My end of the year extravaganza is called Favorites of 2015 because I just don’t listen to enough new music through the year to warrant c...

First, let me just say that I have never had so much fun putting together an issue of Modern Acoustic! I want to offer a huge thanks to e...

When last we saw the boys of Barnstar!, they were dressed as a band of pirates riding the high seas of Boston Harbor and performing to a ...

FAVORITE ALBUMS “Numbered Doors,” by Lori McKenna and “Milltowns,” by Mark Erelli These two locally produced albums are as authentic and ...

A recording session is stopped abruptly, and a new-to-town songwriter is introduced, brought in to “fix” the projected hit song for Miss ...

I have a plot idea for the TV show “Nashville” to save it from cancellation. But before we go there, I have admit something that may make...

I won’t listen to Spotify. In fact, I am personally boycotting it. I’m sure the music streaming executives are quaking in their collectiv...

Here in the New England, we have no Bonnaroo, no Coachella, no Lollapalooza, no New Orleans Jazz Festival: summer music extravaganzas wit...

If you live in the Boston area and like folk, blues and singer-songwriters – both current and classic – there’s a good chance you already...

A video was posted of Bobbie Gentry’s classic “Ode to Billie Joe” on June 3rd, the date prominently mentioned in the song. It got us thin...

Meet Parsonsfield (formerly Poor Old Shine) For Poor Old Shine, it started with a song… a traditional prison work song of the American So...

When I started Modern Acoustic, way back in 2004, one of my main objectives was not to be like every other music magazine, which fills th...

It was one of those most magical of evenings. Outside, 70 or so degrees, beside the ocean, sun about to set, your favorite concert buddie...

Hopefully, people will read this and won’t think, “wow, this guy is old and cranky.” That is not true – at least the second part. It just...

In praise of the underappreciated Joan Osborne I recently went to see a band called Trigger Hippy at a concert hall in Boston. As a band,...

The Lone Bellow made quite an impression in 2013 – even winning over the guy with a bad case of Americana Exhaustion I complained a lot t...

This year, Hanukkah came early. My musical inspiration came very late, but I’m very excited about this gift. All year, I had been looking...

Favorite Album: Patty Griffin, “American Kid’’ Anyone who follows Modern Acoustic knows just where I stand on Patty. Two words: voice cru...

Returning to the scene of the Dead 30 years later I went back with some misgivings – no Jerry Garcia will do that to even the most ardent...

“At the request of Matt and Zooey, we ask that people not use their cell phones to take pictures and video, but instead enjoy the show th...