Keb'
Mo' / Taj Mahal, $28 - June 24 & 25
 Singer-songwriter
and guitarist Keb' Mo's music is a living link to the seminal
Delta blues that traveled up the Mississippi River and across
the expanse of America—informing all of its musical roots-before
evolving into a universally celebrated art form. Born Kevin Moore
in South Los Angeles to parents originally from the Deep South,
he adopted his better known stage name when he was a young player
who became inspired by the force of this essential African-American
legacy. In the storied tradition of bluesmen before him including
Muddy Waters—formerly McKinley Morganfield—and Taj
Mahal, who began his days as Henry St. Clair Fredericks, Moore
became known as Keb' Mo'. His acclaimed self-titled 1994 debut
album introduced that now famous appellation to the world, and
his latest album, 2006's “Suitcase”, brings it to
new heights.
View
a video
clip of Keb' Mo'
Taj
Mahal
 You
could call him a singer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer,
ethnomusicologist, two-time Grammy-winner, world-class musical
collaborator, musicians' advocate, world traveler, fisherman,
or cigar aficionado. These titles are all accurate, yet none
convey the warmth, humor, and soulfulness of Taj and his music.
Taj
has been playing his own distinctive brand of music—variously
described as Afro-Caribbean blues, folk-world-blues, hula blues,
folk-funk, and a host of other hyphenations—for more than
40 years. Caribbean, Hawaiian, African, Latin, and Cuban sounds
and rhythms mix with folk, jazz, zydeco, gospel, rock, pop, soul,
and R&B, all layered on top of a solid country blues foundation.
What
ties it all together is Taj's abiding interest in musical discovery,
particularly in tracing many American musical forms back to their
roots in Africa and Europe. Following his passion, Taj has spent
time in the Caribbean, West Africa, Hawaii, Europe, the South
Pacific, Australia, South America, and all over the continental
U.S. His music reflects his global perspective, incorporating
sounds from everywhere he's lived and traveled.
A
self-taught musician, Taj plays more than 20 instruments, including
the National Steel and Dobro guitars. His remarkable voice ranges
from gruff and gravelly to smooth and sultry. "I have songs
in my head from so many languages and people. I know my sound
is in the middle of this whole."
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Indigo
Girls with Special Guests, $24 - June 29
 20
years after they began releasing records as Indigo Girls, Amy
Ray and Emily Saliers have politely declined the opportunity
to mellow with age. You could just say it's just not in their
constitution. Devoted environmental and social justice activists
and lifelong music-industry mavericks, the Girls have spent their
entire career pushing boundaries on a variety of fronts. Why
stop now?
Both
Saliers and Ray agree that “Despite Our Differences”,
the 10th Indigo Girls studio album, is a record defined by change
and newness. On the business side of things, it's the first CD
they've released since signing a new record deal with Hollywood
Records earlier this year. And on the creative side, it's one they
made far outside the confines of their established Georgia comfort
zone, “Differences” was recorded over a speedy month-and-a-half
this spring at veteran producer Mitchell Froom's home studio in
Santa Monica, California.
"I
think it's remarkable that Amy's life and my life coincided like
this," Saliers says, "that we've been able to make
music and stay dear friends through all these years." Ray
echoes her bandmate. "I remind myself that we've been
together for such a long time and that we're lucky to still
be together," she
laughs.
Though
she admits she's not one for making a big fuss over a milestone
like the Indigos' 20th anniversary of record-making,
Ray says this
new chapter in the band's career does reaffirm the principal
that's always driven the duo. "It's all about living in
the moment that you're in and trying to make it better than
the moment that
came before," she explains, pointing for example to the
band's ongoing work with Honor the Earth, a Minneapolis-based
non-profit
dedicated to energy justice within the Native American community. "We
just want to keep evolving - there isn't a point where that
doesn't apply."
View
a video
clip of Indio Girls
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Marc
Cohn / Aimee Mann, $22 - July 16
In the years that preceded the release of his new Decca album “Join
the Parade”, Marc Cohn passed through several life-changing
events. These events are what enabled him to reconnect with his
songwriting muse, and they are in large part, what make “Join
the Parade” an artistic, insightful and soulful statement.
