Gaze into the future of Vermont’s music scene — no crystal ball needed — this Friday, May 23, at Higher Ground in South Burlington. Sonic Futures: Youth Music Collective highlights the winners of the annual Harwood Union High School Battle of the Bands competition by putting four bands onstage — but not before giving the kids some critical music-industry tips.
Organized by the heads of the Harwood Union music department, Brian Boyes and Molly Clark, the Sonic Futures showcase bookends a music summit held last October. The summit featured competing bands from central and northern Vermont high schools working with different coaches (read: producers), similar to the NBC show “The Voice.” Flynn director of programming Matt Rogers, Jer&Co. recording studio owner-operator Jer Coons and folk musician Eric George served as instructors and judges for the bands, who walked away from the event with what Boyes called “everything you would need for a great electronic press kit.”
While Harwood’s Battle of the Bands has been happening longer than Boyes and Clark can recall, it’s only since 2022 that they opened it up to other schools and offered students the chance to learn from professional musicians.
“Brian and I sort of took the older model and expanded it,” Clark said. “We made it a full-day festival and student showcase, with this treat for the winners of a live show at the end.”
Indeed, the four top bands from October’s summit are all set to play the Higher Ground Showcase Lounge this week. The lineup consists of the winning band, Montpelier High School indie-rock act Hard Copies; singer and guitarist Charlotte Brault from Spaulding High School; and two acts from Harwood, the Glam Cowboys and the long-running Assembly Band.
As the winners, Hard Copies earned a full day of professional recording with Coons at Jer&Co. in Jericho. (See what he did there?)
“The goal with this project is to create opportunities for students that are industry adjacent,” Boyes said. “We want them to see what it’s like to go pro, essentially. And it’s also a way for young musicians to network across schools and make connections with the other bands.”
There’s a long tradition of talented Vermont high schoolers coming out of such programs before going on to bigger things. Grace Potter herself emerged from the Harwood music program, and acts such as Burlington indie rockers Robber Robber were once a high school band out of Brattleboro called the Snaz. Here’s to Boyes and Clark helping usher in the next generation!
Speaking of Grace Potter, the Vermont native and sometime California resident has dropped a new single ahead of the release of her new album, Medicine. “Oasis” is a bluesy, laid-back affair that bears all the hallmarks of producer T Bone Burnett. The legendary musician and producer teamed up with Potter way back in 2008 to record Medicine, but the Waitsfield native decided to shelve the record for the right moment — which subsequently arrives on May 30. Stay tuned to these pages in the coming weeks for a longer discussion with Potter on her new record.
Good news for local music fans! Vermont Public announced last week the addition of two new locally hosted music programs. First up is “All Ears” with DJ Tad Cautious. The show airs on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and is described in a press release as an “eclectic music discovery show for curious listeners open to myriad genres.”
Cautious, real name Neil Cleary, hosts “The Bunny” on SiriusXM, though he may be better known around these parts for helming the on-site radio station at numerous Phish festivals, starting with the Clifford Ball in 1996.
“I launch my new show with a giddy, cringe-tastic zeal, having grown up a VPR fanboy,” Cleary said in the press release. “‘A Prairie Home Companion,’ ‘Afropop Worldwide,’ and ‘Hearts of Space’ irrevocably molded my pre-teen brain and bent me toward a lifelong love of radio.”
Also joining the station is Llu Mulvaney-Stanak, better known as DJ Llu. One of the most consistently on-air voices in the past 30 years of Vermont radio, Mulvaney-Stanak started out running music shows on 99.9 the Buzz and 90.1 WRUV before helping launch WBTV-LP at the Media Factory in Burlington. In recent years, Mulvaney-Stanak became the station manager for the former Goddard College radio stations, WGDR and WGDH.
The new program, “Now Playing,” is an hourlong showcase of everything recently released, a passion for Mulvaney-Stanak.
“For the last 30 years, my favorite part of doing radio shows was to help folks discover their new favorite band,” Mulvaney-Stanak said in the press release. “With ‘Now Playing’ coming to Vermont Public, I’m excited to do that for listeners statewide.”
The show airs on Sunday evenings, also at 6 p.m.
This article appears in The Summer Preview 2025.
Got something to say?
Send a letter to the editor and we'll publish your feedback in print!
