Go | These are the best shows in Jacksonville this week

We’re thankful for a jazz jam, one of the city’s best hip-hop acts and some alt-country

By JME Staff
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Each and every week the Jacksonville Music Experience team identifies the best concerts in Northeast Florida. This week we found much to be thankful for. Here’s what’s on the JME team’s concert calendar for the week of Thanksgiving.  Jazz Blue Jay Jazz Jam – Tuesday, November 23 Blue Jay Listening Room | Jax Beach If looking to show out-of-town family a …

In this article: American Aquarium, Jack Rabbits, jacksonville, L.O.V.E. Culture, Music Calendar and Underbelly

Local Spotlight | ‘1827 N Pearl’ by L.O.V.E. Culture

Duval hip-hop collective seeks emotional and spiritual enlightenment on new full-length

By Matthew Shaw
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The opening track on 1827 N Pearl, the new full-length from Duval hip-hop collective L.O.V.E. Culture, begins with an invocation. On top of a few electric piano strokes and some puffs of soprano saxophone played by Christopher White (the Katz Down Stairz), singer and emcee Che Forreign wonders if her creator can hear her prayer: “I don’t even know if …

In this article: 1827 N Pearl, Che Forreign, easyin2d, Flash the Samurai, hip-hop, L.O.V.E. Culture, Rob Mari, Sprite and spritxiii

Giveaway | Want a copy of the Grateful Dead Live in St. Louis, 1971?

By JME Staff
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Throughout several iterations of the band and over several decades of touring, the Grateful Dead’s many performances in St. Louis are revered among Deadheads. And a new 3-CD set of a performance at the city’s Fox Theatre, recorded in 1971, does much legitimize that reverence. Fox Theatre, St. Louis 12.10.71 captures one of the most influential bands of the 20th …

In this article: 1971, CD, Fox Theatre, giveaway, Grateful Dead, jacksonville and St. Louis

Local Spotlight | The best new music by Jax artists out right now

Jesabel's Infectious pop, top-notch hip-hop from IntricateTheAlmighty, Howdy says "aloha" to L.A., Lazuli Vane steeps a funk-laced brew and a Lynchian new video from Cory Driscoll

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Though the Jacksonville Music Experience team covers new music from around the globe, we’re always keeping our collective ear to the ground, locally. And right now, our Jax-made-music cup overfloweth. Here’s a rundown of the five best new tracks by Jacksonville artists, all of which appear on JME’s November Fresh Squeeze playlist on Spotify. “Squeeze” by IntricateTheAlmighty Duval-based rapper IntricateTheAlmighty …

In this article: Cory Driscoll, folk, Fresh Squeeze, hip-hop, Howdy, IntricateTheAlmighty, jacksonville, Jesabel, Lazuli Vane, New music and pop

Go | Tiger Records celebrates two years in biz with new merch and much vinyl

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Vinyl shortage be damned: When Tiger Records celebrates an anniversary, the wax is sure to be in plentiful supply. In just 24 months in business, the upstart brick-and-mortar music shop in the heart of Riverside has made a case not just for the viability vinyl records, but for the enterprise of independent music stores, omnino. This weekend, Tiger celebrates two …

In this article: jacksonville, Music, music store, Riverside, Tiger Records, two year anniversary and vinyl records

Symphony in 60 | Courtney Lewis and the Jacksonville Symphony are bringing classical music to places its never been

By Shelton Hull
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“Symphony in 60” is the latest initiative by the Jacksonville Symphony, which under the leadership of Music Director Courtney Lewis has been putting an increased emphasis on accessibility over the last few years. Those efforts have paid off well. Conditions were far from ideal for classical music institutions like the Jacksonville Symphony even before the pandemic applied near-lethal financial pressure …

In this article: Beethoven, Classical, Courtney Lewis, Gonzalo Farias, Jacksonville Symphony, mozart, Shelton Hull and Symphony in 60

Just Announced | Savannah Stopover brings indie heavy hitters to Georgia

The Savannah Stopover music festival looks lit

By Shelton Hull
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No excuse is ever needed for a weekend in Savannah, but here’s a great one, anyway: The 11th annual Savannah Stopover Festival takes place on March 11 & 12, 2022. Savannah Stopover 2022 Venue announcement from Savannah Stopover on Vimeo. Tickets are tiered, $89 and $99, with VIP packages going for $189 and $214. At least 32 acts are already …

