Calendar

Apr
6
Fri
Big Ben Hillman – The Professor of Funk
Apr 6 @ 10:00 pm

Over the course of his career, Big Ben Hillman has shared the stage with a host of diverse and well known musicians including hip hop stars Method Man and Ghostface Killa from the Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, Biz Markie, Digable Planets and Mix Master Mike of The Beasty Boys. He has also been seen performing with rock legends Les Claypool and Jimmy Buffet.

Big Ben Hillman is quite the smooth retro funkster…. The production is excellent on all levels, keeping the listener in a comfortable, easy-flowing harmonic place. Ben never falters – his compositions and production show signs of a master at work enjoying his craft. I’m just going to think of Big Ben Hillman as the new Barry White on the opposite end of the vocal spectrum. – T Max, The Noise

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Apr
7
Sat
Mike Gent (of The Figgs)
Apr 7 @ 7:30 pm
Mike Gent (of The Figgs)

Hitting the stage tonight is Mike Gent, guitarist & vocalist of The Figgs.

The tried and true band The Figgs,  has a worldwide fan base, a hearty discography,  and celebrates more than 25 years together.   Members (Mike Gent, Pete Donnelly and Pete Hayes) have been playing since the trio was in high school in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Figgs tunes are stuffed with Kinks-inspired power and melodies, vibrant harmonies and sonic experimentation ala The Beatles and the The Band, the reach of NRBQ’s eclecticism, and a grit and youthfulness akin to the best rock bands from The Who to the Ramones

David Johnston Band
Apr 7 @ 10:00 pm

Peter Wolf (formerly of the J Geils Band), whose brilliant Midnight Souvenirs—released in 2010—included  David Johnston’s “I Don’t Wanna Know.” This song went on to become the second single from that album, and was performed on the David Letterman Show in June of 2010.

Apr
8
Sun
Sunday Spins
Apr 8 @ 3:00 pm
Sunday Spins

Bring your vinyls as we get to take turns playing our faves…

LEARN MORE

Dietrich Strause
Apr 8 @ 9:00 pm
Dietrich Strause

Dietrich Strause’s songs are a mix of timeless melody, literate lyricism, and a “virtuosic command of imagery.” (The Artery, WBUR) Strause released his new album How Cruel That Hunger Binds on August 26th, produced by Zachariah Hickman (Ray LaMontage, Josh Ritter), the next benchmark in his steady evolution as one of the most eclectic writers and performers coming out of New England.  His newest collection of songs is found somewhere in the shadows of the likes of Randy Newman, Nick Lowe, and Paul Simon.

Apr
9
Mon
David Johnston
Apr 9 @ 7:30 pm

Peter Wolf (formerly of the J Geils Band), whose brilliant Midnight Souvenirs—released in 2010—included  David Johnston’s “I Don’t Wanna Know.” This song went on to become the second single from that album, and was performed on the David Letterman Show in June of 2010.

The White Owls
Apr 9 @ 9:00 pm

Just look at the band; Dennis Brennan on harmonica, guitar and vocals. Tim Gearan on guitar and vocals. Steve Sadler on lap steel.  Jim Haggerty on bass and Andy Plaisted on drums.

Check out a clip from one of their shows HERE  – After making it thru Monday, YOU deserve a night out!

Image result for white owls at toad

Apr
10
Tue
Juliet Simmons Dinallo & Michael Dinallo
Apr 10 @ 7:30 pm
Juliet Simmons Dinallo & Michael Dinallo

Making transitions is never easy, and the way Juliet Simmons Dinallo expresses the ups and downs of the human process of moving, changing and growing older is the joy of listening to Dream Girl. There’s tension here, and unresolved matters of the heart and soul: “I don’t have all the answers,” goes one song, and another finds the narrator driving from Nashville to Memphis, accompanied by a groove that evokes the sweet-and-sour styles of both cities.

“If you look up the word underrated, then Michael Dinallo‘s name should be right beside it. He has an imposing array of credits from producing soul great Eddie Floyd to helming the esteemed “Feel Like Going Home: The Songs of Charlie Rich,” yet he has never received the credit he deserves.

Honey Talk
Apr 10 @ 10:00 pm

Honey Talk is a fresh, innovative, and comfortable quartet that performs classic hits and inviting originals making you feel sweeter than honey.

Honey talk is:
Cody Nilsen – Guitar/Vocals
Steve Bunce- Bass/Vocals
Ben Blanchard – Keys/Vocals
Pat “Daddy” Dalton – Drums/Vocals

check out one of their songs HERE

 

Apr
11
Wed
Fandango
Apr 11 @ 7:00 pm

Fred Griffeth fronts Fandango  – Their celebrated selection of Americana music draws a loyal band of pious sisters and reform school brothers! – Truth . . .

