Category: Nightlife

Mia x Ally take viral act on tour

The curious lockdown revival of a 600-year-old folk tradition was the catalyst for an inventive pairing that has, among other things, produced a recasting of “Free Bird” for violin and bagpipes. In late 2020 a Scottish singer posted a pair of sea shanties — collective songs from the maritime trades — to TikTok. Another vocalist added a bass harmony layer, and soon more began stitching in parts.

It caught the attention of electric violinist Mia Asano, who dueted on a subsequent batch of videos. Bagpiper Ally Crowley-Duncan was also taken by “musicians adding their parts and creating this massive session-style experience with all this instrumentation.” She collaborated on a few with a mutual musician friend.

Out of this digital milieu the two became mutual fans and eventually collaborators. The world of rock music has never seen anything like Mia x Ally, but the duo’s unique approach to their instruments has won kudos from some of the genre’s best, including Metallica. It’s also amassed that most coveted of modern currencies, internet virality.

Before joining up, both were building big audiences on TikTok, Ally on her traditional bagpipes with a custom key-extending chanter (the note-producing tube at the bottom of the bag) that she helped design, and Mia with her seven-string Flying V electric violin. In a recent Zoom interview, the two discussed how they came to see their instruments in a different light.

Mia was classically trained from age 5.

“I had a deep love for classical music, but a deeper love for alternative styles,” she said. “In middle school I discovered electric violins; after that I knew what I was going to do for the rest of my life.”

The violin, she added, “is a really gate-kept instrument, and the classical community is really intense. Both Ally and I have a lot of similarities in those ways with our upbringing and our experience with our instruments, so we both have a deep love for showcasing everything they are capable of.”

Also the product of a musical household, Ally played multiple instruments growing up, taking up bagpipes at age 12 as a way to bond with her Scottish stepfather after he legally adopted her. “I’ve been able to see the saxophone, piano and flute transcend their more traditional and classical roots,” she said, “but there aren’t a lot of avenues where the bagpipes have been able to do that.”

In high school she transcribed Ozzy Osborne’s “Crazy Train” to bagpipes and played it with a rock band she’d formed.

“The reaction kind of flipped my brain around into wanting to see the bagpipes in that light more often,” she said. “I love that style of music, always have, and it was really cool to be able to offer it to people on an instrument that I love, but in a way that they weren’t expecting.”

After an extended TikTok friendship, the two performed together for the first time in Boston, on St. Patrick’s Day. Mia was attending Berklee, and Ally had a show sponsored by Barstool Sports. “She messaged me and said, ‘Would you like to meet up and record some collaborations together?’ and of course I said yes,” Mia recalled.

Their version of “Shipping Up to Boston” was a viral smash, and they soon hit the road for a run named after the Dropkick Murphys song, their first release as a duo.

“We like to say it sold out our first tour — that’s how a lot of people found out about us, and the first time we realized how many people love us,” Mia said. An accompanying video, shot across the city at Fenway Park, City Hall and other landmarks, was “essentially a love letter to Boston.”

The current tour, which stops in Derry on Jan. 6 and includes shows in Boston and Vermont, comes in the wake of their debut, Mia x Ally: The Viral Hits. The EP includes their distinctive reimagining of the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit that’s arguably the most requested song in rock history. Both released it solo before recording it together.

“We realized there was actually an appreciation for hearing ‘Free Bird’ in that way,” Ally said. “We knew that we wanted to make it something bigger.”

Playing live, the duo is about more than classic rock covers, even playing some original songs. “Our shows have every kind of music from pop, rock and Celtic,” Mia said. “We have jazzy moments; I play a classical piece at one poin t… we throw everything in there. It’s to showcase our diversity. Music is the most important thing to us; it’s not just about the showmanship, but that’s also important. We have a lot of musical integrity.”

Featured photo: Mia x Ally. Courtesy photo.

Dawes returns to New Hampshire

By Michael Witthaus
[email protected]

When Dawes steps on the Music Hall stage Dec.30, it will be only their fourth appearance in the Granite State, and their first in almost five years. Taylor Goldsmith, Dawes guitarist, lead singer and main songwriter, hopes the night-before-New Year’s Eve scheduling will add to the impetus for locals to check them out.

