Jenny and Johnny locked out Mogis’ world-class ARC studios for five weeks of tracking, vocals, and mixing during the worst Midwestern winter since the 1860’s. The front door of their guest house actually froze shut, so they used an alternate route to get to the studio every day. Cut off from the outside world in a blizzard’s haze, the record’s personality began to emerge. Gone were the vintage, classic-rock textures of their previous two albums, and in came a brand new sound which was tougher around the edges. The exuberance of love songs like Scissor Runner mask some of the record’s darkness, with Lewis chronicling the economic demise of her beloved California in Big Wave, Rice’s haunting vocal on Animal, and both songwriters raising a middle-finger kiss off in the acerbic My Pet Snakes. The overall result is genuine and original pop music for Right Now. This is not a Rilo Kiley record, a Jenny Lewis record, or a Johnathan Rice record. This is Jenny and Johnny. They’re having fun now, and they want you to, too.

JENNY & JOHNNY- I’m Having Fun Now, on CD & LP

The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band has completed their debut recording for roots-music label Compass Records. The new album, featuring traditional and original compositions, is produced by Compass owner/recording artist Alison Brown and features special guests Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, Ricky Skaggs and Del McCoury. CD available in-store September 7, 2010

Grammy-award winner and five-time Grammy nominee, Peter Rowan is a bluegrass singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades. From his early years playing under the tutelage of bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe, and following his stint in Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia and subsequent breakout as both a solo performer and bandleader, Rowan has built a devoted, international fan base through his continuous stream of original recordings, collaborative projects, and constant touring.

Born in Wayland, Massachusetts to a musical family, Rowan first learned to play guitar from his uncle. He spent his teenage years absorbing the sights and sounds of the Boston music scene, playing bluegrass at the Hillbilly Ranch and discovering folk and blues across the Charles River at the legendary Club 47 on Mt. Auburn Street in Cambridge. “I could sit in with the Lilly Brothers at the Hillbilly Ranch and then catch the MTA and be in time for Joan Baez’s last set at the Club 47. Bluegrass appealed to me. It was callin’ me—the harmonies, that high and lonesome calling-sound. Don Stover had played banjo with Bill Monroe, fiddler Tex Logan too, before they joined the Lillys. Mandolinist Joe Val taught me all the Blue Sky Boys and the Louvin Brothers songs. I would play a “sock-hop” with my rockin’ group, The Cupids, and then make a beeline for the clubs. Sonny Terry and Brownie Magee, Josh White, Muddy Waters- they all came to town! ”

Following three years in college, Rowan left academia to pursue a life in music. Rowan began his professional career in 1964 as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys, living in Nashville and playing with Monroe on the Grand Ol’ Opry every week. “One thing I liked about the Monroe style was that there was a lot more blues in it than other styles of bluegrass,” reflects Rowan. “It was darker. It had more of an edge to it. And yet it still had the ballad tradition in it, and I loved that.” Rowan stayed with Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, touring constantly both in the United States and in England, for two and a half years. ” We went from old-timey places way down south to the colleges up north, we played to all ages, long-time fans of Bluegrass and the college kids my own age.”

The late ’60s and early 70’s saw Rowan collaborating with musical compatriots in a number of rock, folk and bluegrass combinations: Earth Opera with David Grisman, Sea Train with fiddler Richard Greene (himself a graduate of Monroe’s band) Muleskinner with both Grisman and Greene, former Bluegrass Boy banjoist Bill Keith and the great Clarence White. From the ashes of Muleskinner, Rowan and Grisman went on to join Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements, and John Kahn, forming the legendary bluegrass band Old & In the Way. It was during this time that Rowan penned the song “Panama Red,” a subsequent hit for the New Riders of the Purple Sage and a classic ever since. Other time-honored compositions by Rowan include ” Moonlight Midnight”, ” In The Land of the Navajo” and “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy”. Jerry Garcia himself recorded Rowan’s “Moonlight Midnight” and the haunting “Mississippi Moon”. The 1970’s also saw Peter Rowan playing and recording alongside brothers Chris and Lorin Rowan as the The Rowan Brothers. Their three albums for Elektra-Asylum featured original songs highlighted by the three siblings soaring harmonies.

