Music & More

My Devotion Kirsten Proffit's new album, My Devotion will be released on April 30th. We fell in love with Kirsten's voice when we first heard it , nearly ten years ago. At the time we thought that there was nothing better than the sound of her voice paired with a crunchy electric guitar. There was plenty to love when Kirsten released her debut album, Lucky Girl in 2006 which quickly established her as one of L.A.'s finest singer-songwriters. Kirsten's voice sounds better than ever on her new long awaited second album, and there's not a crunchy guitar in sight. Kirsten co-produced My Devotion with Michael Woodrum using a mostly acoustic instrumentation for a warm, rich, multi-layered sound that is positively brilliant. You can tell as soon as you drop the proverbial needle onto track one and feel the presence and texture of the acoustic guitar, then the mandolin confirms that something very special is going on here; this isn't your father's pop/rock. Listen t...

Bring It On Home Saturday Video Fun: Joan Osborne is one of the most adventurous, and most talented singers I've ever run across. There is no limit to her abilities and she can take any type of music and make it her own. She has always sung blues-based rock and soul music but on her latest, she delves a little deeper into the blues than ever before, with stellar results. She is currently touring with the same amazing band that made the record. She and her band recently did a session at WFUV and you will see four of the songs from the new album performed in about the best quality live videos that you could ever hope to see. But first, a little about Joan's career. Bring It On Home is her seventh album and with the exception of her last, Little Wild One (2009), her last few albums have been flat out fabulous. After How Sweet It Is (2002) which had a good mix of classic soul and rock covers she sang in the movie Standing In the Shadows of Motown. This was an excellent documentar...

The Absence Melody Gardot's long awaited third album, The Absence will be released on May 29th. Since signing with Verve in the fall of 2007, Melody has gone from Philly local singer-songwriter to become a true citizen of the world. And now Melody has absorbed many of the cultures and musical influences of the places her travels have taken her, and incorporated them into her music. This comes through delightfully clearly on the first track from the album, Miri, the video of which was released today. In the past, Melody's exquisite songwriting and singing always seemed to take on an extra dimension when she did the occasional song in French, but the addition of bossa nova to Melody's mix has us beside ourselves with excitement. And that's not the half of it, here's the label's description. The Absence is the third record from Grammy-nominated Melody Gardot. Produced by Heitor Pereira, renowned for his work as a film composer (Despicable Me, It's Complicated, ...

We knew that they were good when we first wrote about Polly and the Billets Doux back in 2009, but listen once to the title track of their forthcoming Hold Fast EP, and you can't help but love this band. Hold Fast (EP) That song has an unstoppable guitar riff as its backbone, lead vocals that fit right in the pocket, and when the bass and drums kick in, they are so tight it seems as if they might share the same central nervous system. And with Polly's appealing voice, what more could you want? Polly and the Billets Doux have spent the last two and a half years since the release of their debut album relentlessly touring every corner of England and it shows. Here is a band that has not only built an adoring following with their energetic live shows, but the road work has honed their skills to such a fine edge that they make it look/sound easy. And that goes for their songwriting as well as their instrumental and performance abilities. The new EP shows off their range ...

Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, 3/29/12, Photo courtesy Backstreets. My Bruce story begins at WECI-FM, the Earlham College radio station. Earlham is a small Quaker college, located in Richmond, Indiana. When Bruce Springsteen released his first album in early 1973, it slipped quietly into our record library without causing much of a ripple. In the fall of '73, Bruce released his second album, The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle. Dave (now of Direct Current Music ), my partner in crime running the station, was off on an off-campus program that fall. I remember listening to Wild & Innocent when we received it from Columbia Records, to determine what tracks, if any, would be good for airplay. I think I picked "Fourth of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "The E Street Shuffle". Even though these tracks sounded good, the album didn't really grab me then. My last two years of school, in addition to my Saturday night WECI show, I also worked at the c...