Latest Posts

Hieronymus Bogs – Lowlives Divine

We’ve written about Hieronymus Bogs before. For the uninitiated, the man is as unique as they come. Blending elements of orchestral folk and spoken word poetry, Bogs has made his songcraft well known around western New York and its surrounding areas with an extensive catalogue and touring. Once a Rochester native, Bogs now resides in Truth or Consequences, NM–an area which suits his character well–”my musical direction was pulling me west through the landscapes and sparseness; I think my music sits well in this kind of environment,” Bogs says of his new homebase. His newest album Lowlives Divine builds on his strengths of inspired lyricism over eclectic folk instrumentation for songs that excel in the creation and maintenance of freeing moods and feelings. It’s an interesting thing, moodcraft. It’s one thing to write a song, the structuring of intro verse chorus verse outro. It’s another thing entirely to endow such[...]

Hieronymus Bogs – The Angel

With a name like Hieronymus Bogs, eclecticism is almost expected. The Rochester folk artist and group of musicians that embellish his craft—the appropriately-named Bogs Visionary Orchestra, or BVO—harbor few inhibitions and fully live up to their respective monikers. Bogs’ unique vein of rootsy outsider folk enmeshes poetry and performance, nearly evading traditional classification altogether. The end result is an art form equal parts unconventional and embraceable, a sonic tizzy of spoken-word poetry and folk-tinged orchestration. On his latest release, a nine-track collection of songs and poems titled The Angel (titled after a William Blake poem of the same name), Bogs (and company) keeps the instrumentation delicate and organic while his often interpretive lyrics remain soaked in folklore. The album’s title track introduces the main theme with a tenderly played piano backdrop, Bogs singing longingly over top—“I dreamt a dream, what could it mean?” The very opening line captures the album[...]

Tonight: Hieronymus Bogs

Looking to get out of the house tonight? Interested in hearing some live music that wont melt your face or leave you wishing you brought ear plugs? Then you should probably head down to Nietzsche’s for a night of acoustic tunes from Rochester’s Hieronymus Bogs and home town acts Leroy & Loretta and The Brown Family Singers. Bogs’s new record The Angel is set to drop this Saturday (you can stream it here), so look forward to a selection of those tunes to be tackled later on. If you make the leap and go, expect to have your heart warmed with the soft acoustic tunes of all of these groups. To put it in another perspective, this isn’t a night for $3 PBRss but rather one to sip on scotch. The evening will be hosted by Alfred Eberle Brown of the Brown Family Singers. Admission is presumed to be free, but that[...]