Fred Love
ContributorFred Love is a contributing writer covering music for Iowa Public Radio. Love is a father, husband, communications professional and passionate music fan. He lives in Ames where he participates in the local music scene and is a co-producer of the Maximum Ames Music Festival. He blogs at rockroads.home.blog.
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Many Ames community members associate Ames City Auditorium with their children’s grade-school concerts, dance recitals, and awards ceremonies, and those events continue to have a home in the space. But for Craig Kaufman, who manages the auditorium, bandshell and community center for the City of Ames, the venue can be — and is — more than what it's been known for.
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The success of a recent show at the historic M-Shop inspires an Iowa musician to consider what it takes to make a living with music. Independent musicians and authors weigh in.
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Central Iowa musician Jordan Messerole released his seventh studio album Oct. 20. This new album is a departure from his established sound, and finds him digging deep — in both his lyrics and vocally.
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Iowa State University's Goldfinch Room is drawing on five years of fostering intimate artist-audience connections with a weekend-long reunion festival Sept. 28-29. The Goldfinch Room Reunion Festival lineup includes nearly 20 acts, mostly from Iowa, who have performed in the Goldfinch Room previously.
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One Can Stan has released a four-track EP titled Two. The collection features music that's rough-and-ready for fans of heavy drums, loud electric guitars and direct, vivid storytelling.
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Every summer, Ames' Roosevelt neighborhood puts on Roosevelt Summer Sundays, an evening concert series. The musicians play while the community celebrates and builds just that — community. Attendees pay no admission fee and can hear some of the best Iowa-based and Iowa-adjacent musicians.
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Des Moines-based country songwriter Joshua Sinclair recently released his latest album, White Trash Recipes. IPR contributor Fred Love writes this review of the album that just might be your soundtrack for summer.
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In 2020, an old Methodist church in Story City was sold to a pair of local residents. robyn anderson saw an opportunity, and moved in to the old church. In the intervening four years, she's used the second floor sanctuary as an intimate performance venue, featuring some of Iowa's best-known musicians.
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Cedar Falls-based classic country band Katie and the Honky Tonks have just released a four-song EP, the first release of original content from lead Katie Sires.
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ISU students provide much of the work and leadership necessary to keep the intimate performance venue functioning.