August 10, 2023 // Some cities carry nicknames that nod to their impressive musical roots, like Nashville’s Music City or New York City’s the Big Apple (a nod to jazz musicians). But, famed musicians can hail from all around the country, and many smaller towns have massively impressive roots in music that may not be widely known. From iconic recording studios to birth and resting places for musical innovators, check out these eight eight cities with underrated music scenes. [Redbookmag.com]

August 16, 2023 // Austin has one. Nashville has one. Cleveland's music scene, venue owners say, should be next. [CleveScene.com]

August 9, 2023 // A mental health awareness nonprofit organization is using hip-hop to bridge the gap between mental health struggles in Black and Brown communities and music as a healing tool. [GoodMorningAmerica.com]

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and EarthQuaker Devices have teamed up again in collaboration of a second set of limited-edition guitar pedals. The pedals feature new and exclusive artwork from the legendary Cleveland artist, Derek Hess and come in a variety of colorways.

June 28, 2023 // From securing nonprofit status to bands buying the actual clubs, anything and everything seems to be on the table for indie live-music operators. [RollingStone.com]

June 20, 2023 // Downtown Cleveland Inc., is bringing back the Downtown Busker Program for its second year.The official street-performance program features 20 pre-selected “pitch” (the area buskers perform) locations and guides for potential buskers to help them find their perfect “pitch.”Each pitch location was selected by Downtown Cleveland Inc. to maximize pedestrian visibility near hot spots and offer room for creative freedom in performing. [Cleveland.com]

June 15, 2023 // When Music Saves, the record store next to the Beachland Ballroom and Tavern, closed its doors in 2017, Cindy Barber had a plan to revive the space. Barber’s nonprofit bought the storefront in 2018, and after launching a fundraising campaign, is now turning it into a retail space for local music called Cleveland Rocks Shop. [Ideastream.org]

April 28, 2023 // Young creatives ages 15 to 25 are working on Hollywood-style recording projects as members of Northeast Ohio's Kaboom Collective. Students work with a variety of industry professionals in the arts, from musical composition to script writing to digital animation. But at the collective's center is its studio orchestra led by Kaboom Collective Co-Founder and Cleveland Arts Prize winner Liza Grossman. [Ideastream.org]

April 13, 2023 // Analysis from the 2022 Arts Vibrancy Index reveals Cleveland, Ohio with a score in the top 1% of communities on measurements of Arts Dollars. The city shows particular strengths in the amount of earned revenue generated from artistic programs and the total compensation paid to arts and cultural employees per capita – higher than all other large midwestern communities on these two sub-measures. [CulturalData.org]

April 14, 2023 // Dig through crates and find your next great listen at Northeast Ohio's vast variety of independent record shops. [ClevelandMagazine.com]

The Boddie Recording Company was the city’s first Black-owned studio, operating from the 1950s through the 1990s. The Landmarks Commission voted Thursday to approve landmark status for the company's former headquarters, a house at 12202 Union Avenue in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame hopes to break ground by late this summer or early fall on a $100 million expansion and renovation that riffs on the triangular forms of the city’s iconic lakefront landmark.

Colemine Records has seen to it that Davis and these forgotten recordings don’t go to waste. The label will release the album Cleveland Blues this spring and you can listen to the infectious single “Wine Hop” today.

The Treelawn Social Club opened in December, with other components — including a 600-capacity ballroom, a beer garden and bocce ball courts — yet to come.

As Women’s History Month begins, we turn our attention to those who have pushed boundaries, smashed stereotypes and created a path for future generations of artists and creators — and all right here in Cleveland. The conversation wouldn’t be whole without hearing from those women who fight for the arts both on and off stage. Here, we look behind the curtain at the owners of many of Northeast Ohio’s biggest venues: the women carving out safe spaces for performance and culture in every corner of the city.

The Ohio University Music Industry Summit features an exclusive gathering of prominent artists and music industry leaders for informative panels and compelling interviews, as well as networking and learning opportunities for registrants. Registration is free and open to anyone and is required to attend the Summit. Both in-person and virtual attendance options are available. Mark your calendar for the 5th annual event: Wednesday, April 5 and Thursday, April 6, 2023 on OHIO's Athens Campus. 

Brite Winter features about 20 bands on three stages, starting at 3 p.m on Saturday. Tickets, $10-plus, are available at britewinter.com. Capping the day is Welshly Arms, a band set to return to the fest as its headliner. Other performers include Signals Midwest, Fox Royale, Grumpy Plum, Skuff Micksun and Detention. It all goes down on the West Bank of the Flats, underneath the Main Ave. bridge in Cleveland, with Welshly taking the West Bank Stage at 10 p.m.

