Atomic Groove Happy Hour (21+ Event)

Moontricks

Nestled deep in the beautiful Kootenay mountains of Western Canada lies the home of Moontricks, a duo whose timeless sound captures the essence of their rugged roots. Combining their love of folk, blues, and electronic music, Nathan Gurley and Sean Rodman are blazing their own trail, merging musical worlds previously unacquainted and capturing audiences along the way.Since connecting in their rural hometown through a shared love of music, the pair’s chemistry was instantly apparent. With Gurley at the production helm and Rodman on songwriting and vocals, they’ve birthed an authentically raw and seductive sound infusing grassroots blues, wistful soul, and gritty, boot­ stomping bass. Their breakout organic hit “Home” has surpassed 1million streams and their music is frequently licensed for film and television.Once a best­ kept secret in Canada's festival circuit, Moontricks is now taking their sound worldwide. Feeling just as at home on an electronic festival stage one weekend and a folk festival the next, their spirited live performances feature an assemblage of guitar, keys, banjo, and vocals atop stunning original productions. Their touring schedule has seen them play across North America and Australia with stops at major festivals like Lightning In A Bottle, Rainbow Serpent, and Shambhala Music Festival ­  where they’ve become fan favourites, playing every year since their debut in 2013.From rural beginnings to global festival stages, this humble duo is now taking on the world. Dazzling audiences with their infectious vibe and unmistakable rhythm, Moontricks are clear proof that originality and passion can spark a creative odyssey.

Andy Frasco & The U.N

“Embrace new change, and take it day to day.” “Growing Pains” With curly tufts of a recognizable Jewfro peeking out from his omnipresent knit cap, Andy Frasco is a cross between John Belushi’s “Joliet” Jake Blues and Jimmy Buffett. He’s a band-fronting, songwriting party animal who turns into a swirling rock ‘n’ roll Tasmanian Devil onstage leading his U.N., not unlike Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band. “We’ve dedicated our lives to doing this, so we want to give it 130% of our energy,” says the unapologetic leader of Andy Frasco & The U.N., which has grown from playing bars to touring more than 250 days a year all over the country. “We don’t chase the latest trend down the rabbit hole. This is who we are. You don’t have to be in the cool club to enjoy our music. We’re all in this together.” Those experiences are summed up on Growing Pains, the group’s landmark 10th studio album (along with two live records), and first full-length effort since 2023’s L’Optimist, which showcases Frasco’s growth as a tunesmith in his own right. “I wanted to show people how I’ve grown as a songwriter,” said Frasco. “That I wasn’t just a crowd-surfing party guy in a bar band. This record is about finding a balance in both music and life, focusing on the simple pleasures. It’s about living in the present moment and taking nothing for granted because there are no guarantees tomorrow.” Produced by Frasco himself for the first time, the collection’s centerpiece is the anthemic “Try Not to Die,” a glass half-full anthem to seizing the day that combines country twang with an easy island breeze in its affirmative message (“Enjoy what you got/Forget what you’re not/Remember that love comes first”). “My goal as a musician and songwriter has always been to get people out of their echo chambers to grow,” says Andy. “You can’t grow unless you hear both sides. My hope is people break out of their depression and think of a different way to live life. I try to write optimistically depressing songs. I’m always looking for silver linings.” “Life is Easy,” featuring bluegrass superstar Billy Strings, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country and co-writer/frequent collaborators Steve Poltz (Rugburns, Jewel) and Chris Gelbuda (Meghan Trainor), is a folk protest anthem, with under-the-radar tongue-in-cheek lyrics like “They’re selling us the blood/While they’re all bleeding us.” “We’re all just consumers being sold something,” he explains. “We don’t see what’s being put in our McDonald’s burgers or our juices. It’s like they want to squeeze the lemon until it’s dry.” Both “Tears in My Cocaine” and “How to Cure a Heartbreak” deal with addiction and getting sober, the former with great lines like “I’m texting all my exes,” the latter with the admission, “I try to fill my soul with substance/But my bucket’s filled with holes.” “Why do we put these things in our bodies to cure the stuff that’s in our heads?” wonders Andy. “That’s not going to cure it, it will only suppress it.” “Swinging for the Fences,” featuring cameos by G. Love and Eric Krasno (Lettuce, Tedeschi Trucks Band Soulive), is a Motown-flavored paean to dating someone out of your league. The playful “They Call Me Hollywood (But I’m from LA),” co-written with frequent partner Kenny Carkeet, features rapper ProbCause, while the title track is a sing-song, hip-hop-influenced rhyme about embracing change and taking it day-to-day. “These thoughts are nothing without action,” sings Frasco. “Easier” takes a martial beat to an old-school folk anti-war protest sing-along with lines like “Why do we like to fight/When it’s easier to shine some light?” a reaction to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Having bought a home in Denver five years ago, Frasco wrote most of the new album in Nashville with his longtime guitarist Shawn Eckels, and frequent songwriting partners Chris Gelbuda, Steve Poltz, and Andrew Cooney, choosing musicians “for what was right on each song… I’m finally learning how to turn my thoughts into melody. That was the hardest part for me.” Frasco’s entrepreneurial ability was meant for the music business from the time he was a teenager growing up in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley “stuck between rock ‘n’ roll and ‘Purple Haze,’” a fourth-generation Los Angeleno native poring over attorney Don Passman’s All You Need to Know About the Music Business and Guerilla Marketing. Starting his professional career by DJ’ing at his friends’ bar mitzvahs, Andy started booking and managing bands while still in high school, even going on the road as a tour manager. After stints working at Drive Thru, Capitol and Atlantic Records, Frasco taught himself to play piano, dropped out of college, then used the rest of his bar mitzvah savings to buy a van to tour on his own. He picked up a backing band at each stop in the tradition of Chuck Berry, emulating his own larger-than-life childhood blues heroes BB King, Dr. John and Buddy Guy. Fifteen years later, Andy Frasco & The U.N. -- Ernie Chang (saxophone), Shawn Eckels (guitar, vocals), Andee "Beats" Avila (drums, vocals), and Floyd Kellogg (bass guitar) – have gone from a bar band to a festival, shed and theater attraction, regularly playing before sold-out crowds with a show that finds them segueing from a world-class soul review to a jam band to blues-busters, hip-hoppers and punk rockers (with covers of My Chemical Romance’s “Teenagers,” Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer/Life During Wartime,” Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” and Clash’s “Train in Vain” peppering the playlist), all in the same set. From switching instruments mid-song to Frasco stagediving into the crowd or kibitzing with them, an Andy Frasco & The U.N. show is a celebration of inclusivity and tolerance where “You do You” and “let us do us.” “I came into this life wanting to write songs,” said Frasco. “It took 15 years, but I feel I’m starting to get credit for it. My cup is full. I’m really starting to see my dreams come true.”

