Uber achiever The richly talented Jessye Norman is not a standard singer. To clarify, she does sing standards, as well as opera and Broadway ballads, but she refuses to align herself with any stereotype. Her set list consists of classics by Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Bernstein, but Norman innovates through the sheer power of […]
Uber achiever The richly talented Jessye Norman is not a standard singer. To clarify, she does sing standards, as well as opera and Broadway ballads, but she refuses to align herself with any stereotype. Her set list consists of classics by Gershwin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Bernstein, but Norman innovates through the sheer power of […]
Press play Endtroducing… dropped all the way back in 1996, but DJ Shadow’s experiment in instrumental hip-hop brought the man unexpected acclaim, and a sound that is still influencing artists across genres. He’s retreated back to the underground in the years since his debut, but Shadow remains just as invested in perfecting and pushing the contemporary musical […]
Higher plains Nebraska musician Joshua James strums his guitar and lets out the crushing ache in his voice, calling to mind long roads through the expansive Midwest beneath a boundless sky. His folksiness embraces the tradition of the genre, the familiar longing coupled with a unique taste of melancholy, and it is in these blends that James’ […]
Folk lure According to the bio section on Michael Clem’s official website, he doesn’t take himself terribly seriously. The self-conducted interview posted there provides plenty of wit, and plays off of the overt self-promotion that permeates the business side of music. He hardly touches on his vast musical accomplishments—a long career with the popular folk-rock […]
Right about the time Carl Anderson was stepping out as a solo act at The Local, Ashley McMillen stepped onto the same stage virtually out of nowhere. Not exactly nowhere, she’d been living with her sister at a farmhouse outside of Scottsville and moonlighting as the lead singer in a country cover band playing “the […]
Celtic couture King Golden Banshee is mysterious in the vein of traditional Irish folklore. With a limited presence online, the only information gleaned from the band’s Facebook description is a collective interest in Guinness. The five-piece counts flutes, fiddles, banjos, the bodhran, and tin whistles among its instrumental repertoire and uses them skillfully to recall […]
Faithful foursome While the eleventh studio album by the well-established Christian southern rock band seems the result of hard work and posterity, Third Day has made it a goal to prove that its latest release falls into another category: miraculous. After a troubling start with a suspect record deal, Miracle, released in fall 2012, became […]
Django untamed A guitarist who learned his craft in gypsy campsites scattered across the French countryside sounds like the stuff of myths, but Stephane Wrembel’s colorful beginnings define his artistic career. His fifth album, Origins, was released last year and finds him reaching into that history to incorporate a broader palette of sound into his […]
Hailing from Roanoke, Another Roadside Attraction has the uncanny ability to envelope audiences in its strange carnival atmosphere.
Local singer/songwriter Ashley McMillen is proving that inspiration combined with perspiration breeds success.