On Wednesday, Tri-C announced the lineup for the 44th Annual JazzFest, set to run June 22-24 at Playhouse Square. Following last year’s return to Playhouse theaters — after a pandemic-induced derailment forced Tri-C to stream the event in 2020 and plan a smaller in-person performance at Cain Park in 2021 — the fest hits 2023 with powerhouse musicians including Herbie Hancock and the 2023 Grammy’s Best New Artist, Samara Joy.

Cleveland is known to many as the “birthplace of Rock and Roll.” Yet, many of music’s biggest stars have been bypassing the city recently. Big names, like Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Metallica left Cleveland dates off of their 2023 world tours. In 2022, only 8 of the year’s top 25 highest-grossing artists stopped in Northeast Ohio. It’s down from previous years.

The Day Nites will take the Beachland Tavern stage on Saturday, Jan. 21. Art Blakey, a fixture in the local music scene, has found a fresh outlet for his classic soul style. The singer has teamed up with the Day Nites, a soul band consisting of members of the Hi-Lites (Nick Fritsch, Bob Basone and Matt Garrett), along with Tom Fallon of The Alarm Clocks and New Salem Witch Hunters.

It was nearly a decade ago that local music sparkplug/Beachland Ballroom co-owner Cindy Barber conceived of the nonprofit Cleveland Rocks: Past Present Future with the idea of protecting the areas music legacy while assuring it would be carried on by younger musicians. That nonprofit engaged in a number of small projects over the years, but unexpectedly, it was the pandemic — and the dire situation in which it put many musicians — that caused it to roar into action with programs designed to mentor musicians, and provide them with resources and gigs

The Black Keys were a largely unknown quantity when the Akron duo played its first concert -- March 31, 2002, at Cleveland’s Beachland Tavern -- previewing the release of its debut album, “The Big Come Up,” in May of that year. Now a Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum concern, the group is releasing a recording of that first Cleveland show on Nov. 18.

Joe Walsh’s Buckeye heart is beating strong for his sixth VetsAid benefit concert this weekend. The show takes place Sunday, Nov. 13, in Columbus, after Walsh’s original plan to hold it there during 2021 was postponed by continuing pandemic concerns. Now he’s bringing it back home proudly -- and, of course, loudly -- with his own James Gang as well as fellow Ohio-rooted bands such as Nine Inch Nails, the Black Keys and the Breeders.

The 2022 Cleveland Arts Prize winners represent excellence in dance, music, design and visual art. Established by the Women’s City Club in 1960, the awards recognize both artists and arts leaders in Northeast Ohio.

The recipe that goes into making a guy like Sean Watterson is anything but conventional. He’s one part businessman (when pressed, he estimates he’d be making more than $1 million a year if he’d stuck with his banking job in New York City), one part foodie (he co-owns Happy Dog in Gordon Square), one part enthusiast (have you been to Happy Dog?) and one part advocate.

Baldwin Wallace and Cuyahoga Community College are changing the game for students interested in music industry careers. Beyond all the traditional business, health, education and science degrees offered at Baldwin Wallace University, one degree has gained traction in recent years, leading graduates into unique music industry jobs.

For the second time in three years, Baldwin Wallace University has been named one of the top music business schools in the world by Billboard. The music industry magazine’s list of “2022 Top Music Business Schools” was put together after analyzing information provided by the schools, industry recommendations and alumni credentials, among other criteria.

To continue to make downtown livelier and unique, the Downtown Cleveland Alliance has started a Downtown Busker Program for musicians, dancers and artists alike. The DCA has created a street performance guide, scouted out locations for performers and is accepting applications from potential performers - ranging from musicians and mimes to comedians, puppeteers and balloon twisters.

I caught the end of Jimmy Kimmel Live in early November when IDLES, a band from England, made their American TV debut playing their newly released single entitled “The Beachland Ballroom,” named for the concert venue my partner Mark Leddy and I started nearly 22 years ago in a marginal neighborhood in Cleveland. As IDLES lead singer and songwriter Joe Talbot was screaming through my TV “DAMAGE, DAMAGE, DAMAGE,” I found myself wanting to join in.

"Cleveland, in fact, is better positioned to become “the next Venice” than Venice was to become the first Venice. Again, before scoffing, consider this. Cleveland’s art and culture infrastructure already exists at a world class level. The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of the 10 finest art museums in the country..."