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Scroll down to browse or click a button to select a category. Lots more content on the way.

Pull down menus at the top include active Author and Music Weblinks where you can easily explore 100’s of  favorites and up and coming artists.

Music/Books/Art and More

Rich Curtin (Moab, Utah)

Location – Moab, Utah

Rich Curtin writes a mystery series, featuring Deputy Sheriff, Manny Rivera. He is everything you would want in a hero. and more. Rich Curtin is one of a few fine authors who take the big city police procedurial into the back country setting.

With each mystery comes a travelogue of southeastern Utah featuring Moab and the surrounding majestic landscape. Along with strengh of character, Curtin delivers stories steeped in the history and culture of the area. Now, Moab has grown in popularity as a destination not to be missed the in southwest. Spend some time there with Manny Rivera before you go. And, once you read one of the books in the series and look at some pictures, you will want to go.

 

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Roaming the Arts – Interactive

The Mission of Roaming the Arts is to share information and links to artists who are breaking out, long remembered, or simply worthy of a listen or a read. Most of the posts are for known artists, with a national following in the music and book world, but not considered household names.

For music, there are youtube videos that introduce artists and hopefully engage you to explore more. For readers who are always seeking their next good book or new author, we are adding more all the time. Use the menu buttons to dig deeper and find hundreds of posts to explore.

You are invited and encouraged to interact with this arts browser.

Consider:

  • Who would you like to see added to the blog posts? There are so many musicians, authors, and artists worthy of sharing. Help us prioritize and offer your favorites. Careful now…not anyone too famous. They don’t need us to push traffic to their sites.
  • Tell us who you’ve discovered and loved. Go to their websites. Find them on tour or when a new book or recording comes out.
  • Share your thoughts, use the comments section at the bottom of the posts, send an email to info@roamingthearts.com, or visit us on  Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as RoamingtheArts.
  • Follow the music playlists on Roaming the Arts Radio via Spotify.

Hello, Bookstore

Hello, Bookstore – Lenox, Massachusetts

As Roaming the Arts reflects on the last year or so, the most heartwarming story about books and the people who love them is the story of a small New England bookstore, on the verge of closing due to the pandemic, and the documentary film made to tell the story of survival.

In 2020, on the verge of closing down, a GoFundMe was started and the owner’s friends, the town, and many others stepped up to save this independent bookstore. It’s a great story, and for this website, at the heart of why our passion for authors and books is a sharing experience.

Check out some of what was said in Print:

In the Local paper.

What Variety said.

(also find stories in the NY Times, the Boston Globe, and many others.)

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Little Feat

Little Feat

R.I.P. Paul Barrere

With Paul gone and Lowell George, gone so long we can only imagine what he may have accomplished as his 78th birthday recently passed.

Now, a Billy Payne led band has opened a new chapter, out on the road, hosting festivals and featured on a cruise (Big Easy Cruise.)

Gotta Love ‘Em. FEAT, FEAT FEAT FEAT.

Check out the embeded  video  featuring very young guests, Emmy Lou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, and Jesse Winchester. 

Where Do I Start With Little Feat?

By Lara Zarum

 

Neal Francis

Neal Francis

Liberated from a self-destructive past and born anew in sobriety, Francis has captured an inspired collection of songs steeped in New Orleans rhythms, Chicago blues, and early 70s rock n’ roll. His music evokes a bygone era of R&B’s heyday while simultaneously forging a new path on the musical landscape. Colemine Records

 

“The reincarnation of Allen Toussaint.” Craig Charles, BBC Radio 6

“Think New Orleans meets the Midwest with a little bit of California sun shining in the background.” -TwinCitiesMedia.net

“There’s a good chance you’ll have heard of Francis by the time the year is over…classic Funk, Soul and R&B.” Cincinnati CityBeat

“…gleefully mired In 70s style funk.” – NPR

“Soulful style…uplifting vibe…” – Dusty Groove

 “Instant Americana-funk classic…R&B, blues and touches of gospel and good old fashioned funk merge into pure beauty and soul here, making the appetite and excitement for whatever Francis does next all the more intense.” – Record Crates United

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Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Read: The Golden Couple

GREER HENDRICKS 

is the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Wife Between Us. Prior to becoming a novelist, she spent two decades as an editor at Simon & Schuster. She obtained her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Allure, and Publishers Weekly. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and two children.

SARAH PEKKANEN 

is the internationally and USA Today bestselling author of eight previous solo novels and the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller The Wife Between Us. A former investigative journalist and award-winning feature writer, she has published work in The Washington Post, USA Today, and many others. She is the mother of three sons and lives just outside Washington, D.C.

Visit Greer Hendricks Site

Visit Sarah Pekkanen Site

The Cactus Blossoms

The Cactus Blossoms

“Hey baby, do you wanna take a trip with me? / I’ve got a feeling there might be a silver lining all around.” So begins One Day, the captivating new album from critically acclaimed Minneapolis duo The Cactus Blossoms. Written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the record explores the tension between optimism and despair that’s defined much of the past few years of American life, examining the power (or naïveté, depending on your perspective) of positive thinking in the face of chaos and uncertainty. The songs here are tender and timeless, with straightforward arrangements centered around brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum’s airtight harmonies, and the performances are warm and intimate to match, delivered with a soulful, ’70s-inspired palette of playful Wurlitzer, breezy guitars, and muscular percussion.

The Cactus Blossoms broke out nationally in 2016 with their JD McPherson-produced debut, You’re Dreaming. Dates with Kacey Musgraves, Jenny Lewis, and Lucius followed, as did raves from the New York Times and NPR, who praised “the brothers’ extraordinary singing.” The band was further catapulted into the spotlight in 2018, when David Lynch tapped them to perform in the return of Twin Peaks, and continued to build on their success with their 2019 sophomore LP, Easy Way, which led Rolling Stone to laud the duo’s “rock-solid, freak of genetics harmonies.” High Road Touring

If you love the harmonies of the Everly Brothers, do not miss listening to The Cactus Blossoms. Brothers, they are.

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Roaming the Arts Radio

Launch – Roaming the Arts Radio on Spotify

All Set Playlists open in Spotify and are free to listen to whether you subscribe or not.

(Click “Show All” when playlists are on screen)

Time Capsules and Progressive Radio Sets created over more than 45 years.

Each Time Capsule was created in the year shown. (1975-1994)

Followers are saying they have listened while driving cross country and have not run out of music.

Sample Playlists:

What is your favorite year? 

1979 Time Capsule #4

1981 Time Capsule #1

1982 Time Capsule #2

1983 Time Capsule #1

1984 Time Capsule #6

1985 Time Capsule #5  

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