Tag Archives: Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners

Live Review: New England Americana Festival 2025

Posted on by

New England Americana Festival (closing number); photo by Geoff Wilbur

New England Americana Festival

Bellforge Arts Center

Medfield, MA

June 29, 2025

I arrived at the Bellforge Arts Center when the eighth band was on-stage, just past the halfway point of the fourteen-artist docket for this year’s New England Americana Festival. With two stages side by side, the festival kept things moving with barely a moment of dead air.

Though I didn’t catch their sets, the first seven acts of the day obviously contributed to the lively atmosphere I saw as I arrived, as the joyousness was in full swing by the event’s midpoint. Those first seven performers, worth mentioning in acknowledgement of their contributions to the day, were Sam Reid & the Riot Act, Comanchero, FauxMenco, Jimmy Ryan’s Wooden Leg, Zion Rodman, Molly Pinto Madigan, and Sunfisher.

Damian & the Displayers; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Damian & the Displayers

Damian & the Displayers were the band on-stage when I arrived, stirring the crowd with an energetic brand of Americana. Of course, by the time I got settled in and started taking notes, the festival had moved on to the next act.

Elisa Smith; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Elisa Smith
Start with song-driven Americana, add a fiddle and the accordant bit of country (not bluegrass) flavor, and you have the central core of Elisa Smith’s musical style, at least during this performance. A couple notable songs from the set were the catchy “Daddy Hates These Red Boots” and “Nashville Won’t Forget Me,” which has a very ’70s countryish flavor. I also noted that Elisa’s music hints sonically at Patsy Cline, in spots. Such variety, from more modernly raucous genre-bending (at least as much as is possible in duo form of acoustic guitar and violin) to Opry-worthy classic country, this Elisa Smith set hints at an artist with the talents and variety of skills to keep things interesting. I look forward to exploring her recordings.

Nate Perry & Ragged Company; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Nate Perry & Ragged Company

The modern, explosive, rockin’ country sound of Nate Perry & Ragged Company caused a bit of excitement to ripple through the crowd as they took the stage. Or, rather, as they started to play. To be fair, as a full, electric band following a couple of acoustic duos, the stage was set for an energy uplift. However, this band delivered such a tight, powerful set that, even without the primed runway, it would have taken the crowd’s energy airborne.

The band performed most of the songs from The Otherside of Everything, the exceptional EP I reviewed a couple months ago. In addition, there was an energetic, heartfelt performance of “Between the Lines,” plus the band’s most recent two post-EP singles, “Count on You” and “Tonight.” Notably, the band closed its set with “Preacher,” one of the tracks from the EP, a bluesy song that comes across with a bit of a classic rock jam-band blues rocker live, ending the band’s performance with an electric wail befitting an arena show.

Wayward Vine; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Wayward Vine

Wayward Vine was up next. The band delivered a great set of more laid-back and folkier, song-driven Americana, supporting its performance with a rich full-band sound. Notable was album-opener, “Dancing on Your Basement Floor.” I also noted “The Fall” had a more distinctive piano flavor than the previous songs, giving it its own unique, sort-of-’80s-ish, tuneful soft rock vibe. And “History” stood out for what I initially noted as a “devil violin part,” though it was, in fact, probably more dark and ominous. Still, even if not entirely demonic, quite cool. The rest of the songs had their own unique angles, as the song seemed to move much faster than possible during the allotted time-slot. “Narcissist’s Disguise,” “Implode,” and “Hannah” were the remaining songs performed. No disrespect, as I recall “Hannah” in particular brought the set to a nifty close; but I don’t have any notes beyond the song titles, so check ’em out for yourselves.

