by Daniel Warren Hill
The 2021 DC Music Summit is going virtual! While I’ll miss the in-person opportunity to network, the DCMS team, headed by founder Dior Ashley Brown, is working hard to recreate the networking experience, live music performance, and educational workshops that attendees have come to expect from this Wammie Award winning annual event.
Organizations and events like DC Music Summit help put a spotlight on local music industry leaders and highlight the diverse and inclusive creative culture and community that has continued to thrive within the DMV music scene. I’m excited to be presenting one of the many educational workshops with topics ranging from music publishing to personal health and wellness taking place at the event happening May 21-23, alongside Mary Mbaba; Deonte Keitt; Cecily; Jarreau Williams; Emily Hall; Shanay Miles; Chris Carter; Ting Lin; Kemi Adegoroye; Garrett Jackson; Joe Lapan; Stephen Wilkes; Canute Ireland; Kiana LeCounte; Jessica Teachey; Emma G.; Stephanie Mathias; Jean-Francis Varre; Howard Rabach; Charles Motte; Morgan Kaylor; Matthew Limones; Kristyn Marrott; and Maria Roberts.
Music performances will be re-recorded segments filmed exclusively for DCMS and include artists like Fly Zyah, Gordon Sterling, Zhariah, Airospace, BOOMCLAK, The Cruddy Crankerz, Carly Harvey, Akua Allrich, Natalie Brooke, Fleetwood DeVille, Dj Double A 1k, as well as Dior Ashley Brown herself, and El Jay’EM who is also hosting this year’s Summit.
I was given an opportunity to spend some time with Hip-Hop artist, educator, and activist Marc 2Ray who is also providing a unique performance for the event. Marc shares why he is so passionate about participating in the DCMS; how his roles as artist, educator, and activist provide the most complete picture of who he is as an individual as well as the most effective delivery of his message, and tells us about the special nature of his performance at the event.
If that still isn’t enough to pique your interest, DCMS has just announced their keynote speaker will be Grammy-nominated R&B artist, educator, mixing engineer, and producer Carolyn Malachi.
Whether or not you are a musician in the DC area, there is plenty to learn from the speakers at the 2021 DC Music Summit, a unique opportunity to see performances by some of the region’s hottest acts, and the ability to build long-lasting relationships with individuals working to cultivate the growing local music industry represented within the greater Washington D.C. metropolitan area.
Secure your ticket to the 2021 DC Music Summit and save 25% by using the code ALCHEMICAL25
Daniel Warren Hill is an American musician, writer, and motivational speaker. He is best known as the frontman for Washington DC area Alternative Rock band YellowTieGuy, as co-founder of Capitol Groove Collective, and increasing the exposure of artists on a global scale through his work with Alchemical Records.
Recent Articles March 21st. A day that I will always think of amazing album releases. DC-based musician, producer, and singer-songwriter, Rachel Levitin, released Witty Banter
By this point in his life, Foghat founding drummer Roger Earl has visited quite a few doctors. But what may be surprising is that the percussionist, 77, is quick to point out that many of the medical professionals who have worked on him also enjoy rocking out.
“Nearly all the doctors and surgeons I know, they all play something: trumpet, sax, violin, guitar,” Earl said recently. “There’s not too many drummers that are surgeons, there’s probably a good reason for that!”
Earl half-jokingly invites his surgeon-rockers to join him and the other members of Foghat onstage at the Fillmore in Silver Spring March 9, where they will be headlining the Rock and Roll for Children Foundation benefit for the Children’s Inn at NIH. Earl, the only original member of Foghat still in the band, will be banging the skins behind guitarist Bryan Bassett and other members Scott Holt and Rodney O’Quinn. “Slow Ride,” the band’s 1975 megahit, is all but assured to be on the setlist, along with tunes from Foghat’s most recent record, “Sonic Mojo.”
When D.C. venues were ready to reopen after COVID-19, indie pop duo GLOSSER was ready to perform. The two, Riley Fanning and Corbin Sheehan, formed the band pre-COVID out of a shared aesthetic vision and passion for music storytelling.
Their first album *DOWNER* was released in January 2023, however they have decided to release a deluxe version exactly one year later containing four new tracks – two remixes, a reimagined song, and a cover – that they are hoping will give it a second life and allow them to continue performing around the area.
The band explains that they have spent many shows opening for touring bands that traveled through D.C. “We made music and then venues started to open again,” Sheehan says. Rather than having the “typical grungy” D.C. band experience, they uniquely went straight to club shows.
Alchemical Records is a Washington, D.C. based music publication. We cover the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Richmond, VA metro area music scenes, including band interviews, articles about your favorite musicians, new music and concert dates.
