music journalism Archives

March 9, 2025 Jason Shrum

Echo Pilot’s Record Release at The ’58

Let me start by saying that Punk Rock is Not Dead! I was so enamored by the garb of some of the people at the show on this night. Leather pants, mohawks, shredded jackets of jean and leather, platformed boots, piercings and tattoos glistened across the room. I was on the cusp of being the oldest in this space and basked in all these 20-something-year-olds who knew the music of the past and are now carrying the torch for the future. One kid literally had on a jacket with the phrase “Punk Rock Is Not Dead” sewn onto the back. While “heroin-sheik” has been replaced with High Noon Hard Seltzers (not a bad thing) the rawness of rock is still alive. This wasn’t necessarily a punk rock music show, but the sense was

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March 3, 2025 Jason Shrum

The New Mastersounds bring Jazz-Fusion to Nashville

I was treated to an extraordinary show last week at the world-famous Exit/In in Nashville, Tennessee with The Gripsweats supporting The New Mastersounds. The two, powerhouse, electronic-forward, funk, jazz-fusion, jam bands, put on a display of rhythm-heavy-keypunching vibe and a toe tapping cavalcade of fun on a Wednesday night. I know that’s a lot of descriptors slammed together in one nearly non sensical sentence structure, but it is well needed to identify these sets.

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February 21, 2025 Steve Lynch

The Band Feel plays Conduit in Orlando

Who is going to be the next great rock n roll band? That is a question I am always out searching the answer for while attending local shows. A friend told me about one such band that recently opened for Blackberry Smoke that hits the mark! The Band Feel has it all, the sound, the look, and the showmanship. It is as if they were right out of central casting from the movie Almost Famous

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February 20, 2025 Jason Shrum

Kurt’s Kuotes

A lot of people loved Kurt Cobain. I loved him. However, it wasn’t the love he needed or necessarily wanted. Fame comes at a price and for Kurt, that payment was his life. The media liked to say that he was my generations John Lennon, but john got to be forty years old. What would we have learned from Kurt and his music had he lived to be middle age, rather than taken from the light at age 27. Some say he was just another member of that dumb club. The “27 Club” which lifted the red velvet rope for Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix and more.

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February 10, 2025 Jason Shrum

Dennis Parker Shares More Than Music

Dennis Parker was here tonight with a selection of collaborators to showcase an evening of Taylor tunes. I was there, along with my dad and my (descriptive relationship status here) Nancy. Dennis and my dad go way back, but we are going to circle around to that story in a bit. Let’s talk about Dennis and where he came from and how he got to the spot that we are at now.