This Way

I get all excited when bands get ambitious. And This Way’s latest release, “The Story of Simon Pure,” is exactly that – a song cycle about a man named (of course) Simon Pure, who lead singer and songwriter Jay Basiner has imagined as an everyman stand-in for anyone that’s in a small town and has big dreams. This Way is nominally a bluegrass band, but the big, rambling drums, vocal harmonies with Anna Patterson and downright honky-tonkin’ fiddle of Andrew Martelle present on “Simon Pure” take them out of the string band realm and take them closer to a rootsy kind of alt-country – emphasis on the country. It’s awfully good stuff, especially the title track and the Dylan-fied harmonica jam “Old Mister Drifter.” The Mallett Brothers Band better watch out – they might have some competition brewing for Maine’s best alt-country band. - Bangor Daily News

It's clear This Way are a vastly improved band from their debut We Could All Make History in 2008. The addition of Andrew Martelle on fiddle and change in direction toward a more traditional stringband sound showed promise on 2011's Goodbye Forever and has now crystallized with the newly released The Story of Simon Pure. This is a cohesive, smartly constructed album of rootsy songs that draw on rock and commercial country themes, but This Way do a pretty good job of putting an original stamp on the package as a whole.

Part of that is just frontman Jason Basiner, himself. I'm confident there aren't more than two or three performers in the state who've played as many gigs as he has in the last couple of years — heck, his and Martelle's mostly-covers side project, North of Nashville, don't shy from gigs that go five and six hours. That kind of woodshedding has resulted in a very confident vocalist and acoustic guitar player, with energy off which the rest of the band can draw.

Truly, this has become a very good live band, a group of performers who know how to sell it from the stage. Smartly, the band decided to pour this into their recording, working with Jon Nolan to engineer an album that was recorded mostly live in the studio. That absolutely comes through, both in the sparks they manage to throw off and the songwriting, which makes good use of the type of dynamics that builds tension to a crescendo that makes a big crowd happy.

After a straight kick-drum open from drummer Charlie Sichterman on "Tulsa, OK," Basiner joins him on vocals and acoustic guitar before — bang! — the full band comes firing in. On the strutting, nearly rockabilly title track they close out the chorus by swelling the three-part harmony until it pops with a delicious all-stop.

All this playing together has made those harmonies, fueled by Anna Patterson at the high end and with Martelle dancing in between, seem almost effortless, even raucous, but still rock solid. They're really the heart of the band's appeal.

Going all-live on a studio album can have its drawbacks, though. Sometimes, songs like "Greetings from St. Louis" that are likely enjoyable at nearly five minutes live seem to drag on record. The tune, a narrative of place like many tracks here, could lose a minute without anyone noticing. And it's likely no coincidence that they've chosen to cover a Police tune (the very quick "Walking on the Moon," interestingly also covered on the brand-new Infamous Stringdusters album), given that This Way indulge in repeated choruses the way that Sting and the boys were wont to do. Belting out "we'll see what time brings" four times to finish this song gives the crowd more chances to sing along live. On record it feels a little like a hammer to the skull.

The core of "Illusion" — "This home is an illusion, this home is everywhere" — is a virtual jackhammer.

The choice to keep Martelle's fiddle just about exclusively in the right channel (and Basiner's acoustic guitar mostly in the left) is a strange one, too. Maybe it's meant to mimic their places on stage, but Martelle is a very strong player doing some interesting things and I'd like to hear it in stereo.

Things completely come together, though, on "Old Mister Drifter," a charming song with the best hook on the record to punctuate a great chorus: "I'm clutching on for dear life/But there's just so many places to fall off" (never mind the subject-verb agreement there). There's more reverb on Basiner's vocals to warm things up, with plenty of harmonica to augment the effect, and Patterson does particularly good work here with a crystalline high harmony.

The finish, too, is ambitious, with Martelle leading a spacey excursion that bassist Dave Patterson follows nicely, resulting in a cool alternative to the '70s-style fade out.

With stories like this one that travel the United States, and songwriting that travels the breadth of American roots (with some Celtic thrown in for the bonus track "Fisherman"), there should be enough to keep most listeners paying attention past the first listen. The end result may be, though, that they just decide they ought to see This Way live more often.


