Vicci Martinez drove here 8 hours from Sandpoint, we were so excited about her unplugged performance. She said, “This is awesome that you do this live!” She found it unusual. We did a quick sound check and everything was fine…until we went live. As Tim says, she is “as big as a minute.” However, her voice is incredibly strong! During this first song, her current hit and duet she did with Cee Lo, the walls shook, she threw her head back, and this vocal mic could take no more. I grabbed every button I could think of to get rid of distortion, nothing worked as the mic was on its way out. I grabbed Rocky and headed in to ask Tim to take a commercial break. There’s nothing I hate more than interrupting, or throwing a fellow coworker off-track in a live moment. I also couldn’t live with the less than stellar quality of this failing microphone, so we did a spot break. We switched equipment, and she sweetly accepted my request to repeat the above song after the live session. The second time was even more amazing than the first, she sings with so much passion. The amazing song above was written by "The Cardigans." Click HERE for photos from the Vicci Martinez Moxie Java Listener Lounge!

Many people recognize Vicci Martinez from last season’s “The Voice” program. She spoke of it in high regard. With a closed set and some interviews before making the cut, she said it didn’t really hit her until a couple of things happened. First, it happened at the rehearsal when the contestants stood backstage and watched all of the judges sing the opening number together for the first show. She thought, “Oh wow, this is REAL!” Then when Christina and Cee Lo turned their chairs around to vote for her, it was even more real. Leaving the closed set and soon being recognized on the street, things really started to happen for her.

Vicci spoke of her parents being supportive of music, they said, “You’re too small for basketball.” Vicci has shared the stage with many amazing performers, sang with Brandi Carlile, and has opened for B.B. King. She said B.B. stays long after the show is done to sign autographs and meet people. He gave her some advice to do the same, saying “Glad to meet you, but these are the people who make this possible. Always remember that.”

When opening for Sting and Annie Lennox, Vicci’s mom was present and really wanted her daughter to meet Sting. Before shows, Sting likes his alone-time and doesn’t speak much to save his voice. The determined mom kept shouting at sound check, “Sting! Sting! Sting! MR. STING!” Vicci said he finally turned around to see who would yell something like “Mr. Sting!” Her mom yelled, “This is my daughter and she’s opening for you tonight!” Vicci retold the embarrassing moment, but was also glad to meet Mr. Sting.

When asked about some great advice she could remember being given, she spoke of her coach and record label supporter, Cee Lo Green. They were focusing on cover songs. He told her not to just sing it, but to actually “pay homage” to them. She was rehearsing Pat Benetar’s “Love Is a Battlefield.” He reminded her, “This woman paved the path for you, pay homage!”

She was fiery, kind, and passionate. Hopefully her new releases will bring her back to us for a live show. We await her full CD release June 19th, but you can purchase her “Come Along” EP HERE. 

We love it when artists stop by and perform songs about Idaho. The latest self-titled album from Delta Spirit is actually their third release. They didn’t have a lead guitar player for their previous album. Signed by Rounder Records, we had 2 of the 3 main members stop by for an in-studio performance. I noticed their tour bus parked at Tokyo Massage next door when I drove in, they went a little further east of our parking lot than we had suggested!

People seemed to enjoy the first batch of Moxie Java guitar picks I’d made from their gift cards. Recycling is fun, especially when it makes people smile.

Delta Spirit is a band they say you must see live, to get what their energy is all about. They joked about how sometimes audience members don’t seem present. When they see people in the front row looking down at their phones, perhaps Tweeting about the show they are actually at, the band finds it quite distracting. Sometimes people using flash to take photos when they are singing is enough distraction, someone in the band will actually take their phone away! (I found it ironic that while this story is told, their sound tech guy somehow snuck into my recording room during the live interview. This was quite distracting, as they told their story about distractions. It kept me from my best focus, my drink, my lunch, and most of all…my special Moxie Java cookie! SO distracting…) Delta Spirit handles the camera distraction by taking backstage photos of themselves, before returning the phones to their owners after the shows.

