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Balu Brigada Preview Debut Album ‘Portal’ with Euphoric Existential Pop Anthem ‘What Do We Ever Really Know?’

Eric Alper
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Balu Brigada Preview Debut Album ‘Portal’ with Euphoric Existential Pop Anthem ‘What Do We Ever Really Know?’

Acclaimed alternative pop duo Balu Brigada have shared their latest release, “What Do We Ever Really Know?,” available now via Atlantic Records/ARRO Records/Warner Australia. The song is also joined by an official video. The new anthem heralds the band’s highly anticipated full-length debut album, Portal, arriving everywhere on Friday, August 29.

“‘What Do We Ever Really Know?’ is an existential crisis, peppered with a euphoric appreciation of the present” said Balu Brigada. “Feeling the weight of existence and all the intensities that come with ambition, but finding the sweet spot that lets you release all the tension and live in the reality that no one knows anything, and we’re all just idiots on a spinning rock, doing our bestest.”

Recently named among SiriusXM’s 2025 “Future Five” as well as Amazon Music’s “Breakthrough: Artists To Watch 2025,” Balu Brigada – brothers, co-vocalists, co-writers, and co-producers Henry and Pierre Beasely – spent three years creating Portal in studios around the world, spanning their native New Zealand to New York, Berlin, Los Angeles, and beyond. Each location left its imprint on the music, yielding “heavier and grungier energy” for the NYC recordings and “a softer and calmer” vibe for the NZ material. Living out of suitcases between sessions and tours, the brothers wholly devoted themselves to pushing the envelope musically, writing and producing every note themselves. By challenging one another, they bottled the tension, vulnerability, and understanding between them into the music, delivering an honest and cathartic aural odyssey that teeters on an axis of otherworldly escapism and personal experience. While the melodies of Portal may resound to the heavens, its emotion is irrefutably grounded and utterly relatable.

Greensky Bluegrass Celebrate 25 Years with New Album ‘XXV’ Featuring Billy Strings, Out October 31

Eric Alper
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Greensky Bluegrass Celebrate 25 Years with New Album ‘XXV’ Featuring Billy Strings, Out October 31

Beloved bluegrass-americana band Greensky Bluegrass is set to release their new album XXV on October 31—the exact date of their 25th Anniversary. The LP will be released via Big Blue Zoo Records/Thirty Tigers. Today the band unveils their new single “Reverend” featuring bluegrass superstar and Grammy-Award winner Billy Strings.

“We’ve called on some dear friends to breathe a touch of new life into some classic Greensky songs for your listening pleasure,” says dobroist Anders Beck. “We’ve reinvented the sounds of some of our (dare I say) ‘hits’ because after a quarter century of Greensky Bluegrass, with plenty of new music on the horizon, we believe it’s worth celebrating what the five of us have created together… and we want you to have a damn good time listening to it.”

“This is quintessential Greensky to me,” says the band’s Paul Hoffman of the single. “When we were about to record ‘five interstates,’ our producer and long-time friend, Tim Carbone, told me he thought there was one more important song missing. Something I still needed to write. Shortly after, I spent a night talking songs with a Michigan musician named Seth Bernard, affectionately referred to as ‘the reverend’. He uses his music for community and activism… the next morning this song kind of fell out of me.”

Hoffman continues, “Keeping the song in its Michigan roots, we asked Billy to play and sing on this. I love the way he relates to this song and how he participates when he performs with us. His love for our band has always been generous, so why not have a quintessential Greensky fan participate on the quintessential song?”

Greensky Bluegrass started at an impromptu show in 2000 in Kalamazoo, Michigan and have developed into a marquee live act and staple in the progressive bluegrass space. XXV brings together many friends and collaborators of the band throughout their 25-year run — Sam Bush, Billy Strings, Lindsay Lou, Nathaniel Rateliff, Aoife O’Donovan, Holly Bowling and more. Each of these special guests represent chapters of the band’s continued journey.

The group is on the road for a host of headline and festival dates across North America, continuing their landmark 25th year. Stops include Charlotte, Milwaukee, Miami Beach, Jacksonville and Madison, as well as the band’s 20th performance at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, plus two special hometown anniversary shows at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, MI on October 31 and November 1. See HERE for tickets and additional information.

