Acclaimed Singer/Songwriter Jennifer Knapp plays the Iron Horse this Saturday night at 7PM

Singer songwriter Jennifer Knapp returned from a seven-year hiatus with her new album Letting Go (Gravlin/RED), released on May 11th 2010. The Grammy nominated, Dove Award winning artist is currently on a cross-country tour, which included performances at SXSW and the re-vamped Lilith Fair.

Recorded in Nashville, Letting Go was produced by Paul Moak (Mat Kearney, Martha Wainwright, and Amy Grant) and features ten intimate folk, country-tinged rock songs showcasing her astonishing straightforwardness and spirituality.

In what many would consider a controversial but brave decision, a month before the release of Letting Go, the acclaimed musician publicly came out as a lesbian. And as always, Jennifer Knapp continues to speak openly and honestly. She told Reuters “If there’s any frustration, it’s trying to politely break the yoke of being asked to be something that I just can’t be, and with all humility go: ‘Just please be kind when you discover the truth.’ It’s kinda all you can do.”

Knapp’s impressive history includes selling over one million albums with her previous releases Kansas (her debut1998), Lay It Down (2000), and The Way I Am (2001). The Kansas-born musician toured the globe with artists such as Jars of Clay and was featured on 1999’s Lilith Fair tour. She received critical acclaim with The Los Angeles Times calling her “a rising star” and People Magazine describing her as “an uncommonly literate songwriter.”

Jennifer went on to win her first Dove Award in 1999 for Best New Artist, scored a Grammy nod in 2002 and another Dove nomination in 2003. With a considerable fan base, critical and commercial successes, Knapp walked away from it all at the height of her career. She explains her choice wasn’t easy but definitely necessary, “I completely had to divorce myself from the whole thing because I never really took ownership of what music meant for me as an individual. I needed to figure that out, so I really left the music business with the idea that I may not ever do it again.” She continues to explain her decision to return, “It was hard, and the whole time I was gone, it was like I had a shadow following me. I began to return to it in my own private time, getting out my guitar, starting to play and falling in love with music again without any expectations. I just wanted to play because it meant something to me.”

After seven years of soul searching and time spent in Australia, Knapp comes full circle with Letting Go, an album of songs about inner-conflicts, spirituality, and life lessons. Jennifer Knapp plays the Iron Horse this Saturday, August 28th at 7pm. Tickets here.

Official Bio Available Here

www.jenniferknapp.com

www.myspace.com/jenniferknapp

www.twitter.com/jennifer_knapp

www.youtube.com/user/JenniferKnappMusic

Hanson returns to the Calvin Theatre in Northampton on Monday, November 15th

HANSON's Shout It Out Tour makes a stops at Northampton's Calvin Theatre on Monday, November 15th at 8PM. Jarrod Gorbel of The Honorary Title opens, coinciding with the release of his debut solo album "Devil’s Made A New Friend". Tickets go on sale this Friday Aug 27th at the Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com. As they did last time through the band is hosting one-mile barefoot walks in each city with fans, raising funds to fight extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa (TakeTheWalk.net).

Coinciding with the tour, the multi-Grammy-nominated band has been enjoying a massive resurgence in response to the album’s first single and video “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’”, available at all major digital outlets. The single continues to move up the charts at radio, and the emotive retro dance infused music video quickly garnered over 2 million views online and has climbed into the top 10 on VH1’s top 20 countdown. The video, featuring a guest performance by “Weird” Al Yankovic, is an exuberant homage to classic film The Blues Brothers, recreating the iconic scene where the band’s soulful music incites hundreds of people to dance in the street. The excitement has spread to the band’s fanbase, inspiring them to reenact the video’s dance sequence in flashmobs, around the world.

