Andrew Bird @ Tarrytown Music Hall (NY) in October (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Andrew Bird will pack-up the horsehair and steel (that makes playing the violin sound so burly!) as part of a string of dates in celebration of his forthcoming long-player Break It Yourself, out March 6th in the US (5th internationally) via Mom + Pop Records. Look for Bird to play selections from the follow-up to 2009's Noble Beast on that three-month jaunt that will include two nights at Beacon Theater, May 4th with Patrick Watson and May 5th with Tift Merritt. Tickets for both May 4th and May 5th go on AMEX presale at 11AM tomorrow (12/7) with regular sale hitting on Friday.

In related news, Chicago is welcoming the opening of Andrew Bird and Ian Schneller's Sonic Arboretum at the Museum of Contemporary Art today (12/6). Details are available at BV Chicago.

Tour dates and a teaser video for Break It Yourself is below.

Continue reading "Andrew Bird announces new album & tour dates (2 nights @ Beacon Theater included)"

The Jayhawks at Webster Hall in January (more by Kurt Christensen)

The Jayhawks are currently on a European tour that ends later this month. After that tour, they'll play a few dates in their hometown of Minnesota before heading out a North American tour in October and November. Many dates do not have openers announced but a few are with Tift Merritt. The NYC show, which takes place on October 21 at Beacon Theater is with Rosanne Cash. Tickets go on sale Friday (8/5) at noon with an "Internet Presale" starting Wednesday (8/3) at noon.

The tour is in support of the Jayhawks' new album Mockingbird Time which will be released September 20 via Rounder. The album is their first since 2003's Rainy Day Music and was produced by Jayhawk Gary Louris. It's also their first album with the classic Gary Louris and Mark Olson-led line-up since 1995's Tomorrow The Green Grass. Check out the lead single, "She Walks In So Many Ways" below.

Rosanne Cash some of her own upcoming dates, including some readings on her book tour for Composed, which she released on July 26. Her book tour hits NYC twice this month. The first time on August 9 at Barnes and Noble Union Square and the second on August 11 at PowerHouse Arena in Brooklyn.

All dates and Jayhawks single below...

Continue reading "Jayhawks releasing new LP, touring, playing Beacon Theater w/ Rosanne Cash who wrote a book (dates)"

photos by Chris La Putt

"Dear friends, Yes. That was me singing with Levon Helm & Emmylou & so many friends in Central Park. One of those nights you hold onto." - Tift Merritt

Levon Helm, Emmylou Harris and Hayes Carll played Summerstage last night (7/18). Pictures from that show are in this post.

During Levon Helm's set, David Bromberg played on "Tongue" (a Bromberg song that Levon recorded with him) and Emmylou Harris helped perform "Evangeline", and then Harris, Hayes, Bromberg, Joan Osborne, Tift Merritt, Shawn Colvin and others joined the band for a performance of The Band's "The Weight." We don't have pictures of that part, but you can watch a video of it below.

"The Weight", as usual, was the last song in Levon's set. You can check out the full written setlist below though note they actually opened with "Ophelia" and didn't play "Wheels".

Setlist, video and pictures below....

Continue reading "Levon Helm, Emmylou Harris, Hayes Carll & friends played Summerstage (pics, video, setlist)"

photos by Chris La Putt

After a slight rain delay, alt country chanteuse Tift Merritt played a 90 minute free show in NYC's Madison Square Park last night (6/22). Backed by a full band, her setlist included a new song she wrote last week and a lot of songs off 2010's See You On The Moon. There's a picture of the setlist below though they didn't stick exactly to that.

In other Tift news, she has written a song or two to the soundtrack of the upcoming animated Dorothy of Oz movie which stars Lea Michele as Dorothy Gale, Dan Aykroyd as The Scarecrow, James Belushi as The Cowardly Lion, Hugh Dancy as Marshall Mallow, Kelsey Grammer as The Tin Man, Megan Hilty as China Princess, Oliver Platt as Wiser the Owl, Martin Short as The Jester, Patrick Stewart as Tugg, and Robert Nathaniel Bouchard as Munchkin #2. Megan gives Tift a shoutout in a video about the movie you can watch HERE, and there's a Tift mention on the movie's official site too. If you click around enough you'll find it.

