GA-20 with CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE - BLUES NOW… have been on board with blues trio GA-20 since their debut back in 2019 and they have released a consistently excellent string of albums since… Blues Now though is definitely their best yet… GA-20 leader Matt Stubbs was the longtime touring guitarist for blues harmonica legend, Charlie Musselwhite, and the band teamed up with his former boss here for this truly inspired outing… the ten tracks are all old blues chestnuts and include updated versions of two songs, “Strange Land” and “Cristo Redentor” from Musselwhite’s 1968 debut album, Stand Back… the band is firing on all cylinders here with Cody Nilsen contributing slide guitar and sharing vocals with Musselwhite… would love to see the band with Charlie but they are only doing three dates together (CO, NH and MA) in late Sept before the band heads to Europe… hopefully they hook up for more shows next year… meanwhile, enjoy this album - highly recommended!

PETER PARCEK - Most of the Time… Parcek is an under-the-radar Boston-based bluesman I’ve been following for years and this is his fourth album and first since 2021… Parcek has a deep emotional blues guitar and vocal style that has been honed through years of watching and playing with many blues legends… that includes a stint as guitarist and touring bandleader for blues piano master, Pinetop Perkins… the album features a combination of Parcek originals and covers… Bob Dylan is a favorite of Parcek’s and the title track is a cover of a tune from Dylan’s 1989 album, Oh Mercy… it also features a number of special guests including blues guitar maestro, Duke Robillard (“Twistified” & “Swooshy”) and North Mississippi All-Stars guitarist, Luther Dickinson (“When I’m Dead and Gone”)... favorite tune: the ominous “I Don’t Worry About a Thing” that includes some flashy guitar work from Parcek… if you like the blues, check this guy out!

ALBERT CASTIGLIA - Grits & Glory… veteran bluesman Castiglia is a powerhouse guitarist and vocalist who consistently puts out high quality albums… this one was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London which provided Castiglia with extra inspiration: “A really great studio can help you push the envelope: Being at Abbey Road — in Studio Three, where The White Album, Dark Side of the Moon, and Wish You Were Here were recorded — certainly had an effect on the creativity”... as a nod to The Beatles White Album, Albert closes the album with a cover of “Yer Blues”... the Castiglia originals are solid for the most part and lean heavily on topical social commentary… and of course, the album is filled with his trademark blazing aggressive solos… check out the opening track, “In My America” and his cover of the jazz standard “Afro Blue” for some inspired playing… this instrumental has been covered live many times by Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks with the Allman Brothers and their own bands and Albert holds his own with this version…

WARNER E. HODGES - Absolutely… back in the 80s I was a fan of one of the original hard rockin’ alt-country bands, Jason & The Scorchers, and owned a couple of their early albums… the guitarist in that band was this guy, Warner E. Hodges, and until Absolutely I had never checked out his music… based on this album, that appears to have been a mistake! Absolutely definitely kicks it at a higher level than most country rock and many of the songs qualify as just good old rock & roll (title track, “When My Baby’s Blue”)… the 7 minute “North Star” even has a riff that is reminiscent of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir”! There are also more traditional jaunty country tunes like “Here Comes My Baby” and “The Hottest Thing in Town”... overall, this is an outstanding album from beginning to end and I will be looking for these guys live for sure!

THE WATERBOYS - Atlantic Rain: The Lost Fisherman’s Blues Recordings… this fine Scottish band has been around for over 40 years playing an original blend of anthemic rock and Celtic folk and their best album is generally considered 1988’s Fisherman’s Blues… that album has since been released in several expanded editions but this album mines the vaults for unreleased songs, covers, alternate versions, jams and live recordings… it consists of 25 songs running just over two hours - a LOT of music! It probably could have been pared back some but it doesn’t get boring… check out the opener, “Too Close to Heaven”, “Let the Light Shine” and a live version of “We Will Not be Lovers”, the only actual song from Fisherman’s Blues… there are also some good covers like Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land”, the Rolling Stones “No Expectations” and Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”... the album ends with two rockin’ jams of “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” totaling 20 minutes(!) that has its moments but is probably more than you need…

Playlist: Got the Blues, Vol. 11…

After catching up on my backlog of Rock n Roll playlists it is back to the Blues this issue…

English bluesman Errol Linton kicks things off with a harmonica-driven groover that makes you want to get up and boogie! Muddy Waters is next with a late career live version of a song he recorded in the 50s that was made famous by the Allman Brothers when they covered it on their 1970 debut album… John Hammond follows with some fiery guitar backing from Duane Allman during his session years right before the formation of his own band… while we’re at it, here are the Allman Brothers on the Gregg Allman-penned classic slow blues, “It’s Not My Cross to Bear”... next is some wild Mississippi Hill Country blues from one of the greats of that genre, R.L. Burnside… Texan Carolyn Wonderland is an outstanding guitarist and vocalist who’s most recent album, Truth Is, is definitely worth a listen… feel like I should have checked her out years ago but I am finally seeing her live in October… Funkwrench Blues is a bass player with a unique musical approach… he lays down a basic instrumental track then sends the tape to a guitarist and asks them to add lead guitar to it… the guitarists who he has collaborated with are a “who’s who” of blues and rock… here it’s slide guitarist, Joanna Connor, another great artist I’m late to the party on… came across Jim Oblon a couple months ago, another artist I never heard of before, and really liked his sound & style… turns out he has been Paul Simon’s touring and recording band’s lead guitarist for the past 15 years… next is 80s era John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers featuring the blistering guitar work of a young Walter Trout & Coco Montoya (note: the album this song was taken from was originally released in 1988 as Chicago Line and was a big favorite of me & my friends)… Gary Moore puts his own virtuoso stamp on an instrumental from the first John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers album featuring Eric Clapton… Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band follows with a Bo Diddley cover from their early blues-rock days before they morphed into a one-of-a-kind unclassifiable band blending weird lyrics with numerous musical genres… Pinetop Perkins was one of the greats of blues piano and spent more than a decade with Muddy Waters band… Lonnie Brooks was a Louisiana bluesman who put out some fine albums on Alligator Records back in the 70s & 80s… the last two songs feature Louisiana slide master Sonny Landreth, first with Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler on a Sonny solo track and next, with John Hiatt when Sonny held down the lead guitar spot in Hiatt’s band, The Goners… I saw them 25 year ago at the BB King Blues Festival and was blown away by Landreth’s unique guitar style…

Music Media: Docs, Books, & Podcasts

Caught up with a couple of good music documentaries recently… just a note, I did have to pay to watch these on Amazon Prime…

DOC: Gregg Allman: The Music of My Soul, 2026 (Amazon) 📽️

Excellent new documentary on the life of Gregg Allman… it covers his childhood growing up in and around Nashville and the early years with him and brother, Duane Allman’s first band in Florida, the Allman Joys, which fizzled after some local success… that was followed by a move to Los Angeles and the formation of the band Hour Glass… after recording two albums that showed some signs of what was to come, Duane bailed, headed back east, and started doing session work at Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama… there he started putting together what was to become the Allman Brothers Band, eventually luring Gregg back as the final piece of the puzzle…

The heart of the documentary are many (mostly) previously unseen clips from a lengthy interview Gregg did in 2014 where he is very candid and humble about his decades of addiction, along with other insights about his life and career… there is a poignant, bittersweet quality to these clips as Gregg discusses brother Duane and the happier days of his musical career, along with his decades of alcohol and drug abuse and finally getting clean & sober… there are other interesting clips of ABB bandmate Warren Haynes, Gregg’s children including musician Devon Allman, a few of his seven(!) wives including Cher(!), and many others…

Overall, this is good stuff for anyone who is a fan of the Allman Brothers…

DOC: If These Walls Could Rock, 2025 (Amazon) 📽️

I have read numerous books about, and by, rock stars that include tales of debauchery in Los Angeles - sex, drugs and rock & roll! The hotels they always mention are the Hyatt House a/k/a “The Riot House” and Chateau Marmont… Led Zeppelin books are filled with sordid tales of their escapades at these two iconic hotels and Chateau Marmont, in particular, was a very popular spot for many rock stars like Jim Morrison, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Gram Parsons and the Rolling Stones… also, John Belushi OD’d there… but in all these books I don’t remember any mention of the subject of this documentary, the Sunset Marquis, located in West Hollywood… and apparently, all the rock and movie stars who lived, stayed and partied there like it that way!

The hotel which is still operating today consists of luxury suites and villas and in 1994 they opened Whiskey Bar which became an extremely popular hangout for rock stars, actors, and other Hollywood types… actor/musician Billy Bob Thornton, who has lived there for years at a time during his Hollywood career, serves as the de facto narrator and historian, and the doc features interviews with a wide range of music stars including ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Slash, Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Nancy Wilson from Heart, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt, Sheryl Crow, Dave Grohl, Roger Daltrey, Simon LeBon of Duran Duran, and numerous others… recounting the story of the Sunset Marquis are real estate developer George Rosenthal, who built the hotel in the early 60s, and his son Mark, who eventually took over management of the property… I found it to be an entertaining story and would recommend it to longtime dedicated rock & roll fans… — SL

Country Rock Comes to The Village

Date: July 19th, 2026

Act: Sophie Gault & Eric Ambel

Venue: Groove, New York, NY

On a recent Sunday night, we hit Greenwich Village club, Groove, for a night of country rock… the show featured rising star, Nashville’s Sophie Gault and her band, and veteran guitarist/vocalist, Eric Ambel, backed by The Hat Band…

I have been onto Sophie Gault since she released her debut album, Delusions of Grandeur back in 2022... so I had this weekend circled on my calendar since way back in February when I asked her if she would be playing in NYC this year and she gave me the dates… she ended up booking two shows, Sunday night at Groove and Saturday night at Skinny Dennis in Brooklyn… I settled on Groove since it’s much more accessible if taking the train in from Long Island… go two stops downtown on the A train from Penn Station, walk up West 4th St one block and you’re there… I bought two tickets to start with, kept talking up the show hoping to get others to go, and eventually had a crew of seven: myself, wife Liz, son Joe, daughter Catherine and son-in-law Anthony, and my nephew James and his wife Jessica who were visiting from Calgary, Canada… a nice contingent!

Since Groove is one of many small NYC clubs that schedules multiple shows the same night, this one was slotted for 7:00 to 8:30… we arrived early and were at our table before 6:30, ordered some food and a round of drinks, and were ready to go!

Eric Ambel and his band kicked things off a little after 7pm and rocked their way through a 30 minute set that included a countrified version of “Honky Tonk Woman”, a rowdy protest song, and a nice cover of one of my favorite songs, Gillian Welch’s “Look at Miss Ohio” with Sophie pitching in on vocals…

After Ambel’s set ended, the two bands tried to break down and set up as fast as they could as the time approached 8pm… when Sophie opened her set with two acoustic songs, it was already around 8:15 but thankfully they were able to play past the 8:30 cutoff on the schedule and turn in a great 30 minute set (my guestimate)... she switched to Telecaster after the opening tunes and things rocked after that… a few set highlights were a cover of Buck Owens’ “Loves Gonna Live Here” with Ambel sitting in on guitar and Sophie originals “Pocket Change” and “Merlot Dodge Dart”... also want to give a shoutout to Sophie’s band: Griffin Winton (slide guitar), Marshall Dunn (bass), Kirby Bland (drums) and Mary Hull (keyboards)... they sounded great and she told me after the show that they have only been together since April…

After the show I talked with Ambel about seeing him play with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts way back in 1981 at a giant club called Malibu in Lido Beach… he told me a few cool war stories about those shows and his days at Malibu… next, I had a great chat with Sophie about the show, her band and the tour… she said she hopes to get back to NYC at least once every year… our group loved the show so I think I helped get her a few new fans and hopefully SMM readers will check out her rockin’ new album, Unhinged and go see her if she comes to their town… she has some Midwest shows coming up in mid-August and a duo run the last week of August with Kiely Connell that hits Oneonta NY, a few stops in Ontario, and Montreal…

Quick Take Reviews from April

I am attending concerts at a personal record pace so far this year so here are some short reviews of a bunch from April… I’ll catch up eventually!

• On April 10th, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings brought their “Play Grateful Dead’s Acoustic Reckoning Tour” to the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester NY… had never been to the Capitol Theatre before and since I’m a big fan of Welch/Rawlings and the Grateful Dead, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to make it happen… booked a room at a local Marriott, ate at a very busy Mexican restaurant down the street from the theater and took in the show… the Dead’s music lends itself perfectly to Welch and Rawlings acoustic folk/bluegrass/country style and the entire show was impeccably performed by the duo and bassist, Paul Kowert from the Punch Brothers… Rawlings is one of the best guitarists of any style I’ve ever seen and Welch, along with her stellar vocals, impressed with her ability to simultaneously sing, play acoustic guitar and play a snare drum with brushes… great show(!), highly recommended for Deadheads as they continue to extend the tour into the fall…

• On April 16th, it was “Roots Rock Women” at Berlin NYC… had never been to this venue and had limited familiarity with the three artists playing this show - rock guitarist, Debra Devi, reggae/funk rockers, FaithNYC, and country artist Stephanie Marie & The Double-Knit Players - but for a $15 ticket figured it might be worth checking out… missed Stephanie Marie but Devi and Faith NYC both played enjoyable, solid sets… Berlin NYC though is a tiny basement bar/venue with terrible sightlines to the stage and the vibe was like crashing a private party in somebody’s finished basement…

• On April 27th, it was West Texas Exiles with Zoe Pete Ford opening at Hill Country BBQ… West Texas Exiles are a new country-rock band from Texas that released a praiseworthy debut album 8000 Days late last year… they rocked hard, had a good stage presence and put on an enjoyable show… IMO maybe trying to get more exposure by hooking up as an opener on a more famous artist’s tour would be a good career move… guitarist/vocalist Zoe Pete Ford and her band opened the show with an energetic set of indie-rock & roll… someone to keep an eye on…

• On April 29th, I was at Centre Station Bar in Rockville Centre NY to see The Felice Brothers… have always wanted to see upstate NY band, The Felice Brothers and they didn’t disappoint… they are a quintessential roots rock band, mixing a little bit of everything into their music, and they put on a rollicking good show! Will definitely be looking for them in the future… the show was a fundraiser for the Tommy Brull Foundation, a non-profit charity that supports individuals throughout Long Island facing various physical, intellectual, and developmental challenges… they have put on many great shows on Long Island over the past 15 years featuring artists like Deer Tick, The Hold Steady, Lucero and Kurt Vile, so I was glad I finally got to one… — SL

ROLLING STONES - Foreign Tongues… while the Stones have toured extensively since the 80s, surprisingly, this is only the fifth album of new material they have released since 1989… but despite the lack of output, octogenarians Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and Ron Wood, the youngster at 79, prove they are still quite capable of cranking out a fine album… if you have any doubts, check out the opening track, “Rough and Twisted”... they rock as hard as ever, with roaring slide guitar, Mick’s harmonica, and drummer Steve Jordan filling the late Charlie Watts’ shoes quite ably… “In the Stars” follows, kicked off with a classic Keith guitar riff, and other highlights are “Hit Me in the Head” recorded during Watts last session in 2021, a cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” and a stripped-down version of Chuck Berry’s “Beautiful Delilah”... special guest Steve Winwood handles keyboards on most of the album, but other guests like The Cure’s Robert Smith and Paul McCartney don’t seem to have noticeable contributions…

JACK WHITE - Frozen Charlotte… Jack White’s unique vocal and guitar styles may not be to everyone’s liking but nobody can deny that he is one of the most talented pure rock & rollers ever… from his influential blues-rock duo, The White Stripes, the power-pop/rock of The Raconteurs, the grungy Dead Weather, and now a steady stream of solo albums, most of White’s songs are pedal to the metal, edgy rockers featuring loads of wild guitar playing… I don’t think he’s done many (any?) ballads! His latest, Frozen Charlotte, is no exception… it rocks hard from beginning to end and I feel the songs overall are a bit more consistent and accessible than some of his other solo albums… favorite tunes are the opener “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” and the heavy closer, “Neighbors Blues”... also, nothing to do with this album but I see his most well known song, The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” has over two billion streams on Spotify… impressive!

