Phish front man Trey Anastasio dropped a new record last Friday titled Live and Acoustic. Gotta love an album that tells you exactly what it is! The record was culled from Anastasio’s 2025 spring acoustic tour, on which the guitarist tackled songs from throughout his career, spanning Phish to his solo records, accompanied only by Jeff Tanski on keyboard.
Many songs on the record feature Anastasio playing his new Circle Strings Koa Dreadnaught acoustic guitar, commissioned by Phish keyboardist Page McConnell and crafted by Burlington luthier Adam Buchwald.
To celebrate the record’s release, Anastasio is heading out on a short acoustic tour this summer, with two special orchestral concerts in the mix for good measure.
Live and Acoustic is available now on streaming services.
If it feels like I’m writing about Robber Robber just about every week, don’t blame me — the Burlington indie-rock darlings have been ridiculously prolific in 2026, dropping multiple singles from their album Two Wheels Move the Soul, which, like Anastasio’s record, came out last Friday.
The band’s latest single is the fuzzed-out, head nod-inducing jam “New Year’s Eve,” accompanied by a gloriously lo-fi time-travel caper of a music video, up on YouTube.
“Some of our songs start out as the four of us jamming together, and this one was like that,” singer and guitarist Nina Cates said in a press release.
Two Wheels Move the Soul is garnering heaps of attention, drawing high praise from the likes of Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, the New York Times and Stereogum.
Burlington jam rockers Moondogs are gearing up to release their third LP, Tides and Seasons, on May 15.
To whet the appetite, they’re dropping a new single titled “Vermont Sober” this Friday, April 10, on major streaming services. The song is a rollicking, bluegrass-leaning number paying tribute to the notion of dumping alcohol in favor of more mind-expanding substances.
“Now it’s Vermont sober for me,” front man and guitarist Will Sturcke sings. “Keep your whiskey, I got my new friend Molly.”
The tune will likely give nightmares to bar owners. They’re already struggling with younger generations’ preference for psychedelics over alcohol, a trend heavily affecting music venues that depend on selling booze. But the times, they are a-changin’, as Mr. Zimmerman noted all those years ago, and Vermont sober might be the new normal.
If so, “Vermont Sober” is a ready-made anthem.
Cited by legendary director and critic Peter Bogdanovich as one of the five funniest films ever made, The Wildcat (Die Bergkatze) has a little bit of everything. A hilarious story of a soldier taken captive in the mountains by bandits, with a gorgeous, surrealistic set design, the 1921 movie is a scathing satire of militarism that, perhaps unsurprisingly, bombed in a post-World War I German society.
The fine folks at the Vermont International Film Foundation are not only screening the classic silent film on Wednesday, April 15, they’re also going ahead and scoring the thing. Rather, Matt Hagen is. (Because of course he is. Love you, Hagen!)
The songwriter, guitarist and all-around musical multitasker has been tapped by VTIFF executive director Steve MacQueen to spend his spring and summer providing live, improvised soundtracks to a series of silent films. For each show, Hagen will pair with another local musician to create a one-of-a-kind, never-heard-again score.
For The Wildcat, Hagen teams up with a frequent collaborator, keyboardist Mike Fried (Sad Turtle). In the following weeks, he’ll welcome John Flanagan (the Wet Ones!), electro-pop producer Willverine and saxophonist Avery Cooper.
The series culminates with jazz-fusion/art rockers Freeway Clyde scoring The Passion of Joan of Arc on September 17. Pop over to vtiff.org for more details.
If the return of ridiculously baggy jeans and the “Frasier” reboot weren’t enough of a clue for you, let me spell it out: The ’90s are back, baby. Look no further than the lineup National Life Group has put together for its 12th annual Do Good Fest.
Going down on Saturday, July 11, on the back lawn of the insurance company’s Montpelier headquarters, the one-day fest and charity fundraiser features headliners that moved some serious units in the ’90s. To wit: Monty Python ultra-fans Toad the Wet Sprocket; the “all stars” themselves, Smash Mouth; and Utah synth-pop act Neon Trees. (To be technical, Neon Trees formed in the 2000s, but we won’t quibble over dates.)
It’s not all nostalgia, however. National Life Group is also currently accepting submissions for its Beats for Good competition, open to high school musicians in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and the Plattsburgh, N.Y., region. Submissions are due by May 4, and the grand-prize winner earns a slot in the festival lineup, as well as $5,000 for their school’s music program and a $1,500 personal cash prize. The winner and runners-up will be announced on June 1 on Star 92.9’s “Mike and Mary” show.
Since launching in 2014, the festival has raised more than $2.3 million to benefit cancer patients, hunger relief organizations, children’s mental health and flood recovery throughout the state.
Visit dogoodfest.com for more information and to purchase tickets.
The Charlotte Grange organizes poetry gatherings monthly, but for the one on Thursday, April 9, there’s a twist: The event will mix poetry and music, in a show titled “Two Troubadours in Mud Time.”
Featuring poet and educator Cyrus Cook and New England singer-songwriter Nick Carter, the event is dedicated to everyone’s favorite time of year in Vermont: mud season. Yuck. That’s not to say mud season isn’t a fitting subject for poetic thought. I just recoiled when I pictured what my backyard is going to look like in a week.
Cook and Carter have plenty in common beyond their artistic pursuits. Both are based in Connecticut, go way back to their time at Hebron Academy in Maine in 1969 and are former schoolteachers.
There are two performances on the 9th: one at the Charlotte Library at 1 p.m. and an encore at the Charlotte Senior Center at 6:30 p.m. Check out charlottegrange.org to learn more.
New Release Radar
Five recent or upcoming releases from Vermont artists
- Gilda Lyons & Roger Zahab, Magic & Desire: Songs of Intimate Connections, albanyrecords.com (February 20, classical)
- shattercat, Pacification, shattercat.bandcamp.com (March 4, power pop)
- Kimberley McKee, Swamp Yankee Lullabies, kimberleymckee.bandcamp.com (March 11, kids)
- Neato, Rock’N Out!, neatotheband.bandcamp.com (April 17, indie)
- Jewelry Company, Mergers & Acquisitions, jewelrycompanymusic.com (April 24, electro-pop)
This article appears in April 8 • 2026.
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