In this article: Hotel Fiction, jacksonville, Kristine Leschper, music festival, of Montreal, Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, Savannah Stopover, Shelton Hull and Soccer Mommy

Just Announced | Iron & Wine @ Ponte Vedra Concert Hall

The professorially dressed singer-songwriter brings his artful lyrics (and guitar) to Northeast Florida

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The South Carolina-bred, former film professor Sam Beam played an integral role in the neo-folk revival of the early aughts, dispensing a handful of whispery, lo-fi and critically lauded albums under the moniker Iron & Wine, including The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002) and Our Endless Numbered Days (2004). A studied visual artist, the often professorially dressed Beam’s cinematic lyrics …

In this article: Back to Basics, concert, Iron & Wine, jacksonville, Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, singer-songwriter and tour

Go | This week’s best live music bets

Harvard educated viral video maker, Beethoven’s best and a Southern Hip-hop standout

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Each and every week the Jacksonville Music Experience team identifies the best concerts in Northeast Florida.  Here’s what’s on the JME team’s concert calendar this week.  Singer-Songwriter Austin Weber – Monday, November 15 Eraser Records | Murray Hill Austin Weber is probably the type of guy you want at your birthday party. He’s famed for creating viral videos. He studied …

In this article: Austin Weber, Beethoven, concerts, jacksonville, Jacksonville Symphony, K Camp, Live music and Swimm

Local Spotlight | “Every Excuse” by Jesabel

Ambitious pop from talented Jacksonville-based singer-songwriter

By Matthew Shaw
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Since the release of her 2020 debut single, “Forgiveness,” Jacksonville singer-songwriter Jesabel has continued to crank out the kind of ambitious indie pop that’s more easily suited for FM radio than open-mic nights at coffee houses. Her latest, the lush and cathartically sung “Every Excuse,” is packaged for comparable grandeur.  “Every lie, every break, every second that you take is …

In this article: Every Excuse, Indie, jacksonville, Jesabel, Jonathan Grant Berlin, pop, singer-songwriter and Sunbears!

Local Spotlight | ‘The Elements’ by Madre Vaca

Members of Jacksonville’s jazz vanguard drop their 13th release as Madre Vaca.

By Matthew Shaw
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The latest release from Madre Vaca, The Elements, features the top tier of Jacksonville’s modern jazz scene reestablishing their motivic connections. On the quartet’s 13th album, each member of the ensemble (Jarret Carter, guitar; Thomas Milovac, bass; Jonah Pierre, piano; Benjamin Shorstein, drums) introduce an extended piece based on one of four earth elements, upon which the accompanying players improvise …

In this article: Benjamin Shorstein, jacksonville, Jarret Carter, jazz, Jonah Pierre, Madre Vaca, The Elements and Thomas Milovac

The Tables Have Turned on Vinyl

Jacksonville musicians, labels and manufacturers embrace vinyl’s renewed popularity; if only they could get their records on press

By Matthew Shaw
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The music of LPT is tailor made for vinyl. The Jacksonville-based ten piece performs original son cubano, salsa dura and salsa romántica, mambo, cha-cha-cha and other styles of Afro-Cuban Salsa, a fusion of sounds which, when introduced by Cuban and Puerto Rican musicians in New York in the 1970s, was distributed widely on vinyl records––the preferred format of the day.   …

In this article: Glenn MIchael Van Dyke, independent music, jacksonville, Jonathan Grant Berlin, LPT, NPR, vinyl demand, vinyl records, vinyl shortage, VRP and Winterland Presents

Local Spotlight | “All Great Love” by Cory Driscoll

A colorful new song and Lynchian new video from the Jax-based singer-songwriter

By Matthew Shaw
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Jax-based singer-songwriter Cory Driscoll is set to release Eureka Springs, the follow-up to 2018’s Tropical Depression, an album of earnest folk tunes chronicling an anxious period between the landfalls of hurricanes Matthew and Irma.  If anything, Tropical Depression proved Driscoll not only a crafty songwriter, but an ambitious and calculating artist capable of tying together loose threads across a sprawling …

In this article: All Great Love, Cory Driscoll, Eureka Springs, jacksonville, Long Jump Records and Tropical Depression

Sound & Vision | Visual artist Tony Rodrigues curates a playlist for his new exhibit ‘Flex Deficit’

The Black Angels, Can, Woody Guthrie, Gil Scott-Heron, Fela Kuti, Run the Jewels and more fuel Tony Rodrigues' work