THE BLACK CROWES - A Pound of Feathers… the Black Crowes have broken up and gotten back together several times since their first album, Shake Your Money Maker, came out in 1990… the Robinson brothers, Chris (vocals) and Rich (guitar), reunited once again in 2020 after a five year split and things seem to be working out well this time around… the COVID-19 pandemic got in the way for a couple years but in 2024, they released their first album of new material in 15 years, the excellent hard-rockin’ Happiness Bastards… the Crowes have always been heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones, Faces and Led Zeppelin and A Pound of Feathers blasts out of the gate with some Stones-like riffing from Rich on “Profane Prophecy”... ten more inspired Robinson/Robinson originals follow in what turns out to be one of the best albums of their career…

MIKE CAMPBELL & THE DIRTY KNOBS - Mission of Mercy… Campbell, the former lead guitarist and right-hand man for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, has carved out a solid post-Heartbreakers career with his band, The Dirty Knobs… this is his fourth album with the band and it features the Dirty Knobs recording debut of longtime Heartbreakers drummer, Steve Ferrone… highlights are “Bongo Mania” with guest vocals from the B-52’s Kate Pierson and the slow burner “Armageddon” which has a Led Zeppelin feel to it musically... there are some misfires too, like the mostly spoken word closer, “Vagrant” which includes the phrase “botched rhinoplasty” (yucch!) and throwaway “Vicious Hangover” which is fun but sounds like he wrote it in 15 minutes... overall, it’s a good effort from a group of talented old pros and add a star if you are a big Tom Petty fan… Campbell’s vocals sound a LOT like Petty’s and some of the songs could easily have fit on a Heartbreakers album like opener “No Regrets”…

SAM MORROW - Southern Boogie… guitarist/vocalist Morrow grew up in Texas, moved to Los Angeles for over a decade, decided it was time for a change and recently moved to Nashville… along with the change of scenery, he also changed his musical style from Americana/country rock to something more “gritty and raw” as he put it… Southern Boogie is the result and it’s basically Southern rock combined with some ZZ Top-style boogie… since I am a big fan of this style of music, I like the change and Morrow’s Texas drawl vocal style fits the music… at nine songs and 34 minutes it’s a little short but overall it’s a fine effort and I look forward to the next album…

Playlist: Scattered Nuggets - Rock and Roll, Vol. 31

I’m continuing with the Rock n Roll playlists this issue and will get back to a Blues or Mixed Bag list next time…

Starts off with one of my old favorites, guitar genius, Roy Buchanan and then we jump to early Lukas Nelson from back in 2010 jamming out on guitar with his band, Promise of the Real… 60s British Invasion stars, The Animals, are next with a John Lee Hooker cover… Pussycats was a ‘74 (mostly) covers album from Harry Nilsson and this cut features his drinking buddy, John Lennon, tearing into this Bob Dylan cover… next is a prototypical 70s Rolling Stones rocker that appeared on their ‘75 outtakes collection, Metamorphosis… top-notch 60s garage rock band, The Shadows of Knight reworked Muddy Waters “Mannish Boy” into this nugget… Hot Tuna cranked out loads of gritty blues-rockers like this one in the 70s... Taj Mahal took the Spencer Davis Group’s “Gimme Some Lovin” riff and turned it into this driving rocker… recently watched a live video from 70s of Patti Smith killing it on this song from her album Easter so here it is… saw the British pub-rockers The Inmates way back in 1980 at Malibu in Lido Beach during their brief day in the sun before they faded into obscurity… Leif De Leeuw Band bills themselves as “Europe’s premier Southern jam band” and you can definitely hear the Allman Brothers influence on this track… went way back to Little Feat’s excellent, but forgotten, 1970 debut album for the next tune… Color Green combine a lot of influences into their brand of rock & roll and this is a good example of their sound… really liked Courtney Barnett’s brand of slacker rock on her first couple albums, then faded on her… here’s one from her first proper album… finally we wrap it up with “Wrap it Up” from the 80s heyday of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, before guitarist Jimmie Vaughan left the band…

Musical Adventures: Jimi Hendrix Celebration Day in NYC

On June 10th I ventured into the heart of Greenwich Village in NYC to the corner of 6th Avenue and West 8th Street for a ceremony celebrating legendary guitarist, Jimi Hendrix… the reason for the event was the renaming of West 8th St to Jimi Hendrix Way… Jimi had lived in the Village for a while and his famous Electric Lady Studios is located on West 8th and is still in operation…

Along with way too many NYC politicians, there were numerous special guests from the musical world in attendance, including: Vernon Reid, guitarist & founder of the hard rock band Living Colour, Eddie Kramer, engineer on most of Hendrix’s albums, and Jimi’s sister, Janie Hendrix, who has done a great job of managing Jimi’s estate and legacy as CEO of Experience Hendrix LLC… the big-name was Little Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band fame… he and his wife, Maureen, were part of the group that came up with the idea of renaming the street…

All the guests got up on a small makeshift platform and gave a brief (and some, not-brief-enough!) speech about Hendrix - and also threw in a “Go Knicks!” since it was during their championship playoff run… a modest but enthusiastic crowd had assembled and it was a real mixed bag of Village denizens, lots of photographers, and people who I kept thinking “looked like someone”... hanging out in the city can do that to you! I really thought the crowd would be much larger with Little Steven showing up but guess he wasn’t as big a draw as I expected… after the speeches one of the organizers, sister Janie, and Van Zandt presided over removing the cover on the new sign and everyone dispersed… nothing too exciting but still kind of cool…

I headed to legendary craft beer bar, the Blind Tiger Alehouse, which was a few blocks away on Bleecker Street for lunch and a couple cold pints… had never been there before and definitely would go back… great vibe, great beer list, and the food was good too… — SL

70th Birthday Bash in Brooklyn

Date: May 23rd, 2026

Act: The National Reserve

Venue: Fred’s Dog House, Brooklyn, NY

My 70th birthday came knockin’ recently and we celebrated in style at a great new venue in Williamsburg called Fred’s Dog House… we were there to see a favorite local NYC band, The National Reserve, who we have seen a few times before at Brooklyn country dive bar, Skinny Dennis…

Fred’s is a very small but perfectly laid out space, the definition of an intimate but fun spot to catch some live music and have a few drinks… my son Joe came up with the idea to go here and got tickets and a reserved table for our group of five which also included my wife Liz, daughter Catherine, and son-in-law, Anthony…

The National Reserve members are Sean Walsh (vocals/guitar), Jim Parker (lead guitar), Brian Geltner (drums) and Drew Hart (bass)… the tiny stage which was maybe a foot off the floor, was in a small alcove at the back end of the bar… it was so small that Parker was sitting in a chair on the floor at side of the stage… the band is a well-oiled machine with a great roots-rock sound, blending rock & roll, country, blues, folk and R&B… they mix excellent originals with very well-chosen covers from artists like JJ Cale, Leon Russell, Waylon and Willie… also, nearly every song featured some very impressive smokin’ lead guitar from Parker… my favorite cover they do is Gillian Welch’s signature song, “Miss Ohio” and I was happy to hear them do it again… happy birthday to ME!

Have to give a shoutout to the waiter who treated us like old friends all night… I feel bad I did not get his name but he definitely helped make it a special time!

If you are thinking of checking out Fred’s Dog House, it is located on Grand St in Williamsburg right next to the west side of the BQE… it’s kind of “off the beaten path” and a decent walk from the Bedford Ave L stop so probably should just take an Uber… they have live music almost every night, featuring a lot of blues artists, so it’s worth the effort…

Quick Take Reviews from March

I have fallen way behind on my concert reports so in order to catch up here are some “quick take” reviews of several shows from March…

• On March 8th, Kenny Wayne Shepherd played The Paramount in Huntington. Shepherd released his debut album, Ledbetter Heights, at age 18 in 1995 and joined the legion of guitar slingers influenced by the late Stevie Ray Vaughan… I ignored him which, admittedly, was a mistake… he has stood the test of time and I finally caught up with him at this show which was a most impressive display of fiery guitar playing featuring original material that is a cut above the average guitar hero… will say I found longtime Shepherd vocalist Noah Hunt off-putting with a weird Spinal Tap-like stage presence that seemed out of place with the rest of the band…

• On March 11th, Tedeschi Trucks Band played the Beacon Theatre in NYC with support from Steve Earle and Vincent Neil Emerson. I have written many times about TTB and this was another great show that featured several songs from their excellent new studio album, Future Soul (see review in SMM #102) and a couple of cool debut Sly & The Family Stone covers...

• On March 15th, Various members of Tri-State area Grateful Dead tribute bands had a “Tribute to Bob Weir” at the Boulton Center in Bay Shore. After Bob Weir died in January, tribute shows popped up everywhere… this one brought together members of tri-state Grateful Dead tribute bands like Half Step, Tiger Rose, and the Englishtown Project for a great set that covered Dead songs associated with Weir and songs from some of his other projects including his fine 2016 solo album, Blue Mountain… the show even included an appearance from jam scene all-star, Jason Crosby, who added keyboards and fiddle to several songs…

• On March 20th, Stella Blues Band, another Grateful Dead tribute group, played Hill Country BBQ in the city. The band is led by longtime CNBC economics reporter, Steve Liesman, who does a fine job in the Bob Weir role, and lead guitarist/vocalist, Bill Bonacci… while I did not sample the BBQ on this visit, Hill Country has a great small concert venue downstairs below the restaurant with its own dedicated bar selling 16oz cans of PBR for $6… can’t go wrong!

• On March 25th, Howlin’ Hurd played Lucinda’s in the East Village. Hurd is a blues-rockin’ singer & harmonica player and also a member of the Brooklyn band, Daddy Long Legs (I reviewed their album Street Sermons in 2023)... this was an entertaining set but I am just not a fan of Lucinda’s as a concert venue… the layout is not great - long and narrow with a very small area near the band in back… plus, no stage which can make it difficult to see the band from the bar area… I feel like it's an “intimate” size venue that is NOT very “intimate”… it’s also much more brightly lit than any other venue I can think of… as I sat at the bar where the bulk of the venue space is, it was like “oh yeah, there’s a band playing back there”… weird vibe… — SL

THE BLACK KEYS - Peaches!… the Black Keys, Dan Auerbach on guitar & vocals and Patrick Carney on drums, really return to form on their latest release… the album is all covers but very obscure, well-curated covers - which might as well be originals to the average fan who has never heard these songs… the majority are Mississippi Hill Country blues songs, a genre they have visited before on 2006’s Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough (more Kimbrough covers here) and 2021’s Delta Kream… adding to the authenticity of those covers are guest guitarists, slide master Kenny Brown and Jimbo Mathus, a couple of genuine Mississippi bluesmen… Brown played slide guitar for many years in Hill Country legend, RL Burnside’s band and they do a kickin’ version of RL’s “Fireman Rings the Bell”... there are also a couple outside the Hill Country tunes… they rock out on Ike Tuner’s “You Got to Lose” done most famously by George Thorogood on his debut album back in 1977 and UK pub rockers, Dr. Feelgood’s “She Does it Right”... overall, a fine effort which seems to have reinvigorated the boys who, along with a major tour starting this month, have also been popping up in small clubs doing DJ sets…

TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND - Future Soul… TTB is my favorite live band these days… their studio albums are always solid and a few songs from each end up becoming a regular part of their live sets but I have never spent a lot of time listening to them… Future Soul though is a consistent winner from beginning to end… no big jams, the longest song is just under 5 minutes, but Derek makes his presence known throughout the album with a variety of concise, distinctive solos… Susan handles vocals on every song but “Under the Knife” where Mike Mattison does the honors… Mattison also wrote the excellent “I Got You” that features punchy horns, great vocals by Susan and the backup singers, and Derek doing an Allman Brothers style solo, reminiscent of “Blue Sky”... All Music Guide says Future Soul is a “beautifully executed record melding blues, R&B, guitar rock, and Americana in an integrated vision that revels in tradition while offering a new, roots-rich vision of popular music”...

GARRET T WILLIE - Bill’s Cafe… read a review of this album that called Willie a cross between “AC/DC and Howlin’ Wolf”... this definitely caught my attention! Less than 30 seconds into the opening track I was 100% on board with that comparison… the 25 year old from British Columbia - of all places! - plays a blazing guitar and sings like a grizzled 60 year old blues veteran… and wow that six minute opening track sure makes you want to listen to the rest of the album - and it’s worth the listen! Garret T Willie is the new kid on the blues-rock guitar slinger block… I see he has some tour dates booked in Ontario in October… maybe he can make a side trip down to New York!

THE BEVIS FROND - Horrorful Heights… eccentric English underground rocker, Nick Saloman, has been recording albums under the name The Bevis Frond since the late 80s… I have listened to a decent amount of his catalog over the years and he covers a wide range of rock styles from melodic folk rock to straightforward hooky hard rockin’ songs to wild, noisy, tough-to-listen-to psychedelic guitar freakouts… at 20 songs and 87 minutes there is a lot to listen to here so I would recommend listening to the first three songs… “A Mess of Stress” which borrows the riff from Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World”, “Best Laid Plans” and “Square House” which features a ripping guitar solo… see if they grab you and if yes, keep going!

THE GREEN RAY - Orchard House… was not familiar with this English band that has been around for around 30 years, featuring various lineups… turns out the album is on the label Blue Matter, that is run by Nick Salomon, from the previous review… his band The Bevis Frond has also shared a stage with The Green Ray on several occasions… anyway, this album is a great find, psychedelic jamming at its finest… seven lengthy tunes filled with inventive flowing music, lots of guitars, saxophones and even flutes… Shindig! Magazine calls it “psychedelic music of the finest vintage… a fantastic record”... check it out!

Playlist: Scattered Nuggets - Rock and Roll, Vol. 29 (Heavy UK Rock Edition)

Since I don’t have any books or docs to report on this issue, and I have a backlog of Rock n Roll playlists, I am posting a playlist doubleheader…

When I first started assembling Vol. 29 there seemed to be a “theme” developing so I went with it and made it a chronological playlist of “heavy” U.K. rock starting in the 60s, ending in the late 70s… starts off with The Yardbirds, a seminal influence on future British rockers… hits obscure 60s bands, The Nashville Teens and The Creation and a 1965 Bo Diddley cover from the Rolling Stones third U.S. album, The Rolling Stones, Now!... Jeff Beck’s wild guitar playing, with Rod Stewart on vocals, makes this Elvis Presley cover nearly unrecognizable! One-album supergroup Blind Faith features a great recurring guitar riff from Eric Clapton on this lengthy jammer… those not familiar with the late 60s version of Fleetwood Mac led by guitarist Peter Green might be surprised to hear this song, “The Green Manalishi” from their great final album with Green, Then Play On… Green had started heavily doing acid which derailed his career and the song reflects that… soon after the album’s release, he left the band to join a cult… Free was an influential band with a distinctive heavy sound led by one of rock’s greatest singers Paul Rodgers and guitarist Paul Kossoff… Jethro Tull’s “Hymn 43” from their most famous album, Aqualung, showcases the key facets of their singular heavy sound: the flute & vocals of leader Ian Anderson, anchored by Martin Barre’s guitar playing… two classic Willie Dixon blues songs are given the ultra-heavy rock treatment by Humble Pie (“I’m Ready”) and Foghat (“I Just Want to Make Love to You”)... Foghat’s song was an FM radio staple back in the 70s… guitarist Robin Trower follows with this burner from his classic album Bridge of Sighs featuring his Hendrix-style guitar and the vocals of bassist, James Dewar… Irish rockers Thin Lizzy follow with an appropriately titled song, “The Rocker” from one of their early albums… finally, we conclude with a doubleheader from my man, Rory Gallagher… these two songs close his Irish Tour ‘74 album and I couldn’t decide which one to use so I included both - 14 minutes of Rory, can’t go wrong!

