New music & videos from Ash Easton, Wild Wild Wets, Zach Phillips, Peter Bolland, Earthless

“I play original Americana, blues rock-style music, as well as cover songs,” says Ash Easton, who learned her craft performing at local breweries, wineries, bars, and restaurants. Easton’s highly-trained and wide-ranging vocal style was inspired by artists such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Brandi Carlile. Her third studio album Rough & Tough is previewed so far by a single for “Blow My Mind.”

Wild Wild Wets is a duo featuring Mike Turi and Taejon Romanik. They have a new video streaming online for their track “The Cut,” from their recent Love Always album, featuring stop-motion animation created by Sierra Waller. Turi’s first self-animated video was created for their single “The Seer.” They’ll appear at the Adams Avenue Street Fair, happening September 24 and 25.

“I’m releasing my fourth album, Goddaughters, a song cycle with hints of folk, indie and even dream pop, all channeled through cinematic California roots-rock,” says Zach Phillips, whose 2020 album The Wine of Youth was nominated Best Americana Album at the San Diego Music Awards. “As the songs began coalescing, I noticed that they shared the same threads: legacy, transcendence, and being in the moment. And I realized, this sounds like a final album. If not my final album, the kind music someone would leave to the world when making a swan song.”

“All these TikTok/Instagram/YouTube/Facebook videos of young musicians shredding on their guitars/basses/drums leave me worried,” says singer-songwriter and music teacher Peter Bolland. “A new zeitgeist of music-making is emerging, the odd notion that virtuosity is a gymnastics exercise performed in solitary isolation. It also helps if you have affluent parents who can set you up with tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gear and tech...a whole generation of kids is coming up who think that making music is something you do alone with a laptop.”

“We’re stoked to be hitting the road in a month around the Midwest, East Coast and up to Toronto,” reports Earthless, whose sixth studio album Night Parade of One Hundred Demons debuted January 28 via Nuclear Blast. “Excited to see a lot of old friends and new faces along the way.” The tour opens September 1 in Chicago and wraps September 13 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.