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music

Dispatches from Harvest Fest

If Wakarusa is a purple-dreaded starlet, whirling barefoot in the grass, a flash of body paint, bikini bottoms and chemical haze, Mulberry Mountain’s other giant party, Harvest Fest, is her well-studied older sister—maxi-skirt swaying to the beat, moonshine rounding the campfire, pungent smoke rising from the crowd.

Harvest Fest Tuning Up

Seventy-eight bands —including Carolina Chocolate Drops, Trampled By Turtles and The Jayhawks— will come together at Yonder Mountain String Band’s Harvest Fest.

Mary Timony Rips It Up

 For all of its accessible pogo-punk-ness and rock 'n' roll snark, an album as infectious as Ex Hex can only result from a situation where everyone knows what they're doing.

Gallery Express, In the Flesh

K-pop stars bring their self-conscious rebellion to Valley of the Vapors.

Kari Faux, the Mixtape

The Central High graduate and art school-dropout adores her family and makes music inspired by eclectic influences.

Kari Faux is the Real Deal

A Little Rock rapper gets Lost en Los Angeles. And Childish Bambino is a fan.

Young Gods of America: Homegrown Hip Hop

YGOA carves out a Little Rock scene and takes risks for fame and fortune.

Wakarusa Turns a Groovy Eleven

It's the kind of event where organizers feel the need to explicitly forbid both nitrous tanks and Chinese lanterns.

Mud, Music and Magic: Dancing, hugs, a couple of duds, rain and other impressions from 4 days of Wakarusa

Wakarusa has a reputation as a longtime jam-band festival that increasingly caters to the blissed-out, hula-hooping hippie's alter ego, the electronically fueled, dance-all-night party kid.

Peace, Love and Chompdown

A beloved community potluck happens every year, right in the middle of Wakarusa.

Adventures in Austin

Tracking Arkansans in Austin at South by Southwest 2013.

SL Jones Returns Home

It’s hard to tell what’s hype and what’s truth, but at least SL Jones is home.

Valley of the Vapors: It’s in the Air

The Hot Springs music festival piggybacks of SXSW but has an ambiance all it’s own.

Grassroots Radio

Little Rock’s KABF celebrates 30 years.

Sixties Vibe

Harold Ott’s Psych of the South Label releases songs from little-known Southern garage rock bands from the ‘60s.

Levis Releases Music in Pakistan

In Pakistan, Levis is focused on more than jeans.

What’s In a Label?

Jackson is a tiny city, but the musicians are forming bands and the lawyers are forming…record labels?

Bentonia, MS: Stumbling Upon the Blues

Every summer, a little-known festival celebrates Hill Country blues.

Wilco at Arkansas Music Pavilion

The show was more than solid — it was fresh, throbbing, expansive and experimental.