Stony Plain Artists Score 12 Blues Music Awards Nominations

Guitarist, producer, songwriter and touring bandleader Duke Robillard — who recently earned his second Grammy for his 16th Stony Plain album, Stomp! The Blues Tonight — earned four Blues Award nominations, again reflecting the success of his new Stony Plain album. The CD is up for Album of the Year, while Duke Robillard's Jumpin' Blues Revue is nominated as Band of the Year; the artist also earned nods as Guitar Instrumentalist and Traditional Blues Male Artist. - more on this story

Major Blues And Roots Stars Confirmed For Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concerts

A host of major blues and roots music artists will gather to perform two nights of special tribute concerts saluting the music of the seminal American band, The Mississippi Sheiks, on March 13 and 14 in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Presented by the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad in partnership with Capilano University, the two nights will include already-confirmed performances by Grammy-nominee John Hammond, Van Dyke Parks, Geoff Muldaur, Danny Barnes, Jim Byrnes, Steve Dawson, Robin Holcomb, Oh Susanna and The Sojourners. Additional artists are expected to be announced. The all-star band backing up these artists for the shows will be Matt Chamberlain – drums; Keith Lowe – bass; Wayne Horvitz – keyboards; Steve Dawson – guitars; and Daniel Lapp – fiddle.

The Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Concerts will be the last event for the Cultural Olympiad, the arts festival that takes place in conjunction with the 2010 Winter Olympic Games to be held in Vancouver on February 12-28, and followed by the Paralympic Winter Games on March 12-21. - more on this story

Drowning Pool Offspring AM Conspiracy Set Album Release

Am Conspiracy is proud to announce the release of their self-titled new album in stores January 12, 2010. Burnhill Union Records signed the gut-wrenching, hard rocking group earlier in 2009 and the Chicago-based label is pleased to launch the record as their premiere release.

Label partner and (ex-Soil) Dirge Within guitarist, Shaun Glass, says of the upcoming release "We at Burnhill Union are really excited to be putting this record out.i feel AM Conspiracy is truly what a rock band is about, lead vocalist Jason Gong Jones has a voice that is meant for the big arena sound.the album has so many strong tracks that it is hard for the listener to stop after a few tracks in,you will find it on repeated plays. this is a rock fans wet dream!

AM Conspiracy features frontman and lead vocalist, Jason "Gong" Jones, formerly of the band Drowning Pool. After teaming up with guitarists Drew Burke and Rob DeHaven drummer Dean Andrews and bassist Kenny Harrelson, Jones was ready to exorcise his demons in song. "This is the record we always wanted to make; the way we always wanted to make it. It is what rock and roll should be: 5 guys in a room making honest, unadulterated music with no regard to the corporate machine," Jones says. - more on this story

Disco Biscuits Album and Tour Coming

When the Disco Biscuits formed in Philadelphia in 1995, they introduced a pioneering blend of electronic and jam band elements. Since then, they've steadily cultivated a rabid fan base and have spawned an entire movement. Today the Biscuits are able to sell over a quarter of a million tickets in a year and have founded uber-successful summer music festival, Camp Bisco. But rather than remaining within their comfort zone, the band has forged ahead and introduced new ingredients to the beloved Bisco sound.

This Fall, the Biscuits gave a sneak peak of the highly eclectic new material with two EP's, On Time and Widgets. On February 2nd their latest chapter is fully realized in the form of their new album, Planet Anthem, on Diamond Riggs Records through Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group.

Planet Anthem is the product of three fruitful years of labor, during which the Disco Biscuits absorbed everything from hip hop to pop to indie rock into their sound. The band collaborated for the first time with multiple producers, songwriters, and outside musicians, including Don Cheegro and Dirty Harry (Ludacris, Chris Brown, Beanie Sigel). While the album still bears the signature Bisco sound, it also broadens the group's palette and contains a mountain of meaty hooks. "You and I" is a pogo-inducing rocker with slightly sinister guitar riffs and a monster, arena-ready chorus. "On Time" is a breezy, electro-flavored anthem that is poised to slip into clubs across the country. - more on this story

Patti Smith and More for Tibet House Benefit

Tibet House US will hold its 20th Annual Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall on Friday, February 26th. Philip Glass, the concert's Artistic Director, once again brings together an original line-up of contemporary artists including Patti Smith, Jesse Smith, Michael Campbell, Baaba Maal and Pierce Turner with more performers being confirmed soon. Tickets will go on sale December 24th, 2009.

For twenty years, the annual concert has assembled some of the biggest names in music and offers audiences a mix of unprecedented musical collaborations and solo offerings. Past unforgettable concerts have featured such talents as David Bowie, Paul Simon, Sheryl Crow, Moby, Sigur Ros, Bright Eyes, R.E.M., The National, Natalie Merchant, Rufus Wainwright, Vampire Weekend, Emmylou Harris, Live, Ray Davies and Damien Rice, among many others.

