Five multi-colored polyhedral dice made of brittle plastic sit in a clear container, their corners rounded from being rolled thousands of times. The d20 — the 20-sided die — is

After six finalists took the Brightside Ballroom stage Saturday night, Midwest Americana band Paid Leave took home the crown for the 2026 Dayton Battle of the Bands.

In a house on the west side of Dayton, William Pace maintains an archive of his entire broadcast career. There are about 3,000 tapes in various rooms of his home, with countless pictures and articles ...

Blind Rage Records — a DIY hub for Dayton’s punk and hardcore scene — will close March 22, owner Gwen Downing-Groth announced on social media.

The annual Dayton Record Fair returns Sunday, Feb. 8, bringing thousands of new and used records, CDs, cassettes, and music memorabilia from some of the Midwest’s best vendors.

After the opening act, the crowd swarmed the stage: a sea of young people in Mac DeMarco ball caps, clutching longneck bottles, bobbing in unison to tight, structured pop music.

Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley has been gone for more than four decades, yet his life, legacy and global impact continue to be celebrated.

On a bookshelf at Yellow Cab Tavern on a normal Saturday night, a field recorder’s condenser mics were pointed at the stage. The TASCAM DR-40X taped all three sets. Its owner, Chris Wettle, often does...

A GameCube kiosk sits in a corner between a maximalist glass display of NES games and the front counter. Two black controllers protrude at waist level, shiny from myriad hands that have graced them — ...

Earlier this year, I heard rumblings of an invite-only funk jam on the West side of Dayton. Eventually, I was invited.

As we round out another remarkable year for Dayton music, I encourage everyone to listen beyond this list — keep exploring, show up for shows and support local artists by buying directly from them. Wh...

As the 2025 Eichelberger Concert Season came to a close, the Levitt Pavilion Dayton invited the community to continue experiencing live music, but in more intimate spaces.

Every so often, Motel Beds, one of Dayton’s more reclusive garage rock bands, will reunite for a big show. Earlier this year, lo-fi indie pop band Me Time did a similar thing, returning to the stage a...

David Payne wants to be a rock ‘n’ roll preservationist. In some ways, he already is one.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1976, one of rock and roll’s most influential groups, The Band, held its final concert.

Thirty years ago, alt-country/punk legends the Supersuckers opened for the Ramones and White Zombie at Hara Arena. GeeGee Bradley was at that show.

The first rule of dream interpretation is that you are everything in the dream.

Everything about the blues is call and response.

Ahead of its seven-date run with Blackberry Smoke, Oklahoma City roots-rock band Jason Scott & the High Heat will kick off its tour with a show at the Brightside on Nov. 6.

Continuing on the Halloween spirit after the holiday proper, Toledo’s Boogie Matrix Mechanism and Dayton’s WAHFU are bringing Crushoween — three full sets of jam music with a costume contest — to Yell...

Every show Steve Poltz plays is the greatest of his life.

Ellis Paul’s tours never start or end. They only continue.

A collection of unauthorized, self-republished stories, mostly about music, but also about a few other things. In here are punks, metalheads, rappers, rockers, cryptids, museums, hippies, the finality...

Yesterday, as this sentence is typed, Scott Yoder’s van broke down in Montana.

In 1894, Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey led a march of unemployed workers to Washington, DC, to protest economic hardship during the Panic of 1893 — the worst economic depression in the US until the Gre...

For nearly 20 years, hip hop duo Black Violin has fused classical strings with modern beats, breaking barriers and building community along the way.

It’s 9:21 a.m. My shirt smells like palo santo and sage. There’s a smooth purple crystal on my desk that I’m told is amethyst. And I feel generally cleansed.

Hiroya Tsukamoto, an innovative fingerstyle guitarist and acoustic composer, fuses folk, jazz and world music to create what some have described as “cinematic guitar poetry.”

“No matter how hard we try to get away from ourselves and write in character, that character is still informed by what we do every single day.”

Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter Ben Folds has made his mark with genre-bending music, including pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, a holiday album and numerous collaborative record...

Following on the boot heels of last year’s recognition, Springfield country rock quintet Matt Clarkson Band is once again nominated for Josie Music Awards, “the most revered award in the independent m...

Mad River Theater Works will begin its Ohio Arts Council supported Yellow Springs Speaker Series with the highly regarded author Hanif Abdurraqib.

For Maine musician King Kyote, aka Jon King, the best parts of life happen in the analog — surfing frigid waters, developing film in a darkroom, or grinding through guitar practice until fingers bleed...

Two legendary punk bands, pillars of the Los Angeles music scene, are teaming up for their first national tour together, to celebrate 99 years of rock ‘n roll.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dayton hip-hop artist TINO got an email from a producer in Rennes, France.

As the city of Fairborn continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary this year, the Fairborn Phoenix, the city’s historic theater, will step back in time for a night of swing, sparkle and small town ma...

For 21 years, Dayton Music Fest has been the city’s biggest showcase of local sound.

Before the release of “Breach,” Twenty One Pilots is giving fans a chance to step inside the new album. The Columbus-born duo is celebrating with listening parties worldwide, including stops in Dayton...

In 1960, as a part of Project Excelsior, United States Air Force test pilot Colonel Joseph Kittinger rose 102,800 feet in a balloon, into the stratosphere. He jumped back to the ground, falling upward...

The Brightside Music & Event Venue, one of the few independent and female-led music venues, has announced its 2025-26 season, running September through May.

With an exciting mix of disciplines and genres, concerts and speaker series, dance and original theater, The Foundry is expanding its vibrant programming to host artists from our community and from di...

Bill Manspeaker, the frontman and Punk Rock Pope of “The World’s Worst Band,” respects the underdogs — because he’s one, too.

Bill and Alice Saurber are just regular folks from Hamilton, Ohio, playin’ with cigar boxes and pallin’ around. But that didn’t stop the married couple from vying for the title of “America’s Favorite ...

Fresh off a stripped-down duets album with pianist Bob James, Platinum-selling artist and saxophonist Dave Koz is shifting gears from an intimate pairing to a big, energetic horn section — one in whic...

Fifteen-time Grammy Award-winner Ricky Skaggs and his band, Kentucky Thunder, is joining fellow Country Music Hall of Famers The Oak Ridge Boys for a singular night of bluegrass and country music.

If this porch is a-rockin’, please come a-knockin’.

Gem City Action is a volunteer-run group that promotes community as the backbone of society. Its work aims to strengthen bonds, pool resources and encourage people in showing up for one another.