For over two decades, progressive bluegrass band Greensky Bluegrass—Anders Beck (dobro), Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), Dave Bruzza (guitar), Mike Devol (upright bass), and Paul Hoffman (mandolin)—have become known for their dynamic live performances and extensive touring schedule. With music reflecting their own lives and collective experiences, their songwriting stays true to traditional bluegrass. The band’s die-hard fans travel in droves across the country and pack multiple-night show runs at iconic venues like Red Rocks and The Ryman.

XXV TRACK LIST
1. Can’t Stop Now (feat. Sam Bush)
2. In Control (feat. Lindsay Lou)
3. Reverend (feat. Billy Strings)
4. Broken Highways
5. Old Barns
6. Last Winter in the Copper Country (feat. Holly Bowling)
7. Past My Prime (feat. Nathaniel Rateliff)
8. 33443
9. What You Need (feat. Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman)
10. Who is Frederico? (feat. Jason Hann)
11. Lose My Way (feat. Aoife O’Donovan and Ivan Neville)
12. Windshield (feat. Holly Bowling)
13. Drink Up and Go Home

GREENSKY BLUEGRASS TOUR DATES
July 31—Happy Valley, OR—Pickathon
August 1—Bend, OR—Century Center*
August 2—Seattle, WA—Oodalalee – Concerts at Pier 62
August 3—Kaslo, BC—Kaslo Jazz, Etc.
August 9—Alta, WY—Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival
August 15—Park City, UT—Park City Song Summit
August 20—Toronto, CA—The Mod Club
August 21—Detroit, MI—The Fillmore
August 22 —Interlochen, MI—Kresge Auditorium
August 23—Interlochen, MI—Kresge Auditorium
September 13—Morrison, CO—Red Rocks Amphitheatre†
September 18—Utica, NY—Saranac Brewery
September 19—North Adams, MA—FreshGrass Music Festival
September 20—Annapolis, MD—Annapolis Baygrass Festival
September 21—Camden, NJ—XPoNential Music Festival
October 2—Harrisburg, PA—XL Live
October 3—Raleigh, NC—Red Hat Amphitheatre^
October 4—Aiken, SC—Southern Strings Festival
October 5—Oxford, MS—Lyric Oxford
October 7—Tuscaloosa, AL—Bama Theatre
October 9—Eureka Springs, AR—Hillberry Music Festival
October 10—St. Louis, MO—Pageant
October 11—St. Paul, MN—Palace Theatre
October 12—Milwaukee, WI—Aurora Pavilion
October 29—Des Moines, IA—Hoyt Sherman Place
October 30—Madison, WI—The Sylvee
October 31—Kalamazoo, MI—Wing’s Event Center
November 1—Kalamazoo, MI—Wing’s Event Center
November 4—Cleveland, OH—Globe Iron
November 6—Roanoke, VA—Jefferson Center
November 7—Charlotte, NC—The Fillmore
November 8—Charleston, SC—Charleston Music Hall
November 9—Jacksonville, FL—FIVE
November 12—Cocoa, FL—Cocoa Riverfront Park
November 13—Clearwater, FL—The BayCare Sound
November 14—Jupiter, FL—The Abacoa Amphitheater
November 15—Miami Beach, FL—Miami Beach Bandshell
December 11-15—Puerto Morelos, QR—Strings & Sol

*with River Whyless
†with Margo Price
^with JJ Grey & Mofro

Stand Up! Records Releasing Mystery 1960s Comic Dick Davy’s Tracks on September 5

Eric Alper
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Stand Up! Records Releasing Mystery 1960s Comic Dick Davy’s Tracks on September 5

Should you happen to sit down some sweltering evening with “Presenting… Dick Davy” on the hi-fi, perhaps having some passing familiarity with Dick Davy’s heretofore known oeuvre, we imagine it might be around track 4 on side A— “The Bar-Mitzvah Dude Ranch”—that you set down your julep, take another look at the incredible Tony Millionaire cover art, and bring forth the album insert for further information. Why? Because something about the “Arkansas Fellow Traveler’s” stilted fluency with Yiddish and his comfort with the bouncy strains of Hava Nagila seems to stand in direct opposition to his honeyed, unhurried, down-home accent, hinting at a deeper backstory to this earnest son of Evening Shade, Arkansas. Indeed, not only has this album been lovingly unearthed, restored, and released to bring more Dick Davy to the comedy-loving public, it is the culmination of a great deal of dogged, devoted, possibly deranged detective work into the entertainer himself.