Rowan subsequently embarked on a well-received solo career in 1978, releasing such critically acclaimed records as Dustbowl Children (a Woody Guthrie style song cycle about humanity’s spirituality in relationship to the earth), Yonder (a record of old-time country songs and Rowan originals in collaboration with ace dobro player, Jerry Douglas) and two extraordinarily fine bluegrass albums, The First Whippoorwill and Bluegrass Boy, as well as High Lonesome Cowboy, a recording of traditional old-time cowboy songs with Don Edwards and guitarist Norman Blake. Rowan’s recent releases- Reggaebilly, a wonderful blend of reggae and bluegrass and Quartet, a recording with the phenomenal Tony Rice, coupled with a relentless touring schedule have further endeared Peter Rowan to audiences around the world.

On the road, Rowan performs internationally as a solo singer-songwriter, while stateside he plays in three bands: the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, a quartet featuring Jody Stecher, Keith Little, and Paul Knight; The Peter Rowan & Tony Rice Quartet; and his rocking band, The Free Mexican Air Force.

A Thank You: To all the bands that have been a part of our ongoing Monday Night Revival series, most recently The Fine Art Ramblers, O Mello Cello, Discordia and J Michael King, to name just a few. See some images of all the fun.

John Scofield, Eels, JP Chrissie, JJ Grey & Mofro, S. Carey, Charlie Musselwhite, Ronnie Earl, Jon Langford, Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs, Dylan LeBlanc, Dale Watson, Imani Winds, Ra Ra Riot, Ray Lamontagne, John Mellencamp, Shannon Whitworth, John Mayall (box set), Budos Band, Lost In The Trees, Eli Paperboy Reed, Superchunk re-issues, Barb, Mt St Helen Vietnam Band, Black Crowes, Dr John, Los Lobos, Gov’t Mule, Arcade Fire, Wavves, and more and of course plenty of it is in stock on vinyl

GENE PICK: JJ GREY & MOFRO – Georgia Warhorse
Ups the ante on JJ’s heady mix of Southern rock, blues and swampy soul. From the swaggering, slide-drenched title track to the duet with reggae icon Toots Hibbert on “Sweetest Thing” to the hypnotic build of “King Hummingbird,” this is the work fo a world-class songwriter and artist at the top of his game. Guitarist Derek Trucks also guests. “Inspired, deliriously funky, deep-in-the-pocket front porch soul.”–Chicago Sun-Times

NEW PICK 1: DYLAN LEBLANC – Paupers Field CD/LP
On Dylan LeBlanc’s debut album, Pauper’s Field, a lost world is brought to life – both in the carefully sculpted songs and rich well of country soul from which those songs emerge. Although the Golden era of Alabama’s fabled Muscle Shoals sound had passed by the time Dylan was born in 1990, his ancestral roots and family background connected him to one of the most significant sources in the rich tapestry of American music. His father’s position as a Muscle Shoals session player and songwriter meant that early in life Dylan was privy to the sights and sounds of an unvarnished, vanishing epoch and such legends as Spooner Oldham. 19 year old Dylan LeBlanc was born in the Parish of Caddo in northwest Louisiana. He was exposed to a wide variety of music whilst growing up in Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Inspired by Willis Alan Ramsey, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt and Tennessee Williams, he joined the House of Fame as a writer at 18. Dylan’s approach to music is to truncate to event blog here write and sing about things that are real, that convey humanity, so all can relate. His inspiration comes from experience, and watching, listening, and absorbing everyday life around him. Despite his age, Dylan’s worn yearning voice already has the mark of aged experience. Neither the feel nor sound of the album, nor the haunted ghost summoning songs he has written, can be faked. “If Time Was For Wasting” seems to be wrenched from the heart of ever-present currents in Deep South life – where the pull of the past is unavoidable. Ghosts and demons emerge from the mist in compositions featuring archetypal characters such as “Emma Hartley” and “The Outlaw Billy John”.