“I’m very excited for that; I mean, obviously, it’s good to get back to anywhere we haven’t been for a while,” Goldsmith said by phone from his home in Altadena, California. “I feel like everything is kind of shut down that week, and no one ever has anything to do. So I’m kind of eager to see how that feels.”

Goldsmith is a creature of the road.

“When I’m standing still, I seem to disappear,” he wrote over a decade ago in “Time Spent in Los Angeles,” but these days that notion is tempered by new fatherhood. With his wife, This Is Us actress Mandy Moore, he has two sons; Gus, born February 2021, and Ozzie, who arrived in October of last year.

“Back in the day it was, ‘How do we stay on tour, how do we not keep a house at home?,’ and now it’s, ‘How do I make these tours as fast as possible?’” he said. “I definitely feel like an essential part of myself … only comes to life on stages [and] I’ve never had the inclination of, ‘maybe I’d like to step away from this’ — I just need to be a little more strategic. Because when I’m away from the guys, even the first hour hurts really bad.”

The change has impacted his songwriting — up to a point.

“My world is so much smaller, and that is cool; I think it’s something to be embraced rather than rejected,” he said, while noting that he’s not keen on writing an entire album about being a dad. “Even though that’s very much what I think about and deal with on a minute-to-minute basis, I definitely have to make sure that I’m thinking outside of that.”

That said, his worldview has shifted.

“When I was young … those Jackson Browne songs about heartache were all I wanted to hear,” he said. “That’s not my experience now, and it’s a little harder for me to jump into that place. Now I want to hear observations on culture, politics … the existential crisis that goes beyond romance.”

With fewer and longer songs, Dawes’ most recent album, Misadventures of Doomscroller, was a departure. Musically adventurous, it was recorded following a tour backing Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh. More than a few likened it to so-called jam bands, but for Goldsmith it really wasn’t that at all.

“We went in with an objective and more or less accomplished it,” he said, adding that it was different from past albums where plans for a certain mood — more ballads, a softer sound for instance — were waylaid. “I like that the record tells us what it is rather than the other way around, more or less. But with Misadventures, it was like, let’s go for one of those five or six songs, yet 45-minute, albums, like so many rock ’n’ roll bands that we love.”

Goldsmith shrugged off the label given to them by some critics. “There are bands that deserve the moniker but don’t have it,” like Pink Floyd and Dire Straits, he said. “I don’t see us as a jam band in the same way that I see the Grateful Dead…. I almost feel like that’s more of a cultural observation [that] has more to do with who shows up than what we’re doing on stage.”

Missing from the upcoming show will be founding member Wylie Gelber, who left the band last year to focus on his handmade guitar company, and keyboard player Lee Pardini, who announced his departure earlier this month.

“Things change, and I’m excited in a way about embracing this newer identity,” Goldsmith said.

It’s an interesting response from someone who wrote, “I hope all your favorite bands stay together” a while back.

“Well, people have said that to me before … so much for that,” he replied. “That song is more about the REMs and the Replacements, bands that truly are not playing shows … there’s heartbreak there. Dawes is on tour … I’m singing these songs, Griffin’s playing the drums. We were there on Day 1, and we’re still here. I think that is still the thing worth celebrating that that song tries to speak to.”

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Music, comedy and more for New Year’s Eve

Here are a few of the parties planned for Sunday, Dec. 31. Know of more? Let us know at [email protected].

• 3S Artspace (319 Vaughan St., Portsmouth, 766-3330) $24 and up. Harsh Promadillo is a semi-annual prom-themed dance party; dress loud and have fun with it. A prom king/queen will be crowned. Music from Harsh Armadillo with Adra. 8 p.m.

• 815 Cocktails & Provisions (815 Elm St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) $120. Music from DJ Shamblez, Siren of the Circle Burlesque, magic by Benjamin, photo booth, best-dressed contest, door prizes, Champagne toast with open bar menu and small bites. 8 p.m.

• Alan’s (133 N. Main St., Boscawen, 753-6631) Hell on Heels plays a variety of music from old to new, rock, country, blues and a few surprises. 8 p.m.

• American Legion Post 8 (640 Central Ave., Dover, 742-9710) Live music by Dancing Madly Backwards, full bar, food and snacks, dance floor. 8 p.m.