David Shaw of The Revivalists

Eight-piece rock 'n' roll collective The Revivalists – David Shaw [lead vocals, guitar], Zack Feinberg [guitar], Andrew Campanelli [drums], George Gekas [bass], Ed Williams [pedal steel guitar], Rob Ingraham [saxophone], Michael Girardot [keyboard, trumpet], and PJ Howard [drums, percussion] – have made the journey from hole-in-the-wall gigs to sold-out shows at hallowed venues, multiplatinum success, more than 800 million streams and major media praise. Their fifth album, Pour It Out Into The Night (Concord Records) is a life-affirming album about living in the moment, fueled by lessons in gratitude and life realizations. As the world came to a standstill in the years since their last album, Take Good Care, personal experiences and life challenges abounded, with band members having their first children, getting married, and navigating the mental hurdles of lockdown. On lead single "Kid" – a hopeful anthem about capturing the essence of life, self-belief, and living for the spirit – piano peeks through bright acoustic guitar as a bold beat powers the chantable chorus, "Hey kid, just sing the songs that wake the dead, then you keep them ringing in your head." “Kid” introduces an album that offers a nostalgic hopefulness rooted in living for who you are, an unburdening, and an appreciation for the here and now. Renowned for their live prowess, soulful alt-rock anthems, distinct mix of many of the classic styles of American music, and outward generosity through their philanthropic Rev Causes initiative, The Revivalists broke through with 2015's Men Amongst Mountains, which featured the double-platinum smash single and Billboard Hot 100 hit "Wish I Knew You.”

Hayes Carll (21+ Event)