Check out more pictures and some videos from the NYC show, and her remaining tour dates, below.

Continue reading "Tift Merritt played Madison Square Park (pics & video), contributed music to Dorothy Of Oz"

The Bottom Line presents New York on my Mind tonight (6/22) at World Financial Center Winter Garden. The free River to River show was originally scheduled to take place in Rockefeller Park but has been moved due to weather. Performers include Rosanne Cash, Marshall Crenshaw, The GrooveBarbers, Garland Jeffreys, Willie Nile, Martin Rivas, Suzzy and Lucy Wainwright Roche, Catherine Russell, Vin Scelsa, Loudon Wainwright III, Dar Williams and many more.

Note that Tift Merritt's 7pm Madison Square Park show was also moved to the "rain location on the southern end of the park."

Other upcoming events at Rockefeller Park (weather permitting) include R&B singer Chrisette Michele on June 29, Poets House Annual Celebration with a lineup of poets (TBA) and musical guests Jose James and Bobbi Humphrey on July 6, and A Celebration for Jonathan Schwartz featuring a collection of singers paying tribute to Schwartz on July 13.

photos by Lori Baily & Ted Barron

DOWNLOAD: Tift Merritt & Norman Blake - Thirteen (Big Star) (MP3)

Tift Merritt w/ Matthew Sweet & friends @ the Big Star Tribute in March (by Lori)

Tift Merritt's is now on tour with Stephen Kellogg, and though tickets are unfotunately sold-out for their show at City Winery (May 6th), she has added another NYC show and this time it's FREE. Tift Merritt will play Madison Square Park on June 22nd at 6PM after her tour with Kellogg, but before she heads out on a string of UK dates with Greg Allman. All tour dates are below.

Add the June 22nd free show to the growing list of free shows happening Madison Square Park this summer. Another is the music portion of the Big Apple BBQ.

Tift Merritt joined an all-star cast that stood up in praise of the late great Alex Chilton (of Big Star) at Baruch College on March 26th, a shade more than one year after he suffered a fatal heart attack. Big Star's Third was the focus of the show, and it featured a revolving cast of musicians on vocals....

"Stipe's performance of "Kanga Roo" was at once fragile and unbowed, while his R.E.M. cohort, singer-bassist Mike Mills, found the holiday in the Christmas song "Jesus Christ." Alternative-country singer Tift Merritt was a vital female addition, showing that the vengeful kick of "You Can't Have Me" could go both ways. Other voices included Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo ("O, Dana," "Take Care"), Norman Blake of the Scottish band Teenage Fanclub ("Nightime"), Matthew Sweet ("Big Black Car") and Django Haskins of the group The Old Ceremony, who carried the bleak weight of "Holocaust" with a wise plain poise." [Rolling Stone]

During the encore Tift performed "Thirteen" with Norman Blake. A recording of that cover from the show is avaialble for download above. A set of pictures from the show are in this post. More of them, with all of Tift's tour dates, are below...

Continue reading "Tift Merritt covered Big Star w/ Norman Blake, Michael Stipe & more (MP3 & belated pics), touring (playing free NYC show)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

DOWNLOAD: Daniel Martin Moore - Dark Road (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Daniel Martin Moore - In the Cool of the Day (MP3)

Jessica Lea Mayfield @ SXSW

Jessica Lea Mayfield's new Dan Auerbach-produced album, Tell Me, was released by Nonesuch Records on February 8, and since then she's tourned with Justin Townes Earle, and the Avett Brothers, and played a few shows in Austin for SXSW, one of which was an American Songwriter showcase which is where the pictures in this post come from. Another one of her sets from SXSW is for sale on iTunes, and another is streaming at KEXP. I wanted to book her on one of the many BrooklynVegan parties as well, but it ended up not working out.

She is currently back out on the road, but this time as a headliner, with Daniel Martin Moore. They play Glasslands on March 30th (AKA TONIGHT) (tickets are still available) and, after a stop in Philly, Bowery Ballroom on April 1st (tickets available too). All tour dates are listed below

Daniel Martin Moore recently dropped In The Cool Of The Day via Sub Pop in January. Two MP3s from that record are above, and the title track is also below.

