Portsmouth, NH - Maybe Size Does Matter

Why is it that the small towns always get what it takes to maintain a vibrant music scene? In episode 10 of season 2, host Will Dailey takes you to one of his favorite little cities on the east coast. Portsmouth, New Hampshire has it all: old buildings, amazing food and more venues than its 22,000 citizens can attend. So basically, this town is calling to you.

Produced, Created, Written, Scored by Will Dailey Head writer: Caitlin White
Executive Producers Brady Sadler & Jake Brennan

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Double Elvis. Two decades after closing, and while only being
open for six years, the Elvis Room still looms large
in the minds of the music scene locals. You know,
the way New Yorkers moon over CBGB's or Angelino's breathlessly

(00:26):
tell you about the heyday of the smell. The Elvis
Room was once the beating heart of the region's incredible
music scene in one of America's oldest states. Like the King,
it is long gone, but it's the legend still lingers,
And that's just the way it goes in small towns
where dedication runs hot and efforts to uphold the scene

(00:47):
are interwoven in what comes after. In this town, they
know what stages are worth, what they represent, and what
they can become. And that is why the legend of
the Elvis Room hangs around beckoning, saluting all the scene
means and stages and troubadours that come next, drawing you
in to the center of the Sea coast town. And
you don't know it yet, but once you visit, you're

(01:10):
never going to be the same. Johnny Winter Nos Show
BB King just turns on the New Hampshire Boys, Steve
and Joe have gone beyond doing it for life, unlike
Buddy Guy, who has decimated the Riffbat with one hypertonic note,
lead on lead on New Hampshire sonic youth. Back when

(01:40):
Portsmouth was founded sixteen twenty three, four hundred years ago,
making it one of the oldest cities in America, it
was the only coast that the settlers knew about, and
it has that feel of original America, even if we
all know that's not where the land's history starts. Smith

(02:00):
is the anchor of a small but mighty music scene
on the Eastern Seaboard, or the Sea Coast, as they
like to call it themselves. Maybe it's the biggest little
city in the world. With the population of over just
twenty two thousand, it's definitely in the running. But even
the propens city to name itself the Sea Coast lets
you know how this insular region feels sure of a

(02:21):
defining factor that separates it from the rest of a
gigantic East coast. And they're right, you know, before anyone
was here at all, the sea was already chipping away
at the coast, becoming part of the atmosphere of this land.
There's so little separation between the water and the dirt
here that sometimes this area is called the Mother of Rivers,
A true tributary of America, like water, was born here

(02:43):
and nothing else. It was built on the river Mouth
for a reason, designed to be a true port city
and fishing settlement for some of the very first Americans.
Portsmouth is New Hampshire's oldest settlement in its second oldest city,
right after Dover. That means seventeenth and eighteenth century houses
are still standing looking out across the water, sentinels that

(03:06):
remind us of all the good and yes, all the
bad that went down way back when. Another landmark, the
eighteen fifty five North Church, still looms over downtown's Market Square.
And there's Prescott Park on the waterfront, with its fair
share of boat docks and gardens lining the river's edge.
Not a lot of places have parks with docks and

(03:26):
do that. Even stranger to an outsider is a submarine.
The uss Albacore is run ashore in a park and
turned into a museum open to the public. All these
bridges and ports, docks and ships of all sizes and kinds,
They're as common here as bikes and cars and freeways
in other cities. Actually, for most of the twentieth century,

(03:47):
Portsmouth was a center for the building and repair of submarines,
and since nineteen seventy one it's now the only place
American submarines go to get repaired. That sounds like a
subject for another podcast, though don't go listen to it
yet Submarine Hospital, though I do want to put that
out there as a band name for a punk band
out of Portsmouth. In the meantime, here are the names

(04:10):
of some of the best real bands to emerge from
both this city and the rest of the Sea Coast.
Lady Land, the Beekeeper, The Bruisers, Fly Spinach Fly Gig
Allen Connie Conners, John Spencer, The Queers Will Shed, Wild Light,

(04:30):
Savoy Truffle, Assembly of Dust, Dreadnought Broke thanks to grab
Pemmi Kuda, Choosy Mom's Funky Dance, Carn Gandhi's Lunch but
Heavens to Murgerator, Adam Sandler and the Shags. All that water,
all that traffic from the river in the sea, That's