And that album insert? Well, it’s a doozy, explaining how the recordings on this album bookend the Dick Davy you may already know, how they show two sides of the same career, and how tugging on thread after thread can finally bring the whole curtain down. Jason Klamm, author and host of the Comedy on Vinyl podcast, writes in the extensive accompanying book about how his search for the real Dick Davy yielded the wild story of a young cantor, the politically leftist son of a politically leftist New York rabbi, steeped in folk music and anti-war passions and nights at the Apollo, who honed a comedic sensibility and established a common humanity with his audiences by adopting, well, a new persona. And then, two records later, he seemed to be gone.

It’s comedy, mystery, and history, all in one, and those cats here at Stand Up! Records couldn’t be any more aw-shucks and gee-whiz excited to be “Presenting… Dick Davy.”

Bobby Osborne’s Final Mandolin Recording, ‘Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong,’ Honors His Mother’s Quiet Ritual

Eric Alper
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Bobby Osborne’s Final Mandolin Recording, ‘Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong,’ Honors His Mother’s Quiet Ritual

Every single day for two years, when bluegrass legend Bobby Osborne was drafted and subsequently deployed in 1951, his mother Daisy would listen to Bill Monroe’s 78rpm record of “Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong” to cope with her sorrow. But Osborne didn’t find out about that until he was 91 years old. While C.J. Lewandowski, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys’ mandolinist and mentee to the late Osborne, was working with his hero in the studio on a new bunch of songs—what eventually became the upcoming album, Bobby Osborne, C.J. Lewandowski, & Friends’ Keep On Keepin’ On—he brought up the idea of recording “Sweetheart.” “I asked Bobby if he would like to cut this song, and he was hesitant on the idea with the original sounding so good to his ear,” recalls Lewandowski. “We told him we wanted to honor his mother, and he had no idea what we were talking about.” 

Osborne’s brother, and longtime bandmate in The Osborne Brothers, Sonny, had told Lewandowski about their mother’s relationship to the song, but the elder of the Osbornes was never privy to her routine. “After telling him Sonny’s account of Bobby’s time away from home, Bobby’s exact words were, ‘I’ve lived 91 years and I never knew that until today…let’s do it for my mother,’” Lewandowski remembers. “This one is for Daisy Osborne.”Joined by current-day superstar Molly Tuttle as well as The Osborne Boys, Bobby Osborne put his own twist on “Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong,” and it became the last song he ever recorded on mandolin.

Fans can listen to “Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong” today, hear Osborne and Lewandowski’s previously-released single, “She’s No Angel,” here, and pre-order or pre-save Keep On Keepin’ On” before its August 22nd release via Turnberry Records right here.

More About Bobby Osborne, C.J. Lewandowski, & Friends’ Keep On Keepin’ On: Featuring the last few tracks ever recorded by the 91-year-old member of The Osborne Brothers and later, Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press, Keep On Keepin’ On finds a whole host of folks who loved Osborne—both personally and musically—paying their respects in a way that adds one more jewel to Osborne’s Bluegrass crown. For the remaining songs featuring Osborne only in inspiration, the all-star cast includes members of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame, stars of Osborne’s beloved Grand Ole Opry, Grammy award-winners, members of The Rocky Top X-Press, Osborne’s sons, and many other friends and fans of Bobby Osborne. A testament to Osborne’s continuing influence on bluegrass, at least a dozen of the performers on Keep On Keepin’ On are under the age of forty (including Lewandowski), underscoring the resounding impact Bobby Osborne’s music has made on the current crop of roots music makers—nearly eighty years since he was first discovered as a teenage talent. 

Keep On Keepin’ On Tracklist:

“Keep On Keepin’ On” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski (feat. Sam Bush)

“Lonesome Feeling” – C.J. Lewandowski & Vince Gill (feat. A.J. Lee and The Rocky Top X-Press)

“Where The Soul Never Dies” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski

“Rosie Bokay” – C.J. Lewandowski & Paul Brewster (feat. Wyatt Ellis and John Meador) 

“Sweetheart You Done Me Wrong” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski (feat. Molly Tuttle and The Osborne Boys)

“She’s No Angel” – C.J. Lewandowski & Del McCoury (feat. Ronnie McCoury) 

“Don’t Know Why” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski (feat. Wyatt Ellis) 

“Fern Branch” – C.J. Lewandowski & Wyatt Ellis (feat. Del McCoury and Ronnie McCoury)

“Cora Is Gone” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski (feat. Rob McCoury and Billy Strings)

“Blue Heartache” – C.J. Lewandowski & Jaelee Roberts (feat. The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys)

“Rank Stranger” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski (feat. Wyatt Ellis)

“Rocky Top” – Bobby Osborne & C.J. Lewandowski (feat. Wyatt Ellis and The Osborne Boys)

“Too Old to Die Young” – Bobby Osborne & C.J.Lewandowski 

About C.J. Lewandowski: C.J. Lewandowski is a GRAMMY-nominated mandolin player and the founder of the bluegrass ensemble, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. Lewandowski’s contributions to bluegrass music were recently highlighted in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s “American Currents: State of the Music” exhibition in 2024, where his artifacts were displayed alongside those of his mentor, Bobby Osborne.

