How to Make a DIY Fretless Electric Bass Guitar

This is an experimental home made instrument. It's design is inspired by the regular electric bass and the contrabass.

MTSU Gets Trove Of Live Bluegrass Recordings

This rare 1963 single by “The Weedpatch Boys,” is part of a the bluegrass audio collection donated to MTSU’s Center for Popular Music.

Listen to the radio version of this story here

A rare collection of live bluegrass recordings has a new home at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Center for Popular Music on campus will use a $19,537 grant from the Grammy Foundation to sort and digitize the songs, which have an unusual origin story.

The recordings were gathered by Marvin Hedrick, an Indiana musician, electronics repairman and hobby folklorist.

Hedrick captured “priceless” recordings from the Bean Blossom Music Festival near his home, but also roamed to backstage jams and even hosted impromptu sessions in his repair shop, according to the center.

In all, Hedrick’s surviving sons provided 167 open-reel tapes and other recordings to MTSU. They include Bill Monroe and other pioneers playing from the 1950s through 70s.
The collection will join the centers 1 million holdings and become accessible to researchers — as soon as the MTSU staff can identify who’s playing on each.

Gonzalez, Tony. "MTSU Gets Trove Of Live Bluegrass Recordings." Nashville Public Radio. July 25, 2016. Accessed July 26, 2016. http://nashvillepublicradio.org/post/mtsu-gets-trove-live-bluegrass-recordings#stream/0.

Whiskeydick Jamming The Track "Barn Burner" at Behind the Barn Productions Woodshop In Tetonia, Idaho

The Greeting Card that Plays a Vinyl Record

A record player contained inside a birthday card. See how/if it works in this video.
If you want to surprise someone with a Recard, you can buy one here.
http://www.recards.co.uk

Scientists: Here's What Listening to Slayer Does to Your Mind

 
According to a new study from the Journal of Psychology of Popular Media, metal music helps its listeners to deal with their own mortality.

The study divided a group of 30 individuals into two groups, assigning one group to listen to an audio book, while the other group listened to Slayer classic "Angel of Death."

The conclusion - listening to Slayer raises self-esteem and makes you less afraid of death.

Hank Williams: The Lighter Side of The Godfather of Country

Williams lived fast and died young but in 1951 he was able to do radio broadcasts at 7.15am, where the wisecracking improvisor showed his mastery of music.

Hank Williams: more than just a tortured soul. Photograph: Supplied

By now you’d think we know everything there is to know about Hank Williams. He had a short life, dying New Year’s Day 1953 aged 29 in the back of a car parked at a gas station in rural Virginia. Three years earlier he had made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, launching a body of work that would serve as one of the definitive blueprints of modern country music. A definitive box set in 1998 claimed to house every note Williams sang.
Not so fast. This month marks the reissue of a 15-CD set called The Complete Mother’s Best Collection ... Plus! unveiling 142 lost performances by the country music star in an unvarnished setting as the featured performer of an early morning radio program in 1951. The recordings, rescued from acetates salvaged in the 1970s and the center of a 10-year legal battle, contradict the image of a doomed and self-destructive country singer known for harrowing fare like I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Your Cheatin’ Heart, and I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive.

10 Incredibly Bizarre Painters and their Weird Techniques

1-The man who paints with his penis

Australian Tim Patch is an artist who uses his pecker to paint. That's right, this guy has traded his paintbrush in for a tool that he always has on hand, and has affectionately named himself “Pricasso” (a title that, surely, the talented and self-tortured cubist artist Picasso would approve of).

Pricasso uses his bum to paint in the backgrounds since it would take too much time to use his other tool and it looks better. Pricasso takes his work on the road and appears at various sex trade shows, putting on live painting demonstrations for passersby. The truly funny part is that his work isn't half bad, I mean, considering what a limiting (and possibly limited?) tool he has to work with.

