There is a particular kind of magic that happens when a live record gets made. It is not the polish of a studio session, the luxury of endless takes, or the safety net of overdubs. It is the risk of a performance — the moment when a song exists only for the people in the room, and whatever happens, happens. That is the energy that Stereo Field Recordings captured last winter when they recorded two separate live albums at Bop Shop Records in Rochester, and it is the energy that will be released into the world on Saturday, September 19, when Raedwald Howland-Bolton and The Travis Prinzi Band share a double album release show at Lovin' Cup in Henrietta.
The evening is a rare one: a single night celebrating two full-length live records from two distinctly different acts, both rooted in the same fertile soil of American roots music. Admission is just $10, doors open at 6 p.m., and the music begins at 7 p.m. For those who want to take a piece of the night home, a limited number of numbered and signed CDs will be available — $20 for either artist's disc, or $30 for both. It is the kind of bargain that feels almost anachronistic, the kind of night that rewards the curious listener willing to wander in on a Saturday evening.
Raedwald Howland-Bolton — who goes by Rad on stage — is a guitar player and vocalist rooted in the delta and Piedmont blues traditions. He is a performer with fifteen years of experience, much of it earned the hard way: busking on street corners, playing venues across New York State, and building a following one song at a time. He is, in the words of his own bio, a modern-day blues man, staying true to Americana roots while expressing his own authenticity. His live album, recorded during the winter at Bop Shop Records, features original music, fiddle songs, and traditional hits — a collection that harkens back to his blues and busking roots, while also showcasing intricate arrangements and soulful ballads.
Dan Gross, the lead producer for Stereo Field Recordings, described the new album as another superb addition to Howland-Bolton's collection of live records. "It's an excellent selection of songs: equal parts harkening to his blues and busking roots, alongside intricate arrangements and soulful ballads," Gross said. The phrase "collection of live records" is telling. This is not a one-off experiment for Howland-Bolton; it is the latest chapter in a continuing practice of capturing performance in real time, of letting the tape roll and seeing what emerges.
The Travis Prinzi Band offers a different flavor of the same spirit. The band is anchored by Travis Prinzi on guitar and vocals and Brad Prinzi on bass and vocals — brothers who have been singing together since they were kids, cutting their teeth on the harmonies of Simon & Garfunkel, the Avett Brothers, and the Everly Brothers. Abbey Gebel joins them on fiddle, a collaboration that began back in college and has grown into a deep well of fiddle tunes and originals. Together, they have been playing for over twenty years, and their reputation precedes them: they are the band that makes people stay all night for one more song.
"This is an impressive outing for a debut full-length release, and a live record to boot!" Gross said. "Travis Prinzi Band and its members show off their well-earned reputation for engaging fiddle tunes and diverse originals, all with a professional and fun delivery." The debut full-length nature of the album makes the achievement even more notable — to have your first full-length release be a live record is a bold move, one that speaks to the band's confidence in their performance abilities.
The venue for this celebration is Lovin' Cup, the Henrietta coffeehouse and music venue that has become a staple of the Rochester-area live music scene. It is an intimate room, the kind of place where the audience is close enough to see the sweat on a guitarist's brow and the grin on a fiddler's face. It is the perfect setting for a live album release show — a room that honors the very thing the albums capture: the immediacy and intimacy of performance.
The recordings themselves were made at Bop Shop Records, a Rochester institution. The store has become known not just as a place to buy vinyl, but as a venue where live music happens — a space where jazz artists like Nick Finzer and Arturo O'Farrill have performed, and where local acts can capture the energy of a live set in a room that has the warmth and character of a record lover's home. The choice of Bop Shop Records as the recording venue is significant. It is not a sterile studio; it is a living, breathing space filled with vinyl and history, a place where the walls themselves seem to absorb the music.
C. Purdy Photography will be on hand to document the evening, capturing images of a night that will exist only once, in a single moment on a single Saturday. That is the nature of live music — it is ephemeral, fleeting, and all the more precious for it. The albums will endure, but the night itself will pass, and those who are there will have something that no recording can fully capture: the memory of being in the room.
The show promises to be a celebration of two artists who have chosen different paths through the same tradition — one rooted in the raw, acoustic blues of the deep South, the other in the folk and fiddle traditions of the pub and the front porch. Together, they represent a broad swath of American roots music, and their joint release show is a testament to the vitality of the Rochester-area music scene.
The artists themselves, Gross says, are thrilled to be promoting their new live records this weekend. And why wouldn't they be? There is something deeply satisfying about holding a physical artifact of a performance, about knowing that a moment of musical creation has been preserved, numbered, and signed. The limited run of CDs — each one numbered and signed by the artists — adds a collector's element to the evening. These are not mass-produced commodities; they are artifacts, each one unique, touched by the hands of the musicians who created them.
For the price of a movie ticket, the audience at Lovin' Cup on September 19 will witness the debut of two live albums, hear music that spans blues, folk, and fiddle traditions, and perhaps even take home a numbered, signed piece of Rochester music history. It is the kind of event that reminds us why live music matters — why we gather in rooms, why we listen, why we stay for one more song.