When summer hits in Michigan, Joe Hertler can just feel the difference when he’s onstage. Frontman for longtime Lansing band Joe Hertler & the Rainbow Seekers, he’s played countless outdoor festivals all across the country.

• local music

Kalamazoo cellist and vocalist Jordan Hamilton has truly come to transcend both the worlds of classical and hip-hop music.

• local music
• Jordan Hamilton

If you haven’t yet sat down and listened to Kayleigh Amstutz–better known as Chappell Roan–you’ve certainly seen her across social media and news outlets.

• kalamazoo state theatre
• Touring Music

After three albums and five EPs, the X Ambassadors are finally ready to bring it home. Their fourth full-length record, Townie, tells a story about lead singer Sam Nelson Harris’ adolescent attempts to make it out of his hometown of Ithaca, New York. 

• The Intersection
• X Ambassadors

When Jason Deibler-Love, owner of The Lucky Wolf, first moved to West Michigan a little over two and a half years ago, he knew his life would change.

• music venue
• The Lucky Wolf
• Paw Paw

Scottish indie band Belle and Sebastian began with a recording they cut at their college campus in the mid-90’s. Nearly 30 years later, they’ve built a legacy career through their sharp-yet-whimsical songwriting and word-of-mouth promotion.

Much like his direct influences in indefinable indie bands Ween and The Unicorns, Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Oliver Scott Draper has crafted something of a lore around his origins.

There’s no mistaking the near-meditative nature to the music of acclaimed Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela.

• GLC Live at 20 Monroe
• Touring

Like they’ve done throughout their nearly 30-year career together, Canadian pop-punk/heavy metal band Sum 41 have called it quits their own way.

• Sum 41
• GLC Live at 20 Monroe

Musicians are no stranger to living on the road. But living at home? That’s a challenge most artists have to eventually face.

• Frontier Ruckus
• Midtown
• Studio Park