On Thursday, February 15, right in the middle of Black History Month, we’ll welcome a quartet of musicians from the Nashville-founded collective Black Opry. The traveling showcase, known as the Black Opry Revue aims to put Black country, folk, roots and Americana artists on stages across the country. Country music has always been both versatile and diverse. Country, blues, folk, …
This week on the Jax Music Hour (Saturdays at 8PM on WJCT News 89.9 FM), we were joined in the studio by Coyboi lead singer Cortnie Frazier, who recommended some of her favorite local bands, with extra love for Bobby Kid and Teal Peel. We also featured a slew of artists from the Winterland Six festival, which Coyboi will play …
The problem begins with name and form. This is a humming truth of Vedic mysticism and rock music. A band name can be a clue or an impasse. Like their ‘80s peers and kindred, discontent freaks the Meat Puppets and the Sun City Girls, the Butthole Surfers were a band who outgrew, shed and defied their actual moniker and sound …
San Diego-based trio Thee Sacred Souls made its mark at the Tiny Desk with satin vocals and vintage melodies. Paying homage to southern California Latino culture meeting American soul roots, the group’s sweet fusion melodies brought history and love into the space. Photo: Zayrha Rodriguez The trio opened the concert with “Will I See You Again?,” which tells the tale …
The Electro Lounge is back and rolling out weekly dreamscapes — an eclectic hour of chillout, downtempo cuts every Saturday at 10 p.m. on WJCT News 89.9. Here’s what host David Luckin played on the January 20 episode. 1 The Stylistics – “People Make The World Go Round“STREAM 2 CLUB DES BELUGAS & Thomas Siffling – “Beyond The Window“STREAM 3 …
Jack Rabbits, the San Marco live music venue, turns 25 in February. In human years, that makes Jack Rabbits approximately 2,000-years old. That is to say, live music is a tough business. The life cycle of music venues tends to be truncated. The most celebrated clubs of all time were largely short lived endeavors – The Cotton Club, Max’s Kansas …
From its deliberate misspelled name to overall aesthetic vision, since 2009 the local label Infintesmal Records is tantamount to an ongoing unreleased soundtrack to the 1967 documentary Titicut Follies. That still-affecting B&W-film chronicled the hellscape that was the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. In this case, in lieu of the mental hospital Infintesmal Records label cohorts Jimmi Bayer …
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning. For a comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Singer-Songwriter Corey Kilgannon – Wednesday, January 31 Blue Jay Listening Room | Jacksonville Beach Fresh off his latest full length – the enjoyably experimental 2023 album Radiant Phaedrus – local bard Corey Kilgannon has a new solo-acoustic collection, Famous …
It’s your favorite neighbor, Mr. Al Pete, with the playlist from the January 20 episode of The Neighborhood on WJCT News 89.9. On this walk through the neighborhood, I played a song from Texas-trio Khruangbin’s collaboration with retro-soul star (the ATL-native) Leon Bridges. I shared some producer tunes from Danger Mouse and the Jamla Records crew, and wrapped the show …
The new-music spigot has been opened wide and there’s a ton of fresh tunes flowing forth. Here’s seven we caught in our proverbial bucket in order to share with you here. Want this in your inbox? Sign up for the JME Newsletter. On Tuesdays, we send you our picks for the best concerts of the week in and around Jax so you …
Jacksonville-based fans of all things jazzy, soulful and funky have a date with a killer double bill this spring, when Butcher Brown and Son Little’s newly announced southeastern U.S. tour comes to Ponte Vedra. Active since 2013, Richmond, Virginia’s Butcher Brown released one of JME’s favorite albums of 2023 in Solar Music, and that title tells you a lot about …
This week on the Jax Music Hour (Saturdays at 8PM on WJCT News 89.9 FM), we featured a wide range of local artists, including R&B songstress Niki Dawson and alt-country boys Dean Winter and the Heat. We also played touring artists like the legendary Gladys Knight, who’ll be at the Florida Theatre on February 13, as well as Colin Hay …
