Ford’s 2022 F-150 Lightning. Ford’s team will be onsite with F-150 Lightning trucks and guests will have the opportunity to be driven around a test track. Photo: Ford, used with permission.
Pearl is excited to welcome Ford to the property as they debut their first electric pick-up truck, the 2022 F-150 Lightning®. The Ford team will be onsite at Pearl starting Wednesday, May 4 at 3p.m. for a limited time as they showcase the all-new electric truck, its features made possible by electrification and its smart digital technologies. On select dates, Ford will have professional drivers giving rides to individuals around a special circuit at Pearl. (Ford, 2022)
Ford will begin their activations onsite at Pearl beginning on Wednesday, May 4. Rides with professional drivers on the test track as follows: • Wednesday, May 4 from 3p.m. to 8p.m. • Thursday, May 5 from 3p.m. to 8p.m. • Friday, May 6 from 12p.m. to 6p.m. • Saturday, May 7 from 9a.m. to 8p.m. • Sunday, May 8 from 9a.m. to 6p.m.
Ford’s activations will take place throughout the property (312 Pearl Parkway, San Antonio, TX 78215), including the Cellars Pavilion, Pearl Park and Pearl Parkito. The rides will be located in the parking lot behind Best Quality Daughter (602 Avenue A, San Antonio, TX 78215).
Pearl is a dynamic neighborhood built around the historic Pearl Brewery, which operated from 1883 to 1999. Located just north of downtown San Antonio on the banks of the San Antonio River, it is home to architecturally significant buildings like the brewhouse and stable—both built in 1894—and numerous plazas. Today, Pearl is home to dozens of unique culinary concepts, one-of-a-kind retail, weekend markets, residential communities, innovative office tenants, the San Antonio campus of the Culinary Institute of America, and the award-winning Hotel Emma. Pearl is a vibrant district where community gathers to play, work, and live; it is a place where things are made and celebrated with purpose and sincerity.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Dirt Does Dylan will be released May 20, 2022. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Five-decades-running Americana pioneers Nitty Gritty Dirt Band have already played a major role in the preservation and popularity of folk music—their Will The Circle Be Unbroken album series introduced droves of new fans to folk, country, and bluegrass and earned the band multiple Grammy awards. Now, the long-running group has taken on another American institution near and dear to their hearts; the Bob Dylan songbook. On May 20, the band will be releasing Dirt Does Dylan, a ten-track album highlighting some of the gems from Dylan’s vast catalog with the help of three new band members: fiddle specialist Ross Holmes; singer-songwriter and bass player Jim Photoglo (who wrote one of the Dirt Band’s biggest hits “Fishin’ in the Dark”); and Dirt Band founder Jeff Hanna’s son, the absurdly talented singer and guitarist Jaime Hanna. Produced and recorded by Ray Kennedy at Room & Board Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, Dirt Does Dylan finds a generation-spanning Dirt Band paying an appropriately great tribute to arguably the greatest songwriter of the 20th century with the help of friends like Jason Isbell, The War & Treaty, Steve Earle, and Rosanne Cash, to name a few. (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, 2022)
Billboard premiered the Dirt Band’s cover of “I Shall Be Released,” which Dylan originally recorded with The Band during their infamous Basement Tapes sessions. On this version of the tune, sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell—better known as accomplished blues-rock duo Larkin Poe—lend their perfectly-blended voices and Megan’s lap steel guitar skills to the mix. Carpenter takes the first verse vocals while the Hannas handle guitar duties. Aside from the fine songwriting itself, Jeff Hanna and Megan Lovell’s infectious guitar interplay carries the song from verse to verse, culminating in the song’s final solo section. Fans can watch the band record “I Shall Be Released” in its official music videoat this link, check out the previously-released single, “The Times, They Are A-Changin’,” and pre-orderor pre-save Dirt Does Dylan ahead of its May 20 release.