Air Congo
Apr 11 @ 10:00 pm

Boston-based African style band AIR CONGO play music from the 1960’s-70’s Kinshasa/Brazzaville scene–the music of Docteur Nico, Tabu LeyLes Bantous De La CapitaleFranco et l’Orch TPOK Jazz, and more!

Apr
12
Thu
Todd Thibaud Band
Apr 12 @ 7:30 pm
Todd Thibaud Band

Todd Thibaud is a Vermont born, Boston based Singer-Songwriter who’s songs are a slice of what life is really like…the pains and pleasures, love lost and life reborn. Using songwriters like Elvis Costello, Neil Finn, Johnny Cash and John Hiatt for inspiration, Thibaud has built a sound that is entirely his own. His music is meshed with elements of Americana, Folk, Country and Roots Pop Rock, making it seem at once familiar and new.

Baker Thomas Band
Apr 12 @ 10:00 pm

ET – phone home –   yeah, yeah –

but only after the Baker Thomas Band show . . .  they’re out of this world. . .“A whole bunch of musicians and a whole bunch of instruments, come together to deliver an electrifying show which promises a whole bunch of fun” -Tracey Delfino, Trespass Music

 

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Apr
13
Fri
Mike Hastings Band
Apr 13 @ 10:00 pm
Mike Hastings Band

“When Mike Hastings isn’t playing at local venues such as Toad, he can often be found busking around Davis and Harvard Square. Next time you’re out, keep an ear out for the sound of guitar and a tambourine, and if you see Mike, stop and listen for a while. You just might leave a little warmer.” – Sound of Boston

Give a listen HERE

 

Apr
14
Sat
The Whiskey Geese
Apr 14 @ 7:30 pm

The Whiskey Geese are:
Tyler Wayne – acoustic guitar, vocals, foot tamborine, melodica
Dane Anderson – acoustic guitar, vocals, foot percussion

A high flyin’ power duo.

Stan Martin Band
Apr 14 @ 10:00 pm

Stan Martin is a keeper of the traditional country music flame. He’s a Don Rich/Danny Gatton-schooled Telecaster-loving guitar picker, a virtuoso who is not a showoff. And he’s a skilled writer and musician who is unabashedly, unapologetically country. Martin’s original songs have a moving, sometimes comic, honesty. He retains a romantic toughness, as with some of Waylon Jennings early 1970s tunes written before the outlaw stance became a circus act.” Rick Allen Vintage Guitar

 

Apr
15
Sun
Sunday Spins
Apr 15 @ 3:00 pm

“Vinyl record sales are at a 28 year high” – Fortune April 2016  – See/Hear for yourself at Sunday Spins – every Sunday – bring your records and take turns sharing your faves!

Image result for sunday spins toad

Dietrich Strause
Apr 15 @ 9:00 pm
Dietrich Strause

Dietrich Strause’s songs are a mix of timeless melody, literate lyricism, and a “virtuosic command of imagery.” (The Artery, WBUR) Strause released his new album How Cruel That Hunger Binds on August 26th, produced by Zachariah Hickman (Ray LaMontage, Josh Ritter), the next benchmark in his steady evolution as one of the most eclectic writers and performers coming out of New England.  His newest collection of songs is found somewhere in the shadows of the likes of Randy Newman, Nick Lowe, and Paul Simon.

Apr
16
Mon
David Johnston
Apr 16 @ 7:30 pm

David Johnston  – if you don’t know him, you have to stop by TOAD for Blue Monday – take a listen HERE where David talks about his influences and plays a bit of music –

Image result for david johnston music

The White Owls
Apr 16 @ 9:00 pm

Just look at the band; Dennis Brennan on harmonica, guitar and vocals. Tim Gearan on guitar and vocals. Steve Sadler on lap steel.  Jim Haggerty on bass and Andy Plaisted on drums.

Check out a clip from one of their shows HERE  – After making it thru Monday, YOU deserve a night out!

Image result for white owls at toad

Apr
17
Tue
The Franc Graham Band
Apr 17 @ 7:30 pm

The Boston Globe on The Franc Graham Band:

“Immensely Underrated… cool and commanding… an unusually rich blend of singer-songwriter rock…”

The Blue Ribbons
Apr 17 @ 10:00 pm

The Blue Ribbons was formed by singer/songwriter/keyboardist James Rohr.

They have been building a base of devoted fans with their original and soulful music.

Described as
“Ray Charles and Tom Waits on a pirate ship with Sun Ra and Captain Beefheart,” they combine “upbeat disillusionment and celebratory fatalism with musicianship” – Charan Devereux; Boston Globe.

