The Backyard Beckons: North Shore Point

For nearly two decades, journalist Jim Morrison has been hosting intimate acoustic concerts on the back lawn of his Norfolk home, and not just any shows.

His North Shore Point House Concerts has brought acclaimed Americana singers, established bluegrass, folk and blues pickers, stripped-down rock 'n' rollers and even a few Grammy winners— the likes of Todd Snider, Steve Forbert, Della Mae, Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Kelly Willis, Marshall Crenshaw, Lloyd Cole, Nellie McKay and many more.

Lately, Morrison's nonprofit venture has been booking more performances in actual venues—like Old Dominion University Goode Theatre & Soundstage, Boathouse Live in Newport News, Norfolk's Toast and the Virginia Arts Festival courtyard.

My feature on NSP is now up at the Coastal Virginia Magazine website, one of the many articles I penned for the mag's special May-June 2019 music issue. The online version comes complete with some of Jim's favorite house concert moments, including video clips from past shows.

Take a trip to the backyard by going here.

And for more on North Shore Point, go here. 

(Photo of Steve Forbert courtesy of North Shore Point House Concerts)

The 'Norfolk Sound' Archive at ODU

Those rowdy party noises emanating from Old Dominion University these days might not be the work of the students.

The holdings of the late record producer Frank Guida, who helped popularize the rollicking “Norfolk Sound,” now reside in ODU’s Perry Library as part of its Special Collections. The Frank and Carmela Guida/Rockmasters International Collection includes original recording equipment, tapes, records, photographs, master discs, correspondence and legal papers saved from Guida’s active 40-year career as a music maker and a producer of artists ranging from Gary U.S. Bonds, Jimmy Soul, Bill Deal and the Rhondels, Lenis Guess, and more.

My history of the "Norfolk Sound," accompanied by photographs of artifacts from the archive, is now up at the Coastal Virginia Magazine website, one of the many articles I penned for the mag's special May-June 2019 music issue.

Join in the roar and read the article here.

And for more on the Frank Guida archive and ODU's Special Collections, go here.

Making the Charts with Trey Pollard

My April Virginia Living Magazine column on musician and producer Trey Pollard is now online

Pollard is best known as the inventive arranger behind the soul and indie-rock performers -- standouts  from Matthew E. White to Natalie Prass -- on Richmond’s distinctive Spacebomb label.

For his own first solo album, he took a detour from his usual string and horn sweetenings. Antiphone is a beautifully realized classical chamber music disc, mostly four-string quintet, a moody mélange of cello and violin that simmers and stimulates. “I don’t see it as a record like any other Spacebomb has done,” the 35-year-old Chesapeake native says. “It’s all about making a statement, and trying not to lose too much money.”

Find out more about Trey Pollard and his arresting new record by clicking here.

And for more on Spacebomb Records, go here.

Photo by the mighty Sarah Walor!

Sonic Boom: Music Reviews in the RTD Void

I've been telling people for years that I've never worked for the Richmond Times-Dispatch --- it's one of the few major Virginia publications I've avoided.

So imagine my surprise when someone calls me a liar. An acquaintance informed me that he saw my byline on several articles published on the RTD website.

He's right. Well, look at that.

OK, let me explain. Way back at the turn of the Millennium, I had a regular music column, Sonic Boom, that ran on a then-active local news site called Richmond.com. That entire operation, and the website's web address, was sold to the RTD in a regional media buyout some time ago. Richmond.com is now the RTD's website.

,,,and that web address is STILL where you can find past editions of my "Sonic Boom." Not all of them but some. And they hold up pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Get yourself a bit of old Boom (as they say) by clicking on these links.

Best Releases of the 1990s.

Beck, The Roots, the Hang-Ups, "Clem Comstock," Seven Hearts

Ben Harper, Solex, Manishevitz, the Hollies, the Mekons

Nine Inch Nails, the Misfits, Robyn Hitchcock, Louis Jordan, Tower of Power, Barry White, LaBradford

Foo Fighters, Billy Nichols, Peter Finger, a case for Low Power Radio 

(Art: "Nancy" by the late, great Ernie Bushmiller)

Record Collectors and Richmond's Fine Vinyl

I love lists.