Despite
his time away from the recording studio, the acclaimed singer/songwriter,
winner of the 1991 Grammy Award for Best New
Artist, has continued to perform live and his audiences have
remained steadfast. The gigs went great until the night of August
7, 2005.
That’s when Marc Cohn was shot in the head during a random
attempted carjacking after a concert in Denver.
Even
though the bullet was lodged near his left temple, Marc never
lost consciousness
and walked out of the hospital the next
day.
Three weeks later, while recovering at home in New York, Cohn
watched the city of New Orleans destroyed by flooding in the
aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina.
“
I got home a couple of days after being shot,” said Cohn. “And
then Hurricane Katrina hit a few weeks later. I’m in
the middle of my own crisis, and now I’m watching all
these haunting images on television of thousands of people
suffering through a
far more horrific event. And then something I never could
have predicted happened. It was like my song writing receiver
got flipped
into the on position. Everywhere I turned, in conversations
I overheard, even in get-well emails I was receiving, song
ideas started coming.
And these songs weren’t polite about their sudden presence
either; they insisted on being written.”
Out
of all this, and all that came before, comes “Join the
Parade”, a recording that is being called Marc’s
most accomplished and compelling album to date. Cohn has
translated
some of his most complex and private emotions into lyrical
song-poetry and then set those words to music of remarkable
depth, toughness,
and complexity. In doing so, Marc has created a work that
is certain to touch a universal chord of memory and feeling.
View
a video
clip of Marc Cohn
Aimee
Mann
 From
her work in the 80’s with MTV favorite Til Tuesday through
her acclaimed solo discs “Whatever” and “I’m
With Stupid” in the 90s, Aimee Mann has always been at
the forefront of contemporary songwriters. The close of the
mllennium brought her greatest success, with the simultaneous
releases of “Bachelor No. 2” and the soundtrack
to the film Magnolia, which garnered nominations for an Oscar,
a Golden Globe and three Grammys. After a decade in which her
music often took a backseat to corporate mergers and contractual
obligations, the message was clear: Aimee Mann is here to stay.
From “Voices
Carry” to the Oscar-nominated “Save
Me,” Mann has always been known for her clever, literate,
and dryly witty takes on emotional sabotage and self-destruction.
Though happily married to Michael Penn (with whom she has toured
extensively in a double-billed “Acoustic Vaudeville”),
her fascination continues with “the freaks who could
never love anyone.” With a songcraft often compared with
the Beatles and Badfinger, Mann frequently pairs the bleakest
of
poetry with soaring, infectious melodies.
In
2006 Mann released what might be considered her most daring
album yet with the
critically acclaimed The Forgotten Arm.
In a natural progression of her literary writing, the album
is a
concept album that follows the story of two lovers who meet
at the Virginia State Fair. The main character is a boxer
who is
sent off to fight in the Viet Nam war, the CD explores the
themes of love, war, drugs and ultimately recovery and redemption.
Look
for Aimee’s 7th solo release, “Smilers”,
coming in Spring 2008.
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Andrew
Bird $17 - July 23
Josh Ritter
 Chicago-based
multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Andrew Bird picked up his
first violin at the age of 4. Actually, it was a Cracker Jack
box with a ruler taped to it, and the first of his many Suzuki
music lessons involved simply bowing to the teacher and going
home. He spent his formative years soaking up classical repertoire
completely by ear, so when it came time for a restless teen-ager
to make the jump to Hungarian Gypsy music, early jazz, country
blues, south Indian etc., it wasn't such a giant leap. It's fitting
that now, though classically trained, he has instead opted to
play his violin in a most unconventional manner, accompanying
himself on glockenspiel and guitar, adding singing and whistling
to the equation, and becoming a pop songwriter in the process.
