Nashville singer/songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman: new album, Back To Love, Iron Horse gig Friday, June 11th

Longtime fans of Beth Nielsen Chapman will notice that the black & white portrait on the cover of her new CD, Back To Love, bears a striking resemblance to the artwork on her self-titled 1990 album. Happily, the similarity doesn't end there. Over the course of 11 stunning new compositions, Back To Love brings the acclaimed, Nashville-based singer/songwriter full circle, back to the soul-deep songwriting style that made her famous and provided big hits for herself and covers by an impressive and eclectic group of artists including Elton John, Faith Hill, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Trisha Yearwood, Neil Diamond, Patty Griffin and Emmylou Harris, to name but a few. And while the soaring melodies, bell-clear vocals and heart-penetrating lyrics are reassuringly in place, there's a new depth to the singer and to the songs, reflecting every turn in the tragic (Beth lost her husband to cancer and is a survivor of both breast cancer and a brain tumor) and-triumphant road Nielsen Chapman has traveled.

Beth calls Back to Love her return to pop music and the successful Nashville tunesmith works in an early-'70s mode throughout the album — you can almost see her grooving away to Abbey Road and Big Star’s #1 Record as she figures out those tricky George Harrison and Chris Bell chord progressions. For legions of tried-and-true fans, this new release represents an exuberant return to the style that distinguished some of her best work and produced some of her biggest hits. For newcomers to the magic and the music of Beth Nielsen Chapman, Back To Love is a bright new chapter in her songbook of life’s revelations. Her musical journey has taken her in a number of directions during the past thirty years, but perhaps none so enjoyable as the contentment on Back To Love.

Tickets for Beth Nielsen Chapman plus Rebecca Correia at the Iron Horse on Friday, June 11^th at 7PM (Doors/Dinner from 5:30) are $17.50 and available at the Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Rudely Interrupted Rock ‘n’ Roll Past Autism, Blindness, Deafness, and Down Syndrome at the Iron Horse on Sunday, June 13th at 7PM

Rudely Interrupted is one of Australia’s truly unique independent rock acts. Based in Melbourne, 5 out of the 6 members share a range of both physical and intellectual disabilities (blindness, deafness, aspergers, autism and Down Syndrome) but most importantly, a common interest in self-expression through music. “We’re here to challenge people’s thoughts on disability,” says Rory Burnside the band’s lead singer who was born without eyes and has aspergers.

The band’s achievements are extraordinary. The “Rudies” have enthralled worldwide audiences with infectious indie pop/rock since their first live performance at the East Brunswick Club in May 2007. They’ve toured Australia’s Laneway Music festival, played alongside artists including Feist and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and wowed audiences from New York to London. This summer they embark on a North American east coast tour that brings them to Northampton’s Iron Horse on Sunday June 13^th at 7PM.

MP3: CLOSE MY EYES VIDEO: CLOSE MY EYES

PRESS:

“… their music is some of the most energetic and genuine to emerge from the Australian rock & roll underground in recent times” – Time Out Magazine

“this Melbourne group – with a taut, impassioned sound somewhere between the Killers and Wire – happens to be the real deal.” – The Village Voice

“If you've never heard them before expect some extremely well-crafted music by a bunch of guys who happen to be saddled with slightly wonky sets of genes” – Vice Magazine

Tickets for Rudely Interrupted at the Iron Horse on Sunday, June 13^th at 7PM are available at the Northampton Box Office (NBO) 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com. Direct ticket link here.

Unit7 kick off their summer tour this Saturday at 7PM at the Iron Horse

This Saturday, May 29th the Iron Horse will be jumping as local legends Eric Olsson and Unit7 team up with budding new stars Sugartown for a 7PM show. Expect special guest appearances from jazz singer Mandy Pacious and guitarist James Youngblood who complete this recipe for a great night of live music and dancing.

It’ll be the first time Unit7 have played the Iron Horse for two years. Since then they’ve released their album Pussy Cat Rag with the song "Trouble I’m In’" making WRSI The River’s Top 50 (listener voted)for 2009. Their self-styled “Speakeasy music for the 21st Century” crosses New Orleans jazz and ragtime with a little bit of soul and funk chucked in for good measure.