NEW PICK 2: CHARLIE MUSSEWHITE – The Well
Harp legend returns to the foot-stomping blues of his heyday, with 13 gritty, intensely personal Musselwhite originals driven by his haunting vocals and fiery, graceful harmonica playing. Two tracks feature Charlie on guitar, and Mavis Staples guests on the gospel-ized blues “Sad & Beautiful World.” “Superb, original and compelling…Harmonica master Musselwhite sets the standard for blues”–Rolling Stone

NEW PICK 3: S. CAREY – All We Grow CD/LP
The debut album from S. Carey, All We Grow, is the result of a young lifetime spent immersed in music. As a band member of Bon Iver from the very beginning, Sean Carey witnessed a flip of his formal training to step firmly into a worldwide-touring rock band. His performance degree in classical percussion from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire and his love for jazz drumming prepared him for a central role in the inspiring force of the Bon Iver live show.

All We Grow is a convergence of Carey’s Waltz For Debby-era Bill Evans inflected jazz tendencies, and traditional rock band experience, taking leads from Mark Hollis’ Talk Talk. It also retests the waters of modern classical composition, investigating the moodiness generated by percussive repetition in a manner familiar to fans of Steve Reich. In his downtime on tour with Bon Iver, Sean would spend time pining for his soul-mate’s arms, and in that context, dreaming and composing. During infrequent tour breaks at home he would patiently record these pieces, adding layers each time. Two years later, the parts converged to make an album.

For as much room to breathe as Carey allows his compositions, there are incredibly dynamic moments of bombast held right next to moments of subtle depth and texture. Engineered by Jaime Hansen and Brian Joseph, intermittently at home and at April Base (Justin Vernon’s studio outside Eau Claire), All We Grow is an all-encompassing headphone experience as intimate as chamber music and as ambitious as a symphony.

While many are familiar with the cabin mythology of Bon Iver, the story behind Sean joining the band is equally kismet. After hearing through mutual friends that Justin was looking to put together a band, he spent two weeks in his bedroom listening to For Emma, Forever Ago on Myspace, dissecting and learning the drum and vocal parts so well that Justin invited him to join the band upon Sean’s approach.

All We Grow is a classic album born without expectation and met with adoration – a cathartic result of Carey’s extraordinary and vibrant life experiences that resonates loss, dreams and heart in a manner so instantly relatable, you feel as though you can touch it.

NEW PICK 4: EELS – Tomorrow Morning

The last of a trilogy of albums written around the time of Mark “E” Everett’s divorce, Tomorrow Morning presents Everett as you’ve rarely heard him before: happy, fulfilled, almost optimistic. The bottomless pit of despondence that generally provides his subject matter has been supplanted by, well, not joy, exactly, but a recognition that life doesn’t always suck. “For all the wear and tear, I look OK,” he marvels on What I Have to Offer; on the crunchy, electro-punky Baby Loves Me, he decides that even if “the record company hates me”, things are fine because “my baby loves me/ Unlikely but true”. Sonically, he makes more use of electronics than usual, reaching a crescendo of chirps and drum loops on the fade-out to This Is Where it Gets Good, but he’s just as likely to use a church organ or distorted guitars. An intriguing addition to the Eels canon. ––Caroline Sullivan guardian.co.uk

For as much room to breathe as Carey allows his compositions, there are incredibly dynamic moments of bombast held right next to moments of subtle depth and texture. Engineered by Jaime Hansen and Brian Joseph, intermittently at home and at April Base (Justin Vernon’s studio outside Eau Claire), All We Grow is an all-encompassing headphone experience as intimate as chamber music and as ambitious as a symphony.

While many are familiar with the cabin mythology of Bon Iver, the story behind Sean joining the band is equally kismet. After hearing through mutual friends that Justin was looking to put together a band, he spent two weeks in his bedroom listening to For Emma, Forever Ago on Myspace, dissecting and learning the drum and vocal parts so well that Justin invited him to join the band upon Sean’s approach.

All We Grow is a classic album born without expectation and met with adoration – a cathartic result of Carey’s extraordinary and vibrant life experiences that resonates loss, dreams and heart in a manner so instantly relatable, you feel as though you can touch it.

S. Carey, All We Grow

CD and VINYL LP are SALE PRICED at $11.99 right now!

