reverbnation.com/shanehager

Right about Christmas time, I wrote a column about local performers’ CD releases. It was a small sample, and I asked folks that I had missed to  holler at me about theirs. I’ve had a few get back to me, and here they are, along with some that have popped into my  noggin since then. I’ll add more as you let me know and (again) as I think of them or dig them up from this pile of madness I call a work desk.

Shane Hager, “Crashing Down”

Blue Mule, “This Way Or That?”

Riverbank Ramblers, “Leaving Tonight”

PolyChrome, “Wild and Woolly”

What is missing? Let me know in the comments section.

Electric Chameleon, “The Root” (free download)

The Floorboards, “The Floorboards”

The Dirt Road Travelers, “The Dirt Road Travelers”

Amanda Stathos

Roanoke is home these days to a very explosive singer named Amanda Stathos. She can wail on the new-style R&B music like no one I’ve heard around here, and she’s a nice person, too. On Sunday, Stathos releases her Christmas EP, “Sing For Joy,” and half of the proceeds will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, according to Stathos.

Stathos has a very personal reason for the idea and the release date. Her mother died of breast cancer when Stathos was a young girl. Her mother would have celebrated her birthday on Sunday,  “and I cannot think of a better way to honor her fight than to use my gifts to do something for others,” she wrote in an e-mail.

To download the disc, go to http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/amandastathos1. Each track is $1, if you’re just going for the singles. Read more about it via facebook.com/events/506707646008340/

More links — http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/sing-for-joy-single/id571155419 | http://www.cdbaby.com/m/cd/amandastathos1

Local digital music label Sewn Together Records has come up with one of the coolest ideas in a long time for the local music scene. With its Oct. 30 release of “You Are Here: Local Bands Covering Local Bands,” the label is not only spotlighting a lot of unique Roanoke Valley music, but it is stretching its own boundaries by selling the thing on vinyl.

No worries if you are without a turntable — the LP will include a digital download code for you to use until you (and I) finally break down and buy a turntable. You can buy that vinyl at The Bazaar.

According to a Sewn Together news release: “Some of the heavy hitters on the record include avant-garde rockers the Bastards of Fate covering another Roanoke big name, Eternal Summers. You can also count on seeing many other great groups on the track list including the Young Sinclairs covering Charles E. Cullen, the Situationist covering 8-bit operator local Receptors and one-time Nancy & 2 Meteors front man Marshall Hicks covering the Young Sinclairs. Not to mention a special collaboration between members of now defunct bands the Wading Girl and the K Word covering a group from a succeeding wave of music makers, the John Barry Conception.”

Courtesy of the label, here is the “You Are Here: Local Bands Covering Local Bands” tracklist:

1. The Deadline – Falcor (Riders of the Mark cover)
2. Didn’t You Baby – Marshall Hicks (Young Sinclairs cover)
3. Triangulate – John Barry Conception (Way Shape or Form cover)
4. Lightswitch – The Bastards of Fate (Eternal Summers cover)
5. The Distance – Mirror Kisses (Boys Lie cover)
6. No More Graves – The Missionaries (Sad Cobras cover)
7. Disconnected – The Situationist (Receptors cover)
8. My Baby Hates the Misfits – Illbotz (The Makeout cover)
9. I Loved You Enough to Leave You – The Young Sinclairs (Charles Cullen cover)
10. Show Your Teeth – On the Cooling Board (3 AM Friday cover)
11. Nothing Lost – The Nonnonchalants (John Barry Conception cover)
12. I Do This – Heevahava (Tre Mendous cover)

swordofdoom.com

Austin, Texas, hard rock band The Sword, featuring Cave Spring graduate J.D. Cronise, is set to release its fourth studio album, “Apocryphon” (Razor & Tie), on Oct. 22. As has been the fashion lately, a vinyl release is part of the package. But if you’re jonesing for that old-school media between vinyl and digital, The Sword has you covered.

The band has joined forces with independent record stores nationwide for a cassette giveaway, according to a Razor & Tie news release. Here’s the deal — buy “Apocryphon” on CD or vinyl, and they’ll kick in a free cassette version, limited edition and hand-numbered.

Go to mymetalclub.com or recordstoreday.com to find the (possibly) participating store closest to you. We did, and we found stores in Lynchburg and Staunton, and in Princeton and Beckley, W.Va. Two record stores in depressed West “by God”? And none in the ‘Noke. Well, there is The Bazaar, but it’s not listed on the recordstoreday site. We’ll check to see our local shop is carrying the disc.

One could also visit The Sword’s own website, where “Apocryphon” is available in  multiple formats.

The news release e-mail also included tour dates. The closet to Cronise’s old home is a show at Washington’s Rock & Roll Hotel. The band hasn’t been to Roanoke since November 2010. That was a makeup date scheduled after drummer Trivett Wingo, another Cave Springer, left the band just before it’s scheduled Martin’s Downtown show the previous month. That bit of rescheduling prevented me from attending, and the weather that night was winter wicked, keeping a crowd away, from what folks said later.

Finally, here’s the band hanging out with Anthony Bordain, eating fish tacos. The band has its own hot sauce, “Tears of Fire.” I’m not sure how I feel about that. But Bordain delivers a fine one-liner: “Tears of fire today. Ring of fire tomorrow.”

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge photo courtesy larrykeel.com

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge is a hard-working act, always at it either on the road, recording with one or another artist, even hosting fishing and picking camps that they hope to expand nationwide.

The band has a new album, “Classic,” and is playing two shows in the region this weekend. On Friday, it hits the Badlands Bluegrass Festival, near Lewisburg, W.Va. (see a related story, with show information). On Sunday, the band headlines the Father’s Day Bluegrass Concert at Nesselrod Bed & Breakfast Sunken Garden Sundays, naturally. Read more about that show in Wednesday’s Extra section or roanoke.com/entertainment.

