I talked last month about expanding your musical experience and perhaps shattering some genre stereotypes with my ‘Judas Kiss’ article. May has now arrived and with it hopefully some warmer weather and if we’re lucky some outdoor shows and music festivals. In case you only attend national acts at shows I want to just expose the tip of the iceberg with some great SW Pennsylvania bands. I’m also going to limit it even a bit further with just bands that I’ve personally seen in my Spotify playlist ‘Homegrown’.
No matter what your musical preference, I’m confident that you can find a local act that fits that bill. A lot of the local acts have their music on streaming services like Spotify where you can get a feel for their music. You will find country (Willow Hill), rock (Shiva Skydriver), pop (Aubrey Burchell), punk (Hahn Drive) and pretty much everything in between. This is a good way to hear a band before you go to a venue to hear them play live. Some bands may also have a Facebook or webpage, like the Derek Woods Band, where you can check them out.
My personal favorite way to discover new local music is to attend a music festival, like the Millvale Music Festival. It’s like going to a buffet where they may have 50 different options and if you don’t care for one, you can move on to the next one. The best thing is most music festivals in Pittsburgh don’t have an admission fee. This means more money for you to spend on beverages, food and band merch.
I think it’s only fitting that the story I talk about this month is one of the first local people I heard perform. And to make an unbiased choice of performers, she was the first local musician that I photographed. Ellie Lee Oldfield is a local performer from Westmoreland County. Her signature long pink hair stands out as she is performing from behind her keyboard. She plays a combination of covers as well as some of her originals. Ellie Lee has played as a solo act and in a couple different bands. But back just momentarily how this relates to me. The thing I enjoy about local artists is that I’ve come to know a lot of them personally. It is such a wonderful experience to walk into a venue to cover a local artist and know them on a first name basis.
I’d enjoy hearing some of the local acts that you’ve discovered that didn’t make my Spotify playlist ‘Homegrown’. Shoot me an email and tell me where you heard them and what makes you want to see them again. I hope you all get to hear some of your favorite homegrown artists this month and maybe you’ll uncover a new hidden gem you hadn’t heard before. Check back next month when my June theme is ‘B Side’.
open.spotify.com/playlist/0M71XFatJi1i2MPw9TvDRu?si=je_ixFc3TuKSUjPthHZEFg