Playlist: Scattered Nuggets - Rock and Roll, Vol. 30

The second playlist is my standard mix of many rock & roll styles… with guitarist/singer Dave Mason passing away at the age of 80 on April 19th, I decided to open and close this playlist with two of Mason’s songs… first, an excellent cover of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” and the other, the seven minute-plus “Look at You, Look at Me” from his first - and best - solo album, Alone Together… next is a hard rocker from the one (great!) album Alejandro Escovedo did with his short-lived band, Buick Mackane… guitarist Marc Ford has mixed multiple stints with the Black Crowes into a long running solo career and he is also currently a member of Lucinda Williams band… Mick Ronson achieved fame as David Bowie’s lead guitarist in the early 70s and was also a member of Bob Dylan’s legendary Rolling Thunder Review… this Ronson solo song showcases his stellar guitar work… guitarist/vocalist Josh Homme is best known as the leader of Queens of the Stone Age but he has been part of many other bands and projects and Eagles of Death Metal was one of them… American-born soul singer PP Arnold found success in England in the late 60s & early 70s and this Traffic cover is from an album she recorded in 1971 that was not released until 2017… J. Roddy Walston & The Business is a popular live band that plays rowdy Southern rock driven by Walston’s piano & vocals… seems like ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons saves his new material in recent years for his solo albums since ZZ Top’s last studio album was way back in 2012… here’s a great tune from one of those solo albums with guests Larkin Poe… New Orleans guitarist/singer-songwriter Anders Osborne has mellowed a bit over the years but still had some serious edge back in 2013 when he released his album, Peace… Devon Allman is all over the place these days playing Southern rock, blues, Hendrix and Allman Bros tributes… this one is from his 2016 album, Ride or Die… West Texas Exiles is a new country/indie-rock band I saw recently on their first East Coast tour… here they do an inspired - but VERY slowed down - cover of the Motorhead burner, “Ace of Spades”... bluesman Robert Cray covers this great obscure 60s tune that was a hit for a guy named Don Gardner… definitely one to get out on the dance floor for! One-of-a-kind 70s guitarist Roy Buchanan is always a go-to artist for me… Guy Forsyth is an interesting Texas-based blues-rocker who put out some solid albums in the 90s and early 2000s…

That’s it for this issue… next time I will start catching up with the numerous concerts I have been to in the past couple months… — SL

Transcendent Tribute Band Experience!

Date: May 17th, 2026

Act: Real Young & Lazy Horse

Venue: Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY

HOLY SHITTT!! Neil Young & Crazy Horse tribute band, Brooklyn’s Real Young & Lazy Horse, hit Union Pool in Williamsburg Sunday night and blew the roof off the place! If you’re looking for Harvest-style Neil like “Old Man” and “Heart of Gold” then this is NOT your Neil Young tribute band… BUT… if, like me, your favorite Neil is the hardest rockin’ stuff he has done with Crazy Horse, step right up, these guys are a MUST-SEE!

I had seen this band on Union Pool’s schedule back in January, playing the last Sunday of the month in January, February and March… since I love Neil Young, I was definitely intrigued but was unable to do those shows. Luckily they added two more shows and this one finally fit my schedule… Union Pool first opened in 2000 as a corner bar and has evolved over the years into what their website calls “a multi-bar entertainment hive with a little something for everybody”... a main bar, an outdoor patio with a food truck and back room bar where the concerts are…

Back to the show… the concert room is very small with a capacity of only 100 and it was sold out for weeks… these guys have been building serious buzz and we found out the next day on Instagram that Rolling Stone writers Rob Sheffield and Angie Martoccio were in the crowd… the band came right out of the gate with “Cortez the Killer” and “Cinnamon Girl” and over nearly a three hour show blasted through 22 more Neil songs ranging from popular tunes like “Down By The River”, “Ohio”, “Powderfinger” and my favorite, “Revolution Blues” to total obscurities like “T-Bone” from the 1981 album Re-ac-tor… the song just repeats the lines “got mashed potatoes, ain’t got no t-bone” for 10 minutes, a song only Neil would do and I could not believe they did it but it was great like everything else they played… guitarist/singer Adam Reich (“Real Young”) doesn’t look or dress like Neil Young but he nails his guitar and vocal sound and is a dynamic, entertaining performer… tickets cost $15 so this show was the definition of “getting your money’s worth” and I feel like they need to start playing larger venues and could surely charge a few more dollars for tickets…

Their next show is at Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn on Saturday, May 30th from 3:00 to 7:00… I don’t expect to be there but obviously if you can make it, check them out! Also, I duplicated their set list with this playlist if you want to get an idea what one of these shows is like… enjoy! — SL

I was trying to think of something different to do for the 100th issue of the newsletter and my “SL Desert Island Deluxe 100” playlist seemed to lend itself perfectly to this venture (I did put out a 40 song version of it a few years ago)... the playlist has been a longtime “work in progress” as I gradually added to it over the years… once it got to a nice, even 100 songs, I decided to cut it off there… I periodically revisit it and if I feel another song must be included, I remove a song and replace it… since I also have a massive “History of Rock “ playlist that I add any good song I like to I don’t plan to ever expand this list beyond 100..

Also, for this issue I decided to drill down further to my “Top 25” from the list and from that list, pick a “Desert Island Dozen” and add some random “musings” about each of those songs… coming up with a favorite 25 - and then a top dozen - was REALLY tough but I think this is a representative stab at it… if I did it next week, it would probably be different… anyway, here we go:

#1 — THE ROLLING STONES - “Gimme Shelter” (1969)

Automatic choice for #1, no second thoughts… it has it all… classic Keith riff, great lyrics and Mick vocals, iconic guest vocals from Merry Clayton… saw them play it at Giants Stadium in August 2019 and it was an all-time great concert highlight for me…

#2 — ROD STEWART - “(I Know) I’m Losing You” (1971)

Stewart’s Every Picture Tells a Story is probably the album most responsible for making me the super-dedicated rock music fan I’ve been ever since… first heard my neighbor playing it and the album’s big hit, "Maggie May” was on the radio constantly but this is my favorite tune from the album… Rod & his band make this Temptations cover all their own with this scorching hard-rocking cover…

#3 — THE BAND - “Don’t Do It” (Live) (1972)

Have been a big fan of The Band since the early 70s… after four great studio albums, they released the classic live album, Rock of Ages, which has served as a “greatest hits” for me… this Marvin Gaye cover is the opening track and the band immediately locks into top gear… Levon Helm’s vocals are superb, Robbie rips a great guitar solo, and New Orleans legend, Allen Toussaint’s horn section helps bring the song to another level… check out the video of the version from The Last Waltz…

#4 — DELANEY & BONNIE WITH ERIC CLAPTON - “I Don’t Want to Discuss It” (Live) (1970)

Clapton joined up with Delaney & Bonnie’s touring entourage in 1969 in an effort to get away from the “guitar hero” spotlight he was always under up until then… he just wanted to be one of the guys in the band but Clapton being Clapton - one of the greatest guitarists of all time - he couldn’t just hang out in the background… instead, in the middle of this song, he ripped off one of the best constructed, most exciting guitar solos I’ve ever heard… amazingly, when it ends and the vocals come back, instead of wild applause from the crowd, there is I guess, stunned silence… or maybe English music fans were just more formal and polite back then…

#5 — MARSHALL TUCKER BAND - “I’ll Be Loving You” (1978)

Speaking of great guitar solos, here’s another one from the late, great Toy Caldwell… the song also features a band firing on all cylinders (a phrase I will use again!), cooking away behind Caldwell’s inventive soloing, led by Paul Riddle sounding like a drum army… this was the lead track for what I consider MTB’s best album, Together Forever… also want to note that drummer Riddle has formed a band, the Toy Factory Project, to honor Caldwell… it features heavy hitters Marcus King and Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on guitars & vocals and Dead & Co./Allman Brothers bassist, Oteil Burbridge… would love to see them but they have only played a limited number of shows so far… here they are doing this song at the Capitol Theater and they definitely do it justice… King absolutely smokes on the solo!

#6 — RORY GALLAGHER - “Do You Read Me” (1976)

As I have mentioned many times, Rory Gallagher is my sentimental choice for all-time favorite artist… a lot of that has to do with him being my first great “discovery” - an outstanding artist that the vast majority of music fans have never heard of… although he was mostly known for his powerful live performances, this is the opening track from his best studio album, Calling Card… I love the tasty guitar solo about halfway through the song… if you have never listened to Rory and you like this tune, definitely check the whole album out!

#7 — THE ROLLING STONES - “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” (1971)

“Gimme Shelter” is my favorite Stones song but this is a close second… it’s from the album Sticky Fingers and is one of the longer Stones studio songs at just over 7 minutes… I love the way the second half shifts gears and features one of the great sax solos in rock music history, courtesy of Bobby Keys, followed by an also great guitar solo from Mick Taylor…

#8 — LED ZEPPELIN - “When the Levee Breaks” (1971)

The intro to this song with Bonham’s booming drums and then Plant’s wailing harmonica is amazing! AllMusic Guide says the song is “as forceful and frightening as Zeppelin ever got, and its seismic rhythms and layered dynamics illustrate why none of their imitators could ever equal them”... nothing I can add to that!

#9 — NEIL YOUNG - “Crime in the City” (Live) (1974)

This Neil song has got it all… relentless, driving Crazy Horse rock ‘n’ roll, with Neil’s slashing, machine gun guitar fills and gripping lyrics about a criminal life in the big city: “here I am in the alleyway, a wad of cash in my pants, I get paid by a 10 year old, he says he looks up to me, there’s still crime in the city, but it's good to be free”... this live version was recorded on the 1991 Ragged Glory/Smell the Horse tour and I was there at Nassau Coliseum to see it… epic stuff!

#10 — AC/DC - “Shake Your Foundations” (1969)

I like a lot of AC/DC songs but this one from their underrated 1985 album, Fly On the Wall, is one I always go to as a prime example of a band, to quote myself from above, “firing on all cylinders”... love the way the song opens with Malcolm Young’s rhythm guitar riff and then brother Angus layering some wailing lead on top… basically the key ingredient of AC/DC’s sound… every instrumental break in the song screams - as do Brian Johnson’s vocals…

#11 — WARREN ZEVON - “Lawyers, Guns and Money” (1978)

This is from Zevon’s third album, Excitable Boy, which I played a LOT when it came out… I’m not very good at memorizing lyrics but this is one of the few songs I can do a reasonably good job of singing along with… it also rocks hard and is just a great vivid story that maybe… Warren came close to living at some point?

#12 — OKKERVIL RIVER - “Down Down the Deep River” (2013)

Had to get one in here from this century and wow, do I LOVE this song! Whenever I listen to it I usually play it again (and I just did!) and I definitely can't say that about too many songs… it rolls along for 6-plus glorious minutes, locked into this great groove with a horn section providing perfect fills throughout… saw them once at the worst venue in NYC, Terminal 5 (boy, do I hate that place!), touring behind the album this song was on (The Silver Gymnasium) and they played it and even had the horns with them… tremendous!

Working up this “Desert Island Dozen” took me quite a while… changed my mind a lot! Below are the other candidates, #13 through #25…

#13 Jefferson Airplane - “Volunteers” (1969)...

#14 Grateful Dead - “Scarlet Begonias/Fire On The Mountain” (Live)...

#15 Allman Brothers Band - “You Don’t Love Me” (Live) (1971)...

#16 Pink Floyd - “Echoes, Part 1” (Live) (1971)...

#17 Bob Dylan - “Isis” (1976)...

#18 David Bromberg - “Sharon” (1972)...

#19 Steve Earle- “Feel Alright” (1996)...

#20 Velvet Underground - “Oh! Sweet Nuthin” (1970)...

#21 The Beatles - “Norwegian Wood” (1965)...

#22 The Black Keys - “Your Touch” (2006)...

#23 Pearl Jam - “Marker in the Sand” (2006)...

#24 Gillian Welch - “Look at Miss Ohio” (2003)...

#25 Son House - “John the Revelator” (1965)...

Besides the full 100 song playlist (nearly 9 hours!), I made a separate playlist of the Desert Island Dozen which has a 66 minute runtime…

Hope everyone enjoys this and next issue I will be back to the usual format and catch up on new releases… — SL

Closing out February with a Bang!

Date: February 19th, 2026

Act: Margo Price, Pearl Charles

Venue: Webster Hall, New York, NY

After seeing her here in 2023, country singer Margo Price was back in NYC at Webster Hall on February 19th… she arrived with a new band and a new image: less rock & roll, more country… gone were the flashy outfit changes and the spin behind the drums, replaced with a more traditional country denim and cowboy hat look…

Now going on 43, Margo has paid her dues… she has opened for and collaborated with big stars like Willie Nelson, Chris Stapleton, and Bob Weir while putting out several fine solo albums… this has led to her moving up a few more rungs on the stardom ladder and she now is “paying it back” with newer members of her band… lead guitarist Sean Thompson and singer/songwriter Logan Ledger both are recording artists in their own right and Margo featured them throughout the show which should definitely help boost their respective careers… another change to the band was Margo’s husband, guitarist Jeremy Ivey, only being onstage for a handful of songs - and when he was out there, he played harmonica… turns out he released an album the week before so maybe he’s trying to focus more on his solo career… they did a song from Ivey’s new album, “Edge of Darkness”, and a solid cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’’...

The set was roughly divided into two parts… it started off with ten Margo originals, eight from her latest album, Hard Headed Woman and two from her 2016 debut album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter… the second half of the show was mostly a string of covers, including, Ledger doing his song “All the Wine in California”, Margo’s most famous song, “Hurtin’ on the Bottle,” and closing with a rousing cover of Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm”...