The Tiny Desk Contest – NPR Music’s annual nationwide search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert – is back for its tenth year. The Tiny Desk team will begin accepting entries on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. When you enter the 2024 Tiny Desk Contest, you join a nationwide community of music-makers and creators. Get …
Cuffing season may nearly be over, but Cuffed Up season is just beginning. The Los Angeles rockers have announced their debut album All You Got, coming April 5 on Hit the North Records, and shared their latest single and music video, explosive album opener “Finer Things.” Listeners keen on both melodic, emotional indie rock and propulsive, tightly wound post-punk will …
The new release from Jacksonville-based drummer-educator Ulysses Owens Jr. and his ensemble Generation Y is an immediate reminder of the joy, nuance and innate humanness of jazz. Over the course the nine tracks of A New Beat, Owens Jr. and Generation Y deliver a rapturous set of hip standards and also originals penned by the assembled players. Originally written by …
One of the best working songwriters alive, Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker has announced her first new solo album in four years, along with a set of 2024 North American tour dates. Lenker’s sixth solo album Bright Future (March 22, 4AD) is preceded by her new single “Sadness as a Gift,” our second preview of the LP after December’s “Ruined” — …
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning. For a comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Jazz Taylor Roberts – Wednesday, January 24 Chez L’Amour | St. Augustine If you missed Taylor Roberts’ Monday night residency set at Blue Jay Listening Room (tickets here), the inscrutable Duval jazz guitarist plays St. Augustine’s Chez L’Amour on …
Since appearing on NBC’s The Voice, local singer and guitarist Madison Hughes’s country music career has been steadily taking off. Late last year, she went viral with her cover of Morgan Wallen’s hit “I Deserve a Drink.” Nowadays, Hughes splits time between Nashville and her hometown of Jacksonville, and she’ll be playing one of Northeast Florida’s biggest venues soon, opening …
Vibey Texas trio Khruangbin have announced their fourth studio album, and first since 2020’s Mordechai, sharing A La Sala’s lead single ahead of its April 5 release via Dead Oceans and Night Time Stories Ltd. “A Love International” is everything we’ve come to expect from the ever-consistent Khruangbin, a mostly instrumental meditation with the sure-handed interplay of Laura Lee Ochoa’s …
Since the dawn of the new millennium, the actor and singer-songwriter Will Oldham has been releasing music under the moniker Bonnie “Prince” Billy, drawing on a range of musical styles but more often folk traditions with a bent toward the literary, crafting austere and enchanting songs. As a prolific songwriter, Oldham has been compared to Charley Patton, Tom Waits and, …
In 1975, Lou Reed released his double-album Metal Machine Music. In total, it was an hour-plus of deliberate compositions comprised of deafening feedback, noise, and electronic howls so intense that even some of his most ardent listeners were surely doubting Reed’s motivations. A few years prior, Reed (1942-2013) had executed the ultimate FM radio hat-trick by scoring a hit with …
It’s your favorite neighbor, Mr. Al Pete, again with the playlist from The Neighborhood’s January 13 show (every Saturday at 9 p.m. on WJCT News 89.9). Each week brings a new dose of contemporary hip hop and R&B, classic soul and more. And on this walk through the neighborhood, I played the legend Lupe Fiasco, and cuts from two of …
There are good songs, and then there are feel good songs. Public radio music stations specialize in the latter, especially new tracks by emerging artists that make you stop what you’re doing and smile. Nearly everyone could use a potent dose of positivity after 2023, so we asked NPR Member stations to share the songs that made their DJs feel …
The Electro Lounge is back and rolling out weekly dreamscapes — an eclectic hour of chillout, downtempo cuts every Saturday at 10 p.m. on WJCT News 89.9. Here’s what host David Luckin played on the January 13 episode. De-Phazz & STÜBA philharmonie – “Sabbatical“ So you’ve got that favorite album from one of your favorite bands. And now they’ve gone …