Inspired by Willis Alan Ramsey, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt and Tennessee Williams – here’s THE STORY:

On Dylan LeBlanc’s debut album, Pauper’s Field, a lost world is brought to life – both in the carefully sculpted songs and rich well of country soul from which those songs emerge. Although the Golden era of Alabama’s fabled Muscle Shoals sound had passed by the time Dylan was born in 1990, his ancestral roots and family background connected him to one of the most significant sources in the rich tapestry of American music. His father’s position as a Muscle Shoals session player and songwriter meant that early in life Dylan was privy to the sights and sounds of an unvarnished, vanishing epoch and such legends as Spooner Oldham. 19 year old Dylan LeBlanc was born in the Parish of Caddo in northwest Louisiana. He was exposed to a wide variety of music whilst growing up in Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana and Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Inspired by Willis Alan Ramsey, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt and Tennessee Williams, he joined the House of Fame as a writer at 18. Dylan’s approach to music is to write and sing about things that are real, that convey humanity, so all can relate. His inspiration comes from experience, and watching, listening, and absorbing everyday life around him. Despite his age, Dylan’s worn yearning voice already has the mark of aged experience. Neither the feel nor sound of the album, nor the haunted ghost summoning songs he has written, can be faked. “If Time Was For Wasting” seems to be wrenched from the heart of ever-present currents in Deep South life – where the pull of the past is unavoidable. Ghosts and demons emerge from the mist in compositions featuring archetypal characters such as “Emma Hartley” and “The Outlaw Billy John”.

On Dylan LeBlanc’s debut album, Paupers Field, a lost world is brought to life – both in the carefully sculpted songs and rich well of country soul from which those songs emerge.

Although the Golden era of Alabama’s fabled Muscle Shoals sound had passed by the time Dylan was born in 1990, his ancestral roots and family background connected him to one of the most significant sources in the rich tapestry of American music. His father’s position as a Muscle Shoals session player and songwriter meant that early in life Dylan was privy to the sights and sounds of an unvarnished, vanishing epoch and such legends as Spooner Oldham.
“I grew up around a lot of the session players. When I was 11 or 12 I would watch and ask a lot of questions, so for me it was like going to music college,” is how the tall, gentle voiced, lank haired Shreveport, Louisiana native remembers it. “It seemed like a much simpler world – it was romantic to me the way everyone sat in a circle and took it from the top, they just played and hit the record button. That’s the path I followed when I made this album.” This music is in the blood.

“For me music is about getting together with a group of people who feel like family – you create a bond, feeding off each other. Just a look or a hand gesture and they know what you are talking about.” Dylan’s progress was natural, organic – learning the ropes working as a sideman, helped define his own world view and artistry through his teens. A friend of such celebrated local outfits as Drive By Truckers, LeBlanc piggybacked on no-one. Paupers Field is a singular record from a singular performer.

Dylan LeBlanc – Emma Hartley

Dylan LeBlanc | MySpace Music Videos

“My first hand influences are all interesting but I’ve always been a loner when it comes to music. I had the opportunity to and did my own thing and whoever wanted to join in was welcome to. I started picking on my 7th birthday; my dad bought me a guitar. I started writing when I was 11 or 12”.

Although he dismisses his early songs as “not very good” Dylan’s learning served him well. The songs on this debut are beautifully nurtured, gently astonishing, stop you in your tracks reveries – gilded with strings, smokey organ lines, keening pedal steel. Despite his age, Dylan’s worn yearning voice already has the mark of aged experience. Neither the feel nor sound of the album, nor the haunted ghost summoning songs he has written, can be faked. ”If Time Was Wasting” for instance, seems to be wrenched from the heart of ever present currents in Deep South life – where the pull of the past is unavoidable. “Admittedly I was drinking a good bit myself, and when I wrote the song I was thinking about an arrogant ignorant man and the woman he was with. It has a lot to do with the culture round here. I pictured a man walking into a room where he lives with an angry wife.”

Heritage in the present springs up everywhere on Paupers Field. Ghosts and demons emerge from the mist in compositions featuring archetypal characters such as “Emma Hartley” and “The Outlaw Billy John”. Like much great art, Dylan’s work is often rooted in pain and anxiety. “Eccentricity runs in my family and all the men seem to die very young and all the women live to be very old.”