About Turnberry Records: Founded with a passion for preserving the rich traditions of roots genres while embracing contemporary sounds, Turnberry Records works with both seasoned artists and emerging talent to bring authentic and timeless music to a wider audience. Turnberry Records prides itself on being a home for music that resonates with the heart and soul — where tradition meets innovation, and the spirit of bluegrass lives on.

Groove Collective Jacoozy Share Soulful New Single ‘Hurry’ Ahead of Debut Album ‘Still Afloat’

Eric Alper
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Groove Collective Jacoozy Share Soulful New Single ‘Hurry’ Ahead of Debut Album ‘Still Afloat’

Emerging from the vibrant live music scenes of Boone and Asheville, Jacoozy is a five-piece groove collective known for their hypnotic jams, soulful storytelling, and undeniable onstage chemistry. Their new single, “Hurry,” out now on all streaming platforms, captures the essence of their sound – warm, expansive, and rhythmically rich – and offers an early glimpse of Still Afloat, the band’s debut album arriving September 17, 2025.

Built on fluid guitar work, tight percussion, and a subtle sense of nostalgia, “Hurry” explores the push-and-pull of time and self-reflection with both warmth and honesty. It’s a shimmering, melody-driven track that wrestles with the tension between looking back and moving forward, encouraging listeners to stay grounded in the present. With their signature blend of jam-band fluidity and pop-conscious structure, Jacoozy delivers a track that’s both emotionally resonant and ready for repeat listens.

Jacoozy features Killian Wright (vocals, guitar), Will Fentress (vocals, guitar), Pauly Scott (vocals, drums), Isaac McMurray (vocals, keys), and Ramon Garcia (bass). Each member brings a unique musical background – ranging from Southern rock and jam bands to pop hooks, jazz standards, and classic records. The result is a sound that feels instantly familiar yet resists easy categorization. While listeners might hear echoes of the Allman Brothers, Widespread Panic, or The Band, Jacoozy filters those inspirations through a modern, eclectic lens that’s entirely their own.

Still Afloat marks a defining moment for Jacoozy – a debut album that captures who they are and where they’re headed. Written during a period of personal change, creative evolution, and regional flux, the record channels the band’s deep-rooted belief in music as a steadying force: a way to connect, reflect, and push ahead. Throughout the journey, Jacoozy has remained grounded in what matters – community, intention, and playing with heart. “We’re inspired by that old-school vibe,” says drummer Pauly Scott, “but we’re doing it in our own way. It’s not about repeating the past – it’s about carrying it forward.”

With “Hurry” out now and their debut album Still Afloat on the horizon, Jacoozy enters a new chapter – grounded in their roots yet wide open to possibility. Their music encourages listeners to be present, to feel deeply, and to move freely. For the Asheville-based band, this moment marks the beginning of something bigger – and they’re only just getting started.

Still Afloat Track Listing

Don’t Leave Nothin’ Behind

Spilling

My Old Friend

Tired

Hurry

Early

Tired

Burn

Jacoozy 2025 Tour Dates

10/02 – Atlanta, GA – Aisle 5

10/03 – Charlotte, NC – The Evening Muse

10/08 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle

10/11 – Macon, GA – The Hummingbird

10/15 – Richmond, VA – The Camel

10/16 – Charleston, SC – Charleston Pour House

10/21 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge

10/24 – Raleigh, NC – The Pour House

10/30 – Waynesboro, VA – The Foundry*

10/31 – Knoxville, TN – Bijou Theatre*

11/1 – Birmingham – Workplay Theatre*

11/06 – Athens, GA – Nowherebar

11/07 – Greensboro, NC – The Flat Iron

11/12 – Boston, MA – The Middle East

11/13 – Washington, DC – Pearl Street Warehouse

11/14 – Roanoke, VA – Martin’s Downtown

11/15 – Winston-Salem, NC – Wiseman Brewing

12/04 – Nashville, TN – The Basement

12/05 – Brevard, NC – 185 King Street

12/06 – Boone, NC – Boone Saloon

*Opening for Big Something

John Butler Shares ‘King of California’ From Deeply Personal New Album ‘PRISM’ Out This Fall