• Artisan Hotel at Tuscan Village (17 Via Toscana, Salem, tuscanbrands.com) $175. Sky High Soirée with all-you-can-eat bites, a sparkling welcome and farewell prosecco toast, cash bar, and exclusive rooftop access all night. A few floors down there’s a separate bash with Dueling Pianos starting at 6 p.m. with passed appetizers, fresh raw bar, a grand Tuscan-style Salumi board followed by a three-course sitdown dinner, dessert bar and late-night snacks that will keep the party going until 2024. 6 p.m.

• Bowl-O-Rama Family Fun Center (599 Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, bowlorama.com) $99 per lane package includes shoe rental for up to five people, two hours of unlimited bowling, large one-topping pizza, fountain beverage pitcher, five $5 arcade game cards and party favors. Noon.

• Bridgewater Inn (367 Mayhew Turnpike, Bridgewater, 744-3518) Classic rock band Horsepower performs downstairs, with DJ upstairs spinning all night long. $50 per person includes buffet (5:30 to 7:30 p.m.) and party; $20 for party only. Hats & tiaras, noisemakers, beads and Champagne toast. 8 p.m.

• The Brook Casino (319 New Zealand Road, Seabrook, eventbrite.com) $30. Diamonds & Dice New Year’s Eve with special guest DJ Ryan Cabrera. 10:30 p.m.

• Buckey’s (240 Governor Wentworth Hwy., Moultonborough, 476-5485) Red Hat Band is back, a tradition at this Lakes Region spot. 9 p.m.

• Cercle National Club (550 Rockland Ave., Manchester, 623-8243) Potluck dinner and appetizers with Mugshot Monday playing rock covers at this members club, with Champagne at midnight. 7:30 p.m.

• Chop Shop (920 Lafayette Road, Seabrook, 760-7706) AC/DC tribute act Who Made Who performs with country rockers Bulletproof, at a party including hors d’oeuvres, party favors, outdoor fun, and awards for best dressed along with Champagne toast at midnight. 6:30 p.m.

• Chunky’s Cinema Pub (707 Huse Road, Manchester, 232-4794) $30. Comedy show starring James Dorsey, Matt Barry and Greg Boggis. 7 p.m.

• Chunky’s Cinema Pub (151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua, 880-8055) $30. Comedy show starring Phillip Anthony, Joey Carrol & Pat Napoli. 7 p.m.

• Chunky’s Cinema Pub (150 Bridge St., Pelham, 635-7499) $30. Comedy show starring Jody Sloane, Mark Scalia & Dave Decker. 7 p.m.

• Colonial Theatre (613 Main St., Laconia, powerhouse.org) $30. A Very Broadway New Year’s Bash with trivia, social bingo, karaoke, costume contest, dancing and games. Ticket includes light appetizers, Champagne/sparkling cider toast. 7:30 p.m.

• Copper Door (15 Leavy Dr., Bedford, 488-2677) Clint Lapointe plays from 4 to 7 p.m., and the restaurant stays open until 11 p.m. Starts at 3 p.m.

• Copper Door (42 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-2033) Bella Perrotta plays from 4 to 7 p.m., and the restaurant stays open until 11 p.m. Starts at 3 p.m.

• Derryfield (625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-2880) $25. Once again, the Chad LaMarsh Band, a high-energy dance combo with male and female lead vocals, entertains with tunes from the ’60s to now, with Champagne toast at midnight and party favors. 9 p.m.

• DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester, headlinersnh.com) $35 and up. Comedy show starring Ken Rogerson, Tim McKeever, Rob Steen and Alex Giampapa, also separate Dueling Pianos show, dinner/hotel packages available at headlinersnh.com. 6 p.m.

• Doubletree by Hilton Nashua (2 Somerset Parkway, Nashua, eventbrite.com) $149. Food, laughs and dancing, as a multi-course dinner is followed by Boston comics Pete Costello and Dave Russo followed by local favorites Joppa Flats; Champagne toast. 6 p.m.

• Eagles Club Concord (36 S. Main St., Concord, 228-8922) Dave Graham performs, non-members signed in. 8 p.m.

• Eagles Club Salem (8 Eagles Nest, Salem, 337-8053) $30 and up. Ring in 2024 with the Manhattan Band. 8 p.m.

