Go | The Best Concerts in Jax this Week

Jacksonville Jazz Fest Weekend, plus Phoebe Bridgers and Bright Eyes

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Each week, the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Singer-Songwriter  Phoebe Bridgers – Wednesday, May 25  St. Augustine …

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Just Announced | Steve Miller Band at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre

Classic-rock icon and one of the most-consistent hitmakers of all time visits St. Augustine in July

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The decorated and beloved Steve Miller is returning to Northeast Florida with a stop at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Friday, July 1. As the front-person for the Steve Miller Band, Miller’s laundry list of hits spanning several decades –– “Who Do You Love,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Fly Like an Eagle,” and the inescapable “Space Cowboy” and “The Joker” …

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Go | Bright Eyes at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre

Indie-rock darlings visit The Amp

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Icons of the early 2000’s indie-rock scene Bright Eyes continue their current tour, with a Northeast Florida at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Saturday, May 28 . A band of multifarious musicians, Bright Eyes was founded by singer and guitarist Conor Oberst in the mid-90s, and features multi-instrumentalists Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott, as well as a rotating cast of …

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WJCT Public Media Expands Local Journalism Initiative with Support From the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and Report for America

Media Contact:Neily BrarenPromotion & Marketing Associate, WJCT904.318.2633 | nbraren@wjct.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE $300,000 grant and placement of new reporter accelerate growth of Jacksonville Today May 18, 2022 — JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — WJCT Public Media today announced the expansion of its Local Journalism Initiative through a $300,000 grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund and the placement of journalist Will Brown …

Fontaines D.C. | Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

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The Tiny Desk is working from home for the foreseeable future. Introducing NPR Music’s Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It’s the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space. Filmed in Chicago’s beautiful brick Irish American Heritage Center during a recent tour, this four-song set begins …

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Fresh Rotation | 4 Songs We’re Listening to Right Now

New music from Sharon Van Etten, Khalid, Holiday Ghosts and a long-overdue Terry Allen reissue

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Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to add to the rotation on The Independent 89.9 HD4 (and to our tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our monthly Fresh Squeeze playlist). Each song is chosen with intention. And so we often feel like they are worthy of a broader discussion (or at least …

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Announcing the winner of the 2022 Tiny Desk Contest

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Choosing one Tiny Desk Contest winner from all the incredible entries NPR Music receives each year never gets any easier — though the process, where a panel of judges and I get to hear so many amazing unsigned artists from across the country who hope to play a Tiny Desk concert, is always pretty exciting. Now, after sifting through thousands …

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The Lumineers Love Florida

The Indie-folk darlings discuss kicking off their “Brightside Tour” in the Sunshine State

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“We feel like when we go to Florida, for whatever reason, it sort of feels like you’re playing to like a crowd from a foreign country in the fact that they give you so much love disproportionately to other cities in America,” The Lumineers singer and guitarist Wesley Shulz told First Coast Connect’s Melissa Ross.  In February the wildly popular …


On ‘Dance Fever,’ Florence + the Machine explores her fractured desires

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The pandemic and its subsequent lockdown has forced many people into a self-reflective space. For Florence Welch, the frontwoman of the Grammy-nominated band Florence + the Machine, this moment of solitude came with an intense period of personal deliberation over her seemingly fractured desires. Questions about how to balance motherhood with the bodily experience of being a performer left her …

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Go | The Best Concerts in Jax this Week

The Lumineers, Leon Bridges, Beabadoobee and lots of locals

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Each week, the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Indie-Folk The Lumineers – Tuesday, May 17 Daily’s Place …

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On ‘Stories Up High,’ Laney Jones Seeks the Flow State

Nashville singer-songwriter brings her record to Blue Jay Listening Room

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Since her debut nearly a decade ago, Nashville singer-songwriter Laney Jones has been impossible to pigeon hole. In naming Jones one of its Country Artists to Watch in 2016, Rolling Stone magazine said Jones’ music worked just as well “on the indie stage of a bluegrass festival as it would in an iTunes commercial.”  For her latest full-length, Stories Up …

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Celebrate David Byrne’s Birthday on The Independent 89.9 HD4

Put on a baggy suit, bust out your angular dance moves and turn on the radio.

