Email Woes!

We are having a variety of email woes! If you're on our email list and haven't gotten an email from us about the Arc Iris show, it is because about one-third of our list is bouncing. Mainly yahoo, sbcglobal and att.net email addresses but a few others as well.

Even if you did get an email from us, if you reply to it, it probably will bounce without us getting it.

Hopefully, we will get this all resolved soon. If anyone is a whiz at these things and can offer some advice, we would be very happy to hear it.

In the meantime, if you want to RSVP to Arc Iris or contact for some other reason, please do so with a brand new email to mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com or send us a message on Facebook or Twitter.

Thanks!

Kevin Welch

Kevin Welch

Friday, October 11th

Doors open at 7:00pm. Music at 8:00pm.

We'll have chili and soup, so plan on coming early!

Without Kevin Welch, we would not be doing house concerts. He is the first Americana musician who caught Lynn's ear. The first time we went to a house concert it was to see him. He is an incredible performer who has so many great songs that it is hard to sum him up. One song will be a scorcher about partying in Amsterdam, the next a snapshot of life in Oklahoma oil country, and the next a prayer for a long, full life. This is another rare treat. Since we moved here in 2007, the closest he's come to Cleveland is Columbus (it was SO worth the trip).

www.kevinwelch.com/

$20 suggested donation, all of which goes to the artist. You must email mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com to reserve your seat. We'll send you our address and other details a day or two ahead.

Kieran Kane--Saturday, September 14th

Doors open at 7:30.   Music at 8:00pm.

$15 suggested donation, all of which goes to the artist. You must email mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com to reserve your seat. We'll send you our address and other details a day or two ahead.

Kieran Kane is an iconic songwriter and performer and one of the founding artists of the Americana movement. His ability to create mini-movies within his songs—check out “Anybody’s Game”—prove that Kane is among only a small handful of writers capable of blending traditional roots music with modern themes.

“There’s an understated power in the songs of Kieran Kane, all full of twang and heartache and romance and guys who were born to ramble.” - Associated Press

http://www.kierankane.com/

http://www.deadreckoners.com/artists/kieran_kane.html

Swear and Shake

Saturday, June 29th

8pm

"I really do love all the songs on [Swear and Shake's latest album]. For one thing, they don't sound alike at all. Fabulous is the band who can string together cohesive tunes into a stellar record without regurgitating the same themes, chords, styles, and even melodies.

Fans of She and Him, The Head and the Heart, Fleet Foxes, and Mumford and Sons will love Swear and Shake. - See more at: http://awaitingtheflood.com/the-new-standard-by-which-all-other-albums-will-be-judged-maple-ridge-by-swear-and-shake/#sthash.bJqw1btr.dpuf

 Fans of She and Him, The Head and the Heart, Fleet Foxes, and Mumford and Sons will love Swear and Shake." -Awaiting the Flood

This fast-rising Brooklyn quartet is coming to Mechanic Street. Lucky us! They blend equal parts soul, folk, and rock into their own fine, fun mix. They've opened for a slew of bands like Weezer, the Lumineers, and G Love and the Special Sauce. With their excellent 2nd release, they are spending more and more time as headliners. This will be a full band show (drums, banjo, awesome lead singer, the whole nine-yards).

My first attempt at reviewing Maple Ridge went a little something like this:
Swear and Shake just…  This album… I don’t even… Holy mother of… I LOVE ALL THE SONGS!
Complete lack of professionalism aside, I really do love every song on this album. For one thing, they don’t sound alike at all. Fabulous is the band who can thread together cohesive tunes into a stellar record without regurgitating the same themes, chords, styles, and even melodies. In this regard, Swear and Shake is fabulous.
- See more at: http://awaitingtheflood.com/the-new-standard-by-which-all-other-albums-will-be-judged-maple-ridge-by-swear-and-shake/#sthash.bJqw1btr.dpuf

