Sister Hazel

Sometimes it takes time to get back to the basics, get back to ones roots, and build up the important things. For Sister Hazel, it's always been about the music, but over the course of their decade-plus music making career, it has expanded beyond that to incorporate so much more. They've maintained their unerring focus and desire to help, to share, to include, and to grow -- be it through their music or through other means -- all the while stretching their musical umbrella to cover what has become a true community. At the basis of that umbrella is the music, and their latest, and perhaps best-realized Sister Hazel record start to finish, is aptly named Absolutely. The affirmative overtones of the title only serve to underscore the pride the band justly feels with the end result. In the most non-egotistical way possible, I feel this is the best record we've ever made, says rhythm guitarist/vocalist Drew Copeland. Concurs bassist Jett Beres: We're journeymen and we've focused on creating a cathartic experience for our fans. We want our fans to feel what were feeling, so the lyrics are really important. Equally important is capturing that elusive live show magic, and Beres feels that they've succeeded in coming closer to doing that. This record captures our live show vibe well. We've been fortunate with our success, says Block. As a band, we've always put writing songs that we believe in, putting on powerful live shows, and being passionate about our craft at the top. Trojanowski attributes their longevity to a simple concept: When you set yourself up as a band, a democracy, it lasts longer. That equal partnership is key. Over time, the band has grown a lifestyle and fan community via touring, fan interaction, and charity work, yet the all-important music provides the soundtrack for it all. Whether you call it roots rock or American rock, the music Sister Hazel makes is definitely not alternative or modern rock; they are not emo, screamo, anything-core or flavor-of-the-moment. Their music is solid and satisfying, comfortable and easy, like old friends and family. Absolutely perfect and absolutely Sister Hazel.

Zoso - The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience

Over the 28 years and over 4500 shows since ZOSO came together as a group in the mid-‘90s, the seemingly tireless quartet continues to earn its well-deserved reputation as being, in the words of The L.A. Times, “head and shoulders above all other Led Zeppelin tributes.” The reasons for that are manifest. For starters, surely no singer has ever captured the distinctive timbre, range, power, and seductive force of Robert Plant’s vocal delivery as adroitly as ZOSO’s lead vocalist and founder, Matt Jernigan, whose flowing, corkscrew blonde locks and leonine stage moves evoke the Plant persona perfectly. ZOSO co-founder Adam Sandling, the band’s multi-instrumental master of electric bass, keyboards, and mandolin, likewise echoes John Paul Jones’ myriad gifts to a tee, allowing the four-piece ZOSO to perform fully fleshed-out versions of classics like “Kashmir,” “Trampled Under Foot,” and “Stairway to Heaven” that demand up to six members or more to execute in other Zep-inspired ensembles. That’s not the ZOSO way; instead, the band draws liberally and meticulously from Led Zeppelin’s recorded live output to present a vivid performance picture of the classic live Zeppelin of 1970-1977. No wonder the St. Petersburg Times noted that, in addition to their virtuosity and spot-on visual presentation, ZOSO was also “the most exacting of all the Led Zeppelin tributes.” Meanwhile, the band’s new blood has turbo-charged the ZOSO formula even more. Drummer Bevan Davies, the band’s burly, black-haired batteur since 2015, flattens the band’s fans nightly with his Bonhamapproved triplet blasts, tympani thunder, and fat, lumbering grooves. Davies boasts an impressive pedigree that includes touring tenures with the likes of Danzig, Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains, Static X, and regular gigs with The Cult’s Billy Duffy. Taking on the demanding Jimmy Page chair for ZOSO in May of 2021, new lead guitarist James Volpe Rotondi (aka “Jimmy”) brings an equally high-level CV to the table, as a former member of Humble Pie, Mike Patton’s Mr. Bungle, and French superstars AIR. Decked out in Page’s iconic dragon matador jacket, two-tone shoes, and cascading black hair, Rotondi wields his Gibson Les Paul and double-neck guitars like he was born to it, with a huge, crafted tone and a stunning technique that weaves together Page’s roots in blues, country, funk, and fingerstyle. Still, while the players’ provenance, and the band’s deep history, speak for themselves, it’s that highwire musicianship combined with ZOSO’s spot-on recreation of the mythic presence of Led Zeppelin onstage that keeps their dedicated longtime fans coming back for more year after year. What’s more, new generations of ZOSO devotees in their teens and Twenties are likewise lining up to experience for themselves the power and majesty—and yes, the alluring combination of danger, spontaneity, skill, and sexuality—that define a world-class Led Zeppelin concert. “[ZOSO is] the closest to the original of any Led Zeppelin tribute,” proclaims the Chicago Sun-Times, and they are not wrong. ZOSO’s ongoing invitation to all generations, all ages, all backgrounds of Led Zeppelin fans, then, is a very simple one: Relive it . . . LIVE.

A Carpenters Christmas