Independent artists
Musicians creating sustainable work outside conventional label structures.
The interview desk
Questions worth answering.
Northern Refrain interviews musicians as working people: shaped by influences, disagreements, changing audiences, physical repetition, regional identity and the long consequences of a creative life.
Proposed opening conversation
TESLA on Homage
A conversation about returning to formative songs, the difference between tribute and imitation, and what four decades of identity bring to borrowed material.
Read the opening featureFuture coverage
The rooms that remain
Owners, bookers, engineers and performers preserving spaces for live music.
Northern California history
Established artists reflecting on what a regional identity means after decades of change.