Calendar
BAKER THOMAS BAND “…kind of a musical Robin Hood, robbing freely from the classic roots of American music and bringing it back to the common folks.” – Billy Beard, Talent buyer/Boston Session drummer.
“A veritable Grand Ole Opry with a modern sense of humor….” (Music Connection Magazine)
Featuring:
Bruce Bartone
(acoustic and electric guitars; bass guitar, keyboards; backing vocals);
Mike Eigen
(lead and backing vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar, clarinet, ukulele, songwriting);
Shamus Feeney
(bass guitar, acoustic, electric, and resophonic guitars; percussion; lead and backing vocals);
Chris Gleason
(lead and backing vocals, mandolin, tenor banjo, acoustic guitar, percussion, songwriting);
Paul Stewart
(lead and backing vocals, accordion, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, harmonica, songwriting)
…and whenever possible:
Jakub Trasak
(fiddle)
After some twenty-five years of marriage, long time local, touring, and studio musician Jimmy Ryan teamed up to form The Nocturnal Adoration Society with his wife, Donna Sartanowicz to write songs and play music. This new collaboration seamlessly blends a variety of musical perspectives and with only bass guitar and mandolin/mandocello this pairing is like nothing else out there. Straight-foward, honest songs delivered with heartfelt harmonies and intricate mandolin work.
Jimmy Ryan has been living, working, and playing in and around Boston for some 30 years. The founding member of The Blood Oranges in the late 1980’s, Jimmy has gone on to front a number of bands including Hayride, The Clockburners, Wooden Leg, and The Architects of Reason. An experienced studio musician he can be found on records by Mophine, Warren Zevon, and The Paddy Saul Band.
Donna Sartanowicz is a high school art teacher who moonlights as a musician, singer, and songwriter. Creative work is creative work whether it is painting or playing music. A member of the all-girl punk pop band Fertile Virgin back in the late 80’s early 90’s – Donna and two of the other women in the band reunited in Summer of 2016 to form a new band now called The Very.
The Whiskey Geese are:
Tyler Wayne – acoustic guitar, vocals, foot tamborine, melodica
Dane Anderson – acoustic guitar, vocals, foot percussion
A high flyin’ power duo.
“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!
With tip my heart, Sally & George have made an engaging, eclectic debut album. It’s a thoughtful meditation on Means’ and Timmons’ courtship and love (the duo got engaged in July 2016 on a mountain in North Carolina after work on tip my heart was completed). The album deftly moves from rollicking, electrified rockers to stripped down, gauzy reflections on love and faith, to walking bass-led country-indebted duets. All of it is done tastefully, with an earnestness that does not shy away from humor or the occasional cuss word.
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 –
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!
The Revelations include singers Andrea Gillis, Jenny Dee & Erica Mantone . . . bringing you gospel, rock and roll, and soul . . .
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.
FANDANGO is as much a spiritual renewal as it is a reinterpretation of some of the best soul, blues, gospel, and Americana music ever written. With a loyal flock of followers (the flock that rock) to their weekly Wednesday night residency at TOAD in Cambridge, FANDANGO fuels frontman Fred Griffeth to lead this congregation into soul and R&B righteousness! For he is like a refiner of fire and he shall purify!
“Ask not for whom the Fandan goes. It goes for thee. On Wednesday donchaknow.” –
Mark Kilianski is a versatile guitar player, singer and composer from Boston. He plays blues-rock, jazz, and country music with The Country Shuffle. He writes songs about real life and imagination, and composes music for horns, strings, and anything else. Originally a Jersey boy, he picked up the guitar at age 13 to play angsty heavy metal, but quickly discovered a passion for classic rock and blues.
Joining him tonight is Nate Sabat . . . 
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
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.
To grasp the story of Sugar Blood Jinx, you simply need to listen to one of the tracks off their first album. A song called Hardcore Boogie which was written by Eric Waxwood.
Three verses; all 100% autobiographical; all true.
Life can get pretty hardcore sometimes. From guns accidentally going off at home to being an innocent bystander during an armed robbery; these are the kind of reasons you’ve got to boogie. Or just turn those real hard blues into something that can raise you up. That’s the Sugar Blood Jinx Mantra. Blues with attitude.
“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!
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.
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!
The Revelations include singers Andrea Gillis, Jenny Dee & Erica Mantone . . . bringing you gospel, rock and roll, and soul . . .
. . . tonight TOAD welcomes Organ in Orbit
Out of THIS World!
Organ in Orbit features Justin Piper on guitar and Jeremy Parker on organ.
“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
Andrew DiMarzo is a gigging musician in the Boston scene since the fall of ’13, Andrew has since developed his live performances from solo– acoustic shows to gigs that are inching towards band formats. As a guitarist for a dozen years, a vocalist for over 5, and an avid soul-music-obsessed rock-guy, Andrew’s music sports a unique and very rhythmically layered style.
“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 . . .
“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
At the core of every Niall Connolly song is the story, one that unfolds a layer with each listen.
“A veritable Grand Ole Opry with a modern sense of humor….” (Music Connection Magazine)
Featuring:
Bruce Bartone
(acoustic and electric guitars; bass guitar, keyboards; backing vocals);
Mike Eigen
(lead and backing vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar, clarinet, ukulele, songwriting);
Shamus Feeney
(bass guitar, acoustic, electric, and resophonic guitars; percussion; lead and backing vocals);
Chris Gleason
(lead and backing vocals, mandolin, tenor banjo, acoustic guitar, percussion, songwriting);
Paul Stewart
(lead and backing vocals, accordion, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, harmonica, songwriting)
…and whenever possible:
Jakub Trasak
(fiddle)
More on David Johnston: You’re rushing through the city streets, maybe late for an appointment, distracted by your life’s many obligations, and you blow right past a street musician, hard at work. And you stop. And you listen. And you enter the moment and think, ‘Wow, this guy can really play.’