(04:51):
what's built this town into a place where musicians like
to come. Portsmouth was the State of New Hampshire's first capital.
It remains its only meaning people were always coming in
and out, Freight was always moving through. This was a
happening place. So it remains on the tour route of
many musicians wandering up and down the sea coast, because well,

(05:12):
some things can just be chalked up to habit, but
habit begets culture, and there's constant music shifting along these
brickline streets, in and out of the light, in and
out of buildings, mixed into the full restaurants that are
packed every night, with crowd noise spilling out to reach
the buskers who sing on the streets. It all feels
a little mystical. It also feels a little bit like
the Truman Show. It's a little bit perfect. This is

(05:34):
a super tiny, quaint town with tight streets, but a
little bit of intrigue is tucked between the cobblestones. Right
when you start getting comfortable, something slips or shifts, a
bit of eeriness sets in. Is it all too perfect
or is it just that you're visiting? It's hard to tell.
When I roll into Portsmouth to play, something sets upon

(05:56):
me that I do like visitors, feel like I want
to move here right away, enjoy a rich, simpler life.
But is the facade real or is it all a
dream along the sea coast? Time to ground down or
maybe lean into the haze. Either way, the best way
to get the lay of the land in this particular
town is simply by wandering, and that is your no

(06:19):
cover activity for this episode. Pace through the perfect seeming
downtown and see what you can discover from the outside
looking in, an activity that costs what my grandfather called
a very good price free. You are listening to Sound

(06:42):
of Our Town, a podcast about the music scene and
the vibe and the places to go in the next
town you're gonna visit, or the town you're moving to,
the town you just arrived in, or the town that
you lived in your whole life that you never really explored.
I'm your host, Will Daily. I'm a songwriter troubadour, and
I've been called worse things than that. No matter. This

(07:03):
podcast is here as the anti content podcast. We keep
these things short and sweet to get you into the
city and out into this live music culture so that
you can get to living, get off your thumbs and
get out and see some live music. And in this episode,
we're visiting one of my favorite towns in America, Tucked

(07:24):
Up in the northeast corner Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Portsmouth is
split up into four main sections, the waterfront, downtown, the

(07:45):
North end, and the West End. For the purpose of
a visit to this city that focuses around music, downtown
is the place to be. It is small enough to
walk around in the half hour or less, and in fact,
it is so essential that this activity is perfect for
a no cover spot. You're worried about saving a couple bucks,
the rising costs of everything, or looking for a simple,

(08:07):
straightforward way to have some fun. This is it. Walk
around a port city and feel the ocean breeze, feel
the music of the place seep into your bones, feel
the hopes and the dreams from the streets. Out on
the streets in Portsmouth, it really is as if you're
in a movie set. What space could be this tight?
Everything is so compact. As you walk along the old buildings,

(08:28):
it's almost like you believe you're in a simulation. It's
also like every other giant to small city expanding right
now with some questionable architecture. But even this can't eclipse
the feel of the old town, Market Street, Pleasant Street,
Congress Street. These are the main drags in downtown Portsmouth,
all emanating from the main shopping district, Market Square, Every

(08:52):
left and right hand turn leads to a new microadventure
along these brickline sidewalks. Every venue worth going to in
this town sits within a couple of blocks radius of
each other, which can be overwhelming, but it's also incredibly convenient.
Imagine if every small town in America had a ring
of stages, supporting each other and boasting plenty of local
nights while still bringing in plenty of musical outsiders. Walking

(09:16):
the sidewalks looking at all these glass windows of full restaurants.
Walk by the music hall lounge mid set, see what
author or songwriter is in there. Look up the arches
that lead to the grand music Hall. Walking underneath them
feels like you're entering a special place, and you are.
This is the spirit of Portsmouth. Not everything happens indoors

(09:38):
on the stage at the show. You know a lot
of what happens in a real music city happens in
and around before and after. Just let yourself be in Portsmouth.
It wouldn't be that surprising to me, someone who has
spent a lot of time doing just that. If you
get a better music story out of it that way.

