Above The Basement - Boston Music And Conversation

This local band should be an inspiration to all those musicians stuck in their basement.  While these guys...well...are still there, their aspirations should soon help them rise them above it. These 11 and 12 year olds are just starting out. Finn, Graham, Peter and Aiden play all original music and are working hard on their chops and songwriting. Ron and I thought it would be interesting to see how these fine young men tick, approach their music, their influences and plans for the future.   Check out The Loop!

After 9 years of successfully running Musicfest NW in Portland, OR, Trevor moved to Boston to work with Crash Line Productions to manage booking for the Boston Calling Music Festival. Now in his third year, he continues to work with Musicfest NW as well as the Eaux Claire festival in Wisconsin. The 2017 Boston Calling lineup is amazingly impressive with the likes of Tool, Mumford and Sons, and Chance the Rapper as well as Bon Iver, Sigur Rós, The XX, Run the Jewels, Solange, Weezer, Cage the Elephant, Tegan & Sara, Wolf Parade, Car Seat Headrest and Deerhoof among many others.

This is a very self indulgent episode - Ronnie and I have talked about our band The Butler Frogs and the fact that we have an album coming out Spring 2017. We thought this would be a great time for us to become guests and have our occasional host Mr. Jonathan Beakley talk to the entire band before the release. Joining the conversation is lead guitarist David Moore who you have met before in episode 011, bassist Tim Fiehler who is an institution around these parts and drummer Greg Mara who also plays with the band Boatyard Resin.

Drummer Jerome Deupree played in The Humans which toured with Squeeze and opened for legends like Patti Smith and Iggy Pop. He was also with Bourbon Princess, Joe Morris, The Coots and the then jazz group Either Orchestra. In the late 1980’s he joined Mark Sandman and Dana Colley to form the great low rock band Morphine and he currently plays once again with Dana Colley and Jeremy Lyons with the band Vapors of Morphine.

For over 20 years guitarist, drummer and singer-songwriter Chad Hollister has headlined all over New England and has also opened for Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tom Petty and has shared the stage with Phish, Warren Haynes and Blues Traveler to name a few.

An in-demand bass player, composer and teacher, Greg fronts his own indie band Lowman and jazz trio Sinistral as well as being a member of the phenomenal 'Gypsy Jazz' group Rhythm Future Quartet, Roving Soul and ManOnLand and performs with many others including John Funkhouser, Britt Conners and Bourbon Renewal and The Sonic Explorers.

Musician, teacher and the founder of Consenses, the artistic game of telephone that aims to form what she terms 'interpretive chains' that links all 5 senses. Music has been a chain in Sally’s own life, spending several years on the road with hundreds of shows highlighting her strong and thoughtful writing style and voice.

Boston based MB Padfield has the presence of a rocker and the grace of a singer-songwriter with an honest story to tell. She is a road warrior and not just because of her bedazzled Harley. We expect big things from her in the coming years.​

Bonnie is the Songwriting Chair at Berklee College of Music in addition to her own work in bands and as a solo artist. She wrote Have A Heart that was on Bonnie Raitt's muti-platinum and grammy winning album Nick of Time. She has also written for the likes of Cher, Adam Ant, Bette Midler and David Crosby. This is Part Two.

Bonnie is the Songwriting Chair at Berklee College of Music in addition to her own work in bands and as a solo artist. She wrote Have A Heart that was on Bonnie Raitt's muti-platinum and grammy winning album Nick of Time. She has also written for the likes of Cher, Adam Ant, Bette Midler and David Crosby. Also she is awesome. This is part one of a two part episode.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist with The Adam Ezra Group, Adam's songs and live performances are amazing. But equally impressive is his nonprofit organization RallySound, whose mission is to inspire communities, grassroots activism and civic engagement by helping create and organize socially conscious live music events.

This is a short SOTC with hosts Chuck Clough and Ronnie Hirschberg.  

Speech and Language Pathologist by day, Carla Ryder sings with The Mudhens, Miriam, The Carla Ryder Band and also has her solo project. With numerous songwriting accolades and 6 albums under her belt, she has toured extensively and developed a loyal and enthusiastic following from New England to the Pacific Northwest.

A graduate of Berklee College of Music's Music Production and Engineering program, Matt is the founder and Executive Director of New England’s first professional nonprofit recording studio The Record Co. whose goal is to build a sustainable, nationally recognized music scene in Boston.

Boston-based singer/songwriter, a former busker with a powerful voice and great guitar chops, Katrin made her way to share the global stage with Chris Isaak, John Sebastian, Boz Scaggs, Huey Lewis, John Mayall and Joan Armatrading.

Fiddle player and psychologist, for over 30 years Bob Childs has been making violins and is the namesake for the world class ensemble Childsplay – where every fiddle player in the group plays a Bob Childs violin.

Dalton Sim began his career in Somerville, MA managing Guster out of their apartment back in 1995. He has gone on to manage many other talented artists including Dispatch, Father John Misty, fun., Alexi Murdoch, Ben Kweller and others with Nettwerk Music Group.

Flutist Ona Jonaityte is a fantastic player and teacher and a member of the Vento Chiaro Woodwind Quintet.  Currently a piccolo player with the Indian Hill Symphony, she has also performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, New World Symphony, Boston Lyric Opera and Lithuanian Opera.

Singer-songwriter Ali McGuirk has made quite a name for herself this past year or so with her amazing singing voice and fabulous band backing her up. Steve Morse in The Boston Globe named her one of sixteen artists to look forward to hearing in 2016. She just finished her first self-titled EP. See more of who we are at www.abovethebasement.com. Join us!  Learn more at www.patreon.com/abovethebasement.

Bruce is a New England institution and has been in various bands including Bruce Marshall and The Clue and was a member of the Toy Caldwell Band. He has opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, The Outlaws, The Beach Boys...the list goes on and on. His current bands include The Bruce Marshall Group as well as The Nor'easters and he is also half of the Montgomery and Marshall acoustic duo with bluesman James Montgomery. See more of who we are at www.abovethebasement.com. Join us!  Learn more at www.patreon.com/abovethebasement.