Read more: http://portland.thephoenix.com/music/144934-this-way-push-their-narrative-forward/#ixzz28JPPc8NQ
- The Portland Phoenix

To a certain degree, all songwriting is autobiographical. Some songs are pure fiction, but most are based on at least a kernel of personal experience.

Jay Basiner takes that idea to the extreme. The lead singer and principal songwriter for the Portland-based Americana band This Way wraps together fact and fiction in the band's new CD, "The Story of Simon Pure."

"Simon Pure is equal parts my father's story, his father's story and my story -- and fourthly, a fictitious character that is somewhere in between the other three," said Basiner, 32.

The band celebrates the release of the disc with a party Friday night at Empire Dine and Dance in Portland. The Adam Ezra Group opens the show.

Among the interesting things about this CD is that it's very much a story album. Other than the bonus tracks at the end of the disc, the songs all relate to each other and tell a complete story about a purposeful rambler from Oklahoma who leaves his family to pursue his dream of making music in Nashville.

Basiner stops short of calling it a concept album, because the songs stand on their own. But they were written in narrative form, like chapters of a book.

This Way recorded "Simon Pure" over three days in June with Jon Nolan at Milltown Recording Co in Rollinsford, N.H. The record was tracked almost exclusively live, with few overdubs. There are songs about railroads and prison and love lost and found. It's pure country, in theme and structure.

And a lot of is true, Basiner said. "Simon Pure knows what he wants, and he's chasing his dream. That's what we're doing with this band."

In addition to Basiner, This Way includes Andrew Martelle on fiddle, mandolin and vocals; Dave Patterson on bass; Anna Patterson on vocals; and Charlie Sichterman on drums. In just a few short years, the band has become one of the most acclaimed in Maine, and won top honors earlier this year at the New England Music Awards.

Basiner was raised in Milford, Mass. His grandfather worked on a railroad down there, and played music on the side. He passed his interest in music to Basiner's father, who passed it on down the line.

"The songs on 'Simon Pure' feel like the same songs that I grew singing, that my grandfather taught my father," he said. "They are songs that tell a story about the American spirit."

Basiner and Dave Patterson began This Way as a rock band in Vermont, when both were enrolled at Saint Michaels College in Burlington. The band drifted toward the alt-country realm when Martelle joined in summer 2009.

Martelle, also 32, is a veteran of the Nashville music scene. He grew up in Maine as a classically trained violinist, and moved to Nashville to attend college at Vanderbilt. He caught the country bug down there, and spent several years on the road with various touring acts. He came home to raise a family.

Martelle and Basiner quickly fell in with each other, finding a musical groove that satisfied them both. "He's the yin to my songwriting yang," Basiner said. "His playing supports my writing. He completed the sound of the band."

Martelle felt instant kinship.

"This CD is about a fictitious character named Simon that Jay wrote about, but in a lot of ways, it's about the two of us," he said. "We spend a lot of time away, on the road. It's what we do. It's the life we have chosen. We see a lot of different towns."

In addition to This Way, the two also perform as a duo they call North of Nashville, playing every Thursday all summer on the deck at Brian Boru.

Much of material they recorded on "The Story of Simon Pure" they worked out in the bars of Portland. In that sense, North of Nashville is the proving ground for This Way.

The bigger band spends most weekends on the road, touring south to Washington, D.C., and east to Rochester, N.Y. If this record succeeds, the members hope to expand their touring grounds.

Last year, between the duo and the band, they played about 200 gigs, and are on track for more of the same in 2012.

There's a line in final song on "Simon Pure" called "There's Nothing Else (That I'd Rather Do)" that pretty well sums up Basiner's attitude about the band and his life.

It goes:

"This life ain't easy, lord that's the truth

But there's nothing else I'd rather do."

"That's me and Andrew," Basiner said. "It's not easy. It's a lot of work. But we can't imagine doing anything else."

Staff Writer Bob Keyes can be contacted at 791-6457 or:

bkeyes@pressherald.com
- Portland Press herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Park Slope - I may or may not have a continuing obsession that involves collecting songs that reference the greater New York City area (although I would never admit it publicly and permanently on the Internet like this, cause that would be weird, right?). So imagine my surprise upon finding that one of my recent favorites in this mythical, not-at-all-in-real-life song collection is the product of musicians not from Brooklyn, but from Maine. Portland, Maine, to be exact, and This Way, the very awesome in-real-life band to which I’m referring, is doing a rare show outside of New England at Union Hall this very weekend. They’ll be joined by neighborhood staples Union Street Preservation Society among others, and tickets are $8 advance, $10 at the door, and available here. Personally, I defy any NY lady who enjoys even the barest touch of folk/alt country to not semi-swoon to their song New York City. Forget it–ALL THE WAY swoon–and I’ll even go on the record with that. –V.R.
- Brooklyn Based

Let's all travel this weekend! Through the miracle of the internet and a little forethought, I am with you. By the time you read this, I will be gone. No, not gone-gone; just in Toronto to play in a hockey tournament. Now I am going north, OK, more like west, but if you want to go north and east, then you should go to Portland, Maine. There, you will find This Way, who are releasing their new record Goodbye Forever to you and the rest of the lucky world at Port City Music Hall. This record was mastered by mastering mastermind Jeff Lipton, which means it sounds like a million crystal-clear bucks. So you need to hear it. How nice of them to send us a free sample! So there you have it, either go see This Way in Portland, or come see Matt Sisto (of Spirit Kid) and I taking on the hockey elite in Toronto. We won't be bothered if you choose Portland.

The title of this song implies some sort of movement. As in the song is leaving This Place and headed somewhere else. So everything you see before you? It’s time to make a choice - take it or leave it. The movement of “Take It All Or Leave It All Behind” is evident in the locomotive that must be powering the strumming and fiddle-sawing. And we definitely mean “locomotive” - there is surge behind this track’s speed; a surge that you would get in front of at your own peril.

It will be much more fun, you will see, to instead ride along with This Way on their wind-swept journey over the wide country expanses of the United States of Americana. The train is full of all kinds of bestringed instruments, and they are all being plucked, strummed and sawed by their various minstrels. The big sound of “Take It All...” imparts the song with more of that wooden weight that comes with a big old dresser of fine mahogany.

This song’s progression switches around a bit, moving from major to minor modes almost on a whim - but always with some degree of sense made. There is an admirable sense of balance to the song, which is all the more impressive by the sheer velocity that the whole affair travels at. As the song says, you need to make a choice, because this thing’s moving, friends. We suggest you take it. - Boston Band Crush

As it turns out, the Portland bluegrass/Americana band This Way has an extremely appropriate name. After all, lead singer and songwriter Jay Basiner has tried going that way, the other way and way back, before deciding to go This Way. And This Way clearly appears to be the right way for him, musically speaking. The band, a five-piece, will play with Kingsley Flood and Tricky Britches at Empire Dine & Dance in Portland on Saturday, Feb. 25.

A native of Massachusetts, Basiner, now 28, grew up in an extremely musical family.

“My dad is a full time musician, and grew up very much in the folk tradition,” he said. “And my grandfather was a railroad conductor, so I always remember him singing train songs and hobo songs when I was growing up. I was definitely raised in this rich tradition of American music.”

While in college at St. Michael’s in Winooski, VT, Basiner met bass player Dave Patterson, who shared Basiner’s love of roots music. But the pair didn’t exactly start playing that music out in coffeeshops and bars in Vermont, or after both moved to Portland. They’d opt for playing, say, acoustic covers of well-known songs, which while reliable, wasn’t exactly the path Basiner felt he should be going down — though he did develop a following after several years of playing solo at Bull Feeney’s in Portland’s Old Port, which allowed him to play music as a full time job.

Basiner and Patterson tried playing in a more garage rock type band, called Crossfire Inferno, which started out with a harder edge before morphing into something a little more pop. Still, Basiner didn’t feel right.

“I remember one of the songs for Crossfire Inferno that I wrote definitely had this much more country edge, and that was probably the first thing that set me down this path of finding my voice in music,” he said. “It was suddenly like, ‘Oh, OK, I get it.’ I think maybe subconsciously I’d been trying to rebel against the music my family loved. But it’s embedded in my DNA. I can’t help it.”