We had a nice visit with the band, and a relative from Dripping Springs, Texas, left them the nicest note on the RiverBoise Facebok page. "Show'm how it's done y'all ! Luv u both...xomom"

He is a Brit Award winner, like Adele, but his name is new to many people in the U.S. Young girls lined up for a chance to see Ed Sheeran at the Record Exchange in-store performance. The store was buzzing with people from all walks of life a half hour before his set, and by the time he played we’d guess 2-300 people may have showed up! There is a mad brilliance about this artist, you can see it in his eyes. You thought Jason Mraz could remember a lightning round of words? Check THIS out! This is the seconds UK single from his debut release.

This 21 year old started playing guitar at a young age. He listened to Van Morrison, and his parents took him to a very intimate show from Damien Rice. He gained much support through YouTube videos, became a guitar tech, and is currently opening for some Snow Patrol dates. He mentioned we’d get more of his music at this in-store performance than he is able to perform on tour. Our friends saw him in SLC, and said after the show he was chatting and signing autographs for hours. His management had to ask him to quit, because he needed to get some sleep!

This track is his current US single, and was the biggest selling debut single of 2011.

Ed Sheeran told a great love story in his own life about his 2 Godparents having painful divorces, and then being engaged to each other. He will be playing this song at their wedding this summer.

Ed Sheeran said he was a young red-headed boy when the Harry Potter movies came out, and he was always being compared to actor Rupert Grint from the movies. He thought of hiring him to play himself in the video for this song, but he ended up playing a stalker.

This song is the third single from his debut release, it peaked at #5 on the UK singles chart.

Ed Sheeran has huge success in England, and is coming to America. You can tell he really wants this, and will work hard to make it happen. His debut release + (plus), is available as an import, but will be released in the US on June 4th.

This is the 4th single in the UK, but Ed Sheeran isn’t sure American radio will play it because of the subject matter. The Record Exchange crowd loved it, and the fact that he stayed another half hour for photos and free posters to autograph.

You may recognize that song as a great Bob Dylan tune from the “Wonder Boys” movie. Curtis Stigers has stopped in before, but this is the first time we’ve done an audience session. Joined with a couple members of Bill Coffey’s band, we took our time getting the right sounds and replacing cables to get it right. Before going live, I noticed blood on his hand. I’d walked up to ask for a sound check piece, and Curtis was focused on stopping the bleeding and finding a couple of Band-aids. I had wondered what we could possibly have laying around that might cut someone like that. I asked Tim about it later, he tracked Curtis down and asked what had happened. Tim texted me, “Opening a 12 pack of ale. His direct quote.” I felt bad that the guitar player “shaky Dave” and I broke the news to Curtis about the death of Levon Helm. He was really saddened by this, reflecting on it while he doctored his hand.

This was a fun session. Curtis has been a name in Boise music for years, and if you’ve lived here forever, you remember the Hi Tops. He used to jam with Gene Harris. His talents soon reached way beyond Boise, he’s performed with Clapton, Prince, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, and many others. You can catch his mother, Maragaret Montrose Stigers occasionally at a performance of the Boise Divas.

His newest release is called “Let’s Go Out Tonight.” It is available soon, and if you pre-order at the Record Exchange, you’ll get tickets to his performance there this Saturday night for Record Store Day. This CD is amazing, the label sent us all advance copies. Many great covers are found on this release.

Curtis jumped on an elevator with Teddy Thompson, Richard Thompson’s song. He told him he’d wanted to record one of his dad’s songs, Teddy told him to do this one.