On the Shout It Out Tour the band continues to live up to their reputation as a dynamic live act featuring music from the new album, as well as songs from across their 13 year catalogue and an ever changing list of covers, reflecting their classic R&B and Rock ‘n’ Roll roots each night. Following the band’s recent sold out five night stand in New York featuring all five of their albums performed in their entirety, the New York Times noted, “HANSON has evolved into a nuanced and largely respected musical outfit”. Billboard said that Shout It Out represents some of the band’s “most soulful work ever committed to record”, while Salon hailed that the new single “may be their finest moment yet”, Entertainment Weekly praised “Thinking ‘Bout Somethin’” as “a delicious, catchy slice of pop- soul”, and Idolator predicted, “don’t be surprised if there’s a Hanson revival in 2010”

Jarrod Gorbel, formerly leader of rock band The Honorary Title, opens the show coinciding with the release of his debut solo album Devil’s Made A New Friend.

Throughout the tour the band is continuing their activism efforts, raising funds to fight extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa (TakeTheWalk.net) through hosting one-mile barefoot walks in each city with fans. In partnership with Livestream, the band has also integrated dynamic livestreaming content into every aspect of their activities, streaming everything from live acoustic performances, interviews and guest appearances by tour mates to their walk events. These streams further the direct connection with their fans that the band has worked hard to maintain for over a decade (Hanson.net/Alive or livestream.com/Hansonmusic). Shout It Out released on HANSON’s own 3CG Records on June 8, was written and produced by HANSON, augmented with special guests: Funk Brothers bassist Bob Babbitt, who played on some of Motown’s greatest hits, as well as horn arranger Jerry Hey, who worked with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Earth, Wind and Fire and many more.

Tickets go on sale this Friday Aug 27th at the Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.

Marty Stuart brings his class act to the Iron Horse on Wednesday, September 1st. His new album was recorded in Nashville’s hallowed RCA Studio B.

“Marty Stuart seems wrapped in his destiny at this point in time. Not only as country music’s most notable ambassador/ caretaker, but as its main archetypical crusader. He has without question evolved into one of the most important roots musicians and visionaries in America.” –Peter North

So here he is again, almost four decades strong, in the very space where so many Elvis Presley smash hits were recorded as were classic sides by Charley Pride, Connie Smith, Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton and Waylon Jennings, only to name a few. As the new Sugar Hill Records album title says, it’s also where the latest Marty Stuart (click photo for high res) release, Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions, (out this Tuesday 8/24) has just been recorded.

“The first recording session I ever participated in was in this room,” Marty Stuart says, looking around Nashville’s legendary RCA Studio B, “playing mandolin, in Lester Flatt’s band, when I was 13. Lester walked over and said ‘Why don’t you handle the kick-off on this one?’ This place has a profound pedigree; it’s where so much of American music’s legacy was forged, certainly country music’s. And sonically, this is a room that welcomes music. It seemed to me that in order to authentically stage a brand new traditional country music record we should bring it home to Studio B. Even though Studio B is now regarded as a museum of sorts, I had a feeling that all it would take to bring the place to life were songs and a good band. I just happened to have both. The Country Music Hall of Fame, who operates the facility, gave me permission to come here and work. It is indeed an honor.”

Since starting out singing gospel as a child, the bluegrass stint with Lester Flatt in the ‘70s, the six years with Johnny Cash in the ‘80s, and coming up with his smash “hillbilly rock” hits of the ‘90s, the four time GRAMMY-winner, platinum recording artist, Grand Ole Opry star, country music memorabilia preservationist, stylist, designer, photographer, songwriter, all around renaissance man, charismatic force of nature, and (first of all, perhaps), leader of the extraordinary, versatile touring and recording band The Fabulous Superlatives, Marty Stuart has shown a showman’s zest for every conceivable flavor of country music. Not to mention, a missionary’s zeal for bringing the importance of the music and its themes home to long-time fans and newcomers alike. Musicologist Peter North cites, “Marty Stuart seems wrapped in his destiny at this point in time. Not only as country music’s most notable ambassador/caretaker, but as its main archetypical crusader. He has without question evolved into one of the most important roots musicians and visionaries in America.”

