San Francisco rock quintet New Monsoon is the collaborative vehicle for the vocal and instrumental prowess of founding members Bo Carper (acoustic guitar and banjo), Jeff Miller (electric guitar) and Phil Ferlino (keys). Now well into its second decade, the band also features the muscular rhythm section of Murph Murphy (electric bass) and Dale Fanning (drums).

For nearly two decades, New Monsoon has been performing at major music festivals and premier venues throughout the US. Having shared the stage with heavyweight guests such as Mike Stern (Miles Davis, etc), the late, great Martin Fierro (Zero, Legion of Mary), Steve Kimock, and Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth), to name a few. They’ve toured nationally with String Cheese Incident, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Umphrey’s McGee (Big Summer Classic Tour), supported Moe, The Wailers, etc. and are a featured headliner in venues such as the Fillmore (SF), Gothic Theater (Denver), and the Warehouse (Houston). They have been favorites of the festival circuit including marquee festivals like Bonnaroo, Wakarusa, Langerado, High Sierra, Telluride Bluegrass, Austin City Limits and many others.

Shortly after starting his solo career in September 1999, Sheaffer joined the bluegrass-rock group Railroad Earth, which started informally in the fall of 2000 during bluegrass jam sessions at the Long Valley, NJ, home of multi-instrumentalist Andy Goessling. The group featured former members of From Good Homes and of the New Jersey swing band Blue Sparks from Hell, including Sheaffer (vocals, acoustic guitar), Goessling (acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, pennywhistle, saxophone), Tim Carbone (violin, acoustic guitar), and session player John Skehan (mandolin, guitar, piano), as well as drummer/percussionist Carey Harmon and upright and electric bassist Dave Von Dollen. Railroad Earth recorded its debut CD, The Black Bear Sessions, in 2001.

TK & The Holy Know-Nothings…affectionately dubbed “psychedelic doom boogie,” the group was born out of Kingman’s desire to create a loose, groove-heavy bar band that never sacrifices the importance of good, honest songwriting. This supergroup including drummer Tyler Thompson and multi-instrumentalists Jay Cobb Anderson (lead guitar, harmonica), Lewi Longmire (bass, guitar, pedal steel, flugelhorn) and Sydney Nash (keys, bass, slide guitar, cornet). It’s a band of deeply contrasting styles buoyed by a sincere and palpable mutual trust–one that allows them to find and lose the groove with the same ease. This is irreverent rock and roll, tempered and deepened by the sacred mystery of western country.

Scott Pemberton’s sound is much like the vibe of his native Portland: freaky, fun and just the right amount of weird. The best way to categorize his music is with the moniker “Timber Rock”. Scott naturally applies his own lens/stamp to the sounds of the Pacific North West, the region he has always called home. The deep jazz, NW rock/grunge, blues roots and the west coast funk. It’s all there, and often all in the same song. Listeners are finding this honest, original and to-the-point music refreshing and fun.The response to Scott’s music has made him an emerging force on the festival circuit, placed him at #1 in Portland’s pop charts, #4 on Bilboards “Tastmakers” chart and has generated notice from the press. The mastery of his guitar playing combined with the fun recklessness of his songwriting show that the rules of songwriting and playing the guitar no longer exist for him. Scott plays with the uninhibited joy and intensity of someone who recognizes that every time we make music is an honor and a gift.

In an age when independence is idolized and every person seems to be seeking their own lone wolf career path, Seattle-based roots band Western Centuries believes that the way forward is better together. Collaboration, inspiration and mutual admiration are what Cahalen Morrison, Ethan Lawton, and Jim Miller cite as the heart of their project. Unsurprisingly for such an egalitarian outfit, the collection offers harsh criticism of dogmatic belief systems, all while leading by example with a unique, genre-defying sound.

