The Indigo Girls performed an excellent concert in Northampton on March 22. Tickets sold out in January. The concert was at Smith College in a theater that appeared to hold around 2,000 people. The audience sung along to many of the songs and applauded enthusiastically. The band will release a new album this year or next year.

The Indigo Girls have sold more than 7 million albums and won a Grammy award. The Indigo Girls are Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, plus a changing lineup of musicians on their records and at some of their concerts. Ray and Saliers live near Atlanta, Georgia.

Kasey Chambers is from the Australian outback. “I grew up on the Nullarbor Plain with my family for the first 10 years of my life. We did all of our cooking on open fire -- my dad hunted for our food,” she said. On her new album she is joined by Alan Pigram, an Aboriginal person from the outback. You can hear the first song from Chambers' new album at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tua2SBHsrsU

Some of her older songs have almost 1 million views on YouTube but they aren't as good as her new songs.

The English Beat will play in Holyoke on October 11 at 8 p.m. The band plays ska. The audience dances. Members of the band include Deborah Troiano, King Schascha, and Dave Wakeling, who was born into a working class family in Birmingham, England, according to the band's web site.

The band has donated money to efforts to ban all nuclear weapons. In September 2018 they are playing in England and California. The photo shows Schascha. To enlarge the photo, click on it, then scroll down and click "see full size image." photo from www.TheKingSchascha.com

Steve Forbert will play at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on September 14 at 7 p.m. One of his songs has more than 700,000 views on YouTube. You can hear it at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixTXmKauL8A

Forbert wrote songs in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement that started in 2011, according to:

www.steveforbert.com/press/steve_forbert_biography_2012.pdf

According to ThinkProgress.org, “Pressure from (the Occupy Wall Street) protesters forced New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to reverse his opposition to a millionaire’s tax.”

Tickets cost $20 plus a "service fee."

The band Meninos de Minas performed an outstanding concert on April 28. In the audience, dozens of people danced. The concert was free, outdoors, and in Hartford. It was the second year that the band played at the annual Samba Fest in Hartford. Hartford is about 30 minutes from Springfield by train. Next month those trains will get much cheaper and much more frequent, thanks to the work of activists in Northampton who have a web site at www.TrainsInTheValley.org.

Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner, and Molly Venter, collectively known as Red Molly, will perform at the Parlor Room in Northampton on March 29 at 8 p.m. You can hear one of their songs at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mM312YYAlw. Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 at the door.

The band Heart Centered Kirtan performed an excellent concert on February 9 in Greenfield. Libby Volckening is the lead singer, harmonium player, and band leader. The music sounded similar to internationally known musician Krishna Das. Kirtan is call-and-response music. With a bigger audience that sung louder, Heart Centered Kirtan would be just as good as Das.

Heart Centered Kirtan has upcoming concerts in Northampton, Amherst and Greenfield. Some of these are listed on their web site, others on their Facebook page:

www.heartcenteredkirtan.com

Roomful of Blues will play at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on November 25 at 7 p.m. In a positive review, Down Beat magazine, which has been published every month since 1934, said Roomful of Blues is “in a class by itself.” The band will play concerts next month in Washington, DC and in California in April. You can hear their music at www.roomful.com.

Tickets are about $35 for Matisyahu's October 11 concert at Pearl Street in Northampton. Globally, his song “One Day” was one of the most popular songs of the past decade. You can hear his song "King Without a Crown" at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChV5BZ8SmS0

The Lonesome Brothers will perform public concerts near Brattleboro, in Northampton, and in other towns around the Valley. They have played at the Valley's best live music venue, the Iron Horse Music Hall.

On September 3, they will perform a public concert in Guilford, Vermont, near Brattleboro.

A video of the Lonesome Brothers performing live is at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFys8S71QRc

The Northampton concert is on December 31 at the World War II Club. Between now and then, the band will play several other concerts around the Valley. Details are at: