Bands & Musicians in Massachusetts

Boston's folk revival, centered on Cambridge's Club 47, helped launch Joan Baez and a national movement. The city then stamped rock radio through Aerosmith, Boston, and the Cars, while its college dorms bred the Pixies and a wave of alternative bands; Amherst's Dinosaur Jr carried that torch west. Berklee College of Music and the Boston Symphony keep the state's jazz and classical pipeline running.

Cambridge is dense with stages: Club Passim carries on the folk tradition, and the Sinclair and the Middle East book indie bills nightly. Across the river, the Paradise Rock Club and House of Blues handle bigger Boston shows. Tanglewood in Lenox, the Boston Symphony's summer home, anchors western Massachusetts, with Northampton's club circuit close by.

Aerosmith, the Cars, and the Pixies all formed around Boston. Donna Summer rose from Boston's gospel choirs, the J. Geils Band came out of Worcester, and James Taylor wrote his earliest songs in the state. Amanda Palmer's Dresden Dolls later defined its cabaret-punk side.

Boston and Cambridge hold the bulk of the stages, with Allston's basement shows and Somerville's bars feeding the indie pipeline; Berklee's student population makes finding bandmates easy. Western Massachusetts players cluster in Northampton. Open mics run nightly, or browse Massachusetts musicians on BandMate to widen the search.