RECENT ARTICLES

Musician Jake Shimabukuro is probably the most famous ukulele player in the world. His fingers dash like sprinters, his hands strum like torrential winds, and his music emanates from the instrument like dancers. His music videos earn millions of views and he has thousands upon thousands of fans. Yet, Shimabukuro has a very particular relationship to the ukulele, and music, in general.

One might think that someone who takes music and practicing and playing so seriously, might also take the ukulele supremely seriously. Yet, Shimabukuro believes it all should be looked at with joy, not intimidation. When people ask him if it bothers him that people joke or look down on the ukulele as something of a toy, he says not at all. He says all instruments should be considered a joy to approach in this way. And it’s with this same joy that Shimabukuro approached his newest LP, Jake & Friends, which began a number of years ago, but is set to drop on Friday (November 12).

Read More

Throughout his career, soul singer and songwriter Allen Stone admits that he’s suffered from “imposter syndrome.” It’s the feeling that you don’t belong or aren’t good enough. For some, this may be hard to believe given Stone’s other-worldly singing voice. His is a tone like golden light doused with dripping butter. Yet, that doesn’t necessarily alleviate internal feelings of insecurity. In the end, perhaps nothing might. But what Stone has realized over the years is that he can control the smaller things about his craft: showing up, being prepared, trying hard. He’s about the work. The rest—outwardly offered awards and acknowledgment—is for the birds.

As such, Stone is set to release his newest LP APART, an acoustic, stripped-down reimagined collection of some of his best songs over his decade as a professional musician. The record, which showcases both the origins of the songs and Stone’s vocal prowess performing them, is out November 12.

Read More

Globally known songwriter and performer, Netta (born Netta Barzilai), moved with her parents from her native Israel to Nigeria as a three-month-old infant. When she was school-aged, her folks enrolled her in an international school where students had myriad different backgrounds. There were kids from Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, and other nations. As Netta says, there were all sorts of cultures and languages. The principal was American and he always carried a guitar. The place celebrated diversity, not monoculture. Netta remembers the Beatles and African gospel in her airwaves.

Later, though, her parents moved back to Israel when she was 7 and homogeneity kicked in. Suddenly, she was one of 40 ”white kids” in a classroom, and she was immediately just “the fat, uni-browed kid with the accent, who is also very, very sensitive.” This jarring juxtaposition, in a way, fuels every song the artist creates now. For Netta, music became a lifeline, a light source. And this is perhaps most obviously displayed on her newest single, “CEO,” which came out three weeks ago and has already amassed more than two million views.

Read More

The story of Heavy Load Blues, the new record out Friday (November 12) from the prolific rock band Gov’t Mule, begins with two separate rooms. For a number of years, the band’s co-founder, Warren Haynes, had been talking about the idea of making a blues album. Generally speaking, Gov’t Mule is a jam-rock band, founded originally as an improvisational power rock trio. But once the 2020 pandemic hit, Haynes found himself, like many other artists, writing song after song, and he’d accumulated a significant number of blues tunes that he wanted to lay down. But when the band eagerly agreed to the idea, there was one more stipulation: the group had to record two albums at once. In two separate rooms, simultaneously.

Read More

Grammy Award-winning musician Victor Wooten can distill his unique talents down to one simple skill. The artist, who has won five Grammys, published acclaimed books, toured the world, taught at both prestigious universities and summer music camps, says one thing amongst all of his attributes has led to the reality of these accomplishments: listening.

Wooten, who made his classical music debut with the Boston Symphonic Orchestra over the Halloween weekend, released his latest book, The Spirit of Music: The Lesson Continues, earlier this year in February. For the renowned artist, listening is the key to conversation, and indirectly to creative prosperity. The more you listen, the less you need to say; if you listen you can talk to anyone. But the idea is about active listening. And that’s what, Wooten says, is leading him in part to undertake more teaching engagements amidst his busy tour schedule, which had him in Seattle, Washington over the November 5 weekend.

Read More

This year, the 59th Annual ASCAP Country Music Awards will be held digitally. Artists will enjoy their celebrations from Monday (November 8) through Wednesday across all ASCAP social media platforms. And one of those award winners is the keen-eyed Kentucky-born songwriter Carly Pearce, whose hit single, “Next Girl,” earned the artist an award this year for country music’s most-performed song. Pearce, who co-wrote the tune with Josh Osborne, who himself is receiving the award for ASCAP Country Music Songwriter of the Year, says the recognition (which is now her third ASCAP award) is validation for her choice to follow music, follow writing, move to Tennessee and pour all she has into the craft.

Read More

Reinvention is hard. Whether that means reworking a song midway through the recording process, or in a larger way, reworking one’s self after a tumultuous, tiring stretch of time. But nothing good is easy, right? And the only way out of hardship is through it. These are the types of maxims popular Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett carried with her during the making of her forthcoming LP, Things Take Time, Take Time, which is slated for release on November 12.