• East Side Club (786 Massabesic St, Manchester, 669-1802) NYE party with DJ Keith. 9 p.m.

• Flying Monkey (39 Main St., Plymouth, 536-2551) $49 and up. Standup comedy from Season 12 America’s Got Talent finalist Preacher Lawson. 8 p.m.

• Fody’s (9 Clinton St., Nashua, 577-9015) Perfect Entertainment and Captain Morgan Promo Girls bring a 2024 celebration party with live DJ and giveaways. 9 p.m.

• Fody’s Derry (187 1/2 Rockingham Road, Derry, 404-6946) DJ Jay and Captain Morgan Promo Girls bring a NYE 2024 celebration with prizes and giveaways. 9 p.m.

• The Goat (50 Old Granite St., Manchester, 603-4628) NYE party with Seven Day Weekend is reprised. 8 p.m.

• The Goat (142 Congress St., Portsmouth, 658-4628) Rob Pagnano performs at 9 p.m.

• Governors Inn Hotel & Restaurant (76 Wakefield Road, Rochester, 332-0107) $85 includes dinner with appetizers and dessert, along with dancing to classic rock and pop cover band Bad Penny. 7:30 p.m.

• Grappone Conference Center (70 Constitution Ave., Concord, eventbrite.com) Disco dinner party with DJ spinning hot tracks all night long. Groove to your favorite tunes and show off your best moves on the dance floor. 7 p.m.

• Hermit Woods Winery & Eatery (72 Main St., Meredith, eventbrite.com) $35 to $45. Begin with a 5:30 p.m. wine tasting, then enjoy jazz singer Ashley Warwick accompanied by Craig Jaster on piano and Brian Warwick on drums. Intermission Champagne toast of Cirque De Strawberry and a special dessert included with ticket. Show ends early, leaving time for another party to ring in 2024. 7 p.m.

• Jewel Music Venue (61 Canal St., Manchester, eventbrite.com) $45. A Big Gay Events production, Studio 24 harkens back to the height of the disco era when Studio 54 was the epicenter of glitz, glam and parties. The soiree is hosted by Pancake and Sasha Stone and Boston DJ Andrea Stamas, with drag from Chi Chi Marvel and CiCi Crystal. 9 p.m.

• LaBelle Winery (345 Route 101, Amherst, 672-9898) $145. Three-course plated dinner and music from Freese Brothers Big Band followed by a stroll through the LaBelle Lights. 9 p.m.

• Luna Bistro (254 N. Broadway, Salem, luna-bistro.com) $100. Get a head start with an afternoon Dueling Pianos cocktail party that begins with dinner and Rat Pack music from Joey Canzano. Later, it’s passed hors d’oeuvres and a “ball drop” at 4 p.m., followed by more dancing and a raffle drawing. 6 p.m.

• Lynn’s 102 Tavern (76 Derry Road, Hudson, 943-7832) Crave rocks out at this annual bash. 8:30 p.m.

• Murphy’s Carriage House (393 Route 101, Bedford, 488-5875) $40. Comedy show with Bob Niles, Amy Tee, E.J. Murphy and Eric Hurst. 8 p.m.

• Murphy’s Taproom (494 Elm St., Manchester, scampscomedy.com) $30. Comedy show with Chris D., Joe Espinola and host Jack Lombardo. 8 p.m.

• Music Hall Loft (131 Congress St., Portsmouth, 433-3100) $35. After outdoor First Night festivities, high-energy string band Rockspring performs, with a midnight Champagne toast. 10 p.m.

• Nan King Restaurant (222 Central St., Hudson, 882-1911) Patty’s Energizer Karaoke rings in the new year. Have dinner and sing your favorite song. 7:30 p.m.

• Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St., Nashua, etix.com) $39. Juston McKinney’s Year in Review debuts at the region’s newest venue. 8 p.m.

• New London Barn Playhouse (88 Main St., New London, 526-6710) $175. Curated dinner menu, Champagne and an assortment of drinks, and entertainment including Alec Michael Ryan, Hannah Hunt and Cara Rose DiPietro from the 2019 Acting Intern Company. 6 p.m.

• Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester, 668-5588) Recycled Percussion is again home for the holidays. Ring in 2024 with junk rock, two shows, 3 and 4:30 p.m.

