As it touches on a myriad of musical moods, from tuneful grunge to full-throttle rockers and tender ballads, there’s a clear thread running through In Bloom, the second album from the Faith Ann Band: raw, naked emotion. More precisely, it’s a crackling live wire, shooting furious sparks and sparing no one.
Two minutes of rage, the breakneck-paced “Miller Time” exemplifies this, as a would-be suitor is sneered away with a dismissive line. “I wouldn’t be you for all of the sh-t you could possibly shove in my face,” band leader Faith Ann Mandravelis sings.
Another standout, “Jungle Law” is a credo of sorts. “I ain’t no live-in house pet,” she sings, “I don’t sit pretty.” Odious corporate dronage is drubbed on songs like “Songbird” and “Reaper,” a backward glance at the singer-songwriter’s entrance into music; she quit a job as an engineer to become a math teacher.
“I saw like what day-to-day life was doing to people in an office environment,” she said in a recent phone interview.
One of her students had a band, which inspired her to start hitting the open mic scene around Manchester and Concord.
“As I was writing my songs, I found a lot of healing,” she said. “Giving myself permission to speak up was huge, after having been kind of in the shadows of my musician boyfriend and not really ever feeling like I was worthy enough.”
Buoyed by this newfound courage, Faith Ann hit the road for shows in the South and headed west to play in Arizona. The response to her music led to an epiphany.
“We can focus on not just fixing things that are broken but things that are not … that have just never been used,” she said. “Brushing those off, as a way to bring ourselves back to being inspired by life.”
Her first album was 2020’s Long Last — “Which is pretty much a statement: Finally, I’ve broken out of my shell,” she said. “I’ve stopped letting myself be contained, pushed down and ashamed for my past, and as soon as you own it, you find an acceptance of yourself.”
The only musician from the debut still in the band is bass player Alfredo Benavides. Concord guitarist Mike Stockbridge and drummer Alex Hershman helped make In Bloom, but someone new will take over the drum kit soon. Axile Beighley, who plays with Benavides in Manchester band Dank Sinatra, serves as a fifth member at live shows, like the release party coming up on April 16 at Strange Brew Tavern.
“Feral” is one of the words Faith Ann uses to describe her approach to music.
“I mean it as a way to staying true to the parts of ourselves that are unclaimed territory, that haven’t been cultivated,” she explained. “It’s the parts of us that are the most raw. Whatever you might say unkind about yourself, these are part of the things I do that I enjoy. I don’t need to justify them to anybody.”
As a relative newcomer to the local scene, she finds the New Hampshire music community a welcoming one. She’s paired up with many local bands, and has several shows on the horizon. She’ll support Andrew North & the Rangers at Penuche’s in Concord on May 7, and play at the Market Days event the following month. In July she and her band host a festival of her own called Level Up Get Down at Auburn Pitts. It will include Big Sandy, Chodus, Tumbletoads, The Humans Being and Dank Sinatra.
“Everyone I have played with is super-supportive, and everybody wants to see everyone succeed,” she said. “I don’t think I have ever really heard of anyone bashing on any other musician, because there’s just this understanding of how much guts it takes and how vulnerable you are to do it. People don’t always go out of their way to invite you in their little realm, but once you’re in there, everyone wants to help you out.”
Faith Ann Band When: Saturday, April 16, 8 p.m. Where: Strange Brew Tavern, 88 Market St., Manchester More: thefaithannband.com
• Sense of place: An immersive experience, A Journey to the White Mountains in Words and Music is a collaboration between writer Howard Mansfield and composer Ben Cosgrove. A reflection of how 19th-century landscape painters helped expand awareness of New England’s wilderness, the content is based on a chapter from Mansfield’s Chasing Eden: A Book of Seekers, published in 2021, and driven by Cosgrove’s music. Thursday, April 14, 7:30 p.m., Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, $24 at ccanh.com.
• Throwback guy: Few acts dominated late 1960s Top 40 radio like Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, who reeled of a string of hits including “Lady Willpower” and “Young Girl,” the latter an early example of conscious songwriting — sort of. The group racked up six gold records and sold more vinyl in 1968 than any other act in the music business, including The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Friday, April 15, 7:30 p.m., Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester, tickets $39 to $49 at palacetheatre.org.
• Progressive rock: Digging into classics and deep tracks from Yes, Genesis, ELP, Rush and others, ProgJect includes veteran musicians like drummer Jonathan Mover (Alice Cooper, Marillion, GTR), Mike Keneally on guitar (Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani), along with Saga singer Michael Sadler, Ryo Okumoto on keyboards (Spock’s Beard, Asia, Phil Collins) and Matt Dorsey playing bass (Sound Of Contact, Beth Hart). Friday, April 15, 8 p.m., Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry, $40 at tupelohall.com.
• Bring the funny: A comedy showcase is headlined by Johnny Pizzi, who also does magic tricks in his act. A native of East Boston, he brings a decided regional flavor to his standup, while offering observation of life as a parent and granddad, along with the challenges of aging. Pizzi is joined by Jason Merrill and Scott Higgins. Merrill is also promoting the show, dubbed Shooting From the Hip Comedy Night. Saturday, April 16, 8 p.m., Cello’s Farmhouse Italian, 143 Raymond Road, Candia, $30 at eventbrite.com.
• Well read: A live broadcast of local music spotlight radio show Granite State of Mind has singer, songwriter and band leader Hunter Stamas in conversation with host Rob Azevedo. Stamas also performs at the event, drawing from her group Hunter’s growing catalog. Their most recent release is 1960, which helped garner them a New England Music Award for best act in their home state at last year’s confab. Wednesday, April 20, 6 p.m., Bookery, 844 Elm St., Manchester, more at wmnhradio.org.