The video bellow is obviously NSFW:

Debbie Harry on punk, refusing to retire and sex at 69

Forty years after Blondie found fame on the New York scene, Debbie Harry is still waving the flag for women in the music business – of every age 

Debbie Harry at 69: 'You have to keep new influences coming in' Photo: MIKE MCGREGOR

In 1980, during a tour with Blondie, Debbie Harry hosted a tea party at a London hotel, gathering together many of the women prominent in music at the time. Chrissie Hynde was there; Siouxsie Sioux; the Slits guitarist Viv Albertine; Pauline Black from The Selecter; and Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex. Chris Stein, Harry’s boyfriend at the time as well as the other half of Blondie’s creative core, published pictures of it in his recent book Negative, a collection of his photographs from the early years of their fame.

It looks as though there was a lot of laughter. This was a different time for women in music. Two years earlier Kate Bush, who was invited to tea but didn’t make it, had become the first female solo performer to reach number one in the British charts with her own song (Wuthering Heights).

There was a widespread assumption that there was room for just one main female performer in each genre. If another appeared, they were expected to battle it out for the title of queen of pop/soul/disco/punk.

There's a Freaky Painting Under This Normal Portrait

Blake Neubert is fascinated by the complex nature of truth.

Stump Tail Dolly 2016 Summer Tour!

Stump Tail Dolly is back on the road for the summer! If you didn't catch the the first half of their tour, here's your chance to see if they're coming to your town!

Does Music Sound Better on Vinyl Records Than on CDs?

Paul D. Lehrman, a lecturer in music and director of the music engineering minor program, weighs in on the debate

Vinyl is back, no doubt about it. Sales of vinyl records have been soaring, although they still represent only a tiny fraction of the music industry’s revenues: about 2 percent in 2014. Is this growth because, as some respected sources breathlessly state—I’m looking at you, Wired magazine—vinyl sounds better than digital media? Or is there some sort of retro-hype going on?

It’s true that some digital media really don’t sound very good. Low-bit-rate MP3 makes compromises in fidelity, as does low-bit-rate AAC, the higher-tech successor to MP3 that is used by iTunes and YouTube. Low-bit-rate AAC files are also what you typically hear on Pandora, Spotify and SoundCloud, and on your phone. While they are OK for casual listening in the gym or the car, many people can hear their limitations in a quiet environment.

New Ontario Vinyl Plant Aims to Be 2nd Largest in North America

Precision Record Pressing plant expects to manufacture 4 million units in first year

A massive upswing in record sales has led to a new vinyl processing plant in Burlington, Ont. (CBC)

Southern Ontario is reaping the benefits of a worldwide vinyl resurgence, with a massive new record production plant set to open next month in Burlington, Ont.
The operation's new dulcet analog tones come courtesy of a partnership between Canadian music distributor Isotope Music Inc. and Czech vinyl manufacturer GZ.
But getting the new 20,000 sq. ft. Precision Record Pressing plant operational wasn't without obstacles, vice-president Gerry McGhee told CBC News.

• Streaming music: a villain or saviour for local labels?
• Vinyl records make comeback with younger music fans

McGhee had to scour the world to look for someone to sell him vinyl pressing machines — which is difficult when most processing plants are running at full capacity on 40-year-old machines, trying to keep up with an onslaught of demand for vinyl the world over.

Watch PBS’ 11-Minute Segment On The Ramones From 1978

The Ramones played the State Theater in Minneapolis in 1978. Here’s a great 11-minute segment from the local PBS Station, KTCA, where the band talks about the punk scene in England, with a few scorching moments of performance.

Whiskeydick Tour!!!

We're pleased to announce that Whiskeydick has released their latest album "Bastard Sons of Texas," an is currently on tour!

 If you didn't catch them July 1st in Chicago, at Moonrunners Festival , then check out the dates they will be on the road with Gallows Bound!

The second half of the tour will be with Archer Nation, and kicks off in August!

Who Plays Where, When and Why: Explaining the Mysteries of Live Music Booking

A crowd watches Doomtree perform at First Avenue. (Nate Ryan/MPR)

The process by which bands are booked into venues is, for the casual music fan, opaque. It may even be mystifying — especially if you just can’t understand why your favorite band is playing your least favorite venue.

Booking, say local pros, is both a science and an art — and like the rest of the music industry, it’s built on relationships. “It’s basically the relationships between the buyer, who would be me,” says Tamsen Preston of Sue McLean & Associates, and booking agents, “who would be the representatives of the artists.”

