Dan Van Vechten's Profile

Billy Joel is the first artist I remember singing along to as a kid. He has so many good songs, and everything he sings falls right into my vocal range.

The song is catchy, trippy, and makes you want to bop around as you think about the shiny objects in our worlds and on our screens. Readers, I can’t tell you how much this video is perfect for this band. Tin foil hats, velvet suits, the coolest van you’ve ever seen, and five people having a blast is what Highly Likely is all about.

Both brothers are writers, singers, and multi-instrumentalists, so they knew how to stitch together different tracks and add layers after sending them to each other.

Just as the General Store represents Rabbit Hash, there would be no store without the resilience of Terrie Markesbery.

I’ll tell you, folks. I couldn’t be happier for Taylor Shannon. It’s not easy to have so many expectations heaped on to you at a young age, and it takes guts for someone to shake off their success as well as their failures in order to try new things.

Common Center recently released an EP called, To Swallow Something Half Your Size.  Now normally, this is where I’d give you a breakdown of each song and let you know what images were conjured in my head as I listened to the lyrics.  These songs aren’t those kinds of songs.

Okay, let’s start off with the important stuff. Joe’s Truck Stop is releasing their new album, American Dreams, this Friday at the Southgate House Revival. You need to be there. Sure, you can listen to the album and I hope you do, but the collection of musicians involved in the recording are worth hearing in person.

The Young Heirlooms are releasing a new album tonight called The Hammer. I agreed to do this review three weeks ago, so the day before it comes out should be the ideal time to get started on it, right? Uh… sorry, Young Heirlooms. I’ll get on this right away. In the interest of time, I will play the album for the first time on my lunch break and write out my reactions as I listen.

There is a lot of good music of all kinds in this area. There are so many good musicians and songwriters around, along with venues that regularly host such talents, that I will often discover a new favorite by accident. That’s how I first heard Jeremy Pinnell.

(Picture it, June 2016, at the Bunbury Music Festival) “Let’s see…  I want to check out a band I haven’t seen before…  hmmm….  who’s playing?  Oooh, cool!  Dead Man String Band!  I really like string bands, with the banjos...

It’s like church.  Every Sunday, people from all walks of life crowd into a West Covington bar to break bread, enjoy some spirits, and come together over a shared love of music.  Like church, it’s not the building that makes the congregation a community, but the common ground...

So I get this message a couple of months ago from Jake Ryan, who introduced himself on behalf of a band called Mighty Brother.  He was interested in booking a show in Cincinnati and was scouting for local acts to help find the right venue to get their music out to new ears.  I looked up...