Eric Alper
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John Butler Shares ‘King of California’ From Deeply Personal New Album ‘PRISM’ Out This Fall

John Butler – one of Australia’s most successful independent artists and a pioneer for a generation of Australian artists, has shared “King of California” today, the third track from his new studio album PRISM (out September 5). “King of California” delves directly into the heart of Butler’s 25-year partnership with his muse and collaborator Mama Kin, charting the ebb and flow of a quarter century of love, growth and challenges. It’s one of 12 original new songs featured on PRISM – formed in the wake of personal tumult and loss, and a creative rejuvenation that led to some of the most candid, poignant and powerful work of Butler’s storied two-decade career. Butler and his new band will also hit the road again tomorrow, for the second and final leg of a major North American summer tour with Dispatch, Donovan Frankenreiter, G. Love & Special Sauce, and Illiterate Light. See below for the full list of tour dates.

Says Butler, about “King of California”: My partner and I have been on a pretty big ride together, constantly evolving and working out what it means to be life partners. With every new phase of living comes a new season of self-reflection and reassessment. We’re here to ground and uplift each other, never to minimise or restrict.”

PRISM marks a bold new chapter for Butler — a formal departure from the John Butler Trio and a return to the one-man-band spirit that launched his career. PRISM is the third installment in a four-volume project entitled Four Seasons. Inspired by a long fascination with New Age music, he spent 10 days in a studio creating meditative music that led to 2024’s Running River, 100 minutes of gentle rhythms and expansive tones. The second installment would be Still Searching, six instrumentals featuring Butler’s virtuosic guitar work, a vital album that brought him back to his earliest days of making music. The table was set for PRISM, a return to lyrics and singing, faster tempos and louder songs – but the tracks Butler had been working on didn’t sit right. It was as if he overlooked the elemental nature of Running River and Still Searching, so he scrapped everything, and started over. 

Butler teamed up with producer James Ireland, a stalwart of the vibrant Aussie indie music scene (Pond, San Cisco), during a period that Butler describes as an “existential breakdown” which included the passing of his father, and his father-in-law, and technical problems that rendered his home studio unusable. After two decades of near constant touring, he was nearly ready to throw in the towel. But what followed in his new sessions is an urgent work from an artist with a lot to say. “It’s a big life, and the world — in many ways — is in turmoil,” Butler explains. “Personally, I did a lot of soul-searching as this record took shape. PRISM is a cathartic release and a celebration of going solo. It reflects the full bandwidth of human emotion — love, death, politics, turmoil, and redemption.” The songs on PRISM double down on Butler’s longstanding activism, cope with his father’s passing, and explore reconciliation and what it takes to fight for love.    

Butler has previously shared two songs from PRISM – “So Sorry,” and “Trippin’ On You,” which has been in the Top 20 on the AAA radio charts for the past few weeks. 

As a musical revolutionary, political activist and environmental warrior, John Butler is one of Australia’s most prolific independent artists, forging his own path to success without surrender to major labels, corporate sponsors, or moral compromise.

PRISM is now available for pre-order: https://ffm.to/jb-prism 

U.S. Tour Dates:

Jul 24, 2025 Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Amphitheater – San Diego, CA +

Jul 25, 2025 The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan – Las Vegas, NV +

Jul 26, 2025 The Pacific Amphitheatre – Costa Mesa, CA +

Jul 27, 2025 The Masonic – San Francisco, CA +

Jul 28, 2025 Revolution Hall – Portland, OR

Jul 31, 2025 Hayden Homes Amphitheater – Bend, OR +

Aug 1, 2025 Marymoor Live – Redmond, WA +

Aug 2, 2025 The Festival at Sandpoint – Sandpoint, ID +

Aug 3, 2025 KettleHouse Amphitheater – Bonner, MT +

Aug 5, 2025 Venue TBA – Salt Lake City, UT +

Aug 7, 2025 Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO *

Aug 8, 2025 Dillon Amphitheater – Dillon, CO *

* Dispatch, Donavon Frankenreiter and Illiterate Light

+ Dispatch, G. Love & Special Sauce and Donavon Frankenreiter

Tedeschi Trucks Band to Headline Third Annual ‘Sun, Sand and Soul Beach Weekend’ in 2026

