• Courtesy Of Jack Rowell
• Kristina Stykos

Indie-folk artist and Vermont native Freya Yost released her debut album, Delicate Elements, last month. It's a little surprising it took her this long, as Yost, 37, has been performing since age 12, touring with French Canadian dancer Benoit Bourque's La Danse des Enfants troupe.

"I grew up surrounded by music," Yost told me recently in a Zoom conversation from her home in Italy. "Everyone around me was so busy making music, so I just started to teach myself how to play."

Much of the music with which she was inundated came from Yost's mother, renowned Vermont musician and producer Kristina Stykos. Founder of the independent record label Thunder Ridge Records, Stykos has produced more than 30 albums in her home studio, Pepperbox Studio, originally in South Washington. She's released eight solo records as well, with 2018's River of Light ending up on several of Vermont's year-end best-of lists. Strangely enough, she had no idea her daughter was cooking up an album.

"She showed up a couple summers ago for the family vacation and announced that she wanted to make an album," Stykos recounted by phone. "For me, it came out of the blue — I had no idea she'd been playing guitar and writing songs."

Yost spent the better part of 2023 traveling between Italy and her mother's studio, now in Lincoln, laying down tracks. As mother and daughter interacted in a way that was new to both of them, they soon found themselves admiring each other's skill.

"It was really cool to hear her music!" Stykos said. "Regardless of her being my daughter, I was just so fascinated to hear what she had to say as a songwriter. And her songs just captured my imagination."

For Yost, it was a treat to see her mother in her element as a producer.

"I was blown away watching her," Yost said. "She has total command of the whole process; she's an amazing producer. I learned so much just observing the way she works."

The mother-daughter team hopes to collaborate again soon, despite their physical separation. Delicate Elements is streaming now at freyayost.bandcamp.com. Learn more about Stykos and her studio at kristinastykos.com.

Radio Bean narrowly escaped a fiery fate over the weekend after an apartment above the popular Burlington nightclub caught fire. While the club itself was spared, and fortunately no one was injured in the blaze late on Saturday night, the Bean will be out of commission for at least a week.

According to owner Lee Anderson, the venue sustained heavy water and smoke damage, including to music equipment and cash register computers. While his insurance company evaluates the property, Anderson plans to move any shows from Radio Bean to Light Club Lamp Shop, his adjoining club, which is undamaged.

"There's still a lot of stuff to figure out, but hopefully we can get open again soon," Anderson said by phone.

The gods of live music taketh, and the gods of live music giveth! While fire-related issues have shut down the Bean, the oldest dive bar in the state, Charlie-O's World Famous, is back! The tiny, locally beloved Montpelier bar sustained significant fire and water damage in October after the neighboring Mad Taco caught fire — a second crisis closely following last summer's disastrous flooding.

The damage took down Charlie-O's for the better part of seven months, dealing a blow not only to Capital City barflies but also to oodles of local bands the club routinely books. At last, the caution tape came down and the doors reopened on May 2. The bar plans a proper grand reopening on Sunday, May 12, when it opens its veranda.

Welcome back, Charlie-O's! You were missed.

Eye on the Scene

Last week's live music highlights from photographer Luke Awtry

• Luke Awtry
• Death

Death at Waking Windows, Winooski, May 4: The Waking Windows music festival took another lap around the Winooski rotary over the weekend, and it felt more like its humble beginnings than the expansive downtown takeover of past festivals. That's not to say this year's experience paled in comparison. While touring acts such as Yonatan Gat and They Hate Change elevated the festival to unexpected heights, the larger presence of local acts felt great. The festival headliner was Death, the 1970s punk pioneers out of Detroit originally consisting of three brothers: Bobby Sr., Dannis and David Hackney. Death disbanded in 1977, and the family moved to Vermont soon after. When recordings reemerged in the late 2000s, a new chapter began — but, sadly, without brother and guitarist David, who died of cancer in 2000. Death last performed in October 2019, but Saturday night in Winooski was the first time Bobby Sr.'s sons Urian and Julian joined their father and uncle as the newest members of the band. For the first time in 47 years, the family and the band were once again one and the same.

Listening In

Spotify mix of local jams