(09:58):
Also the mouse boush to Your First Stop. Your First
Stop is located in Portsmouth's stately one hundred and fifty
year old Customs House, just one of the many examples
of the city's ancient architecture that has been repurposed and

(10:21):
incorporated into its contemporary life. Portsmouth Book and Bar is
the stuff of legends. Founded about a decade ago by
a collective of book collectors with successful shops elsewhere, it
has become a staple for the community in a celebrated
space for passionate live performances in Portsmouth. I performed there

(10:41):
on early runs through the town, back when I dreamed
of one day performing on the much larger stage at
the press room, and it was easy to appreciate my
book in bar phase while I was there. The custom
House and post office is a big deal in port Town,
as international mail and expensive goods of all kinds changed
hands across the American border. That means this building was

(11:03):
constructed to make an impression. Originally designed by Amy Young
in eighteen sixty, it makes his Greek Revival and Neo
Renaissance styles. In the current space still benefits from the
grandeur of its design, lots of room almost three thousand
square feet airy lofted ceilings in original floor to ceiling windows.

(11:25):
Now a lot of that space is packed out with books,
a bar for serving local beer, coffee and small plates,
and of course a corner stage where everyone for musicians
to beat poets, to authors and DJs and comedians are
welcome to come in for live performance events. It's the
ideal place to not just get your bearings in Portsmouth,

(11:45):
but to really feel like you've arrived in your own
movie while being surrounded by a plethora of stories, ancient,
new and musical Plan ahead by checking out the substantial
calendar on their website or drop in during the early
evening for surprise. There's performances almost every night and plenty
of books about music. If not. Our used bookstore is

(12:06):
a wonderful way to get to the heart of a
town's artistic and writerly scene, and in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
that places booken bar. It's a good listening room, but
it's not the listening room. Jimmy's Jazz and Blues Club

(12:28):
is so classic. It has a thick purple velvet curtain
that the band sets up in front of It's got
round tables and thick comfy chairs that patrons can move
around closer to the stage and further away, crowded by
a table full of friends are off on their own
for a night of close solo listening. It's got the flexibility,
the improvisational feel that the best jazz clubs should have.

(12:52):
And of course, on Sundays, it's got jazz Brunch. If
you're so inclined, you can get a full dinner service
or your listen into jazz and blues at Jimmy's, and
the kitchen stays open all the way through the second
show of the night. Your show ticket works as your reservation,
but it's not a requirement, just an option. Set in
a nineteen oh five building that was originally erected by

(13:13):
the YMCA, the current owners of Jimmy's, brother Michael and
Peter LaBrie, have put over twenty million dollars into renovating
and preserving the architecture of the club. It is a
listening room in the truest sense of the word, with
five years of planning in redesign and construction behind the
current iteration. Many historic features were kept intact, like original
stained glass windows, and though they no longer existed. Two

(13:36):
large bay windows were recreated from old photographs. That plus
an acoustical ceiling that floats on springs, makes this place
a favorite of musicians who can immediately hear the difference
and don't let the full bar fool you into thinking
this isn't a serious place for music fans. In fact,
this bar being in one of the two separate lounges,
is a testament to the fact that patrons can enjoy

(13:57):
a casual conversation or head into the venue when it's
time to focus on the show. Named for their father,
James la Brie, a separate VIP club upstairs is named
after their mother, Ellen, and though the venue is clearly
outfitted to the nines and millions of dollars of renovations,
it is still family owned by locals who desperately want

(14:18):
to bring a world class venue to the town they
know has a hungry audience of live music lovers. But
Jimmy's is a pretty spiffy affair. It's really nice in there.
When you need a face melt, we have a club
for that. If you've been listening to this show for

(14:46):
a minute, then you've already heard me tell a story
like the one I'm about to tell about the press
room Somewhere in a past episode. It's the one where
the emerging musician attired Troubadour from the Road accidentally created
it's a working circuit in a badly wired room. By
becoming the conduit and touching his lips to a microphone

(15:06):
and his fingers to an electric guitar. All hell breaks
loose inside your body. In defense of the press room,
I was electrocuted at the old one. Though this venue
has been newly renovated, with over a year spent repairing, renovating,
and making improvements while staying true to the spirit of
the place. That's all according to their website. When you

(15:27):
are a venue where people regularly go to get their
face melted, to participate in the grandiose, loud and epic
practice of loving the huge wall of sound that live
music can and will provide, well, repairs are a necessary routine.
Back in my book Some Bar Days, the press room
was the dream stage this place. It's been a staple

(15:50):
in Portsmouth for more than four decades for a reason.
It's the spot to get a live music fixed. Even
the venue itself notes that as much as they're proud
of the building in the physical space, particularly with all
the updates. It's the community that makes this place special.
People turn out for shows at the Pressroom. It's where
they want to see old favorites in new emerging players.