The Tibet House US Benefit Concert commemorates the Monlam Prayer Festival traditionally held at the time of the Tibetan New Year. The festival drew vast numbers of monks, citizens and pilgrims from all over the country who gathered to pray for world peace and prosperity. Tibet House US is a non-profit organization founded in 1987 at the behest of His Holiness the Dalai Lama that serves as a center for the preservation and presentation of the endangered Tibetan culture. - more on this story

Redemption Release Initial Tour Dates

Los Angeles prog metal band Redemption will be playing out in 2010 in support of their recently-released fourth CD, Snowfall on Judgment Day, on Inside Out Music.

Multi-instrumentalist / songwriter Nick van Dyk commented "We're very excited to get back out and play together, including new music from Snowfall. These first shows will be headlining gigs and they may be the only headlining shows we play in the US next year. We have plans for some very cool US support dates later in the year, and hope to announce some additional dates in Europe as well."

The first two headlining shows have been announced for: February 4th, 2010 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Whiskey February 5th, 2010 – Mesa, AZ @ UB's More shows will be announced in the coming weeks. - more on this story

Deep Sex Thoughts With Devin Townsend

From the ingenious, sarcastic mind of the musical genius Devin Townsend emerges a new series of video shorts that will leave you speechless. Welcome to "Deep Thoughts With Devin Townsend" and the first installment, "Hot Sex," basically says it all. Check it out now at his new E-card for the Addicted album, which can be accessed at the link below. Stay tuned each week for future "Deep Thoughts With Devin Townsend" and we promise it's going to be worth the wait.

The much anticipated new video from the Devin Townsend Project, "Bend It Like Bender," can also be viewed through this E-card. The track comes off the group's new, mind-blowing offering, Addicted, was met with worldwide critical praise and scored very impressive first week numbers debuting at #168 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and #2 on the Billboard Heatseakers chart.

Townsend, easily one of metal's most intriguing, ominous and immensely talented figures is taking this project to the masses as he will join genre visionaries Between The Buried and Me, Cynic and Scale The Summit for a massive North American trek which kicks off Jan 8th. - eCard

Are The Dudes Cursed?

What they say must be true, as after The Dudes released their album titled Bloods, Guts, Bruises, Cuts earlier this year the band (and others involved in the making and development of it) has suffered nothing but. Take for example their photographer Randy who took shots for the album and next thing you know he falls into a parked car and needs staples in his head. Or Megan who shows up at the shooting for the video 'Girl Police' and breaks her ankle within the hour.

None compares, however, to the injuries that the band themselves have sustained. Two days before heading out on tour lead singer/guitarist Dan Vacon's white BMX took him down the highway of hurt resulting in 12 staples to the head and a broken collarbone. A month later drummer Scott Ross borrows and bails on the same bike to end up missing 3 of his front teeth, a bunch of his face, and a piece of his moustache. Witnesses say he got up swinging like he was in a fight. Eerily enough it was the same intersection in Calgary where both accidents happened.

Most recently Vacon crashed into a tree skiing at Lake Louise and broke the other side of his collarbone. Again two days before leaving out on tour. Last week the band got caught in a blizzard and while hailing a cab Ross slipped and got dragged 30 feet underneath the bumper of an oncoming car. With both knees busted, Scott can't yet walk but still somehow manages to rock. - more on this story

Jon Troast's New CD To Be Released on Jan. 19th As He Tours For Free In 2010

After recently completing his aggressive and unique 100 Concerts In 100 Days Tour - where from March 20th to June 27th of this year he performed 100 living room concerts throughout the nation in 100 consecutive days - singer/songwriter Jon Troast has also worked in enough time to head back into the studio to record his latest full-length album aptly titled Living Room.

The majority of Living Room was directly inspired by Jon's many experiences from his 100 Concerts in 100 Days Tour. As Jon states, "Some of it is personal reflection from being on the road, and some of it was inspired by the people I met. It was such a privilege to see little snapshots of people's lives all across the country."

These "little snapshots" are neatly arranged in this engaging album that successfully melds folk and pop rock with '70s singer/songwriter fare and just a touch of Americana music. Living Room marks Jon's fourth full-length effort recorded in Nashville and produced by Mitch Dane, who also handpicked the session players for the recordings. "There are a lot of talented people in Nashville," Jon reveals, "and the musicians I worked with are all extremely sharp and professional, but at the same time they're also pretty laid back... which is just my style." - more on this story

. John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Live and Freedom

Its stunning to realize that it took Mellencamp 33-years after his debut record to release a live recording that was something more than a few B-sides. The performances housed on the live EP Life, Death, Live & Freedom feature Mellencamp at his most severe and sincere (4 stars) - Read the full John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Live and Freedom review

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