GAVIN DEGRAW with special guest Matt Stell
Out in the Catskills, a man and a woman loved music almost as much as they loved each other. They attended the original Woodstock on what they thought would be their last weekend together, since the man had his draft card for Vietnam in his back pocket. After his service (he thankfully didn’t enter combat), they got hitched and had three kids. The man worked at the New York State Department of Corrections as a prison guard, and mom joined the reserves for college money (doing what they had to do to get by). It was a life of family hootenannies with guitars and drums roaring until daylight, stained sneakers from mowing seemingly endless lawns in the summer, and a lot of time in church year-round. Their boy ended up touring the world as a GRAMMY® Award-nominated star…“Elements of Face The River are definitely my parents’ story,” he observes. “There are also moments of me watching it. This was the record I felt like I had to make. I got to bear witness to the greatest love story of two people who would do anything for each other and their family. They were very loyal and committed. They didn’t have money, but they gave me something way better than money. I saw the pinnacle of what love should be.”Gavin grew up surrounded by this love in the “real” Catskills. “It wasn’t the place that people go to now to pick berries for fun,” he laughs. “We picked them, because they were free.” He cut his teeth playing watering holes anywhere and everywhere around New York. His old man even hocked his demo at bars to get him gigs. “At a young age, he taught me to run to the lion,” he recalls. “If something is scaring you, attack. It’s how I live.” Such fearlessness has defined his career thus far. Gavin’s inimitable voice and soulful style boldly bloomed on his 2003 platinum-certified full-length debut, Chariot. It included the gold singles “Follow Through,” “Chariot,” and “I Don’t Want To Be”—which Entertainment Weekly hailed as one of “The 25 Best TV Theme Songs of the 21st Century.” In 2008, his self-titled second album, Gavin Degraw, bowed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 powered by the gold-selling “We Belong Together.” 2011’s Sweeter saw him return to the Top 10 as the single “Not Over You” went double-platinum. Meanwhile, his 2013 duet with Colbie Caillat, “We Both Know,” garnered a GRAMMY® Award nomination in the category of “Best Song Written For Visual Media” for Safe Haven. He’s the rare talent who could seamlessly share the stage with Billy Joel and The Allman Brothers or Maroon 5 and Shania Twain. In 2016, Something Worth Saving incited widespread critical applause from USA Today, Billboard, Entertainment Tonight, and Huffington Post, to name a few.In 2020, he made the most important record of his career. Teaming up with GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Dave Cobb [Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Brandi Carlile], Gavin chose to write entirely by himself. They recorded in Dave’s Nashville studio, playing together simultaneously with the musicians and listening to one another.“When I played the record for my dad, I told him I finally fulfilled my potential as a musician,” he concludes. “He said, ‘Masterpiece’. He was not one to give a compliment for compliment’s sake, so nothing felt better. I was just trying to make something special, authentic, real, and worth waiting for.”
ANDY GRAMMER – MONSTER TOUR
You might be surprised Andy Grammer called his new album Monster. He was too. Long known as one of the most optimistic bright lights in the pop singer-songwriter sphere, Grammer found himself fighting demons and finding new corners of himself, places he hadn’t wanted to venture before. “Being happy, anger is my vulnerability,” he says. “I didn’t know how to deal with getting in touch with anger. I just pretended it wasn’t there.” Grammer embarked on a long mental health journey that mirrored an exploratory five-year interim between albums which, of course, happened to coincide with a particularly tumultuous five years for all of us. After everything, Monster, arriving October 4, became a document of someone walking through a fire they never wanted to even look at, and what happens when they emerge on the other side. In the half decade since 2019’s Naive, Grammer lived a lot of life. There were heart-bursting highs, like welcoming his second child, and harrowing trials, including the rupture of an important relationship. During the bleak pandemic years, he sought therapy for the first time, and began realizing there were all kinds emotions he