Young indie rock band Spirit of the Bear is working to put Youngstown’s music scene on the map – by curating its own music festival. The second annual Fiction Forest takes place this Saturday.

Akron rockers The Ohio Weather Band have a new EP out this week called Don't Try . It's the third release for the trio that's been friends long before they were bandmates.

Holden Laurence released his first full-length album last year with Wild Empty Promises . Now, he's releasing a new summer anthem the same week he plays a concert that draws on another of his great loves – Cleveland professional sports. Laurence grew up in Willoughby and attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He returned home after graduating in 2013 and rejoined his friends in the popular Cleveland indie rock band, The Modern Electric . Last year, when the band was on a break, he went

A group of female-fronted bands in Cleveland is coming together for a cause. The second annual Women Rock CLE concert at the House of Blues next month was organized by the roots rock band AJ & The Woods , fronted by musican Alison Tomin. Tomin says the show on July 6th is all about rallying around women -- from the bands on the bill to the proceeds that will go to Laura’s Home , a Cleveland shelter for women and children. She says the idea actually came from one of the male members of her

Steel Yard SoundSystem , a monthly dance party in Cleveland, celebrates its first anniversary this Saturday. In this week’s Shuffle, we revisit an interview from last year. WKSU’s Kabir Bhatia spoke with then-Cleveland Scene Managing Editor Eric Sandy who wrote about Steel Yard SoundSystem. Sandy says it’s driven by Electronic Dance Music, Reggae and Dub . To understand the sound, it’s helpful to understand what “Dub” is. Sandy calls it a loose musical term incorporating reggae and the early

Fans who went to rocker Jack White’ s concert at Jacob’s Pavilion in Cleveland Wednesday night were told to lock up their cell phones or leave them in the car. It’s a growing trend among artists who are fed up with people taking photos or video and not paying attention to their show. Cleveland.com life and culture reporter Annie Nickoloff says White and others like The Lumineers , Childish Gambino and Chris Rock are using San Fancisco start-up, Yondr .

Editor's note: This is an encore of a Shuffle that originally ran Feb. 1. Music is being used as a healing tool for some Northeast Ohio veterans. For this week’s Shuffle, we hear about a new project that pairs songwriters with soldiers. On a recent Sunday afternoon in Avon Lake, a handful of veterans and their families gathered for a concert -- just for them. The performance was the culmination of a weekend workshop called Project D.R.E.W., Delivering Restorative Energy to our Warriors . A

The Summit Metro Parks will again be filled with music this summer, as its ensemble returns for its 18th year. The Metro Parks Ensemble is made up of 34 of the hardest working musicians in the region. And they’re all volunteers, some in their 80’s. Director Karen Bennett of Munroe Falls says it's all for the love of the parks and the camaraderie. "It’s just a really fun thing to be out in nature making music. And the other thing is friendship. Everybody just gets along and feeds off of one

Akron musician Marc Lee Shannon has performed all over the country, most notably as the longtime guitarist for Cleveland rocker Michael Stanley. Now, Shannon is releasing his first solo album in 10 years.

A non-profit arts organization is turning inner-city Cleveland kids into classical guitarists. It's a growing outreach program started by the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society , that began working in the schools about six years ago. This past spring, they got a Cleveland Foundation grant to expand to an after-school program in the Clark Fulton neighborhood. Learning the basics The kids meet each week at the City Life Center , where they pick up a guitar from a storage area and grab some sheet