Highlands Current Audio Stories

Editor's note: Beacon was created in 1913 from Matteawan and Fishkill Landing.

Officials planned to set off $450 [about $14,000 today] in fireworks on July 4 from three canal boats anchored in the Hudson River.

Five steam tugs owned by the New York & Eastern Transportation Co. were idle at the Newburgh docks for lack of business.

John Hadfield, the 7-year-old son of Levi Hadfield, drowned in a well at Walsh's brewery in Matteawan.

A tailor working at Fishkill Landing was walking along the railroad when he saw the southbound train coming toward him. He stepped onto the other track and was killed by a northbound train.

The Highland Hospital in Matteawan planned an addition measuring 22 by 24 feet.

Benjamin Ellsden, a newly hired police officer in Newark, New Jersey, and the brother of the Rev. Robert Ellsden of Matteawan, was shot and killed as he and his partner attempted to serve arrest warrants on three brothers accused of extortion.

Robert Allen, 22, of Walpole, Massachusetts, drowned in the Hudson, while trying to swim across. His body was spotted by a ferry passenger.

A mason working on the third floor of a new building at Groveville dropped a brick that hit another worker in the head, causing a serious injury.

The First National Bank of Fishkill Landing installed an iron cresting around its counter.

Because of the heat, a Matteawan judge held court outside, under the trees, with the jury sitting on a timber bench.

A Fishkill Landing woman was arrested for using profane language.

The Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad reported that, although it used a single track over 130 miles, it had not had a serious passenger injury or train collision in 30 years.

William Kasher, 20, was swimming across Fishkill Creek at Glenham with Albert Shrayer, 11, on his back, when he became disabled by cramps, and both drowned. They were workers at the Stewart mills.

William Ackerman was driving a wagon in Poughkeepsie with a passenger, Sarah Ackerman of Fishkill Landing, when he stopped to deliver a pot of butter. He put the reins on the dash to tie up the 4-year-old colt when it sprang, throwing Miss Ackerman and the butter into the road and running over Mr. Ackerman. The horse pulled the upside-down wagon until it struck the bridge. No one was seriously hurt.

Members of the nativist Order of United American Mechanics Lodge No. 52 of Fishkill Landing participated in the Fourth of July parade in Newburgh, pulling a four-horse wagon with 13 young ladies. Another four-horse wagon contained girls from its Juvenile Temple, representing the states and territories of 1876.

John McGinn of Fishkill Landing was arrested on charges that he stole soda crackers and canned corn from a merchant's storeroom.

Martha Waddle was sentenced to Randall's Island for stealing $20 [$625] and jewelry from the home of Jacob Hawks.

The Hudson River District Eclectic Medical Society held its annual meeting in Fishkill Landing. [Eclectic medicine combined conventional treatment with plant and herbal therapies.]

A fire engine from Perseverance Co. No. 1, on loan to Fishkill Landing while one of its fire trucks was being repaired, returned to Poughkeepsie with thanks from city trustees.

Several people prevented a distraught Rosetta Greenwood, 40, from throwing herself from Long Dock. She had earlier tried to strangle herself with a shawl.

Entrants in the Newburgh Bay Regatta included, in the third class, the 18-foot Catboat Uno and 20-foot Catboat Thetis, both from Fishkill Landing.

The Rev. Michael McGuire, assistant pastor at St. Joachim's, resigned as chaplain of the Beacon Kiwanis Club after Margaret Sanger, president of the American Birth Control League, spoke during its annual Ladies Day luncheon at the Holland Hotel. Sanger and her husband, J. Noah Slee, owned a summer home in Fishkill. McGuire complained: "Kiwanis teach unselfishness; she preaches selfishness at the expense even of God's laws in nature."

While digging a cesspool on his 8-acre property at...

North Highlands family rescued from home

A Philipstown Highway Department front-end loader was used to rescue a North Highlands family trapped by floodwaters on Wednesday (July 29) as a storm brought as much as 8 inches of rain to Philipstown and 4.43 inches in Beacon. Jon Kiphart said the Philipstown total is the most he's recorded in 18 years as a volunteer weather monitor. Route 9 was closed in Fishkill near Pet Pleasers in both directions until Thursday evening.

Dutchess commissioners refuse audit

The Dutchess County comptroller and its Board of Elections may need a judge to resolve a dispute over whether auditors can review records related to how the board pays election workers.