The Bacon Brothers are a prolific band — 11 studio albums since forming in the late ’90s, a live record and a hits collection — but there’s really not a Bacon Brothers sound. Kevin Bacon, who writes most of the band’s lyrics, attributes this to their being lifetime students at the College of Musical Knowledge.
“We’ ve lived long enough to have absorbed a lot of different … styles that have continued to grow through the years,” the actor and musician said in a recent joint interview with his brother Michael, a composer. When writing, he said, “We’re thinking about the way the song could sound, as opposed to thinking of a way to fit the song into the Bacon Brothers.”
Thus, there’s a world of difference between the Opry-ready “Picker” and “British Invasion,” which sounds plucked from a 1964 episode of Shindig. Both are from 2020’s The Way We Love, a record that is musically diverse but is also a concept record about love in its many forms.
“Our concept is usually do we have enough songs that we really like to make a 10- or 11-song record,” Michael said.
“Most bands have a certain kind of consistency, but it’s just not what we do,” Kevin added.
One of the best tracks on the new disc “Corona Song,” a tribute to their parents that’s both sweet and humorous; Kevin sings about missing them, while also being grateful they aren’t around to see the pandemic’s dumber moments.
“People get awards and they’ll say, ‘I know my dad’s up there watching, and he would be so happy for me’ — but there’s got to be other times,” he said. “Nobody ever says, ‘I’m so glad my dad’s not up there watching me as I get hauled off to jail.’”
After a handful of one-off gigs over the past two years, The Bacon Brothers are at last back on the road with a tour that stops at Plymouth’s Flying Monkey on April 14. The show will span their catalog and offer a few new selections.
“We have a really nice five-song EP coming out we’re really excited about,” Michael said. “Everything’s sort of falling into place again for us, which is a great feeling.”
One of their few appearances was Sept. 11, 2021, where they performed the moving remembrance song “Unhappy Birthday” in front of New York City’s Freedom Tower.
“Kevin and I both spent more of our lives in New York than out of New York, and that was a special experience,” Michael said. Kevin wrote it at the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. “I think it’s the best 9/11 song, and it’s also eminently updatable. Because we’re always living with that.”
During lockdown, Kevin and wife Kyra Sedgwick had a novel way of maintaining harmony in their three-decade-plus marriage. They’d each retreat to separate areas of their Connecticut home, meeting around noon and again at day’s end.
“It’s a very high-class problem when you have enough rooms in your house that you can go off and be in your own space, come back together for lunch and then say goodbye until cocktail hour,” Kevin said.
Michael stays busy with his film scoring business, and he continues to provide the music for Henry Louis Gates’ series Finding Your Roots, which he’s done for 15 years — including a 2012 episode where his brother and wife learned they were distant cousins.
“It’s a dream job, I’m very lucky to have it,” he said. “It’s an incredible show.”
On the segment where Kevin and Kyra discovered their genealogical connection, the two also learned about a history of abolitionism in their family — along with an opposing fact.
“They also found out that we had a slave owner, and what was shocking to me is he was a Quaker,” Kevin said. “We’d always thought of the Quakers as leaning towards abolition [and] an understanding of the horror of slavery.”
Kevin’s busy acting career continues apace.
“I just finished up Season 3 of City on a Hill, which is on Showtime,” he said. “I think we’re going to be on in June, although I’m not exactly sure of the date. I did a film with Kyra in Rhode Island [Space Oddity] that’s hopefully coming out soon. It has a nice New England angle.”
The Bacon Brothers When: Thursday, April 14, 7:30 p.m. Where: Flying Monkey Movie House & Performance Center, 39 S. Main St., Plymouth Tickets: $65 and $69 at flyingmonkeynh.com
Featured photo: Michael and Kevin Bacon. Photo credit Charles Chessler.
• Heartfelt: Fresh from winning a Grammy for the 2021 collection, Bela Fleck brings his My Bluegrass Heart album to the Capital City. The banjo master was joined by a who’s who of roots music on the effort, including mandolinists Sam Bush, Sierra Hull and Chris Thile; fiddlers Michael Cleveland and Stuart Duncan, fellow genre-hopper Edgar Meyer on bass, and guitarists Bryan Sutton and Molly Tuttle. Thursday, April 7, 7:30 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, tickets $39 to $69 at ccanh.com.
• Funkytown: Parliament-Funkadelic offshoot Danny Bedrosian & Secret Army plays a downtown Manchester show, with support from Jabbawaukee and Married Iguana. Bedrosian led the massive Super Motha Child as a teenager before joining P-Funk. Secret Army is a three-piece, focused on tighter grooves, “getting a lot of sound out of just a few people,” the Lawrence, Mass., native once explained. Friday, April 8, 8 p.m., Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester, $15 at the door and the show is 21+.
• Brew-to-do: A Nashua nano-brewery celebrates its sixth anniversary with an afternoon of music featuring local favorite Charlie Chronopoulos, preceded by a set from Dan Carter. Chronopoulos released the stark Chesty Rollins’ Dead End a couple of years ago. A “Northern rock and soul” record that observed the daily life struggles he sees in his home state, it was also a reflection of his choice to pursue an artist’s life there. Saturday, April 9, 1 p.m., Millyard Brewery, 25 E. Otterson St., Nashua, millyardbrewery.com.