The young five piece rock 'n' ragtime band Sugartown , formed in '09, are also born and raised Northamptonians. Summer vacation (from high school!) is a month off but it's a three-day weekend so they can do their homework on Monday.

Get your tickets here and we'll see you there! Doors and dinner from 5:30 and show at 7PM.

Electro-organic party beats from Pretty Lights illuminate the Calvin Theatre on Thursday, June 3rd at 8PM

Pretty Lights is the musical vision of the ultra-versatile Colorado based producer Derek Vincent Smith (click photo for high res), accompanied in the live setting by drummer Cory Eberhard. Together these two achieve a raw energy rarely reached in the realm of electronic music. At a time when music lovers from all subcultures and genres are finding common ground in the basic form of banging beats, Pretty Lights is giving the people what they want: electro-organic cutting-edge party rocking beats that fill venues with energy and emotion and send dance floors into frenzies. What makes Pretty Lights truly different though, is that these beats have serious soul.

And the people are responding: Pretty Lights' three albums, Taking Up Your Precious Time, Filling Up The City Skies, and Passing By Behind Your Eyes have been downloaded over 500,000 times. The new album Passing By Behind Your Eyes is available now for FREE download PrettyLightsMusic.com. A 2009 sold out North American tour propelled Pretty Lights into 2010 with the first tour dates in the UK and Europe and a nationwide spring tour including stops at Coachella, SXSW, and Ultra Music The PL sound is not only getting around, it's spreading like a virus.

Tickets for Pretty Lights (plus Chiddy Bang) at the Calvin Theatre are $20 at the Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Paula Cole plays a special engagement at the Iron Horse this Sunday, May 23 at 7PM

Born the daughter of musicians in Rockport, Massachusetts, Cole grew up singing for fun; American songbooks, traditional folksongs, Christmas carols, a capella harmonies. While finding kindred spirits in records, she became a fixture in her school musicals, which catapulted her toward a scholarship for the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied jazz singing and improvisation.

"I wanted to get inside the chord structure of songs, so that I could improvise inside the changes, " she says. "but it wasn't meant to be. I began writing my own songs, and it took me down another path." While a senior at Berklee, she was offered a deal with a jazz label, but declined. "It came too easily, and I didn't want to be limited just to jazz. Something wasn't quite right. So I continued singing weddings and waitressing as I tried to find my inner songs."

In 1993, Peter Gabriel asked her to join his Secret World Tour, after hearing Cole's Imago debut, Harbinger.

Throughout 1994-6, Cole toured America extensively, building a foundation of support that then embraced her 1997 album This Fire. It became a breakthrough smash yielding the hits, "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" and "I Don't Want to Wait" (which was used as the theme song to the hit WB show Dawson's Creek), and the 1997 Grammy win for Best New Artist. In 1999, she released her third, spiritually soul-influenced album Amen.

From today's perspective, she has created her finest album: tender, tough, older, wiser. On Courage Cole steers her way through the manifold experiences of an adult American woman who has seen much, lost much, gained much, and yet has regained her innocence. It feels like the work of a woman who is in the right place at the right time.

Tickets for Paula Cole are available at the Northampton Box Office. 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Punch Brothers with Chris Thile grace the Iron Horse stage Monday, May 24th at 7PM

Punch Brothers return with their second album, Antifogmatic, June 15 on Nonesuch, the follow-up to the band’s highly praised 2008 debut, Punch, which The New Yorker called “…wide-ranging and restlessly imaginative…”

Punch Brothers’ line-up includes some of the most impressive and widely respected musicians performing today: Chris Eldridge (guitar), Paul Kowert (bass), Noam Pikelny (banjo), Chris ThileGabe Witcher (fiddle). The Boston Globe says of the band, “…this top shelf acoustic quintet is a virtuosic revelation,” while the Chicago Tribune says (mandolin and lead vocals), and “their breathtaking virtuosity isn’t about soloing but complex ensemble unity, with a cumulative power that leaves the listener pleasantly rung out.”

