The Mohawk Valley area has lots of musical talent. Here are some artists to check out

It’s not exactly a carefully guarded secret, but the Mohawk Valley area is home to a number of recording studios that turn out products that can hold their own against the big boys.

So, it’s not surprising to see, as the year comes to a close, the quantity and quality of local records that have been released over the year gone by, from professional studios and from home studios.

If you’re still looking for that perfect Christmas gift… sorry you’re late. But there’s always time to help out a local artist and pick up some great music at the same time.

Don’t think these musicians are sitting home counting their earnings from streaming revenues. Spotify, for example, pays between $0.001 and $0.008 per stream to artists. This means that if their song is streamed one million times on Spotify, you can expect to earn around $1,000.

No one’s getting rich off those streams. But if you do want to help starving artists, go to their social media or website and buy their records.

You can start with the catalogue from Big Blue North Recording Studio. This year alone, the Genesee Street recording studio has turned out “Plastic Spoon Honeymoon” by Mike Powell and The Echosound (rock); “Calling Out Tonight” by The Sean Peters Band (Americana); “Pictures On the Wall”, a single by Shawn Smith (w.s.g. Justin Smithson) and capped it all off with Kelly Yacco’s Kelly's Christmas 2023 w/s/g Liberty DeVitto.

Bob Acquaviva’s Wayne Manor Studio has been a well-travelled destination for musicians this year. Although most of his projects are in the midst of completion, one intriguing entry is CNY music veteran Steve Rigo’s follow-up to his 2022 smash, “Drinkin’ With Lincon.” This year’s effort, titled “Surf and Turf”, is a bizarre (in a good way) mash-up of surf, sci-fi and old-time AM radio cuts.

Also coming out the of Wayne Manor studio in 2023 was “Wanderful Dreams”, a 6-song EP from Natalie Kurgan reflecting her “Forest Folk” style.

The relatively new phenomenon of a higher quality home recording worthy of release has made itself felt this year.

The youngsters in Filled to the Brim have just released their sophomore effort, “Confessions”, with all but two of the eight tunes recorded entirely by 16-year-old bass player Owen Paz in his basement home studio in Sherrill NY, the other two having been recorded previously at Big Blue North.

Following up on their 2021 SAMMY-nominated “Train Wreck”, blues veterans King Kool and his Royal Blues, has released “Leaving Behind” this year.

Also released this year is an 11-track recording from John Savage, “Empty Spaces”, with the bulk of tracks recorded in John’s home studio.

Finally, taking a different route, the Boom Chickens used crowdsourcing to help finance their first album, “Scratch Tracks.”

To find – and, more important, purchase – these albums, check out the artists’ websites, as well as all the standard on-line outlets

And don’t forget – all these recordings can be bought at live shows, which you should make a point of attending.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Mohawk Valley area recording artists are producing some good music