By Daniel A. Brown
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Sound & Vision is a semi-regular feature that examines how music influences Northeast Florida artists. Accompanying playlists for each Sound & Vision feature can be found on JME’s spotify channel.  During these groaning opening decades of the 21st century, it can feel like we are all living on borrowed time. Or maybe time on loan with the lowest possible APR financing. Celebillionaires …

In this article: Art, Corner Gallery, Flex Defecit, Jessie Ball duPont Center, Moving The Margins, Sound & Vision, Tony Rodrigues and visual art

Instrumental Juggernaut Circles Around the Sun Bring their Singular Jam to Jacksonville

Eclectic L.A. jam quartet play the Bier Hall at Intuition

By Daniel A. Brown
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Labels are for soup cans. While routinely stamped as a “jam band,” a varietal that is as nebulous, constricting and even as dismissive as “Americana,” the L.A. quartet Circles Around the Sun are cooking up something all their own.  Formed six years ago, the band has covered a lot of ground since. They’ve experienced certain gains. And with the 2019 …

In this article: CATS, Circles Around the Sun, Dan Horne, Daniel A. Brown, Grateful Dead, Interludes for the Dead, Intuition Ale Works, Jam Band and Neal Casal

Watch | Official trailer for Peter Jackson’s Beatles doc ‘Get Back’

By JME Staff
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Already the stuff of mythologized rock n’ roll lore, the recording sessions for The Beatles final album Let It Be (and the subsequent rooftop concert) took on even greater mystique when rumors spread that director Peter Jackson (he of Lord-Of-The-Rings fame) became attached to a related project. Jackson, it was said, was busy rifling through an enormous cache of archival …

In this article: George Harrison, Get Back, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Peter Jackson, Ringo Starr and The Beatles

Fresh Rotation | Three new songs the JME team can’t stop listening to

Crucial Hip-hop from Tall Black Guy, Mylee Grace's melancholy love ballad, and confectionery indie pop from Le Pain

By JME Staff
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Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to concoct the tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our 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 new songs …

In this article: Al Pete, fresh rotation, Jacksonville Music Experience, JME, Le Pain, Mylee Grace, New music, Rain Henderson and Tall Black Guy

Astro, a founding member of the reggae group UB40, has died at age 64

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Terence Wilson, a founding member of UB40 who was known by fans of the pioneering reggae band as Astro, has died following a short illness. He was 64. Wilson’s death was confirmed Saturday on the official Twitter page for his group, UB40 featuring Ali Campbell & Astro. “We are absolutely devastated and completely heartbroken to have to tell you that …

In this article: Ali Campbell, Astro, Music, NPR Music, obituary, reggae, Terence Wilson and UB40

Go | Orlando EDM fest Electric Daisy Carnival Festival returns this weekend

Massive EDM festival returns to the Sunshine State this weekend

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Sunshine State-based fans of electronic dance music rejoice. The massive and massively popular Electric Daisy Carnival Festival, one of the largest in the EDM-festival sphere, returns to Orlando’s Tinker Field this weekend with a down-right exhaustive lineup of performers. The tenth iteration of EDC will be headlined by heavy hitters of EDM including Paul van Dyk, Kygo, Zedd and Tiesto. …

In this article: EDM, Electric Daisy Carnival, Festival and Orlando

Go | What to see and hear in Jax this week

Jam band Circles Around the Sun, bluesman Robert Cray and hip-hop beat-maker Blockhead top a week that has a little something for everyone.

By JME Staff
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Each and every week the Jacksonville Music Experience team identifies the best concerts in Northeast Florida.  Here’s what’s on the JME team’s concert calendar this week.  Funk Monday Night Funk Jam – Monday, November 8 Headroom Coffee Bar | Downtown Jax Headroom Coffee Bar plays host to some of the area’s top talent, each and every Monday. Adam Kenneway, Shaun …

In this article: 1904 Music Hall, Blue Jay Listening Room, blues, Circles Around the Sun, concert calendar, jacksonville, Jam, jazz, Live music and Robert Cray

WJCT Public Media Presents Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive

Media Contact:Neily BrarenPromotion & Marketing Associate, WJCT904.318.2633 | nbraren@wjct.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Community is invited to donate lightly used sweaters beginning November 1, 2021 November 3, 2021 — Jacksonville, Fla. — WJCT Public Media is partnering with VyStar Credit Union, Suddath and the Tom Bush Family of Dealerships to present the 19th annual Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Sweater Drive to collect …