• Momentous: Covid-delayed since late January, Mindset X finally marks 18 years as a band and an upcoming album at a hometown show. The new record’s first single, “For The Love Of War,” dropped earlier this year, the product of the prog-rockers’ first studio sessions with new guitarist Lucian Davidson. It’s a hefty, toothsome number that recalls early Black Sabbath and proto Metallica. Saturday, April 9, 8 p.m., Angel City Music Hall, 179 Elm St., Manchester, $10 at the door, 21+, more at angelcitymusichall.com.
• Tale teller: Though his songs are a joy, a big part of a Todd Snider show is his raconteur side. In the autobiography I Never Met A Story I Didn’t Like, he remarks on the ease of playing country songs. “You just strum around the ‘Johnny B. Goode’ chords until you get to the part where everybody stops and the singer yells the chorus, which is usually a slogan of some kind, like ‘ain’t goin’ down ’til the sun comes up.’” Wednesday, April 13, 7 p.m., The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, $30 and $32 at themusichall.org.
Among tribute bands, Heart by Heart is unique in actually having original members in its lineup. Bassist Steve Fossen joined Heart when it was a Pacific Northwest club band banging out Zeppelin and Deep Purple covers. Drummer Mike Derosier played on a pair of tracks from their 1976 debut album, Dreamboat Annie, then joined full-time.
Compare that to what’s these days officially advertised as Foreigner — only guitarist Mick Jones was part of its best-known hits, and he tours with them for maybe half the year.
With singer Somar Macek and guitarist Lizzy Daymont performing the roles of Ann and Nancy Wilson, Heart by Heart is a facsimile, but one with real cachet.
“We have to call ourselves a tribute act, because people understand what that means,” Fossen said in a recent phone interview. “At the same time, Mike and I helped write the material, and we toured with it. … Actually, we’re kind of a tribute to ourselves.”
With the rhythm section at the core of hits like “Little Queen,” “Straight On” and “Barracuda,” Heart by Heart provides a faithful version of what Heart sounded like in its heyday. Though Fossen no longer dons a unitard as he did in his twenties and Derosier keeps his shirt on, the overall vibe is solid throwback.
“We try to recreate what it would be like to see a band in the late ’70s and early ’80s,” Fossen said. “The guitar players were out there doing double leads together, harmony solos, there’s keyboards blaring, drums and bass are loud. … That’s our goal.”
Fossen and Derosier were pushed out of Heart together in 1982, after the Private Audition album failed to sell as hoped. In the decades that followed, Fossen mostly stayed away from music.
“I was more into mountaineering,” he said. “I spent a lot of my time going up and down mountains, and driving all around Washington state to different wilderness areas.”
In 2008, Derosier and fellow Heart alum Roger Fisher invited him to play a few Heart songs with Macek at a Seattle party. It was the first night he met the woman who’d become both a music and life partner. His first impression was off, though, because he assumed she spelled her first name like the season.
“I thought, oh, here we go; she’s going to come in with the tie-dye dress, hairy armpits, smelling of patchouli oil, a classic hippie chick,” he said, noting that while there’s nothing wrong with any of those things, he was totally off base. “She spells her name S-o-m-a-r, she’s highly educated, and she’s been singing her whole life.”
Macek and Fossen bumped into each other a few more times and became friends.
“She had a band at the time, so I would go out and see her play,” he said. “They would invite me to sit in on Heart songs; the friendship turned into a romance by Christmas.”
He laughed at the observation that unlike Heart, whose romantic entanglements could rival those of Fleetwood Mac and then some, they fell in love before starting a band.
The two began playing as a duo at social gatherings, creating enough of a buzz that they were invited to open for Dwight Yoakam in Anchorage, Alaska. They decided a bigger sound was needed and brought on Derosier and guitarist Randy Hansen. The Yoakam gig ended up getting canceled, but the group enjoyed rehearsing enough to carry on anyway.
Their first official show was a breast cancer awareness benefit. When Daymont joined two years later, the doppelgänger effect was complete with her solid guitar skills and vocal support.
Their sets span all of Heart’s catalog, even songs Fossen and Derosier weren’t on, like “Alone,” “These Dreams” and “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You.”
“We look at Heart songs that are popular, that people want to hear, and we tried to learn those in the beginning,” Fossen said. “Obviously, with a band like ours, we want to please as many people as possible. There’s a lot of fans of that era of music, so we [play] those too.”
Heart By Heart When: Saturday, April 2, 8 p.m. Where: Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord Tickets: $25 and up ccanh.com
Featured photo: Heart by Heart. Photo by Bill Bungard.
• Pickers’ pick: A new band of bluegrass aces, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway is led by the award-winning guitarist and songwriter; the quintet encored a recent Seattle show with twanged-up take on Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Also on the bill is Bella White, a 20-year-old singer and multi-instrumentalist whose debut album Just Like Leaving was called “sublime Appalachian heartbreak” by Rolling Stone. Thursday, March 31, 7 p.m., 3S Artspace, 319 Vaughan St., Portsmouth, $22 to $25 at eventbrite.com.
• Jazzy folk: The four-piece band River Sister came together after an open mic revealed the preternatural connection of singers Elissa Margolin and Stefanie Guzikowski. They melded so well that they formed almost by acclamation. Rounded out by upright bassist Nate Therrien and drummer PJ Donahue, their music is a wonderful blend of folk traditions and jazz rhythms, pure harmony wed to musical complexity. Friday, April 1, 8 p.m., Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, $15 at ccanh.com.
• Blues man: Though he often sounds like he was plucked from a century ago, Guy Davis didn’t grow up in hardscrabble times. The singer, guitarist and actor has said he learned the blues tradition at first as a Vermont college student. He has a solid knack for channeling masters like Howlin’ Wolf and Blind Willie McTell, however. Saturday, April 2, 8 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, $25 at palacetheatre.org.