Most touring bands work with booking agents: people whose job it is to help the artists maximize their financial success on the road while also helping to ensure that the shows are accessible to fans in terms of ticket prices, location, and atmosphere. “We discuss different artists [that agents] represent, what they’re looking for coming through the market,” says Preston. “My job is to try to find the [type of] venue that they’re looking for.”

Booking agents work with local bookers — also known as talent buyers — in each market: people who are in a position to cut a deal for a band to play a particular venue on a particular date for an agreed-upon sum. Many bookers represent venues directly; in other cases, bookers represent promoters (like Sue McLean & Associates) that contract separately with the venues.

Agents, explains Eli Flasher of First Avenue, “will reach out and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got so-and-so band coming through your market on these five dates, this time frame.’ We go back and forth on an offer, and then settle on a date that works for both parties.”

New York Lawmakers Pass Tax Credit to Boost Music Production in State

The Empire State Music Production Tax Credit, which proponents believe will attract more music production jobs across New York State, passed in both the Assembly and Senate on Thursday in Albany. If signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the bill will provide a 25 percent tax credit for eligible production costs downstate (NYC), and a 35 percent break for upstate music businesses.

The program is capped at $25 million per year. To be eligible, costs must be related to job creation, rental fees, session fees for musicians/engineers, etc., mixing and mastering services, transportation, or for music video production. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Martin Golden and Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, received widespread support from the local music industry, which has been looking for ways to keep jobs and productions from shipping off to places like Canada.

Lexington Resident Turns His Living Room Into Music Venue

In memory of his wife Virginia, Lexington resident Robert Schwartz brings intimacy and accessibility to the music scene.

“Partly in honor of my wife and to continue the thread I wanted to start a series where people locally can come and hear live music not at symphony hall, but in an intimate venue,” said Schwartz, of Patterson Road.

During the past year, Schwartz turned his home into a 40-seat concert venue bringing three professional music performances to Lexington. He is preparing for another set of performances, which he calls Musical Chairs, to start this fall.

The point of the smaller venue is to give audience members the chance to get up close and personal, according to Schwartz.

“One of the advantages of a house concert is it’s the way it was done during the Renaissance,” said Sheila Beardslee-Bosworth, whose band Concordia Consort plays Renaissance-era music. “In a house concert, everybody’s sitting there in an informal setting, and even though we treat it as a professional gig, it’s a little more relaxed.”

The home has a long tradition of musical tenants back to Joanna Giwosky, a harpsichordist who used to play and teach lessons at home.

Schwartz’s late wife was a professional harpsichordist as well, who came from a long musical background.

“It’s a privilege and an honor to continue the thing that meant the most to my wife during her lifetime,” Schwartz said. “It was the single most important thing in her life. My wife as a harpist gave recitals here in the house. Students would play and practice and take lessons right here.”

The money audience members pay for the tickets pays the musicians, Schwartz said. At the price of $15 to $20 per ticket, Schwartz believes people will take a chance on music they might not be used to.

“Folks that don’t have a lot of experience going to concerts or don’t have a background with classical music get to hear something local,” Schwartz said. “It’s very informal, you can chat with the musicians and learn what motivates them, why they chose the music they chose to perform.”

Many of the people who attend are not professionals, which Schwartz lends to the price of the tickets.

“Everybody in the audience are either amateurs or people, like me, that don’t play the music,” Schwartz said. ”I have a deep appreciation for it, but I don’t have an instrument.”

Beardslee-Bosworth, whose group performed at Musical Chairs this winter, said for musicians the experience is more personal and in many ways more rewarding. The group has begun playing more house venues because of their experience at Schwartz's home.

“In a concert hall, we’re up front and the audience is way down there,” Beardslee-Bosworth said.

“We don’t necessarily get to talk to them up close and personal about the music or to see how they respond to it other than applause. We can answer their questions about why we did something this way or that. It gives us a chance to bring the audience to a better understanding of what we’re doing and how we went about doing it.”

