On June 12 at 7:30 p.m., Joel Zoss and his band will play at the Hooker Dunham Theater in Brattleboro. Zoss frequently performs with B.B. King. He lives in western Massachusetts and performs all over the world. More information is at www.joelzoss.com and in the below article by James Heflin. It originally appeared in the Valley Advocate newspaper.

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Joel Zoss releases a new album and talks Valley music scene  

This article includes a one-minute video of a benefit party for Brattleboro Community Radio. More info about the radio station is at www.wvew.org

If you're in Keene, check out www.wknh.org

In Northampton, www.valleyfreeradio.org

In Amherst, Greenfield, and Northampton, www.wmua.org

Although southern Vermont has a vibrant music scene, by percentage it can be somewhat limited to similar Eurocentric genres: folk, roots rock, hard rock. And, of course, there are classic evenings of contra and New England fiddlers. It is rare that down-home, messy, slinky soul music finds its way to this trickle of the Appalachian Range. Though Vermont is statistically both the second least populous and second least ethnically diverse state in the union, musical energy does not have to suffer proportionately.

An intricate trellis bent into an archway shimmers with strings of lights against a dusky late-summer backdrop.