Other Brother Darryl; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Other Brother Darryl

First of all, if you’re too young to recognize the reference in this band’s name, find a couple episodes of Newhart to watch and get back to me. With that out of the way, Other Brother Darryl is a band whose music is, largely, very Americana with a twang. An especially popular local act – winners of the Country Artist of the Year category at the Boston Music Awards in 2024 – this band brought the goods at this year’s festival. You might also describe the band’s sound as old-school Americana with gravelly vocals. My final note from OBD’s set was about the band’s third song, a jangly tune with somewhat psychedelic organ-work and a jam-bandish vibe, extending a truly groovy feeling to the early evening.

Dirt Road Souls; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Dirt Road Souls

Next up were Dirt Road Souls, a rockin’ Americana three-piece. The first stand-up bass I caught during my portion of the festival, which is mostly notable just to point out that, while the entire festival was Americana music, different instrumentation with the bands’ line-ups in addition to the artists’ varying influences afforded the event plenty of musical variety. This, of course, would be an example of different instrumentation.

I took notes about a few of the interesting songs during the band’s set. “Bright light white heat” thumps along like a dive bar hillbilly rock twanger. The band’s uptempo cover of Willie Nelson’s “Whiskey River” did a good job of keeping things moving. And “Roar” was an energetically twangy, very cool crowd pleaser.

Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners; photo by Geoff Wilbur

Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners

Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners closed the festival with their own uniquely original, raucous style of Americana, as I noted in my review of the band’s Before the Fall EP a few weeks ago. The band opened its set with big-time energy with the song “Gypsy Moon.” “Don’t Let Perfect” followed, with a little more finesse and a beat that kind of chunks along. Next up was the more intensely fun “Living By the Second Hand,” followed by “Ballad of Springfield, Massachusetts (Pictures on Her Cellphone),” introduced by Kier simply as “Pictures,” with a very raucous alt/college rock energy appended to an otherwise very country/Americana rocker. “Trains off the Rails,” from the Before the Fall EP, well… you just had to know this one would play well live with its very almost polka/oompah rhythm propelling a song that just accelerates. “Quarter Life Crisis” followed, with its blues soul and raucous college rock energy (You know, I’m not sure how I failed to note the blues vibe in my review of the recording a few weeks ago.) Finally, the band closed its set with its most insanely original tune, “White Russian,” churning through its cool, original energy, from the accordion style, the guitar tempo, and the wild, increasingly out of control (seemingly, at least) vocal delivery, and then, of course the Russian folk energy that makes you want to kick-dance. It was a crowd-pleasing end to the final band’s set.

Of course, the evening wasn’t quite over. Kier and band invited the day’s other performers to join them on the stage for a great, rockalong/singalong rendition of “The Weight,” a not-uncommon song for situations like this, bringing the day’s festivities to a fun close.

This year’s New England Americana Festival was a fun, well-attended event at a great outdoor venue. Here’s hoping this year’s successful event leads to another similarly fun gathering for the region’s Americana community next year, too.

EP Review: Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners – Before the Fall

Posted on by

photo by Monica Sager; photo courtesy of Knyvet

EP Review of Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners: Before the Fall

If Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners were a movie, their program guide listing would be: “Really good, powerful, jangly Americana with accordion.” That’s it. Heck, that’s my review. Not enough? Yeah, you’re probably right. This is a terrific EP, so if you’re willing to stick with me and not check out the music until after you’ve read a few more paragraphs, I’ll keep going.

OK, maybe just click through and start playing “White Russian,” then come back and read while you listen. Who am I kidding? You can’t pay attention to anything else while you’re listening to “White Russian”! The EP-opening track is a raucous, accordion-fueled, rhythmic audio circus that’ll have you singing “la da da da da white Russian!” by the end of the first time you hear the phrase. It’s infectious. It took me several days to realize there was more than one song on this EP because I just kept replaying “White Russian.” It’s a fun, exhausting, energetic romp.

image courtesy of Knyvet

It’s followed by “Quarter-Life Crisis,” which I’d love to tell you about, but I don’t have any adjectives left. Actually, I do, mostly because this song requires an entirely different set of descriptors than its predecessor. It’s slower Americana. Mostly. It’s an introspective number, as you’d probably guess a song called “Quarter-Life Crisis” might be. The song sways gently for the most part early on, but the vocals reach a pain-releasing wail in sections of the chorus, and then the song builds in power and noise-level as it progresses. This is what Americana music would sound like if it came out of ’90s Athens, Georgia. But without the twang, of course, ’cause Kier & company are Yankees. Probably Red Sox, actually, since they’re New Englanders, but in Athens, we’d all be carpetbaggers.