Moore's companion on the recent, um, Dear Companion LP has been at work too. Ben Sollee has a new LP, Inclusions, due in May and was SUPPOSED to support Billy Bragg on his cancelled tour that was supposed to be at City Winery this week, but instead will play City Winery as part of a Japan benefit on March 31st with Rachael Yamagata, Tift Merritt, Marshall Crenshaw, Dar Williams, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Nicole Atkins, classic pianist Taka Kigawa, and the New York based big band Morning Musuko. Ben will also play with Tracy Bonham at Cameo in Brooklyn one day later.

All Jessica Lee Mayfield and Daniel Martin Moore, tour dates, some videos and more SXSW pictures, below...

Continue reading "Jessica Lea Mayfield played SXSW (pics), on tour w/ Daniel Martin Moore ++ Ben Sollee playing shows, a Japan Benefit"

John Wesley Harding and Eugene Mirman at LPR in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

"I wanted to bring together my novel writing friends (who mostly envy my musician friends) and my musician friends (who mostly envy my novel writing friends) under one flag," says John Wesley Harding. "Then add Eugene Mirman and his comedians of comedy... The fact is: I like everyone who's performing.

Novelist/singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding brings his Cabinet of Wonders back to City Winery on March 11th. Joining him in his quest for the perfect variety show will be an all-star lineup featuring Andrew Bird, David Wax Museum, Paul Muldoon, Tift Merritt, Daniel Felsenfeld & The Jessold Consort, Eugene Mirman, JWH, Jonathan Coe and Kristin Hersh. A little more than a month later, he'll do it again with another show at City Winery on April 22, this time featuring "Rick Moody, Eugene Mirman & more". More details on that one TBA.

In between (and before) those dates, John Wesley Harding AKA Wesley Stace will do readings in and around the area, including one on 3/10 at Book Court in Brooklyn and one on 3/17 as part of a panel at LIO in Brooklyn. He'll be speaking about Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer, his new book. Maybe you read about it in the New York Times:

WESLEY STACE'S new book, "Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer," is both a murder mystery and a novel about classical music, with a character who sometimes assumes another identity. Mr. Stace, an enthusiastic, donnish Englishman with an honors degree in English literature from Jesus College, Cambridge, and a head stuffed full of historical trivia, is an expert on both double lives and music. Improbably, he is also John Wesley Harding, an Elvis Costello-like singer-songwriter and folk rocker who has released more than a dozen records and is cool enough to have enlisted most of the Decemberists as the backup band on a forthcoming album.

Eugene Mirman talks with Stace about the book in a video you can watch below. Eugene Mirman can also be found at Union Hall in Brooklyn this Sunday, 3/6.

The Decemberists play Prospect Park on June 14th with Best Coast. Ticket info is forthcoming.

The David Wax Museum, who recently played their own show at City Winery (and who are part of John Wesley's Cabinet on 3/11), will also be at SXSW where you'll be able to catch them at a BrooklynVegan day party right at noon on Friday, 3/18 at Barbarella on Red River. Stay tuned for more details on that party coming shortly (but I can say it is the same one Middle Brother is playing later in the day). More David Wax dates at their website.

All Stace & Andrew Bird dates are below...

Continue reading "Andrew Bird playing w/ John Wesley Harding, Wesley Stace released a book, David Wax Museum heading to SXSW"

"Big Star's third album, Third/Sister Lovers, has long been revered by artists and critics as one of the most influential albums ever produced. Written and recorded when the legendary 70s band was primarily a studio project consisting of Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens, the third album was never been performed in public with the original string and wind orchestrations. That changed in December 2010, when an all-star band unearthed the original scores, assembled an orchestra and performed Big Star's Third at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC. Performers that night included Jody Stephens (Big Star), Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Mitch Easter (Let's Active), Chris Stamey (the dB's) - the creative genesis they experienced prompted plans for a historic concert in New York City.