• Sound machine: A rare live appearance from prog rock duo Delusive Relics is part of an event dubbed Synthwave Night that will feature selections from their second album, The Blind Owl. The show also stars Bosey Joe, the electronic groove pairing of looping wizard Aaron Jones and sax player Curtis Arnett, who will headline their own showcase in downtown Concord at Bank of NH Stage in early June. Saturday, April 2, 8 p.m., Area 23, 254 N. State St., Unit H (Smokestack Center), Concord. See delusiverelics.com.
• Lunar tunes: In a new video filmed in an open field, percussive guitarist Senie Hunt covers George Ezra’s “Budapest” and makes it his own, with elegant, quick fills and hypnotic rhythm. Hunt is back home from his current Nashville base to play shows, including one at a colonial-era estate owned by Moonlight Meadery, who also makes beer and cider; it often hosts area musicians — see the schedule on their website. Sunday, April 3, 2 p.m., Over The Moon Farmstead, 1253 Upper City Road, Pittsfield, overthemoonfarmstead.com.
• Request filler: An audience-driven event with a big screen catalog of over 200 songs, Max Weinberg’s Jukebox is the definition of a crowd-pleasing show. The E Street Band drummer and ex-Conan bandleader helms a quartet that readily knocks out requests ranging from the Beatles to the Stones to, naturally, plenty of the Boss’s favorites. Each show is different, but every one of them is a delight. Thursday, March 24, 7:30 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, tickets $49 to $115 (meet & greet) at palacetheatre.org.
• Still one: Formed in 1972, Orleans began inspired by an eclectic mix of styles including Meters and Neville Brothers styles roots music — hence the name — but the group found success with pop rock staples like “Dance With Me” and “Still The One.” They’ve endured some bumps along the way, including one member taking four years off to serve in Congress, and the death of key member Larry Hoppen, but they’re still playing. Thursday, March 24, 7:30 p.m., Dana Center, 100 Saint Anselm Dr., Manchester, $45 at anselm.edu.
• Bright beats: Enjoy an evening of dance music, luminescence and craft beer at the Pipe Dream Glow Party. Unleash the child within with glow sticks and face painting, as the W.A.P. DJ Trio entertains. The group consists of DJ ACHE, MC Mikey P&W and Wounded Wing. It’s the first time the veteran-owned brewery has done such a bash, with blacklights, pulsing rhythms and the energy of a big city discotheque. Friday, March. 25, 6 p.m., Pipe Dream Brewing, 49 Harvey Road, Londonderry, pipedreambrewingnh.com.
• Special night: Comedy fans looking to be a part of history should check out Juston McKinney in his upcoming show. Known for riffing on fatherhood and the foibles of New England, McKinney will be filming a new comedy special called On The Bright Side, his first since 2018’s Parentally Challenged, which was taped in Manchester. He’s done them for Comedy Central, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Saturday, March 26, 8 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $29.50 at ccanh.com.
• Party on: What once was a day’s celebration grew to a week and then a month — why not more? After Manchester’s end-of-March St. Patrick’s Parade, head across town for a post-event party, with Solitary Man performing traditional Irish music, joined by step dancers from Murray Studio, and more merriment from the AOH Hibernians Pipe and Drum Band. All proceeds from the bash benefit the Post’s baseball program. Sunday, March 27, noon, Henry Sweeney Post No. 2, 251 Maple St., Manchester, sweeneypost.org.
Musicians who keep coming back to the scene that gave them their start
On every highway, from I-95 to Route 66, there’s a car towing a trailer full of dreams, a van packed with guitars, amps, an electric keyboard and a suitcase stuffed with notebooks. Every musician with a shred of ambition hears the call to Mecca.
Not all have the gumption to take flight. Those who do usually find a way to hold on to their hometown. More often than not, a round trip is a necessity. Landing in a new place means finding gigs, not always an easy task.
“This city ain’t your throne, like it was back home,” singer-songwriter Amanda McCarthy wrote about the challenge. She considers herself fortunate to quit a day job after less than a year in Nashville to play music full time, but her calendar still includes several months in New Hampshire, working at her old haunts.
Tom Dixon’s country music dream eventually wore him down to just a handful of hometown shows a year, but he’s proof that though the grind may get old, the pull remains.
“The reason I come back? One answer is the fans, really,” he said. “As long as I can do it, and as long as they want me to do it, I will.”
In 2002, guitarist Brad Myrick left his home in Hopkinton on a whim to try his luck in Los Angeles. There, a chat with a fellow music school student launched him on a journey to Italy, where he met Italian musician Nicola Cipriani and began a collaboration that led him around the world.
A decade later, however, he’d returned to his foundation in the Granite State, even as he continued to travel to Europe to tour. Myrick currently runs Lakes Region recording studio The Greenhouse, and leads NH Music Collective, which fosters talent and books shows throughout the region.
“It’s beautiful when I can incorporate what I’ve learned in other music scenes into the great scene we have here,” Myrick said in 2014. Eight years later, he feels validated. The need to go through a crucible like L.A. isn’t hard to understand, but there’s no reason it can’t also be done here.
“We have the technology to make New Hampshire the next Seattle,” he said. “The people with something to say are going to find a way, and most take off for that reason. I just want that opportunity to be bigger here, and that’s a big part of why I stick around.”
Amanda McCarthy: The Long Haul
Amanda McCarthy. Courtesy photo.
For Amanda McCarthy, leaving New Hampshire was always the dream. The singer-songwriter began looking at Nashville apartments when she was 20 years old, stopping only when she learned she was pregnant.
