I have heard much hubbub over the last year over the Americana folk-rock band The Wood Brothers. Friends and colleagues have expounded on their playing and their performances, telling me over and over, “You really gotta check these guys out, they are something else!” Ok, fine, twist my arm. When the three men who make up The Wood Brothers walked onto the stage of Oakland’s Fox Theater recently, I did not know what to expect as I wasn’t familiar with much of their music. It was kind of like a blind date in the sense that even though I was told I would like them, I didn’t know if it would be a love connection. But I was ready to experience what they had to offer. Most of the time, I trust the suggestions of music lovers like myself to point me in the right direction of bands I need to hear, and I am happy to report I was not misled.
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From the first song to the last, I could tell they were my kind of band; rootsy, rocking, dynamic, and intelligent. The Wood Brothers are solid players, and I did my best to understand what was going on before my eyes and ears. At first, I couldn’t quite tell why I liked them right away, but then it began to hit me. It was as if they were all playing separately to what their spirits told them to play, but they are also able to meld that separateness into this tightly wound package of cohesion with each man’s playing style coming into sync with the others. I was aware of all three playing individually while hearing what they did together. That, to me, is brilliant, like three colorful fireworks going off in the sky simultaneously while creating this majestic display of BOOM!​

The band is pure talent. Oliver Wood is the eldest, a guitarist, and a songwriter by nature and birth. His stories come across beautifully when translated into song. Younger brother Chris Wood is a musical genius with his focus on bass, either with is his standup, electric and vintage instruments, as well as harmonica. His time with Medeski, Martin Wood solidified his technical prowess and his jazz influences. Multi-instrumentalist and percussionist Jano Rix is not a brother in the familial sense, but definitely one in the spiritual sense. His expertise at playing drums while laying down funky keyboard licks AND singing all at the same time was wicked to witness, and I began to think he had extra arms.
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Opening the night, the band laid hard into songs from their newest release Kingdom Of My Mind, showing that they have not lost their touch lyrically or musically. “Alabaster” has crunchy feedback, and a bluesy vibe and “Glad” brings a funky groove with a killer baseline. Oliver’s voice has a hint of twang when he sings, and in conjunction with his brother Chris’s higher voice, the harmonies rip on songs like “When I Was Young” and “Little Bit Broken”. “Snake Eyes” totally rocked with a freight-train force. Mid-point of the show, opening act Birds Of Chicago gathered around the mic with the band on “Sing All About It” and sang their hearts out. With the end of the evening, The Wood Brothers busted out the gorgeously sung “Luckiest Man”, “Lil Blue” and an excellent cover of The Band’s “Ophelia” before their encore of “Happiness Jones/Express Yourself”.​

An interesting thing happened during the show, one that I wish would happen more often. As the band was set to play a quiet song, Oliver Wood kindly shushed the very chatty audience, stating that now was the time to hush up your neighbors and listen. I almost cheered but felt that would not help the moment. So the audience stopped talking, and when it was quiet, the three men sang in harmony, all acoustic and lovely, encouraging the fans to not only listen but to sing.

​Once again, I am blown away by a band I didn’t know much about. Once again, I leave the venue going, “Holy cow, that was FUN!” and once again, I open myself to the magic at hand when I hear live music. I would have to say that for a “blind date” with a band, this was a very successful love connection.

Texas country crooner Lyle Lovett is a bit grayer with his famous hair than the last time I saw him. He is probably a bit wiser too, I would imagine, given the fact that he has been at the professional music game for over 30 years. At his recent Uptown Napa show, in support of his current tour, Lovett stated that when he was a kid, he realized he could make a living at songwriting because it was easier than mowing his parents' lawn, and from there, things took off on a long and winding career that has spawned so many songs.
Lovett has a dedicated fan base, and I'm part of it. His music has been part of The Soundtrack Of My Life for almost as long his career itself. His songs have carried me through love and heartbreak, too many bad decisions, and countless road trips. His music is as much a part of my DNA as any other profound force in my life. His songs are stories, poetic journeys that deliver humor, sadness, and joy.​

