blickenstaff, Columbia photos by Jens Schott Knudsen

Pete Seeger @ Columbia in April...

"Clearwater conducts innovative environmental programs, advocacy and celebrations in order to inspire and energize the next generation of environmental leaders.

Clearwater was founded in 1969 by music legend and environmental activist Pete Seeger." [Clearwater]

Pete Seeger's been busy lately, especially for someone who just celebrated his 90th birthday. The event for that occasion took place at Madison Square Garden on May 3rd, and is reviewed in full below, with pictures. A few weeks before that, on Earth Day (April 18th), Pete played a show at Columbia's Teachers College. Photos from that show are below too. Right after that he headed to New Orleans to perform at Jazz Fest. Prior to those, Seeger played the Clearwater benefit with Jeff Tweedy at Beacon High School on March 28th. We also recently noticed his name as the special guest on a show at Joe's Pub.

This summer Pete Seeger is scheduled to play the Newport Folk Festival (August 1st and 2nd), and will perform at his own Clearwater Festival, taking place in Croton-on-the-Hudson, NY this weekend (June 20th and 21st). The Clearwater Fest lineup includes Dr. Dog, A.C. Newman, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Richie Havens, Old Crow Medicine Show, Alejandro Escovedo, Arlo Guthrie and others. Its full schedule is below. Tickets are still sale at the gate.

UPDATE: we can confirm that Pete played his scheduled Saturday morning Clearwater Fest performance "with kids" for those who braved the rain. Pete will perform again at the festival on Sunday afternoon with his grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger.

A review of Pete Seeger's 90th Birthday Celebration at MSG, and all above-mentioned photos, with the full Clearwater Festival lineup & schedule, below...

Continue reading "Clearwater Festival this weekend - full schedule ++ Pete Seeger pics (from his 90th birthday & Columbia University)"

by Andrew Frisicano

Preservation Hall Jazz Band...

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, a rotating group of some of the most esteemed musicians in New Orleans, are all kinds of big easy - the mindset, not the proper noun. They are consummate professionals, but it doesn't lend itself to a stuffy or by the numbers brand of jazz music. It's a style that waltzes, lurches and whistles Dixie. It is dripping with the bourbon flairs that might be transcendent there in the streets and the waters, living there amongst a proud group of people who regularly show their elasticity and that pride in the way New Orleans is pulled off, the way that it's perpetrated and seasoned. [Daytrotter]

The band, formed in 1961 under the direction of the late Allan Jaffe, has worked to promote New Orleans-style jazz through the county and world. Now, under the direction of Jaffe's son, Preservation Hall creative director Ben, the collective and its rotating lineup continue to flourish, with concerts booked through 2010. This week, from March 31st to April 5th, the Preservation Hall Jazz band holds court for six-nights at NYC's Blue Note. Each night has an early show and a late show; table reservations for each set are currently available.

Also this week, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is releasing a live CD titled New Orleans Preservation, Vol. 1. The disc was recorded earlier this year at the group's home venue, New Orleans' Preservation Hall, "located in the French Quarter, just three blocks from the Mississippi River" (says the band's history).

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band will also return to NYC to the perform on the already-huge-and-growing bill of Pete Seeger's 90th birthday celebration at MSG on May 3rd (sold out).

In other New Orleans-to-New York news, we previously reported that NOLA Fest Ponderosa Stomp is presenting a special three-night program of music at Lincoln Center, the first of which takes place on July 17th. A set of pictures from the Ponderosa Stomp event at SXSW was also recently posted.

All tour dates, New Orleans Preservation Vol. 1 track list and art, and clips of Preservation Hall Jazz Band + the Blind Boys of Alabama (PHJB tourmates for part of 2009) below...

Continue reading "Preservation Hall Jazz Band tour dates, NYC this week, MSG "