The pair began nudging Crossfire Inferno in the direction of playing some songs more rooted in the bluegrass and folk tradition — but not all the band members were into the shift in sound, and soon it was just Basiner and Patterson again. They began auditioning musicians, though Patterson’s wife, Anna, immediately joined up to play percussion and sing. Drummer Charlie Sichterman signed on after playing a handful of gigs with the trio, and mandolin and fiddle player Andrew Martelle, who moved back to Maine from Nashville in 2010 and almost immediately joined the band. This Way was the right way.

“Andrew was the essential ingredient that turned us into the alt-country, rootsy bluegrass band that we are today,” said Basiner. “Everything fell into place. Everything felt right.”

This Way released its debut album as a five piece band, “Goodbye Forever,” in May 2011, to acclaim in the Portland music scene, and went on to be named Best Roots Act 2011 by the Portland Phoenix. The careful but impassioned harmonies of songs like “Take It All (Or Leave It All Behind)” or “Feel Like Home” bring to mind groups like the Avett Brothers, as well as the Beatles, though the flashes of fiddle and accordion feel far more like Willie Nelson, or even Lyle Lovett.

The band tours frequently throughout the Northeast, including Friday night at Attitash Mountain Ski Resort in New Hampshire and Saturday night at Empire in Portland; they’re also set for a show on Friday, April 6 at Mezzenine at Zen in Bangor. In fact, Basiner says being on the road is the best part about being in a band — and it’s fueled his creative fire even further.

“I’m as charged up as I’ve ever been as a musician,” he said. “I think we have such great chemistry in the band and such a strong sense of focus that it makes it easy to go into a city you really don’t know and impress people. I’m constantly excited to be playing with these guys. It’s a joy.” - Bangor Daily News

This Way, picking up their feet and rolling through high tempos, got my body moving. Jay Basiner has a great presence on stage. Shielded by his guitar, worn with loving beatings it has received, he pounded out a passionate set with the band he, as a singer/songwriter, has integrated with so well. Dave Patterson, Charlie Sichterman, Andrew Martelle and Anna Patterson are integral parts of this whole. Without the gorgeous back-up vocals, the crisp mandolin and tangy fiddle, thumping down-home bass and charging drums this band would not be the favorites they are amongst Maine venues. The support they offered both in fans, friends and kind words for Jacob's CD release was what I love about Portland bands...we look out for each other...we, as a community, support the sacrifice artists make to create our culture - because of that we CAN call it OUR culture.

here is their music - take a chance and explore!
http://thisway.bandcamp.com/ - Jacob Augustine thank you.

This is the first year reviewing local music made me feel truly panicked. Like there was no possible way I could get to hearing everything that was being released. The amount of local albums and EPs released this year exploded (I published reviews of 70 releases, in total), buoyed in large part by digital-only releases on Bandcamp and the continuing cult of the EP, which has seen bands release less music more frequently.

A conservative assessment puts the total number of "local" releases — those by bands who call the greater Portland area home base — at 125. Sure, that's only about 2.5 a week, but that's just enough to make you feel like there's another one you're missing out on.

The quality kept up with the quantity, too. For instance, I think Grand Hotel's In Color is better, actually, than their self-titled debut, which I had ranked at number three last year, but the competition is better. I'm a Spouse sycophant, but I couldn't find a way to get frontman Jose Ayerve's A Severe Joy into the top 10. Spencer Albee's Space Vs. Speed album? Despite that Saiyid rap that I still listen to at least once a week, it fell just short. Jacob Augustine's three-album output was impressive, but no single release ultimately made my list. Both Metal Feathers and Huak deserve attention, and commendation, for strong releases that challenged me as a listener. Same with Hi Tiger and Good Kids Sprouting Horns.

No single song, actually, struck me more emotionally than Hi Tiger's "Nukes," which just about broke my heart.

Eric Bettencourt, Pinsky, Sparks the Rescue, Tree by Leaf (RIP), the McCarthys, Putnam Smith, This Way, Worried Well, Sidecar Radio — shit, even Doctor Astronaut — released strong pieces of work. It's my practice to rank every single album I reviewed, and I can honestly say that I still regularly dial up full-length-album #33 for a listen. I know I commit the sin of loving too much, but these are all records that deserve your ears.

But this ain't Lake Wobegon and not every album can be above average, and not every album can be in the top 10 best albums of the year (plus the five best EPs). So I made my picks. I hope you've listened to enough local music to be able to argue with me.

