The String Cheese Incident, who since forming in 1993 have played over 1,500 "incidents," will kick off their summer tour in Asheville, NC, where they will play two "Independence Incidents" with more to come. You can find a complete list of the band's summer tour dates here. 

The String Cheese Incident are also working in the studio for a second time with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads to record a new album. Their last studio album in 2014, Song In My Head, featuring ten new original songs, was also produced by Harrison and debuted at # 1 on the Billboard Heartseekers Chart.

Over the years, the band, including Bill Nershi (guitars and vocals), Michael Kang (mandolin, violin, guitar and vocals), Keith Moseley (bass and vocals), Michael Travis (drums and percussion), Kyle Hollingsworth (keyboards and vocals) and Jason Hann (percussion), have gained a loyal following. They have become known for their musical creativity, ability to engage with their community, and philanthropy among a jaded music business, among other things.

by Sharon Gissy

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, celebrated country bluesman, has announced the launch of his new label Blue Front Records, and its first release, his own It Is What It Is. Holmes is the last bluesman to have been taught by Henry Stuckey, who also taught Skip James and Jack Owens. The particular dark, haunting brand of blues called Bentonia blues that Stuckey developed involved an open D-minor and E-minor tuning he learned from British soldiers during World War I. Skip James, Jack Owens, and others who followed used this method to create the brooding country blues that Holmes now plays and seeks to release through Blue Front Records.

Blue Front Records is named for the Blue Front Cafe, a juke joint in Mississippi founded by Jimmy's parents Mary and Carey Holmes. The cafe became famous for featuring Bentonia blues when Jimmy took over in 1970 and frequently met with Jack Owens, Bud Spires, and Tommy West to play for each other. Jimmy's goal with Blue Front Records is to help record and preserve the acclaimed Bentonia blues sound for future generations.

It Is What It Is is due out on June 17th. Jimmy frequently tours with his legendary sound, and tour dates are available below.

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes on Tour:


April 16                Juke Joint Festival                                        Clarksdale, MS
April 24                New Orleans Jazz Festival                            New Orleans, LA
April 24                Chickie Wah Wah                                          New Orleans, LA
April 28                Smoot’s                                                        Natchez, MS (Album Preview party)
April 29                Beale Street Music Festival                         Memphis, TN
June 10                TBA                                                              Lexington, KY
June 17                Blue Front Café                                             Bentonia, MS – (Release Party)
June 18                44th Annual Bentonia Blues Festival            Bentonia, MS
June 25 – July 3    Tour                                                               Bolivia
July 8 – 9                Briggs Farm Blues Festival                        Nescopeck, PA
July 22, 23             John Brown’s Smokehouse                           Long Island City, NY
July 31 – Aug 7     Port Townsend Blues School & Festival        Port Townsend, WA
August 12-14        Sunflower Blues Festival                               Clarksdale, MS 
October 8             Woodville Music Festival                                Woodville, MS
October 15            Crescent City Blues & BarBQ                        New Orleans, LA

by Sharon Gissy

Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers are back in the recording studio for their forthcoming album Black Little Heart, with Cris Burns (Rosie Flores, Asleep At The Wheel, The Mavericks) at the helm at Dale Watson's Ameripolitan Studios. The new record is slated to be released this summer.

The record heralds a landmark comeback for Ruby Dee, who bounced back from a brain injury she sustained eight years ago. She began therapy by writing southern recipes which were eventually collected into Ruby's Juke Joint Americana Cookbook. Eventually her songwriting prowess returned, and the new record will contain twelve original songs written by Ruby, in addition to a cover of the Jack Scott song "The Way I Walk," made famous by The Cramps.

The unique sound of the band stems from Ruby Dee's singing and songwriting, a blend of honky-tonk, swing, and rockabilly that reflects her childhood spent in the foothills of Northern California and Big Spring, Texas. She is complemented perfectly by Jorge Harada's elaborate guitar work, who had ample opportunity to practice his playful style with The Spitfires and Dragstrip 77.

The band's last recording Live From Austin, released in May 2011, garnered them plenty of praise, among them a 54th Grammy consideration for Best Americana Album. Metro Santa Cruz reviewed their show favorably, calling enigmatic lead singer Ruby Dee a "blend of Wanda Jackson sass and Patsy Cline pathos" and commenting "The band holds it down with the insistence of a chugging train while Dee, a pinup heartbreaker of yesteryear with thoroughly modern attitude, commands the stage."

by Sharon Gissy

Earlier this year, Wildcat! Wildcat! released their first song since 2014. "Straight To The Top" is an upbeat, energetic new entry from the talented synth pop duo that can be heard on their Soundcloud page.

Composed of Jesse Taylor (vox/bass/keys) and Jesse Carmichael (drums/keys/programming), Wildcat! Wildcat! gained popularity and spent most of 2013-2014 touring across North America in support of their self-titled EP and their debut album No Moon At All. After taking a break from touring in 2015 to write more new songs, the group now plans to release individual songs along with their artwork over the course of 2016. The band released a statement saying "We couldn’t be more thankful to our fans who have supported us and been waiting for new music for over a year. Our music belongs as much to them as it does to us, and from the beginning it’s always felt like we somehow become a part of what our fans have reflected back to us in the way they listen and respond."

by Sharon Gissy

The Chicago pop-punk, hardcore band Sleep On It have released a new single, "Burning At Both Ends." The catchy single features the voice of their new lead singer, Zech Pluister, formerly of Bonfires. The single can be heard on Spotify, iTunes, or on their Bandcamp page. You can watch the video for the song, an Alternative Press exclusive, here. Gutarist TJ Horansky says the song is "about pushing past the negativity in your life in order to relentlessly pursue what you love doing."

Sleep On It will be headlining the Beat Kitchen in Chicago on April 8, 2016. This will mark the first time in six months that the band has played a show, and the first time they have played a show with Pluister.