Tickets for Marty Stuart at the Iron Horse on Wednesday, September 1st at 7PM are available at Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

An evening of epic and artful rock with My Morning Jacket, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals at Mountain Park in Holyoke, Wed. 8/25

My Morning Jacket’s majestic performance at this year’s Jazzfest in New Orleans backed by the historic Preservation Hall Jazz Band (capping a nine date tour together) further demonstrated the Kentucky band’s knack for stylistic adventure and transformation. In a career more or less split between vintage Americana and futuristic experimentation, playing with the Jazz Band is about as deep into the past as My Morning Jacket have gone. Not that they’ve abandoned the guitar frenzy so beloved by their fans. They unleash more fire power than any band of their generation and the multi-faceted voice of Jim James has grown stronger and more fluid than ever, able to convey intimacy or howl at the rafters, or in this case over the trees and into the evening sky at Mountain Park in what promises to be one of the most satisfying shows of the summer. The band’s most recent album, Evil Urges, came out in 2008 and while a new album in 2010 is rumored, there’s always the possibility of at least hearing a new song.

Vermont’s most exciting rock and roll exports, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals (above, click for high res), find a sweet spot between a rowdy, blues-driven live sound and tight, classic-rock song-craft. They are without a doubt one of the very best American touring acts today. Grace comes across on stage as a woman possessed — Lucinda Williams fronting the Black Crowes, or Janis Joplin if she’d cut a few albums with The Band. The proof is there for all to hear on the band’s third album for Hollywood Records, an artistic breakthrough for a vital young band caught in the act of fulfilling its immense promise. Little wonder that Grace and her cohorts have chosen to title it, directly and emphatically, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

Gates at 5:30. Show at 7PM. General admission tickets are $36 at Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686, and online at IHEG.com.

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Womanshelter/Companeras, an organization founded in 1980 dedicated to assisting, supporting, and empowering those whose lives are affected by battering and abuse.

Cape Breton Fiddle and Step-Dance Dynamo Natalie MacMaster brings high energy Folk and Celtic show to the Calvin Theatre Friday, August 20th at 8PM

"To call Natalie MacMaster the most dynamic performer in Celtic music today is high praise, but it still doesn't get at just how remarkable a concert artist this Cape Breton Island fiddler has become." —The Boston Herald

Equally at home on the concert stage or at a folk festival, Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster is one of the most versatile and exciting young musicians on both the Folk music and Celtic music scenes. MacMaster's many projects have seen her collaborate and perform with Alison Krauss, the Chieftains, Paul Simon, and Pavarotti. Natalie's live performances are a testament to her incandescent musicianship and boundless energy, featuring foot-tapping rave-ups, heart-rending ballads, and world-class step dancing. MacMaster is equally adept at hypnotizing a crowd while alone in the footlights. Natalie's fiddling fireworks on traditional and contemporary Celtic melodies generate a kind of "Traditional Fusion" delivered with uplifting energy felt by the musicians and audiences of all ages.

Tickets for Natalie MacMaster at the Calvin Theatre, Friday, August 20^th at 8PM are $25 and $35 and available at the Northampton Box Office, 76 Main Street, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com

Amanda Jean Ward from the Iron Horse staff reveals her secret self to Leonard Nimoy

If you're a regular at the Iron Horse you've encountered our ebullient door person and waiter Amanda Jean Ward. She's a cheerful, funny, and passionate person. She often brings us baked goods here at IHEG Towers. She sets a great example for all of us when it comes to customer service. And Spock took a picture of her dressed as a dinosaur.
In November 2008, Leonard Nimoy was at R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton to begin his latest photographic journey: Secret Selves. The Michelson staff gathered 100 subjects from all walks of life: artists, clergy, politicians, business owners, and asked them the question, Who do you think you are? Each subject was recorded as Mr. Nimoy interviewed them and created a portrait of their “alternate identity.” The results were revealed in a major exhibition at R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton last weekend and are now also on exhibit at Mass MOCA in North Adams.