I also want to give a shoutout to Sean Thompson’s stellar lead guitar work… he was most impressive ripping into one great solo after another… Thompson has released two excellent country-rock albums with his own band, Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears, and hopefully he hits NYC with that band at some point in the future…

Date: February 21st, 2026

Act: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Alejandro Escovedo

Venue: Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY

Jason Isbell is an artist I have wanted to see and I finally got to it at this Radio City show in February… his star has risen steadily since leaving the Drive-By Truckers back in 2007 and he is now one of the more popular touring artists around, both solo, and with his band, the 400 Unit…

This show also featured an added bonus for me, opening act Alejandro Escovedo… the veteran Texas rocker is a personal favorite and this was the first time I had seen him since 2013… throughout his career he has experimented with different lineups, even including a cello in one (it worked!)... this time, he worked with a stripped down trio of himself on guitar & vocals plus drums and keyboards… it was a short 40 minute set but in 7 songs he covered a lot of ground and even brought out special guest, Britt Daniel from the Texas band, Spoon… he pitched in on guitar & vocals for the last two songs, a new one from an upcoming album and one of Escovedo’s best rockers, “Castanets”… the crowd gave him a standing ovation which you don’t see often for an opening act…

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit hit the stage soon after and the crowd was on their feet - where they stayed for most of the set… since he was not touring to support a new album, this was more of a “greatest hits” type show… admittedly, I’m not that familiar with Isbell’s catalog but my son Joe is a big longtime fan and he filled me in on a lot of the tunes…I did know his two most well-known Drive-By Truckers songs, “Celebration Day” and “Outfit” and they were definitely crowd favorites… they also did an absolutely killer cover of the Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers, classic, “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”... since there was no saxophone player to do Bobby Keys’ all-time great sax solo, they turned it into more of a raw hard-rock song with loads of guitar soloing and it absolutely worked…

The band is impressive, led by the twin-guitar attack of Isbell and lead guitarist, Sadler Vaden… Vaden stepped up frequently throughout the show with blazing solos, especially on the songs where Isbell switched to acoustic guitar, and he definitely shared the spotlight with Isbell, who is certainly an outstanding guitarist himself…

I had to leave to catch my train before the encore but with those three songs, including another Drive-By Truckers tune (“Danko/Manuel”) the show went well past two hours so fans got their money’s-worth… overall, one way I judge a concert is, if I don’t really know the performer’s material very well and I still enjoy the show - which was the case here - then that’s the mark of a really great band…

Date: February 27th, 2026

Act: Steve Earle, Nathan Bess

Venue: Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY

I have been a big Steve Earle fan since I first came across him via his 1991 live album, Shut Up and Die Like an Aviator… the album was credited to Steve Earle & The Dukes, his raucous country-rock band, and that’s the Steve Earle music I really like…

Over the years, he has mixed it up between band and solo tours and appearances, but I held out for a show with The Dukes and finally managed to see him with the band in 2017… in 2018, I saw him open solo acoustic for Tedeschi Trucks at the Beacon and felt it did not work at all… his mostly somber songs were lost in that size venue and it didn’t help that he played in front of a crowd that was not there to see him…

Since the Covid shutdown, though, he has turned almost exclusively to performing solo… so when I saw he was doing a couple of intimate shows at the (very small) Gramercy Theater, I jumped at the chance to see him in a proper solo setting… this became especially true when a week before my show, Earle announced a massive 60 show North American tour titled “Fifty One Years of Songs and Stories: Solo & Acoustic”… so these Gramercy shows appeared to be a warm-up for this tour… plus, I was able to get an aisle seat in the 4th row for under $100 to seal the deal…

After a credible set - also solo acoustic - from Texas singer/songwriter, Nathan Bess, I thought “it is really hard for a good ol’ boy, trucker/cowboy hat singer to stand out”... there are a LOT of them!

Earle was out 20 minutes later and he kicked off with a story about moving to Nashville in 1974 when he was 19 and getting started as a recording artist… he then played two songs he wrote 50 years ago, “Tom Ames’ Prayer” and “Ben McCulloch” (and first recorded on 1995’s, Train a Comin’)... for the rest of the night he alternated songs and stories about his career… there were stories about unscrupulous label heads, fellow musicians, his serious drug addiction days, getting sent to jail for drug-related offenses, successfully going through rehab and getting his career back on track… he also talked at length about his love for New York City, where he has lived since 2005… this led into his great ode to NYC, “City of Immigrants” which he turned into a sing-along…

Earle is engaging and funny, his songs are great, and he deftly played a variety of string instruments, including a bouzouki! I was glad I went and left with a new appreciation for Steve’s talents - and was also able to put behind the bad impression I got from that set years ago at the Beacon… until, lo and behold, there he was AGAIN opening solo acoustic for Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Beacon two weeks later! He was a late addition to the bill but I’ll save that for the next Live Adventures… — SL

THE WAVE PICTURES - Gained/Lost… I discovered this excellent but little known English band about 10 years ago via their great album, Bamboo Diner in the Rain… led by singer and guitarist, David Tattersall, the band plays quirky, literate, catchy rock & roll driven by Tatersall’s stellar and plentiful lead guitar playing and vocals reminiscent of The Kinks’ Ray Davies… if you want to just jump in and get a taste of what they do, check out “You’re My Patient Now”, “Gained/Lost” or “Samuel”... and if you like what you hear, definitely check out the aforementioned Bamboo Diner in the Rain… also, I feel like these guys would be great live but I don’t know if they ever tour here…

HANDSOME JACK - Barnburners!… I reviewed this band’s last album, A Good Thing, back in 2024 (SMM #67) and I’m going to quote myself: “this hard-rocking boogie band hails from the Buffalo region of western NY state and has been around for about 20 years”... the band calls their music “boogie soul” which seems accurate… I hear influences like ZZ Top, Southern rock, Elmore James slide-guitar blues (“Polly Molly”) and even Mississippi Hill Country blues on the closing track, “Ghost Woman”... if all that sounds good, give this album a listen!

SLIM DUNLAP - Every Little Word… Dunlap, who passed away in 2024, was the lead guitarist in beloved 80s rock & roll cult band, The Replacements… after the band broke up in 1991, he launched a solo career and this 44-song compilation collects most of his solo output… I never really got into The Replacements and wasn’t familiar with Dunlap til I heard this… the opening track, “Rockin’ Here Tonight” has a real Rolling Stones feel which drew me in and kept me listening… admittedly, I haven’t listened to all 44 songs BUT everything I did check out was high quality rock & roll…

THE OLD 97’s - One More Ride: Old 97’s Perform the Songs of Johnny Cash (EP)… this veteran alt-country rock band should be in my wheelhouse but for some reason I have never given them more than a cursory listen… the Spotify algorithm sent the song “I Got Stripes” from this release my way, eliciting a “WHO is this?” reaction from me… turns out, it’s 13 minutes of all-out, hard rockin’ Johnny Cash covers that I can’t get enough of! Turn this up to 11 and let it rip!

CHICAGO FARMER - Homeaid… Midwestern country/folk artist, Cody Diekhoff, records and performs under the name Chicago Farmer with his band, The Fieldnotes… I was not familiar with him prior to hearing the album’s first single, “Peshtigo”, an excellent hard-driving country rocker… did some research and this is the first album Diekhoff has brought his touring band into the studio with him… his previous three albums were folk singer affairs so bringing in the band, and some nice lead guitar from Jaik Willis, has created a more country-rock sound to back Diekhoff’s songs… feel like they would be great to see in some of the small NYC country music venues but not sure if they leave their Midwest base…

Playlist: Scattered Nuggets - Rock and Roll, Vol. 28

Have a backlog of Rock ‘n’ Roll playlists so time to start getting them out! I was in an AC/DC mood when I put this one together so I "scattered" four of my favorite tunes from the Australian band across the playlist… sometimes you just need some AC/DC tunes to get things rocking! Steve Earle is one of my all-time favorite country-rockers although lately he seems to be sticking with his solo acoustic side (more on that in the next issue!)... Eric Ambel, MVP guitarist & producer, rocks the hell out of this Neil Young cover… we take it down a notch next with a snappy country-rock chugger from Mark Knopfler, of Dire Straits fame… New Orleans stalwart Anders Osborne cranks up the distortion level on his Stratocaster as he digs into this thunderous tale of the perils of heroin… Georgia native Eddie 9V’s star is rising, driven by ultra-catchy tunes like this one… The Morlocks apply their heavy garage-rock touch to this Sonny Boy Williamson blues chestnut… forgotten Scottish rockers Nazareth were a popular band in the 70s behind driving riff-rockers like this one… ZZ Top is one of my all-time favorite bands and I can drop the needle pretty much anywhere in their catalog and find a great song like this one from their 1996 album, Rhythmeen… Samantha Fish is one of the blues-rock world’s bigger stars these days - this tune is from her 2015 album, Wild Heart… my bartender friend, William, from New York bar, d.b.a. (check it out!) got me listening to the two studio albums and live EP Tom Petty did with his reunited pre-Heartbreakers band, Mudcrutch… it’s high quality stuff that fits well with his Heartbreakers catalog… I kind of forget about Santana but their first three albums - Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970) and III (1971) - is one of rock music’s best 3-album runs… this tune from III was a radio staple in the early 70s…

Music Media: Docs, Books, & Podcasts

This is an appropriate pairing of the two most successful New York-based concert promoters of the past 60 years, Ron Delsener and Peter Shapiro…

BOOK: The Music Never Stops by Peter Shapiro, 2022 📚

The Music Never Stops is the autobiography of concert promoter and musical entrepreneur, Peter Shapiro… at the age of 24, he bought the Wetlands, a popular NYC club and ran it from 1997 until it closed in 2001… the club was an integral part of the early jam-band scene and acts that played there included Bob Weir, Blues Traveler, the Spin Doctors, Phish and Gov’t Mule… he went on to open Brooklyn Bowl and eventually expanded the franchise to Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Nashville… he also owns the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester NY and was the promoter of the Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary “Fare Thee Well” shows in 2016 among many other ventures…

The book is a behind the scenes look at how the concert industry works, what it’s like to own and manage a music venue (stressful and financially perilous!), how bands are paid, and numerous stories of Shapiro’s interactions, relationships and adventures with the musicians and other celebrities like Jimmy Fallon… he gets pretty deep in the weeds with some of the business details which can get a little mind-numbing after a while but he keeps things interesting for the most part…

Just to throw in a little personal tidbit, I recently met Shapiro at a Steve Earle concert at Gramercy Theatre in NYC… I spotted him sitting nearby between acts, asked a woman who had been talking to him if it was him and she told me to go say “Hi” so I did… told him I read his book and will be going to a show at the Capitol Theatre in April and he was very gracious and appreciative…

DOC: Ron Delsener Presents, 2023 (Amazon Prime) 📽️

Sticking with the concert promoter theme, I also recently watched the documentary, Ron Delsener Presents, on Amazon Prime… the 89 year old Delsener is undoubtedly the New York City area’s most famous concert promoter… his career started in the 60s and he only recently retired - although he still dabbles in promoting…

The doc features lots of vintage footage of Delsener wheeling and dealing on the phone and comments from artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Simon & Garfunkel and Jon Bon Jovi… Bon Jovi talks about the “personal touch” Delsener provided and how he made him feel like family - unlike today’s promoters who he has zero interactions with and doesn’t know at all… covered in detail is probably Delsener’s most notable achievement - putting on a free Simon & Garfunkel show at Central Park in 1981 that drew an incredible record-setting 500,000 fans…

My favorite scene is when he goes to Jones Beach Theatre and the cameras follow him as he attends a Jimmy Buffett concert… he’s there early, cruising around the Parrothead parking lot scene, drinking beers, doing shots(!), and talking to the fans… he’s also backstage talking to Buffett and, interestingly, telling him it’s time to do something different, like maybe “solo acoustic” shows… there are also several clips with Peter Shapiro talking about, and to, Delsener who he is close friends with…

In 1996, Delsener sold his company to SFX Entertainment for $20 million and he remained with their successor companies, including Live Nation, until his retirement… overall, I enjoyed this documentary and I would especially recommend it to the older crowd who have been going to NYC area concerts since the days of “Ron Delsener Presents” — SL

Kicking Off the New Year

Date: January 15th, 2026

Act: Railroad Earth

Venue: Racket NYC, New York, NY

Bluegrass jam rockers, Railroad Earth, brought their winter tour to New York City on a very chilly night in January…

In recent years, most of their area shows have been at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, north of NYC up in Westchester, so it was great to see them playing this intimate Manhattan venue… Racket NYC is located across the street from the Chelsea Market over on the west side… capacity is listed at 650, comparable to Bowery Ballroom, and it appeared to be close to a sellout… this was my first show there but technically, I attended many concerts there in the past when it was the long gone Highline Ballroom… it used to be the go-to NYC venue for one of my faves, the North Mississippi All-Stars, and I also saw a great unique show there in 2011 consisting of all of the Rolling Stones touring band members, minus the actual Rolling Stones, led by legendary saxophone man, Bobby Keys, and supported by some top NY session musicians…

Anyway, back to Railroad Earth… the veteran band originally formed 25 years ago in New Jersey and became one of the few bluegrass bands with a traditional rock music bass/drums rhythm section (see SMM #74 for my profile of the band)... this is a key ingredient to what sets them apart, and along with the virtuosity of the band members, gives them their unique sound and jam style…

The set opened with “Chasin’ a Rainbow” from their 2014 album, Last of the Outlaws, and went on to span their entire career, going back to “Lordy Lordy” and “Mighty River” from their first two albums and even two songs from singer/songwriter Todd Scheaffer’s previous band, From Good Homes… they also gave us a sneak preview of a great new song they released the next day, “Keep Your Eyes Open”... it features the stellar guitar of SMM favorite, Daniel Donato, and it’s the lead single from their upcoming album (no release date yet)…

Railroad Earth is a well-oiled machine and the crowd was filled with obviously VERY dedicated fans of all ages, loving every minute, singing along with every song… for a great taste of the band’s sound, check out their live album, Elko… it’s from 2006 but they still play all of these songs in concert…

Date: February 6th, 2026

Act: The Weight Band

Venue: Boulton Center, Bay Shore, NY

The Boulton Center is the closest venue to where I live, an easy 15 minute drive east… when it reopened after shutting down for several years due to Covid, I assumed, being that I was now retired, I would be a regular there… it hasn’t turned out that way, though… they keep the calendar filled and most of the time there are 40 or more events booked (music, comedy, old classic movies, etc) but unfortunately, I haven’t found a whole lot that interests me…

So when we decided to see The Weight Band it was my first show there since 2024… the Woodstock-based band is led by guitarist, Jim Weider, who played on The Band’s ‘90s albums and later with the Levon Helm Band… the other members are longtime denizens of the Woodstock music scene and have played with an impressive list of bands and artists including Levon Helm, the Midnight Ramble Band, Jimmy Vivino, Dickey Betts and bluesmen, Matt “Guitar” Murphy and Bob Margolin…

The band has released two solid studio albums, World Gone Mad (2018) and Shines Like Gold (2022) but when they go on tour these days they basically are a The Band tribute band - and a mighty fine one! The Band is one of my favorite groups of all time and I felt they nailed every song… they also mixed in an original or two plus excellent covers of the Grateful Dead (“Brown-Eyed Women”), the Allman Brothers (“Come and Go Blues”), Bob Dylan (a reworked “Highway 61 Revisited”) and Dr. John’s “Such a Night” which was a showcase for the keyboard playing and vocals of Brian Mitchell… Mitchell also filled the role of original Band multi-instrumentalist, Garth Hudson, playing accordion on several tunes… overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable show and it’s definitely worth checking them out if you are a fan of The Band. — SL

The new release front is starting to pick up a bit (Sophie Gault, Van Morrison, Bonerama) but I’m also still catching up with some late 2025 releases…

SOPHIE GAULT - Unhinged… I have written quite a bit about country-rocker Sophie Gault over the years going back to reviewing her debut album, Delusions of Grandeur, in March ‘22 (SMM #28), including it on my favorite albums of 2022 list (SMM #44), and writing about her appearance at Mercury Lounge in NYC in September ‘24 (SMM #75) on the day her last album, Baltic Street Hotel, was released… it was an excellent acoustic set, by the way, that unfortunately only a handful of people showed up for (boo!)… that brings me to her latest release, Unhinged, an album where she puts it all together… Sophie displays triple-threat singer/songwriter/guitarist skills on this outing, rocking hard right out of the box on the opening track, Buck Owens’ “Loves Gonna Live Here”... this cover has a decidedly more rock n’ roll edge than Buck’s original! She also rips through Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breaking Down”, a song that is best known from the Rolling Stones version on Exile on Main Street… Sophie’s original tunes cover the country-rock gamut with the title track a stompin’ mid-tempo burner, “Stowaway” rocks hard with great lyrics (“I’m a stowaway in the cruise ship of your heart”), there’s the acoustic guitar-driven love gone wrong tune, “Merlot Dodge Dart” and more traditional country rockers (“Last Call Rock and Roll”)... the album ends with a ballad duet with veteran country artist, Gurf Morlix (Morlix was an early-career Lucinda Williams band member & producer)… overall, this album is all killer, no filler! Looking forward to Sophie returning to New York this year (Lucinda’s maybe?) and it should be in front of a full house this time!