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David Byrne turns 70-years young on Saturday. The singer, songwriter, filmmaker, writer, actor and music theorist has left an indelible mark on both popular music and American culture. Together with his art school pals in Talking Heads, Byrne turned contemporary music on its ear in the ’70s and ’80s. And, as he enters his septuagenarian years, Byrne shows no sign …

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Local Spotlight | 4 new tracks by Jax artists out now

New tracks by Duval's own Bebe Deluxe, Sunriver, Jesabel and Little Geronimo

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We’re always keeping our ear to the ground in order to put the spotlight on the beautiful noise emerging from Northeast Florida. This week, Jacksonville Music Experience contributors share four new songs by local artists that we think you’ll dig. Let’s dive in. “This Small Town” by Jesabel  The phrase small town has been used so often in popular music, …

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Meet Raven Chacon, the first Native American to win the Pulitzer Prize for music

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Raven Chacon’s Voiceless Mass received its world premiere Nov. 21, 2021 at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wis. Far from any kind of traditional Catholic mass, the piece was written by Chacon, a Diné composer, performer and installation artist from the Navajo Nation, for chamber orchestra and pipe organ — specifically for the pipe organ at …


LPT’s ‘Se Quema El Mundo’ is a dance-floor-ready Fire Stoked with Social Commentary

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Jacksonville’s mighty 10-piece Afro-Cuban Salsa Orchestra LPT first introduced themselves through a series of monthly showcases in the backroom of Five Points watering hole Rain Dogs, enticing revelrous, full-capacity crowds onto the dance floor. From the jump, they were a force to be reckoned with. A band with a promising future.  But right after the group’s debut of original material, …

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When it feels like the world’s ending, Sharon Van Etten still cares

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“It’s too much,” Sharon Van Etten sings on We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, “but I’ll try.” Well, yes. You don’t really need to know the specifics of Van Etten’s recent experiences to relate, to understand the coexistence of overwhelming fatigue and resigned commitment she expresses. On her sixth album, much of which was written in the sustained trauma …

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Go | Jason Isbell, Sheryl Crow and Waxahatchee at The Amp

Two nights of songwriting expertise at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre

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Top-flight songwriters Jason Isbell and Sheryl Crow have teamed up for a co-headlining summer tour, bringing along Katie Crutchfield (AKA Waxahatchee), herself an expert crafter of song. The trio kicks of the first of two consecutive nights in Northeast Florida at St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Thursday, June 9. Crow, who was a much sought-after songwriter-for-hire before striking out on her …

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Go | The best concerts in Jax this week

Cellus Hamilton, Dustin Monk and the Hustle, Laney Jones and more

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Each week, the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Singer-Songwriter  Five For Fighting – Wednesday, May …

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Fresh Rotation | 4 new songs we’re listening to right now

New music from Wilco, King Gizzard, Moonchild and Kikagaku Moyo

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Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to add to the rotation on The Independent 89.9 HD4 (and to our tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our monthly Fresh Squeeze playlist). Each song is chosen with intention. And so we often feel like they are worthy of a broader discussion (or at least …

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New Mix | Fresh Squeeze

Discover the best new music added to rotation on the Independent 89.9 HD4

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Each month, JME contributors pick the juiciest noise emanating from Northeast Florida and beyond for our Fresh Squeeze playlist. Featuring a few dozen new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists, there are no rules or genre restrictions; just songs we thought were worth a share. This month we’ve got a ton of great new music in rotation on The …

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Go | John Fogerty at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre

Legendary singer-songwriter behind Creedance Clearwater Revival plays The Amp

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As the singer, guitarist and principle songwriter for the iconic Creedance Clearwater Revival, the Berkeley born purveyor of gritty, incredibly catchy, country-infused rock and roll, legendary American singer-songwriter John Fogerty will visit the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. A GRAMMY winner and inductee to both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, Fogerty’s status as one of …

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Go | Grammy nominated pop-rock trio HAIM at Daily’s Place

One of the biggest bands in the world makes a pitstop in Jax

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Critically acclaimed pop-rock group HAIM’s 2022 tour of North America brings the sister act to the First Coast for a performance at Daily’s Place Amphitheatre on Sunday, May 8. The Southern California-bred trio, comprised of sisters Este, Danielle and Alana Haim, has earned a global audience combining deft songwriting, infectious harmonies and crack musicianship over three full-length pop masterstrokes, including …

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WJCT Public Media Appoints Abel Harding to its Board of Trustees

Media Contact:Neily BrarenPromotion & Marketing Associate, WJCT904.318.2633 | nbraren@wjct.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — May 4, 2022 — WJCT Public Media today announced the appointment of Abel Harding to its Board of Trustees. Harding is the North Florida and Southeast Georgia market president for First Horizon Bank. In this role, he leverages more than 25 years of banking experience …

Rush’s ‘Moving Pictures’ is one of the most influential records of the last 40 years