Clinton is touring with, literally, a new generation of PFunk that includes his son and daughter, many of his grandkids and kids of PFunk alumni. Now, forgive me for being unclear on a few things here. Truth be told, I have no idea who everyone onstage was or what their names were, as it was too hard to keep track. But at any given moment, the stage was filled with up to 20 people including two guitarists, three backup singers, keys, drums, bass, sax, a ton of MC’s and rappers and Mr. Clinton himself, all giving it their all as they bounced, danced, twerked, and interacted with each other while blasting us with tightly played music.​

It was pure chaos in the best sense of the word. There were sexy costumes, sequins, guitar-shredding-hair flips, sexual innuendo, platform shoes, the sharing of joints all amid a swirl of active antics on stage. The band continually gave high fives, fist bumps, and handshakes to the crowd throughout the night. MC’s came and went, rapping and rhyming to the PFunk beat. Mics were pointed to the audience, and copious amounts of sing-alongs were had during significant hits such as “Give Up The Funk”, “Flash Light”, and many covers of well-loved hop-hop and soul tunes. Featured also were many new songs from Clinton’s latest studio album Medicaid Fraud Dogg, which brings PFunk into the 21st century with current themes lyrically and wicked funk-rock beats. The racially mixed crowd smiled and smiled and smiled, while much hooting, hollering, and cheering ensued. There was true love from the players to the audience. ​

 Blues artist Katie Knipp knows how to multi-task, and we are talking about that in the biggest sense of the phrase, being both an active mother of two small children as well as blowing up her musical career in a major way. Knipp hails from Sacramento and is fast becoming one of the Bay Area’s darlings in blues, having her most recent album, “Take It With You” land at #9 on the Heat Seekers charts and #10 on Billboard’s Blues Album chart ( of which she shared chart space with other blues masters such as Buddy Guy and Kenny Wayne Shepard,) “I almost passed out!” Knipp states upon hearing how her album was doing, “Then I was quickly brought back to Earth by needing to clean up my 2 year old’s vomit about a minute later.”   Such is the life of a rock star mom, glory amid the day-to-day stresses of maternal duties. “It’s a daily struggle”, says Knipp, “but I am learning how to prioritize every single minute. “
 
It’s also worth mentioning that Knipp’s album was on the ballot for a Grammy nomination, and although that fell through and she didn’t make it to a nomination, she feels like the nod from the Grammy organization was a serious gift to her career, stating, “The experience of being on the ballot for nomination consideration was extra special. The radio support for my album has also meant so much to me, especially overseas, as it has translated to more direct sales of my CDs and downloads online.”

​There is so much music in the world, and most of the time my head spins with what’s available nowadays to listeners yet the possibilities of discovering something new and unusual always excites me. In this day and age of do-it-yourself recording, there are so many bands and musicians making tunes that are below the mainstream radar. It’s those bands and musicians that seem to get the least amount of media coverage yet still deserve to be heard, sometimes even more so than the blather of banality we hear on the radio ad with over-produced music that is made as sonic junk food instead of nourishing and soul-inspiring songs.
 
Enter Oakland songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Alek Barkats, whose new album Dinosaur is chock filled with unusual sounds, layered moods and a theme story to boot. Barkats has a long history of musical experience that includes studies in piano, classical, jazz and ragtime and a background in the theater. He is self-taught with bass, harmonica, and guitar and at a young age, he began writing his own songs.

Dinosaur is a theme-album, telling the story of the adventures of the heroic dinosaur and his experiences in the human world. There are ethereal moods leading to quirky moments that seem like a smorgasbord of sound, literally. Barkats music seems to me to be a hybrid of Tom Waits, They Might Be Giants and a circus. There is an initial feeling of chaos that eventually leads to a sonically cohesion when listening to the album as a whole, although many of the songs can be extracted from the album and, even out of context can stand on their own such as “Carpet” and “Motion Picture Queen”.  
 