On March 26th, a mind-boggling array of indie rock all-stars will gather to perform Big Star's Third at Mason Hall. Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Mitch Easter (Let's Active), Ira Kaplan (Yo La Tengo), Tift Merritt, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Will Rigby (the dB's), Matthew Sweet, Chris Stamey (the dB's), Jody Stephens (Big Star) and M. Ward (She & Him) will be joined by The Lost in the Trees Orchestra with Jane Scarpantoni, Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony), Brett Harris, Sidney Dixon and Matt McMichaels to recreate the original scores and breathe life into a bittersweet album that has impacted generations of musicians. Some very special guests will be announced in the days to come. As the evening unfolds, Chilton and Stephen's musical ideas that were far ahead of their time 35 years ago will resonate in the hands of a collective of sympathetic, top-notch musicians. "We have been trying to create a concert piece that can have a life in years to come, trying to keep the spirit of the music and make it come across with the right emotions live," Stamey told Indy Week. "There's something about this record that connects with my generation, and apparently many generations."

The assemblage will perform Third/Sister Lovers in its entirety - fans can expect additional Big Star and Chris Bell songs as well. "It's easier as time passes to revisit that album because it came out of such a dark period," Big Star drummer Jody Stephens told the Raleigh News and Observer. "There were brilliant moments in the studio, especially Carl Marsh's string arrangements, which really take it to a whole other world. But it could be emotionally difficult to watch certain things happen. I was so close to it at the time that I could not see what it was.""

BIG STAR THIRD is happening at Baruch Performing Arts Center (at Baruch College) in Mason Hall (17 Lexington) on Saturday, March 26, 2011. Tickets are on presale now (password: Alex), and going on general sale Thursday at noon. More details with the lineup listed out, below...

Continue reading "all star collective performing Big Star's 'Third' album"

DOWNLOAD: Alejandro Escovedo - Silver Cloud (MP3)

photos by Chris La Putt, words by Andrew Frisicano

Alejandro Escovedo just played two nights at City Winery with Bobby Bare Jr. opening. Special guests on the first night (6/29) included Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter, who joined Alejandro for a verse-trading encore of Mott's "I Wish I Was Your Mother." The second night (6/30) Alejandro's producer Tony Visconti sat in with the band for songs that included a cover of the Bowie-penned Mott the Hoople song "All the Young Dudes." Singer Tift Merritt was there too; videos of those songs are below.

Alejandro Escovedo plays again at City Winery on Friday (tickets still available), and he's at Vintage Vinyl tonight (7/1) in Jersey. More info and all tour dates are here.

Grab "Silver Cloud," the hard-rocking second track from his new record, Street Songs of Love, posted above. More pictures and videos are below...

Continue reading "Alejandro Escovedo & guests played City Winery - pics, videos and a new MP3"

Tift Merritt @ Stuy High School in 2009 (more by Chris La Putt)

"[Mixtapes were] how I was introduced to music that has been so important to me," she tells The Boot. "Someone made me a mix of Maria McKee and Lone Justice, and someone made me a tape that had Mary Lou Lord, Big Star and the Jayhawks. I was 18 years old -- I didn't know about these people. I just found so much neat new music that way because people really did this kind thing."

The North Carolinian would revisit the subject on 'Mixtape,' one of 12 songs from her new album, 'See You on the Moon.' While some of the country elements that have long been associated with her music can be heard on the record, 'See You on the Moon' also reflects a continued evolution in her sound and approach.

Singer-songwriter Tift Merritt plays a June 17th show at NYC's Hiro Ballroom. Tickets are still on sale. That show and others are with Broken Social Scene member Jason Collett, who joins her on part of her June/July tour.

Tift's new record, See You on the Moon came out June 1st on Fantasy Records/Concord, and features production by Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Laura Veirs, Spoon) and guest spots by Jim James and pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz.

After her Hiro Ballroom show, Tift's next two dates in Massachusetts are with somber songwriter Richard Buckner. Buckner also has a string of June tour dates (and some in September too) coming up - he opens for Jay Farrar at Bowery Ballroom on June 4th and at Maxwell's on June 5th.

Full tour dates for Merritt (who opens for Amos Lee at Westhampton Beach PAC on Long Island on July 2nd), Collett and Buckner are below...

