There is an adage that says you do not become a great writer without first being a voracious reader. Similarly, I am convinced that one does not become a great songwriter without first living voraciously. Sara Routh, the 38-year-old Norwalk native, is a heck of a songwriter, and now she
Read More →Andrew Fleming is the kind of guy who stays busy. The Brother Trucker front man has developed a reputation as a hard, quality worker, but the last few weeks have seen him work through a period of transition. Most notably, Brother Trucker’s long-time monthly gig at El Bait Shop —
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Posted August 19, 2015in Sound Circuit
For as long as music has been played in Des Moines, the city does not, in all honest reality, have a huge number of bands that we could call “legendary” or “iconic.” Each person you talk to in the scene will have a different definition of what that means, to
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Posted August 12, 2015in Sound Circuit
Unlike virtually everyone else in the local music scene, Brian Holtz did not come to music as a toddler, amped up and ready to rock. Instead, Holtz came to the game later than perhaps anyone else performing in town today. “I was a cop for 30 years,” he said. “I
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Posted August 05, 2015in Sound Circuit
The New Bodies have, in some form or another, been playing together since high school. “We started a band called Stuck With Arthur when we were students together,” said New Bodies front man Adam Bartelt. “That band actually stayed together until about 2009, when we all decided we wanted to
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Posted July 29, 2015in Sound Circuit
This weekend will usher in the first-ever Hinterland Music Festival, down at Water Works Park. The brainchild of Wooly’s owner Sam Summers, Hinterland will feature some of the best names in modern Americana, folk and indie rock, including Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, TV on the Radio and Brandi
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Posted July 22, 2015in Sound Circuit
Anyone who has met Mary McAdams knows that she is not afraid to speak out about the things she believes in. It is a trait that has been passed around the household, because for the past two years, McAdams has watched her daughter, Lexi, take up the banner of an
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Posted July 15, 2015in Sound Circuit
It was a bit of a come-to-Jesus moment for Matt Woods a couple years back when his band, The Thunderbolts, called it quits. Matt Woods & The Thunderbolts had played together since 2005, and even before then, drummer Michael Swanger and bassist Scott Cochran had played on Woods’ first solo
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Posted July 08, 2015in Sound Circuit
“I was 13 when I did my first Des Moines Farmers Market,” recalled now-17-year-old Lily DeTaeye. “That was the Grapevine Tour, where they give you an hour, and you sit at the end of the street, and you don’t have an amp because you didn’t think you’d need one.” She
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Posted July 01, 2015in Sound Circuit
In case you did not know by now, The Candymakers are legit. Formed in 2010, all the band did in its first year of life was win the 2011 Iowa Blues Challenge. An album followed the next year, but it would be two years more before we would get a
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