This week on the Jax Music Hour (Saturdays at 8PM on WJCT News 89.9 FM), we spun a mix of local artists, including electropop duo LANNDS and veteran singer-songwriter RickoLus, who tells us how he wrote “New York,” the first single from a forthcoming full length, These Things Happen. We also played touring artists like The Flaming Lips, who’ll play …
Our weekly Go concert recommendations are updated every Monday morning. For a comprehensive list of this week’s concerts, go to our live music calendar page. Country/Americana Eric Lindell – Wednesday, January 17 Underbelly | Downtown Jacksonville NorCal-bred country/Americana singer-songwriter Eric Lindell has amassed a fervent following, and his live band (which features Jacksonville-based musician and instrument retailer Jack Mock on guitar) is a potent …
Amid chatter of a new album on the way from The xx — and a forever-feeling wait for the follow-up to his 2015 solo album In Colour — English DJ and producer Jamie xx has shared his first new single in nearly two years, the entrancing “It’s So Good.” Released this week via London’s Young (fka Young Turks), the song …
What at face value sounds like a potential theoretical misfire or needless farce—see: Northeast Florida jazz musicians creating a concept album celebrating the Arthurian legends—is a surprising, welcomed and well-executed addition to local music. The Jacksonville-based jazz collective Madre Vaca have just released their 10-song Knights of the Round Table album, available as download and also a quality CD package …
Indie-Americana powerhouse Waxahatchee, aka Alabama-born, Kansas City-based singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield, has finally announced the follow-up to her 2020-best album Saint Cloud. Her ANTI- Records debut Tigers Blood is due out on March 22, and she announced it with a bang this week, sharing the lead single “Right Back To It,” featuring Wednesday (and solo) indie-rock star MJ Lenderman, and announcing …
Your favorite neighbor (that’s me: Mr. Al Pete) introduced The Neighborhood on January 6, 2024 on WJCT News 89.9, with a playlist of contemporary hip hop and R&B, classic soul and more. On my first walk through the neighborhood, I played Common (who’ll be playing at the Ft. Mose Jazz & Blues Series in February; full lineup announcement here), Emily …
Locals can enjoy a triple dose of Billy Strings this spring. The much-loved Grammy winner is confirmed to perform at the Amp on Friday, April 19; Saturday, April 20, and Sunday April 21. Pre-sale for tickets starts tomorrow (Wednesday, January 10) at 10 a.m. at the official Billy Strings site. Tickets at the Amp box office go on sale this …
Lucinda Williams will visit the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on Wednesday, January 31. The songwriting legend, who turned 70 last year, suffered a stroke in 2020, leaving her unable to play guitar. But during her show here in Northeast Florida, Williams will be on the mic in a big way: in an interview last year, she told Vanity Fair, “I’ll …
Taken from the forthcoming full-length Novoa / Gress / Gray, Vol. 1, the track “Rocket Man” is an engaging read of the pulse of today’s jazz trio format. Over the course of the tune’s nine minutes, the Brooklyn-based combo of pianist Eva Novoa, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Devin Gray err on the side of mystery, throwing caution (even intention) …
Texas-born, New York-based singer-songwriter Katy Kirby has shared a fourth (and likely final) single ahead of her forthcoming album Blue Raspberry, coming Jan. 26 on her new label, ANTI- Records. After breaking out with her irresistible 2021 debut Cool Dry Place, Kirby now returns with a second effort press notes call “an exegesis of [her] first queer relationship” that “ …
Saturday, January 6 marked the premiere of the Jax Music Hour, a weekly radio show spotlighting Jacksonville musicians as well as touring artists coming through the area. As a lifelong Duval gal, I’ve been listening to WJCT News 89.9 since I was a kid—my dad always had it on in the car—and being part of my hometown public media station …
Since 2019’s Vol. 1, the first in a series of EP’s that culminated in the January 2024 release of Vol. 3, Duval hip-hop collective L.O.V.E. Culture has made it evident that, while they were fully capable of creating dancefloor-ready songs, they were aiming for a higher aspect through lyricism, instrumentation and sonic production. While collectively the six-songs on Vol. 3 …
