In today’s modern music marketplace, it has never been easier for musicians to have their work heard by a sizable audience. The Internet, social media, and the increased ease of home recording have all contributed to the breaking down of walls between artists and fans.

Giant acts like U2 and Taylor Swift have made the news in recent months for the different approaches they’ve employed in controlling the distribution of their work, and given the reaction from other artists, bands and recording engineers, it appears that one fact remains certain. Though being a professional musician takes plenty of hard work and determination, it also never hurts to be a good salesman.

Taking its name from the sometimes-aggressive pitchmen of old, the Southcoast Massachusetts band, Huxster, acknowledges the part played by salesmanship in a group’s present-day interaction with potential listeners.

“All bands are ‘Huxsters’ selling their music,” said Huxster drummer and background vocalist Joe Patten during a recent interview. “May explain why our first disc was called Snake Oil.”

That album, released in 2010, launched the career of Huxster in New England, despite the fact that the band’s members – Patten, Paul Amenta (guitar, vocals), and David Dunn (bass, vocals) – had already been involved either together or in different bands around the area for years.

Dunn, now a resident of Mattapoisett, even gained some renown playing in the group Machinery Hall, which won the Boston Music Award for Best Rock Act in 1996, and saw its song “Herd” hit number one on the charts in Scotland.

Patten said, “Sometime around 2004 or 2005 some of us had been playing in a cover band and the singer’s brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. He decided to take some time off and during this time, we starting recording some original material for fun. This led to the first CD and the formation of the band.”

Early tracks from Snake Oil,like “I’ll Be Fine” and “Something Better,” show Huxster’s competency at crafting well-produced rock that is punctuated by crisp guitar solos and yearning vocals. However, the scope of the band’s talent really becomes apparent when one listens to its 2013 release Bourbon Stomp, which consists of acoustic material played with a country-tinged, Americana edge.

The instrumental title track and numbers like “Let It Go,” “Bliss” and “Day to Shine,” are glowing examples of songs that feel warm and intimate, qualities that other east coast bands are quick to note when describing Huxster.

“Huxster’s the real deal,” said Kevin Drinan, guitarist and vocalist for the Boston group Glowbox when asked to share his thoughts on the band. “They know how to write a great rock song that’s loaded with hooks, and it’s getting increasingly harder to find bands these days who rock hard and still have that great sense of melody. There aren’t a lot of bands around now who write stuff that gets stuck in your head for days, but these guys manage to do it.”

“The band Huxster has been part of a steadily growing scene,” contributed Rick O’Neal, bassist for the Worcester-based group The Delta Generators. “You can’t really get more compact than they are with three pieces, but you don’t need to add anything either because those pieces fit together so well.”

“They’re a group of talented musicians that write genuine appealing music,” added Glowbox bassist Rick Famiglietti. “In today’s day and age, it’s always inspiring to hear music with integrity.”

Integrity is important, but so is product. And Huxster is currently hard at work putting the finishing touches on its third full-length release, which should be available in early 2015. Two songs from the still un-titled record, “I’ll Find A Way” and “Guns and Roses,” have already been shared online by the band, providing up-tempo previews of what should be an evolved effort from the group.

Patten explained, “We’ve spent the last year working closely with Paul David Hager on our new recording. Paul has been on tour as the live engineer for Miley Cyrus and actually mixed some of our songs while in South America, Australia and New Zealand.” He continued, “Paul also has worked with Van Halen, Devo, American Hi-Fi and the local band Letters to Cleo. Basic tracking began at Powerstation studios in Connecticut and we recorded all the overdubs such as guitars and vocals locally.”

Those anxious to see Huxster perform live will have to wait until the band finalizes plans for a record release show, which is now tentatively scheduled to take place in southern Massachusetts sometime in January. But Patten is unequivocal in his praise for the work he and his band mates have put into their latest release.

“We have evolved and grown as a band,” he said. “We think this new record is our best.”

For more information on Huxster, please visit www.huxsterband.com.

