In the music of Scott H. Biram, who refers to himself as The Dirty Old One Man Band, country, rockabilly, and blues intersect with heavy metal and punk rock. During his recent set at Jammin’ Java, he played both original and classic songs, all in his own unique inimitable style. Biram is as Texan as Texan gets. He was born in Lockhart, and grew up in the tiny town of Prairie Lea and, later, the Austin suburb of San Marcos. He started playing with a punk band, the Thangs, in high school. After graduating, he went to art school at nearby Southwest Texas State, where he developed a taste for root ..read more

The Driver Era recently performed at The Fillmore Silver Spring as a part of their East Coast spring tour. They previously visited The Fillmore in the summer of 2022. This tour marks their fourth headlining tour as the rebranded Driver Era. In 2018, brothers Ross Lynch and Rocky Lynch formed their new band The Driver Era after previously being members of R5. R5 was composed of siblings Ross, Riker, Rocky, Rydel, and their family friend, Ellington Ratliff. Their popularity spiked among preteen/teen audiences when Ross Lynch landed a lead role on the Disney Channel show Austin & Ally (2011-2 ..read more

Hans Williams recently brought his tour to DC9 nightclub following the release of his new EP More Than One Way Home, and the anticipation was obvious as fans eagerly awaited his performance. Coming all the way from New Orleans (via Vermont), Williams drew a sold-out crowd, setting the stage for a special evening. At DC9 on April 23, the excitement kicked off with the opening act, Virginia Man, a band native to Virginia. With their contagious energy and dynamic stage presence, Virginia Man did more than just warm up the crowd — they ignited it. From their well-known tracks to special unreleased ..read more

Alluding to his divorce from fellow musician Kacey Musgraves, Ruston Kelly recently told the audience at the Historic Synagogue at Sixth & I about how, the moment he started pulling his shit together, his life fell apart. I can relate: a few weeks ago — on a Sunday, in fact — I recommitted myself to healthy eating and exercising, only to wake up just past midnight on April Fools’ Day with intense abdominal pain radiating into my back. I ended up at the ER, where they at first suspected I might have gallstones; I was lucky to get off with just gastritis (inflammation of the stomach), caused ..read more

Plenty of talented songwriters have put in their time only to exit the profession all together, looking to enjoy whatever else life might have to offer. But sometimes their musician friends, or perhaps famous movie directors, or maybe even the songs themselves come calling, and hiatus gives way to a refreshed desire and renewed vision for sharing music. Willie Watson has said to hell with songwriting, recording, and performing on a couple different occasions, but the 44-year-old banjo and guitar picker from New York’s Southern Tier has been drawn back to music more than once thanks to the infl ..read more

Girl in red does it like no one else. Her dedication to making each of her concerts an intimate experience for everyone in attendance is unmatched. Despite selling out two back-to-back nights recently at The Anthem in Washington, DC, she managed to make the 6,000-person venue feel as intimate as a small club.  Marie Ringheim, professionally known as girl in red, is 25 years old and just kicked off her third headlining tour on April 16, and it will extend until early October. Having over 16.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify, her 22-stop North American tour was quick to accumulate sol ..read more

The Baltimore-Washington metro area affords many privileges for the frequent concert goer. One is witnessing bands on the rise graduate from the smaller venues of the region to play one of the most popular of them of all: 9:30 Club in Washington DC. flipturn has been packing joints and blowing the roof off them since the indie rock quintet formed in 2015, and though it’s released only one full album in the form of 2022’s Shadowglow, the Fernandina Beach-bord group is riding tremendous momentum as a result of thrilling live performances and visionary songwriting. Listen to the deluxe version of ..read more

In 2018, I saw Waxahatchee at the Miracle Theatre. Later this year, she’ll be playing at the exponentially larger Wolf Trap. I expect Jade Bird, who recently played The Miracle Theatre on her Opening the Songbook tour, to follow the same path. She’s a special talent. Like Waxahatchee, Bird has opened for Jason Isbell. She did so at Merriweather Post Pavilion, in 2019 when he played there with Father John Misty. Sadly, I was unable to get there in time to see her set, and I’ve been hoping to catch her live ever since. She didn’t disappoint on Saturday. She had great songs, tons of charisma, and ..read more

Power pop powerhouse Matthew Sweet recently dropped by the Lincoln Theatre for a career-spanning showcase with a full band of truly exciting musicians. Steve Satzberg was there to photograph the show! The following article is adapted from a press release. On April 20 at the Lincoln Theatre, Matthew played his first DC-area show since 2019 with a full band that included Debbi Peterson (The Bangles) on drums, Paul Chastain (Velvet Crush) on bass, and John Foreman (The Orange Peels) on guitar. Alabama songwriter/podcaster and visual artist Abe Partridge opened the show. The power pop pioneer is h ..read more

Over two sets recently at The Hamilton Live, Robyn Hitchcock showed he is one of the true originals in music. The eccentric British singer-songwriter treated the audience to songs both beautiful and strange, accompanied by stage banter that was as surreal as it was entertaining. Originally a folkie influenced by figures like Nick Drake, Hitchcock first recorded with the Soft Boys at the end of the ’70s and the beginning of ’80s. The Soft Boys went against the grain — at the time, punk was the dominant force in music — playing lyrically smart jangle pop. Though they didn’t meet with a lot of co ..read more