The Healing and the Heroes
of the Tucson Shooting
Concert slideshow
YouTube slideshow
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Uncovering the Heart of Arizona Arts
Hot guitar from Arizonan Mike Breen, available on CD Baby!
Picks of the Week
5/18 - Jerry Riopelle (rare club appearance)
Martini Ranch, Scottsdale
5/15 - Bela Fleck
5/17 - Marcia Ball
5/19 - Tom Rush
5/25 - Maria Muldaur & Her Red Hot Bluesiana Band
5/29 - Jane Monheit
5/31 - Rickie Lee Jones
MIM Theater, Phoenix
Recent Music and More AZ Interviews
- Bela Fleck
- Shawn Colvin
- Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band
- Richard Thompson
- Tom Smothers
- Chris Bliss, Bill of Rights Comedy Show
- Neville's Dumpstaphunk
- Insiders View with Ken Skaggs: Touring with Glen Campbell
- Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks
- Mickey Hart
- Jerry Riopelle
- Ron Barber
Lissa Wale's Photos: Emotion in Motion
On Sale Now: "Sticks and Skins" dedicated to internationally known Arizona Music Photographer Lissa Wales. MusicandMoreAZ explores Lissa's work.
"This isn't all glamour, this life on the road. B.B. King said, when he was asked why he still does 200 shows a year, "Let me put it this way, they pay me to travel and I sing for free!" Maria Muldaur
Get Ready to Sizzle with Maria Muldaur
and Her Red Hot Bluesiana Band
An Interview with Maria Muldaur
By Mariah Fleming
Maria Muldaur is one of those rare artists whose voice is inimitable. Her singing style is instantly recognizable. Muldaur has recorded 40 albums thus far in her career and her latest, 2012's critically acclaimed tribute album titled First Came Memphis Minnie, finds her in perfect voice. In fact, if it's possible, every year she sounds even better.
And Maria Muldaur and Her Red Hot Bluesiana Band are bringing their sizzle to the Musical Instrument Museum on Saturday May 25th at 7:30 PM for what promises to be an outstanding show. Tickets are $27.50 to $32.50 and there's not a bad seat at MIM.
With her first big hit "Midnight at the Oasis" Muldaur established herself as one of the most beloved and influential singers to emerge from the fertile Greenwich Village music scene of the 1960's. She's a multi Grammy Award nominee and is nominated for the Blues Music Awards just about every year. I talked with Muldaur the day before she traveled to the 34th Annual Blues Music Awards in Memphis, where she was nominated for the Koko Taylor Award. "I’m nominated almost every year for something and I have yet to win. I’m like the Susan Lucci of the blues awards," she joked. "I go every year and have a great time getting together with all these other people in the blues community. We all try to do everything we can to keep the blues alive and well!"
"In the case of these solo concerts, the audience will be my collaborators. They will become the catalyst that will make the concerts work - I hope!” Bela Fleck
MIM to Host Banjoist Bela Fleck’s 1st
Stand Alone Solo Show
By Mariah Fleming
You may think you don’t know the music of banjoist Bela Fleck, but chances are very good that you’ve heard him. He has won 15 Grammy awards and been nominated in more music categories than anyone in Grammy history. And Fleck will be in rare form when he appears in his first stand alone solo performance at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix on Wednesday May 15th. He’ll perform two shows at 7PM and 9PM. Tickets are going fast, but good seats are still available at theMIM.org. That Fleck is doing the first of these shows at the MIM music theatre is reason enough not to miss this show. But it’s certainly not the only reason.
"Bela never stops looking for the next thing to be doing… you can’t ask for anything more to keep a life interesting.” Richard Battaglia
Behind the Scenes: Richard Battaglia, Audio Engineer & Tour Manager for Bela Fleck
An Interview By Mariah Fleming
Richard Battaglia lives a life that most people can’t begin to imagine. He’s on the road for the better part of each year, primarily with Bela Fleck. In between tours with Fleck, he’s touring with other musicians or working on recording projects. He could write quite a book about his work during the last thirty years with some of the world’s most well respected, iconic musicians. He says he thinks about it on occasion. But, the question is, when would be have the time to do it? “Maybe I'm saving it for retirement.” he said. “It would be a huge undertaking. Getting every one’s approval could take forever!”
Battaglia’s road to being an audio engineer for some of the biggest names in music started three decades ago, at the beginning of the 1980’s. First, he worked as an audio engineer and tour manager with New Grass Revival (where a new young standout named Bela Fleck played banjo.) When New Grass Revival disbanded, Battaglia continued to work with Bela Fleck. He was there at the beginning with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Fleck keeps most of Battaglia’s calendar filled up. But when he’s not touring with Fleck, he works on many other tours and music projects.
"Tom Rush was not only one of my early heroes, but also one of my main influences." James Taylor
Folk Blues Icon Tom Rush to Appear at MIM
An Interview By Mariah Fleming
Tom Rush, one of the pre-eminent singer songwriters from the 1960’s folk and blues era, is appearing in concert at MIM in Phoenix on May 19th at 7 PM. 
His newest CD, "What I Know" is his first studio album in 35 years. It's getting rave reviews. That’s no surprise. Rush has had a profound impact on American music for decades. He helped shape and the folk revival in the 1960’s and has nurtured it along ever since. And he’s still making music, and selling out concerts.
Rush introduced the world to Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Jackson Browne and many others. He continues to champion emerging artists, and helped bring the music of musicians like Nanci Griffith and Shawn Colvin to wider audiences when they were just starting their careers. And he’s got lots of stories to tell, including the one about his co billing with Alice Cooper. Yes, Alice Cooper. Some tickets to his show are still available. The intimate MIM music theatre is a perfect venue for his show. It’s acoustically remarkable, and so is Rush’s music. Tickets are $29.50 to $37.50.