Dan Aymar-Blair, a Democrat who won reelection as comptroller in 2025, said in a news release on Monday (July 27) that he had subpoenaed the two elections commissioners, Erik Haight and Lisa Jessup, and other BOE employees because they have refused to provide records and allow interviews.

The subpoena, Aymar-Blair said, was the "last resort" in a battle that began April 24 when the BOE was notified that the comptroller was auditing its payroll process for election workers. The agency objected to the audit as "seeking operational information," which it claimed exceeds the comptroller's authority, he said.

"It is not the preference of the Comptroller's Office to obtain audit materials under threat of subpoena," said Aymar-Blair, who lives in Beacon and said the subpoena may be the first ever issued by the office.

That threat is unnecessary and illegal, according to a statement issued Wednesday by Haight and Jessup, who were appointed to their positions by the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively. Haight said that the board is relying on "common sense" and advice from the state Board of Elections in determining that it is improper for an elected official to "dictate" policies and procedures of a board "mandated to administer the very election that puts him in office."

In addition, Jessup said the Comptroller's Office already has BOE payroll records because it must review and approve payments to election workers.

By issuing a news release, Jessup said, Aymar-Blair "is seeking to discredit the Board of Elections" when there are "almost daily assaults on the credibility of our elections coming out of the Oval Office."

Both the Internal Revenue Service and the state board have audited the BOE's books, said Haight. The comptroller, by contrast, cannot "conduct a performance review under the guise of a financial audit," said Haight. "That responsibility rests solely with the state board."

According to the Dutchess County charter, the comptroller's duties include auditing the accounts "of all units" of county government. Those audits "offer recommendations for making government financial operations more efficient, a high priority for county taxpayers," said Aymar-Blair. Previous audits of the BOE took place in 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2020, he said.

Federal lawsuit alleges he planted evidence

A Putnam County sheriff's deputy who served as a lieutenant in the New Rochelle police department is accused in a federal lawsuit of framing a man charged in May 2024 with tossing a baggie of drugs while fleeing police.

In a civil rights lawsuit filed July 13 in federal court in White Plains, Ivin Harper accuses Sean Kane, who joined the Putnam Sheriff's Office in March, of planting a baggie of cocaine and crack that led to his arrest. Two felony possession charges filed against Harper in July 2024 were dismissed a month later.

Harper wants damages from Kane, two other New Rochelle officers — Timothy Adrian and Maria Vazquez — and Gregory Davis, who allegedly provided the drugs. The lawsuit also names the City of New Rochelle, which Harper says is complicit because it "perpetuated a culture of rewarding officers for their improper, illegal and unconstitutional conduct."

Following an investigation by the Westchester County District Attorney's Office, a grand jury in December 2024 declined to indict Kane. But the New Rochelle Police Department said that during its investigation, the officer "admitted he did not see Harper throw the bag of drugs and that an informant (Davis) provided him with the bag of drugs," according to Harper's attorneys. That assertion was first reported by Robert Cox of Talk of the Sound, who obtained the report through a Freedom of Information Law request.

The New Rochelle department demoted Kane by two ranks, to police officer, and required him to undergo training, according to a statement issued on March 18 by Neil Reynolds, the police commissioner. Putnam County hired Kane on March 30.

In a statement on Tuesday (July 28), the Putnam County Sheriff's Office said it is aware of the lawsuit but declined comment because it is not named in the litigation. It noted that Kane was not charged with a crime.

The Sheriff's Office also cited Kane's long career in law enforcement and said it has "confidence in Deputy Kane's ability to serve the residents of Putnam County with integrity and remain committed to ensuring the safety of our community."

Harper, a fitness trainer and actor, said the incident began on May 29, 2024, after he parked his Cadillac SUV at an apartment complex in New Rochelle and Kane approached. Harper had earlier reported that a relative took the SUV without his consent but said he had updated the police department when he recovered the vehicle, according to the lawsuit.

Allegedly fearful because Kane had previously vowed to "get" him or "plant drugs on him," Harper "left the parking lot and hurried away on foot" while the officer chased him into a parking garage. Returning to the vehicle, Kane allegedly told other officers to search and impound the SUV for "unauthorized use."

According to the lawsuit, Kane then met with Davis, who allegedly gave the officer a bag of drugs. The lawsuit says that Kane's body camera was "inadvertently" turned on while the officer allegedly pretended to recover the baggie from under the left front tire of an SUV, with the feint captured on video.