The piano plays the lead role of the album, but horns, strings, and acoustic guitar all have big roles as well. “For this album, I had a story in my head. Different characters and all,’ says Barkats. “The music came before most of the lyrics, but I did have song titles, characters, themes, and some words in my head while composing. I knew I wanted a big sound to match the main dinosaur character. I was listening to different concept albums and musicals for inspiration- "Ziggy Stardust," "The Mollusk," by Ween, and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" soundtrack. Lyrically, I pulled from my own life experiences and feelings and tried to gel all of that with the story in my head. But I certainly wasn't trying to write a musical or rock opera or anything. I wasn't concerned with listeners following a linear story or anything concrete. In fact, if you do try and piece together the lyrics, I don't think the story you get would be the same as the one in my head. You may not get a story at all. And that is what I wanted. “
 
The album utilizes many amazing music friends from Barkats’ world, as he wanted the album to have depth and complex feelings. “As I stated, I wanted a big sound. It felt fun to push myself to compose all these different lines. But the idea to have strings and horns came out of convenience. Two of my closest friends here in Oakland play the violin and saxophone. It felt like, ‘Oh... my friends play these instruments, might as well have them come and record!’ From there it was easy to reach out to others in our musical circles to play cello, viola, and trombone. All of the strings you hear that give it that extra orchestral feel are from my violin pal, Artur Friedhoff, by doubling everything and adding extra harmonies.“
 
Recording can be a mixed blessing for most who take on that endeavor, and Barkats’ experience creating his album was no different. “Really, it is my favorite thing; composing, songwriting and then recording. I love figuring out arrangements, instrumentation, and different lines. Once I have the main melody and structure, it’s so exciting to do all the other stuff, like layer and cut different things.” Aside from almost losing all the song data with a failing external drive; the process was a joy to Barkats. “It's always been a process where I feel super focused and relaxed. And it was enjoyable to take the time to leisurely record it all in my own living room. The highest point was probably when all the strings and horns were finally recorded. It felt like a huge turning point. Like I had achieved exactly what I wanted.”
 
The songs on Dinosaur span the gamut of sound, and feeling. The title track “He Was A Dinosaur” opens the story with jiggy-jiggy guitar wizardry and vocals that sound a bit off-kilter but set the vibe for the songs to follow. “Monday” is all minor chords and harmonies; “Double Rainbow” is a crazy romp musically. “Castles”, “Green Monster” and “Tis Time” are gentle tunes that perpetual the depth of the story with emotion. “Green baby” ties things up while giving the listener some finality with the story. There is a darkness to the lyrics that are offset by the orchestral sounds and crazy instrumentation. This is art rock, this is storytelling, this is something unusual, this is what is inside Barkats’ head and he has brought it out into the world with the hopes of touching people in their hearts and their spirits while rearranging the neurons of their own brains.

Check out the full album at Soundcloud!
​http://soundcloud.com/alekbarkats/sets/dino
 
The players:
Alek Barkats- Vocals, Piano, Guitars, Bass, Melodica, Synth
Tacie Moskowitz- Vocals 
Emmett Moskowitz- Lead 
David Mandle- Drums 
Jeremy Cox- Drums 
Artur Friedhoff- Violins 
Nansamba Ssensalo- Viola 
Colin Shipman- Cello, Double Bass 
Ben Hartman- Saxophones, Recorders 
Jake Schofield- Trumpet
Isaac Silk- Trombone 

That piece of paper that often lays below they players on the stage may seem like nothing much, just a bunch of words and notations that is often soaked with booze by the end of any given night of music. But alas, it is so much more than that, as it is the coveted Set List, and it’s presence to both musician and fan is incredibly important.
 