His great great Grandfather shot a notorious local bandit, and was in turn slain in an ambush. This killing took place in Palestine, Texas in the early 1900s, a time and place which fits right in with the album’s sepia mood, redolent of The Band’s classic second album. “There were concerns when I was growing up how things might turn out,” says Dylan carefully. “I wrote music because it made me feel better. I used to get these feelings that would come over me so strong; I felt I was sinking into darkness, like staring out of a large hole in the ground. It scared me and I struggled daily trying to be content in life. In a lot of ways I still do.” His songs – ominously dark yet tenderly appraising emotions to find light and balm – don’t just open up a world and his personal feelings and experience, they provide their creator with a valuable lifeline. “It helps me, I’d be a lot darker if I didn’t write, and it’s almost like playing God writing a song.”

It’s a telling comment from the usually modest and soft spoken LeBlanc. He is not the sort of performer to shout about his arrival or proclaim his talent from the rooftops. Nonetheless the seamlessly organic and self produced Paupers Field presents a fully formed total artist; this record speaks for itself. LeBlanc’s is a voice from the present connected to the past, one sure to outlast passing trends and fads. Soul deep.

“Its funny I never thought anyone would take an interest in what I do so I had the freedom to sound natural with folks I know and love and trust. Everything was basically recorded live, so when we play it live it’s about trying to give people a little of that same feeling. We mean what we say and do what we feel. I think we did that very well on this record.”
Ain’t that the truth.

The Mandolin Case, by Dr. Tom Bibey

The Mandolin Case is a medical legal mystery solved by the local bluegrass community. It shows the truth but tells no facts. The author searched for indelible human truths that are unchanged over generations. He rejected temporary fads that will fade once out of style. The truth was found in the arts, and not science. It was found by ordinary people and not the rich and famous. It is a story for people weary of exploitation of the humble by the powerful, and a roadmap to thwart the efforts of the greedy. Enjoy.

“Dr. Bibey honors the truth and simplicity of rural southern life and traditional music. Finally, an author resists the hackneyed stereotype to accurately portray the integrity of bluegrass music and the people that love it.”
––Kristin Scott Benson, member of Grascals, IBMA Banjo Player of Year 2008 and 2009

“There is something you can learn from every mandolin player you hear.”
—Sam Bush, King of Newgrass and the right-hand rocking, reggae ruler of the Mandolin Universe.

“Tommy Bibey keeps his feet and his heart in three different worlds: bluegrass music, family medicine, and golf. In ‘The Mandolin Case’ he conflates these three worlds into an arresting story that sheds humane light and his gentle humor on his world and the folks who inhabit it.”
––Ted Lehmann, Bluegrass Photojournalist

I was raised in a valley town between the Cumberland Mountains, I know the characters in the Mandolin Case. Dr Bibey shows them as they are; fun loving musicians, card players and sportsman. These are the people I grew up with. Mix them with a bunch of lawyers and you’ve got one hell of a read. I didn’t want it to end.
—Don Sterchi – Newspaper columnist and free lance writer

“We have known Dr. B for years. He is a good doctor, a serious amateur mandolinist, and a writer. Most of all though, he is a man who cares about his people.”
—Darin and Brooke Aldridge, the Bluegrass Sweethearts.

“Dr. B sure is a pretty good picker for a doctor. We’re all looking forward to his new book, “The Mandolin Case.”
—Woody Platt, the Steep Canyon Rangers.”

Created and produced by AC Entertainment, MoogFest 2010 will be a three-day festival celebrating the innovative vision of sonic pioneer, Robert Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer and its offspring. Performing this year at MoogFest 2010 will be Massive Attack, MGMT, Big Boi, Hot Chip, Pretty Lights, Thievery Corporation, Girl Talk, Jonsi, Panda Bear, Four Tet, Caribou and many other great acts. In addition, festival attendees will have the opportunity to participate in interactive workshops and panel discussions and enjoy exhibitions, installations, and film screenings throughout the weekend.

All events will take place in doors at a variety of venues in the heart of downtown Asheville, including the Asheville Civic Center Arena, the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, and the Orange Peel. Special late nights shows and other events at clubs and other Asheville locations will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information, visit www.moogfest.com!