The Tin Pan goes all-in on holiday programming. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, the Tin Pan is offering 13 holiday-themed shows featuring artists performing in a wide variety of genres, from ancient carols with Irish instrumentation to juiced up contemporary standards delivered by an Elvis impersonator. If a different holiday show every other day seems excessive, co-owner and director of operations Patrick Zampetti says the cluster of themed performances is only slightly above average for the West End venue. “We find that there’s a lot of people traveling and looking for things ..read more

Charlottesville’s WarHen Records is releasing a 40-artist compilation aimed at fundraising to resist the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Forty artists across have come together across two CDs with one goal: fundraising to support opposition to the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). “It’s been quite a ride,” says Warren Parker, founder of WarHen Records, “and it’s snowballed very quickly.” Titled “STOP MVP: Artists from WV, VA & NC Against the Mountain Valley Pipeline” and slated for release on Friday, Dec. 1, the album will be the Charlottesville label’s first compilation. And ..read more

Two new Richmond record labels have launched with the goal of surfacing sonic time capsules. It can happen anytime, anywhere. At a Dash In on Parham Road, a former college classmate recognized Carroll Ellis Jr. of Ebony Diamonds and asked, “Didn’t you sing in that group?” At a music festival outside Nashville, a fan stopped bassist Todd Herrington to describe driving into Richmond from Fredericksburg on a weekly basis to see Modern Groove Syndicate. And those moments of being remembered and remembering may arise more often thanks to two newly formed, Richmond-based record labels: Coliseum and ..read more

Duo returns with a single recorded locally during the Monument protests. “Don’t Settle Down” is so much more than the title of a song. The chorus of the first single from “Aloe,” rock duo Illiterate Light’s new EP, doubles as a rallying cry, inspired by and written during the summer of 2020 protests that called for the removal of Confederate statues along Monument Avenue. Though guitarist and lead vocalist Jeff Gorman and drummer Jake Cochran had been living elsewhere — Harrisonburg and Nashville, respectively — they happened to book two weeks at a Richmond recording studio at the same time t ..read more

Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz talks about the group’s latest album, “Rabbit Rabbit.” Before taking to the road for this fall’s extensive headlining tour, Speedy Ortiz spent considerably more time in rehearsals than for any previous tour the acclaimed indie pop-rock band has done. Blame it on “Rabbit Rabbit,” the band’s newly released fourth studio album. “This new material was really time consuming to rehearse, more so than previous stuff because there are so many little details we wanted to make sure we get just right,” explains singer-songwriter/guitarist and keyboardist, Sadie Dupuis, in a ..read more

Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Energy Center, Oct. 21-22 Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, his final, and arguably greatest symphony, is a masterwork that subverts easy interpretation. It is, as the name suggests, rich in feeling. But the French translation of its title, “Pathétique,” is somewhat more evocative of suffering in its English resonance with “pathetic” than the closer to “passionate” of the original Russian. The composer wanted to call it the “Program Symphony,” although he did not want to specify what message it conveyed. Interpretations have spouted like mushrooms in response to the dark inte ..read more

Singer-songwriter Greogy Alan Isakov talks about his songwriting process on the album, "Appaloosa Bones." On his new album, “Appaloosa Bones,” Colorado-based singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov crafts pop-up boom towns and misty villages, filling their thoroughfares and outskirts with denizens as at home in last night’s neon as they may have been in the moonlight of 150 years ago. Produced by Isakov and Andrew Berlin and featuring guest shots from Aoife O'Donovan as well as longtime collaborator Bonnie Paine (Elephant Revival), “Appaloosa Bones” benefits from Isakov’s perceptive waves of ro ..read more

Cheres to bring authentic Ukrainian folk to the Richmond Folk Festival. Andriy Milavsky has been called “the Charlie Parker of Ukraine.” Even though bebop jazz and Ukrainian village music are seemingly worlds apart, the bandleader and clarinetist can see the connection. “Charlie Parker, ‘Bird,’ was known for playing in the fast tempo, rapid chord changes and instrumental virtuosity so characteristic for the bebop style,” says Milavsky, a longtime jazz fan, calling from New York City. “I see the resemblance with our repertoire and don’t mind the comparison at all, since Bird was a great musici ..read more

The Richmond Folk Festival's Virginia Folklife Area salutes the birthplace of country music. Folk fans, start your engines. This year, the Richmond Folk Festival is racing to Bristol. “There's more than just history going on in Bristol,” says Katy Clune, the director of the Virginia Folklife Program, and Virginia's official state folklorist. “It's a vibrant city with a lot of history but it also has a lot of community commitment to local arts and culture.” Clune says that the Virginia Folklife Area at this year's folk festival will concentrate on the Southwest Virginia border city known for b ..read more

Before a big weekend featuring Mahler’s First Symphony and a world premiere violin concerto, Richmond Symphony concertmaster Daisuke Yamamoto reflects on his job. The Richmond Symphony opens the 2023-24 classical concerts at the Dominion Energy Center the announcement that it’s dynamic conductor, Valentina Peleggi has committed to being artistic director through the 2027-28 season. The debut of a concerto celebrating First Violinist Daisuke Yamamoto’s ten years as concertmaster promises new musical exploration to complement the established greatness of the main event: Mahler’s iconic First Sy ..read more