iron-horse

Jon Pousette Dart returns to the Iron Horse 7/18.

The Pousette Dart Band have played the Iron Horse many times from the early to mid eighties onward. Jon Pousette Dart returns for a duo show on 7/18. Alice Howe and Freebo open this evening of acoustic music.

Our conversation begins with Jon’s childhood in Suffern NY just 30 miles north of Manhattan. Jon’s father and grandfather were well known artists. Both generations prior were visual artists with grandfather Nathaniel an artist, editor, art advertising businessman while Jon’s father Richard was an abstract expressionist artist, a photographer and sculptor. This creative environment was immersive for Jon and his older sister; encouraging and open to experimentation. Neighborhood bands were formed at an early age. Except these bands included Burgess Meredith’s son and Soupy Sales’ kids, enabling this fledgling teen garage band, Tony & the Tigers, television exposure!

We chat about Jon Pousette Dart’s visit to his grandparents Nantucket summer home and “being dicovered” by Rock n Roll promoter Don Law who brought him to Boston. We discuss the vibrant musical community in Boston/Cambridge at the time (early and mid 70’s) and being booked for national rock tours with a wide variety of British and American stars including James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Billy Joel, and J Geils. The two biggest rock tours of that era; “Peter Frampton Comes Alive” and “Yes Fragile Tour”, both had the Pousette Dart Band included!

Our conversation includes the ups and downs of the industry for the band including Jon heading to Nashville to write jingles. We chat about how the music ‘business’ has changed as well over time. Discussions of songwriting challenges and what the current tour entails finish out our chat. Of course, there’s music along the way! We begin with “Women In My Dreams”, “County Line”, “Fall On Me” and finish with “Amnesia”. Jon Pousette Dart is joined by long time accompanist Jim Chapdelaine on this show.

Details at Pousette-Dart.com as well as IronHorse.org

The amazing Alice Howe and Freebo open the 7/18 Iron Horse show.

High Tea and Wallace Field preview their Iron Horse show 1/31; In studio on NineVoltHeart

I had the pleasure to host two fine young bands on the show in advance of their Iron Horse Music Hall show on January 31. High Tea (Isabella DeHerdt and Isaac Eliot) along with Wallace Field entertained us with conversation and song for the hour. We heard four live in-studio songs (most of which were new and unreleased) from the pair of indy-folk Valley favorites. High Tea performed “Whole Lotta Lovin'” and “Paper Mache” while Wallace performed “The Common” and “Lighthouse Man’. We also played “The Tale of Billy and the Void” and “Tender Heart Attack” from High Tea’s recordings. We also heard “Stranger” from Wallace Field’s latest record.

Both bands are clearly excited about their Iron Horse premieres having both sold-out Parlor Room gigs in the past. They will be welcoming full band versions of these songs at the Iron Horse. We chatted about each of their musical journeys and their song-writing styles. We also discussed our Connecticut Valley music scene and it’s viability along with it’s emphasis on collaboration and community building. Both bands have new material they’re working on with upcoming recording sessions scheduled. High Tea is also touring this month with Heather Maloney as part of her band (also playing the Iron Horse Feb 7&8)

Info on the bands can be found at WallaceField Music.com and HighTeaBand.com

Info on the venue and tickets can be found at IronHorse.org