“That changed everything,” she said. “I won’t say that set me back; I mean, everything happens for a reason. I love my daughter, but it definitely made my approach very different.”
McCarthy has been a working musician since her high school days, playing throughout her home state. Her biggest local moment came when she performed at Salt Hill Shanty in Sunapee. Steven Tyler, a personal hero of hers, was there that day, so she boldly decided to cover an Aerosmith song. He reacted favorably, leading to a weeks-long media splash.
Soon after, she made the move to Music City with a singular goal in mind.
“I really wanted to explore the world of writing music for other people,” she said. “Writing songs that might not necessarily be my style, but knowing they still have a life somewhere else.” A good example of this is “The Long Haul,” a song McCarthy wrote in the early 2010s that became the title track of fellow New Hampshire singer April Cushman’s debut album.
There are only a few places left to follow such a dream, and Nashville tops the list. That said, it’s a crowded and often daunting place to stake a claim, but the young and hopeful artist managed to find her way.
“I was a little nervous that it would be hard to break in, that people might be mean, because it’s a big city, but people are genuinely nice, accepting and welcoming,” McCarthy said. “By the time Year 1 wrapped up, I’d pretty much found who I consider to be my circle, my tribe of people who I collaborate and play shows with.”
Helping her crack the code was a realization that hosting song pulls — events where writers share their work with audiences and each other — was a great way to network.
“I got the opportunity to book some shows, and rather than billing it under Amanda McCarthy … I chose to bill it under a company that I started called Nashville Writers Collective,” she said. “I think that’s attracted a lot of people because it sounded more like an entity and an experience rather than just another songwriter.”
Currently, McCarthy has been readying a new album, Don’t Stop Me, due for release soon. All the while, she’s kept one foot in New England, traveling back to play gigs. Her next hometown appearance will be at Exeter’s Sawbelly Brewing on April 29. Initially she did it to survive; now it gives her a way to check in with home that’s not an economic necessity.
“When I got here … I didn’t have a professional network, and I didn’t really have a way to make money, whereas now I kind of figured that out,” she said. “It’s less of a crutch for me and more enjoyable… I can treat it more like a working vacation.”
Tom Dixon: Gone to the Dogs
Tom Dixon. Courtesy photo.
For Tom Dixon, the road out of New England led to some great memories, but not enough to sustain a career in music.
Dixon hit Nashville in 2013 after establishing himself as a solid draw in his home state fronting an eponymous band, but had no illusions about taking the town by storm.
“My expectations were low, but my hopes were high,” he said. “If you go into something like this expecting to be a star, you’re a fool; you hope that you will, and get as far as you can.”
Undeterred, Dixon worked to break into the scene there, beginning with his aptly titled album, Kick Start This Party, made with producer Kent Wells.
“We got that out and hit the road with it as soon as possible,” Dixon said. “Of course, my first trip was back to New England — I knew I could play there.”
Soon, he was booking tours that led from Nashville to New England, playing bars, barbecue joints, and anywhere else he could. It was lucrative, and when he arrived in New Hampshire he’d play for a large chunk of the summer. All the while, he was checking off items from his professional bucket list.
“I played all over the country,” Dixon said. “I didn’t play in all 50 states, but I played in a lot. I was able to do some big things, play some big stages, play on national television, get on radio … I wanted to do everything.” His biggest moment came after he was inspired to write a song for a veterans organization called Coalition For The American Heroes.
Eventually, though, it got old.
“I began to feel like a truck driver who stops in different towns to play music,” Dixon said. “All I do is drive and then I stop, put on a show and drive again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven 10 hours, played a show, slept in a hotel for four hours, got up and drove 10 hours back. I ended up having some issues. My career kind of slowed down, it’s not on fire like it used to be. I’m in pain literally and I’m tired of not being home and it just wasn’t fun anymore.”
Despite that, Dixon travels home each summer to play a handful of shows for his still dedicated local fan base. He’ll be back in April at Manchester’s Bonfire and Stumble Inn in Londonderry, a New England run he’s dubbed The Good Times and Bad Decisions Tour.
Before he decided to play music full-time, Dixon had seriously considered a profession centered on his love for dogs. He’d trained his own, helped friends with theirs, and claimed it was a coin flip that led him to music. He decided to contact the Animal Behavior College to learn his options and was stunned by what the person on the other end of the phone told him.
“He said, ‘Funny story, you’re in my system already, in New Hampshire… you and I talked 10 years ago,” Dixon said. “It was a real thing that long ago, when I hadn’t started playing music full-time. The weird thing is that I’m still following a dream, but now I can follow two dreams. My career’s gone to the dogs.”
MB Padfield: California Dreaming
MB Padfield. Photo by Kristen McFarren.
When MB Padfield moved to Southern California, she didn’t receive a golden reception.
“I got broken into, and all of my songwriting notebooks were stolen,” the New Hampshire native recalled recently. “On impact, that was brutal; but since then things have been really great.”
Driven to perform from an early age — she enrolled at Berklee at 16 — Padfield traveled between coasts a lot before packing a U-Haul in early 2018. At home she gigged constantly, but playing covers wore on her.
Padfield’s songs were getting played on the radio when she was 16. Her first single, “Silly Boy,” featured Greg Hawkes of the Cars on ukulele. Her anti-bullying original “You Can’t Break Me Down” showed a maturity beyond her years. A next stop at the world’s entertainment hub was a natural choice.
