The Blog
What's happening in Syracuse
Stories, guides, and local coverage.
Mar 21, 2026
Ben and Sarah
Ben and Sarah are a Syracuse-based acoustic duo creating intimate, honest folk and singer-songwriter music together. Their 2024 single Black Rock Creek is a small and genuine piece of Central New York in song form.
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Mar 21, 2026
Mattydale MC
Mattydale MC is a Syracuse hip-hop artist repping the 315 with craft and conviction. His 2024 album What Real Life Is is exactly what the title says — grounded, honest, and built from the streets and sounds of Central New York.
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Mar 21, 2026
Mira Grimm
Mira Grimm is a Syracuse multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and SAMMY award winner for Best New Artist. A blues and alternative musician who started performing at age seven, she plays guitar, piano, and more with a maturity and depth well beyond her years. Her 2024 single I'll Wail is a SAMMY-nominated taste of what she is building.
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Jan 31, 2026
The Walk on the Salt Side: Lou Reed at Syracuse University.
Before the black leather, the Andy Warhol connection, and the "Walk on the Wild Side" bassline, Lou Reed was just a kid in the 315 trying not to get kicked out of Syracuse University.
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Mar 21, 2026
Transient Kicks
Transient Kicks are a Syracuse rock band that blends lyrical storytelling with musical improvisation across funk, jazz, bluegrass, folk, R&B, psychedelic groove, soul and blues. Their 2024 EP Take Off Your Shoes is a SAMMY-nominated release that captures their signature sound — every show a new experience.
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Oct 8, 2025
Open Mics in Syracuse
If you're looking for open mics in Syracuse to perform at, we have good news. Syracuse has a great music scene that's growing and there are multiple options to choose from throughout the week.
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Mar 21, 2026
Dark River Stone
Dark River Stone are a Syracuse rock band with a sound built on forward motion. Their 2024 album Move Forward is a direct, guitar-driven record that earns its title.
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Feb 1, 2026
Syracuse Has Everything You Say You Want
Right now, something in Syracuse exists that you'd enjoy. Syracuse has live music seven nights a week, hiking trails ten minutes from downtown, open mics, art galleries, food you can't find anywhere else.
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Feb 3, 2026
The Night Mayor: Putting the Focus Back on the Syracuse Scene
Right now, something in Syracuse exists that you'd enjoy. Syracuse has live music seven nights a week, hiking trails ten minutes from downtown, open mics, art galleries, food you can't find anywhere else.
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Mar 21, 2026
Tiesha McNeal
Tiesha McNeal is a Syracuse vocalist and songwriter. Her 2024 singles Birth and Repeat mark a bold and personal statement in the original Syracuse music scene.
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Mar 21, 2026
A Cast of Thousands
A Cast of Thousands are a Syracuse rock and alternative band with an expansive sound and a knack for the anthemic. Their 2024 album You Can't Fight Spring is a full-length original statement from one of the 315's most compelling live acts.
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Mar 21, 2026
Jess Novak
Jess Novak is a Syracuse multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and founder of the F.I.R.E. Festival. With a shredding electric five-string violin, powerful vocals and an extraordinary catalog of original work, Novak performs 200+ shows a year. Her 2024 album Woman is her thirteenth release — a SAMMY-nominated record that puts her singular voice front and center.
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Mar 21, 2026
Paega
Paega (pronounced Pay-Gah) are a Syracuse progressive rock band weaving elements of multiple genres around a cinematic, original sound. Their 2024 album The Lessons of Abstract Dreaming is a fully realized statement — dark, imaginative, and built like it could have rolled out of the late 1970s.
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Mar 21, 2026
Tame The Giant
Tame The Giant are a Syracuse rock band with an energetic, anthemic sound. Their 2024 EP Cereal for Dinner is a punchy, hook-driven release that demonstrates exactly why they are a band worth watching in the Central New York scene.
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Mar 21, 2026
The Bandwitts
The Bandwitts are a Syracuse-based band and participants in The Cosmos 2024. Their EP From The Gulf is a 2024 original release from the Central New York music scene.
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Oct 25, 2025
The Best Open Mic in Syracuse for Beginners
There's something to be said about successful musicians and comedians who consistently performed at open mics in the beginning of their career.
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Mar 21, 2026
Nora Kelly
Nora Kelly is a Syracuse-based singer-songwriter. Her 2024 single Moonlight is a quiet and assured original work from an emerging voice in the Central New York music scene.
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Mar 24, 2026
Heather Claire Armstrong
Heather Claire Armstrong is a Syracuse-based singer-songwriter with original music on all major streaming platforms. She performs in the CNY songwriter community and has appeared as part of Pink Rock Culture Co-op's Songwriters in the Round series alongside local and regional artists.
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Mar 21, 2026
J. Schnitt
J. Schnitt is a prolific Syracuse-based singer-songwriter and recording artist. In 2024 alone he released two full-length albums — To Obscurity and Beyond Vol. 1 and Something Like a Song — demonstrating an artist who creates without pause and connects without pretense.
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Mar 28, 2026
Ninjamaal
Ninjamaal is a Syracuse-based guitarist and musician whose sound moves fluidly between blues, rock, shoegaze, and jazz. Over the past four years he has built a reputation for soulful, dynamic performances both as a solo artist and as the driving force behind his band The Samurais.