Curtis Stigers’ new album was produced by Larry Klein, former husband of Joni Mitchell. He has produce albums for her, Madeleine Peyroux, Tracy Chapman, Shawn Colvin, and many others. Curtis loved working with him, Larry told him to “sing less and feel more.” He also instructed a seasoned guitarist to play less, and Curtis seemed to very much respect the suggestions and changes. David Poe wrote this song for Curtis to sing. Many different songwriters contributed to this new release, and Curtis says, “For better or worse, this story is me.”

Curtis spoke with great respect of producer Larry Klein, he joked that as a young singer he was a cross between Cher and Al Green. Larry told Curtis, “Try to think about singing these songs to one person, maybe even lying in bed with that person.”

Curtis wrote the theme song to “Sons of Anarchy.” Local producer Don Cunningham has a great ear and is a pleasure to work with. This was originally recorded in 2008 at Boise's Cunningham Audio. "This Life" received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music in 2009.We are grateful to Curtis for stopping in for these amazing performances!

Our day was filled with great music and surprises, when Donavon Frankenreiter showed up for our in-studio. They were very chill, the sound check went without a hitch, and it was just what everyone needed to make the rainy day a bit better. Friend of Jack Johnson for years, Donavon Frankenreiter grew up surfing with the Johnson family on the north shore of Oahu. “Jack and his brothers were all lifeguards,” he told us.

At 39 years old, Donavon still loves surfing, and music. He has a family now, 2 boys. Their names are “Hendrix,” and “Ozzy.” He says he’s glad his wife of 11 years let him get away with that name.

Matt Grundy had a Martin ukulele, and also plays guitar, banjo, and nearly anything else thrown in front of him. He adds great accompaniment and harmony on stage.

Donavon has some cool sandals, and you can get some for yourself through his site. www.sanuk.com/rider_detail.phtml

The new album “Start Livin,’” will be in stores May 29th. They did some experimenting in their recording studio and used guitar cases, pots and pans, and a Zippo lighter for percussion.

Donavon is a great guitarist, he and Matt rarely use guitar picks and were able to pull some sweet guitar leads off during the Knitting Factory show. They also did a great cover of Bruce Cockburn’s “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” and played some groovy disco beats.

Before the concert and after our in-studio, Donavon asked us to take him to “a cool rock crystal place.” This made for one amazing day at work for Tim and I, and it has its own blog and video below. It was amazing fun, and we are so thankful to Stewart’s Gem shop  for teaching us all about geodes, giving us all star garnets, and being so kind. This is a 4th generation rock shop, how had we never been here before? If you want to learn more about getting your own cool rocks, Brent Stewart can hook you up with your Idaho Gem Club membership.  Donavan had a blast there, and bought a huge 73 pound purple crystal, plus a box of uncracked geodes for his kids to open on Easter. They will love this!

With a little time before sound check, Donavon found the famous 36th street wave on the Boise river, and a surfboard. He loved this little treasure, just ½ mile from downtown. His goal is to “keep the oceans beautiful,” raising money for water-related nonprofits.

THIS tune below, was written by Matt Nathanson!

Other things to look forward to… Brit Award-winner Ed Sheeran, April 29th. Venue is not yet confirmed, we’re thinking of some new options. I told our engineer Rocky about it, so we can pool our equipment and make this happen in an awesome way. I said, “Ed Sheeran is a big deal in England,” and Rocky grinned and said, “Let’s make him a big deal HERE!”

Coldplay is a big deal everywhere,we had a California show giveaway with an incredible promotion from Jagermeister, YUM! This nectar has chased away 3 sore throats between friends and I this winter alone! We gave away a Jager tap machine, Peavey amp, and THIS rad guitar!

It was a wonderful surprise to stumble across a private Scars On 45 show listing in Nampa last week. I was actually searching shows on a concert site, learning about the awesome upcoming Olivia Newton John show. Got some comments from Facebook frenemies. Haters gonna hate, whatev...  I asked around, “What’s up with this Scars on 45 show in Nampa?!” Before I knew it, Tim had them scheduled to be in studio right away.