Eric Alper
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Tedeschi Trucks Band to Headline Third Annual ‘Sun, Sand and Soul Beach Weekend’ in 2026

The beloved Sun, Sand and Soul Beach Weekend, presented by Topeka, a leader in music-based beach weekends, returns for its third year, hosted by the GRAMMY-winning Tedeschi Trucks Band, who will headline two of the three nights. Known as one of the most dynamic live acts of their generation, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi lead fans through three unforgettable days of music, sun, and soul, set against the pristine shores of Florida’s gulf coast in Miramar Beach. The intimate destination music experience will take place April 23–25, 2026 with a specially curated lineup of friends and favorites joining the weekend. In addition to TTB’s two unique performances, this one-of-a-kind beach weekend will feature daily activities and unforgettable moments with some of today’s most beloved and influential performers in blues, rock, soul, and Americana, including Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band, The Mavericks, Drive-By Truckers, and more. See below for lineup.

Guests booking during the pre-sale will be entered into the chance to win a Meet & Greet with Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and the entire Tedeschi Trucks Band. All guests who book in the pre-sale will receive the first chance at the Best Seating and Early Bird Pricing. Presale registration is open now. Visit https://sunsandsoul.topeka.live to sign up and view pricing.

Sun, Sand and Soul 2026 Lineup:

Thursday, April 23

●     Tedeschi Trucks Band

●     Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band

●     Honey Hounds

Friday, April 24

●     Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

●     Drive-By Truckers

●     Elles Bailey

Saturday, April 25

●     Tedeschi Trucks Band

●     The Mavericks

●     Jaime Wyatt

“This weekend has become one of the highlights of our year,” shares Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi. “Sun, Sand and Soul is about music, connection, and collaboration. We are proud and excited to bring it back in 2026. Hope to see you there.”

Following two consecutive years, Sun, Sand and Soul has earned rave reviews from both fans and artists alike.

“It felt like we were part of something special. Sunsets, ocean air, and music that hit your soul…everything was amazing and so easy… we’ll be back every year,” shared one 2025 guest.

Another added, “It’s not just a festival—it’s a community. Seeing TTB up close just off the beach with other fans who share our same passions was unforgettable.”

Designed to redefine the live music experience, Topeka artist-curated vacations make it easy for guests to enjoy shows from the comfort of their own reserved, personal “coves,” with walkable beachside accommodations and on-demand delivery of food, beverages, and merch in five minutes or less. The 5,500-capacity venue is just steps from white-sand beaches, combining hospitality, connection, and music in a seamless vacation format.

Packages include luxury resort accommodations, full event access, and exclusive fan experiences like beachfront performances and artist-led activities. A limited number of music-only passes will be available for local guests or those wishing to book their own accommodations.

Tedeschi Trucks Band (TTB) is a GRAMMY Award-winning 12-piece rock and soul powerhouse that holds the well-deserved reputation as one of the best live acts touring today. Led by husband & wife, guitarist Derek Trucks and singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, “two of the best roots rock musicians of their generation” (NPR), TTB is known for its world-class musicianship and contemporary blend of a wide range of American musical influences that define their extensive catalog.

Since forming in 2010, TTB’s caravan has traveled countless miles to bring their music to audiences around the world. With a large catalog that spans rock, blues, jazz and even country, no setlist is ever the same, leaving their ever-growing fan base of all-ages returning again and again for electrifying performances. In the fall of 2023, Tedeschi Trucks Band played a pair of career-defining arena shows at TD Garden in Boston and a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dubbed “The Garden Parties” the pair of gigs saw praise from Relix, who raved of the group’s “seasoned grace and artistry.” The band’s shows are an eagerly anticipated highlight of the live music calendar — “nothing short of exhilarating” (Salon) — from sold-out multi-night residencies across America to tours through Europe and Japan, to their flagship annual summer amphitheater tours. On top of an 82-show tour in 2024, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi performed at the Kennedy Center Honors in December, honoring Bonnie Raitt, Grateful Dead, and more.

The band continues to tour behind their 2022 release, I Am The Moon, TTB’s fifth and most ambitious studio project to date. Written while off the road during the pandemic, I Am The Moon captures a prolific and collaborative songwriting period for TTB that was inspired by an ancient poem of star-crossed lovers, “Layla and Majnun.” I Am The Moon includes four albums, I. Crescent, II. Ascension, III. The Fall, IV. Farewell and four companion films – delivering more than two hours of music that unfold across a robust tapestry of genre-defying explorations and propel the treasured American ensemble into new and thrilling creative territory. I Am The Moon joins an impressive studio discography that includes Signs (2019), High & Mighty EP (2019), Let Me Get By (2016), Made Up Mind (2013), and the Grammy-winning debut, Revelator (2011) in addition to their live releases, Layla Revisited (Live At LOCKN’) featuring Trey Anastasio (2021), the GRAMMY-nominated film/audio, Live From The Fox Oakland (2017), and 2012’s Everybody’s Talkin’. 

