PICK: Karan Casey

Writer’s soujourn: Karan Casey has not let the pandemic quarantine keep her quiet. Since March 2020, the Celtic folk singer has been making videos and performing online, while continuing to promote her 2018 release Hieroglyphs That Tell the Tale. The former member of Irish supergroup Solas brings her voice and experience to a special performance […]

Playing apart: UVA student Merritt Gibson sings to unite

When rising fourth-year and singer-songwriter Merritt Gibson heard the news that the University of Virginia would be moving classes online for the rest of the academic year, she was devastated. She missed her friends—an integral part of her UVA experience, Gibson says. Then she began to mourn the abrupt disappearance of her daily routine, the […]

The way it is now: Bruce Hornsby on sonic evolution and collaboration

It’s hard to follow all of the creative turns in Bruce Hornsby’s lengthy career. The smooth-voiced innovator hit it big in the mid-’80s with “The Way It Is,” and his musical path since has been anything but predictable. He’s played in the Grateful Dead, ventured into jazz and bluegrass collaborations, and fostered a partnership with […]

ARTS Pick: Hubby Jenkins

It was through busking that Brooklyn native Hubby Jenkins developed his own style, workshopping country blues, ragtime, fiddle and banjo, and traditional jazz in public places throughout New York City. Jenkins took to the road, making a life as a street musician, and in 2010 he was invited to join the Carolina Chocolate Drops, taking […]

ARTS Pick: Shagwüf

Sally Rose leads her trio Shagwüf in Sweet Freakshow, an anniversary performance to celebrate five years of stirring up crowds with the group’s psychedelic, retro swagger. “The most punk thing you can do in divisive times is to write music and try and bring bodies together, to sweat and celebrate being alive and compassionate,” says […]

ARTS Pick: Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock ‘N Roll

“Something happened here that wasn’t happening any place else,” says Bruce Springsteen in the film Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock ‘N Roll. “And that mattered.” The newly released rock doc looks at the origins of the significant music scene, dubbed the Songs of Asbury Park, in the New Jersey seaside resort, and its cultural influence […]

Uprooting radio: At WTJU’s new home, DJs spin records to break a record

The broadcast to WTJU listeners on the afternoon of Saturday, March 23, began with one DJ announcing to a sea of others, “Here’s Ol’ Blue Eyes, spreading the news that we’re leaving today—Lambeth, that is,” followed by a snippet of Sinatra’s iconic “New York, New York.” It was the first day of operations in its […]

Essential voices: VA book fest panel looks at music as a change agent

About 100 miles outside of Berlin, Germany, author Tim Mohr stood in a snowy field gripping an axe in his hands. He’d borrowed a friend’s car to get there, and, anticipating neither the sub-zero cold snap nor the fact that he’d have to chop frozen wood in exchange for an interview with a former member […]