Good news, penniless folk fans: badass Boston folk musician Mieka Pauley kicks off a national tour this week with three shows in Boston, and two of them are free. If you're not already down with Pauley, whose throaty, tough, stripped-down songs form the perfect counterpoint to the overproduced, overwrought studio stuff that passes for "folk" these days, this is your chance to check her out alongside some other talented acts. (Photo by Josh Rothstein)......

1st Annual Naukabout Music Festival of Cape Cod The Barnstable County Fairgrounds, Route 151, East Falmouth August 16, 1pm to 10pm Website | Tickets ($24 online / $30 at gate) As if people needed to another reason to head down to the Cape on a summer weekend! The folks at the Naukabout clothing company decided to put together a day-long music festival. We hesitate to say "jam-band", because that's painting the eight bands with......

Bostonist had the wonderful luck to talk to some big-time talents in all fields this year. And, no, we're not sure how we tricked these people into talking to us. Here's a look back: Authors Diane Rapaport, The Naked Quaker, 11/20 Jonah Lehrer, Proust Was a Neuroscientist, 11/13 John Fulton, The Animal Girl, 10/22 Jonathan Messinger, Dollar Store Series and Hiding Out, 10/9 Shalom Auslander, Foreskin's Lament, 10/9 Steve Almond, Not That You Asked, 9/11......

Bostonist just left the 2007 Boston Music Awards, and while we'll have ruminations on the awards ceremony for your Sunday reading pleasure, you can find below the crop of winners from the 20th anniversary ceremony, presented here in chronological order: Outstanding Funk/Jam Band of the Year: Westbound Train Outstanding Blues/Soul Act of the Year: Eli "Paperboy" Reed & the True Loves Outstanding DJ/Dance Act of the Year: DJ BC Outstanding Rock Band of the Year:......

Ryan Montbleau Band Paradise Rock Club Saturday and Sunday Doors at 8 p.m., 18+ Ticket information With Nate Wilson Group and Tom Bianchi on Saturday; Dwight & Nicole and Jesse Dee on Sunday Website At first glance, one could believe that this weekend brings a perfect confluence of two of Ryan Montbleau's long-standing passions: making music and the Red Sox. On Saturday and Sunday, Montbleau and the rest of the Ryan Montbleau Band will return......

Have you played a show in Boston over within the last 18 months? Have you ever crashed on a Boston couch? Do you know someone who did? If so, check out the Boston Music Award nominations. You or they just might be nominated. Listen, we actually enjoy the fact that local musicians are honored once a year through the BMAs. Sure, it's always dominated by the usual suspects (Aerosmith, Dropkick Murphys, Dresden Dolls and, most......

What with Paris Hilton's release earlier this week and the upcoming celebration of American Independence (sorry, Londonist!), we've been thinking a lot about freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to choose, and most importantly, freedom to blog. Here are a few things we're happy we've been free to blog about this week. Being the nation's capital, DCist felt especially proud to let freedom ring this week by exposing the really important issues, like how sad they......

Bostonist knew that with Wednesday night's Boston Pops EdgeFest finale would come a chance to see local talent (and Bostonist favorites) Mieka Pauley and Chad Perrone, but it wasn't until shortly before we braved the heat en route to Symphony Hall that we discovered that we were in store for another Boston music treat - three-fifths of the Ryan Montbleau Band (guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Ryan Montbleau, bassist Matt Gianarros and Laurence Scudder on viola), who closed out......

Bostonist explained last week the challenge that is describing the Ryan Montbleau Band's multi-genre sound, noting that "one never knows what the band's going to come up with next." Odds are good that the 700 people crowded into the sold-out Paradise Rock Club on Saturday night could come up with several hundred ways to describe what they heard. When we left the club, however, we were thinking about how the homegrown band is composed of......

If you look past the fact that the Sox are back at home for their first few games at Fenway this season you'll be able to hear a greater beat on the street. As is often the case there is more good live music going on in town this week than any one person could possibly listen to. Time to clone yourself so you can scoop up a standing room ticket to watch Dice-K......