With a combination of songs from their newest record, Helplessness Blues, and their first, self-titled album, the set was thoroughly satisfying and the night close to perfect. Everything was copacetic. Just as I had thought years ago, the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur was the perfect places to experience not just live music, but this music.

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photography by Chris Juarez One would never expect to see hundreds of kids drive hundreds of miles to visit a library. What was happening on this day to cause such an occurrence? (((folkYEAH!))) and New York-based indie label, Woodsist, decided to bring a music festival to the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur to showcase [...]

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Back in 1973, Collie Ryan recorded three albumfuls of folk songs at once before retreating deep into the Texas desert. She’s squatted in an old bus along the Rio Grande ever since, spending her days painting mandalas on hubcaps. While she has no plans of dropping back into civilization, she will share her mystical observations about circles and sing us a song or two. This interview by Daiana Feuer.

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Oh, the weirdness of sounds. Some drink, some smoke, as the vibrations echo around our shoulders. By midnight, my friend has passed out from half a bottle of whiskey she opted for instead of a blanket. Later, after I have retreated to the car to sleep a while, my friend will appear at the window and say, “I just opened my eyes and I was the only person left on the grass. There’s still a sound playing from the stage. It’s 4:20 am and the whole place is empty. I think it’s real. But what if there was never anyone there?” And—this is without drugs—this is Tonalism.

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Alejandro Cohen wants to put you to sleep. Today, Ale and friends from L.A.-based collective dublab will take over the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur to create an night of ambient music event aptly titled “Tonalism”—a term Ale appropriated from late-19th-century painters who tried to capture the mood of nature by representing it with misty atmospheres. This interview by Drew Denny.

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