New releases from newcomers & veterans

Robbie Robertson has released Testimony, an 18-track compilation of tracks from his career, as a companion to his new memoir of the same name. It includes live and studio recordings Robertson made with Bob Dylan, The Band, its predecessor The Hawks, as well as Robertson's own band.

The title track is a new mix of a song from Robertson's self-titled 1987 solo album, featuring contributions or samples from U2, Ivan Neville, Daniel Lanois, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, and even the late Gil Evans. It joins our New Music rotation this week.

Well known in Toronto music circles, the Julian Taylor Band recently put out Desert Star, a 22-track collection that shows off a wide stylistic range. The band roams through Soul, R&B and Rock sounds, putting its own stamp on each. We've picked a rockin' little number called "Never Too Late" to feature in our New Music bin, and you can expect to hear other selections in our mix.

Singer-guitarist Marcus King is in his early 20s but has a sound that evokes decades of Southern blues-rock. The second, self-titled album from The Marcus King Band is produced by Warren Hayes, of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band. We're hopping on the lead-off track,  "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That"

From King's home state of South Carolina we dip down to Atlanta to check out The Georgia Flood. This group has much more of a modern alt-rock sound. We're spinning "Whistle King" from the band's debut EP, People Like Ourselves.

Jesca Hoop is preparing to release her fifth solo album, Memories are Now, and we're happy to present the first single, "The Lost Sky." The project is produced by Blake Mills, who has also worked with Fiona Apple, and this song reminds us a bit of that artist's work. It's quite different from Hoop's most recent project, a collaboration with Iron & Wine's Sam Beam - but "quite different" seems to be Hoop's specialty.

Our specialty is variety, and we hope you'll tune in and enjoy the many flavors of rock/pop/folk/alternative/etc in our Marvelous Mix.

New releases from newcomers & veterans

Robbie Robertson has released Testimony, an 18-track compilation of tracks from his career, as a companion to his new memoir of the same name. It includes live and studio recordings Robertson made with Bob Dylan, The Band, its predecessor The Hawks, as well as Robertson's own band.

The title track is a new mix of a song from Robertson's self-titled 1987 solo album, featuring contributions or samples from U2, Ivan Neville, Daniel Lanois, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, and even the late Gil Evans. It joins our New Music rotation this week.

Well known in Toronto music circles, the Julian Taylor Band recently put out Desert Star, a 22-track collection that shows off a wide stylistic range. The band roams through Soul, R&B and Rock sounds, putting its own stamp on each. We've picked a rockin' little number called "Never Too Late" to feature in our New Music bin, and you can expect to hear other selections in our mix.

Singer-guitarist Marcus King is in his early 20s but has a sound that evokes decades of Southern blues-rock. The second, self-titled album from The Marcus King Band is produced by Warren Hayes, of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band. We're hopping on the lead-off track,  "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That"

From King's home state of South Carolina we dip down to Atlanta to check out The Georgia Flood. This group has much more of a modern alt-rock sound. We're spinning "Whistle King" from the band's debut EP, People Like Ourselves.

Jesca Hoop is preparing to release her fifth solo album, Memories are Now, and we're happy to present the first single, "The Lost Sky." The project is produced by Blake Mills, who has also worked with Fiona Apple, and this song reminds us a bit of that artist's work. It's quite different from Hoop's most recent project, a collaboration with Iron & Wine's Sam Beam - but "quite different" seems to be Hoop's specialty.

Our specialty is variety, and we hope you'll tune in and enjoy the many flavors of rock/pop/folk/alternative/etc in our Marvelous Mix.

Our New Year's resolution: More music!

New Year's fireworks - Montreal

Happy New Year to all our listeners! Thanks so much for joining our 24/7 listening party!

At Birch Street Radio, our goal for 2017 is simple: Keep adding more good music and more great bands/singers/musicians to our Marvelous Mix.

The holiday weeks actually aren't a big time for new releases, but Ryan Adams did drop another track from his upcoming Prisoner LP - "To Be Without You" - and it landed in our New Music bin. Otherwise, we're catching up on tracks from the past few months that you may not have heard yet.

For example: Loud Hailer, the album that Jeff Beck released back in July. The 72-year-old Beck is joined here by vocalist Rosie Bones and guitarist Carmen Vandenberg, members of a London band called Bones. Beck explores new sonic territory here, with arty effects and sometimes awkward social commentary, but it's all built atop the rock-guitar master's virtuoso playing. Our pick: "Live In The Dark."