Criteria? Same as always: Albums are ranked by originality, musicianship, how long something from the disc lasts in my head, the number of plays they got on the iPod, whether they contain a truly outstanding song, and some consideration for production value and the quality of the listening experience.
- Portland Phoenix

Maine suffers from an embarrassment of riches when it comes to hearty Americana-roots music.

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HOW IT RATES

THIS WAY: "GOODBYE FOREVER"

Produced by Abel Adame and This Way

***

Based on a five-star scale

Maybe there's something about a craggy, unforgiving coastline that makes for particularly grounded songwriting, but there always seems to be authentic local talents raising the bar of what this simple craft is capable of.

Enter young pop-folk dynamos This Way, whose latest CD, "Goodbye Forever," colors soaring radio pop with rolling-hills accordion, harmonica and mandolin.

"Goodbye Forever" is more fun when rambling forward at a steady clip, as on the calypso-flecked barnstomp "Take It All (Or Leave It All Behind)." With lusty, sweeping vocals and a spritely walk-along bass, the tune roars with purpose, ever so slightly unhinged. So too on the bouncy, windows-down tribute "New York City." The band sounds loose and easy, and deserves to -- they beckon to the dance floor with the best of them.

There are moments, though, when the yearning feels forced, as on the clunker ballad "The Reigning Blues." A would-be playful duet instead drags its feet with bleached lyrics vaguely involving beauty and magic.

The payoff coda is thus a little underwhelming, like the pie's got all the right berries -- it just tastes a little funny coming out of the oven.

While occasionally watered-down lyrics don't do This Way any harm necessarily, more risk taking would make the exciting quintet more remarkable. Being the feel-good, high-fiving country troupe is candy for these talented players.

It would be quite a thing to witness if the group could take the leap, purge the platitudes and get a little weird, a la "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." Here's betting astonished fans would gladly follow the group any which way they chose. - The Portland Press Herald

Theoretically, Goodbye Forever is This Way's sophomore album, but you'd have a hard time identifying this as the same crew that produced 2008's We Could All Make History. Gone are the leather-jacket rock sound, the wailing guitar, the testosterone. In their places are a whole lot of acoustic guitar, wailing fiddle, and straightforward Americana.

Somewhere between Gypsy Tailwind and Willie Nelson and the Family Band, the new line-up is devoid of guitarist Max Cantlin (other than a late dobro turn) and is significantly altered by the presence of Anna Patterson, who lends backing/accompanying vocals to frontman/songwriter Jason Basiner on just about every song, and fiddler Andrew Martelle (he also plays some mandolin), who is probably most vital to the new rootsy sound. Yeah, you might be able to argue that Basiner has traded in one set of influences for another, but it's at least true that the new set makes the band significantly more interesting.

Not that the Springsteen and Mellencamp references Basiner became known for locally are completely gone from this album. On the opening "The Letter," his vocals are back-of-the-throat and reedy, as we might expect of a throaty rocker doing Irish folk, and the songs on the rest of the record mostly rest their success on how comfortable he can be in his delivery. The instrumental performances — particularly Martelle's playing — are never a problem, but listeners might at times feel overwhelmed by the instrumentation. Try to pick out the accordion, harmonica, and piano on "Letter" without having them completely blend together (and while ignoring the resounding '80s snare hits).

On "Take It All (or Leave It All Behind)," probably the best track here, Basiner sports clean and unaffected vocals behind a quick strum and a song with real energy. And Martelle's fiddle here is legit, quick and spry. "Feels Like Home" is very listenable country rock, too, where Basiner and Patterson bust out a brassy co-lead: "I'm out here on the frontlines/I can't afford to waste time." I even got invested in the lonesome-cowboy take of "Push on with No Regrets," where hearing the echo of the room is definitely a good thing.

"No Escape from the Train," though, has a bad-decision train sound recording of the Narrow Gauge in the open and would be in trouble of being completely saccharine if not for a home-run chorus. And "As One," a classic waltz take, should be stripped down much more to emphasize the song's heart and avoid distractions.

Regardless, there's more real emotion and songwriting here than on anything Basiner and crew have done to date. "The Reigning Blues," featuring a particularly melancholy fiddle, says it best: "The moment I falter is also the moment I fall." There's a little bit of a tightrope walk going on here, but This Way manage to stay upright and cross to the other side with a major step forward. - The Portland Phoenix

Today brings releases from three radically different Maine acts, This Way, Doctor Astronaut, and Sparks The Rescue.