The reception after the show is the favorite part for many concertgoers, Schwartz said.“Afterward, there is a reception, everybody is encouraged to bring a beverage and a snack, and the musicians get face time with the audience,” Schwartz said. “Some people have said the chance to talk to the musicians afterward is one of the best parts of the evening.”

In Lexington where the available venues are typically larger and more costly to attend, Schwartz believes Musical Chairs brings something new to town.

“There are not that many house concert series in Massachusetts, and the ones I know about are folk music venues like Fox Run in Sudbury,” Schwartz said. “I’m not aware of any house concert series that focus on classical music.”

With more series like Musical Chairs, live music could build a larger and more diverse community of talent coming through town, Schwartz said.

Schwartz said the series was relatively easy to establish.“I thought it would be far more difficult but maybe it’s because I already have strong organizational skills,” Schwartz said. “Perhaps the most surprising thing is finding out that anybody could do this if you have good organizational skills. I didn’t know that ahead of time.”

For more information on Schwartz's venue, please visit here!

Gentile, Al. "Lexington Resident Turns His Living Room Into Music Venue." Wicked Local Lexington. June 19, 2016. Accessed July 7, 2016. http://lexington.wickedlocal.com/news/20160619/lexington-resident-turns-his-living-room-int-music-venue.

Why Rock Stars Die Young

It’s been hard to avoid tragic tales of troubled musicians lately. Two recent documentaries, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (on HBO) and Amy (in theaters), chronicle the lives, and early demises, of Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse, respectively, beloved singers whose struggle with drugs, depression and the consequences of fame precipitated their deaths at age 27. Another recent biopic, Love & Mercy, takes us inside the head of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, who only just survived such swirling forces and more in his own life.

Hillbilly Philly: The Ladies of Philly’s Indie-Country-Western Music Scene

“My motto is to not let old men in­tim­id­ate you. Just throw an el­bow. I wouldn’t be half the lady I am now if I didn’t make them make room.”

Birdie Busch (B Philly Photography)

Bro-coun­try may still be a slick, pree­m­in­ent sub-genre with­in coun­try mu­sic’s rur­al firm­a­ment and tanned, brawny dudes such as Kenny Ches­ney pack sta­di­ums with their gen­tle­manly jive. Yet, in the middle of June—on the same week Dolly Par­ton sold out the Mann and Dixie Chicks, the BB&T Pa­vil­ion—South Philly’s once-and-former bas­tion of bar­room C&W, Boot & Saddle, hos­ted a re­cord re­lease party for bit­ter­sweet Emily “Bird­ie” Busch. The long­time Philly-folk-coun­try queen, who re­leased her first re­cord in 2006 (The Ways We Try), stood on the crammed tight stage de­b­ut­ing her sixth al­bum—the psy­che­del­ic-tinged Thun­der Bridge—with her el­eg­ant nu­anced voice and her strangely subtle av­ant-hill­billy band be­side her. “I love how ec­cent­ric coun­try mu­sic got in the 1960s with Lee Hazle­wood, Ro­ger Miller, Hazel Atkins,” says Busch. She quickly adds Ger­man­town jazz man Sun Ra to that list, if only for the “emo­tion­al in­flu­ence,” po­et­ic in­spir­a­tion (the title Thun­der Bridge is a ref­er­ence to a line in his poem “We Must Not say No to Ourselves”) and over­all will­ing­ness to free one’s mind so that her boots will fol­low.

Busch is not alone as a loc­al cow­girl with-or-without the blues.

Meet The Inspiring Young Man Who Still Plays Guitar After Losing His Limbs

Ripu Bhatia’s time as a journalism student in Sydney was cut short in July 2015, when the Auckland native was diagnosed with meningococcal septicaemia. The now 22-year-old weighed only 30 kilograms after losing his arms and legs to the disease, but that hasn’t stopped him from doing what he loves — playing music.
In an exclusive interview with Music Feeds almost a year since his diagnosis, Mr Bhatia reveals how music (and, most notably the guitar) has helped him through one of the most difficult periods of his life. He has also shared some new footage of himself rocking out — catch that alongside his full interview, below.

Watch: Ripu Bhatia Plays The Blues