If you're looking for "I Spys," dating or LTRs, this is your scene.
View ProfilesPublished December 27, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky, it's time to look back at the year in Vermont music. It's been a strange one, but considering how weird the preceding two years were, maybe we should just call 2023 as close to normal as we're going to get anymore?
First and foremost, we said a lot of goodbyes, both to cherished musicians and to some of the scene's most beloved institutions. In particular, a storied generation of Burlington rockers took a hit this year with the deaths of some of the most influential Vermont musicians of the past four decades.
Bassist Mark Ransom died in the final week of 2022, but it would prove to be a harbinger of sorts. His longtime friends and sometime bandmates through the years, Jim McGinniss and Bruce McKenzie (see "Life Stories" ), died months later. Those three played a big part in establishing the Burlington music scene we know today, with pioneering bands such as the N-Zones, Pine Island, Sambatucada, the Mercuries, the X-Rays and Chrome Cowboys. Ransom and McGinniss were top-notch bass players; drummer McKenzie was dubbed "the Charlie Watts of Burlington" by no less an authority than Vermont drum guru Jeff Salisbury.
The three musicians' excellence can be heard on their bands' assorted albums, EPs and singles — though, to be honest, there's a tragic shortage of recorded material from that late '70s and early '80s era of Burlington music. Yet their impact went far beyond the songs they wrote or recorded. At a memorial show for Ransom at the Higher Ground Ballroom in South Burlington earlier in the year, an entire generation of local musicians reunited, reconnected or just reminisced about lost friends. They also played songs not heard on local stages in decades. There were tears but plenty of laughs, as well.
It's hard not to feel like a specific time in our city's music history is slipping away. That's natural: Time moves on, new kids pick up instruments and form bands, and the cycle continues. I wouldn't have it any other way. But I hope both longtime local music fans and our younger crop of musicians take some time to not only remember but listen to the work of musicians like Ransom, McGinniss and McKenzie, who put so much of themselves into the DNA of Burlington's music scene.
The Vermont scene in general had some big breakthroughs this year. Strafford native Noah Kahan continued his meteoric rise, releasing singles with Post Malone and Kacey Musgraves before he was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy. He joins U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jericho's Erin Bentlage in getting recognition from the Recording Academy — the former for his latest audiobook, It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, and the latter for her work with the vocal group säje.
Brattleboro rockers THUS LOVE pushed on as well, touring the UK with British indie rockers Dry Cleaning and releasing the excellent single "Centerfield." They also headlined a new festival created by the folks at Brattleboro's Stone Church called Field Day, a very welcome addition to the Green Mountain music fest lineup.
Why is it so welcome, you ask? Well, along with Abbie Moran and the Wallflower Collective's Big Gay Block Party held in September, Field Day was a rare positive in the festival category, as many of the state's tentpole events either folded in 2023 or were significantly downsized.
The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival sliced its usual 10-day run in half — though big sets from Kamasi Washington and Samara Joy helped alleviate any sore feelings.
And the annual Waking Windows fest in Winooski found itself in transition. Though it was never officially canceled, the fest was much smaller and more focused on local music this year.
Grace Potter's Grand Point North throwdown disappeared altogether, with the singer admitting in an interview with yours truly that its chances of returning aren't great.
Collectively, it still feels like we're coming back from the Great Interruption of the pandemic in some ways. Musicians are trying to figure out how to make a living playing music in a swiftly changing landscape while dealing with new dangers, like venues taking cuts from bands' merchandise sales.
That's less of an issue in Vermont than in other places. But local venues have had to grapple with issues of their own. Soaring insurance rates cast doubt on whether some bars would be able to operate in Vermont at all. The state legislature had to get involved in order to keep Vermont bars and nightclubs open, passing a bill over the summer addressing the massive cost of liquor liability insurance.
It wasn't money woes but historic flooding that scuttled summer shows at many central Vermont venues. Along with scores of local businesses and homes, bars such as Montpelier dive extraordinaire Charlie-O's World Famous and Gusto's in Barre were flooded and closed, along with beloved Montpeculiar store Buch Spieler Records. I'm not sure I can recall a more grim scene in my time as music editor than walking through the Capital City and seeing the hulking collections of soaking refuse piled up on the streets.
After some hard months of cleanup, venues such as Bent Nails Bistro and Hugo's in Montpelier and Moog's Joint in Morrisville are back up and running, thankfully.
Charlie-O's couldn't catch a break, though. After suffering some fire damage in October, it remains closed. A message on the bar's Facebook page reads, "We will keep you posted about what's to come when we know more. We miss you already but we'll be back as soon as we can." Let's hope it's not too long!
For all the adversity, there was plenty to be excited about. Higher Ground and Burlington hot spots Radio Bean and Foam Brewers all celebrated their birthdays with gusto and big nights of local music. The Stone Church launched Grrrls to the Front, an initiative to train and facilitate more women working in the music biz. Kahan played "Saturday Night Live" only weeks after comedian and native Vermonter Tina Friml performed on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," and Spotify tried to trick everyone into moving to Burlington.
Here's to 2024! May it be a fruitful year for the arts, may we finally get something to fill the ArtsRiot-size hole on Burlington's Pine Street, may we get new albums from fresh faces — and please, please, no more concerts over Zoom. Come what may, keep an eye (and ear) on this space. You know we'll be watching and listening.
Remember the Advance Music Acoustic Singer/Songwriter Contest? The downtown Burlington music shop, now named Music & Arts, used to hold a yearly showdown for the area's singer-songwriters, which rewarded the winners with recording time. The contest ended its 21-year run in 2019, but singer-songwriter David Karl Roberts and the Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge are bringing it back, baby!
Starting on January 16 and running until the finals on March 5, the Emerging Songwriter Contest calls for hopefuls to play a 15-minute set of original music on an acoustic instrument (no showing up with Marshall stacks, people). They will be scored by a rotating cast of judges — including me. That's right, I'll chase musicians down outside the paper to review them! No escape, motherfuckers.
First place in the contest gets a full day of recording, mixing and mastering at Tank Recording Studio in Burlington; second gets a booked show at Venetian; and third takes home a $100 gift certificate from Music & Arts. So get that guitar out of the closet, dust off your breakup anthem and sign up at venetiansodalounge.com/contest.
Tags: Music News + Views, Mark Ransom, Jim McGinniss, Bruce McKenzie, Noah Kahan, Erin Bentlage, THUS LOVE, Abbie Moran, Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, Waking Windows, Grace Potter, Grrrls to the Front, Tina Friml, Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge
Comments are closed.
From 2014-2020, Seven Days allowed readers to comment on all stories posted on our website. While we've appreciated the suggestions and insights, right now Seven Days is prioritizing our core mission — producing high-quality, responsible local journalism — over moderating online debates between readers.
To criticize, correct or praise our reporting, please send us a letter to the editor or send us a tip. We’ll check it out and report the results.
Online comments may return when we have better tech tools for managing them. Thanks for reading.