• Pats Peak Ski Area (686 Flanders Road, Henniker, 728-7732) New Year’s fireworks (slopes close at 8:45 p.m.) and dancing to The McMurphy’s in the Sled Pub. No NYE party. Night lift tickets start at 4 p.m., last call 10:30 p.m.

• Pembroke Pines Country Club (42 Whittemore Road, No. 3128, Pembroke, eventbrite.com) $160. Comedy from Mike Koutrobis with dancing and food. Buffet starts at 6:30 p.m., comedy at 8 p.m., followed by dancing until midnight with a Champagne toast.

• Portsmouth Gas Light (64 Market St., Portsmouth, 430-9122) Winter Wonderland party on the third floor, passed hors d’oeuvres, Champagne toast, late-night buffet, giveaways, with VIP packages available. 8 p.m.

• Red’s Kitchen & Tavern (530 Lafayette Road, Seabrook, 760-0030) Live music by Redemption Band, cocktails, food and more. 8 p.m.

• Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St., Manchester, 668-5588) $30. Two shows from comedian Jimmy Dunn, at 7:30 and 9 p.m.

• Riley’s Place (22 Mt. Vernon St., Milford, 325-2177) $10. Soultown Band plays the best of Motown, with soup-to-nuts dinner sold separately (make reservations). 9 p.m.

• Rockingham Ballroom (22 Ash Swamp Road, Newmarket, eventbrite.com) $40. With a theme of Retro Fantasy, it’s dancing all night on the area’s largest dance floor. DJ host Johnny B Groovy and his Soul Sister. Party favors, healthy late-night food and dessert table, midnight glass of Champagne. 8 p.m.

• Saddle Up Saloon (92 Route 125, Kingston, 369-6962) $25. Ring in the new year with live music from Bite the Bullet; tickets include a midnight pizza buffet. 8 p.m.

• Shaskeen (909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246) All-inclusive Epic New Year’s Bash with 200 tickets sold covering a dinner buffet, midnight Champagne toast, live DJ and open bar (no shots). The club will be closed to anyone without tickets (21+ only). 8 p.m.

• Skymeadow Country Club (6 Mountain Laurels Dr., Nashua, headlinersnh.com) $110. Dinner and comedy with Mark Scalia and Joey Carroll, along with DJ dancing ($50 without dinner). 6:30 p.m.

• Soho Bistro (20 Old Granite St., Manchester, 222-1677) $21. Masquerade gala promises the hottest crowd, dazzling beauties and epic music with entertainment from Medio Pollo. 9 p.m.

• Stone Church (5 Granite St., Newmarket, 659-7700) $20. A Very Max Chase New Year’s Eve featuring Superfrog, Amulus, and The Chops. 6 p.m.

• Strand Ballroom (20 Third St., Dover, 343-1899) $50 and up. Comedy with Dave Sheehan, followed by ’80s tribute act Neon Wave, with finger foods and midnight toast. 7 p.m.

• Sweeney Post No. 2 (251 Maple St., Manchester) Live music from Stray Dogs, with a potluck dinner, so bring an app, favorite dish or dessert to share. 8 p.m.

• Tower Hill Tavern (264 Lakeside Ave., Laconia, 366-9100) DJ Kadence hosts NYE party. 8 p.m.

• Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, 437-5100) Adam Ezra Group and opening duo dynamo Sirsy play with a four-course dinner at 5:30 p.m. for $95; 9 p.m. show only is $45, and all tickets include a Champagne toast.

• Wally’s Pub (144 Ashworth Ave., Hampton, 926-6954) Scott Brown & the Diplomats with Highway 20 Fried provide the live music at this epic bash. 9 p.m.

Featured photo: Behind the Seams: My Life in Rinestones by Dolly Parton

Beyond a cappella with Naturally 7

Close your eyes is the advice Roger Thomas gives fans seeing his group Naturally 7 for the first time. Because even though there are only seven singers on stage, their sound always causes listeners to wonder: where’s the band? Along with lush harmonies, a guitar, keyboards, bass and drums are in the mix. The trick — the miracle really — is it’s vocal only, group members mimicking instruments while others sing lyrics.

Technically, it’s a cappella — music that’s all voice and no instrumentation — but it’s so different that Thomas, who founded Naturally 7 in 1999, decided a new name was needed.

