Singer/songwriter Denny London has an unusual vocal quality. The tone of his voice changes based on pitch. The higher he sings, the clearer it becomes. He can get into very high tenor, and when he does, his sung notes practically tinkle.

If this is falsetto, it is unique. There is no abrupt transition, nor falseness. Unless you count his name.

Denny London used to sing for a band called London, among several others. He was Denny, of London; and then naturally, eventually, Denny London. Previously, he was Denny Johnson.

Most guys get into music by picking up a guitar, London started by writing poetry in eighth grade. A year later, he picked up picking. He’s been performing his “lame acoustic rock since 1987.”

His poetry led him to music, and then Hubbard Music, where he works, and besides playing out often, he is studying computers at ITT Tech.

His songs encompass a variety of themes; “151 and a Slow Dance” is about a young band mate who got carried away with the ‘on stage’ excitement and was banned from it by his mother. He calls his stuff acoustic Dutch pop.

And Denny London has this bit of perspective: “I wear my retainers every night and you should too.” Sage advice.

Just a quick note for now about one of this area’s prodigies, because there will be so much more later.

Dennis Drummond sat in for a couple numbers with his cousin, Tim Drummond, at a recent Skie Summer Storyteller Series at Barley’s, downtown, and several of Youngstown’s best guitarists watched rapt. “And he’s only 18,” they gushed in chorus.

Part of the age thing is that he looks even younger, despite being a rail-thin 6′ 7″ with fingers that go half-way up your forearm when he shakes your hand. The other part is that his skills are so varied and advanced, for anyone, especially at 18.

Drummond started picking guitar when he was seven, and first played out at 13 when Tim invited him to join the band on stage. He has studied and emulates the guitar greats, and writes his own music.  He will be starting his further studies in performance music at Berkeley School of Music in Boston, this fall.

His response to the query, “So I suppose when you see the bright lights of Boston and get famous, we’ll never see you again,” was telling. “That’s the idea,” he says. “I’m tired of playing in front of a lot of drunks who don’t care what you’re doing,” he says, and adds, “Rajma (one of the area’s best guitarists) told me when he played in London (England) the people all turned their chairs toward the stage and sat and listened.” 

That also happened at Barley’s when Rajma played, and again when Dennis Drummond played, and it will happen a lot more.

Rob (Jay) McFarland of The Robbie Jay Band has already established himself in the upper echelon of the area’s music industry, as general manager of Hubbard Music.

“Whenever (Pittsburgh rock legend) Donnie Iris plays out,” he says, “he always uses our Hammond B3 organ and our drum sets.”

When ‘Donnie’ headlined the recent Mahoning Valley Rib Burnoff, he also used Hubbard Music’s Mark Tirabassi as an emergency fill-in and ad lib audition for the band’s regular drummer, who moved to Nashville. “No practice, no warmup, just hit it,” said Tirabassi, who is very familiar with Donnie’s music and has sat in on the occasional song with the band before, but never played a full set.

Now McFarland is trying to establish himself as a player on the stage as well as behind it. He formed The Robbie Jay Band three years ago with some of his buddies: Jason on lead guitar, Dan on drums, and Ryan playing bass and backup vocals.

The band’s slogan neatly sums up their style: “A shot of rock and roll and a chaser of country.” Robbie Jay writes all the band’s music, he says, as a form of therapy. He doesn’t seem very stressed, so maybe the therapy is working, because his songs are about lost love and broken expectations, with intriguing melody lines.

The Robbie Jay Band played an early set on the main stage at FurtherMind Music Festival, recently, and is booked a couple times a month at local venues. “We’re just out there seeing what we can do with this now,” McFarland says. Doing fine so far.

If there was one dark cloud over the FurtherMind Music Festival, June 21 at the B&O Station, it wasn’t the many dark clouds associated with the furious storm which hammered the festival at what might have been a peak evening hour. Those clouds had a silver lining.

No, the one blot on an otherwise wonderful event was the astounding lack of attendance. (And now, having mentioned that, and referring the reader to the related blog on that subject, we won’t again.)

FurtherMind Music Festival was the creation of Youngstown musician and promoter Trevor Quillan, in honor of his father, David M. Murphy who died suddenly of a rare malady last December. Though not a musician himself, Murphy was an ardent fan and vigorously encouraged and supported his son’s musical development and success.