By Michael Cimaomo

A city rich in American history, New Bedford is also a city with its own performing arts treasures.  This holiday season New Bedford Ballet will take you on a journey back in time to the 1850s, a time when The Whaling City prospered as its whale oil lit up the world. A New England Nutcracker will be performed December 6th through the 14th at the NBB Community Theatre, 2343 Purchase St. in New Bedford. For more information visit our website, www.newbedfordballet.org. Shown here: Standing: Annie Tucker (Mattapoisett), Ari Sweet (Marion), Bailey Sweet (Marion), Camryn McNamara (Mattapoisett); : Mia Hurley (Mattapoisett), Victoria Kvilhaug (Mattapoisett), Elizabeth Bungert (Mattapoisett); Sitting: Natalie Nilson (Marion), Audrey Knox (Mattapoisett), Emma Gabriel (Mattapoisett), Grayson Lord (Mattapoisett)

There came a time when living with the looping internal dialog so full of pain could not, and would not, be tolerated any longer. With that line drawn, I’d spend the next ten years sorting out those inherited belief systems that could be dispensed with forever. That done, I slowly moved forward – but not without a whole lot of help.

As I groped around searching for enlightenment from various sources, a lighted path in the form of a documentary about the life of Tasha Tudor was aired on PBS. Learning about this amazing woman’s life and her art expanded my horizons. For me, it was just the right dose of medicine at the right moment in time.

Distilling Tudor’s philosophy down to its purest form, she believed that living a peaceful, happy life was a choice – a choice as simple as ‘taking joy’ versus negativity.

Yes, a choice! I could choose to see beauty in the moment, enjoy it, versus focusing on something much less positive. By simply telling myself, “Oh, that is so beautiful!” and letting that thought seep into every fiber of my being, I could feel uplifted and, well, joyful. I was free to make a choice and ‘take joy.’ Liberation never felt so good.

Concurrent with finding Tudor were other discoveries that continued to help free my thinking processes, allowing me to grow emotional wings and build muscles that would be needed in the future.

There was Wayne Dyer, Ram Dass, Depak Chopra, Earl Nightingale, and Eleanor Roosevelt, to name a few. Call it self-help if you will. That is precisely what most mental health rehabilitation is all about for garden-variety neurotics – getting the individual to take responsibility for their own happiness. I took that challenge. I’ve never looked back.

One day, shortly after I moved to Mattapoisett and at the very beginning of my decade of discovery, I was taking a walk near my home and met a lady who was working in her yard. We chatted briefly about the lovely day, her flowers, the season ahead, and other pleasantries. As I walked on, I was left with a feeling of joy from merely being in her presences for a few moments. That brief interaction brought Tudor’s mantra ‘take joy’ to mind. It seemed this neighbor personified those words. She was fully in the moment and enjoying it.

As the years would pass, our paths crossed many times. Sometimes she’d ride her bike past my house cycling by with her famous cheery hello, or I’d walk by her home stopping to pass a bit of time over a flower specimen she was working on, or at a public hearing on a shared community issue. Each time I was left feeling good speaking with her.

This past spring, she was walking up the dump road with her husband and another neighbor as I was walking my dog back towards North Street. She called me over where her small group was standing looking intently into the woods at something. She said, “It’s a towhee…” with a childlike twinkle in her eye. She could hardly contain the joy she was feeling; it overflowed and filled me with wonder at the discovery of this migratory bird. And there it was – a tiny little bit of living, breathing perfection. Because of this lady, I was carried along happily engaged with Mother Nature, transported to a joyful place in my soul.

Oftentimes, as we had exchanged greetings over the decades, she never knew the burden I was carrying – nor I, hers. We avoided all that and gave each other something else, something positive, a bit of gladness, a smile, kindness and warmth.

When it became obvious that something was going wrong in her world, I was troubled. It’s a small town and soon I would learn of her health struggles. She wasn’t out in her yard any longer, or on her bike or her boat.

I sent her an email. I told her I knew things were difficult for her, but I wanted her to know that over the more than 20 years of our causal friendship, she had always uplifted me. I wanted her to know what a gift her voice in my ear had been. She replied with a thank you while urging me to keep on writing.

I saw her once more, early one morning as she walked slowly at her husband’s side near their home. She told me how much my email had meant to her. I could barely contain my tears. In that fleeting split-second of eye contact, I knew I would never see her again. I wanted to say something easy and sweet. I said, “What a morning!” as we stood in the warmth of the sun. She said, “Yes, isn’t it a good day to be alive.”

She is gone now. My heart is broken for her family and close friends. What a loss to a world in sore need of people who are able to take joy and then share it with others as she had been so famous for doing.

I will miss her, but I know I’ll see her and hear her in the changing seasons, the blush of a flower blossom, in fluttering hummingbird wings, clouds, wind, sunsets, and ocean waves. Her name is now added to my list of people who by their teachings or example have given me my freedom of choice – the freedom to take joy.

Thank you dear Ruth, rest in peace.

By Marilou Newell