Oh, Cincinnatians! Wednesday night, when you filed into the Ballroom at the Taft (Theatre), loudly and drunkenly declaring your love for Dawes, I knew I’d never been more proud of you in all my life. (Except you, Guy Who Tried to Vomit Back into His Beer Can like a sorority girl MacGyver. Know your limits, dude.) You filled the basement with your singing and your cheers and, whether you saw it o...  

Remember a few years ago when you couldn’t walk into a Starbucks without hearing the words, “Three words that became hard to say/I and love and you?” At the time, you probably rolled your eyes at yet another attempt to reel in hipsters from their local coffee shops.

However, the man whimpering those words was Scott Avett and his band, The Avett Brothers, ended up becoming … kind of...  

At least twice recently, Rolling Stone has referred to someone’s sound as “Laurel Canyon.” If you were born after the late ’70s and don’t have a soft spot for Neil Young and his friends, you  

Remember a few years ago when you couldn’t walk into a Starbucks without hearing the words, “Three words that became hard to say/I and love and you?” At the time, you probably rolled your eyes, but The Avett Brothers ended up becoming kind of a big deal. While “I and Love and You,” as a song, was mostly mellow and Folk-ish, it’s far from a decent indicator of the sort of noise the Brothers are capable of creating.  

Memorial Day (originally called “Decoration Day”) was founded after the Civil War. The amount of men both the South and the Union lost during the Civil War was so staggering that it is often still referred to as our bloodiest war. Needing a way to grieve for their fallen loved ones, women and children took to the cemeteries to decorate the graves of their killed husbands, fathers and brothers....  

Wailing guitars and screaming Rock stars have their place in the hearts of many Americans, but they’re certainly not needed to make great Rock music. A quick listen to Hoots & Hellmouth will prove exactly that. The boys of Hoots make music that may be different from what graces Top 40 radio, but it’s far from unique. They’ve fashioned their tunes after stuff we’ve listened to for decades.  

 Calling all recently dumped Cincinnatians! The All-American Rejects are coming to town and they know just how you feel. Let the musical therapy begin.  

While many bands spend years toiling around, looking for their place within the music scene, Rise Against found their niche over a decade ago. They lead the way in making mosh pit-stirring music with actual substance.   

 Bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles was originally formed as a side project so the original four members could take a break from their Rock bands, but the exercise was comfortable and rewarding enough to warrant giving up Rock and moving full-time to Bluegrass.
  

 One need not be a fan of Bluegrass to enjoy the music of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. They make music for anyone who squirms giddily at the symphony or geeks out over complicated arrangements and often ignored time signatures. The Flecktones are now touring in support of their newest album, Life in Eleven, the first album to be recorded by the original lineup since the ’90s.