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Zakk Cervini

Zakk Cervini

Photo courtesy of Zakk Cervini

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Zakk Cervini On Producing Rock’s New Class 2021-zakk-cervini-interview-producing-yungblud

Zakk Cervini On Producing Yungblud, Finding Inspiration During Quarantine And Why Rock Might Roar Back After COVID-19

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After a year of virtually no live music, Poppy, Yungblud and Waterparks producer Zakk Cervini believes we'll dance, mosh and stage-dive soon
Aliya Chaudhry
GRAMMYs
Apr 5, 2021 - 2:14 pm

Producer Zakk Cervini believes the world is ready to rock again. Despite rock making a minor resurgence in the latter half of 2020, rock bands are not performing live—which Cervini says has been surreal, especially for artists missing out on the best years of their careers. But once local and state governments roll out the vaccines and it's safe to attend concerts again, the genre might resurge in a big way. 

If it does, it's safe to say Cervini will be a big part of it.

These days, artists who traditionally worked in pop music have been turning to rock, like Poppy with her 2020 metal album I Disagree. (That album's track "Bloodmoney" earned her a GRAMMYs nomination for Best Metal Performance.) Rock bands are also making return-to-form records, like All Time Low with 2020's Wake Up, Sunshine. "It's like the itch that the world is getting right now," Cervini, who produced both of those albums, tells GRAMMY.com. "They have the itch to rock again."

Cervini raves about all of the artists he's worked with. "His voice was just unbelievable," he says of his frequent collaborator Yungblud. (He follows this up with a pretty convincing Yungblud impression.) Cervini has deftly helped artists navigate musical transitions and is skilled at working alongside artists who inhabit the space between genres—and Yungblud is undoubtedly one of them. 

"He's unafraid to push boundaries," Yungblud tells GRAMMY.com of Cervini via a voice note. "He's unafraid to push the genre into a place that it's not been yet, and he's completely fearless."

Cervini built his rock royalty from the ground up. After working with producers Machine and Will Putney and eventually leaving college, he moved to Los Angeles to work for famed producer John Feldmann, who has produced bands like The Used and Story of the Year. They worked together for five years, including with Blink-182 and 5 Seconds of Summer, before Cervini decided to go solo. 

Since then, he's produced Waterparks' 2019 album Fandom and Yungblud's 2020 album Weird!. He's also mixed tracks on Machine Gun Kelly's chart-topping 2020 album Tickets to My Downfall and the UK metalcore band Architect's 2021 album For Those That Wish to Exist. He's also recently done some mixing for the film composer Danny Elfman.

Throughout his career, Cervini has gotten the chance to work with artists he loves. On a Zoom call, he holds up the acoustic guitar he used to record a cover of the All Time Low's 2007 hit "Dear Maria, Count Me In," which he and his brother once performed and uploaded to Facebook. He brought that same guitar to Palm Springs, where he worked with All Time Low on their most recent record. "Monsters," a single from that album, has spent a total of 18 weeks at number one on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart and a remix featuring Demi Lovato made it to number 18 on the Top 40 chart.

GRAMMY.com checked in with Cervini to talk about his recent production work and how rock is making a comeback during the back-half of the pandemic.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How did you get into producing? Was this something you always wanted to do?
I'm 27 years old now, and I started producing when I was around 14. I grew up playing guitar, and I loved playing guitar. Somehow, from an early age, I wanted to be in a band. I had a hard time finding musicians who were as dedicated as I was and wanted to do what I wanted to do.

One day, I downloaded a free recording program on my parents' computer. I remember the moment I pressed record and recorded a guitar part. The second that I heard that guitar part back, I was like, "This is incredible." That was the moment for me.

I used GarageBand, and I started producing my friends' bands. I found a lot of joy and satisfaction in taking other people's music and turning it into a real thing, helping other people execute their visions.

What did you learn from John Feldmann?
I learned so much from him. One of the overarching things that I learned from him is how important it is to deliver a finished product. Because it's really easy to have ideas for songs and ideas for this and ideas for that. 

But being able to present a written, recorded, produced, mixed, mastered song—sometimes it's hard for people that aren't on the creative end of music, like I am, to understand something until it's completely done and realized. He showed me how important it was to deliver an amazing quality finished product to someone.

I also learned so much from him on the songwriting end of things because that's one of his strongest skill sets, in my opinion. He's an amazing songwriter. Just how to use song structures and classic song structure techniques that are tried and true that just work. 

I also learned from him that—you should not sacrifice the quality of your work for this—but in this business, especially in this day and age, it's super-important to be fast. And I've taken that to heart.

I love being in the studio with artists like [All Time Low vocalist] Alex [Gaskarth] or like Yungblud, who have so many ideas, and they're so all over the place. My job is to rein in their ideas and turn it into something that sounds good quickly.

And you said you grew up listening to metal? What kinds of artists did you grow up listening to?
I grew up listening to a lot of emo and metal music. I love Slipknot; I love Rage Against the Machine. When I was in high school, I loved Motionless in White and all this kind of heavy rock music. I love bands like All Time Low.

I love aggressive music with pop sensibilities, so Korn, Nine Inch Nails. That's my bread and butter. That's the kind of music that I love, and that's my favorite kind of music to make. I also love pop music as well; I grew up listening to a lot of Avril Lavigne. Then, that turned into Katy Perry. 

And now I'm a huge BTS fan. I love great songs, and they can be dressed up however.

How do you pick what projects to work on?
I've dabbled in hip hop, I've dabbled in pop, and I've just found over the years that I love making music that has kind of a rock or alternative edge to it. I just love aggressive music. 

So I tend to kind of always lean towards stuff that has an aggressive edge, with drums, live guitars, and an amazing vocalist. A band that I love that I think I'll make a great match for that will succeed.

I listened to a podcast that [All Time Low drummer] Rian [Dawson] recorded. He said that you don't want to produce your favorite bands' albums. Is that correct?
Isn't that what they always say? Don't meet your heroes, or don't work with your heroes? It's funny, I have worked with a lot of people that I grew up listening to. 

Again, I'm sure I would do it. [Still], there are certain artists I would be happy with never approaching me and with me just listening to their music forever because I just love their music so much, and I wouldn't want to have a weird experience in the studio. 

Writing and making music is like hooking up with someone. If it goes well, that's awesome. But if it doesn't go well, then every time you see that person, it's kind of like, "Oh, hi." I wouldn't want to have that feeling with an artist I loved and was inspired by so much.

And how do you see your role, working alongside an artist's inspiration?
Whenever I work with an artist, I want whatever we do, whatever song we make, or album we make, for the inception of the idea to come from them. I love working with great artists who can write their own songs and come up with their own ideas and concepts. 

So, Yungblud's a perfect example. If he comes in, and he's like, "I have this idea to make a song. This is the concept, and this is kind of what I want it to say," my job is to help him get to the finish line and make him realize that idea and turn it into a finished thing, which is awesome. 

That's the kind of stuff that I love doing most. He has all these ideas, and I just need to filter them and then put them down and turn them into a three-minute song.

And you also worked on the Waterparks single "Lowkey As Hell," which is influenced, I think, by being in quarantine. I was wondering how that came together. How has quarantine affected your working process?
I'm very conscious of the bad things going on in the world right now. And I've been very lucky to be doing well in this quarantine. And I'm very thankful that I have been doing well because I know it's been like hell on Earth for many people, which is horrible. 

For the first couple of months of quarantine, the studio that I work at was closed for a few months, so I had to figure out how to work in my apartment. I bought a new laptop, and I got a pair of headphones. And I had to figure out how to do what I do in my apartment on a laptop.

That's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I've been doing some of my best work, I think, like that. And now I can kind of do what I do anywhere and know it's going to be the same quality as if I was in a studio.

"Lowkey as Hell," the Waterparks song, was an interesting one. It was me, Awsten [Knight, vocalist], and our friend Andrew Goldstein. That was just one of those songs that was done before I even knew what happened. 

It just came together super-quickly. It was done in a couple of hours over Zoom. That's the only song that I've done over Zoom this whole time, and it's pretty fitting that it talks a lot about what we're all going through right now.

The All Time Low album came out at the start of quarantine, and Yungblud's album came out in December 2020. All this work you've done is coming out at a time where people can't experience it live.
That's something that I miss a lot. Going to shows is my favorite thing ever, and hearing songs that I performed live is one of the best feelings in the world. It's such a strange thing to have these songs come out and not be able to hear them live. 

Usually, you make an album with a band, and they go on tour and have all these experiences, and then come back, and then you do it again. But this time around, I'm like, "Are we going to have to make albums back-to-back in quarantine?" It's really weird. And there's a lot of stuff going on in the world, movements and political stuff.

I think that it's been hard for a lot of people, myself included, and I've seen it in artists, too, to find a lot of inspiration because people aren't on the road, and they're not having as many experiences as they're used to. It's hard to make an album and then just go right into the next one because it's hard not to do the same thing twice. [After all], the inspiration is running low.

You said you've been mixing more during the pandemic. How have you been picking those projects?
I love mixing because I can do it on my schedule. When I'm writing or doing sessions with people, that stuff is awesome, but it takes a lot more energy to do something like that, in my opinion, versus just open up my computer and mix the song. 

If someone hits me up to mix a song, and I hear the song, and I love it, and I think that I'm the right person to do it, then I'm going to do it. People always send me songs, then I hear them, and I'm like, "This song is so sick." I just instantly hear in my head the way that I want that song to sound, and then that makes me want to do it.

It's been kind of a pretty big two years for rock music in general. Especially this [past] year, with the success of Machine Gun Kelly and even the All Time Low song ["Monsters"], I feel like it's exploded in popularity. And I think there's a lot more crossover with different types of genres. What has it been like being so close to it?
That kind of stuff excites me because that's the kind of music that I love. I grew up listening to rock music, and I love making rock music, so I love the fact that it's seeing a comeback. 

I feel like, for the past 10 or 15 years, music has gone in many different directions. There was dance music, and then there was Skrillex, who is incredible, and then hip hop's been so big. People have explored so many different sides of electronic computer-based music, and I think now people want to hear some more live-influenced music again. That's what it feels like to me. 

Seeing artists like Machine Gun Kelly is the coolest thing ever to me because he made a straight-up rock album, and it's like, one of the biggest albums of [2020]. It's so cool. And that's kind of helping to pave the way for all of us. 

I always love rock music with pop sensibilities. That's just what I've been trying to make for the last [however] many years, and it's cool seeing it finally get into the mainstream.

Yungblud Talks Turning His Tour Postponement Into An Online Rock & Roll Variety Show

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Aerosmith's Draw The Line

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grammy-winners-record-store-day-exclusives

GRAMMY Winners With Record Store Day Exclusives

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THE GRAMMYs
GRAMMYs
Dec 2, 2014 - 3:22 pm

Heading out for Record Store Day on April 19? Before you do, make sure you check the list for a participating store in your area. Once you know where you're going, look no further than below for a select list of exclusive releases from GRAMMY-winning artists.

Aerosmith
Draw The Line, Night In The Ruts, Rocks, Rock In A Hard Place
Format: 12-inch vinyl

The Allman Brothers
Selections From: Play All Night: Live At The Beacon Theatre 1992
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin
Songs From Common Ground
Format: 10-inch vinyl

David Bowie
"1984"
Format: 7-inch vinyl

Broken Bells (featuring GRAMMY winner Danger Mouse)
"Holding On For Life"
Format: 12" Vinyl

Johnny Cash
With His Hot and Blue Guitar
Format: 12-inch vinyl

The Civil Wars
Live At Eddie's Attic
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Dave Matthews Band
Live Trax Vol. 4
Format: Vinyl box set

Devo/The Flaming Lips
Side By Side Series
Format: 7-inch vinyl

Steve Earle
Townes: The Basics
Format: 12-inch vinyl

The Flaming Lips
7 Skies H3
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Fleetwood Mac
"Dragonfly"/"The Purple Dancer"
Format: 7-inch vinyl

Fun.
Point And Light
Format: 10-inch vinyl

Green Day
Demolicious
Formats: Cassette, 12-inch vinyl, CD

Donny Hathaway
Live At The Bitter End 1971
Format: Vinyl

Ice T
Greatest Hits
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Rick James
"You And I"/"Fire And Desire"
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Jay Z/Linkin Park
Collision Course
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Waylon Jennings & Shooter Jennings
Fenixon
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Kings Of Leon
"Wait For Me"
Format: 7-inch vinyl

Ray LaMontagne
"Supernova"
Format: 7-inch vinyl

Henry Mancini
Pink Panther soundtrack
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Wes Montgomery & The Montgomery-Johnson Quintet
Live At The Turf Club, Wes Montgomery & The Montgomery-Johnson Quintet
Format: 10-inch vinyl

Motörhead
Aftershock
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Nirvana
"Pennyroyal Tea"/"I Hate Myself And Want To Die"
Format: 7-inch vinyl

OutKast
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes
Live At The Greek
Format: red, clear, blue, three-disc vinyl pressing with gold sticker

Ray Parker Jr.
"Ghostbusters"
Format: 10-inch vinyl

Dolly Parton
"Blue Smoke"
Format: 7-inch vinyl

Jaco Pastorius
Modern American Music…Period! (The Criteria Tapes)
Formats: CD, 12-inch vinyl

Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Jack Elliott
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Otis Redding
Pain In My Heart
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Skrillex
Recess
Format: Cassette

Slipknot
Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses)
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Soundgarden
Superunknown: The Singles
Format: 10-inch vinyl

Bruce Springsteen
American Beauty
Format: 12-inch vinyl

Doc Watson
Southbound
Format: 12-inch vinyl

The Yardbirds (featuring GRAMMY winner Jimmy Page)
Little Games
12-inch vinyl

Frank Zappa
"Don't Eat The Yellow Snow"/"Down In De Dew"
Format: 7-inch vinyl

Zedd
"Find You (Turn Up Your Night Edition)"
Format: 12-inch vinyl

(List current as of April 15. For a complete list of Record Store Day exclusives, visit www.recordstoreday.com.)

 

Poppy performs at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony

Poppy

Rich Fury/Staff/Getty Images

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Poppy Performs "EAT" | 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show poppy-performs-eat-premiere-ceremony-2021-grammy-awards-show-highlights

Poppy Performs "EAT" At Premiere Ceremony | 2021 GRAMMY Awards Show

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Poppy, an electro-metal screamer-songwriter, performed a glitched-out version of "EAT" at the Premiere Ceremony for the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show
Morgan Enos
GRAMMYs
Mar 14, 2021 - 4:16 pm

Electro-metal powerhouse Poppy performed a glitchy, fire-breathing version of "EAT" at the Premiere Ceremony prior to the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show. Watch the visceral video below:

 Poppy was nominated for Best Metal Performance for BLOODMONEY at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show. Ice-T's Body Count took home the honor for "Bum-Rush."

Stay tuned to GRAMMY.com for all things GRAMMY Awards (including the Premiere Ceremony livestream), and make sure to watch the 2021 GRAMMY Awards show, airing live on CBS and Paramount+ tonight, Sun., March 14 at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.

Check out all the complete 2021 GRAMMY Awards show winners and nominees list here.

 

GRAMMYs

Kimberly Kennedy

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Audio Engineer Kimberly Kennedy Has Died audio-engineer-tour-manager-kimberly-kennedy-has-died-52

Audio Engineer & Tour Manager Kimberly Kennedy Has Died At 52

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During her 30-plus years in music, she worked at Trent Reznor's Nothing Studios, with Waka Flocka Flame, Shinedown, The Neptunes, Diddy, Rage Against The Machine and more at The Record Plant
Ana Monroy Yglesias
GRAMMYs
Aug 11, 2020 - 12:44 pm

Longtime audio engineer and tour manager Kimberly Kennedy died at age 52 on Aug. 7 at her Los Angeles home, Pollstar reports. During her 30-plus years in music and entertainment, she managed Trent Reznor's Nothing Studios in New Orleans, later moving to Los Angeles to work in the studio with other major acts at the famed Record Plant.

At The Record Plant, she worked with Waka Flocka Flame, Shinedown, The Neptunes, Diddy, Rage Against The Machine, Maynard James Keenan and more. After her time in the prestigious studios there, she worked in business management, with her most recent position as a tour manager at Tri Star Sports & Entertainment.

https://twitter.com/Shinedown/status/1292899110908035074

... @TheBrentSmith we love you #kimkennedy. Thank you for teaching, and guiding us.❤️🙏❤️https://t.co/bxndUBakjT

— SHINEDOWN (@Shinedown) August 10, 2020

Read: Pulling Back The Curtain On Music's Magical Power To Heal

"Kim was a wonderful person. She was beautiful inside and out, and I will be forever grateful for what she taught me, and the time I got to spend with her," Brent Smith of Shinedown said in a statement.

"She was massively respected in the touring industry and the music business. To this day, I still have conversations with some of the biggest promoters in the world, that continue to keep her spirit alive with one unique phrase: 'If you wanna do it the right way, do it the Kim Kennedy way.' Myself, all of us in Shinedown, our management, InDegoot Entertainment, and McGathy Promotions and Atlantic Records will miss her deeply. We love you Kim, Godspeed."

Kim is survived by her daughter, Brittany Kennedy, her grandson, Jaden and her mother and stepfather, Lee and Joe Brock.  

"She was a very fun mom. She and I had our own ways of communicating with each other in our weird voices. She loved all things Disney, but mostly she loved the villains and Alice In Wonderland. My mom was just simply amazing in every way I can think of. She was perfect in my eyes and still is. She's a very strong and independent woman and she loved music and the industry with everything she had in her. She is my inspiration and my hero," her daughter wrote.

The family will have a small private service for Kennedy. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to MusiCares in her name. A cause of death has not been revealed at this time.

Jamie Grace On Her Uplifting Song "Marching On," Life With Tourette's Syndrome And The Transformative Power Of Gospel And Contemporary Christian Music

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright

Photo: Barbara FG (Cleared for any usage with credit)

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Rufus Wainwright & More On Their Favorite Venues sacred-spaces-rufus-wainwright-yungblud-keb-mo-and-others-reflect-independent-venues

Sacred Spaces: Rufus Wainwright, YUNGBLUD, Keb' Mo' And Others Reflect On The Independent Venues And Clubs That Changed Their Lives

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As the majority of the live concert industry across the world remains on pause, GRAMMY.com chatted with a handful of artists about their cherished concert memories at some of their favorite clubs and venues
David McPherson
GRAMMYs
Aug 3, 2020 - 6:00 am

Though it's been more than 50 years since Café Au Go Go closed, Blood, Sweat & Tears frontman David Clayton-Thomas still recalls the cultural significance of this famed NYC basement bar. Formerly located at 152 Bleecker St. and operating from 1964-1969, the Greenwich Village hotspot hosted everyone from Cream, with Eric Clapton, to Jimi Hendrix.

"It was the place to be in those days," Clayton-Thomas reflects. "That is where Blood, Sweat & Tears started. We became the house band for a couple of months while recording our first album at CBS Studios on 52nd Street. We would work the club at night and record during the day. It's hard to forget a club like that. It will always be a part of my wonderful memories of New York."   

It's not a stretch to say that the resulting Blood, Sweat & Tears self-titled 1968 album, which has sold 10 million copies worldwide and won the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year in 1970, would exist today without the band's experience at this small yet renowned club. 

Clayton-Thomas' story illustrates exactly how independent music venues are more than four walls. Within the confines of these cramped clubs is a shared cultural history and community: collective stories of unforgettable nights watching your favorite bands and artists perform. The spirits of these artists—some long gone—are forever etched in the wood and ingrained in the stain-filled dance floors.

Exterior of Café Au Go Go in NYC in 1965

Exterior of Café Au Go Go in NYC in 1965 | Photo: Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the live music ecosystem, already hit hard by rising real estate prices, gentrification and urban sprawl, entered crisis mode. Seminal clubs across North America, from L.A.'s historic Troubadour to Toronto's legendary Horseshoe Tavern, lie silent. 

Like concertgoers, club and venue owners, too, are eagerly awaiting the return of live music. In the interim, these entrepreneurs do what they can to keep their businesses afloat: Some launched GoFundMe fundraisers, while others turned to social media, patrons and local and federal government for financial support. The politicians are starting to hear these pleas. 

Earlier this month, the U.K. government announced a £1.57 billion (approximately $2 billion) aid package for the arts, culture and heritage industries. In the U.S., a pair of senators introduced a relief bill: the Save Our Stages Act. The Recording Academy is also endorsing a pair of solutions: the RESTART Act and the Mixed Earner Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Act.     

The sad reality: Without the leniency of landlords and the passing of stimulus acts by governments, many iconic clubs and independent venues will not survive the financial fallout caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Even with these lifelines, the outlook could be grim. According to a survey from the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) last month, which surveyed nearly 2,000 music professionals across the U.S., 90 percent of independent venue owners, promoters and bookers said they will have to close permanently within the next few months if they do not receive financial relief from the government. 

As the majority of the live concert industry across the world remains on pause, GRAMMY.com chatted with a handful of artists, including Rufus Wainwright, YUNGBLUD, Keb' Mo' and others, about their cherished concert memories at some of their favorite clubs and venues.

Rufus Wainwright

Venue(s): The Troubadour and Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif.; McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, Calif.; The Town Crier in Beacon, N.Y.; Ursa, owned by his sister Martha Wainwright, in Montreal, Quebec 

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright performs in Austin, Texas | Photo: Barbara FG (Cleared for any usage with credit)

Self-isolating these days at his home in Los Angeles finds GRAMMY-nominated singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright spending time practicing more, especially the piano. "I've been able to dive into the technical forest," he tells GRAMMY.com. Before the pandemic hit, he was on tour and starting the promotion cycle for his newest album, Unfollow The Rules, which he released last month via BMG. He booked gigs at many clubs, including The Troubadour, to promote the record. Then he had to cancel them. 

"The Troubadour, for me, is especially poignant," Wainwright says. "I performed there a couple of times over the years, and I've seen many shows there. We were set to play there at the beginning of this tour. This album is very much influenced by the history of Laurel Canyon [in Los Angeles], songwriting and Hollywood, and we had this symbolic show booked at The Troubadour to emulate some of the grand history that occurred in that venue. Sadly, that opportunity got ripped away when the pandemic struck." 

Read: Beginnings And Endings With Rufus Wainwright

Other touchstone venues for Wainwright in the L.A. area include: The Coronet Theatre, now Largo At The Coronet, where he regularly performed early in his career and McCabe's Guitar Shop on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, where the artist played a series of shows before the pandemic hit. 

"I am familiar with the smaller-venue situation mainly because my parents started out playing in coffeehouses in the 1960s and '70s," Wainwright says. "Places like the Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs, [N.Y.], and The Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Mass., are all part of the really vital, socially important folk music movement my parents [Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle] were a part of in the 1960s. For a lot of artists, these venues are like a trampoline that can catch your fall when you aren't necessarily the flavor of the month. I grew up witnessing this dynamic, and I started out in smaller venues. To dominate that dynamic is really important and harder than you think. A lot of big artists cannot play a small venue … it's too scary and too intimate, but I love them!"  

YUNGBLUD

Venue(s): The Crowndale in Camden Town, London, England; The Lock Tavern in London, England; The Electric Ballroom in Camden Town, London, England

YUNGBLUD performs at the Electric Ballroom in 2019

YUNGBLUD performs at the Electric Ballroom in 2019 | Photo: Matthew Baker/Getty Images

Born in Doncaster, Yorkshire, British rocker YUNGBLUD left home at 16 and moved to London. "I ran away because the north of England is not a place for a kid in lipstick playing rock 'n' roll," he says. Once settled in the south, he discovered the live music mecca of Camden Town, north of England's capital. 

"These venues shaped what I am as an artist today," he says. "I remember walking into Camden Town for the first time and my mind exploded; it was everything I ever wanted. It was Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. I had a golden ticket to everything I read about: The Libertines, Amy Winehouse, etc. I used to skive off work to get coffees and go to Camden for hours, telling my dad I had been mugged! 

Read: Yungblud Talks Turning His Tour Postponement Into An Online Rock & Roll Variety Show

"Camden was really a big turning point in my career," he continues. "I've played every tiny venue in Camden, from The Crowndale for 10 people to a sold-out show at The Lock Tavern where Amy Winehouse played early in her career and who is a massive inspiration to me. She taught me being you is good enough. Later, I played the Electric Ballroom to 1,500 people. The Camden Assembly, formerly The Barfly, is where my guitar player [Adam Warrington] and I really connected and when we figured out we were going to play music together for the rest of our lives, bonding over our love of Joy Division, Blur, N.W.A, Foo Fighters and David Bowie.

"When I think about Camden, that spirit, and every show I've played in the clubs there, I remember why I'm here and what I'm doing it for … it's all about the passion!" 

Colin Linden

Venue: The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
City: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Opened: 1947

Colin Linden (R) with Robbie Robertson (L) performing at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in approximately 1989

Colin Linden (R) with Robbie Robertson (L) performing at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in approximately 1989 | Courtesy Photo: Colin Linden

These days, Canadian blues artist Colin Linden lives in Nashville, Tenn., but Toronto is where he cut his teeth. The GRAMMY-nominated songwriter and producer grew up fast, sitting in as an underage teen with local legends like Willie P. Bennett and David Wilcox at small clubs around town. Today, Linden figures this is the longest time he has gone without a gig in his 48-year career. "I feel a real need to connect with people," Linden says. 

Toronto's legendary Horseshoe Tavern is Linden's seminal venue. He still has a scar on his forehead from a time he played The Shoe in the mid-1980s and bounded off the stage a little too recklessly. And in the early 1990s, he played there frequently with a secret band, which included Bruce Cockburn, called Bambi And The Deer Hunters. 

"It is the place where I started playing as a kid and kept on playing over many years," Linden recalls. "It was an important venue long before I ever set foot in there. It's a place where I've had a lot of laughter and a lot of tears. When I think about the Horseshoe Tavern, I think about so many things. I remember sitting in the back alley in booker Peter Graham's car, playing him my demo and talking over my mistakes. I really wanted a gig there." 

The most memorable night for Linden at this venue happened on March 13, 1989, when he shared the stage with The Band members Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Robbie Robertson. "That was such an amazing night," Linden thinks back. "I remember Robbie getting offstage and asking me, 'How can you guys hear anything?' I realized he had not been on a stage in more than 10 years and forgot how loud it gets in a club!"

Keb' Mo'

Venue: Harvelle's
City: Santa Monica, CA
Opened: 1931

Harvelle's

Harvelle's | Photo: John M. Heller/Getty Images

Harvelle's, a popular West Coast blues club with a long history, is where Kevin Roosevelt Moore started playing in 1992 before he was known as Keb' Mo' and before he had a record deal. His first audition to play the historic venue failed. Later, he landed a gig at the club through a friend who needed a guitarist. After that, Moore played the venue regularly for years. One Tuesday, Moore was performing when television producer and composer Chuck Lorre was in the audience; an introduction led Moore to land the theme song for the popular CBS sitcom, "Mike & Molly."

"It's very important to maintain the local watering holes of our country," Moore, who this year took home a GRAMMY for Best Americana Album for his 2019 album, Oklahoma, explains. "For me, Harvelle's is the place where I figured out who I was. Harvelle's is where I became 'Keb' Mo'.' If not for Harvelle's, I, and many other artists I know, would not be where we are today. It's so important to make sure these local places that feed the community—socially, culturally, and artfully in a musical way—remain open. When you take away the starting point for musicians, you take away the connection. It's the local pubs and the local dives that make us who we are.

Watch: Keb' Mo' Reflects On The Journey To His 'TajMo' GRAMMY Nomination

"Even today, Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, etc., all want to do a dive [bar] tour because the dives are what's happening," he continues. "It's about connecting to the people. It's raw, it's honest and it's genuine. The place you have to be most genuine of any place is in a dive, because when you play a fancy theater, everyone comes to see you and is expecting something. In a dive, no one gives a crap about you, so you have to go to them and figure out how to connect and reach them. In a way, playing a dive is way more difficult than playing a concert. Harvelle's and all the dives, coffee shops [and] restaurants of the world are very important to creating that connection and community within the music business." 

Sarah Jarosz

Venue: The Cactus Café 
City: Austin, Texas
Opened: 1979

Sarah Jarosz

Sarah Jarosz performs at The Cactus Café in approximately 2006 | Photo: Steve Oleson

At 29, New York City-based American Roots singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz has already won three GRAMMYs. (Her newest album, World On The Ground, released in June, features production from five-time GRAMMY winner John Leventhal.) Jarosz shares her love for The Cactus Café, one of the storied music clubs situated on the campus of the University Of Texas At Austin in her hometown. The venue has hosted a who's who of Texas songwriting legends and bands over the years, from Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark to The Chicks and Nickel Creek.

Read: Sarah Jarosz Graduates to GRAMMY Winner with 'Undercurrent'

"Since I'm not able to play shows on the road right now, I've naturally turned my thoughts to some of the first venues I began playing in," Jarosz says. "I have a particular fondness for The Cactus Café. That's the first club I remember my parents taking me to as a little kid, even when it was way past my bedtime. I remember the smell of the coffee brewing, the clinking of the glasses at the bar tucked into the back corner, the warmth of being surrounded by kindred spirits and music-lovers. 

"Venues like The Cactus are sacred spaces," she adds. "For the hour or two that you're inside them, the outside world disappears, and musicians and listeners alike find solace in the energy and the sounds."

Jane Bunnett

Venue: Jazz Showcase
City: Chicago, Ill.
Opened: 1947

Jane Bunnett performs at Jazz Showcase in Chicago, Ill.

Jane Bunnett performs at Jazz Showcase in Chicago, Ill. | Photo: Jim Funk

Jane Bunnett, 63, is a soprano saxophonist, bandleader and three-time GRAMMY nominee. The most recent ensemble the Toronto artist assembled is the all-female, GRAMMY-nominated Afro-Cuban jazz group, Jane Bunnett & Maqueque. 

She holds a special place in her heart for Chicago's Jazz Showcase, started by Joe Segal in 1947. Legends from John Coltrane to Miles Davis have played this historic club. Today, you'll still find the 94-year-old NEA Jazz Master Segal hanging around, but his son, Wayne, runs the day-to-day operations. 

The first time Bunnett tried to sit in and play at Jazz Showcase in the late 1980s, Joe refused to let her play. Flash ahead a decade. Bunnett was back in the Windy City for the Chicago Jazz Festival. After her set, musician Ira Sullivan introduced her to Joe, who didn't recall the incident. Amends were made. In the last five years, the club has become a regular anticipated stop for Bunnett & Maqueque; they were scheduled for another gig there this spring before the pandemic hit.

Read: 'Bitches Brew' At 50: Why Miles Davis' Masterpiece Remains Impactful

"I've got incredible memories of playing that room," Bunnett says. "Right behind the bandstand is a beautiful 10-by-12-foot photograph of Charlie Parker. I remember the first night I'm up on that stage, it was such a joyous moment. Joe sat right in front of my percussionist and just stared. I looked around the room at all the paraphernalia and history and just soaked it in. There I was with a bunch of young Cuban kids in their early 20s who didn't have a clue of who many of the artists pictured on the walls were."

Sierra Hull

Venue: The Station Inn
City: Nashville, Tenn.
Opened: 1974

Sierra Hull (R) performs with Justin Moses (L) at The Station Inn in Nashville, Tenn.

Sierra Hull (R) performs with Justin Moses (L) at The Station Inn in Nashville, Tenn. | Courtesy Photo: Sierra Hull

At 28, bluegrass/roots artist Sierra Hull has already released four full-length albums. Her most recent, 25 Trips, released in February on Rounder Records, is the follow-up to her GRAMMY-nominated 2016 album, Weighted Mind. 

"It's easy to take for granted that a venue like The Station Inn will always be there," she says. "It's a staple of the Nashville community and a musical home for so many of us. I've been deeply inspired by the concerts I've seen by both legends and peers there, and have played the stage myself countless times over the years. It's the type of venue that is perfectly small and intimate yet with a history that makes it feel larger than life. 

Read: Sierra Hull Takes Her Place In Bluegrass History, Talks Legacy & New Music At Wide Open Bluegrass

"It really breaks my heart to know that venues we all love are struggling and could potentially go under during this pandemic. I hope and pray they can survive this for the sake of our community and the need we all have to gather together in places with so much history and meaning."

Ondara

Venue: Cedar Cultural Center
City: Minneapolis, Minn.
Opened: 1989

Cedar Cultural Center

Cedar Cultural Center | Photo: Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Ondara, previously known as J.S. Ondara, grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, listening to a lot of rock music before moving to the U.S. in 2013. His debut album, Tales Of America, released in 2019, received a nomination for Best Americana Album at the 2020 GRAMMYs. In May, the singer-songwriter released his follow-up, Folk N' Roll, Vol 1: Tales Of Isolation, an 11-song collection written and recorded by Ondara, in less than a week, while in lockdown in Minneapolis. The compositions speak to our times and collective quarantined experience. A direct response to the global pandemic, the album serves as therapy for Ondara. 

Before moving from Africa to America, Ondara had never been to a concert. His first show was at the Cedar Cultural Center, a Twin Cities live music hot spot for the past 30 years. It changed his life. 

Read: Kenyan Singer/Songwriter J.S. Ondara On Telling His Own 'Tales Of America' With Debut LP

"I was new to America, and I had spent some time with music unsuccessfully," he recalls. "Nothing was working out, so I decided to go to school. Halfway through my second semester, a friend invited me to a show to see Seattle singer-songwriter Noah Gundersen. I had a completely spiritual experience at that concert. I dropped out of school the following day and went back to focusing on my music and making my debut record. It was life-changing. The novelty of [it] being my first concert, along with my internal turmoil of my desires to be a musician being stifled, all played a part in the experience. It left a lasting impression. I honestly can't wait until I can be in a room full of people again and sing right in their faces." 

4 Independent Record Stores Across The U.S. Weigh In On Their Struggle To Survive During COVID-19

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy and its Affiliates. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy and its Affiliates lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy and its Affiliates.