“New England has really amazing players as far as musicians, and the talent there is top-notch, but there’s a mindset in Los Angeles that you want to push yourself to do more,” she said. “I don’t think moving away is for everybody, but I do think if you feel a call of an artistic vision that you don’t seem to be surrounded by currently, then it might be an option.”
For Padfield, the level of talent in L.A. is the opposite of intimidating.
“There are people that exude creativity; it’s so inspiring and motivating to be around. … That’s honestly my favorite part,” she said. “I’m not looking to be a big fish in a little pond. I want to be able to play shows and make music … representative of the person I am, [and not] a different mindset of, ‘Oh, I gotta be the best in the room.’ If you’re the best in the room, you aren’t in the right room.”
She’s currently at work on a new EP called Surface and has launched a Kickstarter campaign to cover distribution costs.
“It’s sonically very modern; I guess you would call it in the indie pop genre,” she said. “I wrote all the songs myself, and I’ve been working with an amazing team out here that’s kind of helping me bring those songs to life.”
Padfield heads back to New England in the summer and around the winter holidays to play shows but doesn’t plan on being bicoastal forever.
“Three or four months out of the year until I’m able to be full-time in Los Angeles,” she said, adding that returning to SoCal can be jarring. “There is a switch that has to be flipped, and it’s so hard sometimes.”
For Padfield’s long-term goals, her new home is an ideal fit.
“New England has such an amazing strong backbone, of cover gigs and working-class musicians,” she said, “but in Los Angeles there’s something to be said for creativity and innovation, and propelling culture. It just feels like you’re part of something bigger.”
Senie Hunt: Dividing the Time
Senie Hunt. Courtesy photo.
Senie Hunt first left his New Hampshire home for another Tennessee music mecca, Memphis. After a few months there he returned, following a breakup with his girlfriend. Heading south was always part of his long-term plan, and Hunt made the move to Nashville in April of last year.
“I wanted to be in a place that was more diverse both in terms of music and in terms of culture and race,” Hunt, who is Black, said in a recent phone interview. His new home offered the bonus of being “the least furthest away, so I’m still able to visit with my family and friends, and also stay down here.”
Hunt is an acoustic guitarist with a unique percussive sound produced by tapping the body of his instrument as he plays it. The urge to move was spurred by a need for both “a change of scenery” and a change from what had become a limiting gig schedule.
“I didn’t want to end up playing the same places to the same people all the time; I wanted to branch off,” he said. Nashville had “hundreds of places either doing live shows or open mics, showcases, recording, all of that … built into one city block. At almost every show I played, I’d meet an entirely new audience.”
Another factor that helped was having a musical style that diverged from the sound the city was primarily known for.
“Despite Nashville being a very heavy country scene, it’s starting to evolve because a younger generation is coming in,” he said. “Right now is the perfect time if you stand out in a different style. … People just create music here.”
Along with success that finds him able to book shows months in advance in his new home, Hunt stays connected to his old digs, regularly returning for area gigs. Camaraderie with the local scene was vital when his car caught fire on a recent tour, resulting in a total loss of Hunt’s vehicle and much of his equipment.
Area musicians quickly organized a benefit for him at Area 23 in Concord, a place Hunt played frequently when he lived there.
“A lot of my friends decided they wanted to pitch in and help me kind of get back on my feet and get back on tour regularly,” he said. At the show, Hunt played a Zoom set for the crowd there. “It was nice, even just briefly, to share a few songs with the folks up north.”
Resupplied with assistance from his pals, Hunt is headed back at the end of the month to play some shows; he’ll be around until the end of May. Fans can see a new side of him on April 23 in Concord, with the debut of the plugged-in Senie Hunt Project at Bank of NH Stage.
“I have always loved blues and electric, and since it is very different from my normal stuff I decided to make a new band to not throw too many people off,” he said, noting he’d begun on electric guitar in grade school. “I really only switched back to acoustic when I transferred colleges and needed to find a solo alternative, which then brought me back to my percussive guitar playing, which filled the void of not having a band around.”
Gracie Curran: Point of Departure
Gracie Curran. Courtesy photo.
In 2014, Gracie Curran moved to Memphis after experiencing the city during the International Blues Competition. She found it welcoming, both for the music and for its central location, which made touring a big chunk of the country easier.
“After the awards, we were starting to get calls to play in Omaha, in Chicago,” Curran said in February. “Mapping from Boston was a scary thought, but I realized we could reach 70 percent of our markets within an eight-hour drive from Memphis. … It was a good jumping-off point for us to put our feet in the waters and start touring.”
Soon after, Gracie Curran & the High Falutin’ Band scored a residency at a Beale Street nightclub called Rum Boogie. The singer shared cramped quarters in a city apartment, but it didn’t bother her.
“It was worth living with four other band leaders,” she said. “I was with such talented musicians that put so much work and effort into their craft.”
Another reason Curran settled in Memphis was that the band she’d formed in 2010 with bass player Geoff Murfitt was at a crossroads. Murfitt had a family, which didn’t fit well with spending time on the road, while guitarist Tommy Carroll had grown tired of touring.
“So I came down to Memphis initially to kind of start and grow the band,” Curran said, something she found easier said than done. “There are a lot of amazing musicians here in Memphis, but all the great ones are usually on the road.”
She recruited veteran Boston guitar player Chris Hersch and coaxed Murfitt back into the band with an offer to fly them from New England to wherever their dates are, while ending the Rum Boogie residency. The band is rounded out by keyboard player Scott Coulter, who’s also in Hersch’s band Say Darling, and drummer Terrell Reed.
“That’s what we’ve been doing ever since,” Curran said. “It’s been great to be able to play with them. Memphis was really everything I expected it to be; it’s truly a great musical family here, a really supportive, welcoming community … and not only that, musician supporters.”
