Nikki Hill | Courtesy Crystal Rolfe

From the opening notes of “Ask Yourself,” the lead cut on the album “Here’s Nikki Hill,” it’s clear that we’re hearing an exciting new voice in roots music. Raw, full and growling (but not gimmicky growing), in control but just on the edge of anger — that’s Nikki Hill‘s vocal style. And it has made an impact overseas already.

“Europeans love American roots music, and thank goodness they do, because somebody has to,” Hill said, laughing, on this podcast. “It’s cool to see people somewhere else really, really appreciating American music so much. I mean, gosh, it makes you appreciate it that much more. And it makes you go home and want to make Americans appreciate it that much more. So it all ties together.”

But Hill thinks her style, and a rocking band that features her husband, guitarist Matt Hill, will translate in the country where it originated.

“We’re seeing that happen, too,” she said. “American roots is really forcing its way … We’re seeing the difference as we’re traveling the states and seeing the response to live music. And it seems like something that people do want to support again, and I’ve got big time faith in it.”

Hear them live at Blue 5 Restaurant on May 17. Read more about Hill next week in Tuesday’s Extra section.

This podcast includes the two opening cuts, “Ask Yourself” and “Her Destination.”

“I just wanted to write two cool rock ‘n’ roll tunes,” Hill said. “I think they’re both just really cool tunes for people to groove to.”

It closes with the soulful meditation, “Hymn for Hard Times,” which features only Hill and her husband’s bluesy, tremelo-soaked guitar.

Nikki Hill is the real deal. And I’m not one to make predictions, but after hearing this stuff, I think she’ll be a big deal,  sooner rather than later.

Micah Davidson

Micah Davidson, a bassist-turned-music-booking-agent, is a big part of the NC Brewers and Music Festival, scheduled for Saturday near Charlotte, N.C. Get show details at Top Tickets.

The Roanoke native talks on this podcast about how he went from being a player in such bands as Dead End Parking to booking bands. It’s a cool story, and it shows that there are more ways than one for a musician to make a living in the life he or she loves.

Plus, we’ll stream music from Davidson’s music life with members of Dead End Parking. “You’ll Never Know” is a song that Davidson says the band learned the night before it was recorded. “Seven Sons” features all the original members of Dead End Parking. Both songs appear on former DEP frontman Nathan Carter’s CD, “Mercy Tree.”

Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, from left: Phill Bronson, Scales, Cody Wright | Photo courtesy Mike Morel

Jonathan Scales Fourchestra plays Martin’s Downtown Bar & Grill on May 15, 2013. Get show details in tomorrow’s Top Tickets, at music.roanoke.com.

Scales, 28, was a sax man who discovered the steel pans when he went to Appalachian State University, in Boone, N.C., to study composition. He was hooked, and in the decade since, he had become a monster steel drummer and composer. On the Fourchestra’s self-titled CD, drummer Phill Bronson and bassist Cody Wright show that they are more than up to the challenges of this music, even co-writing several of the tracks.

Hear conversation and streaming music from the CD — “Specifically,” “Lurkin’ (feat. Howard Levy)” and “Life After D (feat. Victor Wooten).”

Slightly Stoopid | Courtesy JP Cutler Media

Slightly Stoopid plays Virginia Tech’s Burruss Hall on Tuesday, May 7, 2013. Read more and get show details on Saturday in The Roanoke Times Extra section or via roanoke.com/living.

This podcast is interesting to me, in that drummer Ryan “Rymo” Moran has strong, legitimate, tested ideas about how a band can make it these days, with the old machinery having fallen away for most acts. Lesson No. 1 — be on the road, because that’s the only way to make real money at it now. Lesson No. 2 — use social media to keep close to the fans and make new ones. Lesson No. 3, and maybe the  most important — take care of yourself while you’re out there.

A band like Slightly Stoopid has that rep of sitting around and smoking all day long, but Moran said that the act works hard to put on the best possible show for fans. They’re working out daily and know to “pick and choose” when they’re going to get too, er, stoopid.

Actually, lesson No. 4 might be most important. Don’t truck with the major record labels. That model is pretty much dead.

“It’s always been sort of liberating to be an underground artist and put out our own music” via Stoopid Records,  Moran said. “We don’t have to submit our music to any corporate office or anything like that. We make the music we want to make for our fans, and for ourselves as well, based on what we listen to. Our influences come back through us, in our own style.”

This ‘cast includes streaming music from the band’s latest disc, “Top Of The World” — “Way You Move” (feat. Ian Neville), “Ska Diddy” (feat. Angelo Moore of Fishbone), “Pon Da Horizon” and “Hiphoppablues” (feat. G. Love).

facebook.com/richiehavens

The story is not live online anymore, so I thought I would post from our text files the piece we did on Richie Havens in 2008, prior to his performance at the Sun Music Hall, in Floyd.

It was really obvious that Havens, who died on Monday, was a genuinely good soul, and really generous with his time. And in performance at the Sun, he was still phenomenally expressive, with plenty of great stories for the large audience that came out that night.

Here is a link to the podcast. And below is the story.

Edition: METRO
Section: EXTRA
Page: 1
Source: By Tad Dickens tad.dickens@roanoke.com 777-6474

RICHIE HAVENS

Summary: Talking politics with the folk-rock icon before his show in Floyd.

Folk-rock icons don’t come any more authentic than Richie Havens.