The Journal News reviewed the footage (below) in 2024. According to the newspaper, it shows Kane "holding the baggie in his hand in his car" before "pulling up to a parked car, getting out, reaching under the front of the car and getting back into his patrol car." The lawsuit alleges that the bag Kane had when he returned to his squad car was the same one he had held before approaching the SUV.

The Continental Congress voted unanimously in Philadelphia on July 2 to adopt a resolution dissolving ties with Great Britain — except for New York, whose four delegates (William Floyd, Francis Lewis, Philip Livingston and Lewis Morris) abstained because they had not received instructions from the provincial Congress.

On July 3, Congress fine-tuned the wording of the Declaration of Independence, voting the next day to approve it. John Hancock, the president of the Congress, signed the document, along with the secretary, Charles Thompson. (A parchment copy was signed by the delegates on Aug. 2.)

On July 8, the declaration was read to the public in White Plains and many other cities. Gen. George Washington, in New York City, ordered officers to read the document to their troops. On July 9, the New York Congress adopted a resolution in support of the declaration; in response, its delegates added their "yes" votes on July 15.

In New York City, patriots pulled down an equestrian statue of King George III to melt it for ammunition.

The British sent two frigates, HMS Phoenix (44 guns) and HMS Rose (20 guns), up the Hudson River to test its defenses.

British Gen. William Howe arrived at Staten Island with 130 ships and 10,000 troops. The next day, his brother, Vice Adm. Richard Howe, arrived with 150 ships and 11,000 troops. They sent a message to Washington, who forwarded it to Congress, offering reconciliation and pardon. The Americans felt they had done nothing that required pardon and, besides, they had already declared independence.

On July 21, Washington hired two engineers to assess the condition of the forts in the Highlands.

On July 26, general orders in New York City noted that "complaints have been made that some of the soldiers ill treat the country people who come to market [to sell vegetables]. The general most positively forbids this behavior."

A man driving on the Albany Post Road past Mekeel's Corner [Route 301] at 1 p.m. on a Friday spotted a fire at a tenement house near the chapel. He raised the alarm, and Thomas Mekeel and his sons ran to the site. The front door was locked, so they assumed it was vacant. But during a search, they found Mrs. Samuel Lecount napping in her bed in the attic. She was a heavy woman, so it was with difficulty that they brought her downstairs. The house was a total loss.

Two travelers appeared on a Friday at 6 p.m. near the post office in Cold Spring offering to swallow a 13-inch blade for 5 cents [about $1.50 today], or whatever could be offered.

The Cold Spring Recorder reported that the water in the cistern at the corner of Main and Chestnut had a woody flavor. The editor said it appeared to contain filaments worn from the wood by the motion of the pump.

The Baptist Church hosted a community celebration of the centennial. The program was as follows: "My Country, Tis of Thee"; a prayer by the rector at St. Mary's; "Hold the Fort"; the Declaration of Independence, read by Isaac Vanwinkle; "The Centennial Hymn"; a sermon by the Rev. C.J. Page; "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow"; and a benediction by the rector.

The Village Board ordered signs posted at the public pumps noting that the water was to be used only for domestic purposes.

Henry Birdsall, so infirm that he had to be helped home after a visit to Dykeman's store in Nelsonville, was found dead in the stall where he lived in the old Davenport place. It was said that he bought a vial of laudanum [tincture of opium] at Dykeman's for his swollen limbs, and that the vial was found empty, but a coroner's jury did not find any evidence of narcotic poisoning.

A dog belonging to Benjamin Hughson bit Mr. Nichols of Nelsonville on the leg as he was passing Town Hall. The animal was shot the next day.

Due to the failure of Congress to make appropriations, a large number of workmen were dismissed at West Point.

John McGurk hung a sign from his Main Street store with a "well-drawn eagle and shaded in good taste," according to The Rec...

New program teaches culinary, life skills

The slogan used by Transformation Kitchen — "We don't just flip eggs, we flip lives" — captures what it hopes to accomplish at 179 Main St. in Beacon: teaching culinary and life skills to people who have been marginalized, while helping them land jobs that pay a living wage.

In 2022, Chason Forehand, who lives in Newburgh, founded the nonprofit HR-4U, which launched Transformation Kitchen.