Curran’s connection to her old home is unwavering; she returns whenever she can, and always on her birthday. She’ll be at The Bull Run in Shirley, Mass., on May 16 for an ensemble show that includes Toni Lynn Washington, Diane Blue, Gina Coleman and Erin Harpe.
“I really feel like I have the best of both worlds right now,” she said. “I have a great community here… but also in Boston. I was very spoiled in that when I first started testing the waters, we had Ronnie Earl, Mike Welch and Roomful of Blues, Toni Lynn Washington and all these amazing musicians. To have both those perspectives from musicians that played with all the greats, to be able to pass on stories and tips … these are valuable things that I am so grateful for.”
Brooks Hubbard: Back Home Again
From the moment he left New England, Brooks Hubbard knew he’d be back. In fact, that was his goal.
In early 2015 Hubbard set out for Los Angeles to grow his music career, but a stop to visit a friend in Nashville changed his mind.
“It offers the same opportunities and cuts out all the Hollywood stuff that I don’t need,” Hubbard said in early March. “Nashville welcomes you with open arms, whereas L.A. or New York seem to be closed off. … You have to work the networks to get on stage.”
Hubbard managed to leverage the West Coast connections he did have. A drummer he knew who had played with Robert Cray had introduced him to Jackson Browne’s guitarist Val McCallum during a visit there the previous year. In summer 2015, the two played together in White River Junction, Vermont, at a release party for Hubbard’s album Start of Me.
McCallum agreed to do the show via text, based on a misunderstanding that turned out well.
“He thought it was a bar gig, but it was actually a ticketed show, and I was playing all original music,” Hubbard said. “He didn’t know any of my songs, but he’s one of those players that can play anything — he has a great ear.”
After the show, McCallum was insistent that they should “do something together,” Hubbard said. “That was where the seed was planted to make a record, which we eventually got to do in 2017.”
As Hubbard had made the move right after earning his bachelor’s, he approached his new home as a learning experience.
“The first couple of years I was there was just an extension of school,” he said. “This is what I really want to do, and this is where I need to learn what people do in this industry do to make a living.”
He found that opportunity did not equate to success.
“I always say it’s the home of the greatest and the worst musicians in the world,” he said. “If you want to be one of those great artists or performers, you gotta put in the work. It’s really tough to make a buck in town there, because there’s just so many people that are doing the same thing.”
Hubbard uses the past tense because he recently re-settled in Etna, the New Hampshire town where he grew up and began playing music, inspired by his father, also a musician. He’s now married to the girlfriend he decamped with to Music City seven years ago; they’ll welcome their first child in April.
The move back came a bit sooner than expected, but the timing turned out for the best.
“It was something that my wife and I had always talked about eventually doing, but the pandemic for sure sped up that plan,” Hubbard said. “Doing livestreaming and even co-writing through Zoom made me realize that you don’t have to physically be in some of those places. If you go there and make the corrections and then keep those connections, it doesn’t really matter where you base yourself.”
See the musicians
Amanda McCarthy just released “Don’t Stop Me” co-written with fellow expat Ty Openshaw; the track will appeal to fans of Marren Morris and Kacey Musgraves. She’ll be home in late April for a round of New England shows, though her only Granite State gig is Friday, April 29, at Sawbelly Brewing (156 Epping Road, Exeter). Visit amandamccarthy.com.
Tom Dixon made his final single, “The Weekend,” in 2020, a raucous call to party that will please fans of Luke Bryan and Rascal Flatts. Though he officially retired from the music business, Dixon heads home occasionally to play for his hardcore fans. He’ll do a full band show at Bonfire (950 Elm St, Manchester) on Friday, April 23, at 8 p.m.
MB Padfield has a four-song EP called Surfaces due later in the year. Fans of Holly Humberstone will enjoy 2020’s brooding love song “Trxst” — it’s on her YouTube page. Padfield is currently booking New England dates for summer. She’ll be at Bernie’s Beach Bar (73 Ocean Blvd., Hampton) every Saturday afternoon from mid-June until Labor Day.
Senie Hunt continues to play acoustic music in his singular percussive guitar style, but will showcase an electric side during his Saturday, April 23, appearance at Bank of NH Stage ($18 at ccanh.com). For a taste of that sound check out “Lovers on the Run,” available on Tidal and other platforms. It’s a growling blues rocker reminiscent of Gary Clark Jr.
Gracie Curran & the High Falutin’ Band is a rip-roaring combo fronted by a namesake singer who channels Janis Joplin and Brittany Howard. Their next area date is a blues showcase Saturday, April 16, at Bull Run (215 Great Road, Shirley, Mass., $30 at bullrunrestaurant.com) with Curran, Toni Lynn Washington, Diane Blue, Gina Coleman and Erin Harpe.
Brooks Hubbard is a singer-songwriter in the vein of Jackson Browne, Jack Johnson and Jason Isbell. He’s putting the finishing touches on Father & Son, a collection of songs celebrating parenthood — his first child is due in April. See him Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. at The Goat (50 Old Granite St., Manchester).
Featured photo: Brooks Hubbard. Photo by Brett Berwager Photography.
Until New Year’s Day delivered omicron to the world, Samantha Fish was looking forward to a European tour in March. Like so many of her plans over the last two years, it was postponed. But the continent’s loss is America’s gain, as Fish is now doing a co-headlining tour with the Devon Allman Project. A St. Patrick’s Day stop in Manchester is, ironically, a replacement date for a canceled Allman Betts Band show at the Palace Theatre.
