Matt Nozzolio, RIP

Middletown resident, MDC spokesman, and accomplished bluegrass dobro player Matt Nozzolio died unexpectedly Sunday after a solo musical performance in New Haven.

More info at his website.

Concerts of the Week

Brilliant Disguise: A Tribute to Bruce Springstreen
Thursday Jan 1o, 7pm
Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton MA

With, Thane Thomsen (The Figments) and Steve Sanderson (Drunk Stuntmen) and Matthew Loiacono (of Kamikaze Hearts) and Rusty Belle and Kevin O'Rourke of Lofine and Chris Pureka and Philip Price and Henning Ohlenbusch and Mark Mulcahy and Frank Manzi Band and Dave Houghton (Fancy Trash) and Matthew Hebert and Jeffrey Foucault and Dennis Crommett and Jose Ayerve (of Spouse) and Jim Armenti (Lonesome Brothers) and Erik Alan (The Amity Front). This sounds like all sorts of fun.



Lori McKenna Band and Mark Erelli
Saturday Jan 12, 7 & 10 pm
Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton MA

Lori struggled on the singer-songwriter circuit for years until she was taken under the wing of country star Faith Hill, and was then featured on Oprah. Erelli is her friend and plays in her touring band. He's got a new, and anticipated album, on the horizon.



Brooks Williams and Gail Wade
Saturday Jan 12, 8 pm
Buttonwood Tree, Middletown CT

Brooks is an amazing guitarist, and gifted songwriter, and Gale Wade found her muse a few years back, and has taken to the local stages with a beautiful vengance. The Buttonwood Tree is so intimate, it's like having the musicians in your living room without having to clean up after.



Amy Gallatin and Stillwaters
Saturday Jan 12, 7:30 pm
Connecticut Audobon Center, Glastonbury, CT

With two new albums in the racks (one with Roger Williams and one with Stillwaters), Gallatin has lots of new (and in fact some really old) material to try out on audiences.

So much music, so little time

I started writing about music in college when I realized that record companies would send me copies of the latest LP releases free. Free.

So for four years, I was the envy of my contemporaries when I went to the mail room and retrieved my 20 or 30 albums a weeks. Many I listened to. Some I gave away. Some never even got opened. Yes, I became that jaded.

The largesse continued when I graduated, and continued to write for small music magazines, for the local newspaper, and when I began to play these CDs on the radio.

You won't feel sorry for me, I know, but I've gotten so many CDs, so much free music, that I can't always find time to listen. And I have piles of CDs still encased in cellophane. And my problem is tiny compared to folks who write about music for big magazines and dailies.

But, I've never sold a promo CD. I think that's unfair to the artist and label. And it never prevented me from shelling out my own money for lots of the albums that didn't come my way for free.

So, all this to justify my boorish behavior when Amy Gallatin handed me her new CD of songs with Roger Williams. I misplaced the first copy she gave me, and nearly lost the second. But after Amy and Roger stopped by my show last week, and I couldn't find the second copy she gave me, I was mortified. So I did the unthinkable, and cleaned out the trunk of my car, and I found it. It being, Something 'Bout You.

So I put it in the car CD player, and damn, if it isn' t wonderful. I think it's the best thing that Amy has done. I think it's one of the best albums I've heard this year. A bunch of really old, relatively obscure country songs, and a few new ones, done in that old-fashioned country duet style that is killer. Amy's vocals, which with the power and tone of her voice, can come off as strident, are tempered by Roger's baritone which has been sanded smooth by cigarettes and, shall we say, maturity. The song selections are perfect, the harmonies glorious, the sentiments wonderfully maudlin (like any good old country song), and the Nashville session players are amazing.

So, sorry Amy, for not listening right away. But thanks. I'm listening right now.