From the spiritual streets of LA to the prolific psychedelia embedded in the melodic memories of Austin, Texas, singer-songwriter Matt Kivel has been pushing the tonal tides for nearly two decades, becoming a beacon for his generation. Having just finished a small run of stellar shows with Kentucky legends Will Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy) and Ryan Davis (Roadhouse Band, Sophomore Lounge), while simultaneously supporting his latest effort “Escape from L.A.,” it is without a doubt that Kivel’s tender thumb is on the pulse of something extraordinary. While it’s up to us to keep our eyes and ears open and ready for the sonic signals that may pass through, let’s not forget that everything leading up to where you are now made the present possible. And Kivel’s music is a poetic product of those possibilities, and its harmonious height.

From 1990 to 1996, Hartford, CT-based illustrator David Opie created some of the most iconic Grateful Dead merch for Liquid Blue of the decade. His sophisticated style ranged from playful to grateful, while maintaining that fierce familiarity the band is so well known for. From skulls to psychedelic prairies, and everything else in between, Opie landed the design gig right out of art school without any clue he’d be spending the better part of a decade working closely with one of his favorite bands. Over the years, his work has become legendary amongst collectors, sonic scholars, heads, and even celebrities.

Thomas W.B. Hardy, known professionally as Lester Square, is a household name within the post-punk/new wave world that took place in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the UK, and has since become a lyrical legend among his peers and cultural contemporaries over the last half-century. After leaving the earliest formation of Adam And The Ants, Square went on to form the highly influential The Monochrome Set with Indian-born singer-songwriter Ganesh Seshadri, whose impeccable influence inspired such groups as The Smiths, Orange Juice, and Franz Ferdinand, among others, over the years. Throughout his career, the veteran musician and visual artist has released several solo albums and regularly contributes to organizations such as TES (Times Educational Supplement), and is outspoken about the ongoing concerns of climate change and environmental extremes.

LA-based singer-songwriter Marlon Rabenreither has been cutting his tonal teeth in the City of Angels for the last decade and a half with bands like The Sister Ruby Band and C.G. Roxanne And The Nightmares, before establishing his own melodic moniker Gold Star shortly after. While expressing an atmospheric attitude that pulls from several elements of previous decades, Rabenreither’s ability to bridge those generational gaps is both exciting and compelling as his journey continues to unfold like a perfectly preserved Lincoln Rose in the dead of winter/

Having worked with artists such as the late great Rodriguez, Sean Hayes, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and the mighty Tom Waits, to name a few, LA-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Seth Ford-Young has been building a career in music for over four decades. Having come from the highly influential punk/hardcore and DIY culture in DC in the 1980s, the musician eventually relocated to the West Coast, where he eagerly established the creatively conscious collective Phi-Psonics. Over the years, Young has carefully constructed a brilliant and electrifying ensemble of musicians and collaborations to help explore the band’s never-ending nature of composition, timing, and radical responses to the intense identity of what being in a band is really about.

Mariam Saleh, known professionally as Bong Wish, is a Palestinian-American singer-songwriter based in Massachusetts, whose critical connection to the lyrical legends of the past bridges a biblical bond that can be heard from one end of the earthly equator to the next. Former bassist for the revered garage rock outfit Fat Creeps, Saleh ventured into the solo realm with her critically acclaimed 2023 debut, “Hazy Road,” and has since carved out a poetic place for her atmospheric abilities as a stand-alone force in the never-ending narrative of human expression.

Nathaniel Russell is a brilliant multi-disciplinary artist and musician based in Indianapolis, Indiana, whose work connects the startling subconscious with everyday imagery that provokes the juxtaposition of youth. While meditating in various media like print, music, drawings, paintings, murals, sculptures, set designs, posters, books, and commercial illustrations, Russell’s elemental efforts manage to carry melodic moments from one emotion to the next, and without any hesitation, to connect to something deeper and poetically powerful.

