National Parks is having fun with spaghetti western stylings as the world waits out Covid-19. They are coming at us from every (possible) angle with beautiful music videos and a podcast, even a small scale campfire tour featuring acoustic less than 50 people backyard shows to showcase their 4th full-length album Wildflower. Grateful Web recently had the chance to chat with Brady Parks. 

Jefferson Berry and the Urban Acoustic Coalition released their third full-length album, Double Deadbolt Logic this spring and it is a collection of danceable, blues-tinged, folk-rock inspired tunes that you can imagine hearing around the campfire. The musicianship of the players assembled – including Bud Burroughs, Dave Brown, Uncle Mike, David Rapoport and Marky B. Berkowitz – elevate and buoy Berry’s evocative and spiritual songwriting focused on city life, good love/bad love, and these strange times.

The road to Golden Shoals has been a long, fruitful journey for Amy Alvey and Mark Kilianski. The duo has toured on foot—gig to gig with backpacks and instrument cases—for weeks at a time; called Asheville, Boston, California, and New Jersey home; and lived in various moving vehicles on the road for the past seven years under different names and incarnations.

Prakash Slim Pokharel was born in a field during the rainy season in a small village, called Lamatar, in the Lalitpur district of Nepal. The village saw its first electric bulb in 1983 and its first motorized vehicle in 1995. He was raised by a loving, loyal family that had very limited means. His father passed away at the age of 29, leaving his mother with three children to raise, one elder brother, a sister, and Prakash.

Deren Ney was inspired to pick up his first ax at a young age thanks to the 1985 classic movie, Back To The Future starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Over the years Ney has taken his lead guitar skills throughout the country touring with Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers. Grateful Web’s Christopher Snyder was able to catch up with Deren.

GW: How are you doing overall? Times are strange.

A Capella? Maybe. Upstate is certainly harmony-driven. It seems like a new word should be created for the type of honest music that Upstate has developed. Their new single, “Everything Changes” was written before the pandemic but it certainly applies nicely to the current times we are all living in now. In the grand tradition of Napoleon Dynamite’s Happy Hands Club to the prayer songs of Indigenous Pow Wow music, this lady's wordsmiths lyrics come to life when Upstate performs.

While musicians are dealing with canceled tours and extra time on their hands, music director and drummer Adam Chase (Jazz Is Phsh, James Brown Dance Party, Chase Brothers) is picking the brains of some of the most interesting musicians in the jam scene and sharing his findings with us at Grateful Web.  This week Chase gets bassist Reed Mathis to dive into the power of t

Celia Woodsmith has been creating music as a solo artist, a duo and with her bluegrass band, Della Mae. The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter has a knack for adventure and bringing a song to life for audiences to enjoy across the globe. Grateful Web had the opportunity to catch up with Celia and hear some of her experiences over the years. 

Celia Woodsmith:  It’s great to talk to some in the music business and who loves music. I miss it a lot. It’s comfort.

Without question it has been a rough few months, but things are turning around. Kory Quinn & Co. released their new record, “The Blueroom.” See; it is a very promising start to May. Quinn’s music is absolutely spellbinding. His vocals are seasoned and solid yet still tender. The entire band have a breathtaking command over the genre. It’s as if they have been playing together for the past fifty years. Even as they tackle gritty subject matter, there is a free-spiritedness in the music.

Pittsburgh-based folk band Buffalo Rose is gearing up to release their new EP, Borrowed & Blue: Live Around One Microphone, late May; a dynamic compilation of originals and cover songs ranging from all genres. The band consists of Bryce Rabideau (mandolin), Shane McLaughlin (guitar, harmonies), Malcolm Inglis (dobro), Jason Rafalak (upright bass), and the ethereal harmonies of Lucy Clabber and Rosanna Spindler.