My first attempt at reviewing Maple Ridge went a little something like this:
Swear and Shake just…  This album… I don’t even… Holy mother of… I LOVE ALL THE SONGS!
Complete lack of professionalism aside, I really do love every song on this album. For one thing, they don’t sound alike at all. Fabulous is the band who can thread together cohesive tunes into a stellar record without regurgitating the same themes, chords, styles, and even melodies. In this regard, Swear and Shake is fabulous.
- See more at: http://awaitingtheflood.com/the-new-standard-by-which-all-other-albums-will-be-judged-maple-ridge-by-swear-and-shake/#sthash.bJqw1btr.dpuf 

Please come enjoy the fun!

http://swearandshake.com/

Doors open at 7:30, Music at 8:00.

$15 suggested donation, all of which goes to the artist.

RSVP to mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com. We'll send you our address and other details a day or two before the event.

Bad Racket's Summer Music Series

Our friends at Bad Racket put together some great music to get your summer started.

Tickets and information on all events can be found through Bad Racket's facebook page and on the associated venue websites as announced. The full series calender is coming soon, with some very familiar names and few surprises. Check out June’s lineup below. Follow Bad Racket on Twitter and Facebook for up to the minute information on upcoming showcases.

BAD RACKET SUMMER SERIES JUNE DATES:

Friday, June 7 - Hooded Fang | Silent Lions | Goldmines | Rollergirl
Bad Racket Recording Studio - 8pm - $8

Saturday, June 15 - Shivering Timbers | Music For The Trees
Mahall’s 20 Lanes - 8pm - $12

Wednesday, June 19 - Tin Armor | Lost Jon & The Ghosts | Poetry From Ryan Starinsky & Jordan Castro
Bad Racket Recording Studio - 8pm - $6 adv - $8 dos

Saturday, June 22 - Shakey Graves | Wild Child | Marmelakes | Carrie Ryan
Mahall’s 20 Lanes - 8pm - $10

Thursday, June 27 - Filmstrip | Fangs Out | Beach Stav | Extra Medium Pony
The Grog Shop - 8pm - $6

JULY & AUGUST TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON...STAY TUNED!

Come enjoy Saturdays in Ohio City

Mechanic Street House Concerts is hitting the streets this summer. 

Ohio City, Inc. asked us to help get a bunch of great Northeast Ohio musicians to play at Open Air in Market Square. There is so much great music in NEO that the challenge was choosing just a dozen! These free concerts take place in Market Square Park, right across from the West Side Market at the corner of W. 25th and Lorain Avenue. The fun gets started at 11:00am each Saturday and runs until 4:00pm.

 

Here's the schedule for the whole summer:


Open Air in Market Square is sponsored by First Merit Bank, Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, Bazaar Bizarre, Penzey's Spices, and Ohio City, Inc.

Don't forget about PorchFest too!

We're also very excited about the Larchmere Porchfest from 1pm to 9pm on June 22nd. This is a fun music fest that takes place on 30 porches throughout Larchmere, which is in Cleveland just west of Shaker Square. For optimum enjoyment, bring your bike.
 

Hope to see you out and about this Summer! 

Gurf Morlix Finds the Present Tense

On Sunday, May 19, Gurf Morlix will give listeners at Mechanic Street House Concerts a dose of his new album, Gurf Morlix Finds the Present Tense.  It’s ten new songs of desperation and desire, done in his unsettlingly honest style. Though Morlix is known for producing chart topping records for artists like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Lucinda Williams, Slaid Cleaves, and Robert Earl Keen, his own records are top spins by Folk/Roots stations across the country and in Europe.

Roy Kasten of KDHX says that Morlix writes “with a flair for wit and mystery.” And of the album, "...it is acoustic country blues with flashes of electric lightining and crazy carnival organ when least expected." Bill Bentley of the Austin Chronicle says, “the man sings with such beautiful sadness…” Morlix is an Americana Music Association Award Winner and multiple nominee for Instrumentalist of the Year, and so fulfills the triple threat of Americana/Roots musicianship: soul-grabbing singing before a backdrop of unforgettable songwriting and expert instrumentation It all comes together like a charm at his live shows.

http://www.gurfmorlix.com/

Doors open at 6:30, Music at 7:00.