was just beginning to process for the first time. Originally, Grammer experimented with capturing an era dynamic with both struggle and growth in smaller snapshots: A host of steady singles across 2020-2023, as well as 2022’s The Art Of Joy EP. Back then, Grammer planned to collect the singles alongside a few new songs for his fifth album. Instead, he picked up a mandolin. Grammer wasn’t intending to make an album built around mandolin, but it happened. He wrote one song called “Bigger Man,” the genesis and skeleton key to what became Monster. It was an uncustomary track for him: grappling with anger, but striving to remain bigger than the darker sides of that emotion. Suddenly a new album began pouring out of Grammer. The folk pedigree of the mandolin proved inspiring. Like a good therapy session, Monster excavates life from one angle after another. Lead single “I Do” features Grammer singing alongside country music duo Maddie & Tae, in a song written about Grammer’s wife Aijia that both playfully and thoughtfully depicts how the couple navigates the ups and downs of long relationships. “I sing ‘Even when I don’t love you, I do,’” he says. “Aijia and I have a standard of love for each other that’s bigger than the moment. We’re both committed to something larger.” The couple wrote and recorded other material for the record, including “Grey,” a song that mulls over whether love will survive as we age, and “Unforgivable,” an unflinching track influenced by a friend’s divorce. Pain and euphoria mingle freely. Grammer reclaims his “nice guy” reputation after getting stung in “Save A Spot In The Back”; playing on “nice guys finish last,” he proclaims “Save a spot in the back for me.” “Magic” surges forward like a classic indie-pop banger while reminiscing on loss and the unexplainable in life that, nevertheless, give it all its vibrancy. The song has an extra layer of poignance as the last composition Grammer wrote with his longtime collaborator Bram Inscore prior to Inscore’s tragic death.
TRAIN with special guest Edwin McCain
Train is a multi-GRAMMY Award-winning, diamond-selling band from San Francisco that has had 14songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and 13 albums on the Billboard 200 chart. Train’s climb to the topbegan in 1994, as the original 5-member band tenaciously built a loyal hometown following, leading upto their debut self-titled album released by Columbia in 1998. The tumbling wordplay of “Meet Virginia”gave them their first unlikely radio hit, and 2001’s Drops of Jupiter broke them to multi-platinum statusthanks to the double-GRAMMY-winning title song that spent 10 months in the Top 40, has been certifiedRIAA 7x platinum, and earned the 2001 GRAMMY Award for Best Rock Song. The group won anotherGRAMMY in 2011 for their global hit “Hey, Soul Sister” from their multi-platinum album Save Me, SanFrancisco (2009), which was the No.1 best-selling smash and most downloaded single of 2010, achievedRIAA Diamond status in 2021 and now 11x platinum, and in 2022 surpassed one billion streams onSpotify. Train has sold more than 10 million albums and 30 million tracks worldwide, with multipleplatinum/gold citations, including three GRAMMY Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, and dozens ofother honors. They’ve had 24 Top 10 songs across the Billboard charts and six Top 10 albums on theBillboard 200 chart including Drops of Jupiter (2001), My Private Nation (2003), California37 (2012), Bulletproof Picasso (2014), For Me, It’s You (2016), and a girl a bottle a boat (2017). Thissummer, Train is taking over amphitheaters across the country on a co-headline tour with REOSpeedwagon, and most recently, released a new album, Live at Royal Albert Hall, recorded live from theirsold-out, debut performance at the iconic and historic Royal Albert Hall in London.Train frontman, Pat Monahan, partakes in other ventures outside of music, including his award-winningwine portfolio, Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co, which was created in 2011 and has sold over 10 millionbottles and won over 100 medals. Proceeds from his wine business support Family House, a SanFrancisco charity that supports families of children with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.Monahan has appeared on television and in film with credits that include the 2021 Hallmark Channeloriginal movie, Christmas in Tahoe, inspired by Train’s album of the same name, which he executiveproduced and starred, Dr. Ken, 90210, CBS’s Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I., The Voice, American Idol,and The Bachelor.
