By HUNTER STYLES
For more than 40 years, the Valley Advocate has covered politics, local news, and entertainment from an alternative angle. But nothing runs through its newsprint’s black, white and red veins more powerfully than independent music.
The publication’s been shaped, in deep ways, by the punk, folk, rock, and counterculture ethos that evolved over decades of American upheaval. Today, in certain ways, our future is as unstable as ever. But all the music happening right here, throughout the Valley, connects us, and keeps us going.
Starting this week, the Advocate will launch a new platform for local music: “Advocate Sessions.”
“Sessions” is a video series that hosts local and visiting musicians for short, informal sets that showcase the talent, humor, and sense of collaboration among seasoned acts and new bands alike. Candid and intimate, these are video performances that capture music-making as it is off-stage: fun, fresh, and full of Valley spirit.
Recorded in the Advocate newsroom in partnership with Signature Sounds and Northampton Community Television, “Sessions” concerts are held semi-regularly on workday afternoons.
Every set lights up a different corner of the Valley music map. Take the stars of the first four videos.
Ray Mason, the grinning troubadour boomer who is a long-standing member of the Lonesome Brothers, played “Sessions” solo, with a 1965 Sears Silvertone electric guitar through a Peavey Bandit 65 amp. Folk newcomer Tess Burdick, from Shelburne, went acoustic, her silky-smooth voice taking a few wild, wailing turns over strummed ballads about joy, heartbreak and the smell of good coffee.
Hartford hip-hop artist Tang Sauce sang, rapped, and played trumpet and guitar alongside DJ Stealth. And the young Hadley rock quartet Paper City Exile jammed with gritty, heartfelt originals.
The Advocate’s got more acts on the way: jazz, soul, blues, funk and even flamenco are already in the pipeline. Check out the “Sessions” site online, starting Friday.
Hunter Styles is the Valley Advocate’s art’s editor. He can be reached at hstyles@valleyadvocate.com.
To see more about Ray Mason, Tess Burdick, Tang Sauce and Paper City Exile, visit www.valleyadvocate.com.