$15 suggested donation, all of which goes to the artist.

RSVP to mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com. We'll send you our address and other details a day or two before the event.

Kevin Gordon

Saturday, April 13th

8pm

Kevin Gordon is a perfect example of why we host house concerts. He’s been critically acclaimed for years. Last year he was the subject of a feature article in the Sunday New York Times. He tours harder than Lance Armstrong with a cooler full of EPO and plays the best roots rock venues in the country. But he has never performed in Cleveland. It's time to fix that!

Kevin calls his music “indie swamp” and it reflects his Louisiana roots, as well as his Master’s degree in poetry from the University of Iowa. We love his latest CD Gloryland and listen to it at least once a week. The music has that loose, greasy feeling of good Louisiana rock and blues. The lyrics are tightly crafted and tell stories as good as any collection of classic Southern literature. We’ve seen him live and he is a dynamite singer, performer, and guitarist.

Please come help us welcome Kevin to Cleveland. It’s going to be a great show!


http://kg.kevingordon.net/

Check out this video!

Mechanic Street House Concerts
Ohio City
Cleveland OH 44113
Doors open at 7:30, Music starts at 8:00.

For more info and to reserve your seat, please email
mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com

Suggested donation (which all goes to the artist)
is $15 per person.

Lots of great music coming to Cleveland the next few weeks

There is lots of great music coming to Cleveland in the next few weeks. Go out and have some fun!

Wednesday--February 20th
Elephant Revival and the Ragbirds at the Beachland

Saturday--February 23rd
Trepanning Trio at Visible Voice
Bethesda, Jack and the Bear, Attic Wolves, Laura K. Balke, and Dolfish at Mahall's

Monday--February 25th
Star & Micey and Carolina Story at Wilbert's

Wednesday--February 27th
ZZ Ward and Delta Rae at the Beachland

Saturday--March 2nd
Eilen Jewell at the Beachland

Saturday--March 9th
Shemekia Copeland at The Winchester

Thursday--March 21st
Lucius at the Beachland

Friday--March 22nd
The Steel Wheels at Wilbert's
Angela Perly & the Howling Moons, Shivering Timbers, and the Womack Family Band at Mahall's

Sunday--March 24th
Ryan Bingham and Honeyhoney at the Beachland

Tuesday--March 26th
Alejandro Escovedo at the Beachland

Friday--March 29th
Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials at The Winchester

Two new shows to announce!

Miss Tess & the Talkbacks
Sunday Feb. 10, 2013
Doors open at 6:30pm, music at 7:00pm

Miss Tess & the Talkbacks play fun, sassy music that blends jazz, jump blues, and rockabilly. Guaranteed to be a blast!

http://www.misstessmusic.com/


Kevin Gordon
Saturday April 13, 2013
Doors open at 7:30pm, music at 8:00pm

Kevin Gordon calls his music "indie swamp". It's a fun, literate mix of bayou blues and story songs. His recent album "Gloryland" was one of our favorites from 2012 and got him a feature article in the NY Times. We are pleased as punch that he is coming to do a concert with us!

http://kg.kevingordon.net/


$15 suggested donation, all of which go to the artists.

Email mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com to reserve your seats, please and thank you! We'll send you the rest of the details a few days before the house concert.

Favorite albums from 2012

There is always more great music than anyone can learn about and listen to. Here are 10 albums that stood out for us in 2012. If you liked what you heard at one of our concerts, we bet you will like most of these albums, too. Wherever possible, clicking the album title will take you to a site where you can hear samples.

Kevin Gordon - Gloryland
This album is chock full of songs that tell great stories and force you to think. It is like literature, but set to swampy roots rock. It's rare that you hear a 7+ minute song that keeps you interested the whole time, but "Colfax" goes further and keeps you rapt. We are nailing down the details of Kevin coming to  Mechanic Street in March. We can't wait!

