GW: When you first started playing the dobro what were the emotions that you felt? Was it love at first note?

Attendees gathered gracefully for the 7th Annual ARISE Music Festival at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado to set intentions, relish in world-renowned teaching, and dance their hearts away to some of the best national musical acts and pioneers in our beloved music scene. With over 450 programmed acts, Arise Festival covered a lot of ground in bringing top-notch entertainment and education to their guests.

Park City Songwriters Festival is an event for storytellers—providing an intimate music experience with some of the world’s most profound songwriters across five venues in Park City, UT on September 13 & 14th. There will be workshops, panels, songwriters in the round & concerts each night from headliners like Anders Osborne, Marc Broussard & North Mississippi Allstars.

To celebrate the release of The Hip Abduction's new record To the Ends of the Earth (available Aug. 9, pre-order here), the band answered a few questions for Grateful Web. We discussed everything from finding their sound to exploring our country's National Parks. The band has heavy touring ahead so be sure to catch them when they are in your city.

Set again for the long Fourth of July weekend in a beauteous, mountainous locale, the 29th annual High Sierra Music Festival is almost upon us. And tickets are still available via highsierramusic.com.

California grown, Island inspired, The Late Ones have been bringing their take on reggae music to the stage for quite some time. Comprised of the Avei brothers and their close friend Josh Brunson, their harmonies show through their chemistry onstage and their conscious and edgy lyrics in the studio.

No conversation about the modern resurgence of Jamaican roots reggae would be complete without mentioning the influence of Jesse Royal. A man who is nothing short of the embodiment of why Jamaicans and lions so often go hand in hand, he has let his heart lead his career and brought his message of love and unity to all corners of the world. Over the past few years, his career has taken off in spectacular fashion. Performing to crowds so far away from his home town of St. James Parish and growing his fan base with every performance. After his set at this year’s Cali Roots festival, we spoke with Jesse about a wide range of topics from his family ties, stereotypes that affect him, and his relationship with something very near and dear to our hearts, The Grateful Dead.

Simultaneously familiar and fresh, The Steel Wheels bring a singular energy to every note they play and sparkling craft to each song. This potent combination, paired with a robust tour calendar, have made the veteran band hands-down favorites of fans and peers alike. From their base in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, TSW have played the most prestigious festivals, listening rooms, and clubs in the world, cementing a reputation as one of the top independent bands on the scene today.

Over the course of many years of working in this profession, we in this field are lucky enough to be given the opportunity to meet countless musicians who have influenced us in so many ways. As fans, we create Paul Bunion like images in our minds of these people based off small snippets of themselves that they send out into the world, and can’t help but feel a bond with the version of themselves that they want to highlight, and sometimes even fabricate.

After an illustrious career that speaks for itself, David Hinds and Steel Pulse have forever shaped the history of music. The first non-Jamaican artist to win a Grammy for reggae, he has had a presence in the community since its grassroots days, and his influence is undeniable. We got a chance to sit down for quite a while with Hinds at this year’s Cali Roots festival. In this time, we got quite glimpse into his mind and his thoughts on modern reggae.