"After more than 45 years in the service industry, and my own experiences with abuse, addiction, homelessness and food insecurity, I created Transformation Kitchen to do more than help people find jobs," Forehand said. "We help individuals overcome barriers, ultimately becoming leaders who help others do the same."

Chef Chris Follari, a board member of the Poughkeepsie Farm Project who last year directed Hudson Valley Chefs Celebrate Jacques Pépin, is the program's culinary director, while Forehand is the lead instructor. The Beacon location is the second Transformation Kitchen; the first is in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, created in partnership with a Christian organization, Rayo de Sol.

The plan in Beacon is to start small. Forehand said potential participants, whom he calls "forges," because "they are forging a new life for themselves," will include single parents, those who've overcome addiction, former prisoners and others who have not been able to earn enough to live independently. "I'm fascinated by metallurgy and the idea of taking something raw and turning it into something beautiful," he said.

In addition to being trained to work in commercial kitchens, forges will be coached on life skills, including conflict resolution, wellness and financial literacy, with assistance from the Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union.

"They need to know how important it is to manage their money, to budget and how to stay away from credit and cyberscams," said Forehand.

A weekday storefront will open in September, offering homemade packaged foods such as Joy Stix, a chocolate confection. Packaged meals, such as lasagna, stuffed Italian meatloaf and roasted vegetables, will be added later in the fall. Catering and weekend hours are planned for October.

"For people coming off the train who don't want to go home and cook a meal, we'll have one for you," Forehand said.

The store will also stock merchandise such as hats, T-shirts and a cookbook. "We sell merch like crazy — three times what a nonprofit would normally sell — because we have a fantastic cookbook," he said.

Kamel Jamal, who owns the Beacon Bread Factory, The Piggy Bank and Ziatun, is renting the space to Transformation Kitchen at a reduced price. He also provides financial support, will lead sessions covering topics such as baking and will provide access to his commercial kitchens.

"Getting involved in this project is important to me, because the restaurant industry has been really good to me," Jamal said.

Jamal feels Beacon businesses will benefit from Transformation Kitchen because its graduates will have advanced culinary skills. "It saves Main Street companies money because they'll have to do less training," he said.

"We're tweaking our normal culinary program to be sure that it meets Beacon's needs," Forehand added. "People coming out of Transformation Kitchen will also have the life skills; they'll know how to handle themselves."

Jamal said culinary and other professionals in Beacon have stepped up, offering to teach classes. "Barb from Barb's Butchery is excited about being involved," he said, and a grant writer has offered to help.

He noted that culinary professionals who volunteer will get first shot at hiring new graduates. "Once we get all the basics in order, people will see the magic that can come out of this project," Jamal said.

For more information about Transformation Kitchen, see hr-4u.org.

Former employees want lower health costs

Their incomes are fixed, but not the cost of health insurance.

That was the message on July 16 when a group of retired Putnam County employees attended the Legislature's Personnel Committee meeting to beseech lawmakers to reduce the amount they and other retirees must contribute to their health insurance premiums.

Jane Meunier-Gorman began working for Putnam County in 1985, when retirees paid a flat annual amount toward their health insurance and the county paid the rest. Annual premiums had risen to $200 [about $350 today] for individuals and $400 [$700] for families when the Legislature, citing the "burden on the taxpayers," in 2004 allowed the county to instead set rates based on each retiree's date of hire, age at retirement and length of service.

Eleven years later, the Legislature approved pension-based contribution rates for six salary ranges, beginning at 8 percent for retirees whose annual pensions were $9,999 or less and rising to 30 percent for those paid $65,000 or more. (Lawmakers later added a seventh salary range by splitting the one covering pensions between $40,000 and $64,999.)

"The feeling was that it was more equitable to look at pension amounts rather than just years of service," said Adriene Iasoni, a specialist with the Personnel Department, on July 16. "If you just look at years of service, you can have folks whose earnings are on the lower end, and they may be paying the same as somebody who's at a much higher annual salary."

For the 2016 budget, the change raised the total amount pensioners would contribute to Putnam's estimated $4.7 million cost for insurance from $357,000 to $609,000. By 2025, retirees were paying $1.2 million of $7.9 million. This year, the county costs ballooned to $8.8 million, with Gorman and other retired employees paying $1.3 million.

Their increases are "deeply troubling" and "place a significant and unexpected financial burden on individuals living on fixed incomes," said former county employees John Mulreany and Aileen Napolitano in a letter to the Legislature.