The Black Lillies - 100 Miles of Wreckage
This band is killer live and this album captures thier sprit. They mine a territory between appalachian, jam band, country, and indie pop.  Great songs ("Two Hearts Down" and "Same Mistakes" are instant classics) carefully arranged and played by a super tight band.

Anais Mitchell - Young Man In America
These songs have the idisyncratic beauty of Joni Mitchell and the intensity of Neil Young. The album is a reflection on growing up and on parents, but mostly they are just great songs. Also, her voice is distinct and beautiful.

Rodney Crowell & many friends - Kin
This album is made up of songs by the musician Rodney Crowell and the author Mary Parr and performed by Rodney and artists like Lucinda Williams and Norah Jones, each handpicked to match a particular song. It really shines a light on how great a songwriter Rodney Crowell is to hear a collection of his songs performed by exactly the right singers with exactly the right music.

John Fullbright - From the Ground Up
This album is up for the Americana Grammy award and rightfully so. Its a diverse set of songs that range from lullabies to songs from an angry god to an upbeat anthem, all with his own stamp on it. This is a debut on par with Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams. Mechanic Street fav Fats Kaplan adds some tasty fiddle, too.

Mike Uva & the Bad Eyes - Lady, Tell Me Straight
We loved this Clevelander's set at Mechanic Street in January. When we first got this album, every time a song came up on shuffle we said, "This is great! Who is this?" Well, we've listened to it enough that now we just say "Mike Uva! Yay!" He writes universal songs about odd, individual topics.

Matt Flinner Trio - Winter Harvest
If you like David Grisman, the Goat Rodeo Sessions, or Bela Fleck, you will dig this album. All orignial instrumentals played by well honed trio of mandolin, acoustic guitar, and upright bass. It's somewhere between bluegrass and jazz and, unlike so much in these genres today, these top-notch players never detract from the songs with pyrotechnics.

Whitehorse - The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss
Here's the story: Two members of Sarah McLachlan band fall in love and start making their own music. Now they are big in Canada and virtually unknown here, This amazing indie-pop album may be enough to change that.

Phil Madeira & many friends - Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us
This is an ecumenical gospel record featuring a ton of the best Americana artists (Emmy Lou Harris, Buddy Miller, and The Carolina Chocolate Drops, to name a few). Some may call these gospel songs but they feel more spiritual than religious. Long on joy, love, and hope and short on preaching. Good stuff!

Trepanning Trio - Auspicious Threes
Shameless self-promotion alert: Joel plays in Trepanning Trio. This album was released in November and has oddly beautiful instrumental music that touches on contemporary classical, African, Chinese, jazz, and rock music. Simple, strong melodies that stick in your head. Just listen - you might like it!

Please let us know what gems you discovered this year!

Shivering Timbers! Tom Evanchuck!

Saturday, January 12th, 2013

Our annual local showcase is back!

We're hosting our 3rd annual NEO musician showcase on Jan. 12th. This time we have Shivering Timbers, who have had a rocking 2012 and are on track for an even better 2013, and Tom Evanchuck, an amazing young singer-songwriter. Good times and great tunes guaranteed!

Reserve early. These local shows get booked up fast!

Check out their websites!

Shivering Timbers

http://www.shiveringtimbersmusic.com/

Tom Evanchuck

http://us.myspace.com/tomevanchuck

Doors open at 7:30, music at 8:00.

$15 suggested donation, which all goes to the artist.

Reserve your spot by emailing us at mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com. We're in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. Directions and more information will be sent to you once your RSVP is received.

Bottle Rockets Acoustic Living Room Show

The Bottle Rockets!

Thursday, November 15th, 2012

We don't usually do weeknight concerts, but for a band as brilliant as the Bottle Rockets we can make an exception! For as long as we can remember, we’ve listened to their records on road trips. Their rocking version of Americana makes the perfect backdrop for cruising down the road. 