FurtherMind was the recreation of a similar event Quillan put on in 1999 in Mercer, Pa., and an expansion of the idea of Further Fest, a Grateful Dead-styled, jam band tour, with a broader scope. At the B&O Station, Quillan brought in 10 local and regional bands for the main stage outdoors and 10 singer/songwriters for an indoor setup.

The 2008 version melded a variety of styles, from pop and rock to reggae and hip-hop. “We should have something for everybody,” he said, preparing for it. Three bands from the Pittsburgh area included people Quillan played with when he lived there. They were excited to be part of this event, both to see their old buddy and to expand their fanbases.

The most significant success of the FurtherMind festival was in how appropriate it was to the memory of David Murphy. “He knew a lot of the guys I played with before and he loved this kind of music,” Trevor said. “Those who knew him could just see him tapping his feet and bobbing his head to the beat.” It was also a treat for many of the musicians who spent the day there to hear bands and styles they didn’t usually see and hear.

As an added bonus, FurtherMind introduced (tongue in cheek) two new bands. Golden Retriever is how Quillan dubbed the (oh, so lovable) motley crew who opened the show: Devotees Dave Buker and Eric Tharp, Khaled Tabarra of The Zou, and troubadours Matt Palka and Chris Rutushin, who jammed a little of this and a little of that. It was also the semi-official coming out party for Quillan’s new band, Zeta Reticuli, in which he fronts the instrumentalists from The Kellys.

And then there was the storm. This is starting to look like a trend (see JonesFest), but the blacker the bombast, the brighter the silver lining.

The rain which had been predicted all day blew in with a vengeance at just the wrong time, 7:30 p.m., just when a bunch of people who might have come late would have been primping. A huge gust of wind threatened to blow the whole event into the Mahoning River, and then it rained. It poured rain. It kept raining.

The reaction may have been similar, elsewhere, but it also might have left Trevor standing alone and dripping in his deserted venue. When people talk about the Youngstown spirit, this is a fine example: as with JonesFest, when trouble came, the citizens rallied.

After grabbing and securing what they could of their own things, some started cleaning up the blown debris in the rain. Others moved equipment and fixtures. Everyone pitched in.

Nate Mackey, of Sound by the Pound, who was running the sound equipment, collapsed the tent over his table-full of electronics, and TweakTronic kept playing to the audience now huddling together in the covered entryway of the B&O Station. The band finished their set under the shelter of the bandstand, and the rain continued.

The decision was made to move indoors. A stream of volunteers ran through the downpour to the sound tent and squeezed underneath. Then, after an organizing pause, they rose together, and like a huge, square centipede, lifted and carried the tent and all its contents to shelter. The show moved back outside for the highlight acts later, again, with everyone helping.

In addition to the donation of the venue by the owners of the B&O Station, the bands all volunteered, vendors contributed door prizes, and cash donations went to the CJDfoundation which funds research for Prion disease, a form of mad cow disease, which infected Murphy.

Certainly Trevor Quillan deserves the bulk of the praise for creating and driving FurtherMind Music Festival (and he was a dervish throughout the day), but this was a community participation event, and the community which took part has every reason to be proud.

Are these people all related? There were DaBoondox, of course (at the FurtherMInd Music Festival), and according to their shirts, there was Mama Dox and Sista Dox and a whole bunch of other Doxes. Must have been the entire family.

DaBoondox is a hip-hop, alternative, indie duo of Jeff Killin and Troy Napier from da the boondocks of Girard, Ohio, where they grew up together writing rap lyrics in study hall. They are on a mission to improve the “Wounded World” as the song says, and they greatly improved the part they could at the B&O Station.

Killin is the producer, writer, vocalist, mixer and engineer, and Napier is writer, vocalist and assistant producer. If it wasn’t for a pronounced difference in skin tone, they could be twins, they are so totally together.

DaBoondox offers well thought out songs, with easy to understand lyrics and catchy hooks. It is irresistible dance music.

They have props. Their buddy wears costumes and holds up signs. Little Justin got on stage for a song and dance. JG (Jaqueline Genevese) added her special sweetness. And their enthusiastic fans made it a hoppin’ party before they ever rapped their first rhyme.

DaBoondox may be uniquely suited to make hip-hop hip for the parts of the wounded world that just never got it before.