THE GNOMES - Introducing The Gnomes… from the land that brought you AC/DC, this new young Australian band (oldest member is 23) is led by 19 year old singer/guitarist/songwriter, Jay Millar, and they have been getting some serious buzz… for such a young guy, Millar, dips way back into the 60s and 50s for primary influences: The Beatles, the 60s versions of the Kinks and Rolling Stones and pioneering American rock & roll guitarists, Carl Perkins and Link Wray… the band’s debut album starts off with some Beatles-style pop-rock tunes but eventually it shifts gears into some pounding hard rockers like “Flipping Stomp”, “Time Will Tell”, and my favorite, the 6-minute “Stung”… these guys appear to have a long future ahead of them!

THE KOKOMO KINGS - Turbomouth… Swedish band that plays a retro style of rock & roll that combines the Texas blues-rock of the Fabulous Thunderbirds with some Chuck Berry and the roots rock of Dave Edmunds and Rockpile… I never really listened to them before, maybe a song here and there, but this is their sixth album… from listening to some of their back catalog, they have a basic template within which they consistently crank out excellent good-time party music… although I don’t know if they ever cross the ocean to tour the U.S., they would be a perfect band to get everybody up and dancing in some small dive bar or club…

BONERAMA - So Much Love… this is the first new album in seven years from the New Orleans-based band, Bonerama… their set at 2025 New Orleans JazzFest was one of my favorite performances at the festival and here are my comments on the band from my JazzFest writeup (SMM #83)... “Bonerama has a unique composition of four trombones, sousaphone, electric guitar and drums with several members taking turns on vocals… they are funky but also rock hard”… this new studio album fits that description well… it’s a mix of originals and covers that features a stellar group of special guests, including NOLA luminaries, Trombone Shorty, Galactic drummer Stanton Moore, Cyril and Ivan Neville and blues harmonica/vocalist, Johnny Sansone… standout tracks include “Derelict Junction” featuring Sansone on vocals, a great version of Neil Young’s “Ohio” with Trombone Shorty and the Nevilles and the nine minute “Meters Medley”… check it out!

VAN MORRISON - Somebody Tried to Sell Me a Bridge… this is album #48 for the 80 year old Morrison and he returns to his 60s blues roots with this hour-plus, 20 song chunk of great music… the set is mostly covers with a couple originals seamlessly mixed in… there are special guests: Taj Mahal on harmonica, banjo and vocals, Elvin Bishop and Buddy Guy on guitar - the definition of (very) “old pros”... although Buddy’s guitar playing on the final two tracks, “I’m Ready” and “Rock Me Baby”, has slowed down at age 89, it still sounds like Buddy, but, overall I’m not sure how much the old pros really add… if you are a Van fan, though, you should definitely like this…

Playlist: Got the Blues, Vol. 10…

It’s back to the Blues for this issue’s playlist… we start off with NYC blues guitarist, Noe Sacha… a recent discovery, Sacha is omnipresent on the city’s small club scene playing with his own bands and sitting in with other ones… next is vocalist/harmonica man, Brandon Santini, who’s Which Way Do We Go? was one of my favorite albums of 2025… the Brooklyn country blues duo, Fatboy Wilson & Old Viejo Bones is actually Ernesto Gomez and Samoa Wilson… saw the versatile Wilson singing with the National Reserve at Skinny Dennis in Brooklyn in 2024… Eric Gales is considered one of the best blues guitarists around and here’s a taste of what he can do… same can be said of Christone “Kingfish” Ingram… I saw him in action a few years ago and he’s pretty incredible! Rootsy Canadian bluesman Ray Bonneville is a Juno Award winner (Canada’s Grammys) and he locks into a great laid back swampy groove on the next tune… Doug Sahm is usually associated with his own brand of Tex-Mex country rock but he could also play the blues as evidenced by this track from the album The Last Texas Blues Band... Roy Buchanan was a one-of-a kind guitarist who even Jeff Beck idolized… Beck dedicated his version of Stevie Wonder’s “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” to Roy on his classic 1975 album, Blow by Blow… the blues tune, “Juicy John Pink” is a bit of an oddity from Procol Harum’s prog-rock classic, A Salty Dog… guitarist Robin Trower left the band a couple years later and went on to a very successful solo career with his Hendrix-style blues-rock… here he is blues-rockin’ from his first solo album, 1973’s Twice Removed From Yesterday… wow, next is one gritty hard-rockin’ version of the old gospel-blues chestnut, “Ain’t No Grave” from Swedish artist, Bror Gunnar Janssen… can’t go wrong with Albert Castiglia, a hot-shot guitar slinger who has appeared before on my blues playlists… originally from the Isle of Man, now living in Chicago, Davy Knowles is an outstanding guitarist and singer/songwriter… I met and hung out with him a bit after an NYC show back in 2015 - very modest dude, big talent… the playlist closes with two of Texas’ finest female blues artists, Sue Foley and Lou Ann Barton… Foley was born in Canada, but has spent significant time living in Austin since 1990… she is an impressive vocalist & guitarist and plays both acoustic and electric on “Two Trains”… I saw her last year at the Antone's 50th Anniversary Texas Blues Celebration at Lincoln Center and she is the real deal… Barton is a great swaggering vocalist who came up through the ranks in Austin in the 70s & 80s playing in bands with Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan… she’s only recorded a handful of albums - Read My Lips (1989) and Dreams Come True (1990) are both well worth checking out - and has rarely left Texas to perform but I did have the pleasure of seeing her back in 2001 on tour with Jimmie Vaughan…

Music Media: Docs, Books, & Podcasts

BOOK: The Uncool: A Memoir by Cameron Crowe, 2025 📚

If you grew up listening to music and going to concerts during the classic rock era of the 1970s - and are also a fan of the movies Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Almost Famous - then you should love this book…

The author, Cameron Crowe, was a child prodigy who graduated from high school three years early at age 15! He had already begun writing about rock music at age 13 for a free entertainment paper, The Door, in his hometown of San Diego… during that time, he managed to score an interview with Kris Kristofferson which got the attention of Rolling Stone and they hired him while he was still just 15… he got his big break with an assignment from Rolling Stone to go on tour with the Allman Brothers Band and write a cover story… this later became the basis for his autobiographical movie, Almost Famous…

After he left Rolling Stone, he ended up writing the screenplay for Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which launched his very successful movie career… he went on to write and direct Say Anything (1989), Singles (1990), Jerry Maguire (1996) and Vanilla Sky (2001)... he also won an Oscar for “Best Original Screenplay” for Almost Famous…

Along with his impressive career, the book is the story of his family, especially, his mother Alice, who was quite a character and his biggest fan… overall, the book is filled with numerous interesting stories of Crowe meeting, interviewing, becoming friends with, and hanging out with rock stars, roadies, band managers, fellow journalists and photographers, and other people from across the music industry spectrum… it’s an easy read, highly recommended! — SL

December Shows: A Rousing Close to 2025

Date: December 7th, 2025

Act: Allman Betts Family Revival

Venue: The Paramount, Huntington, NY

Devon Allman and Duane Betts, the sons of Allman Brothers Band legends, Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts, brought their 9th annual Allman Betts Family Revival tour to Long Island in early December… the Allman Brothers have always been an extremely popular band here on Long Island, going back to their 70s appearances at Nassau Coliseum and other venues… so the boys are wise to make a stop at The Paramount every year… the 1,500 capacity venue was set up with a GA open floor and was a packed house… fortunately, we had a couple of the best seats in a balcony above the side of the floor, as close to the stage as you could get… not bad!

Devon and Duane recruit a stellar rotating group of musician friends each year for the tour and for this show, we got Robert Randolph, Luther & Cody Dickinson, Amanda Shires, Jimmy Hall, G. Love, Judith Hill and Mattie Schell… the core band consisted of John Ginty (keyboards, Robert Randolph Family Band), Johnny Stachela (guitarist, Allman Betts Band, Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel), John Lum (drummer, Allman Betts Band) and Justin Corgan (bass, Allman Betts Band) who did yeoman’s work… I think he was out there on stage for the entire show!

The band opened with a smokin’ rendition of the instrumental “Hot ‘Lanta” from the classic Live at Fillmore East album… Devon was on Hammond B-3 and I said “that looks like the one Gregg played”... was looking at Devon’s Instagram and, indeed, he had taken it out of storage back in February… a nice touch! Some other highlights: the powerful vocals of Jimmy Hall on the blues chestnuts, “Statesboro Blues” and “Trouble No More”... Hall was the singer in 70s Southern rock band, Wet Willie, and at age 76 still sounds great… “Blue Sky” might be my favorite Allman Brothers song and Duane and Johnny Stachela’s dueling guitar work did it justice… the 2nd set opened with Dickey Betts’ classic instrumental “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and was a showcase for one of my all-time favorite guitarists, Luther Dickinson, of the North Mississippi All-Stars… it’s hard to believe the first time I saw Luther and NMAS was way back in 2005 at the Bowery Ballroom… he’s like an elder statesman now!

The women also stood out during the 2nd set… Judith Hill handled vocals on one of my favorites, “Southbound”, and also added a hot guitar solo… I was not familiar with Hill prior to this show but turns out she’s been around since the early 2000s and was in-demand background/duet vocalist to the stars, including, Michael Jackson, Prince, Elton John, Rod Stewart and Gregg Allman - hence the connection here… country vocalist/fiddler Amanda Shires is a star in her own right and I was really looking forward to seeing her… Devon seemed to be showcasing her a bit as she chipped in vocals & fiddle solos on a few songs before getting the plum assignment of taking centerstage for the big pre-encore finale of “Whipping Post”... when the Allman Brothers performed it, Gregg’s powerful vocals always defined the song so I was a little concerned if she would be up to it but have to say, she did a great job, along with, adding some choice fiddle solos…

The show wrapped up with everyone out on the stage for an encore of “Midnight Rider” ending a long but outstanding show… there are several top-notch Allman Brothers “tribute” bands out there like Trouble No More and Friends of The Brothers but they would be hard pressed to top what The Allman Betts Family Revival lays down every year!

Date: December 9th, 2025

Act: The Heavy Heavy, Laney Jones & The Spirits

Venue: Radio City Music Hall, NYC

This was my final concert of 2025 and I was really looking forward to it… ever since seeing the English band, The Heavy Heavy, open for The Revivalists and Band of Horses at Prospect Park in 2023, I had been wanting to see them headlining a small venue… so this was a perfect opportunity…

It was also a perfect opportunity to pre-game at the great East Village beer bar, d.b.a, and catch up with my bartender friend, William (also an SMM subscriber!)... William also has a band called Colebrooke and they have been working on a new album for the past year that he’s very excited about… he plans to release the album in 2026 and do some shows in NYC/Brooklyn… when the time comes, I will definitely get the word out in this newsletter! In the meantime, Colebrooke released four singles during 2025 that give you a good taste of their brand of Tom Petty-style heartland rock & roll…

After a couple excellent Strong Rope pilsners, I headed out to Bowery Ballroom for the show… following an extended wait for an Uber, I arrived at Bowery, headed to the bar, got a 16oz PBR and went upstairs… the room was packed and opener, Laney Jones & The Spirits, were already onstage cranking out some energetic rock & roll… I staked out a spot against the back wall by the door and enjoyed the performance… I was not familiar with Jones and her band but after they ended their set with a couple all-out rockers, “Fun Fun Fun” and “Another Rolling Stone”, I had definitely taken notice! During the break between bands, I was holding my spot by the back door, drinking my PBR, when Laney Jones herself came up to me on her way out and gave me a shoutout on my Grateful Dead hat… was pretty cool I have to say!

Soon after, The Heavy Heavy came out to a very enthusiastic reception from the crowd… the band is led by principal songwriters Georgie Fuller on vocals/keyboards and Will Turner on guitar/vocals and other members include Tom Holder (bass), Frank Fogden (guitar), and Joe Bordenaro (drums)... I would describe their sound as a less folk/pop, more rockin’ Mamas & The Papas with country rock, soul/R&B, 60s garage-pop and some psychedelic sounds mixed in… maybe not exactly musically but in spirit, you could call Fuller/Turner a modern day Buckingham/Nicks!

With the blonde-haired Fuller moving back and forth from behind her keyboard to center stage, she is the visual focal point of the band… every song, though, features multiple band members harmonizing on vocals, led by Fuller, with Turner’s consistently creative guitar work driving things forward… although they have only released two albums and a 10-song “EP” to date, there is no filler and they were easily able to put together a great 15 song set plus a two-song encore… their latest album, Live, was released in August last year and also includes a couple new tunes, one of which, the instrumental “Parakeet” served as the opener and was a showcase for Turner’s guitar playing… 2nd guitarist Fogden also chips in on the guitar solos…

Overall, this was a great, eventful night of music (& good beer!) to cap off 2025… headlining the 550 capacity Bowery Ballroom is a big step forward for a young band like The Heavy Heavy (in a 2013 music industry poll by Rolling Stone it was voted the best small venue in the country)… I predict they are going to keep moving up the venue ladder and, maybe not get to Madison Square Garden level, but probably Beacon Theater/Capitol Theater level which would be an impressive achievement! — SL

1. OTIS TAYLOR - Live

2. ROBERT PLANT - Saving Grace

3. SLOW MOTION COWBOYS - Wolf of St Elmo

4. MIKE FARRIS - The Sound of Muscle Shoals

5. THE THIRD MIND - Right Now!

6. LOLA KIRKE - Trailblazer

7. CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE - Look Out Highway

8. BRANDON SANTINI - Which Way Do We Go?

9. DANIEL DONATO - Horizons

10. HOLLY GOLIGHTLY - Look Like Trouble

11. MARGO PRICE - Hard Headed Woman

12. JAMES McMURTRY - The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy

13. VARIOUS ARTISTS - Tribute to the King of Zydeco

14. MONTEFURADO - Heavy Heads

15. BROWN HORSE - All the Right Weaknesses

Favorite Reissue: ROLLING STONES - Black and Blue (Super Deluxe Edition)

A lot of my old favorites who have made my annual list in the past are on it again this year like Robert Plant, The Third Mind, Daniel Donato and Margo Price… my top pick, Otis Taylor, would also qualify as an old favorite but this is his first album since 2017 and it qualifies as a somewhat mysterious release… it just kind of “showed up” in October and other fans around the internet also commented about the total lack of information surrounding this album… but it’s definitely Otis and his band playing his unique “trance” blues and it’s definitely great stuff…

I also added my favorite “archival” release of 2025, the Rolling Stones - Black and Blue (Super Deluxe Edition)... I played this album a LOT when it was originally released way back in 1976… it was recorded while the band was auditioning guitarists to replace the departed Mick Taylor… those guitarists included Jeff Beck(!), Harvey Mandel (Canned Heat, John Mayall), studio guitarist Wayne Perkins and Ron Wood, who was good friends with Jagger & Richards, and officially joined the band soon after… along with a new mix of the original album, this edition includes two studio outtakes and several (not that interesting) instrumental jams… the best part, though, is the inclusion of a rockin’ 20-song concert recorded at Earl’s Court in London in 1976 that features songs from Black and Blue…

Since I listened to over 7,000 songs in 2025 I’m not going to try to list my favorites but one song I will mention is “Zeppelin III” from Lola Kirke’s album which made my list… it’s a great, candid song about growing up with a rock star dad who wasn’t around much - in Lola’s case it was Simon Kirke, the drummer from Bad Company and Free…

Favorite Concerts of 2025

• Papa Mali Shantytown Underground - NOLA JazzFest, Apr 24

• Shannon McNally - NOLA JazzFest, April 25

• Valparaiso Men’s Chorus - Saturn Bar, NOLA, April 25

• New Orleans Percussion Consortium - NOLA JCC, April 26

• Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Carnegie Hall, NYC, May 8

• William Elliott Whitmore - Amityville Music Hall, July 15

• Drive-By Truckers & Deer Tick - The Rooftop-Pier 17, NYC, July 25

• Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts - Jones Beach, NY, Aug 23

• David Byrne - Radio City Music Hall, October 10

• Patti Smith - Beacon Theatre, NYC, Nov 21

• The Heavy Heavy & Laney Jones & The Spirits - Bowery Ballroom, NYC, Dec 9

With the exception of Neil Young and his latest band, The Chrome Hearts, The Heavy Heavy and Deer Tick, my favorite concerts of 2025 were all performers I had never seen before… which perfectly fits my concert “M.O.” these days… the late night shows during New Orleans JazzFest weekend were as unique and enjoyable as any concert experience I’ve had… the Valparaiso Men’s Chorus singing sea shanties and traditional drinking songs to a packed house at classic dive, Saturn Bar, was a total blast and the New Orleans Percussion Consortium was a one-of-a-kind musical experience! Check out SMM #83 & #84 for more details on the JazzFest week shows & sets… my final show of 2025 at Bowery Ballroom seeing two excellent up and coming bands, The Heavy Heavy and Lanie Jones & The Spirits, was a great way to cap off a year in which I attended 31 concerts, my most ever in one year!