“Goodbye Forever” is This Way’s follow-up to their 2008 debut, “We Could All Make History.” The album continues the band’s hopeful blend of folk, rock and Americana with large, engulfing acoustics, something leadman J Biddy sought in creative and extraordinary ways.

“Sure it’s in the realm of Mumford & Sons, The Low Anthem, or The Avett Brothers, but doesn’t sound like any other band in particular,” Billy Lynch, the band’s manager, said in an article from March. “This Way through trusting each others artistic intutions and giving the creative process space has arrived at a record that I think no one will have expected them to create and they will be impressed with what they hear.”

Listen to the first tracks of the album here, then go out to the Portland Bull Moose at 6 P.M. to see the band play a small set and, last but not least, buy their album.

And if you want to see This Way play a grander stage, make sure to see them at Port City Music Hall on May 21. - Dispatch Magazine

Theoretically, Goodbye Forever is This Way's sophomore album, but you'd have a hard time identifying this as the same crew that produced 2008's We Could All Make History. Gone are the leather-jacket rock sound, the wailing guitar, the testosterone. In their places are a whole lot of acoustic guitar, wailing fiddle, and straightforward Americana.

Somewhere between Gypsy Tailwind and Willie Nelson and the Family Band, the new line-up is devoid of guitarist Max Cantlin (other than a late dobro turn) and is significantly altered by the presence of Anna Patterson, who lends backing/accompanying vocals to frontman/songwriter Jason Basiner on just about every song, and fiddler Andrew Martelle (he also plays some mandolin), who is probably most vital to the new rootsy sound. Yeah, you might be able to argue that Basiner has traded in one set of influences for another, but it's at least true that the new set makes the band significantly more interesting.

Not that the Springsteen and Mellencamp references Basiner became known for locally are completely gone from this album. On the opening "The Letter," his vocals are back-of-the-throat and reedy, as we might expect of a throaty rocker doing Irish folk, and the songs on the rest of the record mostly rest their success on how comfortable he can be in his delivery. The instrumental performances — particularly Martelle's playing — are never a problem, but listeners might at times feel overwhelmed by the instrumentation. Try to pick out the accordion, harmonica, and piano on "Letter" without having them completely blend together (and while ignoring the resounding '80s snare hits).

On "Take It All (or Leave It All Behind)," probably the best track here, Basiner sports clean and unaffected vocals behind a quick strum and a song with real energy. And Martelle's fiddle here is legit, quick and spry. "Feels Like Home" is very listenable country rock, too, where Basiner and Patterson bust out a brassy co-lead: "I'm out here on the frontlines/I can't afford to waste time." I even got invested in the lonesome-cowboy take of "Push on with No Regrets," where hearing the echo of the room is definitely a good thing.

"No Escape from the Train," though, has a bad-decision train sound recording of the Narrow Gauge in the open and would be in trouble of being completely saccharine if not for a home-run chorus. And "As One," a classic waltz take, should be stripped down much more to emphasize the song's heart and avoid distractions.

Regardless, there's more real emotion and songwriting here than on anything Basiner and crew have done to date. "The Reigning Blues," featuring a particularly melancholy fiddle, says it best: "The moment I falter is also the moment I fall." There's a little bit of a tightrope walk going on here, but This Way manage to stay upright and cross to the other side with a major step forward. - The Portland Phoenix

• Looks like Portland's THIS WAY will be the only Maine band featured as part of the NEW ENGLAND AMERICANA FESTIVAL, playing April 1 at the Boston club Church, which is a little unfortunate since Maine's Americana scene is pretty dang strong and yet only has one representative out of 24 announced bands in a "New England" roots festival. But, whatever. We're not going to get pissy about it. And it really does look like they're trying to be inclusive.

• This ain't exactly an ECONOMIC-IMPACT STUDY, but for Friday's sold-out TREY ANASTASIO show at the STATE THEATRE, at least three friends of "Sibilance" came up from Portsmouth, got two rooms at the Eastland, ate at Local 188, boozed at the Downtown Lounge, and then woke up and had breakfast at the Port Hole before heading back south.

