Did you see Sarah Jarosz on Austin City Limits Saturday night? And did you see what looked like two teenage boys making brilliant music alongside her? And what about Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue the week before? They rocked the house with crisp, powerful sounds that sent waves of high-voltage energy through anyone lucky enough to be present – at the venue or at home. Why do we have to wait until midnight and tune to a rare public TV station to see and hear music that seems to put so many popsters, rocksters, rappers, and hip-hopsters to shame? What’s up with that?! Tell us about some relatively undiscovered or underappreciated musical acts that you’ve experienced. Why don’t you think they wind up on the New Year’s Eve television shows and headlining at sold-out auditoriums and stadiums? I’m not sure [...]

Come share with Sound Traveler tonight, Nov. 5 from 7-11 PM at Mambo’s on Cocoa Beach. Tomorrow come up to the Barberville Pioneeer Village for the Barberville Folk Festival. We’ll play two sets there and lead a workshop.

I have a friend who often says, “The older I get, the better I was.” Almost all of us, including myself, are tempted to look back to some previous time and say, “Man it was good then!” But was it really better back then than it is now? Especially, was the music better? This is a question I’ve debated in my mind for quite some time, and I’m interested in what others might think about it. My father loved music that to me sounded like non-descript background noise at best. Yet to him the music I listened to sounded harsh, offensive, and unpleasant. Although my daughter tolerates, and even likes much of the music I listen to, she gravitates to yet another group of young artists who engage her imagination in a different direction. And those who are only now [...]

As with so many performers, and just music lovers in general, I’ve had that dream of playing before the jammed auditorium or sold-out stadium with a hundred million megawatts of pure human energy flooding the place. But I’ve also wondered if that was really the very best experience either for the artist or the audience. I’m thinking now of smaller shows which blew me away – either as a performer or an audience member. I went to a relatively small college in Savannah, Ga. Now the place is called Armstrong Atlantic State University, but back in the day it was simply called Armstrong. I remember a concert on a warm summer’s evening in the auditorium at the school. The venue probably seated a few hundred folks. A single young man with a guitar took the stage. His name was Harry [...]

Playing for the first time in a new venue reminds me of going on a first date. You know the girl is beautiful and has a great personality, but will you “click.” You want to make a good impression, but you don’t want to appear too anxious either. In a new venue, I find I often look at the management and wait staff. Do they appear to be enjoying the music? If they are, I feel like things will probably go well, but I know that’s just the start. I really want to move the audience. I want to see their feet start tapping to the music, their lips start moving to the lyrics, and their eyes begin to sparkle with recognition when hearing that song that they’ve always loved. Once they stand up to dance and look like they [...]

The November/December edition of Making Music magazine may not have printed the whole story, but it certainly printed the day it all began for Patty and me. If you enjoy music, especially making music, this is a very good magazine, and I suggest you buy it. When you do, turn to page 52 to the Harmony section. In the middle of the page you will see a little story that I submitted about the night Patty and I met. In fact, I’ll reprint the story here: Well, making a new friend would be one way to describe it; hearing the first faint tinkling of wedding bells might be another. It all started when a very attractive young lady from out of town came to perform at an open mike where I was accustomed to play. When she took the stage [...]

From the time I was quite young, there have been concerned people worried that certain kinds of music would make us crazy – or worse. I remember that Elvis could only be televised from the waist up because what was below the belt seemed to be completely out of control. The Beatles seemed to be leaders of a demonic cult as evidenced by apparently possessed and screaming fans who shrieked so loudly at early concerts that the band was often unintelligible. There have been so many songs judged to be dirty and suggestive in every generation that it is amazing that the form continues. Musical instruments were even outlawed on some Caribbean islands, driving the natives to create new instruments out of steel drums. Even now, many types of music are banned in various places all over the world. But [...]