Another album that's been around a few months but is starting to get more notice is Heavenly Bodies, from Los Angeles band Midnight Faces. The title of the album, and of opening track "Blue Haze," might have you expecting a dreamy blur, but these Faces play with drive and energy. They remind us of The War On Drugs, with an expansive sound held down-to-earth by pulsing beats.

A few weeks ago we began spinning "Manipulator" by Montreal's Elephant Stone. Now we're adding more of their latest album, Ship of Fools, to our mix, and featuring "The Devil's Shelter" in our New Music rotation. Alex Maas from Austin's Black Angels joins in on the chorus.

In a completely different vein, we have a new single from Sara Hartman. This young singer-songwriter moved from New York's Long Island to Berlin in 2015 to pursue her music career. In "From The Other Side of The World," she sings of missing her younger sister back home. It's a beautiful reminder that a love song doesn't have to be about romance.

Our New Year's resolution: More music!

New Year's fireworks - Montreal

Happy New Year to all our listeners! Thanks so much for joining our 24/7 listening party!

At Birch Street Radio, our goal for 2017 is simple: Keep adding more good music and more great bands/singers/musicians to our Marvelous Mix.

The holiday weeks actually aren't a big time for new releases, but Ryan Adams did drop another track from his upcoming Prisoner LP - "To Be Without You" - and it landed in our New Music bin. Otherwise, we're catching up on tracks from the past few months that you may not have heard yet.

For example: Loud Hailer, the album that Jeff Beck released back in July. The 72-year-old Beck is joined here by vocalist Rosie Bones and guitarist Carmen Vandenberg, members of a London band called Bones. Beck explores new sonic territory here, with arty effects and sometimes awkward social commentary, but it's all built atop the rock-guitar master's virtuoso playing. Our pick: "Live In The Dark."

Another album that's been around a few months but is starting to get more notice is Heavenly Bodies, from Los Angeles band Midnight Faces. The title of the album, and of opening track "Blue Haze," might have you expecting a dreamy blur, but these Faces play with drive and energy. They remind us of The War On Drugs, with an expansive sound held down-to-earth by pulsing beats.

A few weeks ago we began spinning "Manipulator" by Montreal's Elephant Stone. Now we're adding more of their latest album, Ship of Fools, to our mix, and featuring "The Devil's Shelter" in our New Music rotation. Alex Maas from Austin's Black Angels joins in on the chorus.

In a completely different vein, we have a new single from Sara Hartman. This young singer-songwriter moved from New York's Long Island to Berlin in 2015 to pursue her music career. In "From The Other Side of The World," she sings of missing her younger sister back home. It's a beautiful reminder that a love song doesn't have to be about romance.

A year of giant leaps for Birch Street Radio

One year ago, Birch Street Radio was rolling along on Live365 when word came just before New Year's that the pioneering internet-radio company was about to go bust.

That prompted us to do two things: scramble to find a new service to host our program - and, step up our game!

We've since moved twice - in January to Radionomy and in September to SoniXcast. Special thanks to listeners who have followed us from one streaming host to another!

So far, so good at SoniXcast, which broadcasts our Marvelous Mix of Music from Montreal, Canada. There have been occasional technical glitches (as with any internet system), but mostly it's been a smooth ride as we present our wide variety of music 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all commercial-free.

And amid the jumps from one webcasting partner to another, we've boosted our own commitment to creating the best mix we can from the best bands and singer-songwriters of the past half-century or so. We're adding more music every week - new releases from established artists, and new discoveries from the vast community of independent artists. We enter 2017 with a much bigger and more varied playlist than ever before.

This year we also boosted our visibility with this website, our Facebook page and Twitter feed, and our connections to various internet-radio listing sites and apps. Birch Street Radio can now be found on TuneIn, Radio.net, Nobex, Streema, RadioForest, Radioguide.fm, Shoutcast.com and more. (Let us know if there are some we're missing!)

As we've learned this year, internet radio is an ever-changing business. It's certainly possible that we'll need to make more moves in the future. Please remember that you can always find us here at birchstreetradio.com, where we'll always have up-to-date players and links as well as news about our programming.

Happy New Year to all!