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Larry Jay Takes a Turn Toward Songwriting Success

Singer-songwriter Larry Jay was a guitar player first. When he heard a cousin playing guitar, he says, “I just vibrated with the strings.” He spent his younger days in various bands, honing his playing skills mostly on cover tunes. When asked about his early influences, Gary quickly names the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and Willie Nelson. ...

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Melissa Etheridge, Mavis Staples, LeAnn Rimes To Headline

2021 marks the year of the return of festivals – and one of the biggest events of the year, at least on the east coast, is Merlefest. Usually taking place in late April, the event once again saw itself fall victim to the covid19 restrictions, and was postponed. However, instead of skipping another year, fest gowers can rejoice. Merlefest, instead ...

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Musically Worldly Influence

Although the group’s name is derived from the claustrophobic darkness of New York City’s subway tunnels, Track Dogs is actually an expansive, truly Trans-Atlantic quartet, which has generated some acclaimed, genre-bending music. Made up of two Irishmen, an Englishman and an American, all of whom call Madrid, Spain their home, the band came together in 2011 to make a unique ...

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Stepping Into The Spotlight

Many songwriters find success as other artists use their material, and never gain the attention of the listening public as individuals, either by design or when circumstances keep them from attaining that exposure. Such is not the case for Ron A. McNeill, a country/roots rock/Americana singer-songwriter who has had more than 60 of his songs recorded, with chart appearances in ...

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Finding Musical Passion

Matt Westin found his voice and career direction in some truly unexpected places. He was born and raised in a blue-collar, middle class suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and ended up studying at a prestigious institution in that neck of the woods, Carnegie Mellon University, with a career in engineering on his horizon. While there, however, he began to find music, ...

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Karl Mullen Gets Meditative

As a maker of music, creator of art, and cultivator of countless musical careers via his talent as a booking agent, Karl Mullen has been making his creative mark for more than six decades now. And even after all that time, his latest effort, F EAR LES S, has been hailed as his best solo music to date. Karl’s musical ...

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Izzie’s Caravan

Just call him Izzie. After a youth spent playing in bands, and the early 2000s playing and recording with his current Caravan comrades under a different name, the driving force behind his eponymous blues rock Caravan is experiencing a musical renaissance many former rockers can only dream about. In their previous incarnation, Izzie and company gave it all they had, ...

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Jamming Across Borders

For more than 15 years Dustin Arbuckle and Tom Page have made music together in the Wichita, Kansas area, beginning with a one-gig country outfit that connected them subsequently as a duo, with Dustin on harmonica and Tom on guitar. After about six years they felt the need to push the boundaries of what they were doing. “We hit a ...

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John Driskell Hopkins

Who could have predicted that the music world would have to shift in a digital direction, in a hurry, like it did in 2020? For those musicians who were able to dig in and hold on, many found a way to use the opportunity to create new music and develop new avenues of sharing. John Driskell Hopkins, a founding member ...

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Guitar Picker Trey Hensley

Trey Hensley has for years won over bluegrass fans with his signature smoking guitar style. Yet outside the niche of bluegrass, music lovers of all kinds are drawn to his playing and his music. Call it bluegrass, blues, rock, jamband music—it doesn’t matter. When asked how he’d define his style of flatpicking, Hensley chuckles and simply responds, “My style is ...

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