“We coined the phrase ‘vocal play,’” he said by phone recently. “To let people know it’s something else.”

Called Seven until a Southern act with a copyright forced them to change the name, N7 was an all-singing group at the outset. Fate intervened, however, in the form of a chance meeting with a music superstar.

“We were in a bookstore, and the owner said, ‘Hey, Stevie Wonder’s here, I want you guys to sing for him,” Thomas recalled. Wonder seemed to enjoy their version “Amazing Grace” but at the end “he was like, ‘I know who your favorite group is’ — and that’s how he left.”

Thomas quickly deduced Wonder wasn’t paying them a compliment.

“He was saying that we sound just like Take 6, and he knows they’re our favorite group,” he said. “From that point on — this was just before we formed N7 — I was like, ‘We’ve got to find a way to make it something of our own.’”

Later, on a long car trip, Thomas’s wife and mother-in-law grew tired of his a cappella cassettes, except Swedish quintet The Real Group’s song, which included eerily lifelike vocalized instruments. “They both said, ‘That can stay in … it’s not a cappella.’ I was like, that’s it! We’re going to be the first on the planet to imitate instruments as the mainstay of the group. Not just a little piece of a show like so many people do, but all seven of us have to figure out what instrument best suits us.”

N7’s unique brand of vocal play has carried them across the globe and led to a lot of memorable collaborations. A management connection resulted in a tour with Michael Bublé, who wanted an opener that wouldn’t add any equipment to an already crowded stage. “He was thinking it would probably be good to have an a cappella group,” Thomas said. “We were supposed to do one leg … we ended up doing three world tours and won three Grammys with him. That was eight years of our lives.”

Coldplay’s Chris Martin once watched them in London and invited them to hang out in his London studio. “They were singing one of our songs, ‘Wall of Sound,’” he recalled. To return the compliment, N7 learned “Fix You” a few months later. “It seems like the obvious one to do, but we’ve got to do it, man. It’s just the power in that song has everything to do with what we do.”

Their upcoming show at Tupelo Music Hall will mix Naturally 7 at the Movies, with selections like “Axel’s Theme” from Beverly Hills Cop, “Jailhouse Rock,” “Shaft” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” along with Christmas songs both standard and original — “Satisfaction Guaranteed” shines among the latter. As always, they’ll do “Fix You,” which has become de rigueur.

“People get upset if we don’t do it; it’s part of who we are,” Thomas said. “We want to leave people with something that’s uplifting, even more so than just the circus part of our voices and the vocal play. We love when people give us credit [for doing] this vocally, but there’s nothing like people saying the music touched them for a lifetime…. ‘Fix You’ is that type of song.”

Thomas set out looking for a distinct sound.

“I want someone to know it’s Naturally 7 within the first couple of bars, like it is for Earth Wind and Fire, the Temptations, Bee Gees or Beatles,” he said. “That’s how you know you’ve created something special.

It was a big lift, and at the start success wasn’t certain.

“You don’t know for sure that you can accomplish this, but you’re going to try, and we were able to do it,” Thomas said. “It’s definitely a dream come true to go around the world now. Because the goal was to get out on the stage and have everyone not believe it. That’s the key mark … get to the point where people say, ‘I don’t believe it.’”

Featured photo: Behind the Seams: My Life in Rinestones by Dolly Parton

A fan’s gift guide

It’s the holiday season and once again time to make a music fan’s eyes and ears light up like a Christmas tree. From modest to mammoth, and across a range of ways to access their passion, here are suggestions for your special someone.

If your giftee’s passion extends to creating music, check out Teenage Engineering, a Swedish company that makes the Pocket Operator, a line of mini synthesizers that resemble a calculator and sell for under a hundred bucks. If you’re feeling extravagant, the company has introduced the EP-133 KO II, a larger device with exponentially more groove and sequencing power; it’s $299 at teenage.engineering.

For the audiophile on your list, there’s the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt, a device that bypasses the crummy audio delivered on cell phones and laptop computers to truly leverage the enhanced sound offered by streaming services like Qobuz and Tidal, $199 at amazon.com, and for phones it’s a good idea to include an adapter in the gift box.

