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August 19, 2007

Episode 040: Eilen Jewell

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eilenjewell.jpgI first heard Eilen (rhymes with feelin') Jewell's music as she was playing at the Green River Music Festival in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the summer of 2006. Jewell was playing an outdoor stage, under a tent, with a myriad of activities going on around the festival property for both kids and adults, but the crowd was listening with rapt attention...not an easy thing to do when playing in such a setting!

Jewell's debut album, Boundary County, was self-released in 2005 and she subsequently signed to Signature Sounds, which released Letters from Sinners and Strangers in late June 2007. Jewell is playing live in the coming months at various points around the US.

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March 15, 2006

Episode 025 : Rachael Cantu

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rachaelcantu.jpgI first learned about Rachael Cantu through Andrea Kremer, a friend who runs the Boston Pop Underground concert series here in Boston, Massachusetts. Rachael sent me a copy of her "Blood Laughs" EP and I was blown away by the songs, the voice, and the intensity of her music.

I kept listening to her CD, and every time a song from it would pop up on my iPod, I'd look to see it was Cantu and think what a distinctive and powerful voice she had for someone so young. I was surprised she was without a record deal given her obvious talents. Well, that didn't last long...

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March 01, 2006

Episode 024 : Hilken Mancini

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manciniandcolbourn.jpgThis month, an interview with Hilken Mancini (of the bands Fuzzy and The Count Me Outs) who recently released a new CD in conjunction with Chris Colbourn (of Buffalo Tom) called, simply, Hilken Mancini and Chris Colbourn.

I first became a fan of Buffalo Tom back in 1988 or '89 when my friend and Falling Stairs band mate, John McGrath, picked up their first album during those days when we squandered all our money on vinyl on St. Mark's Place in New York City and we were willing try just about anything...and certainly anything from Boston produced by J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

John made me a tape and I played it to death.

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February 01, 2006

Episode 023 : Jeffrey Simmons

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wrr_023jeffreysimmons.jpgOne of my favorite things about doing Well-Rounded Radio is that, as a result of hosting and producing the show these last few years, people often turn me on to music they think I'll like, so I often get to hear music that I wouldn't have discovered otherwise.

Case in point: Scott Lesniewski, the guitarist whose music I featured in the Downhill Battle episode a few months back, sent me a CD from a band that he had played in called Jeffrey Simmons and the Symptoms.

The CD was entitled "Almost...All the Way...Down" and after a few listens I realized how ambitious the band was and found it hard to believe that it was recorded in local studios on a limited budget. A closer listen revealed deep references to some classic rock and roll acts.

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October 01, 2005

Episode 020 : Great Lake Swimmers

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020greatlakeswimmers.jpgThe first time I heard Great Lake Swimmers was on a Starbucks' Hear Music compliation CD as I was cleaning the dishes after dinner one night. "Moving Pictures, Silent Films" closed out the CD, but it was so stark and beautiful and engaging, I listened, then went back, then listened again, then went back, then listened, again, then...you know, it was one of those moments.

Tony Dekker recorded its eponymous "Great Lake Swimmers" disc alone in an abandoned grain silo outside Port Colborne in Southern Ontario, Canada, near where Dekker grew up. Complete with the audible sound of crickets and a very natural reverb, the debut is a riveting piece of work that has garnered comparisons to Neil Young, Nick Drake, Red House Painters, Iron and Wine, and Will Olham. I also hear a bit of Jeff Buckley in his quieter moments.

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May 01, 2005

Episode 017 : Jimmy Ryan

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Jimmy Ryan just released his second solo release, an EP that goes by the name of Gospel Shirt and released by Hi-n-Dry Records. A singer, songwriter, and mandolin player, Ryan is an artist who clearly loves both the traditional bluegrass music of Bill Monroe as well as classic rock and roll like Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Rolling Stones.

As a founding member of the Blood Oranges, who released three records (Corn River, Lone Green Valley, and Crying Tree) in the early 90s, and a gifted mandolin player who has performed and toured with dozens of other artists, Ryan has amassed an impressive amount of experience that translates easily into his melding of bluegrass and rock and roll.

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April 01, 2005

Episode 016 : The Paste Magazine Interview Hour Pilot

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015miser.jpg

Bill Janovitz has been busy making music since 1988, when his first band, Buffalo Tom, released its eponymous debut. In the next ten years, Buffalo Tom released five more albums and become a favorite on college and modern rock radio, but Janovitz did not stop creating when the band decided to take a break.

Pete Miser began making music with the Five Fingers of Funk in the mid-90s in Portland, Oregon, moving to New York in 1999 to work on solo projects as well as touring around the world with Dido as her live band's DJ.

Natalie Flanagan didn't start making music until she was 27, but since then, she has grown in her reputation and experience that's led her to make a great her first full-length CD with "Let."

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August 01, 2004

Episode 012 : Howard Fishman + Josh Lederman

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012fishman.jpgThe Howard Fishman Quartet is not a jazz band, though sometimes they improvise as in that musical form. They aren't a blues or a folk band either, but you'll hear those influences at play, too. A little swing, a little soul, a little rock...the Howard Fishman Quartet will make you recall a wide variety of American music, but it's put together in such a natural, effortless way that it sounds like an entirely new form.

Josh Lederman y Los Diablos call themselves "The Kings of Irish-Jewish folk-punk," so it's safe to assume you're going to get a musical concoction that you've not heard before. Self-professed fans of Tom Waits, The Pogues, Leadbelly, and Johnny Cash, the band got their start playing at Boston-area weddings before leaping into the club circuit with a live show that embodies the spirit, if not always the sound, of punk rock. Like the Howard Fishman Quartet, Los Diablos mix together so many American musical styles you'd be hard pressed to describe them in a few words.

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January 01, 2004

Episode 006 : Dan Zanes + Joe Pernice

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006_zanes.jpgDan Zanes was the front man for The Del Fuegos in Boston for the better part of the 1980s. After four albums, numerous tours, and much acclaim, the band went their separate ways in 1990, with Zanes resurfacing later in the decade with a new approach: performing traditional and original music for all ages.

With four more CDs in as many years ("Rocket Ship Beach," "Family Dance," "Night Time!," and "House Party") released on his own Festival Five Records, Zanes is among a handful of tasteful, back-to-basics musicians who are making it safe for young children to listen to music again—and enjoyable for their parents, too.

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November 01, 2003

Episode 005 : Josh Ritter, Francine + Burnside Project

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005_joshritter.jpgJosh Ritter has just released his third CD, "Hello Starling" on Signature Sounds Recordings, following his 1999 eponymous debut and 2002's acclaimed "Golden Age of Radio." Ritter and his band are out now on tour of the US and Europe.

After his previous band, Poundcake, disbanded in the late '90s, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Clayton Scoble began to bring together musicians for his next musical outlet called Francine. The band recorded and released "Forty on a Fall Day" in 2000 and followed it up this year with the John Dragonetti-produced "28 Plastic Blue Versions of Endings Without You," both on Boston's Q Division records.

New York City's Burnside Project released "The Networks, The Circuits, The Streams, The Harmonies" on Bar/None Records in early 2003. Mixing indie rock guitar and sensibilities with electronic dance music beats and aspirations, the band has had an interesting year as they begin work on their next CD.

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