Last night, my lovely friends from Western MA known as Winterpills blew through Albany to open for CAKE at the Palace Theater. I was lucky enough to join the ‘Pills on percussion and vocals for their set’s grand finale during the song “A Folded Cloth” from their second album, The Light Divides. In a different perfect dimension, I’d clone myself so that I could join them every night in concert to sing a harmony or shake a tambourine. More »

Peter Broderick has accomplished so much in the past two years. Appearing on over twenty recordings ranging from Horse Feathers to She & Him to the Library Tapes along with various releases of his own, Peter has demonstrated his supreme musicianship in many different settings.

On September 23rd (in the US and various other release dates and labels throughout the world), HUSH Records released Home, Peter’s second full-length album to come out this year. The album differs drastically from his previous solo efforts with the noted absence of violin and piano, which drove everything up to this point. As per the liner notes, Peter wished to channel the folk and vocal music he’d grown up listening to with his parents for this album. He certainly achieved that goal while filtering these influences through his dynamic abilities as a composer and arranger. More »

Despite our trip to Rhythm & Roots Reunion falling victim to a last minute family emergency, I must admit there was plenty to enjoy at home this weekend.

Friday night saw the close of the Albany Public Library’s “Garage Band” series with Swamp Baby and Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned taking over the library garage for a spell. Swamp Baby took their set time to get their Zaireeka on with each of the four band members setting up in each corner of the garage. The harsh acoustics of the opposing concrete surfaces were rendered useful, finally with their amplified guitars, violins and affected Casio keyboards filling the room equally and beautifully. Our “hike guide” for the evening, Nick Matulis, lead us through some careening forests and scary stories (see Bryan Thomas’ excellent pics of the event over at The Hidden City) with some gorgeous free improv percolating below and above throughout. I won’t spoil the magic ending, but let’s just say it was quite magical indeed. Sgt. Dunbar impressed quite a few people with a few new/rarer songs including a Tim Koch original to kick off the night, and the “bluegrass version” of their song “The Weight” (the original version is available for free download here). More »

You’ve gotta love the spirit and heart of those wise-beyond-their-years Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned folks. Look what they did on one of their days off on tour: why of course, serenade the Merge Records folks across the street from their office. Check out Merge’s blog for their account of this drive-by Albany-ing!