Category Archives: Music

Music defines my world.

Balcony TV

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I am always looking for new music. I find it everywhere – my friends’ recommendations, opening bands, commercials, TV shows, iTunes, TheSixtyOne.com, Pandora.  Lately, my new favorite place to find new tunes has been a YouTube Channel that I stumbled across a few months ago – BalconyTV.

This freakin’ channel is insane.  It’s basically a bunch of live, mostly acoustic music videos filmed on balconies around the world – New York, Dublin, Toronto, Edmonton, Austin, London, Hamburg, Paris, Auckland, Nashville and a billion other places.  I cannot stop watching it.  They upload four or five videos a day, and there’s SO MUCH good music.  So many of these acts are so new they don’t even have records available for purchase yet! Some of the acts sing in other languages, and sometimes they’re just visiting the country in which they are playing and it’s a mad little game of the announcer speaking a language I can’t understand, and then the band singing in English.  My favorites that I’ve found there so far have been Jay Sparrow and Matt Landry and the Dryland Band.  And just today, I’ve heard the band that  could be my newest love…Mighty Oaks (video below, harmonies are RIDICULOUS!).

I don’t know who Stephen O’Regan is to BalconyTV, but his name is on the YouTube Channel.  If he’s the genius that thought up this idea, my little musical heart thanks him a million times over.  And hey, if you ever want to start a Charlotte, North Carolina BalconyTV, I’ll be happy to help out!

If you’re a music lover, you’ve got to check out BalconyTV.  I hope you become as addicted as I am.

The Perfect Spring Album

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Red Wanting Blue - These Magnificent Miles

A feel-good record you simply must own

Sometimes, I can be really, really on the late train catching onto bands.

Such is the case with Red Wanting Blue.  They’ve been around for a decade.  They’ve got six albums.  HUNDREDS of fans. And I just caught on last month. *sigh*

Saw this fantastic rock band from Ohio opening for my loves Honor By August at Iota in DC in February.  And it was one of those things where Erinn and I just looked at each other after about two songs and at the same time said, “Wow.” Amazing stage energy, catchy songs with really tight arrangements, and an absolutely killer lead vocal that left me going, “Who does he sound like?”  (I finally determined that Jason Ross from Seven Mary Three is probably the closest…but there’s definitely some Brett Scallions from Fuel comparison to be made).  I completely loved their performance – proof that a fantastic live show can make one an instant fan!

I downloaded a handful of songs from their most recent album, These Magnificent Miles, immediately upon returning to Charlotte.  And played them incessantly.  I am completely in love with their honest lyrics and delivery. So the rest of the album followed, and it’s on repeat everywhere right now with me. It’s just the perfect record for spring and summer, warming temperatures, and good times with friends.

Have no doubts that as my budget allows, I’ll download Red Wanting Blue’s other five records.  But for now, I’m going to put some miles on These Magnificent Miles.  You should check it out.

More Red Wanting Blue:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | iTunes

Sunday Funday: Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights Hit Charlotte on 3/20

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Like Joan Jett, I too love rock n’ roll.

That’s why Amos’ Southend is the only place for me to be on Sunday night when Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights roll through town.  If you think rock n’ roll is dead, you haven’t seen these guys (and a gal!). These blues-based rockers from Texas are one hot ticket…They will leave the stage smokin’ in their wake. They just got done touring with my faves, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals…I would have killed to see them on stage together!

And seriously, it’s impossible not to love a band that rhymes “Kemosabe” with “hot sake.”  Just impossible.

The best part?  The show is only $7.  Are you kidding me?  That’s what you pay for a tub of organic spring mix at the grocery store.  Forgo your veggies this week and go for the rock n’ roll.

$7.  Doors at 8.  Amos’ Southend.  Be there…or miss a damn good show.

Something New: The Well Reds

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There are a handful of people who when they say, “Go listen to this band,” I jump.  One of those people is Dru, who I got to know half a decade ago when I was doing PR for Josh Queen (of The Jealous Kind) and Dru was working with AlternativeAddiction.com.  The other day, he sent me a text and said, “What do you think of The Well Reds?”

Who?

I’d never heard of them.  So I investigated.  Piano-driven rock outfit out of Atlanta, fronted by former solo artist Jeremy Ezell.  Listened to their EP, Violet, on ReverbNation.  DUG what I was hearing.   Great melodies.  Soaring vocals.  Pounding piano keys. Queen meets Crash Kings.  So I downloaded the EP and I cannot stop listening to it.  My favorite track is “Rebel Lovers” – which was nicely posted on YouTube for me to share with you all.

Gotta rework the Spring Mix to fit these fellas in.

Check ’em out for yourself.

More The Well Reds:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | iTunes

The Soldier Thread: More Austin Goodness…Coming to Charlotte

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You should know I have an obsession with all things Austin, Texas.  It all started in 2005 when the girls and did our Texas roadtrip for Will Hoge in place of The Rock Boat that wasn’t.  I really, really, really want to move there and have been outlining a plan over the last month or so to do just that before 2013.

So when I fell in love with Alpha Rev back in ’07, my musical world opened up to a bunch of Texas bands I may never have heard about otherwise.  Three biggies:  Jets Under Fire, Quiet Company, and The Soldier Thread.  They all tour(ed) almost exclusively in Texas, so I get really, really excited when they travel outside of the Lone Star State.

Even more excited when they come to my town.  And The Soldier Thread is.  Coming to Charlotte.  On May 18.  Opening for Blue October at The Fillmore.

I’ll be there.  Will you?

(If you need convincing, here’s an acoustic video with Patricia and Justin from The Soldier Thread singing  “Winter Song” with Casey from Alpha Rev…and a live show video of “Criminals,” my favorite Soldier Thread song,  just for good measure – thanks to Stephen from SureFire for the live video. )

More The Soldier Thread:  Website | Twitter | Facebook | iTunes