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Mar 21, 2026
Just Joe
Just Joe is one of Syracuse's most recognized independent artists with over 47,000 Instagram followers and a catalog of original releases that connect directly with his audience. His 2024 singles Break, Shadows in the Rain, and Our Story demonstrate why he has built one of the largest local followings in the 315 music scene.
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Mar 21, 2026
Harvey Fonda
Harvey Fonda is a Syracuse-based singer-songwriter and recording artist. His 2024 singles City of My Dreams, Heartbeat, and It's A Holiday mark a prolific year of original releases — each one a distinct piece of his evolving sound.
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Mar 21, 2026
Youth Medium
Youth Medium are a Syracuse-based band releasing original music that sits at the intersection of rock, alternative, and something harder to name. Their 2024 album sync is a cohesive, fully realized record and one of the more ambitious full-lengths to come out of the 315 that year.
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Mar 21, 2026
Bella Wendel
Bella Wendel is a Syracuse-based singer-songwriter with a raw and unflinching approach to original music. Her 2024 single guilty for my disease is a bold, emotionally direct piece of writing from a young artist unafraid to go to difficult places.
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Mar 21, 2026
Harmonic Dirt
Harmonic Dirt are a Syracuse Americana and folk rock band — husband and wife songwriting duo Mike Gridley and Susan Coleman, joined by Taylor Bucci on banjo and James DaRin on percussion. Their 2024 album Tumbleweeds is their most fully realized work yet, rooted in the rhythms and textures of American roots music.
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Jan 12, 2026
Dave Fried Man
Dave Fried Man is a Syracuse folk and country musician who plays the songs that made you fall in love with music in the first place.
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Mar 21, 2026
Home Visitor
Home Visitor is a New York-based indie project led by Mordechai — sometimes solo, sometimes a full band, always the same name. Their catalog includes the albums Welcome and First Recordings, available on Bandcamp and streaming platforms. Loose, honest, and deliberately unpretentious.
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Mar 21, 2026
Charlie Wittman
Charlie Wittman is a Syracuse-based singer-songwriter with a knack for capturing big emotional moments in single songs. Her 2024 single Halley's Comet is exactly that — a rare event, worth watching for.
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Jan 13, 2026
Hendrick
Hendrick is a Syracuse musician with a voice that stops rooms cold. He plays acoustic bass and sings alone, delivering massive, soulful sound that commands attention.
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Mar 21, 2026
Frank Bianco
Frank Bianco is a Syracuse-based musician and multi-instrumentalist with deep roots in the Central New York music community. His 2024 album Couchfly is a self-released, fully independent record — unhurried, personal, and entirely his own.
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Mar 21, 2026
Odd Effrrtt
Odd Effrrtt are a Syracuse-based original music project with a sound as distinctive as their name. Their 2024 EP Green Glass Door is a sharp, genre-conscious release that rewards close listening and marks them as one of the more intriguing acts in the 315 scene.
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Dec 21, 2025
Christopher “Isto” White
Christopher "Isto" White is a Syracuse folk, country, and blues guitarist who knows his craft inside and out. His playing style is as traditional as it gets, rooted in classic American blues and the kind of songwriting that respects the tradition.
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Mar 21, 2026
Kynikoi
Kynikoi is a Syracuse-based original music project. Their 2024 demo single The Unheard Cries of a Caffeine Addict is a sharp and self-aware introduction to an artist finding their voice in the heart of the 315 scene.
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Mar 18, 2026
Old Tall Buildings
Old Tall Buildings are a Syracuse rock band drawing from classic American blues and the artists who carried it forward. Their sound is rooted in the fundamentals — guitar driven, honest, and built for a live room.
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Mar 16, 2026
Raut Scout
Raut Scout is Syracuse's keytar-wielding one-man hip-hop band and hes's exactly what it sounds like. He loops beats, plays keys, and performs the whole show solo, blending hip-hop energy with live musicianship.
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Mar 21, 2026
Ben Blujus Band
The Ben Blujus Band are a Syracuse rock outfit with a sound built for live rooms. Their 2024 EP Burn the Burden is a tight, high-energy release that delivers on its name.
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Mar 21, 2026
Amanda Rogers
Amanda Rogers is a Syracuse singer-songwriter, trauma-informed arts educator, and founder of Pink Rock Culture Co-op — the all-ages, intoxicant-free venue at the heart of the downtown Syracuse music community. With 14 solo albums and two SAMMY awards for Best Singer-Songwriter, her 2024 EP 52 Hurts is among her most intimate and emotionally precise work, inspired by the story of the 52 Hertz Whale.
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Mar 21, 2026
Colleen Kattau
Colleen Kattau is a Syracuse-based vocalist, guitarist and songwriter with roots in progressive folk, Latin, and vocal improvisation. Her 2024 album This Hen's Gonna Crow has earned airplay nationally and beyond — a bold, warm, and deeply expressive record.
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Mar 21, 2026
Jeff Tripoli
Jeff Tripoli is a Syracuse-based drummer, composer and bandleader. His 2024 album Perspectives is a SAMMY-nominated jazz and instrumental record that showcases his command of rhythm, dynamics, and the art of ensemble playing.
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