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band formed in 1966 as a Long Beach, California jug band, scored its first charting single in 1967, and embarked on a self-propelled ride through folk, country, rock ‘n’ roll, pop, bluegrass, and the amalgam now known as “Americana.” The first major hit came in 1971 with the epic “Mr. Bojangles,” which, along with insistent support from banjo master Earl Scruggs, opened doors in Nashville. Earl Scruggs, Roy Acuff, Doc Watson, Mother Maybelle Carter, Jimmy Martin, and others collaborated on a multi-artist, multi-generational, three-disc 1972 masterpiece: Will the Circle Be Unbroken. In the 1980s, the Dirt Band reeled off 15 straight Top 10 country hits, including chart-toppers “Long Hard Road (The Sharecropper’s Dream),” “Modern Day Romance,” and “Fishin’ in the Dark (co-written by Jim Photoglo, who would join the band in the second decade of the new century). The year 1989 brought a second Circle album, this one featuring singer-songwriter talents including John Prine, Rosanne Cash, and John Hiatt and garnering two Grammy awards for the band. Circle II also won the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year prize. Circle III was released in 2003, featuring collaborations with Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, and more.
Track listing: 1. Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You 2. Girl from the North Country 3. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry 4. Country Pie 5. I Shall Be Released (ft. Larkin Poe) 6. She Belongs to Me 7. Forever Young 8. The Times They Are A-Changin’ (ft. Rosanne Cash, Jason Isbell, Steve Earle, and The War and Treaty) 9. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right 10. Quinn The Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)
Catch Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on tour: May 13 – Lancaster, PA – American Music Theatre May 14 – New York, NY – City Winery May 15 – Philadelphia, PA – City Winery May 19 – Mankato, MN – Vetter Stone Amphitheatre May 20 – Papillion, NE – Sumtur Amphitheater May 21 – Chesterfield, MO – Chesterfield Amphitheatre May 22 – Louisville, KY – Iroquois Amphitheater June 9 – Eureka Springs, AR – Eureka Springs City Auditorium June 10 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater June 11 – Salina, KS – Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts June 24 – Grand Junction, CO – Country Jam 2022 June 25 – North Platte, NE – Nebraskaland Days July 14 – Davenport, IA – Rhythm City Casino Resort July 15 – Decorah, IA – Winneshiek County Fair July 16 – Chicago, IL – City Winery July 21 – Marietta, OH – Peoples Bank Theatre July 22 – Shipshewana, IN – Blue Gate Performing Arts Center July 23 – Twin Lakes, WI – Country Thunder Wisconsin 2022 August 3 – McMinnville, OR – Yamhill County Fair & Rodeo August 4 – Boise, ID – The Egyptian Theatre August 6 – Bellvue, CO – Mishawaka Amphitheatre August 12 – Hinckley, MN – Grand Country Nights 2022 August 13 – South West Fargo, ND – Lights Amphitheater August 18 – Three Forks, MT – Headwaters Country Jam 2022 August 19 – Rexford, MT – Abayance Bay Marina August 27 – Gilbert, AZ – Higley Center For The Performing Arts August 28 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre September 2 – Orange Park, FL – Thrasher-Horne Center September 3 – Mill Spring, NC – The Earl Scruggs Music Festival 2022
The single Yellow Dawn is from the upcoming new album Garden Songs, out June 24, 2022. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Underneath the lush arrangements and spellbinding vocal melodies of Lydia Luce’s latest output lies a story of human persistence—the idea that we will carry on, letting hope and love guide us, in the face of an uncertain future. On June 24, Luce is set to release Garden Songs, a five-song EP sown from her time spent reconnecting with songwriting during an artist in residence on Orcas Island, just off the coast of Washington state; the first writing Luce had done since her 2021 album, Dark River. Luce shared “Yellow Dawn” from Garden Songs, a letter to herself that serves as a reminder to keep writing, creating, and believing. Most importantly, to keep going. (Lydia Luce, 2022)
“As an artist my job is to create, and it remains that even when I have no idea what I’ll do with the projects I make,” says Luce, giving listeners a rare glimpse into an all-too-common thought that passes through creative minds. “‘Yellow Dawn’ is the unknown that I must keep plunging into even when I’m unsure and afraid.” Luce’s beautiful metaphor is framed by an endearing refrain of “I will carry on, we will carry on, love will carry on.” “Yellow Dawn” is punctuated by a string quartet that includes Luce on viola, contributing a retro, unison arrangement vibe that furthers the song’s timelessness and complements Luce’s vocal delivery immaculately. Fans can hear “Yellow Dawn” now at this link and pre-order/pre-save Garden Songs ahead of its release right here.
