The Barrett Anderson Band

Today’s Gardner Oktoberfest performance  is a GO!!  Because of the nor’easter we have moved the party indoors, but Joey Pafumi, Paul Loranger, Charlie Mallet and I are ready to blow the roof off!!

See you there!

We’ll be back at it next Wednesday, 9/30. Barrett - Paul - Mike

Photos courtesy of Elisabeth Bayle

One day in July, 2026

We're starting something.
It's kicking off soon.

Wednesday night we'll be doing it at The Sea Hag, Cambridge.  Old School Harvard Square.  
Music @ 7:30.  No Cover.

I’m feeling all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic at The Lizard Lounge, Cambridge tonight.  I’ve possibly spent more time here than any other club in the world, and some of my very favorite music nights happened here - Dennis Brennan, Peter Wolf, Session Americana…. Too many memories to recount.

Well, I’ll make a new one tonight, as I play some acoustic blues to kick things off and then join the fun on electric guitar with the great Gracie Curran.  Oh what a night!

I think a lot about musical heritage, our cultural DNA…. The pieces of where we’re from that define who we are.  

Coming from Massachusetts, Morphine’s low rock backbeat is in me, echoing my heartbeat.  Buena.

In 2007, while recording my debut album, All The Way Down, producer Jimbo Mathus asked me “What’s Boston like?  All I know about Boston is Car Talk and Morphine!”  Well, that sounds pretty good to me.

In 2010 or 11, at a tribute to the great Mark Sandman, I got this signed album flat, thinking the signatures would somehow bring me closer to the music…. That it would magically give me a deeper connection with the music I loved so much.

It didn’t really, although I have proudly displayed it on the wall amongst my most prized possessions for over a decade.  

I think I’ve figured out something really special and I feel like dreams are coming true….  Stay tuned

😎

Tomorrow I head into the studio to begin work on a  very exciting acoustic project with two of my dearest friends, Paul Loranger and Monster Mike Welch .  

I’ll also be working with these dear friends - 1931 National Duolian, 1960 Martin 00-18, and 1919 Gibson Style O.  Pickups are by Krivo Pickups

This is going to be special for so many reasons.  Stay tuned…. There’s a lot of good coming. 

Few places in the world feel exactly the same as they always have, and Theodores' Booze, Blues & BBQ is one of those rare spots.
Growing up in central MA, this was one of my “schools of blues” and I got a great education.  

Tonight I get to take the stage with the mighty Barrett Anderson Band and I can’t wait to dig deep and play to make my mentors proud.

Music from 9pm-12pm, Springfield MA.  Let’s get groovy.

A ball was had.  Thanks to all whose support made it so special, this one will always stand tall.

Thanks to Michael and Jen Murphy, Whittling Fog Photography, for the wonderful photos.
 

More is not always better, but it’s always more…

And with that in mind, I’m definitely bringing out “more” to The Bull Run Sat. night.  

It’s a fun mix of old and new.  
 

Hello from back home, happy spring

I just got home from watching my friends The Deep Blue Blues Band, who I regularly sit in with in their native North Shore area (an area to the north of Boston, for the non-MA readers).  They were playing at The Gardner Ale House Blue Monday series, a long-running music series with too many hometown ties to list.  The Deep Blue Blues Band was great, and very generous to let me sit in and play some guitar.  I had the right guitar with me - the lovely Gibson I have the honor of playing was right at home with Brad Faucher's and Dan Wailin's ES-335s.  I was too busy with my guitar in my hands to snap any photos, sadly.  

Speaking of being busy with my guitar in my hands, I am so very excited to play The Bull Run on Saturday, March 21st, with The Barrett Anderson Band.  This is a big deal for me and my band.  I feel like I grew up at The Bull Run… I played there often during my time in Ronnie Earl’s band; it was the place for live music, and it means a lot to come back and play the big room on a Saturday night with my amazing band.  I just couldn't be happier for this show.  The incredibly talented Dennis Brennan,  one of my very favorite musicians, was described by The Boston Globe as “one of the city's foremost melodic-rock songwriters. He has a raw survivor's voice, but he delves under the skin like Elvis Costello. . .then rocks with the populist abandon of Bruce Springsteen and the Stones,” kicks things off at 8:00.  Indeed he rocks.  And indeed we will.  

This gig just happens to be days after my birthday and on Paul's Birthday and we will be celebrating!!  “We'll bring the fire,” Paul says.  And we will.  Come celebrate with us, get groovy, mine for joy and hold it tight.  

  If you can make just one show by The Barrett Anderson Band in 2026, this is the one.  Tickets are going fast, get yours today.  Thanks for tuning in.  I'll make sure that I'm posting a lot more than just ads for upcoming shows.  I have lots of cool content I'll be sharing so stay tuned and thank you!!! 

GET TICKETS HERE FOR THE BULL RUN, SATURDAY MARCH 21ST

My niece, who is spending her semester studying in Europe, came to Friday night's show and posted this short clip to her Instagram feed.  Its' 11 seconds capture a lot of the feel of Marian's.  What joy.

I’m sitting on a train, riding home.  My guitar and I travelled safely.  I’m happy, my soul is full of joy from the music created on this trip.  I’m also tired.

The Fade Out by Duke Levine is playing in my headphones.  The tenderness and beauty throughout this album is powerful, it’s visceral and emotional and perfect.  It’s some of my favorite music of all time; I hear my whole life in these songs and I’m happy for them  to carry me home tonight.

The Fade Out by Duke Levine on YouTube

The Fade Out by Duke Levine on Spotify

The Fade Out by Duke Levine on Apple Music

Some fav tracks:

11 shows.  5 days.  Great fun was had.  Now, time to travel, rest, recover.  I’m flying into a blizzard and will be ready to shovel.

There’s no shortage of photos and stories to tell and I’ll make sure to do so right here, so stay tuned…

Time keeps on tickin’ into the future and I don’t know if it’s on my side or not, but it’s a changing and carrying on, that’s for sure.

It’s time for me to start to say goodbye to this wonderful in Bern.  We play 3 shows today, our evening shows and a matinee, and then head to the airport, and home.

What a great joy this has been.