Deerhunter offer “religious experience”with Kurt Vile, K-Holes in the Pearl Street Ballroom on Saturday, August 14th - 9PM

Deerhunter began in 2001 with the ambition of fusing the lulling hypnotic states induced by ambient and minimalist music with the klang and propulsion of garage rock. The band has weathered chaotic line-up changes, the death of a member, much discouragement, yet they’ve emerged stonger and more committed each time. Their live performances almost always leave audiences hypnotized, and have been referred to by Karen O of the yeah yeah yeahs in NME as bordering on “a religious experience.” Their new album Halcyon Digest is coming September 28 from 4AD. The band announced the album's existence to the world by putting up a poster on their website and asking fans to print it out and post it in places where the unsuspecting public could find it. Pitchfork has posted the album cover and track list. Fun Fact: Leader Brad Cox is also the man behind the band/project Atlas Sound.

“Kurt Vile (real name, no gimmicks) has seemingly absorbed a lifetime’s worth of FM rock, and the ghosts of Springsteen, Seger, and others glimmer under the surface of his woozy, homemade bedroom pop.” –Pitchfork

Matador Records found Kurt Vile (the handle his mother gave him) in Philadelphia. He’s a wild-eyed, baby-faced long-hair who's spent the last 12 years climbing up on the stage or setting up in the back of a bookstore to stand, hunched over and giving breathless crowds from 5 to 500+ a string of bona-fide HITS that transcend genre or some passing aesthetic ghetto. He's remained a step outside any scene that's tried to claim him. Whether performing solo or backed by a first class American rock band called the Violators, he's dexterous and confident on the neck of an acoustic or electric, both relaxed and full of life at the microphone.

Brooklyn’s K-Holes, who lead off the night, are a punk/rock/experimental, largely instrumental band whose sound is a sophisticated version of the frontman Jack Hines former group, the Atlanta-based Black Lips. The three-piece, all-male lineup is heavy on electric guitars, with songs that dip in and out of punk overtones and surfer-style vignettes.

Tickets are a mere $15 at the Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686, and online at IHEG.com.

Southern Rock torchbearers Gov't Mule + Jackie Greene at Mountain Park Sunday, August 15th at 6PM

Gov't Mule did not invent Southern rock, but they do carry the torch into the future. Known as one of the hardest-working bands in music because of their near-constant touring schedule, they've simultaneously found success with fans that remember seeing The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd in their primes as well as those who were not yet born when Mule was formed. (Hey kids! Stop laughing at your parents. You should be thanking them.)

Founded by Allman Brothers Band members Warren Haynes (who also plays with current Grateful Dead lineup), bassist Allen Woody (who died in 2000) and drummer Matt Abts, Mule began in 1994 with the idea of bringing the power trio lineup back to prominence. Their improvisational nature and penchant for generous one-of-a-kind shows has made them a mainstay on the jam band circuit and created a fiercely loyal fan base. Their ninth studio album, By a Thread, was released in late '09 and features the current lineup of Haynes, Abts, bassist Jorgen Carlsson and multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis. This should be a fantastic show to see on the mountain under the setting sun.

Dubbed the prince of Americana by the New York Times, Jackie Greene is a California native singer/songwriter whose music breaks down the barriers of blues, jazz, rock, and folk traditions defying any type of easy categorization.
Jackie Greene began playing open mic nights right after high school and it did not take long for record companies and big name musicians to come calling. Jackie has released multiple solo records and toured extensively with Phil Lesh & Friends and with them on hiatus while Furthur tours, Greene finds himself returning to his solo artist roots with his finest work yet, Till The Light Comes. In many ways, he stretches beyond himself to collect from history, and add on to the rich American traditions that have rolled past him.

Gov’t Mule plus Jackie Greene at Mountain Park in Holyoke. Sunday, August 15th. Doors at 4:30. Show starts at 6PM. Tickets are $30 at the Northampton Box Office, 413-586-8686 and online at IHEG.com.