You read a lot of claptrap about humble beginnings, but the pure truth of the matter is that The Sundog Organ Trio had its genesis in a trip to the town dump. Mattapoisett musician Colin Bradley had always had a hankering for an organ, especially one of those big Hammond B-3s. One day a friend called him with a hot tip, that he’d just seen such an instrument at the town dump.
“I didn’t live too far away, so I went right over there,” said Bradley last week. “It was absolutely beautiful, and in good condition, a 1958 Hammond just what I’d always wanted. I loaded it into the back of my Volkswagen, with the back door hanging open, and brought it home. Then I brought it to a guy who specializes in repairing those, and we got it into playing shape. That was six years ago.”
With his 2020 album Starting Over, Chris Stapleton demonstrates just maybe there is still hope for country music of the major label variety. Whereas Stapletonâs excellent new one holds tightly to the traditional side of country music equation, the thinking here is itâs more of an anomaly and country will stay the course on the road to pop-ville. Then again, the album did debut at the number one position on the Billboard country album charts in the first week of release, so obviously the traditional side of the genre is still resonating to people somewhere. Simply put, it is an album highly worthy of ears and receives the Ear Bliss look-see this week along with the latest album from Americana country cat Brent Cobb. Keep âEm On They Toes is the name of Cobbâs latest. His first album since relocating back to his native Georgia after stints in Nashville and Los Angeles, it is a reflective affair about his thoughts and feelings about both his own life and what heâ�
The local arts and entertainment industry took a left hook square on the chin when the coronavirus pandemic closed theater curtains and silenced music venues last March. For many musicians and stage actors, the onslaught of COVID-19 took away their livelihoods.
As for the venues where they played, theater and music directors found themselves walking around an empty building wondering what to do.
“The pause in performances due to Covid-19 has been emotionally and financially devastating for the Zeiterion,” said Rosemary Gill, executive director of the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center in New Bedford. “Putting our dedicated staff on furlough was extremely difficult.”
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FALL RIVER Essence and Allure, an online exhibit featuring the work of Andrew Maglathlin will be on view at the Narrows Center for the Arts through Feb. 11.
This online exhibition features Maglathlin‘s traditional pottery and the vessel as a reference and as a platform to merge sculpture and painting. Andrew’s pieces are ambiguous and evoke something in the viewer that is both familiar and at the same time distant. Painting multiple layers of glaze and slip, the pieces slowly progress through a metamorphosis, as a dialog is created between the form and surface.
Maglathlin was born and raised in Berkley. He had his first experience working with clay in high school when he took a ceramics class with David Robinson. He was instantly hooked on clay and continued to take the class for the rest of his time there.
FALL RIVER On Friday, Jan. 1, at 8 p.m., the Narrows Center for the Arts will present a live stream concert Ward Hayden & The Outliers
Ward Hayden and The Outliers are a musical force to be reckoned with. From heart wrenching ballads, to foot-stompin rock and roll, Ward Hayden and the Outliers deliver every time.
Their love for early rock ’n’ roll, true country, raw blues and pretty much any kind of authentic American music branded them quickly as anomalous and electrifying. Since that time they’ve barnstormed far beyond their Boston hometown, playing honky-tonks, beer joints and more recently concert venues throughout the U.S. They’ve amassed a loyal legion of fans along the way. The media have noticed too, including Rolling Stone, which heralds them as a “modern-day Buddy Holly plus Dwight Yoakam divided by the Mavericks.”