Image result for the blue ribbons music

Apr
18
Wed
Fandango
Apr 18 @ 7:00 pm

“I still believe the lessons I learned when I was raised in a Roman Catholic household. Like, it’s harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” – Michael Moore –

Celebrate Hump Day with Fandango

 

Air Congo
Apr 18 @ 10:00 pm

Boston-based African style band AIR CONGO play music from the 1960’s-70’s Kinshasa/Brazzaville scene–the music of Docteur Nico, Tabu LeyLes Bantous De La CapitaleFranco et l’Orch TPOK Jazz, and more!

Apr
19
Thu
Melvern Taylor & His Fabulous Meltones
Apr 19 @ 7:30 pm
The Band Members: Melvern Taylor- Ukulele
And the Fabulous Meltones: Matt Murphy -Upright BAss Dave Livingston – Slide Guitar Sir Bob Nash – Drums
Genre: Post-Modern Parlor Music  – give it a listen HERE
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Baker Thomas Band
Apr 19 @ 10:00 pm

“You guys put on a hell of a show, a lot of fun!” – Steve Morse, long time Boston Globe music critic and freelance writier on the Baker Thomas Band . . .

Image result for baker thomas band

Apr
20
Fri
Red Tail Hawk
Apr 20 @ 10:00 pm

Red Tail Hawk has opened for National acts such as G-Love, The Brew and Chris Duarte, to name a few. They’ve played major music festival in the region and sold-out shows at The Stone Church in Newmarket, NH and The Press Room in Portsmouth, NH.

Red Tail Hawk

Apr
21
Sat
Eric George
Apr 21 @ 7:30 pm
Eric George

Eric George is one of the smartest songwriters in the entire indie folk scene and nobody knows it. That isn’t to say that nobody knows him—or, at least by this point he should have the entire state of Vermont on his side—but he wraps his way around the intricacies of his arrangements so deftly that one wouldn’t be mistaken, from a laymen’s perspective, to call his work ‘simple.'”

    – Jonathan Frahm, For Folk’s Sake

Citizen Slim
Apr 21 @ 10:00 pm
Citizen Slim

In 2014, two venerable songwriters decided that “acoustic” music is for wussies. They dusted off the Telecasters and tube amps they had stashed away and decided to rock out. Years of folk immersion had rendered them unable to write about anything other than trucks, trains, and the aforementioned telecasters. Whatever, it’s loud and awesome.

When he’s not touring nationally doing the previously mentioned wussie folk thing, Greg Klyma hosts Americana Sundays in Union Square.

The Ryan Fitzsimmons Band won “Favorite Local Bad Ass Rock n Rollers” in the 2013 Red Line Roots Awards. Both of those guys are in this band with Chris DeSanty (drums) and Paul Chase (bass). Do it for Citizen Slim.

Apr
22
Sun
Sunday Spins
Apr 22 @ 3:00 pm

“Vinyl record sales are at a 28 year high” – Fortune April 2016  – See/Hear for yourself at Sunday Spins – every Sunday – bring your records and take turns sharing your faves!

Image result for sunday spins toad

Frank Drake & Friends
Apr 22 @ 9:00 pm

Frank Drake is one of the most unique musicians around.  He is refreshingly free of conventions and covers a wide spectrum of folk-pop-and-more styles . . . ” Steve Morse – Boston Globe

Apr
23
Mon
David Johnston
Apr 23 @ 7:30 pm

David Johnston  – if you don’t know him, you have to stop by TOAD for Blue Monday – take a listen HERE where David talks about his influences and plays a bit of music –

Image result for david johnston music

The White Owls
Apr 23 @ 9:00 pm

Just look at the band; Dennis Brennan on harmonica, guitar and vocals. Tim Gearan on guitar and vocals. Steve Sadler on lap steel.  Jim Haggerty on bass and Andy Plaisted on drums.

Check out a clip from one of their shows HERE  – After making it thru Monday, YOU deserve a night out!

Image result for white owls at toad

Apr
24
Tue
Dan Mills
Apr 24 @ 7:30 pm
Dan Mills

Singer/Songwriter Dan Mills fronts a 5 piece Folk/Americana band that’s based between Brooklyn NY and Cambridge MA. Mills portrayed country-guitar legend Carl Perkins in the Broadway cast of Million Dollar Quartet, and his song “Best I Could” earned him a nomination for Sirius XM Coffeehouse’s Singer/Songwriter Discovery of the Year”. Currently celebrating the release of his new full length album Something Good (7/7/17), Mills has combined his knack for writing honest, lyrically driven folks songs with the raw Sun Records twang that has seeped into his artistic voice. Sincere and bittersweet, Something Good is a love letter to cheap wine and deep love, dive bars and indecision, quiet train rides, and the unwavering hope of a hungry artist.

AS SEEN AT TOAD...