It’s been an eventful few months for roots rockers Pondering Judd. Earlier this year the band released their fourth album, the seven-song acoustic EP “Succumb to Hell”; this summer they took the Hampton Casino Ballroom stage, opening up for the hallowed Irish rock band, The Saw Doctors; and currently PJudd are poised to release their fifth album, “Lonesome Heart Strangers.” According to the band, where previously co-songwriters Martin England and Hank Decken each penned songs individually, “Strangers” will feature, for the first time, tracks on which the two collaborated in the writing process. The band’s local CD release party will be a full weekend engagement, celebrated over two days at the Brickhouse in Dover. The first show will be on Friday night, Sept. 16, with special guest local string-master Andy Happel (supporting the recent release of his own album). Pop rock band Lemon Fresh Kids will open the second show, an all ages affair that begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The album will be available at the shows that weekend, and in stores and online the Tuesday following. 

With he and his wife busy preparing for the birth of their first child, Seacoast Guitar Society honcho Harvey Reid wasn’t sure he’d have the time this fall to book the group’s seventh season of live performances. But when the opportunity arose to get flatpicking guitarist Dan Crary, he just couldn’t pass it up. When the renowned musician and Southern California native appears at the Inn on the Blues in York this Sept. 11 it will be for the first time in five years. If you want to see Crary, or any other SGS concert, though, it’s going to cost you a bit more. Reid, for the first time in the series’ history, has raised ticket prices from $10 to $12—a necessary move, he says, that will “allow us to continue to attract world-class talent to our area.”

Last week saw the launch of a new statewide organization for performing musicians. Started by musicians Pete Lampron and Mike Pollini, both of the band Forge, The Music Association of New Hampshire (MANH) plans to provide New Hampshire musicians with opportunities for networking, promotion, education and recognition. Lampron, an artist on the Wild Oats label out of Nashville, also serves as the company’s Northeast area A&R representative. He says that he and Pollini have “been to Nashville and L.A. and studied with some of the top songwriters, A&R reps and musicians in the country. And what we saw was pretty much the same as what is going on in the New England music scene. At the end of the day, talent is talent, a good song is a good song, and it doesn’t matter if you’re from San Diego or Sanbornville.” According to the pair, MANH members, who pay an annual $25 membership fee, can expect to learn more about the music business on a local and national level and to establish important industry contacts. For benefits, members will receive a monthly newsletter, e-mail updates, quarterly seminars and CD reviews. They’ll also be included in the association’s annual awards show, an event Lampron and Pollini are particularly keen on. “With indie labels and the Internet, the power base for musicians has shifted some…. Now it’s possible to do much more on your own. We want to support and encourage that; to help people realize that the more we all work together, the greater the benefit to us all will be.” For more information, visit www.manhonline.com.