If you like the first couple Wilco records, you’ll love the Bottle Rockets. In fact, their frontman, Brian Henneman, was the lead guitarist on Wilco's first record. His songwriting is at least as great as his picking, with songs about everything from Nancy Sinatra to crummy used cars to love and trouble therewith. They are a blast live and the full band will be here for an acoustic show! Check out a tear jerker and a rocker.

While this is a concert at our house, it’s not really a Mechanic Street House Concert. How’s that? This show is part of the Bottle Rockets’ “Living Room Tour” and the band is handling ticket sales themselves. Instead of making a reservation with us, go to this website and get your seat ($25 per person). You can't pay at the door, so everything must be taken care of in advance. But hurry! As of Saturday night, there are only 34 seats left.
 

Please come enjoy this amazing band in a rare Cleveland appearance, made even more special by being in a living room! 

Mechanic Street House Concerts
Ohio City
Cleveland OH 44113

Doors open at 7:30, Music starts at 8:00.

For more info and to get your seat, check here!

We hope you can join us!

Not sure we've really had funny before

"It's one thing for singers to write beautifully and sing beautifully, but when they're also funny, as in stand-up-comic funny, it makes going to their shows not only pleasurable but also memorable, well beyond the exit ramp headed back home. How many times do you leave a concert and finding yourself quoting lines the singer says in between the songs? Such is the case with Tasmanian native Audrey Auld." ~ Dallas Morning News, August, 2011 

Here's just a bit of that humor......

Bottle Rockets--Thursday, November 15th

We love the Bottle Rockets!  For as long as we can remember, we’ve listened to their records on road trips. Their rocking version of Americana makes the perfect backdrop for cruising down the road.

If you like the first couple Wilco records, you’ll love the Bottle Rockets. Their frontman, Brian Henneman, writes great songs with a common man, mid-Western slant and is a top-notch picker. They are a blast live and the full band will be here for an acoustic show! Check out a tear jerker and a rocker.

While this is a concert at our house, it’s not really a Mechanic Street House Concert. How’s that? This show is part of the Bottle Rockets’ “Living Room Tour” and the band is handling ticket sales themselves. Instead of making a reservation with us, you go to this website and buy a $25 ticket. Tickets go on sale at 1PM (noon Central) on Monday Oct. 29^th. Their Living Room shows have been selling out quickly, so move fast if you are interested!
 

Please come enjoy this amazing band in a rare acoustic living room show. 

 

Audrey Auld
Saturday, November 10th, 8:00pm

"Singer-songwriter Audrey Auld's heart is in country, folk and Americana music with a presence as big as The Outback. Her songs are the wry and poignant observations of a Tassie girl living in California and Nashville since 2003. Audrey calls it Music with dirt left on it."

Check out her website.

$15 suggested donation, which all goes to the artist.

Reserve your spot by emailing us at mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com. We're in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. Directions and more information will be sent to you once your RSVP is received.

Favorites from the Americana Music Festival

We had a great time at the recent Americana Music Festival in Nashville. 19 bands in 4 nights. Plus Lynn got a hug from Rodney Crowell!

Here were some of the musical highlights:

• Blue Mountain did a great set on Wednesday night. They have been around a long time, but we had never seen then before. They bring a fat Mississippi groove and are just fun. Nice people. We got to pet their road dog, Elvis, too!
• John Fullbright gave a good show to a packed room on Thursday night, but his album is even better. He comes from the same deep Oklahoma songwriter well as one of Lynn's favorites, Kevin Welch. He's been compared to Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, and Randy Newman. His debut album is really great and has everything from a peppy anthem to tin pan alley inspired piano tunes. Plus it features past Mechanic Street performer Fats Kaplin on a few tracks!
• The Black Lillies were the band we were most excited about seeing and they did not disappoint. Super tight band, great songs, two good singers, fun performers. Hard to describe, so just check out a video. The played one of the longest sets we saw at the Festival and afterwards the audience chanted "One more set!" Their latest CD is super strong, too. They are scheduled to be at the Beachland Tavern on Dec. 2nd. Put it on your calendar now!
• If you like post-modern indie rock, check out Buxton (Friday's highlight). They have a certain odd spark, sort of like Spoon doing country music. There weren't a lot of people in the audience, but 90% of them were musicians.
• Kevin Gordon was Saturday's highlight, which is saying something since earlier we saw Richard Thompson in a 250 seat auditorium and later we heard Americana demi-god Buddy Miller. Kevin combines the most literary lyrics we've heard in a long time with swampy rock. It's like Lynn's piggy figs: something nourishing and sophisticated wrapped in something simple and tasty. He is a hell of a guitarist, too. We highly recommend his latest album, Gloryland.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to share some of these people with you soon. We've been in touch with The Black Lillies' booker for a while now. Kevin Gordon and Blue Mountain sounded interested, too. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Joe Fletcher
Saturday, October 6th, 8:00pm

We believe honesty is the best policy, so we’re going to tell you the straight up truth: Joe Fletcher plays honky tonk. Not throwback, nostalgic honky tonk but honky tonk that feels totally at home today. He has a great voice with the grit and gravel of Johnny Cash and the bluesy elasticity of Hank Williams. Yeah, he’s that good. No Depression says, “No old fashioned posing here. Just rock n' roll with a tip of the hat to tradition. Fletcher continues to showcase a style that has become all his own: story driven songs that never shy away from a little grit.”

Joe Fletcher comes to us highly recommended by Brown Bird (who tore down the house in June). He is part of a growing scene in Providence, RI and all signs are that he’s the breakout artist of this year’s Newport Folk Fest. This fall he is releasing an EP of songs with just him and his guitar and he’ll be playing Mechanic Street the same way.

Please join us for his Cleveland debut!

Here's a great tune.

Check out his website.

$15 suggested donation, which all goes to the artist.

Reserve your spot by emailing us at mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com. We're in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. Directions and more information will be sent to you once your RSVP is received.

Unifying theory of pop music history?

At the risk of offending many, I have admit that I am not a fan of the Beatles. This made me very excited to read the book How the Beatles Destroyed Rock'n'Roll. I was looking forward to a long screed about how the Beatles lead rock down a blind path away from the gritty goodness that came before. The book was actually devoid of Beatle-bashing.

What I got instead was a readable and enlightening trip through American pop music history from around 1870 to around 1970. The author showed how three steady trends reached new levels with the Beatles:
1. The effect that technology has on music tastes.
2. The movement from music for dancing to music for listening.
3. The increased separation between the music whites and blacks consume.

Very cool book!

Brown Bird--Sunday, June 3rd 7:00pm

Brown Bird is an amazing duo out of Rhode Island. Their music is a dark and catchy blend

of blues, folk, and gypsy music. Imagine music that is gritty like Neko Case and fun like Mumford & Sons. They took the Newport Folk Festival by storm last summer. They will be winding down a three month national tour at Mechanic Street, so it will be a great show! Their latest album, Salt for Salt, is one of our all-time favorites and is getting great reviews.

Check out their website.

“It’s challenging to describe the combination of blues riffs, country twang and Eastern European musical scales that pervade Salt for Salt. The effect, though, is easy to understand: It’s music that’s exciting and heartbreaking at the same time.” – Billsville House Concerts

"A total joy to listen to" - Music Savage

"...MorganEve Swain’s string playing and frontman David Lamb’s guitars and percussion give [Brown Bird] a dark and eerie feel that’ll stick with you." - Paste Magazine

Door opens at 6:30, music at 7:00. We're in Cleveland's Ohio City neighborhood. 

Please RSVP to mechanicstreetmusic@yahoo.com. 

Directions and more information will be sent to you once your RSVP is received.