Meunier-Gorman, who was president of the local Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) union when the Legislature adopted the contribution rates in 2015, said employees "were made promises. We were told that we would always have affordable health insurance through our employment with the county."

Since retiring from the Health Department in 2024, Gorman said her annual pension is $50,000, and her bill for county health coverage is $10,000. "When I retired after 39 years, and I got my first bill, I couldn't even breathe," she said. "I was like, 'Oh my God, how am I going to afford this?' "

Putnam recently created some breathing room for current employees. Legislators in December approved an agreement with Putnam's labor unions that lowered, from 30 percent to 17 percent, the share of health insurance premiums paid by new employees.

County Executive Kevin Byrne forged the agreement with Putnam's four unions: the CSEA, the Putnam County Sheriff's Employee Association (jail guards and staff), the Putnam Management Association and the Sheriff's PBA (deputies).

For CSEA employees, the share drops to 15 percent after 12 years and 10 percent after 15.

Paul Eldridge, the county personnel officer, said the 30 percent rate was significantly higher than new employee contributions in Dutchess and Westchester (20 percent each) and Orange (16 percent) counties. He estimated that 225 employees would benefit, but the plan would add $865,000 to the $11.5 million Putnam allocates for health insurance premiums for current employees.

Legislator Toni Addonizio, who chairs the Personnel Committee, voted against the pension-based contribution system established in 2015. She said Putnam "should consider how the other counties do the years of service" during continued discussions about retiree health benefits. "Many people have worked 25 years and still don't, in their retirement, receive $40,00...

State pilot focuses on 'forever' chemicals

About 20 percent of private wells tested in Putnam County under a state pilot program exceed guidelines for a family of chemicals linked with cancers and other health problems, officials said on Wednesday (July 22).

Public Health Director Rian Rodriguez and Brian Stevens, an associate public health sanitarian, told the Legislature's Health Committee that 540 well owners have applied to have their water tested for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) under a $1.5 million, five-year program funded by the state.

Of the 480 wells tested so far, just over 20 percent have PFAS levels that exceed the state guidelines of 10 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOs, the two most common versions of the chemicals. Those owners can each request up to $5,000 to install a filtration system on the main water line entering their home or business.

The state will also subsidize up to $1,000 for filters installed on faucets or other outlets and up to $10,000 to connect a property to a public water system.

Stevens said the county had just received its first rebate request and expects many more. "In the next week or so, the state will be providing additional training on how to process those payments and those applications," he said.

Putnam and Dutchess are two of six counties selected by the state for a pilot program to address PFAS contamination in private wells. Known as "forever chemicals" because of their duration in the environment and the human body, PFAS have been used for decades in nonstick cookware, water-repellant clothing and other consumer products, as well as firefighting foams.

Researchers have linked them to various health problems, including cancers, low birthweights and high cholesterol. Health concerns have led public health officials to close contaminated water sources serving the City of Newburgh and other municipalities, and supply filters to well owners in Mahopac, Putnam Valley and other parts of Putnam County.

Rodriguez told the Health Committee in February that the state chose Dutchess, Putnam and four other counties — Orange, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester — for its pilot because they are "at higher risk" of PFAS contamination.

Dozens of properties near the Mahopac Business District received water main filters after testing found about 100 wells had high PFAS levels. The state traced the pollution to dry-cleaning chemicals. New York State has allocated funds to Kent, two neighborhoods in Brewster and the Floradan Estates in Putnam Valley to address contamination. The Putnam Valley school district traced PFAS contamination at its elementary school to foams used by the Putnam Valley Fire Department.

When asked by Legislator Nancy Montgomery, who chairs the committee and represents Philipstown and part of Putnam Valley, if testing has identified clusters, Stevens cautioned that the county needs to collect more data.

By one estimate, as many as half of U.S. households have some level of PFAS in their water, whether supplied by well or tap. New York State and the federal Environmental Protection Agency regulate PFAS limits in public water supplies, such as the reservoirs that supply drinking water to Beacon and Cold Spring. But an estimated 1 million homes and businesses in the state, and 40 million people nationwide, rely on wells, which are not regulated.

Remediation of small parcel finalized at former Texaco site

After asking for feedback during a public meeting in January, the state Department of Environmental Conservation estimates it will cost the property owner $115,000 to decontaminate a 0.67-acre parcel at the former Texaco Research Center site outside of Beacon.

