Tucked in a low-elevation pocket of the Northern Adirondacks, in the southern portion of New York’s Champlain Valley, there exists a place where music mingles in the pine trees, where campfire smoke curls high over a circle of friends. On the second weekend of September, turning down that dirt lane will deliver you to a three-day music festival that defies stereotypes and exceeds expectations. You’ve arrived at Otis Mountain Get Down, and you’re going to have a weekend for the ages. From its days as a small community ski hill, to a six-year stint as a summer bluegrass haven, to a 21st Century music festival revival, Otis Mountain has a story to tell.

With its center ring of restaurants and bars, downtown Winooski has no dearth of small, tucked away spots for those seeking refuge from the Burlington crowd. The Waking Windows festival, now in its fifth year, brings the noise right into the heart of the traffic circle with three days of music to please all ears. With over 100 performances lined up over three days, picking your favorites and setting your schedule can be a daunting task. Offprint has crafted a sample itinerary of noteworthy shows by bands that are a little less well-known. By no means exhaustive, this primer serves as a heads up, and will get you ready to sing, dance, imbibe and jive. Read on.

In December of 2014, I embarked on a two-week journey to visit a friend serving in the Peace Corps in Lesotho. Landlocked by South Africa, Lesotho is a tiny, rural nation of breathtaking beauty— and difficult realities for its citizens. 

Sean Hurley is obsessive. He’ll admit it, and he’ll tell you it’s a good thing. Loquacious, energetic and driven, in five years Hurley has already founded one company, sold it and set his sights on company number two. His latest project is Abe’s Corner Accelerator, a venture capital startup that helps other start-ups well… start up.

Using reclaimed materials to breathe new life into old metal, Molly Conant forges her own path with her vintage jewelry making business. Conant's clean aesthetic makes her pieces highly wearable, while unique resources lend a one-of-a-kind vibe to the collection.

Eric George's sincere, often nasally, voice recalls country-folk crooners of yore like Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. But his finger-picking guitar riffs reach back even further to the likes of legendary Delta bluesmen Son House and Robert Johnson. Prior to the release of his self-titled debut album, George discusses his influences, the recording process, and why his tastes tend toward the analog.

Nebraska native Hana Zara found her musical home on the shores of Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont. After winning a local singer-songwriter contest in 2013, Zara has become one of the Queen City's leading lyricists. I sat down with her to find out what makes her tick, why childhood fairytales can still be meaningful to adults, and how she proposes to inject a shot of love into the world.

I've written album and song reviews for SPIN, the legacy music magazine that now exists as a digital publication. A selection is available above.