Writing in such a picturesque setting helped her focus her attention on the world around her—quite literally in the case of the EP’s first song, “Matter of Time.” The summer before Luce landed on Orcas Island, the northwest suffered two brutal heat waves, and the extreme weather killed dozens. It got Luce thinking about the cognitive dissonance of wanting to be present in this remarkable place while grappling with how the same area was deadly to so many during a bout of extreme weather.
Luce turned to her impending wedding for “Vow,” which is the tale of the next step in a relationship that had been turbulent. The song lands on a moment of looking forward. Another love is at the heart of “Air Castle”—that of Luce’s great grandparents. Her father shared a book of their love letters, written between 1909 and 1920, while he was in California and she was in Georgia. The song captures how important it can be to feel like someone is in your corner, seeing the best of you and rooting for your triumph.
“Cosmic Flower” offers a series of similes, drawing a parallel between nature and love. It folds Luce’s passion and inspiration for the vastness of nature with those same feelings in her relationship. Written in a period of separation, Luce penned it on the side of a cliff—more literal than metaphorical. The EP ends with the aforementioned “Yellow Dawn,” summing up the feeling that propelled the writing and creation of Garden Songs. Persistence, in love and living, is a choice Luce continues to make, and the fruits of her carrying-on are on full display through this gorgeous musical window into her life.
In addition to her solo work, Luce created Lockeland Strings, a community arts organization that showcases local artists with a string quintet and performances of new contemporary classical pieces from local composers. They have been joined by Kacey Musgraves and Lucie Silvas, among others, and partners with nonprofits, including the ACLU of Tennessee, Girls Write Nashville and The Little Pantry That Could. She also plays viola as a session musician.
Garden Songs track list: Matter of Time Vow Air Castle Cosmic Flower Yellow Dawn
Catch Lydia Luce on tour: May 21 – Nashville, TN – The Blue Room: Lockeland Strings with Katy Kirby and most likely Devon Gilfillian and Liza Anne June 9 Nashville, TN – Jaans House: Lockeland Strings Nicki Bluhm, Volunteer Department and more June 26 – Fox Island, ME – Crab Tree June 26 – North Haven Island, ME – CrabTree Session June 30 – Plymouth, MA – The Spire July 1 – Cape Cod, MA – Cultural Arts Center July 2 – Portsmouth, NH – Music Hall July 6 – Bristol, CT – Acousticool
‘Sidhe’ by Aria Storm is on sale now on paperback and e-book. Photo: Aria Storm, used with permission.
Aria Storm is influenced by major authors from a wide range of genres and time periods. The earliest influences come in the form of Lord Dunsany, William Shakespeare, and H.P. Lovecraft. Modern influences include Gary S. Kadet, Chloe Neill, McKenzie Hunter, Laurell K. Hamilton, Timothy Zahn, and K. F. Brenee. She avidly believes in representing LGBTQIA+ people with valid heroes/ heroines and plots which can be sizzling at times but also contain other aspects outside the queer sex. This author’s entire adult life has been devoted to becoming a better storyteller and to bringing LGBTQIA+ characters to everyone. Most of Aria Storm’s works have been Lesfic, but the author also publishes various other genres and is about to expand even further in the near future. In her new book ‘Sidhe,’ a woman discovers she is a rare breed of fairy. (Aria Storm, 2022)
‘Sidhe’– A college freshman discovers she is a rare breed of fairy as she is brought to the world of Fairey. Her life is threatened instantly when human assassins discover her in the forest of Fairey. Now, she will be forced to unravel a deeper plot with the help of a sexy female protector called The Hawthorn Knight. Sexual discovery and awakening of her true attractions manifest. Ella is made aware of who she is, not just as a being, but also as a maturing woman.
SA Examiner 