Tedeschi Trucks Band is Susan Tedeschi (guitar, vocals), Derek Trucks (guitar), Gabe Dixon (keyboards, vocals), Brandon Boone (bass), Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell (drums), Isaac Eady (drums), Mike Mattison (vocals), Mark Rivers (vocals), Alecia Chakour (vocals), Kebbi Williams (saxophone), Ephraim Owens (trumpet) and Elizabeth Lea (trombone).

5 Surprising Facts About The Flying Burrito Brothers’ ‘The Gilded Palace of Sin’

Eric Alper
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5 Surprising Facts About The Flying Burrito Brothers’ ‘The Gilded Palace of Sin’

The Flying Burrito Brothers’ The Gilded Palace of Sin was stitched together with sequins, heartbreak, pedal steel, and amp buzz—and its strange country-soul alchemy still echoes today. In 1969, Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman fused genres and crash-tested them in Nudie suits under the California sun. The record flopped, but became legend. Here are five peculiar facts hiding beneath all that rhinestone shimmer.

1. The “Hot Burrito” Suite Was Born in One Night—and One Nap
Bassist Chris Ethridge played Gram a few old melodies from his Mississippi childhood. The two wrote “Hot Burrito #1” and “#2” on the spot, then cut them in the studio that night. Meanwhile, “Sin City” arrived just as suddenly: Hillman woke Gram up from a nap, shouted “get up, we’ve got a song,” and thirty minutes later, they had a country dirge for a crumbling world.

2. Sneaky Pete Kleinow Played Steel Guitar Like a Gumby-Warping Alien
You’ve never heard pedal steel like this. Kleinow, who also animated Gumby, ran his steel through fuzzboxes and Leslie speakers, using bizarre jazz tunings instead of country ones. He was a claymation cowboy with a space-age soul, and his cosmic textures made the record shimmer with heatstroke weirdness.

3. Gram’s Nudie Suit Was a Technicolor Confession
Parsons’ infamous suit was a patchwork of poppies, weed leaves, naked women, and pills. Designed by Nudie Cohn, it was a stitched-up fever dream of vice and vulnerability. That flaming red cross on the back? Salvation by style. The thing now lives at the Country Music Hall of Fame, where it still makes the mannequins nervous.

4. “Hippie Boy” Is a Drunken Utopia Hidden in Spoken Word
Hillman had to pretend to be both a redneck and a hippie for this surreal narrative track. Parsons insisted he drink scotch before recording the part—grass wouldn’t cut it. The final chorus dissolves into a hazy hymn, “Peace in the Valley,” sung by a band barely holding it together. For a record so full of longing, it ends like a barroom prayer.

5. Everyone Thought the Album Was a Mess—And That’s Why It Matters
Producer Larry Marks called himself a “hall monitor” just making sure the album got finished. Parsons and Hillman split harmonies into stereo channels so you’d feel like an angel and a devil were singing into each ear. Some called it sloppy. Others, like Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello, called it genius. Either way, it launched alt-country, changed everything, and only sold 50,000 copies. Go figure.

The Gilded Palace of Sin is cosmic even when it’s crooked. It’s what happens when bluegrass ghosts, Bakersfield barflies, and Laurel Canyon burnouts throw a hootenanny in the desert and someone brings mushrooms instead of whiskey. Long may it shimmer.

5 Surprising Facts About Jason Isbell’s ‘Southeastern’

Eric Alper
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5 Surprising Facts About Jason Isbell’s ‘Southeastern’

Jason Isbell’s Southeastern isn’t all moonshine and melancholy—it’s a reckoning in guitar and ink, a quiet triumph that broke hearts wide open and stitched them up in the same breath. Made in the wake of rehab and recorded right before his wedding, it’s a record that whispers hard truths, even when it burns to speak them aloud. Let’s pour over five lesser-known stories humming beneath the surface.