Allen Ginsberg himself encouraged a young Havens to get up and read his poetry at a Greenwich Village coffee shop in the early 1960s. Before long, the doo-wop bandleader turned beat poet was learning how to play guitar because he wanted to accompany himself singing the great songs he was hearing around the village — songs by the likes of Fred Neil and Dino Valente.

Read more »

James Carter Organ Trio | Courtesy Ingrid C. Hertfelder

James Carter Organ Trio hits Jefferson Center’s rehearsal hall on Saturday, April 20, 2013. I’m personally psyched to catch this show, and I should be able to be there for all of it, since the first of the band’s two sets begins at 7 p.m. From there, it’s off to Down by Downtown land and Growler’s.

On this podcast, we talk about the trio, its music and the rich jazz heritage of Carter’s hometown, Detroit. And we spend a little bit of time up front of the ‘cast talking about his participation in the Don Pullen tribute concert at Jefferson Center.

We stream music from the organ trio’s 2011 record, “At The Crossroads.”

Read more about Carter and other shows happening on the same night in Saturday’s Extra section or at roanoke.com.

Whitey Johson | Courtesy Nathan Nicholson

Gary Nicholson has made a big mark on the Nashville, Tenn., country music scene. Among his hits is “One More Last Chance,” which he co-wrote with Vince Gill, whose recording made the song famous. He has also made a mark as a touring guitarist, with a resume that includes Guy Clark and Delbert McClinton.

Nicholson, a Texas native, in recent years has combined those aspects of his life into his Whitey Johnson persona. Johnson, in a white suit and tam, sings and plays some great country blues. Blues songs that he co-wrote have made their way onto disc, as well, including Buddy Guy’s “Skin Deep” and “74 Years Young,” both of which Guy played at his November 2011 Jefferson Center concert.

Nicholson, who started his songwriting career in Los Angeles on the recommendation of the late Gram Parsons, has done well enough as a songwriter and producer — he has produced four of McClinton’s records — that he doesn’t really need to be on the road. But he likes it.

He brings his show to Blue 5 Restaurant on Saturday, with a band that includes drummer Pete Ragusa (The Nighthawks). Get show details in Top Tickets and read more in Saturday’s Extra section.

Doom Syndicate | Photo courtesy Heather Keogh

Doom Syndicate guitarist Scott Doyle had already fought and beat Hodgkins lymphoma as a teenager. But about a year ago, he was hit again when doctors diagnosed him with lymphoma.

“It’s been a hellish torment ever since,” Doyle said.

Doyle, always a scrappy fighter on behalf of his band and his beloved metal scene, “snuck out” on a recent tour, and now that his diagnosis is looking good, he’s gearing up for more gigs — Saturday in Atlantic City, June 22 in Lancaster, Pa., and a July 3 Roanoke gig at Growler’s American Grill and Venue. U.K. grind metal band Evisorax is also on the Growler’s bill. And Doom Syndicate is preparing to record its first album for its new label, Born of Chaos Records.

“I got lucky and it missed my organs,” he said. “I caught it in time, before it really got too far. I’m just trying to bear with it … and get back to jamming. That’s the main key here.”

He credits his bandmates — singer J.R. Martin, drummer Dan Brooks and bassist Chip Syndicate — with helping him through the tough times of late.

“These guys, they’re not only players, but they do a lot more, you know, and so it helps push me. …  even when we’re feeling crappy, we get in there with the guys and it all cuts into place.”

On this podcast, we discuss all of the above and more and stream music from the band’s decade-old “Midsummer’s Fall,” which Born of Chaos re-released last year.

Glen Phillips | Courtesy Rob Shanahan

Glen Phillips plays a solo show at Kirk Avenue Music Hall on Friday, April 5. Here, we talk about the upcoming Toad the Wet Sprocket album, about the sliced nerve that nearly ended Phillips’ guitar playing career and about the two songs we’re streaming here, “Greer Zollar” and “Eden,” from his recent record, “Coyote Sessions.”

Phillips is at least partly responsible for a run of Toad The Wet Sprocket hits including “Walk On The Ocean” and “All I Want.” But the band broke up years ago for the reason bands often do — the players couldn’t get along. But as the years have gone by, and reunion shows have run the gamut from stressful to enjoyable, the band found that “getting along is the new normal,” Phillips said.

But he has plenty of non-Toad output, too, including Mutual Admiration Society (with Nickel Creeks’ Sean and Sara Watkins and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones) and WPA (also with Sean Watkins and others). He said his show at Kirk Avenue will include music from all those periods.

Read more and get show details on the cover of Thursday’s Inside Out.

Ben Tyree (left) and Stephanie Rooker | Courtesy Stephanie Rooker

Radford native Stephanie Rooker, a jazz, soul, hip-hop and R&B singer and songwriter, plays Kirk Avenue Music Hall on Friday with her husband, guitarist Ben Tyree, accompanying her. Rooker, who lives in New York City these days, has workshop gigs, too. At 6 p.m. today, she is at the Music Lab at Jefferson Center for “Heart/Beats & Blood/Lines — Sounds of Hip-Hop.” On Wednesday, she hits the June Bug Center in Floyd for her “Voice Journey” Workshop.

Embedding podcasts is still a work-in-progress with our new website. As I have limited space on soundcloud, I’ve posted this podcast to archive.org, which doesn’t allow me to embed in WordPress. So here’s the link until things get better. Thanks for your patience.

UPDATED 11:19 a.m. 3.21.13: We’re live with soundcloud pro till we get our in-house embedding problem solved.