Local Spotlight | “Chamomile (Smoke Rings)” by Lazuli Vane

Beaches-based multi-instrumentalist steeps a funk-laced psychedelic brew

By Matthew Shaw
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Neptune Beach has treated Patrick Taylor well. Since arriving in the small ocean-adjacent enclave a year ago, the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who performs under Lazuli Vane has been productive, releasing the texturally rich and experimentally inclined full-length, 2020’s ambient The Orphic Rite of the Cult of Sedna. More importantly, perhaps, for the young creative, he’s embedded himself within an emotionally …

In this article: Chamomile, jacksonville, Lazuli Vane, Music, Neptune Beach, New music, Smoke Rings and The Orphic Rite of the Cult of Sedna

Surfer Blood drop back into Jacksonville with something old, something new

The West Palm Beach indie faves play the Bier Hall at Intuition Ale Works

By Daniel A. Brown
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While Surfer Blood’s latest album plays like a possible rumination on the past, the band is hardly caught in the undertow of a wave of nostalgia.  Released in May of 2020, Carefree Theatre is a solid offering from the West Palm Beach-born band that has enjoyed a decade-plus of critical acclaim and rabid fan adoration. The 11-song collection contains the certain …

In this article: Astro Coast, Carefree Theatre, Indie rock, Intuition Ale Works, jacksonville, John Paul Pitts, Surfer Blood and West Palm Beach

Watch | The War On Drugs play 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. In their Tiny Desk (home) concert, The War On Drugs gather in their packed studio in Burbank, …

In this article: Adam Granduciel, Indie rock, NPR, NPR Music, rock, The War On Drugs and Tiny Desk Concert

Join NPR Music’s film screening of ‘Karen Dalton: In My Own Time’

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Join us for an online screening of Karen Dalton: In My Own Time. Bob Boilen from All Songs Considered will be joined by director Robert Yapkowitz and singer-songwriter Margo Price in a live conversation about the film. The event will take place on Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. ET – you can RSVP via NPR Presents and watch via NPR …

In this article: All Songs Considered, Bob Boilen, documentary, In My Own Time, Karen Dalton, Margo Price, NPR Music and screening

Go | The best concerts in Jacksonville this week

Porchfest, Surfer Blood and a hip-hop showcase

By JME Staff
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Each and every week the Jacksonville Music Experience team identifies the best concerts in Northeast Florida.  Here’s what the JME team wants to see and hear this week.  Jam Band Galactic – Thursday, November 4 Ponte Vedra Concert Hall | Ponte Vedra A mainstay at music festivals for decades, funky and progressive instrumental ensemble Galactic plays the Ponte Vedra Concert …

In this article: Bier Hall, concert calendar, Galactic, Intuition Ale Works, jacksonville, Mal Jones, Music, Porchfest and Surfer Blood

Listen | November’s Fresh Squeeze playlist

A juicy playlist of tunes handpicked by the JME team

By JME Staff
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JME contributors pick the juiciest noise emanating from Northeast Florida and beyond for our monthly 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. Follow the Jacksonville Music Experience on Spotify and our Fresh Squeeze playlist to keep …

In this article: Fresh Squeeze, Helado Negro, jacksonville, JME, local, music discovery, New music, NPR and Parquet Courts

Hot Off the (Re)Press | Joni Mitchell at Carnegie and R.E.M. at their peak

Two great re-pressings from iconic artists

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‘Hot Off the (Re)Press’ is a semi-regular column highlighting reissues of seminal, classic and groundbreaking works. The Jacksonville Music Experience team is made of vinyl enthusiasts. Read more about our love affair with the medium via JME’s Crate Diggin’ features. Live at Carnegie Hall-1969, Joni Mitchell Joni Mitchell, one of the most-celebrated songwriters of her generation, has arguably been one of the …

In this article: Carnegie Hall, jacksonville, Joni Mitchell, Music, New Adventures in Hi-Fi, R.E.M., reissue and vinyl

Jax Photographer Leighton Hoey’s Immersive View of the City’s Music Scene

Hoey's Jax Today photo essay offers a unique look at music in Northeast Florida

By JME Staff
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In a recent photo essay for Jacksonville Today (the second in an ongoing series for the recently launched newsletter and website), Beaches-based lens-person Leighton Hoey captures the verve and enthusiasm surrounding the city’s burgeoning live music scene. At 23, Hoey’s already a season veteran documentarian of music in Northeast Florida. And, in contrast to the more posed or highly stylized …