1. The Album Was Nearly Produced by Ryan Adams—Until It Wasn’t
Isbell initially tapped Ryan Adams to produce Southeastern, but once Adams heard the demos, he backed out. Isbell suspected it was disappointment, then decided maybe Adams was simply rattled by how strong the material was. Either way, he handed the wheel to Dave Cobb—thank God—and the record found its soul in a single-take philosophy that left no room for second-guessing.

2. “Cover Me Up” Was So Personal, He Nearly Couldn’t Sing It
The opener is a gut-punch ballad written for Amanda Shires, Isbell’s wife, muse, and lifeboat. He said getting through the first performance of it almost broke him. There’s no metaphor for the love in this song—it’s raw, exposed nerve. It begins a record that doesn’t blink once, even when it hurts like hell.

3. The Title Comes from an Alabama Factory Dungeon
Southeastern may sound like a geographic nod, but it’s actually named after a grim tool-and-die shop where Isbell’s dad worked—“a dungeon,” he called it. Reclaiming that name, he carved something luminous out of its shadow. That’s the heart of this record: finding light inside the rust.

4. “Elephant” Is a Masterclass in Saying the Quiet Part Out Loud
This track doesn’t sugarcoat a single word about watching someone die. It’s brutal, beautiful, and delicate all at once. Isbell said if you’re not getting choked up while singing it, you’re doing it wrong. “Elephant” walks the tightrope between grief and intimacy like only a sober songwriter could.

5. There’s Humor Hiding in the Hurt
Just when you think it’s all sorrow and southern gothic ache, along comes “Super 8” with its bleary-eyed comedy. Sobriety doesn’t erase chaos, it reframes it—and this track leans into the absurdity of it all. Isbell wanted to remind us that even in the rubble, there’s room for a laugh. And a loud one, at that.

Southeastern is a record made by a man who walked through fire and took notes. It’s the sound of clarity hard-won, love wide-open, and a voice that had something true to say—for the first time, and every time after. Listen close. The honesty hums in every corner.

5 Surprising Facts About Sinéad O’Connor’s ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’

Eric Alper
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5 Surprising Facts About Sinéad O’Connor’s ‘I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’

Ah now, sure we all know Nothing Compares 2 U melted hearts from Clonakilty to California, but Sinéad’s I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got is more than just one song. It’s a howl, a whisper, a slap to the face of anyone peddling pretense. And as any Irish mother might say, “There’s layers in that one, pet.” So pour a cuppa (or a pint), and let’s dig into five quiet marvels you might not know about this iconic album.

1. She Opened the Album With a Prayer—No, Seriously
The first words you hear on the album aren’t sung—they’re spoken. Sinéad recites the Serenity Prayer like she’s standing barefoot in a chapel, eyes closed, fists clenched. It’s a mission statement. Before the music even kicks in, she’s telling you this record is about surrender, strength, and sorting yourself out.

2. One Song Is Rooted in a 17th-Century Irish Graveyard
“I Am Stretched on Your Grave” might sound like a modern lament set to breakbeats, but its bones are ancient. The lyrics come from a 1600s Irish poem, translated by Frank O’Connor, and paired with a loop from James Brown’s “Funky Drummer.” Leave it to Sinéad to lace history with hip-hop, and turn mourning into a mystic rave.

3. Her Vocals on “Nothing Compares 2 U” Were Done in a Single Take
No warm-ups, no ten takes, no auto-tuning wizardry. Just one go, double-tracked. Sinéad told the engineer: don’t you dare compress it. The voice you hear is untouched, unfiltered, and coming straight from the depths of real pain. It’s the sound of a woman singing to a ghost—and daring the world to listen.

4. She Refused Her Grammy—Then Wrote the Industry a Scalding Letter
Winning Best Alternative Music Performance at the 1991 Grammys should’ve been a crown jewel moment. But Sinéad, never one for crowns, said no thanks. Instead, she blasted the Recording Academy for rewarding commercialism over truth. She didn’t just turn down the trophy—she chucked it straight out the window, letter attached.

5. A Dance Remix on the Album Features a Mad Lust Monologue
“Jump in the River” features the one and only Karen Finley delivering a sexually explicit spoken-word piece that could make the saints blush. It’s filthy, feminist, and fearless. The track, originally from Married to the Mob, slinks into the album’s second half like a naughty grin, reminding us that Sinéad’s artistry has always swum in dangerous waters.

Sinéad O’Connor made emotional detonations wrapped in melody. I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got is more than a breakup record or a political statement. It’s a sacred text for the bruised and brave. So light a candle, crank the volume, and remember: nothing compares, indeed.

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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