This band is dear to our hearts. Their full album was just released last week, but River listeners have been lucky to watch this band grow and refine into what they are now for the last couple of years. They have played large clubs, small clubs, our outdoor concert with Thunder Mountain Train Line, a free surprise performance at Boise Rock School, The Record Exchange, and many in-studios for us on The River.

The group seemed a bit tired, but soon warmed up with their usual joking. There was a constant razzing back and forth with Aimee. They used an exaggerated demon voice to describe her yelling “TURN THE LIGHT OUT!” the night before. She smirked and teasingly insisted she had actually said, “Pardon me, could you please turn off the light?” They kept saying, “It wasn’t in that TONE!”

When asked what they missed, Aimee said about England, “Fish and chips.” When asked about highlights of America, the first answer was Red Rocks. They also loved being on Leno, but also said it made them very nervous. They loved their first headlining tour, playing in San Francisco, and said their last Neurolux show here was one of their best. I would agree with that, there was some serious love and energy being shared with the band, and people actually listened.

Nova hams it up with his radio voice introduction to this next song.

We are excited to learn that Scars on 45 will return in June. At that time, Danny says he wants to take over Tim’s show as guest DJ. Tim seems open to it, suggests a day of fun with the band. Danny challenges Tim to jump out of an airplane next time, our friend Ryan is witness to this. Tim did say that if Danny would, he would. We will see!

This ended up being an amazing day, the songs were great. Moxie Java goodies were wonderful, and we were spoiled with yummy Guido’s Pizza. The band had brought some cd’s to sell, many people wanted them but did not have cash. River listener Scott had a huge heart and generously bought cd’s for everyone at the session, and had them signed! The band was having fun, and I pulled them into the mixing studio and had them record some station ID’s for us, including one for the holidays. They are cheesy, and wonderful.

Since the band had plenty of time for sound check, Tim had some fun challenging the group with doing a new cover song. He printed lyrics off for them, and they practiced on this literally ten minutes before going live. It was fun to watch their process, Danny structured how to play it, Aimee drew lines after the verses and gave copies to the band, Nova somehow of course just knew what to play on the glockenspiel. They are always fun and we will love chatting with them again in June. Here is the Coldplay tune they learned last minute for us.

Lead singer Wesley Schultz used to be an artist, who spent time drawing with his best friend, Josh Fraites. In 2002, he was lost to a drug overdose. Younger brother Jeremiah and Wesley, went on to find solace in music, getting through their grief and creating the band “The Lumineers.”

My first though when I saw the group setting up was, “ahhh, cello!” Ken came into the room saying, “What was that James Bond movie where they had the white cello? You know, and they had a white cello case? Then they went down the mountain in it as a sled?” No one knew. (Turns out to be “The Living Daylights,” from 1987).

New York was harsh to The Lumineers, they moved on to Denver and placed a Craigslist ad for a cellist. Neyla Pekarek answered the ad, and in time contributed other instruments as well. She plays cello, mandolin, bass, and piano, and offers nice harmonies for the group.

Jeremiah said this song was for his mother, whose pet dog had recently died. He says it is her picture on the front of their new cd.

The singer says that songwriting on the road is very challenging. “You need privacy to write. You don’t find that on a bus.”

The Lumineers are described as “Front Porch Folk,” or “Front Porch Americana." Their visit to our station had us gather up every mic stand we own, and even one brought from home. They did a show in Boise the night before, and returned to their hotel in time to watch their musical performance on the Craig Ferguson show. Their full self-titled release is available now at your local record store.

Some days, you never know where work will take you. Today after our in-studio with Donavon Frankenreiter, he asked if we knew of any places with cool rocks. For the next unplanned 90 minutes, we were all on a mobile adventure!

