Will Dailey and Mia Dyson at Davis Square Theater

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This gallery contains 28 photos.

Last Saturday, June 7, I went to Davis Square Theater in Somerville to see Boston’s own Will Dailey and Australia’s Mia Dyson in a show presented by the The Co-Op, “a central hub for musicians working together to create art … Continue reading

Gallery: Inside the Studio for the Making of Will Dailey’s National Throat

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This gallery contains 22 photos.

National Throat, Will Dailey’s 4th album, will be released to the general public soon, but two of the songs from it, “Sunken Ship” & “Castle of Pretending” are already available for free on NoiseTrade as part of on a 20 … Continue reading

Concert Gallery: Energized by Wakey!Wakey!

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This gallery contains 43 photos.

It wasn’t easy to get myself to the Wakey!Wakey! show at Brighton Music Hall on a chilly Tuesday night after a long day at work.  I’d only recently discovered the band one evening when I was trolling through PledgeMusic looking for … Continue reading

Gallery: Bleu and Will Dailey Wrap up PledgeMusic Tour at BMH

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This gallery contains 23 photos.

Will Dailey and Bleu wrapped up their PledgeMusic sponsored tour on Thursday night with a rocking, rollicking, high energy show at Brighton Music Hall, supported by Air Traffic Controller that felt a little like a reunion of old friends. Perhaps … Continue reading

Getting Gracefully from Formal: Eric Himan Tells the Story of his New Album

Eric Himan

Eric Himan

In 2012 Eric Himan decided he wanted to record an album with a different sound than anything he’d done before. Though the 34-year-old, Tulsa-based, singer-songwriter had already released 10 albums on his own label, he knew that this project would cost a lot of money, so he took to Pledgemusic to raise money for an album to be called Formal. T-shirts were printed with bow ties on them and everything. He recorded six songs,

but wasn’t happy with the results. So what did this guy who’s previously only been accountable to himself on his own label do? He pulled back, retrenched, and started over. The result was no longer called Formal, but Gracefully, named in honor of his grandmother who had raised him, and had died while he was working on the project.

Gracefully is a 12-track collection of original songs, the 8th such album he’s released since his self-titled debut in 2000, and it is different, both sonically and in the way it came into existence, but Eric doesn’t see it as radically so. He rightfully points out that there’s a natural progression between it and the albums leading up to it. He’s been increasingly experimenting with the styles of music on this album, as well as playing with other musicians and, of course, with the piano. On July 7 I had the chance to talk with him in some detail about the album, the frustrations and joys of making it, and the people he worked with. Along the way we also talked about the challenges of supporting oneself as a musician in the industry today, songwriting, and a few other topics.

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