Nat Tracey-Miller's Profile

When The Southgate House Revival opened in Newport on October 12, 2012, it was not just the soul of one of Cincinnati’s greatest musical institutions that found new life. The red brick building, which celebrates its sesquicentennial this year, dates to 1866, and was home to Grace Methodist...

At this point, I don’t think anybody could blame Bruce Springsteen for phoning it in. He’s 66, after all, 43 years into a career that has yielded some of the greatest songs and albums in the history of rock and roll, and he hardly has anything left to prove. Could anyone really blame...

In 1964, Beatlemania swept American shores and into Norwood’s Cincinnati Gardens. What some thought was a fad proved to be the beginning of the most popular and enduring musical legacy in the history of rock and roll. The Beatles and their members continued to visit Cincinnati for decades to...

For Serenity Fisher and the Cardboard Hearts, it’s record release night, the culmination of 13 months’ hard work, and the PA isn’t working. “Yeah, there’s just nothing coming through,” drummer Matt Halvorson tells me over a plate of french fries in the...

In addition to writing for CincyMusic.com, I also write record reviews for Tome to the Weather Machine, run by Cincinnati's own Ryan Hall, which covers experimental and small-label music of all kinds. All kinds of wild things come across my radar, but last summer, Ryan sent me something that...

Lennon and McCartney. Leiber and Stoller. Strong and Whitfield. Hood and Cooley. After twenty years barnstorming America with their meticulously crafted story-songs and marathon live shows, it’s not really much of a stretch to include that last pair with the first three. Patterson Hood and...

Unlike most festivals, MusicNOW has institutional memory. Each spring, founder Bryce Dessner (best known for his work in The National) continues an ongoing story, building on prior performances rather than presenting one disjointed slate of acts after another. In addition to carefully curated...

The history of the Ludlow Garage building on its own justifies the opening of a new music venue in the space. During the Garage’s lightning-quick sixteen month run from 1969 to 1971, it played host to everyone from the Allman Brothers (who recorded a live album there) to The Kinks to B.B....

A Place to Bury Strangers leader Oliver Ackermann downplays his band’s reputation as the loudest band in New York. “I guess that sounds cool and dangerous if you’re impressed by loudness. But it’s not really our focus to be the loudest band anywhere.” Fair enough,...

One of my favorite things about Midpoint weekend is how the music echoes through the streets. Even as you’re heading from point A to B, the music from the last stage will follow you for blocks, until they blend with the strains of your next destination and are eventually overtaken. I kicked...

Things were already in full swing at the Craft Village in Washington Park when I arrived in the early afternoon. A couple dozen artisans were selling their wares, Moriah Haven had just wrapped up her set, and young artists from the Music Resource Center were performing their own compositions....

(Saturday, 12:15 AM, Taft Ballroom)  When Zola Jesus made a pop record, did you really think she was going to change? Did you think she was going to sand the rough edges and hew the knotted underbrush? That there wouldn’t be jarring syncopated beats or jagged bursts of synthesized...