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.

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.

To see a performer perform for the first time can be a wild thing. How will they handle the pressure? How will they perform on stage for the first time in front of a roaring crowd? You have to be bold, brave and strong. Fearless in the face of the unknown. You have to put yourself out there. Princess Maya and her band The Breathing Treatments are all of thee above and them some. 

What a Night! As the crowd quickly filled Red Rocks Amphitheatre in anticipation of Greensky Bluegrass’ debut as a headliner there was brief rain delay.  In what was to be an evening of incredible music, the hometown Jamgrass heroes, Leftover Salmon took the stage, certain not to disappoint.

Less than one year and about 50 shows into this thing, Dead & Company illustrated on July 29 at the newly renamed Toyota Amphitheatre near Sacramento, that it has found a powerful groove that satisfies those who have been immersed in the Grateful Dead culture for 50 years or 50 weeks.

Dead & Company visited the Sleep Train Amphitheater in Chula Vista, CA on Wednesday (7/27/16), which marked their final Southern California stop and their last performance ahead of the tour closing shows in Wheatland, CA (Fri 7/29/16) and tonight at the fabled Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, CA (Sat 7/30/16).  The excitement of the fans in the hours leading up to the show was palpable, if not audible, as the p

There’s nothing sub-anything about The Subdudes, an eclectic New Orleans band that’s been around since the mid-80s. After taking a few years off at the turn of the century, the came back just as strong and just a popular. Today, they are touring all over the country, bringing their good-time music to old and new fans.

It’s been a big year for Southern Rock greats Widespread Panic. Through adversity they prevailed and are triumphantly celebrating thirty years as a band by hitting the road hard, dusting off old favorites and clearly still enjoying the hell out of playing together.

Progressive bluegrass wouldn’t be the same without Sam Bush. Though the mandolinist might have been slightly proceeded by the guys in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in exposing the bluegrass and rock ‘n’ roll combo on the radio, it was Bush who truly bent the sound toward unlikely use of acoustic instruments in genres thought irrelevant to country or bluegrass.