Lance Stinson comes to Boston!

Lance Stinson is gearing up for a string of Massachusetts tour dates.  Stinson will be playing Lucky Dog Music Hall in Worcester, MA on Thursday, July 2^nd and following that with back to-back shows at Loretta’s Last Call in Boston the 3^rd and 4^th.  Ahead of his Boston dates, Stinson will have an acoustic set with his guitar player at Judge Roy Bean Saloon in Bristol, RI on Wednesday night.  

When we spoke, Stinson was coming off of chat with students of Wentworth College Mass Communication class about social media.  He was impressed nearly all of the students were fans of country music.  Stinson is active on social media and says, "It helps build your fan base to where it's more of a grass roots kind of thing.  It gives you the opportunity to interact with people that like your music."  

Stinson has a distinctly rocking country sound.  Of his sound, Stinson says, "It's a kind of country with a little of a southern rock edge.  A kind of kick-you-in-your-teeth country."  Stinson's sound came from both listening to the classics like Meryl Haggard, Johnny Cash, and with his father, while at the same time rocking out to likes of Jon Bon Jovi and Def Leppard with his older brothers.  

When asked of his favorite writing partners, he counts Shane Minor, Rick Tiger, and Nate Canyon.  His dream write, however, would have been with the great Keith Whitely.  Currently working on song writing for his newest album, Stinson's enjoying playing new music like "Taillights and Dust" which is quickly growing as a fan favorite.  

For additional information about Stinson and additional tour dates, check out his website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

                                 

Road Trip Files: Will Hoge rocks Hilton Head, SC

On Sunday night, Will Hoge and his band helped Wild Wings Cafe celebrate their 25th birthday.  The set included tracks off of Hoge's 10th studio album, Small Town Dreams, released in April, as well as old favorites like "Baby Girl", "Daddy is a Gambling Man", "When I Can Afford to Lose", "The Highway's Home", and his number one hit from his album Wreckage, "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" recorded by the Eli Young Band.  Hoge's soulful voice, energy, harmonica, and masterful lyrics shine through live.  Hoge's set concluded a weekend of fun activities featuring local acts, lawn games, and even a wing eating contest. 

The highlight of the show for me was to hear some of the tracks off of Small Town Dreams which is easily one of my favorite albums this year with beautiful storytelling of life in 'Middle America'.  Oddly enough, the album reminds me of a Youtube video my brother showed me of Kanye West playing the beats he created for Jay-Z for The Black Album.  Jay-Z is clearly impressed, and West tells him that it isn't going to be a record, but scenes from a movie.  Strangely, this descriptor perfectly summarizes my view of Small Town Dreams.  Each song paints a scene from a movie, and they weave together to form a full-length feature film.  

You can also catch more of Hoge's songwriting on Gloriana's newest album, Three.  Hoge co-wrote, "Nobody But You" along with Dylan Altman and Eric Paslay.  Hoge also recently co-starred in Sunny Sweeney's release, "My Bed".  

You don't want to miss Hoge when he plays the Brighton Music Hall on August 16th. 

Check out my full review of Small Town Dreams.

Follow: Will Hoge on twitter @willhoge

Visit: http://www.willhoge.com/

Road Trip Files: Taste of Country Music Festival draws over 50,000 fans!

A record 50,000 enthusiastic country music fans turned out over three days to attend the 3rd Annual Taste of Country Music Festival, held June 12-14, 2015 at Hunter Mountain Resort in the Catskills of New York State.

The star-packed lineup for this year’s festival was headlined by Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, and Toby Keith; and included Billy Currington, Eli Young Band, Jerrod Niemann, Sara Evans, Easton Corbin, Chase Bryant, Colt Ford, Josh Abbott Band, Tracy Lawrence, LOCASH, Logan Mize, Katie Armiger, Western Underground, Amanda Watkins, Rachel Lipsky, Sasha McVeigh, Nikki Briar, Jandee Lee Porter and Jackson Michelson.

Here's what one attendee, Brianna, had to say:

"This was my first year going to ToC Fest and I can honestly say it was the best weekend of my life! I did not see a single person that looked unhappy while at the festival. Everyone was dressed in "country outfits." Lots of cowboy hats and boots, flannels, and of course camo and American flag shirts, shorts, bandanas, etc. I went with my friend Marissa and we chose not to camp just because she hates camping but everyone that did camp, seemed very happy with their decision. We stayed at the Catskill Motor Court Motel. It was about 45 minutes from the festival. If you don't mind camping I would definitely suggest doing that. Everyone that camped seemed to love it and they met a lot of people. They also obviously got to wake up at the festival everyday which I'm sure was a lot easier than having to drive almost an hour each day to the festival and then back. They had a lot of food tents and beer tents set up at the festival along with different souvenir tents. We did a lot of our eating outside of the festival since we brought food with us but I did get pizza which was delicious and not too expensive either. I also got sweet tea because honestly, how could you not get sweet tea at a country music festival? They put the sweet tea in a cute little souvenir cowboy boot mug, which of course, made it so much more enjoyable to drink. You could also get refills in the mug for $3. We were super excited to see the Josh Abbott Band for the first time!  I got their EP ahead of the festival and it was great to hear those songs live.  All the performers were awesome but my favorite was definitely Tim McGraw! Tim was the only performer that we saw that actually came down to the audience and shook people's hands while performing. He even sang to a little girl in the audience. Another memorable performance was Keith Urban's. One of his songs that he performed was, "We Were Us," which he sings with Miranda Lambert but since she could not be there he held a contest and had girls send in videos of them singing her part of the song and the winner got to perform the song with him at the festival. The winner was a teenage girl from Florida. It was really cool to see him performing one of his songs with a fan. We loved going on the ski lifts! You could see the whole festival down below. It was really cool! Like I said, this was the best weekend of my life! If you enjoy the outdoors, drinking, and great country music, then ToC Fest is definitely the place for you!"

The Taste of Country will return to Hunter Mountain for a fourth year on June 10-12, 2016 with Kenny Chesney already announced as the headliner.  For tickets and more information, visit www.tasteofcountryfestival.com. 

For more pictures and videos from the festival, check out www.instagram.com/countrymusichub

Oklahoma Songwriter John Moreland at Atwood's Tavern Sunday Night

Oklahoma Songwriter John Moreland released his newest album, High on Tulsa Heat on April 21st.  Moreland’s songwriting shines through throughout the 10 tracks, emphasized by his stunning vocals.  The album, produced in Moreland’s home studio in Oklahoma, hooks the listener from the first light strums of the guitar, with a haunting sadness and lyrics like, “Hang me in the Tulsa county stars.”  Not to say that the album is all sad.  “White Flag” confesses a helpless love.  The title track, “High On Tulsa Heat” is again a plea to a love, “You're the place I miss when my heart gets heavy / Trouble my tomb stone mind”.  Through striking lyrics and a distinct voice, Moreland is able to make you feel his own broken heart. 

Pick up your tickets John Moreland for Sunday, June 14th at Atwood’s Tavern at 877 Cambridge Street Cambridge, MA.  

JUNE 14
Boston, MA @ Atwood's Tavern 10:00 PM

JULY 23
Portsmouth, NH @ The Music Hall  7:30 PM

JULY 24
Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival (Wildwood Revival - Museum Stage)

For more dates on John’s tour, visit http://www.johnmoreland.net/tour/