Your Guide to Live Music in Upstate New York
Your Guide to Live Music in Upstate New York
Celebrating the musicians, builders, and visionaries who made Upstate New York a force in American music.
89 Inductees Across 7 Regions
From Buffalo’s funk and punk scenes to Rochester’s Eastman School pipeline, from the Woodstock creative commune to Albany’s underground, Upstate New York has shaped American music in profound and often underrecognized ways.
No Upstate city rivals Buffalo for sheer musical breadth. Rick James defined funk from the East Side. Ani DiFranco built the DIY independent label movement from her Buffalo apartment. The Goo Goo Dolls gave the world "Iris." Cannibal Corpse became the best-selling death metal band of all time. Grover Washington Jr. invented smooth jazz. Griselda put Buffalo back on the national hip-hop map. And Harold Arlen — the man who wrote "Over the Rainbow" — was a Buffalo native.
The Eastman School of Music is the single most important institutional pipeline for Upstate NY music talent. It trained Chuck Mangione, Steve Gadd, Ron Carter, Mick Guzauski, Mitch Miller, Angelo Badalamenti, and Maria Schneider. Lou Gramm of Foreigner grew up in Rochester. Cab Calloway was born there. Son House was rediscovered there in 1964.
When Albert Grossman moved to Woodstock in the 1960s and built Bearsville Studios, he created an ecosystem that attracted Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Todd Rundgren, and dozens of jazz legends. Levon Helm hosted the Midnight Ramble concerts from his barn. Alan Gerry saved the Woodstock festival site by building Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.
Jimmy Van Heusen — who wrote "Come Fly with Me" for Sinatra — was born in Syracuse. Ronnie James Dio grew up in nearby Cortland. Joey Belladonna of Anthrax hails from Oswego. Earth Crisis pioneered metalcore. Joe Bonamassa, the world's top-grossing blues artist, opened for B.B. King at age 12 in Utica.
Phantogram, State Champs, Drug Church, Maria Brink of In This Moment, MacArthur Fellow Vijay Iyer, and Voice winner Sawyer Fredericks all have roots here. Greg Haymes built the scene by writing about it for 30 years. Greg Bell booked 3,000 shows. Brooks Brown built WEQX into the last independent alternative radio station in America.
10,000 Maniacs formed in Jamestown. X Ambassadors came out of Ithaca. Orleans gave us "Still the One." Gym Class Heroes launched from Geneva. And the GrassRoots Festival in Trumansburg has been bringing communities together through music since 1991.
12 inductees matching your filters
Albany
Cult-favorite Albany new wave band Blotto was one of the first acts to get major MTV airplay with their novelty hit "I Wanna Be a...
View Profile →Capital Region
Brooks Brown founded WEQX radio in 1984 and built it into the last fully independent alternative radio station in the United States. Rolling Stone named...
View Profile →Rochester
Brother Love made history as the first Black top-40 disc jockey in Rochester, working the overnight and weekend shifts at WBBF — the city's biggest...
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Alan Levin arrived at 96.5 WCMF in 1985 as a late-night host and quickly became "Brother Wease," Rochester's most polarizing and most-listened-to morning voice for...
View Profile →Albany
Chris Wienk has been programming radio since 1984, cutting his teeth at WGR Buffalo and Buffalo State's WBNY before finding his calling in public radio....
View Profile →Buffalo
"Daffy Dan" Neaverth was Buffalo radio royalty for six decades. Starting at WBNY in 1957, he became WKBW's afternoon star, then morning man — pioneering...
View Profile →Rochester
Dave Kane landed at 96.5 WCMF in February 1981 and never left — holding down middays for 40 consecutive years until his retirement in April...
View Profile →Buffalo
Before Alan Freed made headlines in Cleveland, George "Hound Dog" Lorenz was already spinning R&B on Buffalo's airwaves. Broadcasting from Club Zanzibar on 50,000-watt WKBW,...
View Profile →Albany
The most important music journalist and advocate the Capital Region has ever produced. Greg Haymes wrote for the Times Union for 25 years, co-founded Nippertown.com,...
View Profile →Albany / Chicago
Lin Brehmer got his start at Albany's WQBK-FM in 1977, earning the moniker "The Reverend" for reciting poetry over records. The Colgate grad carried that...
View Profile →Rochester
Rochester native and Eastman-trained oboist Mitch Miller became the head of A&R at Columbia Records, shaping 1950s-60s American pop music. His TV show Sing Along...
View Profile →Rochester
For 30 years, Roger McCall was the voice of Rochester after midnight. His "Late Night Rock 'n' Roll Cafe" on WCMF was a refuge for...
View Profile →The Upstate Music Hall of Fame is a living project. If you know of a musician, producer, promoter, or music industry figure from Upstate New York who should be recognized here, we want to hear from you.