Bent Nails Bistro is on the move. The Montpelier bar and live music venue is relocating to nearby Middlesex in November, taking over the previous home of Chico’s Tacos & Bar and the Filling Station, just across the street from Camp Meade and Red Hen Baking. (In a sort of “tag, you’re it” situation, Chico’s has moved to Montpelier, into the former site of the Filibuster Restaurant & Bar.)
According to co-owner Aaron Ingham, Bent Nails Bistro will rebrand as Bent Nails Roadhouse, with “a focus on food and art, with live entertainment sprinkled in.”
At its Capital City spot, Bent Nails has often hosted three to four nights of music every week since it opened in 2021. In a recent interview in Montpelier newspaper the Bridge, Ingham and co-owner Charis Churchill made it clear that the city’s dwindling nightlife scene precipitated the move. Ingham described Montpelier as “a ghost town” that has yet to return to its pre-pandemic state.
The space the club is vacating has an important place in Vermont music history: Before Bent Nails, it was home to Sweet Melissa’s and the Langdon Street Café. There’s no word yet on the new occupant of 4 Langdon Street, but stay tuned for news on that, the Montpelier music scene and what to expect once Bent Nails Roadhouse opens.
Heads up, all you folkies out there: Vermont Public is now airing episodes of “The Folk Show With Kate McNally” every Sunday night at 7 p.m. The three-hour program focuses on classics of the genre, as well as spotlighting new artists who keep the folk tradition alive and thriving. Longtime host McNally started the show in the mid-’90s at New Hampshire Public Radio and still helms it today.
The addition comes after the sudden end of the popular “All the Traditions” folk radio show, hosted by Burlington DJ and musician Robert Resnik, who died in July. In advance of a musical tribute to Resnik on October 26 at Higher Ground in South Burlington — featuring a massive list of performers such as Paul Asbell, Mary McGinnis and Chuck Eller — we’ll recap his musical life and legacy in next week’s issue.
Happy 70th birthday to WRUV 90.1 FM! The University of Vermont’s nonprofit radio station launched as a closed-circuit channel from the Pomeroy Barn in January 1955, became one of the first AM stations in Vermont in 1956 and switched to FM in the early ’70s. It now boasts a 460-watt transmitter that carries the broadcast beyond Vermont to parts of upstate New York and Canada.
WRUV has been a source of new music for generations of Vermonters. The station’s dedication to playing independent and underground artists makes it a key source for fresh sounds and up-and-coming artists.
On a personal note, as a music journalist in a field increasingly dominated by corporate radio and massive, algorithm-based streaming services, I find that college radio stations like WRUV aren’t just an important resource but an oasis, a portal to a world that barely exists anymore. I can spend hours on Spotify looking for new music — and even longer making sure the artists I find are real and not some AI slop the app is trying to monetize. But chances are that if I turn my radio dial to 90.1, I’ll hear something new and awesome pretty quickly. No algorithm can match the power of a 20-year-old who is obsessed with psych rock.
The station is largely funded by the UVM Student Government Association, but WRUV also depends on community and listener support. While it just wrapped up a big 70th-birthday fundraiser, don’t wait until 71 to show some love to a radio station that has served the community since before the Beatles grew their moptops. Long live WRUV!
Shows to Watch Out For
1. Mumford & Sons at the Bell Centre in Montréal, October 17
2. Steel Panther at Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, N.H., October 25
3. Richard Thompson at Stone Church in Brattleboro, November 8
4. Keb’ Mo’ at Paramount Theatre in Rutland, November 18
5. Clarice Jensen at the Mill in Westport, N.Y., November 29
6. Shakey Graves at Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington, December 17 & 18 (sold out)
7. Rosanne Cash at Spruce Peak Arts in Stowe, March 21
Listening In
This article appears in Oct 15-21 2025.
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