2025 Spotify Wrapped Results

My annual “Wrapped” report from Spotify arrived a few weeks ago… a lot of it is kind of silly and meaningless but there are some nuggets of data I like to see every year… my total listening time was 39,695 minutes which was slightly higher than my 2024 total… I was in the top 8% of global listeners last year but for some (dumb) reason they are not including that data point this year…

My Top 5 Artists listened to were led by Neil Young for the second straight year… I logged 1,038 minutes which put me in the top 0.3% of global Neil listeners… seems about right since he’s my favorite all-time artist… perennial favorites the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan were once again in the Top 5 but there were two surprises in Shannon McNally and the Drive-By Truckers… both were artists I saw live for the first time this year and I did a deep-dive into their catalogs to prepare but I didn’t expect to see them in my top 5… guess one of them displaced the Grateful Dead who missed my Top 5 for the first time…

Other stats in the report showed I listened to 7,689 songs and 2,721 artists… those seem like crazy huge numbers but I’ll go with it! To quote myself from last year, “I definitely try to check out as many different artists as I can in my never-ending quest to find good music that interests me and, in turn, hopefully interests my subscribers!”

Random Thoughts on 2025 & 2026

Some random thoughts about the current state of the music scene… I constantly peruse the concert schedules for most of the small to medium venues in the NYC/LI region and I would comfortably say that I am at least “aware” of several thousand artists… despite this, I was amazed this year at how many times I have never heard of ANY of the performers on the upcoming schedule! So even with the odds stacked against them making a comfortable living playing music since your revenue is almost all derived from playing live and selling your merch, it’s encouraging to see so many young artists getting out there to chase the dream…

Another thing I noticed this year was a noticeable increase in the number of tribute/cover bands appearing on venue’s schedules… I plan to explore this trend further in a separate post during the next couple months…

Finally, a belated HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone and thanks for your support over the past year, cheers!! — SL

Checking Off a Couple of Legends

The past couple years I have been focusing on trying to see as many bands/artists as I can that I have never seen before, especially legendary greats that are still out there touring… in the past two months I checked off two more legends, David Byrne and Patti Smith, both of whom came out of the Punk/New Wave era of the late 70s/early 80s…

Date: October 10th, 2025

Act: David Byrne

Venue: Radio City Music Hall, NYC

Even though I was a big Talking Heads fan back in the day, I regrettably never did see them live… I also missed the boat on David Byrne’s highly acclaimed “American Utopia” show that had a couple runs on Broadway between 2019 and 2022… so when Byrne announced this tour with a show at Radio City, I wasn’t going to miss another chance to see him and I jumped on a couple of good orchestra seats…

We arrived at Radio City and it was a hectic scene outside… after waiting on one line for several minutes, we got sent to another line on the other side of the building… we then had to deal with a couple of overzealous asshole security guys before finally getting in and heading to our seats…

There was no opening act and soon after, Byrne and his sizable contingent of musicians entered the stage… they kicked off with the Talking Heads classic, “Heaven”... for this tour, Byrne has continued to employ the “American Utopia” template of a “marching band” style… the dozen or so band members all wore similar bright blue uniforms and everyone was carrying their instruments with them… no microphone stands, drum kits or amplifiers… definitely an original, unique concept from an original, unique artist… along with the unique band, the stage set was also unlike anything I have ever seen before with videos on three walls surrounding the stage… for the song “My Apartment is My Friend” Byrne took us on a tour of his own apartment, projected on the walls… band members entered and exited the stage through a door projected on the wall at back of stage… it was very cool stuff!

The set list consisted of 19 songs plus a two song encore… my biggest question before the concert was how many Talking Heads songs will he play… turned out it was ten so basically half the set… he closed the regular set with three Talking Heads classics: “Psycho Killer”, “Life During Wartime” (my personal favorite TH song) and “Once in a Lifetime”... the encore was solo tune “Everybody’s Coming to My House” and another Heads classic, “Burning Down the House”... overall, the show was as good as you could hope for… lots of Talking Heads, brilliantly and uniquely performed by the 73 year old Byrne and his talented band… for a fun taste of the show in a VERY small setting, check out their appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert… very impressive how they can duplicate what they do on a big stage in this cramped little space…

Date: November 21st, 2025

Act: Patti Smith

Venue: Beacon Theatre, NYC

In November, Patti Smith and her band hit the Beacon Theater in NYC for two nights to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of her classic debut album, Horses… back in the 70s I didn’t pay much attention to Smith… she was a highly publicized, anti-establishment figure who always spoke her mind via interviews and in her songs… I did like her big radio hit, the Springsteen cover “Because the Night” from her 1978 album, Easter, but I never bought any of the albums… over the last 30 years or so, I have listened to a most of her catalog and come to appreciate what all the fuss was about… I really love her 2007 covers album, Twelve, which I highly recommend… most of the songs are very well known (“Gimme Shelter”, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “White Rabbit”) but she puts her own stamp on them…

On to the show! The Beacon was buzzing when I arrived about 20 minutes before showtime… in the lobby was the longest merch line I have ever seen there, snaking its way all the way to the back entrance! Impressive - but I decided to pass on a t-shirt or poster since I wanted to be in my seat when the show started…

A little after 8:00, the lights went down and Smith walked out on the no-frills stage - no back drop, no video screen - with her band: guitarist Lenny Kaye, drummer Jay Dee Daugherty (both with Patti since the beginning), Tony Shanahan on keyboards and bass and Smith’s 43 year old son, Jackson, on bass and guitar… they quickly launched into the first song from Horses, “Gloria: In Excelcis Deo”, her cover of the seminal Van Morrison & Them song intertwined with her poetic religion-themed lyrics… the song opens with the classic line, “Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine” and takes off from there… two minutes in, the band was firing on all cylinders, Patti was furiously spitting out the lyrics, and it was rock & roll as good as it gets! They continued to run through the rest of the Horses album - rearranging the original song order a bit so they could finish up with the barnburner medley of “Land: Horses / Land of a Thousand Dances / Gloria (reprise)”...

After that, Patti left the stage and the rest of the band played a 3-song tribute to the NYC punk/New Wave band, Television, who were peers of the Patti Smith Group on the 70s NYC scene… this was a showcase for Jackson Smith’s guitar playing as he did a great job duplicating the complex leads of Television’s guitar legend, Tom Verlaine… Patti was back out after that and the set continued with a “best of” from the rest of her catalog… it included The Byrds’ “So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star” and “Dancing Barefoot” from her ‘78 album Wave and, of course, “Because the Night”... they returned for an encore of “Ghost Dance” and her popular anthem, “People Have the Power” written with her late husband, Fred “Sonic” Smith back in 1988… Smith’s daughter, Jesse, also joined in on keyboards for the encore…

Overall, the band was outstanding and Patti still has a powerful stage presence at age 79… her voice sounds great, and she dances all over the stage… she also has always been known as an activist and didn’t hold back on her comments about the state of the union these days… and like, David Byrne, I wish I had seen her back in the 70s but for a rock legend pushing 80, I couldn’t have asked for a better concert. — SL

Holy crap, where have you been all my music fan life? How did I never check out singer/songwriter Holly Golightly during the past 30 years? Maybe it was the name which doesn’t exactly scream this right-on-the-money AllMusic Guide description of her and her music: “Prolific singer and songwriter whose unpretentious blues-based swagger is rooted in early rock & roll, R&B, and rockabilly”...

“Prolific” is one adjective that certainly applies… besides her solo stuff, she also has a rockin’ country blues band, Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs, is part of a garage rock girl group, Thee Headcoatees, and has collaborated on numerous other projects…

My recent “discovery” of her was via reviews in the same publication of her new solo album, Look Like Trouble, and a new album from Thee Headcoatees, their first in 26(!) years… I read the latter review first which led me to read about her album and dive into her catalog…

The new album, Look Like Trouble, is her first solo album since 2018 and it features the same band as the last one…her website describes her sound as a “blend of pre-rock electric blues, folk rock, and less frantic rock & roll”... seems about right and it immediately hooked me in with the opening track, “Black Tongue” which features a sultry cooking rhythm and nasty guitar solo… other highlights are “My Get Back”, “Down to One” and “Miss Fortune”... it’s bluesy slow burn, late night stuff with an ominous attitude that runs through most of the songs and the band’s edgy sound fits the biting lyrics perfectly… Thee Headcoatees album Man-Trap is a much different affair… it’s punky girl-band garage rock with Holly and two other female singers taking turns on the vocals… it kicks off with a cover of The Ramones classic, “The KKK Took My Baby Away” and continues to rock hard the rest of the way… it’s a good listen but I much prefer Holly’s solo stuff… for a great dose of her music, listen to the Spotify “This is…” playlist…

New Releases: Archival Reissues

Things have been a little slow on the new release front in recent weeks so I’m just going to cover a couple “archival” releases below…

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - The Definitive Decoration Day… after years of dabbling with their music without ever really diving in, I went to see them live this year and listened to a significant chunk of their catalog… I came away fully on board and now see why they have been critic’s darlings for the past 25 years… Decoration Day, first released in 2003, was the nearly-as-good followup to their magnum opus, Southern Rock Opera, released in 2001… it was the first album to feature Jason Isbell who left the band a few years later to pursue what has turned to be a highly successful solo career… Isbell wrote the ballad “Outfit” and the title track, a mid-tempo rocker featuring some fiery guitar work… this “definitive” edition includes a remixed/remastered version of the original album and a live acoustic - but still rockin’ - show recorded at Flicker Bar in Athens, GA in 2002…

TEN YEARS AFTER - Ssssh: 2025 Deluxe Edition… I’ve always felt that Ten Years After was an underappreciated band… they formed in 1966, around the same time as Cream, the progenitors of British heavy blues-rock, and two years before the arrival of Led Zeppelin… they released their self-titled debut album in 1967, a solid affair that mixed jazz, blues and rock & roll… next was a 1968 live album Undead that consisted of 5 lengthy tracks showcasing guitarist Alvin Lee’s lightning fast playing… I feel like this album may have been influenced by the live tracks on Cream’s Disraeli Gears which was released earlier that year… in early 1969, they released another studio album Stonedhenge, a more experimental psychedelic, prog-rock album… next we get to the subject album, Ssssh, which was originally released in September 1969, following on the heels of their star-making appearance at the Woodstock Festival in August… it became a big hit in both the U.K. and U.S. and led to the peak of their popularity over the next few years… AllMusic Guide says the album is “a primer of British blues-rock of the era, showcasing Alvin Lee’s guitar pyrotechnics and the band’s propulsive rhythm section. As with most of TYA’s work, the lyrics were throwaways, but the music was hot”... listen to the “2025 Stereo Mix” of the original eight tracks, especially the heavy, driving version of blues chestnut, “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl”... then skip the “2017 remaster” and check out some of the live tracks recorded in 1969 in Helsinki which, admittedly, feature some of the excessive playing that typified the era (i.e. an 18 minute version of “I Can’t Keep from Crying”)… if you like the studio stuff, definitely check out their best two albums, Cricklewood Green (1970) and A Space in Time (1971)...

Playlist: Scattered Nuggets - Rock and Roll, Vol. 26

It’s back to Rock ‘n’ Roll for this issue’s playlist, kicking off with The Clash ripping into “Guns on the Roof” from 1978’s Give ‘em Enough Rope… next is a typical rocker from the Minus 5, a long-running collaboration between Portland OR-based musician Scott McCaughey and R.E.M. guitarist, Peter Buck… the late British guitarist, Wilko Johnson, is a playlist favorite who cranked out many great hard rockin’ tunes with the band, Dr. Feelgood, and later as a solo artist… Eddie Money put out a series of outstanding albums in the 70s & 80s, particularly his self-titled 1977 debut - this tune is from 1982’s No Control… upstate NY’s Handsome Jack is an excellent under-the-radar hard rockin’ band who call their music “boogie soul” (looking forward to their new release in Feb!)... Hamish Anderson is an Australian blues-rock guitarist who has put out three fine albums and this is the title track from his 2016 debut… had not heard of veteran Canadian band The Headstones before I came across this song but will be checking out their catalog… Deep Purple and Rainbow’s Ritchie Blackmore is one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time and he shows why as he goes to town on an instrumental version of The Yardbirds’ “Still I’m Sad”... heard the appropriately-titled next song by The Stunning on the Netflix series, House of Guinness… Welsh retro-soul singer Duffy hit it big with her debut album Rockferry in 2008, released one more album, and hasn’t been heard from since… gritty English band Junkyard Choir kicks up a nice ruckus behind the Tom Waits-like vocals of leader, Mark Woods - another band I need to explore further… saw the Tall Pines recently at Lucinda’s (covered in last issue) and this is by far their best song IMO… I love the down-and-dirty sound of 75 year old British blues-rock guitarist/vocalist Mick Clarke… he is ultra-prolific, cranking out song after song, one at a time, with a solid hit rate of winners… versatile country rocker Steve Earle is one of my all-time favorites and an endless source of playlist material… Memphis guitar legend, Steve Cropper (Booker T & the MGs, Blues Brothers), died on December 3rd so I slipped in the cool title track from his 2024 album, Friendlytown… will wrap things up with the epic 7 minute title track from Thin Lizzy’s 1979 album, Black Rose: A Rock Legend… it features an amazing, lengthy guitar solo from the great Gary Moore, who was an on-again-off-again member of Lizzy in the 70s… — SL

Small Venue Adventures in NYC

My favorite places to see live music are small venues, whether they are just open bare-bones rooms with a bar in the back like Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom, places with tables & waitress service like Iridium NYC and Sony Hall, or just a dive bar with a stage in the corner like Stephen Talkhouse out in the far eastern end of Long Island in Amagansett.