Tyrone Wells and his band seemed in good spirits, even though a bus tire had blown out earlier in Burley. Thanks to a nice guy named “Tyler,” the band made it in town in time for our session. They’re getting quite used to mechanical problems, and earlier in the tour lost 2 tires on the same side of the bus. He said it was a scary sound. “We were afraid the driver was sleeping, and the bus was driving through the countryside. “ Last time in Boise, River fan “John the Welder,” helped fix the band’s trailer while they did their soundcheck at the venue. We have the best, helpful listeners!

When asked what question he least wanted to be ask, they answered, “What kind of music do you do?” Tyrone said, “Trying to describe your music with words, is like trying to describe a painting with dancing.”

Tyrone Wells has family in town, and we look forward to each visit to our station. Both Rocky and Tim commented to me what a pleasure it is to work with this group. No egos, no tone-deaf stage manager telling us how to mix things, just people with an incredible passion for music. Since his last visit, Tyrone has both a new album, and new baby girl. He doesn’t recommend for other people do those two things at once, though. He has written over 80 songs in 2 years, and is already preparing for another EP release.

While some friends of mine were crushed out on a couple members of the band, one friend was sure she recognized drummer Mark Chipello , and wondered if he was in another band. She realized she had been watching some of his drum lessons on Youtube. Today I stopped and made some serious eye contact while chatting with him, and I must say he has some pretty amazing and beautiful eyes! Mark always gives us a reason to smile. I posted his OK GO video imitation on the last Tyrone blog. THIS time, let’s watch Mark shake his booty as he’s “Bringin’ sexy back.” You’re welcome Mark, and I think I have a couple friends wanting you as baby daddy!

We suggested doing something fun next time Tyrone visits, Tim suggested bowling. Tyrone says, “I’m a GREAT bowler.” (What you don’t hear or see on the radio, he simultaneously shakes his head “NO.”) Tyrone’s music is big enough now, he’s not exactly sure who updates his website…but he has not forgotten about us. He says he loves the River, because we were the first substantial station to support this next song below. Who wouldn’t? It’s nice to turn off the news and hear something positive, and always nice to see a smile from Tyrone Wells.

Again, we were lucky to have a live performance from an artist with no Boise shows scheduled. Zach Heckendorf is a new artist with a lot of buzz about him. SO much buzz, in fact, he arrived with his manager Gregg Latterman, of Aware Records and A-Squared Management. Gregg was all business, Zach watched him with respect and asked which songs to do and what kind of mic setup might be best. Gregg Latterman is manager for Brandi Carlile, Train, Mat Kearney, Five For Fighting, Guster, and John Mayer. See where we’re going with this?

Zach is all of 19 years old, and has already played Red Rocks, and had an album produced by Brett Dennen. He started playing guitar at the age of ten, and is still playing his dad’s guitar. Just like Brett Dennen, he likes running. He’s already opened for amazing groups like Mat Kearney, Big Head Todd and the John Butler Trio.

Before the interview, Zach was asked if there was anything he’d rather not be questioned about. He said not really, but one DJ had made a weird comment to him that he looked all “straight.” When inquired about that, he said the guy meant he was square, or a nerd. We assured him we would never say something rude and were grateful for his visit. Tim, exhausted from hosting the Iron Chef Competition until late last night, suddenly perked up and peered around the corner with a s**t eating grin to look at me through the production window.

Today was a crazy personal day, learning of a death in the family 20 minutes before coming in. I’m lucky that my work is surrounded with people with smiling faces, Ryan who always makes sure the filming gets done, and the amazing special cookie Moxie Java brings in for some of the staff. It was just what I needed. Thankfully is was Pi(e) day, and we feasted on yummy pizza’s from Guido’s. Zach is vegetarian, so he took a cheese slice after the session was done. Thanks to my friend Johnny for this cow “pi” photo.

Zach’s new album is called “The Cool Down.” He says his music has matured, that he “used to just copy Blink 182,” but now he has more of his own sound. Keep up with Zach on his Facebook page, people are already asking when he’ll return for a show!