In this article: jacksonville, Jax Today, Leighton Hoey, Music, Newsletter, photo essay and photography

Local Spotlight | “Love Burn” by 9E

Heavy Jax rock quartet expands its mastery of the dark arts

By Matthew Shaw
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On the strength of the riff-heavy and atmospheric noise found within 9E’s 2018 debut Desert Nights, the Jax Beach-based rock quartet was enjoying some forward momentum, its monochromatic ambience and mastery of soft-loud dynamism manifesting as a kind of dark art, casting spells on the rowdy crowds that gathered in small clubs around the beaches before the city’s pandemic slumber. For a …

In this article: 9E, Brent Knoechel, Don Nicol, jacksonville, Jason Hoey, Jax Beach, Love Burn, rock, stoner rock and Tony Prat

Watch | Tiny Desk winner Neffy

Neffy performs her contest winning song "Wait Up"

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It felt good to be home, if only for one night: home, in this case, being my Tiny Desk at NPR. We were about to film Neffy, our 2021 Tiny Desk Contest winner, at my desk at NPR headquarters. My corner of the NPR Music department looked just as I had left it almost 600 days ago; it’s eerie inside …

In this article: Bob Boilen, Neffy, NPR Music, Tiny Desk Concert and winner

Fresh Rotation | Four new songs handpicked by the JME team

New tracks from Parquet Courts, Feels, IDLES and Duval’s own Wes Harris

By JME Staff
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Each and every week the JME team handpicks the juiciest new tunes from local, regional, national and international artists to concoct the tasty, tall-glass-of-a-listening-experience that is our 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’s four new songs (all …

In this article: Al Pete, FEELS, fresh rotation, Glenn MIchael Van Dyke, IDLES, JME, Music, New music, NPR, Parquet Courts and Rain Henderson

Go | Jacksonville PorchFest in Historic Springfield

Every neighborhood has its charms; only one has PorchFest

By JME Staff
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Certainly every neighborhood scattered across the vast sprawl of Jacksonville––the largest city by land area in the continental U.S.––has its charms. But the Downtown Jax-adjacent neighborhood of Springfield––with its rich history, walkability and varied range of historic and architecturally interesting homes gleaming with classical columns, fireplaces, crown modeling, decorative banisters, et al––is in a league of its own. And Springfield …

In this article: downtown, Festival, jacksonville, LPT, Music, Porchfest, SPAR and springfield

Listen | Wilco covers The Beatles for ‘Let It Be’ reissue

By JME Staff
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Alt-Americana icons Wilco have released two covers of songs from The Beatles twelfth and final studio release, 1970’s Let It Be. The band tackled the plaintive ballads “Dig A Pony” and “Don’t Let Me Down” as part of Amazon Music’s [RE]DISCOVER campaign, which is celebrating this month’s special edition reissue of Let It Be. Wilco’s October surprise foreshadows the release …

In this article: Beatles documentary, Dig A Pony, Don't Let Me Down, Get Back, Let It Be, Peter Jackson, The Beatles and Wilco

Lawmakers are considering awarding Prince a Congressional Gold Medal

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Minnesota’s Congressional delegation wants to award an iconic hometown hero with one of the highest of awards given to U.S. civilians. The bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation Monday calling for Prince to posthumously receive the Congressional Gold Medal. The bill honors Prince for his “legacy of musical achievement and… indelible mark on Minnesota and American culture.” The measure is …

In this article: Congressional Gold medal, Minnesota, Music, NPR, pop, Prince, Purple Rain and Rep. Ilhan Omar

Just Announced | Bon Iver @ the St. Augustine Amphitheatre

Grammy Award-winning musical polymath Bon Iver to play the Sunshine State

By JME Staff
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Grammy Award-Winning act Bon Iver recently announced a 23-date U.S. tour with a stop at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre in April. The critically acclaimed project of singer-songwriter and producer Justin Vernon, Bon Iver emerged as one of the most successful indie-folk acts to emerge of the early 2000s. The sparse yet dynamic For Emma, Forever Ago––Vernon’s debut as Bon Iver––was …

In this article: Bon Iver, For Emma Forever Ago, Justin Vernon, St. Augustine Amphitheatre, The Amp, tickets and U.S. Tour