• The next heavy-rock thing in Portland? How about TORVA VOX, featuring TED MILLINGTON on guitar, ERICH GOLDEN on bass, DAN ALDRICH on drums, and vocalist TONY DIPHILLIPO? They were a version of AUDIOBLACK at one point, but it looks like they're going for a fresh start.

• Find the MILKMAN'S UNION's Bandcamp page to download a three-song "February Sampler," pay-what-you-like, that they've released to support some shows this month. Look for gigs at Oak and the Ax February 23, Bayside Bowl February 25, Empire March 3, and Apohadion March 4. Yikes.

Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/music/116146-americana-tours-and-the-next-heavy-rock-thing/#ixzz1HjUMjFIc
- The Portland Phoenix

We’ll admit it. We were really, really excited to attend the New England Americana Festival for the first time this year, and we knew we’d get to surround myself with some amazing people while listening to fantastic music. My expectations were blown to smithereens, though, as Church hosted one of the best three-day shindigs I’ve ever attended (with excellent confetti-shooting party favors, to boot.) Words and pictures await you! (This Way photos below) - The Weekly Dig (Boston-based publication)

This Way: Headed by Basiner, this band has a whole new look, lineup and style. Simply put, they ripped the club apart during their set. Every member of the band moved to the music, and crowd quickly followed suit. I’ll be damned if I miss their CD release show on May 14. - Citywide Blackout (Boston-based blog/online radio program)

...THIS WAY have put the finishing touches on Goodbye Forever, what we're hearing is an Americana-fueled second album from the band fronted by JAY BASINER. They've got May 21 at Port City circled for the release, with KINGSLEY FLOOD, ROOSEVELT DIME, and JESSE PILGRIM AND THE BONFIRE. ABEL ADAME did the recording down in the old ACADIA RECORDING CO. space. NOAH COLE handled mixing. Mastering was done at PEERLESS outside of Boston... - The Portland Phoenix

PORTLAND — Dan Jackson wasn't a friend of Bill Chinnock's. He didn't know him, and never met him.

But Jackson was a fan. He used to go to Chinnock's concerts around Maine, and when Chinnock died three years ago, Jackson attended the funeral.

"I needed to pay my respects," he said.

This coming Saturday, Jackson will pay his respects in a different way. An executive at a Portland firm, he has helped organize a concert at Empire Dine and Dance in Portland that pays tribute to Chinnock's considerable musical legacy while raising money for the rocker's surviving son, William, 11, who lives with his mom in Yarmouth.

"I lost my dad when I was 11," Jackson said. "The years after that were just really difficult. I know what William might be going through, and I feel this is something I can do to help."

Saturday's rock 'n' roll party has many angles. The concert, which will feature many musical acts playing Chinnock's music, is timed to coincide with the release of Chinnock's remastered "Dime Store Heroes" CD. This is the 30th anniversary of the original release of the album, and Adam Ayan of Gateway Mastering worked on the disc to clean it up.

The disc also includes a handful of live tracks, recorded in 2003 at the Stone Pony in New Jersey, where Chinnock got his start and learned the rock 'n' roll way. In addition, there are a limited number of discs that also include a DVD documentary about Chinnock. Proceeds from the concert and sales of the CD benefit a trust fund in William's name.

The CD will be available beginning Tuesday at Bull Moose Music stores. In another month or so, it will be available for download on iTunes and other sites.

Saturday's show is the second that friends have organized in Chinnock's honor. The first occurred in late March at the legendary Stone Pony nightclub in Asbury Park, N.J.

"It was just magical," said Chinnock's widow, Terry. "Everybody told stories and played Bill's music. It could not have gone better. It was just amazing."

Expect more of the same Saturday. Among the musicians who are scheduled to perform are Marion Grace, This Way, The Lucid, Sly Chi, the WBLM Band, the Bill Chinnock Touring Band and Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, who was the original drummer in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.

Chinnock's history is twined with Springsteen's. They were both playing in Jersey at the same time, and shared many mutual musician friends. Lopez was one of Chinnock's oldest buds.

"Bill was just an amazing songwriter," Lopez said. "He was prolific. He had his own ideas, and he always had good songs. I don't know how to describe what songwriters do, but Bill could always come up with them. But not out of the blue. He worked hard at it."