(16:11):
It's where they want to go. Whether it's a rainy
Tuesday or a crisp Saturday full of excitement and potential.
You will see the coolest music kids and artists from
the scene attending shows here. So for those of you
who love to be on the in spot, this is it,
and with good reason. It's got the history to go
toe to toe with any venue in town. As the

(16:33):
longest running bar, restaurant, and live entertainment venue in downtown Portsmouth,
the press Room takes the crown. Opened in nineteen seventy
six by journalist, musician, and folk music lover Jay Smith,
who the venue's website also describes as a quiet philanthropist.
The fifty year history of the press Room is a

(16:54):
testament to his initial commitment. With only four owners over
the course of decades, and all of them independent parties
who have run it without the backing of a major
music industry company, this is one of the few rock
clubs in the country. That's really for the community, by
the community. So imagine if you've seen a show or

(17:30):
two already, or you're just wandering around the city, you're
maybe overdue for a snack. And I have to mention
that in an episode about Portsmouth, because this city's got eats.
This is a seafood town, and like any good sailor town,
it also has a lot of beer. It also has
a killer bakery, which doesn't have to be linked to
the working class of the Sea Coast. I guess it

(17:52):
just exists in all its four am fresh bred glory.
But for a seafood fix, stop by the Franklin, known
for its raw bar with two dollars oysters and usually
eight to ten varietals on at a time. But obviously
it's oysters, so these types are subject has changed at
any time. They are the freshest in town and it

(18:12):
comes with great views. What's not the love And if
you can't get over the whole raw oyster texture thing,
come here and pick up some of their grilled oyster offerings.
The farm is served with bacon jam and corn bread
crumble and it'll help almost anyone get over their shellfish sensitivity.

(18:36):
Can we have a music town if it doesn't have
a long running festival. Portsmouth has one, but it's not
what you think. Now entering its forty fifth year, the
Prescott Park Arts Festival is decidedly not like the mainstream
music festivals you've seen popularized over the last two decades
that packs a bunch of Billboard chart one hit wonders

(19:00):
into a thirty minute set at stages that trample and
defile whatever grounds they're hurriedly erected upon, leaving heaps of
trash behind that will one day end up in our ocean.
That's another podcast, I'm sorry. Prescott Park is a move
that has decidedly against the getellification of live music. The
Arts festival actually includes over eighty events spread throughout the

(19:22):
course of the summer every summer. Instead of VIP wristbands
going for thousands of dollars or traded behind the scenes
by corrupt industry locals or vapid influencers, the festival includes
family in need passes, it runs on suggested donation models,
and has programming that's devoted exclusively to children. It's the

(19:42):
festival that's truly built to serve its community and is
passionate about getting kids out to live music in hopes
of showing them that this is something worth pursuing and
supporting in their own life. When we say it's not
like other music festivals, that's what we mean. Hosted annually
at Prescott Park, a waterfront area that includes ten acres
of flower gardens, walkways, seating, grassy areas, all designed for

(20:06):
public use and recreation. If you're in town for the summer,
definitely make it out to one of their concerts or
film screenings or other musical events. However, if you're not
visiting Portsmouth during the summer, there's another place you can
go similarly focused on community and art of all kinds,
and that's Three S Art Space, which play hosts to

(20:27):
both visual art and live music. Though it is located
in downtown Portsmouth, the Three S Art Space feels a
little bit outside the jam packed venue region. It makes
a great stop because it's the kind of place that
embraces both music and visual art, so you've got multiple
mediums to get swept away. In. The music hall itself

(20:57):
is smaller than most music halls, but in Portsmouth it's
gigantic and anchors the whole city. Tucked right into the
heart of the downtown corridor. We've already made you pace
through and where most of the venues worth visiting are located.
It's the big fish in this little pond. It's the
best game in town. It's the reason the rest of