What It Is The chorus to the title track on the new Hayes Carll album, What It Is, is a manifesto. What it was is gone forever / What it could be God only knows.What it is is right here in front of me / and I’m not letting go. He’s embracing the moment. Leaving the past where it belongs, accepting there’s no way to know what’s ahead, and challenging himself to be present in both love and life. It’s heady stuff. It also rocks. With a career full of critical acclaim and popular success, Carll could’ve played it safe on this, his sixth record, but he didn’t. The result is a musically ambitious and lyrically deep statement of an artist in his creative prime. Hayes Carll’s list of accomplishments is long. His third album, 2008’s Trouble In Mind, earned him an Americana Music Association Award for Song of the Year (for “She Left Me for Jesus”). The follow-up, KMAG YOYO was the most played album on the Americana Chart in 2011 and spawned covers by artists as varied as Hard Working Americans and Lee Ann Womack, whose version of “Chances Are” garnered Carll a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song. 2016’s Lovers and Leavers swept the Austin Music Awards, and was his fourth record in a row to reach #1 on the Americana Airplay chart. Kelly Willis and Kenny Chesney have chosen to record his songs and his television appearances include The Tonight Show, Austin City Limits, and Later w/Jools Holland. Carll is the rare artist who can rock a packed dancehall one night and hold a listening room at rapt attention the next. “Repeating myself creatively would ultimately leave me empty. Covering new ground, exploring, and taking chances gives me juice and keeps me interested.” He knew he wanted to find the next level. On What It Is, he clearly has. It wasn’t necessarily easy to get there. Carll’s last release, 2016’s Lovers and Leavers was an artistic and commercial risk — a bold move which eschewed the tempo and humor of much of his previous work. The record revealed a more serious singer-songwriter dealing with more serious subjects — divorce, new love in the middle of life, parenting, the worth of work. What It Is finds him now on the other side, revived and happy, but resolute — no longer under the impression that any of it comes for free. “I want to dig in so this life doesn’t just pass me by. The more engaged I am the more meaning it all has. I want that to be reflected in the work.” And meaning there is. Carll sings “but I try because I want to,” on the album’s opening track, “None’Ya.” He’s not looking back lamenting love lost, rather, finding joy and purpose in the one he’s got and hanging on to the woman who sometimes leaves him delightedly scratching his head. “If I May Be So Bold,” finds him standing on similar ground — lyrically taking on the challenge of participating fully in life rather than discontentedly letting life happen. Bold enough to not surrender bold enough to give a damnBold enough to keep on going or to stay right where I amThere’s a whole world out there waiting full of stories to be toldI’ll heed the call and tell’em all if I may be so bold There’s no wishy washy here and he’s not on the sidelines. In fact, he’s neck-deep in life. On the rambunctious, fiddle-punctuated, “Times Like These,” he laments political division in America while delivering a rapid-fire plea to “do my labor, love my girl, and help my neighbor, while keeping all my joie de vivre.” Carll’s signature cleverness and aptitude for so-personal-you-might-miss-it political commentary is as strong as ever. The stark, “Fragile Men,” co-written with singer-songwriter Lolo, uses humor and dripping sarcasm to examine his gender’s resistance to change in less than three minutes of string-laden, almost Jacques Brel invoking drama. It’s new musical territory for Carll, and the result is powerful. His voice is strong and resonant on these songs, and it’s thrilling to hear him use it with a new authority. He is alternately commanding and tender, yet always soulful. Carll returned to trusted producer Brad Jones (producer of 2008’s Trouble in Mind and 2011’s KMAG YOYO) and Alex the Great Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, to record What It Is, and recruited singer-songwriter, author, and fiancee Allison Moorer as co-producer. The production is adventurous while keeping the focus on the singer and his songs and providing a path for him to go where he wants to go. Where that is, is forward. That’s evident in the songwriting. Carll continues to hone his singular voice, but is also a flexible co-writer. Matraca Berg, Charlie Mars, Adam Landry, and Moorer have co-writing credits here, but it was Moorer’s inspiration that provided the largest impact. “On the songwriting front she’s just a pro. She helps me cut through the noise and she does it with wit and style.” Carll’s own wit and style has never been more evident. Whether it’s with the put-you-in-picture detail of, “Beautiful Thing,” the not quite sheepish enough, dude-esque defense of dishonesty in, “Things You Don’t Wanna Know,” or the strong as a tree trunk declaration of love on, “I Will Stay,” he displays an increasing command of his poetic lexicon. Writers most often wrestle with experience and expectations, either romanticizing the past or telling us how good it’s going to be when they get where they’re going. What It Is is a record that is rooted solidly in the present, revealing an artist in the emotional and intellectual here and now.

Sons of Cream (21+ Event)

CELEBRATING THE ICONIC MUSIC OF THEIR FATHERS  KOFI BAKER and MALCOLM BRUCE both have deep roots going back to the birth of the 60’s British Blues R&B Rock Explosion.  Here they honor the incredible legacy of their fathers GINGER BAKER and JACK BRUCE alongside their bandmate ERIC CLAPTON in an exciting show featuring the music of CREAM and beyond through their project SONS OF CREAM..  But this isn’t your typical tribute act, these men have a strange multidimensional pedigree. It is purely second nature as they dive inside the music, bringing it alive, like a living organism, like a second skin, all constantly morphing into something new. They have big shoes to fill. And through some kind of genetic imprint, and intuitive sense, they arrive at the true heart of what Cream’s music stands for and are truly making it their own.  Together they are bringing to light the spirit and pure energy and audacity of the music of their fathers.  So sit back, take a trip - back, forward, but especially in the now. That’s where the magic happens.  The Cream kids Kofi and Malcolm are SONS OF CREAM and are carrying the legacy forward..  With very special guest ROB JOHNSON on guitar.

