Music Museum of New England

08/18/2026

Founded in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1970, Rounder Records is one of the world's most respected labels for country, bluegrass, folk, blues, jazz and all varieties of Americana. Notable Rounder recording artists have included George Thorogood, Alison Krauss and Béla Fleck.

Rounder Records began in 1970 as an independent, locally owned label based in Somerville, Massachusetts. Founded by Bill Nowlin, Ken Irwin and Marian Leighton (later Marian Leighton Levy), three friends who met during their college years, the label focused on country and bluegrass initially but expa...

08/15/2026

Know these guys?

08/15/2026

Remembering WBCN - final day of broadcast 17 year ago earlier this week.

WBCN, a collective of free-spirited radio pioneers located at 104.1 on the FM dial, launched from the fading grandeur of a classical music station that was rapidly spinning out of business. On the night of March 15, 1968, “Mississippi Harold Wilson” (Joe Rogers) put the needle down on Cream’s ...

08/14/2026

Formed in 1993, Count Zero has received widespread critical acclaim for their singular blend of techno, funk and rock. The band's recorded only five albums in 30 years, but their regular live gigs in and around Boston have made them a longstanding part of the local scene.

The decades-long history of techno/punk group Count Zero includes almost 20 former members, many of whom were at the band’s 30th-anniversary show in April 2026, but at its core are two performers who’ve been on a musical journey together for over 40 years: Will Ragano and Peter Moore. The Boston...

08/11/2026

Founded in 1974 as White Heat, Third Rail made the semifinals at the WBCN Rock 'n' Roll Rumble in 1980 and was a major part of Boston's rock scene for 11 years. Over 30 musicians were in the rotating lineup, but mortician Richard Nolan was always the band's frontman.

Third Rail stood tall in Boston’s protopunk scene even before The Ramones got their first album out in 1976. Conceived by its singer and main songwriter Richard Nolan, who earned a bachelor’s in finance from Boston College, studied mortuary and embalming services and was a professional mortician...

08/07/2026

Audio engineer Joe Chiccarelli began his career at Fleetwood Recording Studio in Revere, Massachusetts, moved to Los Angeles in the mid-'70s and is now a household name in the recording industry. He's won five Grammys and seven Latin Grammys for LPs he's recorded/produced.

He’s been one of the most in-demand engineers, mixers and producers for over 40 years, so you might think that Joe Chiccarelli’s discovered some “ghost in the machine” that only the most tech-obsessed studio wizards can summon. Actually, though, his approach is less about technology than it ...

08/04/2026

Born on August 5, 1926, Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg was among the Boston's area's best known and most beloved on-air personalities. The radio legend aired on stations including WBOS, WMEX and WRKO and was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2008.

Woo-woo! From the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, that sound meant one thing for radio listeners in and around Boston: It was time for Arnie Ginsburg’s Night Train show on WMEX. In addition to the train whistle sound that earned him his nickname, not to mention the dozens of other sound effects ...

08/02/2026

RIP Jeff "Monoman" Conolly of DMZ and Lyres fame.

Conolly, nicknamed “Monoman” for his single-minded devotion to the sound in his head, had been recovering from treatment for bladder cancer.

07/31/2026

Opened in 1922, Lowell Memorial Auditorium is one of New England's most historic venues and has hosted a dizzying array of era-defining solo artists and bands. Among those who've appeared are The Kinks, Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, The Guess Who and Joe Cocker.

As one can deduce from their nearly identical names, Lowell Memorial Auditorium and Worcester Memorial Auditorium are alike in many ways. For example, both are in Massachusetts cities that helped the United States become a global economic powerhouse during the Industrial Revolution; both were built....

07/28/2026

Classic Ruins has been a staple of the Boston-area rock scene for the better part of 50 years. Fronted by local legend Frank Rowe, they cut one EP and two LPs in the '80s and, after about three decades out of the studio, recorded a third full album, "Forget About It," in 2020.

Classic Ruins is the rock ‘n’ roll rumination of guitarist-singer-songwriter Frank Rowe, who can absolutely claim that he stood at the forefront of the Boston punk scene in and around 1975, gigging his way through every basement, loft or hall until well past the halcyon days of New England’s g...