Well, actually, they're just OK. They tire me out sometimes.

But I REALLY love records. And so this just-posted online list of rare and unusual Richmond-affiliated vinyl platters that I compiled with Richmond Magazine arts editor Craig Belcher was fun to put together and listen back to.... and we even give you links so you can hear the artifacts in question.

With this list, you can find outmoreabout Robert Williams' amazing "Loud Mufflers" as well as check out  noteworthy tracks by the Ferguson Brothers, Johnson's Happy Pals, Serious Tripp, and more. Get to listening right here.

The list accompanies a larger Richmond Magazine feature section where different area record hounds are profiled - there are a lot of record stores in this area, as I've written about in the past. For this Rich Mag spread, I came up with a piece on legendary record collector John Wood, the man who started the Richmond area's first record shows, and who keeps a guest cottage just to house his 45's. Get that article right here.

(Photo by the mighty Jay Paul!)

Growing Down with Illiterate Light

“The limitations of our set-up give us a certain edge,” says Jake Cochran, the drummer and one half of Illiterate Light, a Harrisonburg duo that is taking its high-energy two-man live show and hummable tunes beyond regional acclaim. “I think people can feel it.”

Produced at Montrose Studios in Richmond with engineer Adrian Olsen and The Head and The Heart’s Charlie Glenn, Illiterate Light’s striking new album is filled with sugary, Classic rock-influenced gems. And it’s getting notice. National Public Radio named the Light’s anthemic “Better Than I Used To,” which was released as an advance single, as one of its “Ten Hot Summer Songs” for 2018.

Find out more about illiterate Light. Read the December 2018 installment of my Virginia Living Magazine music column by taking yourself right over here.

And for more on Illiterate Light -- yes, they were named after the Wilco lyric -- you can two-step it here.

(Photo by the mighty Joey Wharton)

Seeds of Memory: Native Heritage Crops

“Our seeds are more than just food," says seedkeeper Frank Cain.

Formed by members of the Monacan, Nottoway and Tuscarora tribes, the Alliance of Native Seedkeepers is an organization that works to save specific, sometimes disappearing, varieties of indigenous crops and herbs important to tribal legacies, some with colorful names such as Skunk Pole Bean and Virginia Gourd Seed Corn.

Members like Cain are currently growing rare corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, tobacco and more in fields and plots across Central Virginia — their largest is located at Epic Gardens in Richmond's Bon Air section.

Read my Richmond Magazine feature on these intrepid seed kepers, and the efforts to save rare indigenous crops, by planting yourself right here.

And for more on the Alliance of Native Seedkeepers, go to their Facebook Page here.

(Photo courtesy of the Alliance)

For Pete's Sake: John McCutcheon Speaks

Johnny Cash once called John McCutcheon the most talented instrumentalist he'd ever seen. It's easy to see why -- the man plays more than a dozen different kinds, including his signature hammered dulcimer.

The folk music veteran's new album, his 40th, To Everyone in All the World: A Celebration of Pete Seeger, is a rousing tribute to his idol, Seeger, who died in 2014 at age 94. The set features Virginia blues master Corey Harris, country singer Suzy Bogguss and bluegrass band Hot Rize.

“The first LP I ever bought was by Pete Seeger, and it was called ‘We Shall Overcome,’ ” he tells me in an interview for Richmond Magazine. “It was a concert recording, and I had never been to a concert before. This LP was a revelation because Pete’s audiences, they came to sing. And everyone was singing along in harmony. I’d never heard anything like it.”

McCutcheon’s immersion in traditional music continued through his days at Saint John’s University in Minnesota. On a whim, he traveled south to Virginia and West Virginia to try to learn from some of his Appalachian musical heroes such as banjo player Roscoe Holcomb, fiddler Tommy Hunter and mountain dulcimer artist I.D. Stamper. “Originally I thought, as a college student, that I would come down here and study and marinate myself in it for three months. It was a three-month study that I’m still on 47 years later.”

Read my profile of McCutcheon, "For Pete's Sake," by going right here.

And for more on the music of John McCutcheon, click here.

(Photo by the mighty Irene Young)