The DEC released plans on Wednesday (July 22) to remediate OU-3, the smallest of nine parcels, or "operable units," that make up the 153-acre, Chevron-owned site, now known as Glenham Mills. OU-3, a wooded plot north of Washington Avenue with no structures, is the first parcel to receive a finalized remediation plan. The primary contaminants are semi-volatile organic compounds from an ash pile.

The plan includes excavation, in some areas, to 6 inches below the surface; importing clean backfill; implementing an air-monitoring plan during ground-intrusive activities; and creating a site management plan. OU-3 is expected to become suitable for residential use, the state said.

Texaco purchased the land in 1931, building a complex to research and develop petroleum products. Over seven decades, chemical dumping left the grounds and Fishkill Creek, which divides the property, heavily polluted.

Chevron, which merged with Texaco in 2003, has submitted proposals to the DEC to clean the other eight parcels, including one considered most attractive for development, a 93-acre segment south of Washington and Fishkill Creek known as the Back 93, which Texaco used for worker recreation.

The company has been trying to sell Glenham Mills since 2020. It is zoned for offices, laboratories and industrial or manufacturing uses.

Chris O'Leary streamlines his sound

The long song "19 Cents a Day" by the Chris O'Leary Band remains captivating and hits hard. Beyond solid solos and tight musicianship, the social commentary evokes comedian George Carlin's cantankerous later years.

"One day I was on tour in the Midwest and needed a coat," says O'Leary, who will perform with his band at the Towne Crier in Beacon on Saturday (July 25). "In a Tractor Supply store, I realized that almost none of the plastic junk in that place was made in the U.S.A., even the American flags. Unfortunately, it's the same thing 10 years later."

In the song, the ex-Marine and federal law enforcement officer bashes talk show "idiots," corporate downsizing, patriotic merchandising, "looted" pension plans, big-box strip malls, the poor treatment of veterans and "slave labor making that flag in Hong Kong … for 19 cents a day."

Unlike a stand-up routine, the music amplifies O'Leary's message as a chugging, understated groove elevates the lyrics. Two saxophones build tension and add atmosphere.

As if turning a switch, the music intensifies behind a raucous guitar break. After the band downshifts to the quieter, bass-driven part that underscores more angry words, O'Leary kicks into fifth gear on a harmonica solo.

O'Leary's blues boot camp commenced when his Green Beret father heard him listening to KISS, cursed the band and tossed the LP Hard Again, by Muddy Waters, on his bed.

"It took a while to grow on me," O'Leary says. "There's an old man on the cover, and I was 11 years old. But I was an aggressive kid, and the harmonica [by James Cotton] is so brutal. There's no nuance. I'd never heard anyone play an instrument like that."

O'Leary joined the house combo at Levon Helm's club in New Orleans after The Band broke up in the 1970s and became friends with Cotton, "a fantastic human being whom I idolize to the point of craziness."

While serving as lead singer for Helm, O'Leary learned a great deal from the drummer and bandleader, who later settled in Woodstock, although, at first, he recalls, he had tunnel vision.

"If it did not come from Chicago, Illinois, between 1951 and 1962, I had no interest," O'Leary says. "But New Orleans blew my doors off because you could see great acts every night of the week that were technically blues bands but had different instrumentation and suggested limitless possibilities."

More sage advice taught him to vary things up but keep people dancing: "Don't bore us, get to the chorus," Helm said. He once critiqued a famous guitar player this way: "He knows a lot of notes, but does he have to play them all? Leave some for the rest of us."

O'Leary took the comment to heart and dialed down his all-out approach. The schooling continued into his mid-50s, when he got a break with Alligator Records, which recorded Cotton.

The tune "19 Cents a Day" clocks in at 7:16. Played live, "Blues is a Woman," a melancholy slow jam with a 1950s vibe, can last for eight minutes.

For his 2024 debut on Alligator, The Hard Line, followed by Blue Collar, out this month, only a handful of songs exceed five minutes. The first single off the new disc, "Bad Decisions," runs 4:20. O'Leary says the label's founder, Bruce Iglauer, told him: "Your music is long-winded. We don't need a road map. If you want to get on the radio, you have to streamline things."

The Towne Crier is located at 379 Main St. in Beacon. Tickets for the July 25 show, which begins at 8:30 p.m., are $30 at townecrier.com, or $35 at the door. To download music, see thechrisolearyband.net.