(21:17):
the Sea Coast will happily drive an hour or more
to see Elvis Costello, Band of Horses or Nico case
Grace at stage. I've been around meaning when it comes
to Portsmouth, and I've played there twice, once in a
festival where I played from the floor up to the audience,
a trip in and of itself, and once during the

(21:38):
pandemic to about thirty people. That show is supposed to
be outside for safety reasons, everyone's spread out, but it
rained hard enough that it all moved inside with the
trust that everyone would sit separately from one another in
the building. It was one of the strangest ways I've
ever had to face an audience in recent memories, but
it was magical, and still even with the restrictions and

(22:00):
last minute changes, just being in there was magical. It's
an eight hundred and ninety five seat theater clocking in
at just under a thousand or so. It originally opened
in eighteen seventy eight as a vaudeville theater, and even
throughout renovations, the spirit of its Victorian beginning lives on
these days. It's a thriving local nonprofit incorporated as the

(22:22):
Friends of the Music Hall into a five oh one
C three in nineteen eighty seven. More communities could and
should save their best historic venues by operating them this way.
There's a secondary venue back through the archways and across
the street. It is known as the Music Hall Lounge.
It's much smaller, about a tenth of the size, with
only one hundred and twenty seats, and it used to

(22:44):
be a black box theater over the pandemic. Like a
lot of venues in Portsmouth, they did a high class
or renovation, turning it into another of the city's best
pure listening rooms. It feels brand new but also classic,
with seating that's elevated, going for from one side of
the stage and wrapping around a beautiful wine bar. There's
an electric fireplace. Some people sit on couches as well

(23:06):
as tables, and you kind of feel like there should
be a cigarette smoke cloud in your vision, and thank
god it isn't. If you ever get a chance to
see a show at the Lounge or the hall itself
during your trip, drop everything else and go. And in fact,
my last show at the Lounge, people did just that.
They'd flown into town and looked up what was happening
and came in. These are the kind of rooms that

(23:27):
carry the spirit of American music with them. The care
with which Portsmouth has embraced preserving this historic place, this
temple of live music is something every city with a
live music scene should emulate. And since we've now covered
all the best stages in the city, the only place
to send you now is for a brief walk about
in the country. Have you ever seen a show in

(23:48):
a seventeenth century barn. Since most of this episode has
been directing you to wander around a few blocks idios
smack dab in downtown Portsmouth, which is honestly a fairly
obvious plan, it makes sense that we take you somewhere
else for that hidden gem. And by somewhere else, this

(24:09):
time I'm going to suggest somewhere that's not even in Portsmouth. Radical,
I know, but the goal of this show in many
ways is to stay radical. Plus. As we mentioned a
couple times throughout the episode. Portsmouth is part of the
larger Sea Coast scene. In one of the cities that
is an intrinsic part of that realm is Exeter. In
a venue an Exeter that anyone in the world would

(24:30):
recommend you check out if they've heard of it yet
is the word Barn in Meadow, which is pretty much
as close to exactly what the name says as almost
any venue could be. But here's a tagline just in case.
A gathering place for language and song now with everything
from live music to workshops, to poetry and fiction reading,

(24:51):
to wildlife and wellness demonstrations, to theater to food events.
The word Barn is a true artistic community hub in
every sense. Founded by Ben and Sarah Anderson about eight
years ago. The Andersons, who are self proclaimed music fanatics
and promoters and poets and teachers, transformed in an original
horse table from sixteen to ninety five into a live

(25:14):
music venue. They also make my favorite chicken soup for
the artists in the green room, or maybe they just
did that for me. I hope all the other artists
get the chicken soup and I'll let them describe it
because it's perfect. The way they put it. With impeccable acoustics,
inspiring setting, unique interaction with performers, and a combination of seats, stools,

(25:34):
and balcony, it provides a superb community gathering space centered
around quality events. Even better, closing their indoor stage along
with everyone else during the twenty twenty shutdowns led Ben
and Sarah to get creative. They transformed another portion of
the farm into the Meadow, an outdoor venue that's now
become just as popular as the original barn during the summer.

