Grateful Web's Michelle Miesse recently caught up with J Bratlie from Shreveport, LA based Dirtfoot.  Dirtfoot, who describes their sounds as: Gypsy Punk Country Grumble Boogie.

A six-piece ensemble from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Royal Canoe give you everything, but on their own maniacally hybrid terms. It's one thing to reference a particular style, or even a range of styles. It's another thing entirely to grab huge handfuls of sounds from pretty much anywhere, throw them all together and come up with something both cohesive and totally distinctive—something that also happens to ripple and crack with energy.

Filligar is a touring indie rock quartet hailed as “one of the best young bands in America.” The lineup – three Mathias brothers and Casey Gibson – remains unchanged since the band’s early days recording and performing as teenagers in Chicago. Live performance is the band’s lifeblood. They’ve been named one of music’s “Next Big Things” by SPIN Magazine and listed along with Wilco, Delta Spirit, and Heartless Bastards “One of America’s Top 8 Live Acts” (Boston’s RSLmusic blog). The U.S.

Geoff Union and his band will be doing a string of shows in the Midwest on the way to an appearance at the 3rd annual John Hartford Memorial Festival at Bean Blossom in Indiana.

Touring behind their second studio album, Special FX Machine (April 2013), Former Champions are hitting the Southeast this summer for the Journey Tour. The four-piece from Richmond, VA will showcase their vocal-led compositions intermixed with an array of instrumentally driven electronic pieces.

When you bring a together a cast of musicians steeped in different backgrounds for the sole purpose of creating on-stage spontaneity, you have an improvisational outfit. The Everyone Orchestra, conducted by ringleader Matt Butler, is exactly that. The difference between your typical jam band and an improvisational outfit is that the latter shows up to the show with no songbook.