A singer and songwriter from Westerly, Rhode Island, Zachary Alexander Cholewa started Number One Babe in 2020 as a vehicle for his indie folk & Americana twang after spending formative years writing and performing with garage rock band Sydney's Armour. His debut album, 2022's Ecstatic Function brought many jangly, raucous shows to the greater northeast, culminating in an electrifying set at Newport Folk Festival in 2024. Cholewa's next LP under the Number One Babe moniker Loving, lLaving is set to release November 14 via Funnybone Records and will prove to be the songwriter's most defining body of work to date. ________________________ Western MA indie rock mainstays Lost Film have released new singles in 2025 via Relief Map Records. The jangly dreampop centered by synthesizers and driving bass chords is the first new music from the guitar pop veterans since 2023’s Keep It Together and mostly picks up from where that collection left off. There is however a notable jump in production from the typically DIY project led by main songwriter Jim Hewitt thanks in part to new collaborations with engineer John Panagotopulos and drummer Jeremy Woods. Using a perfect blend of bedroom and studio recording techniques, the track is lifted up without losing the lo-fi charm Lost Film has become known for. Lost Film continues to play across the Northeast- most notably with an appearance at Western Mass’s Green River Fest in June alongside Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman, Courtney Barnett and others.

“Over the last couple of decades, East Nashville fixture Amelia White has built a folk-pop catalog that's as unfussy as it is consistent in quality, and full of insinuating hooks, slyly sleepy singing and lean, jangly backing. “Rhythm of The Rain," looks at the current political frenzy from a seasoned, bohemian remove.” Jewly Hight, NPR No teenage starlet, Amelia shouldered her guitar in Boston for years, then Seattle, and now in East Nashville, where she’s been in the trenches for a good many years. Google “paid her dues” and there she is, with her reddish-brown shoulder length locks, eyeglasses and a smile. Then the unthinkable happened – her 2019 record “Rhythm of the Rain” actually stuck to the wall, doing well in the charts and spring-boarding Amelia from playing Tuesday nights for tips to actually headlining venues and god forbid getting somewhere! It couldn’t happen to a better artist, and one listen to “Love I Swore” will be a very convincing listen to one of America’s great “new” singer-songwriters. She just wants to get up and sing and she couldn’t care less about any ice on the wing." ________________________ Linda McRae’s love of Canadian, American, and British music early on in her career resulted in multiple band configurations from roots-rock to punk to folk. These bands included the platinum selling group, Spirit of the West. Her deep contribution to the Canadian music scene resulted in her being honored as a 2016 British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame “Pioneer” inductee. Linda manages to bend the rules and the genres proving that stripping a song clean brings one back to their roots. A singer-songwriter musician of the old school with decades of experience you may think you know what Linda McRae is up to. That is until she throws you a curve with a new twist: David Bowie on Banjo?! When Linda steps onto a concert stage, into a recording studio, workshop or mentoring session, there is an effortless passion, a love of what she does and a connection with fans and friendships built and treasured. A multi-instrumentalist Linda works tirelessly as a touring singing songwriter, performing at premiere venues across Canada, the US and Europe while turning out new works. McRae has offered seven critically acclaimed recordings throughout her years as a solo performer and is featured on multiple artists’ albums. Numerous accolades and top radio charting have landed Linda a Canadian Folk Music nomination for Contemporary Album of The Year for “Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts,” two Escape to Create Residencies in Florida, Winner of the Family Folk Chorale for “Be Your Own Light”. Linda is also highly sought after as a teacher, mentor, juror, panelist and workshop facilitator.

HAYDEN PEDIGO: man, myth, master of disguise; un-picker, finger-picker, absurdist, perfectionist. An innovator of the instrumental genre, challenger of the stereotypical, son of a truck-stop preacher. His new album, 'I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away' is, Hayden reflects, not a straightforward solo guitar record, but in a sense “a micro-dose psychedelic album." Unafraid to push the parameters of American primitive, the walls of the album’s world are fuzzed-up and glimmering. Pedigo’s trademark, highly skilled guitar compositions, more intricate than ever, are augmented by influences he’s never been able to achieve on previous records, drawing strongly from the uncanny psychedelia of larger-than-life culture in the American South, so often bigger, stranger, more unnerving than fiction. Throughout 'I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away', moments of genre-defying, unapologetic exuberance are carefully balanced with delicacy and intricacy. ___________________________________ Who on earth is Jens Kuross? He's been hiding in plain sight: a fumbled career as an LA session musician and songwriter, a cabinet maker in Idaho. Crooked Songs, his debut for Woodsist, is mysterious, warm, and heart-stirring. Using just voice and electric piano, the music delicately enswathed by ambient synth – minimal without losing sight of his songcraft Crooked Songs suggests an otherworldly naturalism akin to a ghost returning to earth to observe the passing of time, life, and light.