“When the Money’s All Gone” has an almost Gypsy-esque accordion part (even more Gypsy-esque than accordion music ordinarily is), and it shares some good folky advice, with the chorus delivering these wise words: “You say that you love me, I tell you you’re wrong. I’ll know that you love me when money is all gone.” This track has a bit of an Irish drinking song feel, particularly as it begins to drift more into singalong territory with words that are easy to remember after several drinks – “la da da da da da” – and seems to carry an undercurrent of the idea that things are not going to end well, but hey, let’s all keep drinking and singing.

image courtesy of Knyvet

“Train’s Off the Rails,” next, starts slow and picks up speed. Like a runaway train, you might say. The kind of sidewinding, janky rhythms and carnival barker-ish vocal delivery recall a couple of my favorite Los Goutos songs. As you get past the midpoint, the vocals and accordion seem to compete to see which can pick up the tempo the fastest, but it’s really the guitar solo that ups the ante because nothing’s as fast as a shredding guitar part. Oh, the vocals return and try, but just as things are about to spiral off the rails – to extend the train metaphor – the brakeman apparently steps in, and you can hear the song and the vocals crawl before stopping.

“Hurting or Helping” is another raucous, fast-tempoed Americana number that looks internally, thinking about the relative merits of pursuing money versus more selfless or creative endeavors. However, relatively early on, the lyrics say, “so I asked my dear ol’ pal, ChatGPT, to finish writing this here verse of the song for me.” That gave me an idea, so I asked ChatGPT to “Write a 50-word review of the Kier Byrnes & The Kettle Burners’ song ‘Hurting or Helping,'” and it came up a not-so-accurate description that you wouldn’t realize was inaccurate unless you actually listened to the song. It also used a helluva lot more than 50 words. And it threw in a couple em-dashes without a space before or after, so I guess what I’d heard about the em-dashes is true. Personally, I tend to use a lot of en-dashes, and I like to place spaces before and after them, so I guess that’s two data points that suggest I am not a robot, just in case you were wondering, something that might be up for debate if you’ve ever seen me try to select all the squares with streetlights in them. As for “Hurting or Helping,” it’s a fun, bar-rattling number not extremely unlike “Train’s Off the Rails” but not nearly as out-0f-control-seeming.

“Dark Eyes” is a lively, guitar-pickin’-driven number the likes of which you might expect the Three Amigos to dance to while the bad guys are shooting at their feet. And that accordion kind of oompas like it’s working a polka, particularly mid-song. Sometimes, also, it sounds a little like a sped-up version of that song from Dr. Zhivago; you know, in a really cool way.

After listening to this six-song EP… well, first after the almost-frantic tempos of some of the songs, you’ll want to thank the band for stopping after six songs so you can catch your breath. Then you’ll probably start from song one again. And you’ll look to see when you can catch a live show because if it’s anything like this EP, it’ll blow the doors off. The band plays all over New England. Just look for the venues that have lost their doors, and you’ll know Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners are there. Either that, or check the “calendar” page on the band’s website. Of interest to readers in Belgium and the Netherlands – and I’ve reviewed Belgian and Dutch blues artists already this year, so hopefully you’re still reading the blog – 2024 New England Music Awards Americana Act of the Year Kier Byrnes & the Kettle Burners will be touring your fair countries from July 3rd to July 13th, so check out their concert calendar to see when they’ll be near you, and have a rollicking time!