(25:57):
It makes a great alternative or addition to Barn. There's
only one thing you need to prep for your trip
to Portsmouth. Though other materials may exist, they are rated moot.
Once you've watched this documentary In Danger of being discovered,

(26:20):
it's a two thy and an eleventh film about the
Portsmouth music scene in the nineteen nineties. Perhaps you've heard
of a couple of the bands mentioned in Our musician
listened to the top of the episode. Perhaps not, but
once you watch In Danger, their stories will live on
in your mind. Obviously, we've established throughout this episode that
Portsmouth has a vibrant and thriving music scene now, but

(26:41):
in the nineties, it was so strong that some people
were comparing it to the grunge explosion going on in
Seattle around the time, though the scene never quite hit
the national zenith the way grunge did. In Danger of
being Discovered is a retrospective look into what was going
on with local bands in the area, what was happening
in the local music scene venues, and why musicians we've

(27:01):
never heard of We're selling sixty thousand copies of third
demo CDs, with one in every ten of the local
bands being courted by a major label and sold out shows.
That seemed like this scene was one hit away from
stardom as a whole, but then it never happened. This
doc tells the story of those who almost made it,
and damn if that story doesn't sometimes hit better that way.

(27:25):
If you're a musichead and you're planning to make your
way to Portsmouth, or even if you're not, this doc
is required watching. Pop it in before the trip and
you'll feel like an expert when you pull up to
the town that doubles as the mother of rivers. Portsmouth,

(27:51):
New Hampshire, a picturesque waterfront town that sits right on
the border of Maine, is in fact so close to
Maine that you can shoot over the Memorial Bridge and
leave New Hampshire all together in less than five minutes,
which is to say Portsmouth is in a city alone,
that it is instead part of a larger hole, Sitting
at a crossroads between states, between the river and the ocean,

(28:13):
between land and sea. It is a place of betweens,
which makes it a perfect place for the troubadour or
the wandering artist, musicians, the ultimate between ers. Portsmouth is
also a city so small it might not even count
if it weren't for the music. Whether it's summer, a
glorious mess of golden sun and long shadows in a
seaport town such as this one, or winter. But it

(28:36):
can be pretty biting right off the water. The roiling
crowds of Portsmouth don't know how to stay home. This
river city is always flowing, the biggest little music city
in the world. Maybe, now that I've stepped into its stream,
it's impossible not to return. Maybe that's where a bit
of the magic surrounding this place comes in, rising like
mist off the headwaters. That's what draws artists here, so

(29:00):
for ages. Maybe it'll draw you here too, maybe it
already has. Well, welcome to New Hampshire. You might not
know it yet, but you're never going to be the
same again. And one more thing, what is it about
small towns and their music cultures that keep them so healthy?

(29:24):
Big cities they lose track of their music vibe. Sometimes
they get a little too confident in the history that
they might have, whether it be Boston or New York
or Chicago, Kansas City or Seattle. They can afford to
let a decade or two go by until they say,
oh damn, maybe we need to focus on this because

(29:46):
people don't want to live here. The rest of the
culture is struggling because we don't have a thriving scene. Well,
it's the small towns that know this year in and
year out. Without the arts, I can't even compete, and
they know it. It's intrinsic, it's obvious, it's right there,
and I think that is what Portsmith exemplifies. So well,

(30:17):
well there you go, Episode ten of season two of
Sound of Our Town, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We did it.
The Sound of Our Town is a production of Double
Elvis and iHeartRadio. It's executively produced by Brady Sadler. And
Jake Brennan. Production assistants by Matt Bowden. This episode's head
writer is Kaitlin White. The Sound of Our Town is written, produced, created,

(30:40):
and soundtracked by me Will Daly. You can follow me
anywhere you follow people just spell daily VIAI lu Y.
If you want to hear more of my music like
you've been hearing in this episode, you can just just
search me. You know how to do this. I'm not
going to tell you where to go, what platform. I
believe in you and your thumbs in your spell. We're

(31:01):
gonna head off to the next city right now. Two
more episodes left in this season, and then we got
some special stuff lined up for next year. What I
really appreciate is all your reviews, all your shares, and
all your kind words. As I'm traveling around, I'll see
you out there. Thank you for your ears. It's got

(31:27):
the flexibility the improvise. It's got the flexibility the improvise.
It's got the flexibility the improvisation now, and it'll help
almost anyone get over their shell fish and it'll help
almost anyone get over their shellfish sensitivity.