Antifogmatic is produced by the illustrious Jon Brion (Brad Mehldau, Of Montreal, Elliott Smith, Kanye West). While the album Punch was focused around Thile’s four-movement composition The Blind Leaving the Blind, Antifogmatic’s 10 songs were written collaboratively by the band.

Thile notes, “Antifogmatic is an old term for a bracing beverage, generally rum or whiskey, that a person would have before going out to work in rough weather to stave off any ill effects. This batch of tunes could be used in much the same way, and includes some characters who would probably benefit mightily, if temporarily, from a good antifogmatic.”

Tickets are available at the Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Jose James, Jef Neve Rekindle Jazz Flame June 17th at the Iron Horse

From Billboard Magazine by David J. Prince, N.Y. May 14, 2010

When singer Jose James arrived at the cavernous Galaxy Studios in Brussels to spend a day with Belgian piano wunderkind Jef Neve, he had no intention of reviving an iconic jazz brand.

Instead, the two jazz musicians, who had already been singled out as the genre's young guns, were simply acting on an impulse to set some favorite standards to tape. Six hours later, with just a 9-foot Steinway concert grand piano and a single Neumann microphone set up in the middle of a warehouse-sized room, the two had produced 10 songs in 10 takes.

Those pop and jazz standards-including Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and George & Ira Gershwin's "Embraceable You"-will introduce James' sensual baritone to American jazz audiences. As his first official U.S. release, "For All We Know" also carries the weight of history behind it-it's the first new release on Verve Music Group's venerated Impulse label since 2004. At the same time, his much-praised "Blackmagic" album, which was released last year in the United Kingdom on DJ Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings and features his collaborations with celebrated Los Angeles beatmaker Flying Lotus, was recently released digitally in the United States.

"I've been singing most of those songs since I was 17," James says. "When it's all said and done, jazz with a capital J is where I'm coming from. Dexter Gordon, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk-that's what I really studied when I was a teenager and what really fueled my passion. So even when I'm working with Moodyman or Flying Lotus, I'm always thinking about that tradition."

James grew up in Minneapolis, the son of a Panamanian saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist, and by his early teens was a fixture on the local jazz scene, performing with a variety of lineups and players. He attended the jazz program at the New School, studying with jazz elders Junior Mance and Chico Hamilton. But it was a chance encounter with Gilles Peterson, an influential U.K. radio personality and crate-digger with a knack for discovering raw talent, that helped move his career into high gear. After releasing his debut album, "The Dreamer," on Peterson's label, James began collaborating with a wide variety of electronic music producers, like British house music duo Basement Jaxx, German nu-jazz collective Jazzanova and Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison), who James calls "one of our treasures of American music right now."

"Jose is very much in the mold of Lou Rawls," says Maurice Bernstein, president of event promotion and marketing company Giant Step, who is working with Brownswood and Verve to elevate James' U.S. profile. "Rawls was a very fine jazz singer, but everyone knows him as a soul singer. Plus the fact that Jose is very much from the hip-hop world, I hear him, format-wise, as urban AC."

For Verve, "For All We Know" will feature prominently in the lead-up to the label's 50th-anniversary celebration of the Impulse imprint for later this year, and having James represent the label is an opportunity to bridge the gap between the hip-hop generation and the remaining jazz purists. "

Jose James is equal parts throwback and adventurer, which makes him the perfect artist to carry the Impulse label torch," says Dahlia Ambach-Caplin, Verve Music Group VP of A&R and executive producer of "For All We Know." Verve has enlisted Giant Step for promotions and helped support a brief Blackmagic tour in April, which included a live performance on noncommercial KCRW Los Angeles' "Morning Becomes Eclectic." In June, James and Neve will embark on a North American tour of jazz clubs and festivals, including two appearances at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

"Often, I'm the only jazz singer or even the only band on some festivals," James says. "I'm really trying to take my music-especially the jazz aspects of my music-to a younger, definitely more female audience. Women come for the music, and guys come for the women."

Tickets for the Jose James/Jef Neve Duo at the Iron Horse Music Hall on Thursday, June 17th at 7PM are available at Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686 or online at IHEG.com. Buy directly here.

Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols aka John Lydon and Public Image Ltd. in Northampton this Sunday

Here's a PiL Timeline:

But first, here's a pre-Sex Pistols photo booth shot of John Lydon in the mid-70s.
1978 John Lydon forms Public Image with Keith Levene (guitar), Jah Wobble (bass), and Jim Walker (drums). The band sign to Virgin Records and release their debut single 'Public Image' in October, followed by the album 'Public Image - First Issue' in December. Barely six months after forming. PiL (Public Image Limited) play their first UK shows on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

1979 Jim Walker leaves to be replaced by a succession of drummers, most notably Richard Dudanski then Martin Atkins. Release of the second single 'Death Disco'. Written by John Lydon to his dying mother. 'Metal Box' is released: 12 tracks on three separate 12" records – playing at 45 rpm – housed in a limited edition metal canister.

1980 PiL play their first US shows and also appear on 'American Bandstand'. John Lydon brings the audience on stage to dance and mime to 'Poptones' and 'Careering'. Jah Wobble leaves. Jeannette Lee – who had worked behind the scenes – takes a more prominent, but still non-musical, role. Release of live album 'Paris Au Printemps'. Recorded live in Paris, January 17th and 18th, 1980. 'Metal Box' is re-released as 'Second Edition' in a cardboard sleeve.

1981 Release of third studio album 'Flowers of Romance'. Preceded by the single. PiL play a special show at New York, The Ritz. They perform behind a huge video screen. The audience riots. PiL decide to relocate to New York from London due to logistics and Police harassment.

1982 Drummer Martin Atkins rejoins, followed by bassist Pete Jones. Recording begins in New York on what will be the 4th PiL studio album. US and Canadian live shows.

1983 Pete Jones leaves. Keith Levene leaves. PiL play a short Japanese tour. John Lydon is the only founder member still in the band. With the exception of Martin Atkins, the line-up is largely unknown local New Jersey musicians hired for the shows. A live album from the tour is released. Release of 'This Is Not A Love Song'. PiL's biggest UK hit single; peaking at Number 5. Followed by the first real UK and European tours.

1984 'This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get' album is released, preceded by 'Bad Life' single. The album contains re-recorded material from the 1982 NY sessions; including 'This Is Not A Love Song'. New live line-up is recruited for North American, Japanese and Australian tours. John Lydon – now the only PiL member – releases his first single outside the band. Time Zone: 'World Destruction' with Africa Bambaataa.

1986 Release of 'Album' album. Recorded with producer Bill Laswell and various session musicians; including Ginger Baker, Steve Vai, and Ryuichi Sakamoto. 'Rise' from the album peaks at Number 11 in the UK charts. A new PiL band is recruited: John McGeoch (guitar), Allan Dias (bass), Lu Edmonds (keyboards / guitar) and Bruce Smith (drums). UK, European and North American tours.

1987 The "new" PiL release their first album together 'Happy?'. Release of the single's 'Seattle' and 'The Body'. UK, European and North American Tours, plus first ever South American shows.

1988 PiL headline the first day of the 'Rock Summer Festival' in Tallinn, Estonia (USSR) playing to over 120,000 people. The biggest rock festival to be played behind the Iron Curtain. Lu Edmonds is forced to quit the band due to health problems.

1989 Release of '9'. The 7th PiL studio album. And the 9th album including the two live albums. PiL – along with New Order and The Sugarcubes (featuring Bjork) – tour North America.The three band package tour – known as 'Monsters of Alternative Rock' – is a forerunner to the now famous Lollapalooza tours of the early nineties. Australian Tour. And one-off UK show at London, Hammersmith.

1990 Bruce Smith leaves. 'The Greatest Hits So Far' compilation album is released; including several 12" mixes and remixes, plus the new track 'Don't Ask Me'. 'Don't Ask Me' becomes PiL's biggest UK hit single since 'Rise'.

1992 PiL – Lydon, McGeoch and Dias – release 'That What Is Not'. The last studio album to date. The band are complemented by sessions players. EMI Records take over Virgin Records. PiL leave the label. North American package tour with BAD, Live and Blind Melon. Followed by UK, European and South American Tours, plus more US shows. Allan Dias leaves during European shows.

