Brandi Carlile and Jason Isbell’s summer tours crossed paths in Portland, Maine Saturday night, co-headlining a double bill at Thompson’s Point, a midsize outdoor venue on the banks of the city’s Fore River. Both artists were backed by their full bands, and each played a set of about an hour and 15 minutes before a sold-out crowd of close to 5,000.

Magic Bronson is the LA based duo consisting of Michael Nicastro and Matthew Lieberman. Their sound can only be described as a vibe that is truly Magic Bronson, as they will never write the same song twice. Drawing from a large well of influences but never latching onto one sound or style, they are constantly evolving. The two tend to spend a large majority of their time locked away in their studio, and are set to release a new EP this Fall on Handwritten Records.

Musical trailblazers Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard are revered today as pioneering women in bluegrass, two artists whose musical partnership directly inspired future innovators like Naomi Judd, Emmylou Harris, Tim O’Brien and Hot Rize, and even Bob Dylan. But in Baltimore and Washington, DC in the 1960s, they were just two women with prodigious musical talent and a shared love for the old songs of the Appalachian countryside.

Once again, paths to music, wonder, and joyful celebration converged in early July at the four-day High Sierra Music Festival in the small mountain town of Quincy, California, where the elevation is twice the number of the population. Headlined by Sturgill Simpson, The String Cheese Incident, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Grace Potter, George Porter Jr., Melvin Seals and more, this was the 28th High Sierra Fest. and the 20th at the county fairgrounds in Quincy.