For Jackson, part of the gratification of working on an event like this is educating people about Chinnock's music -- especially young people. These days, Portland is known for its vibrant music scene. Jackson, 44, believes there might not be a scene at all if not for Chinnock.

"He was the music scene before there was a music scene," Jackson said. "Through his work, he established Portland as a great place to play. He worked it and he worked it and he worked it."

Jackson remembers the first time he saw Chinnock perform live. It was sometime in the late '70s. He knew Chinnock's music and admired him as a songwriter. "I felt at the time, lyrically, he could not write a bad song," Jackson said.

But he had never seen him perform. So he and his brother went to Old Orchard Beach for a show at a club, "and it felt like you were seeing someone in the Boston Garden with 18,000 people. He was fully there, and you were there with him. He was taking you someplace."

Chinnock was a classic Jersey shore rocker, with lots of energy and a hard-driving style. It's no coincidence that Springsteen followed him, at least to some degree. Chinnock played in bands that included future members of the E Street Band, including Lopez, keyboard player Danny Federici and bass player Gary Tallent.

Over the course of his career, Chinnock ended up with four major-label record deals, won an Emmy Award and toured nationally.

He moved to Maine for the first time in 1971, Terry Chinnock said.

"He was living in New York at the time, and he wanted to come up and work on his writing. He wanted to get away. He loved the outdoors. He loved to hunt and fish, and he absolutely loved Maine," she said. "It's a brutal business. He would come up here to relax and get away from it all."

Chinnock lived here off and on the rest of his life.

He died in March 2007 at age 59 after contracting Lyme disease a decade earlier.

But his memory remains strong, and Saturday's show will go a long way toward ensuring that his legacy lasts through future generations of musicians.

Chinnock's son, William, has taken up music himself. He made his stage debut at his father's tribute show in New Jersey last month, soloing on his dad's guitar and later singing with his dad's friends on "Something for Everybody."

No doubt, there will be more of the same Saturday with glasses raised in honor of a fallen musical hero.

- Portland Press Herald

Bigs new for one Portland-based Americana band: This Way is playing the 2nd Annual New England Americana Festival in Boston on Friday, April 1, in preparation for their forthcoming sophomore release, titled “Goodbye Forever,” in May.

Manager Billy Lynch said the festival, which was sold out last year, is a good opportunity for the band to “showcase itself among dozens of other New England area Americana bands” and grow the Boston fanbase. He said the band got the gig by playing the New England Americana Festival’s venue, The Church, last December with The Mallet Brothers and Marion Grace and impressing both the audience and owners.

“Ownership was so impressed they told us about the New England Americana Festival in April (held at Church) and said we should apply for it and they would go to bat for the band,” Lynch said in a short interview with Dispatch Magazine.

Ever since the release of their 2008 debut album, “We Could All Make History,” the Americana roots band has seen an impressive growth in popularity, headlining the 2009 Old Port Festival, playing the Alive at Five series, and getting regular rotation on WCLZ. They also have an established fanbase in Boston, where leadman Jay Biddy comes from.

While Jay Biddy, Dave Patterson, and Anna Patterson have been the principal members of This Way, they have since been joined by Andrew Martelle and Charlie Sichterman.

“Andrew’s influence was essential to the band’s progression to their current sound, which is more Americana Roots-rock,” Lynch said. “Having lived and played in Nashville for 10 years prior to moving back to his home state of Maine, his fiddle and mandolin play has allowed Jay and the band to create the music they have always loved which is more on the folksier side.”

This Way has been working on their sophomore album since last February with Abel Adame at Drumshow Productions. Lynch said Adame is “an incredibly talented engineer and has a very unique ear,” and that Adame and the band have been able to craft a deep and unique sound together.

“Sure it’s in the realm of Mumford & Sons, The Low Anthem, or The Avett Brothers, but doesn’t sound like any other band in particular,” Lynch said. “This Way through trusting each others artistic intutions and giving the creative process space has arrived at a record that I think no one will have expected them to create and they will be impressed with what they hear.”

In addition to playing the New England Americana Festival, This Way has three CD release shows set up: May 14 at The Church in Boston, May 21 at Port City Music Hall, and June 11 at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City. You can buy tickets for the festival right here, and for more info about This Way, go to their official website. - Dispatch Magazine