It's not uncommon for Railroad Earth to find themselves in Chicago this time of year.This time they came to town with a little more to prove. Their two Land of Lincoln dates fell on the weekend before Tuesday's official release of Last Of The Outlaws, the band's 10 song volume of new tunes.And so...

Contributed by: Mike Guzaski - @312mrgTom Hamilton spent over ten years fronting the Philadelphia based jamtronica act Brothers Past. While BP still tours, and he fills his plate with the occasional side product or super-group (Joe Russo's Almost Dead, anyone?), his focus, attention, and energy is centered on the Americana/blues/folk/rock concoction that...

If you're not suitably hyped for this show, click on over to read our extensive interview with Babies' mastermind Tom Hamilton.If you're already rearing to go, just fill out this simple form. As always, if you LIKE our Facebook Page or FOLLOW us on Twitter, your chances of winning are increased -- just let...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the November 22nd show.Host Paul Abella is actually pretty great about carving out themes for these playlists. But for this week's show there was nothing tying these together other than the central Jazz Underground premise: simply being a not-at-all-typical jazz show....

In August 2013, I started to publish playlists based on a local radio show called Notes From The Jazz Underground. Since then, we've featured 13 playlists, which run the spectrum from theme sets celebrating particular styles or artists, to collections that simply spring forth from the mind of their creator: Chicago musician and radio programmer Paul Abella....

Guest Post by Paul Abella. Paul is a musician, radio host, pundit and early supporter of The Barn Presents. As a jazz guy who actively embraces and celebrates jambands like Grateful Dead and Phish, and even champions jammers on our local scene, his sensibilities are a natural fit for the site. He offered to provide...

The late 70s found Herbie Hancock as prolific as ever, exploring new directions to take his music with collaborations, solo piano recordings and still more funky jazz releases. Though the 80s would bring his disco-infused, vocoder-heavy pop era, 77 found him simply stretching out the sound of his classic releases.Add Weather Reports bass mastermind Jaco...

This installment of Notes From The Jazz Underground features the playlist based on the November 15th show.This was an all new show as in, nothing older than June of 2013. Host Paul Abella explains, "It works because in the last few months, there has been an explosion of outstanding jazz discs hitting the shelves. I...

As with last year, I'm not going to try to rank the best shows, songs or albums of the year (though some thoughts on albums are here and here). I want to use my year end list to capture the musical things that had the biggest impact on me -- and also provide an excuse...

Mr. Blotto and it's fans had plenty to celebrate as 2013 ticked to a close. It was the year they put out their long awaited new CD, Thread. They completed another circuit of their trademark Chicago area events, including a horn-fueled funktastic James Brown encore at the fourteenth Blottopia.Singer / guitarist Paul Bolger, specifically had reason...