Author: John Barry

U2 Announces Additional 2027 Concert Dates, Gears Up for New Album Release on Friday
12Nov By John BarryNo Comments
Events, Features

U2 Announces Additional 2027 Concert Dates, Gears Up for New Album Release on Friday

U2 has announced two additional shows, in Spain, for their 2027 world tour. The band from Dublin, Ireland, is gearing up for “The Greatest Show On Earth World Tour” in support of their new album, “Carnaval De Luz,” which will be released Friday. New U2 Concert Dates in Spain The new shows are: Barcelona, Spain, Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, May 17, 2027. Seville, Spain, Estadio La Cartuja, May 24, 2027. Tickets for the new shows go on sale at 10 a.m. local time Friday. U2's Legacy in Rock and Roll U2 changed the rock and roll paradigm with such albums as 1983’s “War,” 1984’s “The Unforgettable Fire,” 1987’s, “The Joshua Tree” and 2004’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” The band recently reminded the world at large of their endurance and resilience when they ...
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James Felice Gears Up for New Album with Release of Second Single
11Nov By John BarryNo Comments
Features, Music

James Felice Gears Up for New Album with Release of Second Single

Singer, songwriter, keyboard and accordion player James Felice has released a second song from his upcoming album, “Homeworld Blue.” “Midflight,” follows the release of  “Let Yourself Live.”  “Homeward Blue” is set for release on Nov. 13 on Conor Oberst’s Million Stars Records. The album was produced by Nate Walcott of Bright Eyes, Oberst’s band.  “Homeward Blue” is Felice’s second solo album and builds on his success with The Felice Brothers, the acclaimed Hudson Valley, New York, band that counts as fans Oberst, Wesley Schultz of The Lumineers and brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes.  Felice’s debut album was “The Little Ones.” Felice Discusses the Making of “Midflight” “This is a big swing!” Felice said. “Pretty far outside my wheelhouse...
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The Wood Brothers to Release New Live Album, ‘Rollin’ On,’ in January
11Nov By John BarryNo Comments
Features, Music

The Wood Brothers to Release New Live Album, ‘Rollin’ On,’ in January

The Wood Brothers, on January 29th, will release a new live album Rollin’ On, a ten-track collection of live recordings captured between 2024 and 2026. The trio featuring bass player Chris Wood of Medeski, Martin & Wood fame has released the album’s first single, a cover of Tom Petty’s “You Wreck Me.” The track was recorded at Revolution Hall in Portland, Oregon on March 7, 2024, and features Steve Berlin of Los Lobos on saxophone. A Live Sound Built on Human Connection The Wood Brothers perform upwards of 80 shows a year, delivering a repertoire that evolves from night to night, with varied set lists, reimagined arrangements, and, according to a press release, “an empathic devotion to human connection.” “‘Rollin’ On’ is about survival and perseverance,” Chris Wood said...
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Grateful Dead Tribute: Dead Meat Serving Up Tasty, Juicy, Tender Music at Newburgh Brewing Company
19Oct By John BarryNo Comments
Features, Interviews

Grateful Dead Tribute: Dead Meat Serving Up Tasty, Juicy, Tender Music at Newburgh Brewing Company

If you’re a Dead Head, you’ve surely seen Grateful Dead tribute band upon Grateful Dead cover band, ad nauseum. Some are good. Some phone it in. And some possess an ability to change your life. The latter rarely comes through an ability to mimic or replicate the Grateful Dead’s triumphant highs and desperate, lonely, distressed, artistic and authentic lows. That, in my opinion, will never happen, no matter how hard any band, with any lineup, well-known or otherwise, tries. But some Dead tribute bands CAN harness the energy and the power and the thrust of a good Grateful Dead concert. This is an unspeakable and indescribable transfer of inspiration, imagination and vision that far transcends rhythm, melody and lyrics. These bands offer no bells, no whistles. There is nobody trying ...
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Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music to Open June 7
19Oct By John BarryNo Comments
Features, Music

Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music to Open June 7

By John W. Barry The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, a colossal project dedicated to the legacy of The Boss, the legacy of modern American music and the inspiration both have provided for generations of music lovers around the world, will open June 7 at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, NJ.  “The Springsteen Center provides a home for Bruce Springsteen’s archives and places him in the greater story of American music,” Robert Santelli, the Center’s founding executive director, said in a press release announcing the opening date. “Popular music is one of America’s most enduring and respected cultural resources and Bruce Springsteen is one of its most important artists.” Springsteen has sold hundreds of millions of records and for more than 50 years has up a ...
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Kathleen Parks, Her Fiddle, Charm and Chops: The Right Notes in the Right Places
10Feb By John BarryNo Comments
Features, Music

Kathleen Parks, Her Fiddle, Charm and Chops: The Right Notes in the Right Places

Kathleen Parks, with fiddle, performs Jan. 29, 2026, at White Lake Studios in Albany, NY. From left, guitarist Arthur Terembula; bassist Dan Bui; Parks; and guitar and pedal steel player Alex Formento. Photo by Will Hahn. By John W. Barry Her charm, her chops and the way fiddle player, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Kathleen Parks commands a room is mesmerizing.  But even more compelling is the relationship that binds her creative spirit to her instruments—which can be summed up in one line.  Kathleen Parks plays the right note at the right time—over and over and over and over.  Parks and her band recently dazzled an invite-only audience at White Lake Studios in Albany, NY, for a performance that maintained the thrust of a locomotive, the nuance of devotio...
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Grateful Dead, Garcia and ‘Big Steve:’ Parish Honors History with Iconic Merch Launch
8Jan By John BarryNo Comments
Features, Music

Grateful Dead, Garcia and ‘Big Steve:’ Parish Honors History with Iconic Merch Launch

"Big" Steve Parish. Courtesy Photo. By John W. Barry Scarlet>Fire. China>Rider. Estimated>Eyes.  These are some of the most iconic phrases—song segues, actually— introduced across generations, by the Grateful Dead, into the modern Dead Head lexicon.  Well, now you can add another two-word phrase into that lexicon, courtesy of “Big” Steve Parish, an anchor of the Grateful Dead family whose contributions to mankind could never be quantified. Chonga Bonga.  Decades ago, Parish and Grateful Dead lead guitarist and vocalist Jerry Garcia were outside the Hotel Navarro in New York City, later to be the Ritz-Carlton, about to get into a limousine. A car materialized out of nowhere and someone handed out the window a white shoebox. Inside was a white ch...
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