Pick up tuner According to Cody Purvis, you can’t have too much of a good thing, except maybe “Too Much Truck.” The soulfully deep-voiced 18-year-old is country through and through, capturing the outlaw spirit of Merle Haggard and the contemporary energy of Toby Keith. His tunes bounce with charisma, and at 6’5″ Purvis is a […]
One of Charlottesville’s finest traditions is Country Christmas, an annual concert thrown by two of the city’s finest country music acts, Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees and The(All New) Acorn Sisters, with a rotating cast of guest stars and openers. Their upcoming ninth annual event is back at the Southern Café and Music Hall, […]
Charlottesville is one hell of a music town these days. With 60-plus shows weekly, we are starting to feel on par with the heralded scenes of Athens, Asheville—and at this rate, someday…Austin! We reached out to local players in music promotion and asked them to name a show that stood out in 2012. Rodrigo y […]
To many, Charlottesville is still best-known as the birthplace of the Dave Matthews Band, and with good reason: It would be a very different town without the group’s legacy. But our city has always hosted a wide range of musicians, from could-be stars to hometown oddities to local living [...]
It’s been more than two decades since Dave Matthews Band emerged from Charlottesville and forever altered the pop-rock landscape with rootsy jams highlighted by the juxtaposition of fiddle and sax. While small gigs at Trax and frat parties were the launch pad, the band belongs to the rest of [...]
(VIDEO) You might have seen the members of Les Grosses Erreurs (The Big Mistakes) on the Downtown Mall over the past few days. The Cajun musicians are in Charlottesville from Lafayette, Louisiana, after a stop in Asheville. They’ll be busking and playing house shows until Monday. Here [...]
Old-time-music enthusiasts who missed Frank Fairfield‘s appearance in town two weeks ago, as well as fans eager for a second helping, are in for a pleasant surprise. We spotted the distinctive Fairfield — hard to miss, with his vintage suite, pomade-ed hair, and a mustache worthy of [...]
Country megastar Eric Church operates in threes. Hat, sunglasses, and stubble are his distinctive on-stage accoutrements. Blood, sweat, and beers are not only a lifestyle for the devout Church-goers who come to his concerts, but the name of his record-breaking arena tour. Chief, his recent [...]
Milo Greene is not a real person—it’s the result of some friends who decided to throw together a band and then created a fictitious agent (Milo Greene) to help land gigs. These are humble beginnings, but with a debut album issued in July, an ongoing headlining tour, and last month’s “Conan” [...]
Easy Star All-Stars are a cover band of Jah-normous proportions, but instead of playing another act’s songs, it translates landmarks of pop music history. Over the last 10 years, Easy Star has aimed its roots-reggae lens at Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and The Beatles, releasing Dub Side Of The Moon, [...]
Jason Pollock (former guitarist for grunge hitmakers Seven Mary Three) and his eponymous band of Albemarle-area musicians, carve out songs that sound like Tom Petty got his chocolate in The Smithereens’ peanut butter—resulting in familiar, flavorful tunes. The Pollocks roll out a new album, [...]
The Festy Experience in Nelson County is a three-day musical gathering curated by The Infamous Stringdusters. Two members of the band live here in Charlottesville, guitarist Andy Falco and banjo player Chris Pandolfi, and I’m happy to call them friends. Before The Festy last week, I listened [...]
Charlottesville has impressive music credentials. Huge international acts squeeze themselves into our little town so often that it’s easy to become a bit blasé about it. But the savvy chamber music connoisseur clears their calendar when the Tuesday Evening Concert Series kicks off in the [...]
The once upon a time indie art rock darling MUTEMATH has moved from obscurity to hawking Hondas and iPods. Still, it remains a truly worthy band, adept at navigating occupational circumstances, from label battles to member loss, and holding the ground necessary to outlast the onslaught of [...]
It’s been a big year for Brooklyn’s Rubblebucket, with an appearance at Bonnaroo, collaborations with Foster the People, tUnE-yArDs and ?love, and the release of a new EP, Oversaturated earlier this month. The “post-genre” octet makes a stop along a comprehensive American tour to share its [...]
It’s Floydfest, June 2003. The evening is thick and balmy, draping the rolling Floyd County landscape in shimmery violets and blues. Along the festival’s arterial corridor, despite main stage bands kicking into their second sets, an exodus was underway. I remember it distinctly: the wild-eyed [...]
Every music festival has an identity of its own. Names like Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot, and Coachella may have been head scratchers at first, but now they’re branded destination festivals where dozens of acts spread out across multiple stages and throngs flock to make the scene and [...]
It’s all about your approach. Literally. Wherever it is you may be coming from, once you hit Highway 151, master your anticipation. Ease off the gas, let the windows down, huff you some of that crisp mountain air, and scope the vibe. Check the backdrop. The rolling Blue Ridge is vibrant green, [...]
The Roanoke-based band Eternal Summers haven’t been around long, but they’ve been busy, releasing two EPs, two full-length albums, and a handful of singles and compilation appearances in just over two years. Nicole Yun’s catchy, somber punk anthems are a perfect match for Daniel Cundiff’s [...]
The Virginia roots duo known as The Honey Dewdrops gained notoriety afterwinning A Prairie Home Companion’s “Talented People in their Twenties contest.” Four years and three albums later local residents Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish return, between U.S. tour dates, to play a benefit concert [...]
Jack White may be one of the last real rock stars on the planet. While the swaggering old guard have all but been replaced by skinny jean-clad hipsters playing banjos and Macbooks, Mr. White’s a study in musical progress. His stripped-down garage days with the White Stripes led into new bands, [...]
Full of sweet, lonely sentiment, made all the more accessible by his unique vocal delivery, David Gray is the perfect kind of pop singer, free of phony pretense and no pretender to the throne–as the arena-filling superstars begin to age themselves out of the vocation, he steps comfortably into [...]
The college rock scene has no shortage of acoustic guitarists, so it is required of any polo-shirted crooner to bring something unique to the table—which is exactly why UVA alum Ben Arthur is getting some real buzz. His approach is two-fold: a mature process that has resulted in a poignant, [...]