Date: October 30th, 2025

Act: GA-20, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Venue: Littlefield, Brooklyn, NYC

On October 30th, a day that featured all-day heavy rain, I ventured to the Gowanus area of Brooklyn to a very obscure club called Littlefield to see co-headlining blues-rockers, Boston’s GA-20 and the Texas band, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears… I had never heard of the club before buying the tickets but it’s been there for several years… this area of Brooklyn between 3rd and 4th Avenues features a wide assortment of bars, breweries, restaurants and clubs and right next door to Littlefield is the tap room for one of NYC’s better breweries, Wild East Brewing Co… after dealing with LIRR and subway delays, I was ready for a beer so this is where I headed prior to the show to await my son Joe who was held up by extensive subway delays… after he finally arrived, we had a beer together and then went over to Littlefield…

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears had just started playing as we entered, straight into the bar area, which then opened up into a small concert room with the stage directly opposite the front door… the website says standing capacity is 350 and I guess, combined with the bar area, maybe that would work but it would probably be quite uncomfortable if they crammed 350 people in there! I feel like there were around 100 people there… far from elbow to elbow but the room did seem nearly full…

This was the third time I have seen Black Joe Lewis and the last time was also with GA-20 two years ago… there is an interesting dynamic between the two bands… GA-20 is the relative newcomer, forming in 2018, but through extensive touring in the U.S. and Europe, they are a band on the rise… meanwhile, Lewis’ career seems to have stalled in recent years… he was a popular act, releasing five albums between 2009 and 2018, but nothing since…

Nevertheless, the crowd seemed to be there more for Lewis than GA-20… he led his guitar-bass-drums trio through a funky hard rockin’ one hour set with no let up, no slow blues or ballads… the crowd loved it and after they left the stage, we noticed a significant portion of the crowd heading for the exit…

GA-20 set up quickly and launched into their first song within minutes in an obvious attempt to keep the party going… the band, named after a popular guitar amplifier manufactured by Gibson in the ‘50s, model themselves after legendary Chicago blues band, Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers (in 2021, they released an entire album of Hound Dog tunes)… like The Houserockers, the band consists of two guitarists (no bass), Matthew Stubbs and Cody Nilsen, and drummer, Josh Kiggans… Nilsen also handles vocals and is an excellent guitarist and showman… both Nilsen and Kiggans are new since we last saw them in December 2023… it’s Stubbs band and the new members have blended with him seamlessly… (side note: Stubbs is also the guitarist for veteran blues star, Charlie Musselwhite’s touring band)…

Their set mixed originals like “Dry Run” and “Easy on the Eyes” with old blues and soul covers, like Elmore James’ “Stranger Blues”, Billy Boy Arnold’s “Cryin’ and Pleadin’” and a Hound Dog Taylor medley... they closed their high energy one hour set with a great version of The King of Surf Guitar, Dick Dale’s ripping instrumental, “Nitro”... overall, these guys give you your money’s worth and I definitely recommend checking them out if they come your way…

After we left Littlefield, we had some time to kill before my train so we headed around the corner to a classic dive bar on 3rd Avenue, Canal Bar… I love a good dive bar and this one fits the bill… cramped but comfortable, with a modest crowd, friendly bartender, and a solid beer list… a cold pint of Narragansett capped off a great night of music and beer!

Date: November 3rd, 2025

Act: The Tall Pines, Collin J. Rocker

Venue: Lucinda’s, East Village, NYC

A few nights later I was back in the big city, this time on a solo mission to Manhattan’s East Village, to check out a new country bar and music venue, Lucinda’s… owned by country-rock great, Lucinda Williams, the bar has generated significant buzz since opening in late summer… I was anxious to check it out and after a couple of aborted attempts to get there, I finally made it…

It was a Monday night and I had bought a $10 ticket ahead of time to see a swamp-rock duo, The Tall Pines… I was vaguely familiar with them but was more interested in just scoping out the place… after taking the A train to the L, I got off at 1st Ave and headed up Avenue A… had some time to kill so I stopped at a cool bar recommended by my son called Drop Off Service… has maybe a “high class” dive bar vibe, had a good beer list and plenty of room to spread out… downed a German Oktoberfest and headed up the street to Lucinda’s…

Walked in and was kind of taken back by how small it was… grabbed a stool at the bar and ordered a Corona… decor was well-curated “honky-tonk music bar”... the short entrance hallway was covered with Lucinda Williams photos and posters and inside there were portraits and photos of musical greats like Johnny Cash and old concert posters… in the back corner was a small floor-level stage with a few high-top tables and booths near it… and that was basically it… felt like the place would have trouble holding more than a 100 people but did read that when Lucinda herself played opening night, there were about 150…

I stayed for about 2 hours and left during The Tall Pines set… they were OK but not really grabbing me… my assessment of Lucinda’s is it’s a nice place, captures the honk-tonk vibe, but maybe overdoes it a bit… it was a mixed age crowd of 20s to 70+ which is nice since I hate being the only old guy - or in a crowd of ALL old dogs! I feel like there is a NYC country music underground of fans and musicians that has quickly coalesced around this place… everyone seemed to know each other (and the band), lots of hugs and cheery greetings… at times, I felt like I was interloping at a private party… the biggest drawback is how small it is… I could easily see getting there and not being able to get past the door… but I will be going back, at least, to see my band from Skinny Dennis in Williamsburg, the National Reserve… they have landed a recurring Wednesday night gig there under the name Groover’s Paradise (named after the great 1974 Doug Sahm album) and going back & forth to Lucinda’s is a much easier round trip for me than Williamsburg! — SL

Happy birthday to my all-time favorite artist, Neil Young, who turned 80 on November 12… he’s one of the last of the living classic rock era legends to get there… Dylan will be 85 in ‘26, Jagger & Richards, Townshend & Daltrey, Jimmy Page and John Fogerty are all past 80 (guys like Robert Plant (77) and the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir (78) are “kids” among this group that all started out in the 60s)…

I have been reading the massive, definitive biography of Neil, Shakey, by Jimmy McDonough for what seems like 80 years! It’s great, loaded with interesting stories and candid quotes from Neil, but at 700+ pages, I would only recommend it if you consider yourself a huge, diehard Neil fan…

Below is a Neil playlist I assembled a few months ago… it’s a 2 hour mix of choice lesser, or little, known songs and live stuff from his endless catalog… enjoy! — SL

Lately, I have only been able to get out one issue of SMM a month… the issues have a lot of content and life gets in the way sometimes which has led to me taking longer and longer to finish writing them… so starting with this issue, I am going to break things up and post shorter issues of SMM going forward… separating New Releases & Playlists from Concert Reviews and other content I come up with will enable me to post more often and in a more timely fashion… as always, thanks for everyone’s continuing support!

New Releases

ROBERT PLANT - Saving Grace… after releasing his most recent album, Raise the Roof, in 2021 with Alison Krauss and touring with her and their stellar band from 2022 through 2024, Plant has moved on to his next project with Saving Grace… while on breaks from tours with Krauss, Plant began touring the UK and Europe with the band of the same name but this is their first recording together… similar to the material he played with Krauss and company, the sound is a melting pot of country blues, folk and rock & roll… once again, he applies his extraordinary skills as an arranger, performer and interpreter of other artist’s songs - there are no originals on the album - and makes the songs his own… he also has a knack for finding very talented musicians who are fully on board with his vision… after hitting it off with banjoist Matt Worley at his local pub, they assembled the band from various local folk musicians… a highlight is a surging version of Minnesota band, Low’s “Everybody’s Song”... overall, the album is on the mellower, subdued side but it still is an outstanding effort that, per AllMusic Guide, “adds new shades to Plant’s global folk fusion”...

OTIS TAYLOR - Live… Denver bluesman Otis Taylor is not very well known but he should be… he has a versatile unique style he calls “trance” blues that starts with a John Lee Hooker template and expands it into more of a blues-rock thing… he writes great songs that mainly focus on the experiences of African and Native Americans… haven’t been able to find any info on this album but it was likely recorded somewhere in Colorado since he rarely performs outside of there… his band is in top form, seamlessly moving back and forth from subdued, hushed tones to full-on electric jams… check out the 10 minute tour-de-force on the Hendrix classic, “Hey Joe” for a good example of this… overall, this album is highly recommended!

BRANDON SANTINI - Which Way Do We Go?… this is the first album I have listened to by this Midwest blues vocalist and harmonica player and his fifth, overall… Santini looks and sounds like a bluesy Nathaniel Ratliff… the title track opens the album and immediately reeled me… really catchy crowd pleaser with lots of great harmonica throughout… the album takes off from there with a bunch of great blues stompers, slow burners and some rock & roll (“Working on a Mystery”) featuring powerful drumming and wailing harmonica & guitar solos… it’s all original material as far as I can tell and the album is “all killer, no filler”... a winner!!

ALEX E.T. - Color of Strange… after a debut solo album in 2021, Alex E.T. moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles, put together a band and got signed by L.A. record label, Curation Records… they hooked her up with West Coast rock renaissance man, Ethan Miller, of Howlin Rain, who produced this album… she describes her music as a “personal potion of 60s and 70s psych, 80s paisley underground and post-punk, sprinkled with sneaky nods to early 90s indie and alt-rock”... Miller has been a mainstay of the psych-rock scene out there for 20 years, playing with and producing numerous artists… the record is a real gem so it turned out to be a perfect match… bands like Jane’s Addiction, Mazzy Star, and Velvet Underground have been mentioned in the reviews I’ve read and I also hear The Bangles on “Little Wars”... so if that sounds good to you, check it out…

THE DELTAZ - Give it All to You… California brother duo, now located in Nashville after their home and studio was lost in the fires around Los Angeles in 2018… this is their fifth album but the first one I have listened to… I went back and checked out some of their older material and their basic template has been laid back roots-rock… on this new release, they have added a more bluesy feel to the mix that the brothers say is “a completely different sound more rooted in the music we’ve always loved—R&B, country, and the blues”… the result is a very listenable album filled with well-written and performed tunes… feel they would be a good band to check out live and their bio claims they have become “fixtures” on the local Tennessee club scene…

BLACK TWIG PICKERS - Branches… new release from this veteran bluegrass/folk collective based in Virginia is quintessential hoedown music… the album was put out by a label called Sonoton Authentic Series that issued “authentically produced and recorded folk and world music from more than 100 countries and cultures around the world”... so I guess that means it’s new material… anyway, it’s great stuff if you are a bluegrass fan… they have a back catalog of albums, all excellent, that extend back 25 years…

Playlist: Got the Blues, Vol. 9…

Going back to the Blues for this issue’s playlist and the theme that runs through the playlist is collaborations and a healthy dose of Eric Clapton… E.C. is in there with his heroes Howlin’ Wolf and Freddie King, early Cream, 70s solo and with perhaps his greatest slow blues solo ever on “Have You Heard” with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers… the other two famous blues “Kings” B.B and Albert are teamed up with guitar greats Gary Moore and Stevie Ray Vaughan, respectively… there’s harmonica giant James Cotton on his final album with Gregg Allman handling vocals… current harmonica star, John Nemeth, with two female vocalists, Kat Riggins and Anne Harris… a personal favorite, Minnesota throwback country bluesman, Charlie Parr singing the shit out of ancient blues song, “Ain’t No Grave” with The Comatose Brothers backing him… Boston band, The Mystix, with MVP collaborator, Larry Campbell helping out… finally we have several stellar artists doing it on their own, Mississippi Hill Country legend, R.L. Burnside, influential 60s guitarist, Lonnie Mack, personal fave Dave Alvin and the setlist closes with one of the all-time great blues guitarists, Peter Green, original founder of Fleetwood Mac, on a classic live version of Duster Bennett’s, “Jumping at Shadows”… — SL

DANIEL DONATO - Horizons… I have touted Daniel Donato many times in SMM and was on his bandwagon long before the national music media and jam/country music fans picked up on him… he now qualifies as a star on that scene, evident in the headline show his band is playing at the venerable Capitol Theater in late October… Horizons, like 2023’s Reflector, features 15 road-tested band originals ranging from pure country, Bob Weir style “cowboy songs”, a bluegrass hoedown (“Hangman’s Reel”) and lengthy jams like the 11 minute, “Chore”… this tune has been part of their live set for the past few years… in New Orleans in 2023 I saw the band turn it into a marathon 35 minute(!) showcase… Donato’s jaw-dropping skills as a guitarist were on full display as he reeled off numerous lengthy solos - the guy has endless imagination! The studio albums are very good but this is a guy you have to see live to really appreciate - and with their extensive, non-stop touring schedule they should hit your town eventually…

THE THIRD MIND - Right Now!… this is the fourth release from this roots-rock supergroup led by Dave Alvin and second this year (Live Mind came out in February) and I have discussed them at length in SMM issues #62 and #80… the basic premise Alvin came up with back in 2020 was to take mostly obscure rock, folk, blues and jazz songs from the 60s and reinterpret them without rehearsal… they just hit the studio, roll the tapes and see what happens… the results so far have been consistently outstanding… the musicianship and guitar work is top notch, although I will admit that as much as I like this band, singer Jesse Sykes’ unique ghostly vocals are an acquired taste… that said, I like the whole album but it really hits it stride on the last three tracks: bluesman Otis Rush’s “Reap What You Sow”, the Youngbloods classic “Darkness, Darkness” and jazz legend Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has a Master Plan”...

BONES OWENS - Best Western… Owens is a recent discovery… came across a nice rockin’ tune on Spotify a few months ago so put him on my radar when I saw he had this new album coming out… the Missouri-bred artist plays good old guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll with Southern rock and blues influences… he fashions his songs around an endless trove of catchy riffs and even throws in a song featuring rapper, Yelawolf (not sure it really works but I’m fine with him mixing in something different)… at 15 songs, it’s a lot of music and maybe a few tunes could have been trimmed but, overall, it’s a fine effort worth checking out…

WEST TEXAS EXILES - 8000 Days… although they have amassed significant touring and festival experience the past few years, this is the debut album from this Austin-based band… the band features three singer/songwriters: Marco Gutierrez, Daniel Davis and Colin Gilmore (son of longtime Texas music star, Jimmie Dale Gilmore)... this leads to a variety of sounds and styles that work well together… there’s mid-tempo rockers, more harder rocking tunes (“Circles in The Yard”, “Way We Are”), a duet with Austin country singer Kelly Willis, moody ballads (“What Happened”), a sultry Tex-Mex tune (“Dark Desire”)... overall, the band blends it all into their own take on the country/roots rock genre and the album is an solid listen from beginning to end…

THE WILDMANS - Longtime Friend… promising debut album from Virginia country/bluegrass-rock brother/sister duo, Elisha and Aila Wildman, is heavily influenced by the father of country rock, Gram Parsons, with echos of The Byrds classic album, Sweetheart of the Rodeo, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram’s work with Emmy Lou Harris… the album includes inspired covers of Gram’s “Hot Burrito #2” and “Luxury Liner” and they give the nod to Gram and Emmy Lou in their website bio: “we’ve taken a lot from listening to Gram and Emmylou. It fits well with the way our voices are and the way stuff works between us”... their originals blend seamlessly with the covers and there are also three excellent instrumentals anchored by Aila’s fiddle playing… good stuff!

