Pieter Pastoor's blog

Talk about a musician’s musician, Adam Block knows his way around a guitar. KDRT is thrilled he will be in the studio this Friday. Adam has played guitar for 20 + years.  After studying history and graduating from UC Davis in 2004, he continued studying guitar with Dave Lynch at Guitar Workshop and then decided to apply to Berklee College of Music in Boston. He earned a Bachelor degree in music and graduated from Berklee College in 2012.  Adam has since studied and performed various styles of music: blues, jazz, rock, R&B, Funk and soul. He has also studied Senegalese music as well as different styles of African guitar playing. He has worked as a sideman in many bands on the East and West coasts, and has also led bands performing his original songs and compositions. Adam has taught guitar students of all ages, young and old and enjoys sharing his knowledge of music and the guitar with his students.

This week, Listening Lyrics takes a look back at the musical contributions of Merle Haggard, one of country music's most gifted and prolific songwriters. During the 60s, 70s, and 80s, Haggard had an amazing streak of 26 number-one country singles. Haggard's early hits – including "The Fugitive," "Mama Tried," and "Okie From Muskogee" – comprise what Rolling Stone executive editor Jason Fine, in a 2009 profile of Haggard, called "the backbone of one of the greatest repertoires in all of American music, plain-spoken songs populated by the kinds of working people Haggard grew up with: farmers, hobos, convicts, widows, musicians and drunks." Quoting Bob Dylan, "Merle Haggard has always been as deep as it gets...totally himself. Herculean. He definitely transcends the country genre." 

Singer-songwriter Dirk Hamilton visits The Grapevine on KDRT Wednesday evening, April 13th, at 6 p.m. PT. Hamilton was born in Indiana and raised in Northern California. He picked up a guitar as a youth and was writing songs and playing live performances by the time he was in high school. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 70s and recorded four critically acclaimed albums: two while at ABC Records, and two while at Elektra/Asylum Records. A poet and musician known for his uniquely intelligent lyrics and passionate performance style, Hamilton creates music that can't be pigeon-holed into one genre or another, so indie rock, alt-rock, roots music, americana and folk-rock are often used. For his lyrics and performance style he is most often compared to Dylan, Van Morrison, and John Hiatt. Visit Dirk at www.dirkhamilton.com

The Downtown Davis 2nd Friday ArtAbout hasn't been the same since KDRT starting broadcasting live from Armadillo Music. This edition of Live DiRT originates at Armadillo at 6:30 pm on Friday, April 8th, with Gravy Nation. The event is free, open to all...RSVP on Facebook! :)

Dug Deep hosts San Francisco's own The Brothers Comatose for an in-studio interview and live performance on the March 19th edition of Dinner Bell Roundup, starting at 4 pm Pacific time on KDRT. The segment is part of "Live DiRT," KDRT's pop-up live-music feature. 

The band will likely play songs from their latest release, City Painted Gold, their third studio album. Between a solid couple of releases and a highly energetic live-performance style, The Brothers Comatose have inspired a loyal following of folk fans, who helped to fund this album on Kickstarter. The frontmen for the group are brothers Ben and Alex Morrison, who provide lead vocals for the band, with Ben on guitar and Alex on the banjo.

For a songwriter confronting some of the more unsettling facets of life in contemporary America, Silas Lowe’s songs are highly listenable, witty, and fun. Each its own dark comedy, he fashions musical portraits of lives squandered in barrooms, spent struggling amidst failed economic policies, or lost in tragedies both natural and preventable. Audiences subject to Lowe’s distinct brand of comedic banter will find themselves asked to vote between hearing a song about “the intersection between humanity and modern industrial capitalism” and a song about “the illusionary upward mobility of the middle class” -- sometimes, those are one and the same.

With a background in classical violin, bluegrass, and country, Andy Lentz adds depth and fire to any ensemble. He has performed and recorded with many artists including The Devil Makes Three, Rita Hosking, The West Nile Ramblers, The Brothers Comatose, and Nicki Bluhm. After many years of performing in California, Andy relocated to Austin, Texas, in 2011 and began playing with Silas Lowe, The Sieker Band, Cornell Hurd and many others. For tour info, see http://www.silaslowe.com/#!tour/c8vk

Live DiRT:  KDRT and Armadillo Music welcome the Peter Holden Band for the Downtown Davis 2nd Friday ArtAbout. The show will broadcast live on KDRT 95.7FM / KDRT.org.

Peter Holden is a San Francisco-based pop/acoustic/rock musician who’s performed in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, and Connecticut, to name a few states.  His debut EP The Athens & Other Stories came out in June 2013.  The album is available on virtually every online download site.  A second EP titled simply EP#2 was released last year.  Peter’s sound is reminiscent of Matchbox Twenty, The Goo Goo Dolls, Jimmy Eat World, and the Gin Blossoms.  Peter grew up all over the country, travelling with his family.  Every place Peter lived became a part in his music.  Whether it’s the rocking EP#2 featuring “Tired of Waiting,” or “Wasted Youth” from The Athens & Other Stories, you’re sure to be singing Peter’s songs before you know it.

Listening Lyrics is honored that during the live broadcast we will be introducing the new CD by the Big Sticky Mess.  Big Sticky Mess traveled lightyears at rocketing speeds to Earth in search of you. Now, as if shot out of a cannon through the heart of a rainbow, the Mess is here bringing a kaleidoscopic mix of extraterrestrial hooks, vibrant grooves and potent beats, purely for your entertainment.  Close your eyes and hear the funky jams reminiscent of decades past with a sound much larger than the three piece arrangement before you should allow.  So slip another drop under your tongue and join the inter-planetary groove train that is the Big Sticky Mess.

All Listening Lyric shows are live on Fridays from 4:00PM to 5:00PM.(PST) on KDRT 95.7FM. For those outside the listening area, the show will stream live online at KDRT.org . It will also be available for replays in the show archives or as an podcast on iTunes under LISTENING LYRICS.

There are 7 bands from Davis nominated for the SAMMIES this Year -- MAU, MILLION DOLLAR GIVEAWAY, SPANGLER, BIG STICKY MESS, MISNER & SMITH, and WEST NILE RAMBLERS. Join us for three of these bands performing live at Armadillo Music. Aproximate times are 1:30PM for Million Dollar Giveaway. 2:30pm for MAU, and 3:15 PM for Spangler. All ages--come on down! 

Check out the bands and vote here https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=19807665

Have you ever seen an act where the essence of the band members not only influence the music but transcend it? Call it charisma or just call it humans that show and share their inner qualities...and meet The Polyorchids. NorCal band The Polyorchids play a fast and loose mix of indie punk and folk music. Justin, Tonym and Travis went to high school together in Winters, California, and have been collaborating musically for years, sometimes in bands and other times just as friends. The Polyorchids were born after a few of the members moved back to the Sacramento area after some years away. Their first shows as a band were on a 10-city tour of California in May of 2015, and they’ve been playing semi-regularly in Northern California ever since. Visit The Polyorchids on Facebook and Bandcamp.