Continue reading "Tift Merrit released an album, playing shows w/ Jason Collett & Richard Buckner (who's playing this weekend w/ Jay Farrar)"

photos by Chris La Putt

"Wow Tift Merritt's voice is even more spectacular & nuanced in RL than on my iPod. Best river to river performance yet"
- Tara Lannen-Stanton

While Jay Reatard was playing a free NYC show in Stuyvesant TOWN yesterday (7/1), Sarah Lee Guthrie, John Irion, and alt-country star Tift Merritt were playing a free NYC show (courtesy of the River to River Festival) in Stuyvesant HIGH SCHOOL (which is where the originally-outdoor show was moved to due to the threat of rain). More pictures below...

Continue reading "Tift Merritt, Sarah Lee Guthrie & John Irion @ Stuyvesant High School in NYC - pics "

Tift Merritt (by Chris LaPutt)

Singer-songwriter Tift Merritt has summer shows scheduled up through August 9th, when she plays the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Those dates also include a stop at the Newport Folk Festival on August 1st.

Before those though, Merritt will perform in NYC tonight (July 1st) at a free show with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. The gig was supposed to happen at Nelson A. Rockefeller Park, but...

"Due to a threat of inclement weather, tonight's Tift Merritt/Sarah Lee Guthrie/Johnny Irion show has been moved to Stuyvesant High School at 345 Chambers St. Start time is still 7pm. Space is limited, so the first come, first served system will be in effect. "

The Jay Reatard show, also scheduled outdoors tonight, is still on (as far as we know), and the Celebrate Brooklyn gig with MGMT, Kuroma and Suckers at the Prospect Park Bandshell is -- as always (allegedly) -- rain or shine.

Tift Merritt's 2005 Lost Highway release, Tambourine, earned her a Grammy nomination for the Best Country Album of the Year. Her newsest album, recorded live and acoustic, is called Buckingham Solo. It came out earlier this year, and is available through Fantasy Records and on iTunes. She discussed that record and played live on WNRN in April. That, with all tour dates, is below...

Continue reading "Tift Merritt tour dates (free NYC show moved inside tonight)"

Crystal Castles @ MHOW - New Years Eve (more by Ryan Muir)

Al Green @ the Wellmont Theater - Nov 2008 (more by Eric M Townsend)

Superfly Productions and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The eighth annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 11 - 14 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. Every year Bonnaroo seeks to make history by offering unique and exclusive performances by rock's greatest legends as well as its most significant newcomers. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2009 lineup will total over 120 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days. Tickets go on sale exclusively through www.bonnaroo.com on Saturday, February 7 at 12:00 PM Eastern.

As rumored, Bruce Springsteen (who just played the Superbowl Halftime show) and Phish (who just had some trouble selling tickets to other shows) are headlining this year's Bonnaroo. Nine Inch Nails (who played Lollapalooza last year), Beastie Boys, David Byrne (who has two shows coming up at Radio City), Wilco, Al Green, Erykah Badu, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (who are also playing Coachella), Andrew Bird (who just played Carnegie Hall), The Decemberists, Bon Iver, Animal Collective (who are very popular right now), Neko Case, Jenny Lewis, Santogold, Grizzly Bear (who have a new album coming out), St. Vincent, Ted Leo, Crystal Castles, and many others are also on the bill according to the now-officially announced initial lineup.

Coachella announced their initial lineup less than a week earlier.

Metallica played Bonnaroo in 2008. Metallica played NY & NJ this past weekend.

Full (initial) 2009 Bonnaroo lineup below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo announces initial 2009 lineup (Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Beastie Boys, NIN, Wilco, Animal Collective...)"

this was Monday's post. Sorry it's late...

Singer-songwriter Tift Merritt releases Another Country, her strongest and most diverse album yet tomorrow.

The most interesting release this week is the Cowboy Junkies' Trinity Revisited, where the band returned to the church they recorded The Trinity Session and re-recorded the songs from that album with the help from Ryan Adams, Natalie Merchant, Vic Chesnutt, and more guest artists.

Other discs I can strongly recommend include Beach House's Devotion, the Dirtbombs' We Have You Surrounded, and Ghostland Observatory's Robotique Majestique.

Bob Pollard fans can pick up his latest Psycho & the Birds release, We've Moved.

Interesting reissues available this week include three early Apples in Stereo albums, The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone, Fun Trick Noisemaker, Her Wallpaper Reverie and the Jason and the Scorchers debut album and EP, Fervor/Lost & Found.

Continue reading "Largehearted Boy's Interesting CD Releases This Week"