To the musician, the set list for any given performance can help them remember what songs to play, in what order and in what key. Sometimes notes are added as to who sings or plays during that song. The set list can be a constant reminder of what to do so that they can focus on playing the music without thinking “Oh Shit, what’s next?” Set lists are not always followed exactly, for example troubadour folk singer Ramblin’ Jack Elliot often does set lists, but usually doesn’t follow them. He jumps around, singing songs that may or may not be on the list, often taking requests from the audience or completely ignoring a song he was set to play in lieu of another.

Check out all the photos from this story:

In 1985, “Unabomber” became a household name, the Regan Era was in it’s full-fascist swing, there were over 4 billion people on the planet and John Cougar Mellencamp introduced the world to his eighth studio album Scarecrow which gave a musical reflection of world events and the corporate hold we were now under. The American Dream was crumbling into dust and there was need for a voice during that time to show us the light while explaining what was going on. With the Scarecrow album, Mellencamp stayed close to his musical Americana roots while moving to a more political direction with his songwriting. In particular, he gave voice to the plight of the American farmers fighting to save their farms, expressing their burdens in songs like "Rain on the Scarecrow" and "You've Got to Stand for Somethin'
 
Marin County guitarist and songwriter Danny Click decided it was high time to create a live show around Scarecrow, as the album still holds ground in this day and age. Click grew up in Americana farmland, so he understood directly the plight of the agricultural hell many farmers were experiencing in the 80’s. “Everything on the album is true of how the farmers felt about what was going on with the farmland”, says Click. “It’s a statement to what was wrong with the world at the time. It’s sad to see that it’s all still wrong 34 years later”

Ah, the guitar, such a fabulous instrument, so versatile and emotive. When placed in the right hands the guitar can sing, squeal, moan, groan and wail. It can pierce your heart, your soul and your whole being with the right combination of strings. The guitar is sexy and can make you feel things your mom told you not to feel. When one bares witness to a true master of the guitar at work, one can experience God; and so, with that preface, I introduce to you blues-rock guitarist Joe Bonamassa.

​Rewind: It’s 1998 and I am in Amsterdam for the second time. As I sit in one of the cities famed “coffee houses”, high on hash and space cake, music comes on over the speakers and I pause amid the smoky conversations around me and listen closely. Something about what I am hearing affects me deeply. It began with these deep beats that set a hypnotic groove then segued into mind-blowing wah-wah guitar riffs. And then this chocolate-syrup voice starts in, all silky smooth and warm, and it carries me on a river of sound. The album I was hearing for the first time in my stoned-out state of mind was Big Calm by the British trip-hop band Morcheeba, and from that moment on I was obsessed with their music.

Morcheeba, in my mind, is Old School. Founded by guitarist Ross Godfrey, his brother producer/DJ Paul Godfrey, and singer Skye Edwards, the longevity of their sound has been blazing the pathway for mixed-genre electronic music since the mid-1990s. Over the last 25 years, the tumultuous history of Morcheeba included Edwards leaving in 2003, which led to the Godfrey brothers to utilize other singers. Eventually, everything fell apart in 2014 when Paul Godfrey left, leaving Ross Godfrey to reboot their music as Morcheeba with Edwards joining on as singer once more. With nine studio albums under their belt, including the 2018 release Blaze Away, the band continues to create incredible down-tempo grooves that ease your mind and energize your body. The current lineup of the band also includes Edwards’ husband and son, bassist Steve Gordon, and drummer Jaega Mckenna-Gordon, with Dominic Pipkin taking on keyboards and electronic gadgets.

Chemistry is an interesting thing. There are those moments in time, like when you are watching some musical act on the stage, where you discover that you can’t take your eyes off the music makers before you. You are mesmerized by their presence as you can literally see the energy flowing through those before you as they produce sounds that positively affect your brain. In the case of Bay Area musicians Danny Uzilevsky and Essence Goldman, the energy you may witness between them is sizzling, palpable and truly magical. With the duo’s newest venture, Johnny & June Forever, Uzilevsky and Goldman embody the music created by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, but they do it in a way that is not about “doing covers” or even “paying tribute”, but about fully making the music their own by channeling the forces that Cash and Carter used themselves in performing songs.