A singer’s talent is complete when they can bring a crowded dive bar to a collective hush and also get one of the biggest audiences on the planet to a collective standing ovation. Stephanie Anne Johnson is that special singer. The front person for the Tacoma-based band, The Hidogs, can don a cowboy hat and sing over a slide as old timers weep. And they have wowed judges on the immensely popular NBC TV series, The Voice, showcasing their gifts. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Johnson is so affecting. Their mantra, after all, is “Find your joy and go there.” Their prowess exudes whether they are singing the Black national anthem – “Lift Every Voice And Sing” – to a packed auditorium or whether they’re cooing acoustic lullabies to Saturday night tavern regulars. Their music, which is rooted in all that’s American, expresses the pain of the past, the roots of the down home and the hope that hard work will lead to proper reward. The Hidogs, which is comprised of touching pedal steel player Dan Tyack, swinging drummer Ivan Gunderson, pocket-perfect bassist Jesse Turcotte and the prolific Johnson, is a nimble quartet equal parts capable of shaking the shingles off a rooftop as making any stage feel like a Sunday service. The group’s latest LP, Take This Love, is a blend of Loretta Lynn and Valerie June. It’s a stunning catalogue of surprise and satisfaction.” Stephanie Anne Johnson has opened for acts that include Mavis Staples, Cedric Burnside, and Black Joe Lewis

17-year-old Maxwell Friedman is living proof that some musicians are indeed “born with it.” At a very young age, his tasteful yet ferociously inspired keyboard playing and compositions are already becoming legendary and his skill, knowledge, taste, phrasing and artistry are already on-par with many accomplished players on the national scene who, without hesitation, call him their peer. One of the youngest players to have ever been endorsed by Hammond Organ, Maxwell has already been invited to share the stage with many musical heavy hitters such as Karl Denson, George Porter Jr., The New Mastersounds, Skerik, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Michael Franti, The Werks, ALO, Scott Pemberton, and many more. This young wunderkind’s star is surely on the rise!

Thirteen years separate Blackstrap Bluegrass’ new CD, the just-released “Closed Doors,” and its predecessor, 2005’s “Tales from the American Roadside.” In the interim, Blackstrap’s lineup completely turned over save for banjoist/vocalist/songwriter Steve Arnold, and Bend’s music scene (and Bend in general) grew exponentially. In particular, rootsy, acoustic bands have become far more common in the area, thanks largely to the groundwork laid by Blackstrap and fellow local newgrass institution Moon Mountain Ramblers in the 2000s.After such a long wait, “Closed Doors” might feel a bit scant at just seven songs in a half-hour. But longer isn’t necessarily better. Those seven songs — produced by Moon Mountain’s Dale Largent, who also provides drums on two tracks — showcase a quartet at the top of its live game, deftly playing with styles and sounds and clearly having a ball doing it.Opening track “Dancing on the Rim,” one of two songs here to break the five-minute mark, gets things started in the traditional string-band realm, albeit with a rocking edge to the intertwined guitar-mandolin-banjo riffs. Closing track “Desert Rose” bookends the album with another extended, ’grassy jam, led by new mandolin player Derek Hofbauer’s affable lead vocal.In between, the band opens up with keyboard strings on the country-leaning title track and the stop-start rhythms of “Kentucky Dawn.” The two songs featuring Largent are perhaps the most interesting: “Tennessee” mashes up jazz, country and old-time swing, while the harmonies on “The Diner Song,” appropriately enough, sound like they were ripped from a 1950s diner’s jukebox.

Band of Comerados plays music that makes you feel good. In the past five years, BoC has come a long way – from campfire jams to sharing stages with the best of the jamgrass/newgrass scene. Their music incorporates traditional bluegrass instrumentation with songwriting and improvisational jamming that puts them in a category all their own. Come to a BoC show and you’ll be entertained: you might laugh, you might cry, you might dance, you might sing. One thing is for sure – you’re going to have a good time! 2019 was a year of big leaps, where Comerados fans were earned up and down the west coast, and for 2020 there is no end in sight.

Yoga with Nicole Baumann

When she found yoga, it felt like coming home in both her body and spirit. Through her own practice, she has experienced yoga’s ability to heal grief, deepen consciousness, cultivate mind-body connection, and awaken true potential in the spirit of dharma. When her lifelong passion for travel merged with her love of yoga, it led her to pilgrimages in Nepal, Bali, and Thailand for a deeper immersion in the culture, sacred sites, and traditions of the East.