The Pine Mountain Logs

Ruston Kelly

Since making his debut with 2018’s Dying Star, Ruston Kelly has built a catalog of songs that search for transcendence in the most devastating and demanding of experiences: addiction, the strenuous work of self-evolution, the fallout of broken relationships. But in the writing of his latest album, the South Carolina-born artist found himself in unfamiliar emotional territory—a state of sustained joy and inner peace, brought on by a spiritual breakthrough and the dawning of a new love. Brimming with the grit and depth that’s always defined his output, Pale, Through the Window ultimately affirms Kelly as one of modern music’s most astute observers of the human heart and spirit.   “For most of my life I’ve felt comfortable writing about darker subject matter with a slight silver lining of hope, asking questions like ‘Why do people suffer, and how can we find communion and joy in the middle of the suffering?’” says Kelly. “Before this album I didn’t quite have the songwriting muscle required to write about joy more directly, which meant that I had to develop some new muscles and find my voice in a whole different way.”   The follow-up to The Weakness—a 2023 release that earned major acclaim from the likes of Rolling Stone, The New York Times, NPR and led to his appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers”—Pale, Through the Window finds Kelly reuniting with his longtime collaborator Jarrad K, who also helmed production on Dying Star and 2020’s Shape & Destroy. The first body of work he’s recorded with his longtime touring band, the album centers on a singular sonic palette that often merges synth with pedal-steel guitar while fully embracing Kelly’s ardent love of classic pop-punk and emo—ultimately bringing a raw and potent energy to his soul-searching songwriting.   Over the course of Pale, Through the Window’s 13 songs, Kelly offers up everything from the somber rumination of the LP’s title track and the rueful longing of “Twisted Root” (an intimate look at his history with addiction) to the radiant open-heartedness of love songs like “Waiting to Love You” and “Wayside” (a euphoric but unvarnished portrait of love against the backdrop of a world in flames). And in sharing such an all-embracing account of his journey to acceptance and peace, he aspires to provide others with the courage to persevere through their own personal chaos. “If someone’s struggling with doubt or hopelessness because of the state of the world or their relationship with God or with themselves, I hope this record leaves them with the sense that it can be okay and that love truly is the most powerful force we have available to us,” says Kelly. “I also hope they feel at least a sliver of the freedom and joy I felt in writing these songs—even if they’re just having a good time bobbing their head to ‘Waiting to Love You,’ I want everyone to be reminded that the world can be a joyful place.”

Suzanne Vega

On Beauty & Crime, Suzanne Vega's Blue Note Records debut, the Manhattan native uses New York City as the backdrop for a collection of eleven new songs that juxtapose acoustic guitar-driven melodies with coolly synthesized beats; intensely personal lyrics with compelling, short story-like narratives; images of today's scarred cityscape with memories of Vega's old Upper West Side 'hood and Lower East Side haunts. The past commingles with the present, the public with the private, familiar sounds with the utterly new, just like the city itself. Making her first new studio album in six years, Vega says, "I feel like I really stretched my limits. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone-to sing in keys I wouldn't have sung in before, to work with different textures, to be unafraid of doing what ever sounded good to me. I wanted to make a modern classic." Vega has always been an adventurous artist, stretching the boundaries of the singer-songwriter format. When British producers DNA famously remixed her "Tom's Diner," giving the originally a cappella tune an ongoing life as a sought-after sample by many dance music and hip hop artists, they were simply responding to something Vega herself had done: "They felt the rhythm was already in the song and they just added to it. When I approved it, I felt that they'd expressed a part of my life that I was not able to do for myself at the time." Similarly, German programmer Karlheinz Brandenburg, the key developer of the MP3, found that Vega's voice was the perfect template when he began to work on the audio compression that would revolutionize music distribution, earning her the nickname "The Mother of the MP3." Last year Vega herself ventured into the internet world by becoming the first major recording artist to perform live in avatar form within the virtual world Second Life. As fascinating as the New Yorkers she has been inspired by, Vega herself is full of stories and surprises: the everyday revelations, the grabbed-on-the-run wisdom, the strange, random, miraculous stuff that make up a singular career - or maybe just another life in the big city.

Micky Dolenz