Stephen Clair's grandfather was always singing from behind the wheel while occasionally opening the car door to spit. It was Grandpap who played young Stephen a Johnny Cash record when he was five years old, and that's everything Stephen remembers from his youth. Best known for his wry humor and guitar stylings, the Beacon, NY musician has been a fixture on the Americana, alt-country, and dorky independent rock scene since his 1997 debut, Altoona Hotel, named for the town his grandfather called home.
 He's released many more albums over the years and toured and done all the things, experiencing
all the near misses of life in the biz. Critics and his family love him first. Everyone else has come
around in their own sweet time.
 Rawboned, his latest effort, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, features only Clair and a
guitar, except when it's Clair and a rickety piano. The songs are miniature stories, the essence of
emotion, and the arrangements and performances fit accordingly. "Every note, every part — including the air around it — is intentional," says Clair. "I recorded it alone, in a room, over months, guitar in my lap, mousing with one hand, groping through the microphones surrounding me. I recorded take after take of each song. What you hear are complete, intact performances of each song. No punching in, no edits, no cutting and pasting. Each track on the record is a complete performance."
 There's air in these songs, for sure. Every melody counts, as does each breath, word, and the
space in between. Repetition is another device Clair takes full advantage of. Repeating words or
lines can show longing, anticipation, and even obsession. The singer in "Watering the Flowers"
and "Pizza and Fairy Tales" uses this to full effect. The sanguine narrator provides the play-by-play as they incessantly water the flowers, waiting, wondering, attempting to keep their shit together.
 Clair first came to prominence when the late Rita Houston pronounced her love for "Jen in Her
 Underwear," adding it to regular rotation on WFUV, thereby putting Clair on the map and the road. His next effort was Under the Bed, followed by What Luck (2007.) In 2019, Clair teamed up with celebrated producer Malcolm Burn (U2 and Emmylou Harris), the result, an epic garage album, Strange Perfume. Paste Magazine declared "Clair's lyrics are everyman poetry with a dash of self-deprecation and gallows humor to go with his otherwise uncluttered views of the world around and within him.”


THE SPEED OF SOUND IS A BRAND - NEW MAINE -BASED BAND THAT BLENDS...sharp musicianship, melodic sensibilities, and a love for timeless songwriting. Fronted by Spencer Albee on lead vocals, vintage keyboards, and rhythm guitar, the group features Zachary Bence (lead guitar, background vocals), Owen Markowitz (drums, background vocals), and Caleb Sweet (bass, background vocals). Rolling Stone once wrote, “There’s no shame in being a Fab Four disciple — Electric Light Orchestra, Oasis, and Squeeze made careers of it — and Spencer Albee is a 21st century master in the lost art of Beatlesesque hooks.” That melodic mastery is at the heart of The Speed of Sound. Albee’s career has spanned international tours, multiple major recording and publishing contracts, and collaborations with icons like David Bowie, Amy Allen, De La Soul, John Stirratt (Wilco, The Autumn Defense), Louisa Stancioff, and The Ghost of Paul Revere. Guitarist Zachary Bence, a William Paterson University jazz alum, has recorded with a range of acclaimed artists including Griffin William Sherry and Louisa Stancioff. Drummer Owen Markowitz draws on a rich background in jazz and improvisation, influenced by legends such as Tony Williams, Max Roach, Philly Joe Jones, and Nate Smith. Bassist Caleb Sweet, a Berklee College of Music graduate, and seasoned road musician after touring with The Wolff Sisters, Chris Ross and The North, and more over the past decade. The Speed of Sound is an indie band with a hankering for Wonder, Hendrix, Little Feat, McCartney, The Meters, Hancock, Bowie, Zevon, 90s hip hop, and Detroit-era Motown.

Personal growth is a journey that weaves a path through the past, present and future. There’s the awkward, fumbling confusion of childhood, the hilarity and mortifying shame of puberty, and the suffocating nostalgia that piles up thick with age. Like the burning itch of an ever-shrinking sweater, you can’t ignore when it’s time to peel away from the parts of yourself that no longer serve you and walk away from them forever. Few can speak more to the sacred nature of such metamorphosis than the trans community- and Hammydown (aka Abbie Morin - they/them) is humbled to add their vulnerable, and often catchy musings to the conversation with their 2025 debut LP, Former You. Abbie entered their thirties March 12, 2020 (yes, they are a Pisces) while on the road playing in their best friend’s eponymous band, Caroline Rose. Drunk, bemoaning a canceled tour, and naive to the global chaos about to ensue, the two made a backup plan- a new Hammydown record. Working from a mouse-filled cottage in remote Maine, Abbie’s 2nd floor Burlington, Vermont apartment, and Caroline’s Texas home studio- they have spent the past 5 years chiseling out a world for Hammydown’s songs to emerge. Abbie’s colorful lyrics, pop infused melodies and 90s grunge guitar intersect with the complex, cinematic, and deeply thoughtful production of Caroline Rose to form a unique sonic palette that simultaneously feels as unexpected as it does familiar. The songs are rife with the frustration of a queer millennial caught in the dumpster fire of our modern world, and Abbie isn’t afraid to laugh through the pain. Hammydown aims to bring you just a bit of hope- tiny triumphant journeys to find friendship, self compassion and empathy for all of the versions of ourselves we’ve left behind along the way.

Lexi Weege is no stranger to the road. The New England powerhouse singer/songwriter grew up in a traveling Cabaret troupe, and she’s been on the move ever since. Combining the best of jazz, Motown, and soul, Weege’s original songs are full of spirit. Whether she’s crooning a heartbroken ballad or belting out the blues, Lexi Weege's dexterous voice is at the heart of it all. Her acrobatic vocals soar high and plunge low, tugging at your heartstrings. Expect to dance, and maybe shed a bittersweet tear, too. Weege is a gifted storyteller. Her nearly twenty years of experience is evident in the craft of her songwriting, and in the bold confidence she exudes onstage. Lexi Weege's six releases, national tours, and hundreds of shows have happened independently, without any label backing. A true believer in the power of DIY, Weege is surely an old soul, and one of a kind. In 2020, Weege joined forces with mountain folk singer songwriter and guitar slinger JJ Slater, and the pair began recording and touring under the name Signature Dish. The Dish released a record of reimagined blues classics and dubbed the collection “They’re Red Hot!” in 2025.