From Montreal to Durham, Joshua Tree, and Nashville, Alex Nicol, a singer-songwriter originally based in Canada, is a self-made wordsmith whose vision for himself in the Volunteer State is something straight out of the liberating literature of legends and tall tales, which Nashville is infamously known to ask of its sonic subjects over the decades. Crashing landing in Music City, Nicol got busy investing in his visceral vision for a creative career steeped in melodic meditation by linking up with one of his harmonious heroes, M.C. Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger), making not only his dreams of working with one of the greats come true, but putting forth his greatest effort yet, “Only Hoping,” which is swt for release October 2nd. A captivating body of work that pairs well with the ghostly glow of the melodic moonlight, which reveals a poetic pathway to the harmonies of the heart, similar to that of Neil Young or F.J. McMahon. Nicol may be new to town, but his distinctive drawl on sophisticated songwriting is a fantastic forest whose roots run deep through the essence of its ecosystem, while simultaneously summoning the true response to lyrical legitimacy.

A supergroup? The melodic manifestation after years of cosmic coincidence? Whatever it is, the California-based duo Western Extra, consisting of members Chris Rose (Vampire Hands, Robust Worlds, Web of Sunsets) and Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards, New Bums), released their dynamic debut “Zig Zags on the Book of Changes” without hesitation over the summer, and thank God they did. We sit down with Quinn to discuss the band’s origins, which he says dates all the way back to 1997, the project’s overall process, and approach for bringing this brilliant body of work to life, working with the legend himself, Ben Chansy, and bringing on members Andrew Mart and Leslie Medford to help further expand the whispering wisdom that is Western Extra.

From the sonic soul and meditative mountains of the Primitive Guitar culture, Argentine-based saint of strings Mariano Rodriguez has been on the scene for over a decade and a half, while carrying the cosmic torch of some of his heroes like John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and several others. Having participated in some of the genre’s most critical compositions, such as “Imaginational Anthem, Vol. 7,” “Basket Full of Dragons (A Tribute To Robbie Basho Vol. 2),” and “Ten Years Gone: A Tribute to Jack Rose,” Rodriguez has placed himself amongst the greats, and will go down in harmonious history as one himself.

Indianapolis, Indiana-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and sonic student of experimental exploration Landon Caldwell has been on the melodic market for nearly two decades. Having participated in groups such as Burnt Ones, Thee Open Sex, and Creeping Pink, Caldwell’s incredible output is nothing to take for granted. Blending and bending genres from one end of the galaxy to the other, Caldwell’s alchemical abilities to shift sounds and tonal textures into this fever dream of tangible teachings are sophisticated, as demonstrated throughout his diverse catalog of cosmic content.

Some have hobbies, while others passionately and obsessively collect anything and everything on their favorite and most cherished subject(s). This is the case for Miami, Florida-based Deadhead, archivist, and vintage seller of all things Grateful Dead, Jesse Lockwood. A fan whose cosmic connection to the Dead is universally undeniable, what makes Lockwood’s collection, and passion project, Primarily Dead, so incredible, is the deadly dedication to the band’s harmonious history and iconic impact on society through their mostly bootlegged merch. The electrifying ecosystem surrounding the Dead, specifically in the 1980s and 1990s, in parking lots around the country, is just as infamous as the shows they played. From the band’s crucial community and cosmic commitment to making ‘unofficial’ merch, taping shows, and carrying the tonal torch for all to hear and wear, their culture and history have only grown stronger since the passing of the late, great Jerry Garcia in the summer of 1995. While peering into the fragile fibers of the vintage clothing world, one may notice the varying prices, rarities of certain items, and climate in which they dwell, but for Lockwood, it’s all about the music. These garments speak of an endless treasure trove of melodic memories that continue to carry on through their brilliant graphics, stains, pinholes, and scars worn proudly by those who celebrate the past, present, and future of The Dead’s touch on the human experience.