1993 John Lydon announces he has put PiL on hiatus to concentrate on recording a solo album; and to complete his autobiography. He also releases the 'Open Up' collaboration single with Leftfield.

1997 John Lydon releases the solo album 'Psycho's Path'. His first album outside PiL since the band was formed.

1999 Release of limited edition 4 CD PiL box set 'Plastic Box'. 64 tracks in total. Including sleevenotes from John Lydon: "This collection represents a comma not a full stop, I fully intend to carry on with PiL,and there will be more in the future…"

2004 PiL guitarist John McGeoch dies aged just 48.

2005 Release of John Lydon compilation CD 'Best of British £1 Notes' covering his whole career from the Sex Pistols, through PiL, to solo records and collaborations. The DVD release features several PiL promo videos and also includes 3 previously unreleased extended audio mixes from 'Metal Box'.

2006 A vinyl replica of 'Metal Box' – 3x45rpm, housed in a metal can – is released in the USA by the 4 Men With Beards re-issue label. This is the first time the album had been released in its original form in the US.

2009 Public Image Limited return to play their first live shows in 17 years. John Lydon is joined by former PiL members Lu Edmonds (Guitar & Misc), Bruce Smith (Drums), and new recruit Scott Firth (Bass).

2010 PiL play Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in California. Their first North American show in 18 years.

Sunday May, 16th 2010 at 8:30. Public Image Ltd. plays the Pearl Street Ballroom in Northampton. Tickets still available here.

Pedro The Lion's David Bazan, one of Pastes's 100 Greatest Songwriters, plays the Iron Horse this Thursday night at 10PM

Paste Magazine named him one of the 100 Greatest Living Songwriters. Former frontman of Pedro the Lion David Bazan emerged from Seattle's thriving music scene persevered through the tough times and changing trends to continue making music true to his visions.
Now 34, the seasoned indie-rock singer-songwriter has much to show for his efforts, releasing four studio albums with Pedro the Lion, one album with Bazan's band project, Headphones and one studio release as a solo artist. His 2009 album and latest release, "Curse Your Branches," certainly pays homage to Bazan's band recordings, continuing to keep his music lyric-driven. Paste Magazine reviewers said, "Lyrics have always been the focal point of Bazan’s music, and here they carry a vast majority of the weight. Every word is crystal clear, and he sings slowly, as if to say, 'Make no mistake.' A languid pedal steel provides a steady backdrop; the tambourines and bells are perfectly restrained." Bazan's understated instrumentals and soulful vocals are effective for the artist; his lyrics deal with more personal and heavier topics than his previous works did. This bare-all style is indicative of Bazan's maturity, writing tracks focused on politics, religion and substance abuse. The singer-songwriter continues to prove himself as a true poet, set to the background of acoustics and Bazan's own growth as an artist.

David Bazan appears at the Iron Horse this Thursday at 10PM. This will be a very cool show in case you were wondering. Tickets here or at the door.

--Kirsten Swenson

Country's Dierks Bentley and the Travelin' McCourys play the Calvin this Sunday, May 9th

Rising country star Dierks Bentley can really rock; he came close to stealing the show from guitar hero Brad Paisley a while back at Meadowbrook. But on his current tour, Bentley steps away from the big sound of recent efforts like Feel That Fire to play bluegrass with legendary picker Del McCoury’s band, sans the patriarch. Bentley will preview tracks from his forthcoming Up on the Ridge album, an edgy work that includes a cover of U2′s “Pride (In the Name of Love)” with Del McCoury singing harmony.
Bentley’s roots are in bluegrass, and he’s correct in noting that the genre is often more willing to push the boundaries of music than country. He’ll be plugging in soon enough, so don’t miss this chance to follow Dierks Bentley back to his beginnings. The wryly-talented Hayes Carll, who wrote the hilarious “She Left Me For Jesus” a while back, opens the show.

Thanks to AlgoRhythms for this post! Tickets at IHEG.com or call 413-586-8686.