Singer-guitarist Fish’s latest album, Faster, is another step away from the blues sound that defined her early days, earning her supporters like Buddy Guy. “Hypnotic” evokes mid-’80s Prince from its first notes, a synth-y stew that also hints what David Bowie’s collaboration with Stevie Ray Vaughan might have produced had it lasted more than one album.
Produced by Martin Kierszenbaum (Lady Gaga, Sting), the new record’s most engaging departure is “Loud.” A rock/hip-hop mashup featuring rapper Tech N9ne, who like Fish hails from Kansas City, it’s a solid genre-bender. In a recent phone interview, Fish sounded amazed that she’d lured “Eminem’s favorite all-time rapper” to work with her.
“When I first met Martin, we went to Tech’s studio to work in one of the writing rooms,” she said. “Martin just sort of brought it up offhand, like, ‘It would be really cool to have Tech on a record.’ I just kind of laughed it off; I never thought he would in a million years. Then, he actually went and got him.”
The new record is a buoyant, danceable celebration, but it didn’t begin that way; Fish started writing in the pandemic’s early days, fresh off a narrow exit from an overseas tour that had her spending nearly two days in airports.
“I went through a lot of feelings and different phases of just dealing with this terrible thing that was going on,” Fish said. “All I could do was really go sit in my house and write.”
That’s how every record begins, Fish said, but “the introduction of it is never what it ends up being.”
She shifted gears when her new producer entered the frame. “When I met Martin, I just kind of got this really infectious energy, enthusiastic and encouraging and very positive overall,” she said.
His mood compelled Fish to “write songs that were fun, that made people feel good. I wanted to have an energetic show; I wanted to come out jumping around after this pandemic. I feel like this record really serves that kind of an approach, and it feels nice to be able to own that.”
Along with producing, Kierszenbaum co-wrote several tracks and played on most of the record, while Rob Orton (Lana Del Ray, Sting, Mumford & Sons) did the mixing.
“I just feel like it has this level of … I don’t want to call it gloss, which sounds like a bad thing, but it’s got sparkle to it that I don’t know has been present in my past work. I really admire Martin for his ability to pull that out.”
Fish started her own record label a few years back and has produced two records by Jonathan Long and another one for Nicholas David.
“My job as a producer is to help the artists facilitate their vision and to make it cohesive and also get it done on time and under budget — you know, like the boring part,” she said. “I like helping people shape their vision, help them get what they want, and that’s been kind of a fun journey for me.”
For the upcoming show Fish expects a well-rounded evening. Allman’s band will include two special guests: harmonica player and vocalist Jimmy Hall of Southern rock stalwarts Wet Willie and veteran blues guitarist Larry McCray. Each band will play a full set, and they’ll end up together at evening’s end.
“It’s going to be a collaborative event, but also evenly showcasing our bands and our music,” Fish said. “You know, the best of all worlds.”
Devon Allman Project with Samantha Fish Band & River Kittens When: Thursday, March 17, 7:30 p.m. Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester Tickets: $35 and up at palacetheatre.org
Featured photo: Samantha Fish. Photo Credit Kevin King.
• Green scene: An ideal accompaniment to St. Patrick’s Day, Black Pudding Rovers are in their 21st year playing Irish music, from traditional songs to Van Morrison. Piano player, guitarist and singer Mike Becker recalls that BPR was the house band at TR Brennan’s, “until that restaurant burned down after a hot performance.” The afternoon event includes food and drink specials — grab a Guinness. Thursday, March 17, 4 p.m., Moe Joe’s Family Restaurant, 2175 Candia Road, Manchester, eatatmoejoe.com.
• Different duo: The fortuitous pairing of John Oates and Guthrie Trapp began when both were playing the Telluride Bluegrass Festival a few years back. Oates was briefly stepping away from his work with Hall & Oates to sit in with Sam Bush and guitarist Trapp was playing in Jerry Douglas’s band. They jammed a bit, forming a bond that blossomed during the pandemic. A brief tour including a local stop is the result. Friday, March 18, 8 p.m., Colonial Theatre, 617 Main St., Laconia, $39 to $89 at ticketweb.com.
• Metal triplet: Both a rock concert and a show of force, Korn performs with the equally muscular Chevelle and Code Orange. With their eponymous debut album, Korn defined a genre that one critic said “articulated a generational coming-of-angst.” They released a new album, Requiem, in February, led by the single “Start the Healing.” Chevelle’s latest is last year’s space-themed NIRAITAS. Saturday, March. 19, 6:30 p.m., SNHU Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester. Tickets are $49.50 to $115 at ticketmaster.com.
• Tapas tunes: Enjoy small-plate delicacies and tunes from The Incidentals, a four-piece with a set list ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Ramones. Whether that includes a punk version of “My Way,” is unclear, although Sid Vicious did cover it back when. The restaurant is highly regarded for inventive shareable dishes, and a bar that extends its Grateful Dead theme with a grapefruit-flavored Sugar Magnolia martini. Sunday, March 20, 4 p.m., Stella Blu, 70 E. Pearl St., Nashua, stellablu-nh.com.
• New’s old: Born from creator Scott Bradlee’s self-described “old soul,” Postmodern Jukebox blends old-school jazz with contemporary songs in a way that’s singularly unique. Singer Hayley Reinhart covering Radiohead’s “Creep” in a Dinah Washington mode is stunning and scintillating, as is Olivia Kuper Harris, Sara Niemietz and Therese Curatolo reinventing the Spice Girls’ ’90s pop hit “Wannabe.” Wednesday, March 23, 8 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $39 to $109 at ccanh.com.
