$15 adv/$20 doors

Doors 7

Usually when folks describe JJ Slater’s music, words relate back to nature, the outdoors, the warm sun and the cool breeze. His UMASS Amherst psych-rock band Humble Digs was a mainstay at Stockbridge School of Agriculture events, and ten years later tours are often routed with ulterior, National Park-related motives.

Based in New England, he has toured much of the US, playing festivals, basements, and club gigs, at times opening for artists like Kat Wright, NRBQ, Johnny A, and David Wax Museum. In 2022, he completed a residency at the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, where he wrote his new record “The Silver Key”. It was recorded with a Mass Cultural Council grant in 2023, released at the end of 2024, and you’ll find him touring and playing the full record in 2025. He’ll also be touring with his Americana-Blues road-dog project Signature Dish, co-fronting the band with partner Lexi Weege and lending his songs to a dynamic, soul-journey set.

https://www.jjslatermusic.com/

With a voice straight out of the jazz age, Savoir Faire brings the modern existential crisis into a realm of retro-noir. Born to an American mother and an Iranian father, Savoir Faire was absorbing the influences of everything from classic 60s rock to Persian pop at an early age. It was during her pre-teen years that she was inspired by the 90s wave of female songwriters to pick up the guitar. Eventually, she studied jazz guitar in college, where she would discover the duets of Joe Passand Ella Fitzgerald. The artistry of both musicians would greatly influence Savoir Faire’s approach to both guitar and voice. She would spend years performing as a lounge singer and jazz guitarist before adding the last few ingredients that would form the aesthetic of Savoir Faire: lush and syrupy vocals, biting lyricism, and searing guitar parts that float between the genres of jazz, rock, and chamber pop. The result is a Lynchian rumination on the present in the debut album Hopeless Nostalgic, combining wistful nostalgia and modern rage to answer the question “What if a torch singer had a Riot Grrl heart?”

Savoir Faire

Safe Journey is an indie project led by photographer-turned-songwriter Steph Larsen, who began writing after unexpectedly losing her mother in 2022 just after her 30th birthday. With no formal musical training, Steph turned her grief into songs. She reunited with guitarist Liz Glenn, drummer Emily Payson and bassist Michaela Knight, old friends from the South Shore of MA, transforming what started as a solo exploration into a kismet she/they band. Named from a friendship bracelet on the eve of their first recording day, Safe Journey crafts raw, heartfelt singer-songwriter indie rock with a touch of twang that explores grief and the human experience and reminds listeners that they’re not alone.

Safe Journey