POP 2000 with Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC, O-Town, BBMak, Ryan Cabrera and LFO
POP 2000 TOUR with Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC, O-Town, BBMAK, Ryan Cabrera & LFOWho says #Throwbacks are reserved for Thursdays? The Pop 2000 Tour delivers the TRL moments that will bring you right back to the early 2000s. POP 2000 TOUR features Chris Kirkpatrick of *NSYNC, O-Town, BBMAK, Ryan Cabrera and LFOAbout the Artists:Chris Kirkpatrick is an American singer, dancer, actor, and voice actor who is best known for his work as a founding member of the pop group *NSYNC. As a voice actor, he has worked on numerous kids shows, including voicing the character of Chip Skylark on “The Fairly Oddparents”. In 2022, he competed in Season 3 of “Celebrity Big Brother” and “The Masked Singer.”O-Town’s story began in 1999, when “Making the Band” chronicled the rise to success of OTown throughout three seasons of the series on both ABC and MTV. The group’s first two fulllength albums included #1 singles, “Liquid Dreams” and “All or Nothing” and the Top 40 hit “WFit Together.” “All or Nothing” was nominated for Song of the Year at the Radio Music Awards in 2001.BBMAK Originally formed in 1997, BBMAK (Mark Barry, Christian Burns, and Stephen McNally) are officially “Back Here” after a 15-year hiatus. The multi- platinum-selling English pop grouhas sold more than three million albums and had hit singles worldwide before disbanding in 2003. Best known for their self- penned infectious guitar-driven hits “Back Here”, “Out of My Heart”, and “The Ghost of You and Me”, BBMAK was one of the few bands during the pop explosion of the early 2000s to play their own instruments and write their own songs. Billboard recently named “Back Here” the 9th greatest boy band song of all time.Ryan Cabrera is the singer and songwriter behind ubiquitous smashes such as “On the Way Down,” “True” and “Shine On” as well as albums including 2004’s Take It All Away, which hit #8 on the Billboard Top 200. Ryan was also featured heavily on MTV’s “Ashlee Simpson Show” and “The Hills”.LFO burst onto the scene in 1999 with the #1 smash hit “Summer Girls” and followed with another top-five hit in “Girl on TV” and the top-ten hit, “Every Other Time”. Today, lone survivinmember Brad Fischetti keeps the name of LFO alive, performing the songs to fans, new and old
The Beach Boys
You can capsulize most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they’ve had and how many millions of albums they’ve sold. But these conventional measurements fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys. This band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the tens of millions. But its greater significance lies in the fact that The Beach Boys’ songs have forever changed the musical landscape, profoundly influencing countless performing artists to follow. At the helm of The Beach Boys is lead Singer & Critically acclaimed lyricist, Mike Love, a founding member whose leadership has steered the band through decades of musical evolution. Grammy-winning songwriter Bruce Johnston joined The Beach Boys in 1965, replacing Glenn Campbell, who filled-in for Brian Wilson, on vocals/bass, when he retired from touring. Highly regarded in his field, Johnston brought with him a wealth of experience from working with icons like Elton John and Pink Floyd, The Byrds, cementing his place among rock’s elite. Their discography includes milestones like the triple platinum-certified Sounds of Summer and “The Warmth of the Sun, which have contributed to a renewed interest in their music. Despite having numerous opportunities to retire at the height of their success, such as after the release of the groundbreaking Pet Sounds masterpiece in 1966, or after Mike Love’s concept album Endless Summer ignited a second generation of Beach Boys fans and stirred a tempest that rocked the music world, or after recording Love’s co-written Golden Globe nominated “Kokomo” in 1988 and seeing it become its best-selling single ever, or after being inducted that same year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, The Beach Boys have chosen to continue touring and sharing music with the world, a testament to their commitment to their art and fans. The Beach Boys celebrated the 50th anniversary of the hit “Good Vibrations” – which is widely considered one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of rock and roll – in 2016 with a 50 Years of Good Vibrations tour, underscoring the song’s status as a rock and roll masterpiece. Mike Love’s memoir, GOOD VIBRATIONS: My Life as a Beach Boy, further cemented their place in music history by becoming a New York Times Best Seller. Continuing to engage his fans with new and innovative projects, in 2020 Love released the single “This Too Shall Pass” featuring John Stamos aimed at offering hope during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, he released “12 Sides of Summer,” featuring a mix of original songs, covers, and new versions of Beach Boys hits including “Surfin,” “Surfin’ Safari” and “It’s Ok,” featuring Hanson. The song marked Love’s second recording with Hanson, after previously collaborating on “Finally it’s Christmas” for Love’s 2018 holiday album, Reason For The Season, which also features vocals from Love’s children: Ambha, Brian, Christian, and Hayleigh Love. In 2017, Love released a special double album entitled Unleash the Love featuring 13 previously unreleased songs and 14 re-recordings of Beach Boys classics to positive acclaim.
