This week’s New Music Friday for Aug. 22, 2025 brings a beautiful mix of nostalgia, experimentation and raw emotion. Mac DeMarco continues his lo-fi evolution with “Guitar,” a dreamy, melodic exploration of tone and texture. […]
Author: Shaun Smith
Episode 46 – John Brancy
On this episode of The High Note, I’m joined by Grammy-winning baritone and New Jersey native John Brancy. Called “remarkable” by the “Financial Times” and “powerful” by the “Telegraph,” Brancy has built a career that […]
New Music Friday, Aug. 15, 2025
This week’s New Music Friday for Aug. 15, 2025 is packed with heavy hitters and inspired new voices. Grammy-winning bluegrass phenom Molly Tuttle delivers “So Long Little Miss Sunshine.” Cass McCombs unveils “Interior Live Oak,” […]
Episode 45 – Jayne Toohey
On this episode of The High Note podcast I’m joined by Jayne Toohey — photographer, author and the press contact for the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Jayne is the creative force behind “Smiling Banjo: A Half […]
New Music Friday, Aug. 8, 2025
The summer soundtrack continues to heat up on this week’s New Music Friday for Aug. 8, 2025. Ethel Cain delivers a hauntingly beautiful Southern gothic tale with “Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You,” her most […]
New Music Friday, Aug. 1, 2025
Welcome to the first New Music Friday for August with all the new albums that dropped today, Aug. 1, 2025. Cian Ducrot returns with “Little Dreaming,” a tender folk-pop journey that feels made for summer […]
New Music Friday, July 25, 2025
It’s Christmas in July, and Santa Shaun is sliding down your feed with a sack full of fresh releases for New Music Friday for July 25, 2025. Indie-pop rockers The Band Camino are back with […]
I Took My Wife To Her First Phish Show At The Mann in Philly
My wife turned to me about 10 minutes into “Fluffhead” and said, “They’re still going.” “They’re just getting started,” I replied, amazed that three songs into Phish’s July 16, 2025, show at TD Pavilion at […]
New Music Friday, July 18, 2025
We’re in the dog days of summer and this New Music Friday for July 18, 2025 brings together a genre-spanning mix of heavy hitters and underground heroes. Philly indie icon Alex G returns with “Headlights.” […]
The Swell Season Moves ‘Forward’ With Heart After 16-year Break
I’ve been feeling quite nostalgic lately. Call it old age—having recently turned 40—or whatever, but I’ve been remembering the past fondly. In 2006, during my senior year of college, back when I read Filter magazine […]