Or you can keep it simple while still turning it up to 11 with the Marshall Kilburn II Bluetooth Portable Speaker. Befitting its brand, the “stout-hearted hero” weighs in at five and half pounds and boasts the loudest output of anything in its class, while providing more than 20 hours of portable power with a single charge, $199.99 at marshallheadphones.com

Maybe your music maven is a purist with a throwback bent who loves only vinyl. Help them keep their prized albums clean with a Boundless Audio Record Cleaner Brush, perfect as a stocking stuffer at $15. But don’t give the leash without a puppy — there are many music box sets on offer this year.

Jason Isbell marked a decade since his breakthrough solo release Southeastern with a quadruple-vinyl, triple-CD edition that has the remastered studio LP along with a live version and demos of every song, with special packaging, $79.99 at amazon.com. The seemingly endless flow of Beatles music and the final drop of so-called new songs from the Fab Four continues with a repackaging of their Red 1962-1966 and Blue 1967-1970 albums, with a total of 21 previously unreleased tracks, $69.99 at amazon.com.

Wanna feel old? Green Day’s Dookie is turning 30 and the Berkeley punk stalwarts’ first big release has the deluxe treatment, with a six-LP (brown vinyl, natch) box set that includes a bevy of tchotchkes to go with outtakes, demos and live takes, including four songs from their notoriously mud-splattered Woodstock ’94 set, $121.32 at amazon.com.

Dolly Parton answered her induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame by inviting a big chunk of its membership (and Kid Rock) to work on Rockstar, her first rock ’n’ roll record. She even reunited the remaining living Beatles, along with Peter Frampton and Mick Fleetwood, for a version of “Let It Be.” It’s available as a four-vinyl album box set for $59.98 at amazon.com.

There is no shortage of books for the music fan. For superfans of the aforementioned Ms. Parton, give Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, a fashion-focused autobiography that peeks into the singer’s closet and is packed with more than 450 color photos, $25 at amazon.com.

To (extravagantly) mark the 60th anniversary of Beatlemania for your favorite fan, give 1964: Eyes of the Storm, a collection of photos taken by Paul McCartney with his 35mm camera from the end of 1963 through early 1964, the years when The Beatles blew up into an international phenomenon and altered the course of music history. It’s $77.79 at popmarket.com.

For those growing misty-eyed for the early days of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and other flannel-shirted rockers, Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner’s Mud Ride: A Messy Trip Through the Grunge Explosion covers the evolution and growth of Seattle’s music scene, from DIY club shows to its Big Bang, which removed most hair metal bands from the earth. $28.79 at popmarket.com.

One of the latest classic rock memoirs is My Effin’ Life, from Rush bassist, keyboard player and singer Geddy Lee. It’s filled with anecdotes of his time with the prog rock power trio, along with personal stories of growing during World War II, with a grandfather who was murdered during the Holocaust. Novelist Michael Chabon praised the “warmth, care, artfulness, hard-earned wisdom and … gently skewed humor” in his book. $24.99 at amazon.com.

It’s always a good idea to keep things local. Here’s a thought: The next time you attend a show at The Shaskeen, Penuche’s, the Press Room or Strange Brew, pick up a CD and pay it forward by giving it to a loved one who’s unfamiliar with the performer’s music. That’s the most effective way to put cash in an artist’s pocket.

Of course, there’s always merch. Roots of Creation, one of the busiest bands around, offers a huge selection of T-shirts, caps, pins and posters at their shoprootsofcreation.com website. Sepsiss, the female-fronted heavy metal band that just won another NEMA, has a line of T-shirts calling attention to the insidious practice of pay to play, where clubs force acts to buy tickets to their own shows and re-sell them for payment, along with other forms of financial exploitation. Available at sepsiss.com.

A few musicians have side hustles as artists making very cool stuff. Singer-songwriter Dan Blakeslee, who played his first main stage set at the Newport Folk Festival this year, sells line drawings (also available as T-shirts) at etsy.com/shop/DanBlakeslee. Nick Lavallee, front man for Manchester power pop band Donaher, runs Wicked Joyful, making bespoke action figures and apparel like the Devil Church Explorer Club hoodie or a Taco Tour at Tender Town T-shirt, at shop.wickedjoyful.com.

Featured photo: Behind the Seams: My Life in Rinestones by Dolly Parton