Don't rush to judgment

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The 40th anniversary of Moving Pictures, the eighth studio album by Canadian prog-rock trio Rush, reminds listeners that while the band might be mocked by some music listeners who are arguably standing on hollow virtue, the band’s influence on “overground” and underground music is tacit. Rush are, depending on one’s tastes, prejudices, or even “what-is-hip” indoctrination, remain simultaneously a mythical …

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Albert Ayler made sublime music. The world was not ready

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A tenor saxophone hops over an interval like it’s a turnstile. And for a moment, the energy alight from two hours of hard-blown, soul-cleansing music seems on the edge of redoubling its power. But fingers fly over piano keys to settle on floating blocks of sound — restless, yet slow, like a train chugging up a hill. The saxophone responds …


Go | The best concerts in Jax this week

Primus, The Fritz, Battles, Madeleine Peyroux and more visit Northeast Florida

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Each week, the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Experimental Battles – Thursday, May 5  Jack Rabbits | …

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Fresh Rotation | 3 new tracks we’re listening to right now

New music from Cass McCombs and The Slaps, and an unearthed track from garage-rock apostles The Preachers

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Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to add to the rotation on The Independent 89.9 HD4 (and to our tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our monthly Fresh Squeeze playlist). Each song is chosen with intention. And so we often feel like they are worthy of a broader discussion (or …

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Here’s What to Expect from The Independent 89.9 HD4, Our New Music Discovery Station

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Today, WJCT Public Media and the Jacksonville Music Experience officially unveiled The Independent 89.9 HD4, our new music discovery radio station. Folks of a certain age may be wondering: What’s a radio station? Well, long before subscription music services (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal) made available the entirety of recorded music for a flat monthly fee, radio stations provided the connective …

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WJCT Public Media Introduces The Independent 89.9 HD4

Media Contact:Neily BrarenPromotion & Marketing Associate, WJCT904.318.2633 | nbraren@wjct.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New format combines new and local music with listener favorites like Electro Lounge and Sunday Jazz Brunch Apr. 28, 2022 — JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — WJCT Public Media today announced the launch of The Independent 89.9 HD4 radio station, replacing Electro Lounge Radio. A music discovery station, The Independent …

Two Stages, Projected Sets and Studio 54 | Stage director Gregory Keller on Jax Symphony’s performance of ‘La Bohème’

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The Jacksonville Symphony will pull out all the stops when they bring opera back to Jacoby Symphony Hall with two performances of Giacomo Puccini’s lush four-act tale of starving artists: La Bohème. Along with a star-studded cast, the Symphony has called upon longtime Metropolitan Opera stage director Gregory Keller, who has helped reimagine the late 19th-Century opera for Jacoby Symphony …


Local Spotlight | 3 great tracks by Jax artists out now

New music from Lost Club, Cearrow Muri and Freddy Bricks

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We’re always keeping our ear to the ground in order to put the spotlight on the beautiful noise emerging from Northeast Florida. This week, Jacksonville Music Experience contributors share three new songs by local artists that we think you’ll really dig. Let’s dive in. “Beach Fuzz” by Lost Club Jax multi-instrumentalist Nick Garcia (AKA Lost Club) rides high and tight …

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Go | The best concerts in Jax this week

Houndmouth, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, Billy Strings and the Mighty Oak Music Fest

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Each week, the JME team looks long and hard at the concert calendar to identify the best shows in Jacksonville. Our weekly Go recommendations are updated every Monday morning and are always available on jaxmusic.org. Here’s the rundown of what JME contributors want to see and hear in and around Jacksonville this week. Indie Rock  Houndmouth – Thursday, April 28 Ponte Vedra …

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Recovering and reclaiming Black women’s place in music history

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In her forthcoming book, Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop, Danyel Smith writes, “Who else but a Black woman would lead me, or at least take me on trial runs?” That question is an acknowledgement of the countless Black women who have shifted and shaped American popular music, and whose influence on Smith makes up …

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Fresh Rotation | 3 new songs we really dig

Buddy shares the “Coolest Things,” Daniel Villarreal and co. are all in and warrior poetry from Yezdin

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Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to add into our tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our monthly Fresh Squeeze playlist. Each song is chosen with intention. And so we often feel like they are worthy of a broader discussion (or at least a bit of context). Here are three …

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How the late jazz great Chick Corea is being remembered — in concert

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Chick Corea is known as one of the most powerful pianists, composers, and bandleaders in the history of jazz. He earned 27 Grammy awards and blazed trails across bebop, straight-ahead, free jazz, fusion and Latin jazz over the course of nearly 6 decades. When he died unexpectedly last February from a rare form of cancer, he left dozens of musicians …

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