For the new album, Barnett had to reenergize after a long previous album release cycle for her 2018 LP, Tell Me How You Really Feel. She also says she had to relearn a few cognitive habits and rework a few songs for the record, midstream. In the end, though, the result was beyond worth it. After all, good things come to those who wait.

Read More

Steven Van Zandt was 14 years old when the Beatles played The Ed Sullivan Show. It was a day that inspired millions of people, many of whom went on to buy and learn to play guitars. But while Van Zandt was in awe of the Mop Tops, his fingers already had experience noodling with a six-string. By then, Van Zandt’s grandfather had shown the aspiring musician songs from his family’s native Calabria, Italy. Van Zandt began to play the guitar to spend more time and bond with his grandfather, whom he loved dearly. The two got along well, strumming tunes. Then the Beatles landed and the musical “British Invasion” followed.

Van Zandt, who came of age in the ’60s, was bitten by the rock and roll bug immediately. The genre sunk its teeth into the young man. Later in life, he learned about Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and the stars of the ’50s. But at the moment, he found himself enamored with the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Animals, and many others.

These and many others are the stories in Van Zandt’s recently released New York Times best-selling memoir, Unrequited Infatuations. (And perhaps what he reminisces over while preparing his new line of wellness-focused cannabis products, Little Steven’s Underground Apothecary.)

Read More

It may not be obvious at first blush, but the Tulsa, Oklahoma-born band Hanson has been making music for just about three decades. The group, which achieved a No. 1 single in 1997 with the track, “MMMBop,” is comprised of three brothers—Isaac, Taylor, and Zac. And ever since their hit found the airwaves in the late ‘90s, it seems like everyone has an opinion about the band. If there’s no such thing as a bad headline, then Hanson has been happily staying in the public consciousness for decades. But, in reality, the roller-coaster ride of fame for the brother band hasn’t always been smooth. That’s why a major theme for the trio these days is the idea of perseverance. The theme of overcoming odds, of succeeding despite an underdog mentality, is all over Hanson’s newest LP, Against The World, which is out today (November 5).

Read More

Los Angeles-via-Seattle-based songwriter and performer Parisalexa is one of the hardest working musicians in the business. She’s one of those people who has two albums in the can whenever she releases her next project. She dips and dives between genres and she’s seemingly always about to go into or come out of a recording studio (her social media is always full of words of wisdom, too). But this work ethic doesn’t just suddenly come to somebody; at least, that’s not how it happened for Paris.

It’s something that began early and was fostered from a young age by her parents. It’s something Paris invests in daily and has ever since summer music camps and after-school theater rehearsals. Now, for the diligent 23-year-old, the work is paying off in spades; she’s making a name for herself on the west coast and beyond. So, it’s no wonder that the fast-moving artist’s latest EP Finishline, which is set for release Friday November 12, is, well, racecar-themed.

Read More

Los Angeles-born musician and producer Terrace Martin remembers being at the White House. It was near the end of former President Obama’s final term in office and he’d been invited to dinner with the POTUS, Michelle, and a few other folks, including musicians Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, and Chick Corea. At one point Glasper introduced Martin to Barack and told him Martin was the one who produced Kendrick Lamar’s 2018 song, “How Much a Dollar Cost.” It was then Barack called over to Michelle from across the room, expressing joy, wanting to share it. Barack told Martin how he’s used that song in dialogue with his political colleagues to elucidate to them more clearly the Black American experience. These are the moments, Martin says, that he lives for. This is the purpose he pours into his music, and the artist’s latest example, Drones, which features names like Lamar, SZA, Snoop Dogg, Leon Bridges, and Ty Dolla Sign, is out Friday (November 5).

Read More

Australian-born musician, Jules Crommelin, started early. The future co-founder of the Byron Bay-born and Berlin-based band Parcels says it’s one of the things about which he’s most proud and happy, that he found his love of music by six years old. And because of an early investment in the craft, he’s now adept and innovative with the art form now.

Growing up, Crommelin’s mother and her then-husband had a big vinyl record collection and the music would spill out into all the rooms of the house from the various speakers set up for total surround sound—everything from Steely Dan to David Bowie to Al Green and Rodriguez. Today, his band’s new forthcoming LP reflects both a wide taste in music and a deep love for songwriting. The double album, Day/Night, drops Friday, November 5.

Read More

At any given point in time, it’s easy to think right now is the most important moment of your life. It’s empowering to think you’re always at the center of your story, that now is your narrative’s crucial time. After all, we’re only as ever old as we’ve ever been, as experienced as we ever have been in this moment. Why wouldn’t we tend to think that life is at its peak in this very second?

But after a few years, we also tend to gain a different perspective. We can see how young we were back then—silly, even. The British-born band, FUR, knows this well. In fact, they’ve poured it into song. Over its lifespan, the band has experienced the emotional and creative highs and lows that come with these transitions of age and eras. Collectively, the band members have chosen to express as much on their riveting forthcoming new LP, When You Walk Away, which is out Friday (November 5).

Read More