LOUIS MICHOT - Seauxleaux… Louis, leader of the great Louisiana cajun band, Lost Bayou Ramblers, is a favorite of mine… while there hasn’t been a new Ramblers album in years, the band still tours regularly, playing shows all over the country… Louis also keeps himself very busy with side projects, collaborations and his own solo albums… this is the second one, following 2023’s Reve du Troubadour and all the songs are sung in French except “One of These Days”… I have NO idea what he is singing about but his acoustic guitar, superlative fiddle playing and foot-stomping create hypnotic grooves throughout… my favorite song is “Boscoyo Fleaux” which he calls “Louisiana French nature-rap”... this song was also on Reve du Troubadour but this is a much different, more accessible version… unlike the previous album there are no guest artists - it’s all Louis - and that sounds good to me…

Playlist: Scattered Nuggets - Rock and Roll, Vol. 25

Returning to Rock ‘n’ Roll this issue after posting my extensive drinking songs playlist last time… we have covers of two great 60s classics: Los Angeles punk/New Wave band, X on “Wild Thing” and Too Slim & The Taildraggers blaze thru the Chambers Brothers’ “Time Has Come Today”... Rod Stewart, a first-rate Dylan interpreter, does one of his hardest driving rockers, “The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar” and 80s British rockers, Siouxsie & The Banshees add horns to a great cover of Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”... good old rock ‘n’ roll from Alejandro Escovedo, Wilko Johnson & The Who’s Roger Daltrey, The Black Crowes and Georgia Satellites… there’s also alt-country veterans, The Bottle Rockets, king of the down & dirty hard country groove, Ray Wylie Hubbard and country-rocker Brent Cobb copping a Led Zep riff on a hard rockin’ tune… retro-rock from Dave Alvin and The Blasters (see The Third Mind review above for more on Alvin)... screamin’ boogie from one of my obscure favorites, Ohio’s Five Horse Johnson - if you like this tune drop the needle anywhere on any of their albums for more of the same! The Wailers are not to be confused with Bob Marley’s band of the same name… these guys were an influential 60s American garage rock band… and finally, NYC underground band, FaithNYC with a song produced by Robert Plant’s Sensational Shape Shifters guitarist, Justin Adams…

Music Media: Docs, Books, & Podcasts

DOC: Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan, 2025 (Netflix) 📽️

When I was a young kid growing up in the 60s, television was loaded with “variety” shows… a charismatic host would introduce a mixed bag of guests including musicians, comedians, magicians, acrobats, jugglers, animal acts and weird stuff like plate-spinners… Ed Sullivan was the king of the variety show and watching his Sunday night show was a ritual for millions of American families, including, mine… he was a journalist by trade who was hired in 1948 to host this show, which he continued to host until 1971… Sullivan’s most famous musical guests during the show’s run were The Beatles in February 1964 but this documentary mainly focuses on Sullivan’s staunch advocacy and support of black musical artists… in the 50s, television was universally white but Sullivan defied that norm and started booking black musical acts… the late folk singer/activist, Harry Belafonte, Motown legend, Smokey Robinson and Motown label founder, Berry Gordy, provide running commentary throughout and there are numerous great archival clips of black performers such as James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Jackson Five, Jackie Wilson, Bo Diddley and many others… the documentary really nails the genuine mutual love and respect that existed between Sullivan and these artists… anyway, it’s great stuff so check it out!

Concert Notes: Catching Up with Late Summer Shows

Date: August 13th, 2025

Act: Robert Jon & The Wreck

Venue: Sony Hall, New York, NY

Robert Jon & The Wreck’s performance at New Orleans JazzFest earlier this year was a personal festival highlight… we only caught the last 30 minutes of their set so when I saw they were playing locally in NYC, I immediately grabbed a couple of VIP tickets…

Sony Hall is an intimate “supper club” style venue similar to other NYC spots like City Winery and Iridium… it seems that more and more of the roots-rock/Americana style artists I like are playing these venues when they come to NYC… they feature reserved seating at a table, waitress service and food options… this is NOT my favorite way to see a show but it’s comfortable, tix are reasonably priced, and it’s usually easy to get seats near the stage… our VIP seats were only $5 more than the GA price so it was a no-brainer and we ended up about 15 feet from the stage (see the pix!)... there was no opener and the band put on a fiery, tight, inspired performance of their brand of Southern rock… Robert Jon on vocals & guitar and Henry James on lead guitar are a dynamic duo and James’ numerous solos were especially impressive… I am admittedly not very familiar with their catalog but, like I always say, if you really enjoy the show anyway - which I did - the band must be good! And this show was great from start to finish… it was a modest crowd, less than 100 people, which included Robert Jon’s family who came all the way from California… there was also a contingent of very dedicated fans sitting right up front with their band tees on including one fellow retired dude I talked to who, along with his wife, was in the process of following their entire tour across the country… that’s a little over the top, especially for a band that plays the same basic set every night but hey, I’m sure they’re having a great time!

Date: September 17th, 2025

Act: Alabama Shakes

Venue: Forest Hills Stadium, Forest Hills, NY

I really did not think the band Alabama Shakes was ever going to reunite after their star frontwoman, Brittany Howard, left to launch a solo career back in 2018… but earlier this year the band announced they were back together, working on new music, and would be touring later in the year and that tour recently hit Forest Hills Stadium in the NYC borough of Queens…

I saw Alabama Shakes twice during their first run… the first time was in 2012 at Roseland Ballroom in NYC opening for, what turned out to be, an epic performance by Jack White… White was touring at the time with two backing bands, playing separate sets with an all-female band and an all-male band… despite that spectacle of a show, Alabama Shakes definitely held their own… next time I saw them was near the end of their first run, playing an excellent headline set at New Orleans JazzFest in 2017…

It was a sell-out crowd at Forest Hills for this Wednesday night show… we skipped the opener, El Michels Affair, as did most of the crowd based on the mob of people out on the grounds outside stadium… when we got to our seats for Alabama Shakes though the stadium was packed everywhere you looked… when the band came out, things were different from the previous times I saw them… there was an elegant stage set and the band was significantly expanded from the original four-piece (two guitars, bass, drums) to include two keyboard players and three backup singers… during their prior incarnation, the band only released two studio albums and a few scattered singles so we knew what to expect - most of those two albums and a couple new songs from their upcoming album… as the set rolled on, the crowd turned it into a love-fest… at one point, while Howard was talking between songs she had to step away from the mic and compose herself as the crowd continued to cheer for her and towards the end, she returned the love, saying it was probably her “favorite show ever”… they played an 18 song set plus a 3 song encore and the music rocked, Brittany’s vocals were superb as always, and it definitely was a triumphant return for the band! Looking forward to the new album… — SL

TEXAS HEADHUNTERS - self-titled… veteran Texas blues-rockin’ guitar slingers Jesse Dayton, Johnny Moeller, and Ian Moore team up on this collection of original tunes… the album blasts out of the gate with the hard-rockin, “Pocket” and “Maggie Moved Back to Mineola” (thought this was a Long Island reference but there is a Mineola, TX)... there are also intense slow burners like “Kathleen” and “Seeing Around Corners” that channel the spirit of Stevie Ray Vaughan and a great stomper, “Gimme Some Love”... they have already hit the road and I feel like these guys are guaranteed to kill it live so look for them in your town!

SLOW MOTION COWBOYS - Wolf of St Elmo… had not heard of this New Orleans-based band until I came across this album… they are fronted by songwriter Pete Fields and it turns out this is their fourth album… ten excellent original songs that lock into a mid-tempo country rock groove that doesn’t let go… great music for sitting outside having a couple beers while you watch the sun go down…

MARGO PRICE - Hard Headed Woman… Margo is one of my personal favorites, an artist I was in on the ground floor with back when she released her debut album Midwest Farmer’s Daughter in 2016… the deal was sealed when we saw her perform at the Green River Festival in Massachusetts that same year and met her in the merch tent after her set… she was gracious and friendly and signed the 45 she was selling.

Jump ahead and Margo is now a star who has worked hard, beat addiction, written an autobiography, and teamed up live & in the studio with artists like Willie Nelson, Billy Strings, Mike Campbell, Mavis Staples, Sharon Van Etten, and Lucius… after a foray into rock music on her last release, Strays, she returns to her country roots on the outstanding Hard Headed Woman… it kicks off with a couple driving country rockers “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” and “Red Eye Flight” and proceeds to run the gamut of country styles with slow ballads, honky tonk grooves and duets with Tyler Childers and Jesse Welles…

ANTONE’S 50TH ALL-STARS - 50 Years of the Blues… in SMM #86 I wrote about the Antone’s Texas blues celebration I went to in June at Lincoln Center in NYC and this is the accompanying album… it’s a hefty 41 song compilation of live and studio cuts from Austin’s iconic blues club’s archives and if you like the blues there’s lots of great stuff… some hi-lites: personal favorite Lou Ann Barton on “Sugar Coated Love”, Angela Strehli on “It Hurts Me Too”, Los Lobos tearing into Howlin Wolf’s “Three Hundred Pounds of Joy” and the trio of Eve Monsees, Lurrie Bell and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on the instrumental “Lookin Good”... you can drop the needle anywhere though… it’s all great!

GARRY BURNSIDE - It’s My Time Now… KENT BURNSIDE - Hill Country Blood… R.L. Burnside was a highly influential Mississippi Hill Country bluesman who died in 2005… his imprint can be heard on early Black Keys and North Mississippi All-Stars albums and several of his descendants have become recording artists in their own right… Garry is R.L.’s youngest son and Kent is his grandson and they update R.L.’s sound on these fine new releases from Strolling Bones Records… lots of great guitar work and the hypnotic rhythms Hill Country blues are known for… if you were a fan of R.L. you’ll like these albums and if you never heard of R.L., well check him out and these albums too!

Playlist: Drinkin’ Again

Had this one in the playlist archives for years so decided to dust it off and add a few more songs, pushing it up to almost 2½ hours of odes to drinking, bars, bartenders, and barmaids… it includes lots of songs about whiskey, a favorite of country artists… the theme is obvious but I think it works quite nicely musically too with every genre covered and a wide assortment of artists, starting and ending with Tom Waits - which seems appropriate…

Concert Notes: Twilight of the Rock Dinosaurs - Jones Beach Edition

The month of August saw several rock legends hit the stage at Jones Beach Theater, performers who started their careers in the ‘60s: Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and The Who’s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey… 1969 & Woodstock were 56 years ago(!) and all of these guys were already stars by then and, amazingly, they are still out there…

Date: August 1st, 2025

Act: Willie Nelson Outlaw Music Festival — Willie Nelson and Family, Bob Dylan, Wilco, and Lucinda Williams

Venue: Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY

Willie Nelson and his Outlaw Music Festival returned to Jones Beach for the second year in a row on August 1st… the one-day traveling festival always features a stellar lineup and this year was no exception… the 15,000 seat venue was sold out to see Willie & Family, along with Bob Dylan, Wilco, Lucinda Williams and Waylon Payne…

Since it was going to be a long day we decided to skip opener Waylon Payne and get there for Lucinda Williams, a personal favorite… Lucinda is a great singer/songwriter and is known for her tough brand of country rock… her band featured outstanding lead guitar work from longtime sidekick, Doug Pettibone, and new addition, Marc Ford, former lead guitarist for the Black Crowes… Lucinda played an excellent one hour set that closed strong with a cover of The Beatles “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, Lucinda rockers “Righteously” and “Joy” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in The Free World”...

After Lucinda, we headed out to the giant courtyard area to get some food and a beer… it turned out that between the huge lines and eating, we were away from our seats for Wilco’s entire set…

I am not a big fan of theirs but have seen them a couple times in the past, opening for Neil Young at Madison Square Garden in 2008, and as part of Bob Dylan’s Americanarama Festival in 2013, and was impressed with their performance both times… since I am only familiar with a handful of their songs and didn’t actually SEE them perform, I am not going to comment on their set - although, being a big fan of the Grateful Dead, it was cool to hear them cover the Dead tune, “U.S. Blues” to close their set…

The first time I saw Bob Dylan was 51 years ago on the legendary Before the Flood Tour with The Band… so it’s kind of amazing he’s still out there touring and putting on quality shows at age 84… last year, he and his trusted musical director/bassist, Tony Garnier, moved on from the rest of his longtime touring band and brought in a new drummer and two new guitarists… Dylan these days sticks to piano and harmonica and together, it's a very tight professional band… this was the second straight year I have seen him at Jones Beach as part of the Outlaw Tour and I found this year’s set much more enjoyable than the eclectic, obscure covers-laden set he played last year… this year we got choice nuggets like opener “Gotta Serve Somebody” along with “All Along the Watchtower”, “Desolation Row”, “Love Sick”, “Blind Willie McTell” and “Highway 61 Revisited”... overall, I have seen Dylan many times, including, a few great, killer shows but those days are behind him so I will likely be taking a pass on any future shows in the NYC/Long Island area…

The same can be said about Willie Nelson… I was never a big Willie fan but I do know his music, he’s an all-time great and I’ve seen him play some good sets in the past… at age 92 it’s a miracle he can still get out there and tour for several months a year and play 20 song sets but unfortunately, he looked and sounded every bit his age… we found it uncomfortable to watch and bailed after 5 or 6 songs… we were clearly in the minority though since the bulk of the crowd appeared to be there specifically to see Willie… regardless, if he does make it to next summer and fires up the tour bus for another Outlaw Tour, I’ll be skipping it…

Date: August 23rd, 2025

Act: Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts

Venue: Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY

It’s pretty safe to say that Neil Young is my all-time favorite musical artist… I saw him for the first time since 2008 at Forest Hills last year with his longtime band, Crazy Horse, which was great, but I wasn’t sure if he would hit the road again after band-related health issues led to last year’s tour being cancelled midway through… in February, though, Neil announced a summer tour with a new band, The Chrome Hearts, so I grabbed a couple of tix the day they went on sale… The Chrome Hearts are basically one of Young’s former touring bands, Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real, minus Lukas Nelson… so he’s very familiar with them and he was obviously looking for some youthful energy after his old Crazy Horse mates were unable to finish last year’s tour…

The show turned out to be everything I hoped for… Neil was in great form and The Chrome Hearts sounded like vintage Crazy Horse… the set list was filled with classic favorites like “Cowgirl in the Sand”, “Southern Man”, “Mr. Soul”, “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)” and “Ohio”... there were also some acoustic tunes in the middle and a couple obscure later-period CSN&Y tunes I could have done without (a minor complaint!)... another highlight was Neil playing piano on “Long Walk Home”, a Reagan-era protest song he hasn’t played live since 1989! Neil closed the regular set with crowd favorite “Old Man” and returned for the obligatory encore of “Rockin’ in the Free World” - one of the great encore songs of all time IMO… the riff is massive and it never gets old watching Neil stomp around the stage wrestling with his guitar as he screeches out the solos… he turns 80 in November but out of all his peers I talk about here, he is still the most capable and is still putting out new music - even if it's mostly not up to his old standards… so who knows if he’ll be out touring next year but I’m sure glad I got to see him again these past two years…

Date: August 28th, 2025

Act: The Who

Venue: Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, NY

This show wasn’t on my calendar but my friend John had a last minute cancellation and asked me if I wanted to go so what the hell… the word was they were in good form and the 21 song set list was as good as it gets, all killer, no filler… The Who did their first farewell tour in 1982 but since they are calling this tour “The Song Is Over: North American Farewell Tour” this probably IS the final one…

The last time I saw them in 2022 they played with a full orchestra but this time it was just the regular touring band: Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, Pete’s younger brother Simon (who has been on every tour since 2002) on guitar & vocals, Loren Gold (keyboards), Jon Button (bass) and newcomer Scott Devours on drums, who replaced longtime drummer Zak Starkey after his controversial firing earlier this year… they also had, almost hidden from sight, Jody Linscott on percussion and John Hogg on backing vocals…

It was a tight, professional unit that nailed every song, as expected… the weak link in recent years has been Daltrey’s vocals but he was in good form - and much better than the 2022 show at Madison Square Garden… Jones Beach was packed and the band could do no wrong as they opened with their 1965 hit, “I Can’t Explain”, “Substitute” and “Who Are You”... there was a Tommy medley of “Pinball Wizard/See Me Feel Me” and four straight songs from Quadrophenia: “The Real Me”, “I’m One”, “5:15” and “Love Reign O’er Me” followed by the magnificent duo from Who’s Next, “Baba O’Riley” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”... they followed that with “The Song is Over” also from Who’s Next… incredibly, they had never played it in concert before this year but, appropriately, it’s the name of the tour so maybe they were saving it for their real farewell tour? Following this big close, they wound things down with just Roger & Pete on the obscure acoustic ballad, “Tea & Theatre” from their 2006 album Endless Wire… I was not familiar with this tune and my group had no interest in hearing it so we were out in the parking lot by the time the “song was over”... — SL