On a slightly slow Friday night in August, National Park Radio and a handful of other musicians put on a fantastic show on a small stage at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville, AR. The evening’s sounds ranged from beautiful ballads presented by opening act Willi Carlisle to the smooth bluegrass from National Park Radio.

There is nothing better than summer nights spent with good friends and great music, dancing all night long through the gentle warm rains and colorful sunsets and forgetting every care in the world. There is something about Nashville that brings some form of nostalgia for a simpler time, where things move slower, and smiles from strangers are quicker to form. The city has a laid back energy and a friendly atmosphere. I was thrilled to be there to see Umphrey’s McGee perform in this city known for great music.

Guitar icons Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy have drastically differing backgrounds and history, yet the two fared perfectly in a double bill for an extensive U.S. Summer tour that just made its way through the West Coast. Beck is hailed as one of the finest guitar innovators in history, as member of the Yardbirds (amongst Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page,) followed by an illustrious solo career with backing musicians including Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, Nicky Hopkins, and many others.

After a successful summer tour, Dead & Company brought the season to a joyous close on Saturday night at Shoreline Amphitheatre, only two days ahead of what would have been Jerry Garcia's 74th birthday.

On a perfect summer day in Colorado, there may be no better place to spend one’s time then Red Rocks Amphitheater with the reggae legendary band the Wailers and one of funk’s most invigorating bands, Lettuce. These two musical powerhouses always leave their crowds satisfied. This year, Lettuce was even better than they were last year. This show was staggering the whole way through.

Veteran jam-masters, The String Cheese Incident checked into Eugene’s (Ore.) Cuthbert Amphitheater for a pair of reliably freaky shows, though the first night's performance was the juicier, more driven and musically intriguing offering.

The Avett Brothers have been making their way across the nation on tour for their ninth studio album, True Sadness, and will soon be stopping at Sonoma State University to perform under the stars.  The band will take the stage at the University’s Weill Hall + Lawn at the Green Music Center on Thursday September 15^th at 7:30pm, as part of the Summer 2016 MasterCard Performance Series.

Some years back, former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux MacKay made a remarkable discovery in the storage of the family houseboat. Boxes of reels taped by legendary recording technician Betty Cantor-Jackson. The Grateful Dead tapes were the first to be dusted off, restored, and ultimately released for the enjoyment of all. Recently Donna Jean found yet another box consisting of all Jerry Garcia Band reels.

Let me begin by saying that this was a typical Umphrey’s McGee show. And I was really happy with that. You see, UM does something not a lot of other bands are able to do: they bring a great energy and excitement to everything they are doing. To go along with this, all of the guys in the band are at the apex of musicians on their particular instruments and this means that even when they don’t “have it” they still play incredibly well and do great things.

The decline of 1970's Grateful Dead piano player Keith Godchaux was sad but not entirely unexpected. The hardships of the never-ending grueling tour and travel schedule (that had always been for The Dead) had taken its toll on Keith and his wife Donna Jean Godchaux, a talented Muscle Sholes-alum vocalist. It was Donna who introduced Keith to Jerry Garcia in 1971 after a Dead show they had attended.