• Courtesy
• The Romans

Ryan Ober's the Romans are back with a new music video and an upcoming show to celebrate it. Or maybe it's vice versa?

"Irons in the Fire" is an easygoing Americana number, and the video, shot by director Brian Jenkins, fits the vibe perfectly. Ober and his bandmates Creston Lea (upright bass) and Lowell Thompson (acoustic guitar) play the song in the middle of the AO Glass workshop in Burlington while the AO team crafts handblown glass. Something about string music and blowing glass goes together like pineapple and pizza. (Yeah, I said it. Don't @ me, any of you pineapple-on-pizza-hating villains.)

It's not just a cool location for the video, however. The Romans will perform a set at the AO Glass space on Friday, May 19. I've never seen a show at a glassblowing workshop, but I'm all for the intersection of music and industrial settings. I always figured it would be Skinny Puppy or Ministry, but Ober and his new video have convinced me that I want to hear folk music and see things burned simultaneously.

• Courtesy
• KeruBo

It's a big year for Putumayo. The world music label, launched in 1993 in New York City by Dan Storper — who originally started Putumayo as a Latin American handicrafts shop famously parodied in an episode of "Seinfeld" — is turning 30.

To mark the occasion, Storper is traveling the country, making appearances on various radio shows and cohosting events, shouting out three decades of Putumayo. The label has released somewhere near 300 CDs and sold more than 35 million records in that time, all the while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for nonprofit organizations.

Though the label has been based out of New Orleans since 2015, Putumayo also has offices in Charlotte, along with Jacob Edgar's label and booking agency Cumbancha. The Vermont connection features strongly on the anniversary tour, as it culminates with a celebration at Burlington's Radio Bean on Friday, May 26.

Both Storper and Edgar — who is also the A&R consultant at Putumayo — will be in attendance as six international artists, some with Vermont ties, hit the stage. Madagascar-born and Burlington-based singer-songwriter Mikahely, Vermont-via-Kenya outfit KeruBo, Haitian Canadian singer Wesli, Montréal-based Mexican-born Mamselle Ruiz, and Brazilian artists Diogo Ramos and Bïa make for a stacked lineup.

Eye on the Scene

Last week's live music highlights from photographer Luke Awtry

• Luke Awtry
• Swale at the Monkey House during Waking Windows

Vermont Luthiers at Waking Windows, Winooski, May 5-7: Over the course of the Waking Windows festival, I spotted four different bands playing instruments made in Vermont by luthiers featured in this week's cover story. Not just one but three made by Creston Lea were seen in the wild: Tyler Bolles rocked his metallic gray four-string bass with both Rough Francis and Swale; Paddy Reagan played his sugar pine custom with Paper Castles; and Eric Olsen, also of Swale, played one of Lea's first-ever builds — a chambered custom made in 2005. Ben Schnier of Blueberry Betty played one of Micah Plante's guitars, a 2018 triple-pickup custom named Revan. Having your instrument onstage in the hands of a great musician is the ultimate compliment to any luthier, and it shows that our Vermont builders totally rock.

On the Air

Where to tune in to Vermont music this week:

• "Wave Cave Radio Show," Wednesday, May 10, 2 p.m., on 105.9 the Radiator: DJs Flywlker and Gingervitus spin the best of local and nonlocal hip-hop.
• "Exposure," Wednesday, May 10, 6 p.m., on 90.1 WRUV: Local acts play live in studio.
• "Rocket Shop Radio Hour," Wednesday, May 10, 8 p.m., on 105.9 the Radiator: Local duo Whiskers of Odd play live in studio.
• "The Sounds of Burlington," Thursday, May 11, 9 p.m., at WBKM.org: Host Tim Lewis plays selections of local music.
• "Cultural Bunker," Friday, May 12, 7 p.m., on 90.1 WRUV: Host Melo Grant plays local and nonlocal hip-hop.
• "All the Traditions," Sunday, May 14, 7 p.m., on Vermont Public: Host Robert Resnik plays an assortment of folk music with a focus on Vermont artists.

Listening In

Playlist of Vermont jams