On this podcast, we talk about many of the band’s recent activities –  including the upcoming disc “Bluebrass 2,” recorded in New Orleans with Rebirth Brass Band, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Aaron “Woody” Wood and others — and we stream music from “Classic.” Streaming tunes — “Love,” “Flora” and “B-Funk.”

Photo courtesy Charlie Hamill

Charlie Hamill gets together with his musical buddies Ben Trout and Jason Hill for a Thursday night gig on the Corned Beef & Co. deck. They’ll be celebrating the Charlie Hamill Group’s new CD, “Late Night At Hamill’s,” and playing some songs from the disc. Get show info at Top Tickets.

We talk with Hamill about the record, the players on it (including backing vocals from Roanoke Civic Center general manager Robyn Schon, who has quite a voice) and the themes behind it. Streaming music — “Catcher,” “Chump Love Sucka,” “About My Love” and “She Don’t.”

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts

infiniteways.bandcamp.com/

Finally, a national audience gets to see local act Barefoot West‘s work in the movie “Lake Effects,” which airs at 8 p.m. Sunday on the Hallmark Movie Channel. This movie, shot at Smith Mountain Lake, includes a bar scene with Forry and a past lineup of his band performing. The air date has been rescheduled recently, so there might have been a wee bit of confusion (allayed somewhat I’m sure by updates in the facebook0sphere), but if you want to see it, Sunday night is the time.

Funk Punch raised some nice cash on Saturday for the Blue Ridge Autism Center. The band and its bassist, Chris Eanes, hosted the all-day event at Martin’s Downtown, raising $2,500, band members said, money that will go to a new playground at the center. The band is planning a festival for the center, too. Stay tuned, and if you want to donate, drop by Martin’s any time it’s open — just mention that the donation is for “Rock Out for Autism,” according to the band.

John Pence recently left Savannah Shoulders and has released a two-track project under the name Infinite Ways — find it at infiniteways.bandcamp.com. It’s some well-written, well-performed pop rock featuring Savannah Shoulders’ Max Lee on bass and drummer Danny Ortiz. It’s quality stuff from some growing young musicians. The band should be playing out in June, said Pence, who will be traveling to Europe soon, Infinite Ways digital cards in his mitts. UPDATE (1:13 p.m. 5.2.12): Zach Wiley is playing drums on one of the tracks, “Can’t Make Me.” UPDATE (1:30 p.m. 5.2.12): Also on “Can’t Make Me” are J. Vander Warner, Camellia Delk, and Jay Aaman.

202 Market, once the home of some fantastic live music before becoming the place everyone watched as fights spilled out the door, is working on an image makeover these days. And that makeover includes some talented Roanokers playing live music. One of them, keyboardist Alan Watson, is a guy I’ve heard about for quite a while but have never actually heard. He’s leading a trio at 9:30 p.m. Fridays in 202′s “SpeakEasy” room. Collared shirts only, gentlemen, 202 says. Haha! And Cory Campbell is now doing the open mic on Mondays. Click the jump to see a fuller accounting of the goings-on, courtesy of 202 PR guy (and radio personality — you know, “disc jockey” always seemed so much cooler a title for that gig, but alas, no more disc to jock) Jo Jo Soprano.

Read more »

Eternal Summers

At Wednesday night’s Newton Awards, Eternal Summers received the breakout award, given to the act that has best put Roanoke on the musical map in the past year. The Kanine Records act has stayed busy, including slots at this year’s South by Southwest Festival, and finishing up its collection of early recordings for a set called “The Dawn of Eternal Summers.”

That disc, an outstanding collection of its early recordings, comes out on Saturday — aka Record Store Day. That means you should stop in at The Bazaar tomorrow and pick it up. Stream a track. Expect the band’s second full-length record, “Correct Behavior,” in June.

And let’s not forget that The Bastards of Fate‘s debut record, “Who’s A Fuzzy Buddy?” should be in stock there, too.

If any other acts or shops out there are participating, let us know here.

cdbaby.com/lennymarcustrio2

Roanoke jazz pianist Lenny Marcus is always up to something. If he’s not playing live somewhere (including recent rock gigs with the Charlie Hamill Group), he’s making a record. Or two.

He has, in fact, two new ones out now. “Sun Ray: A Tribute to Ray Bryant,” honors Marcus’ early piano teacher, mentor and jazz piano great, who died last June. His other disc, “Distant Dream,” which includes another tribute to Bryant in the sweetly sad “For My Friend.”

Sample and buy “Distant Dream” | Sample and buy “Sun Ray: A Tribute to Ray Bryant”

facebook.com/snarkypuppy

If you’re a jazz-fusion nut and you’ve lived around here for a while, then surely you’ve seen or heard about Snarky Puppy. The band of North Texas University cats have played many electrifying shows in Roanoke and have done clinics and recording sessions at the Music Lab at Jefferson Center.

Snarky Puppy, now based in Brooklyn, N.Y.,  recently did a deal with its label, Ropeadope Records, to make its own imprint, GroundUp Music. Snarky has already signed a couple of acts to the label, and of course is releasing its new CD/DVD set, groundUp, on the label. On Wednesday, Snarky bassist/composer/arranger Michael League comes to the music lab for a screening. Get details here.

Check out “Quarter Master,” from the new set, recorded at monster bassist (and legendary jazz bassist Jimmy Garrison’s son) Matthew Garrison’s Shapeshifter Lab, in Brooklyn. And let me say, this song is bad-ass!