Since
beginning his recording career, Andrew has released nine albums:
six studio albums, both solo and with his former group
the Bowl of Fire, and three live albums. 2007’s “Armchair
Apocrypha” brings the tally to ten. It is an album that
sums up where Andrew's career has taken him, yet is very much
of his
artistic present.
Though
Andrew's voice has been compared to such eminent company as Jeff
Buckley, Thom Yorke, and Rufus Wainwright,
like those
performers, it has a quality all its own. He also adds to the
mix his unnatural
whistling ability, rendering him capable of adding organically
generated yet otherworldly, Theremin-like sounds to the mix.
View
a video
clip of Andrew Bird
 Josh
Ritter
“The
Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter” catches the Idaho
musician in the midst of a radical transformation. While last
year’s “The Animal Years” had Ritter thinking
about the state of the nation, his latest offering finds him
pining for Joan of Arc, Calamity Jane and Florence Nightingale,
all of whom seem to be stuck together in the belly of a whale,
a la Jonah. He also manages to squeeze in a few admiring words
about ladies’ underwear—and that’s well before
Ritter, backed by drums, bass and organ and cacophony, arrives
at a rollicking chorus you might be able sing along with if
you’re quick enough to get all the words.
While “The
Animal Years” was a meticulously crafted
and stately paean, for “Conquests” the artist radically
revamped his working methods and his sound. “I needed
to be somebody different,” the singer says. “The
air of gravitas around me was getting oppressive. For some
reason
it seemed like there was a premium being placed on earnestness
and that can be pretty stifling. There was a lot of talk about
true love and righteous indignation. I wanted to write about
gunslingers and missile silos.”
Given
the new lyrical and musical trails that he is blazing, “The
Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter” proves that one
can still cross any number of Rubicons all the while not taking
themselves
too seriously. Historic indeed.
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Emmylou
Harris $29.50 - July 24
Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein
 Emmylou
Harris has been hailed as a major figure in several of America’s
most important musical movements of the past three decades. A steadfast
supporter of roots music and a skilled interpreter of compelling
songs, she also has been associated with a diverse array of admiring
collaborators.
Harris’ contributions
to country-rock, the bluegrass revival, folk music, and the Americana
movement are widely
lauded, and in
recent years she also has carved out a sound that is uniquely her
own. Her 1995 “Wrecking Ball” was a watershed album
for her, combining several world-music elements with acoustic instruments,
driving percussion, and a folk/roots flavor. 2000’s “Red
Dirt Girl”, which was praised as a showcase for Emmylou Harris’s
songwriting talent.
Harris
cites Bruce Springsteen’s 1982
Nebraska as a turning point and an inspiration. At the time,
she was feeling artistically “tired” and
wanted to challenge herself in a new direction. The result was
her acclaimed, self-penned album, “The Ballad of Sally
Rose”.
Between
2000 and the present, she appeared on the “O
Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack, collaborated with
the Chieftains on their “Down the Old Plank Road” album
and TV special, performed concerts on behalf of a Landmine
Free World, penned liner
notes for a Dolly Parton tribute CD, recorded a duet with Rodney
Crowell for a Louvin Brothers tribute CD, performed on the
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken
III” CD,
and sang backup on albums for Sheryl Crow, Tracy Chapman, the
Dixie Chicks, Patty Griffin, Patty Loveless, Delbert McClinton,
Jim Lauderdale,
Pam Tillis, and Nanci Griffith, among others.
Billboard
magazine honored Emmylou Harris with its prestigious Century Award
in
1999. At the time, she was lauded as a “truly venturesome,
genre-transcending pathfinder” who being given the award “to
acknowledge the uncommon excellence of (her) still-unfolding
body of work.”
 Jimmy
Gaudreau and Moondi
Klein
Jimmy
Gaudreau - Jimmy has long been regarded as one of the top
bluegrass performers
in the world. Since getting the call in 1969 to move to the
Washington, DC, area from his native Rhode Island and join
the legendary Country Gentlemen, he has performed with a
veritable Who's Who of bluegrass bands and earned a reputation
as a mandolin maverick with a sound and a style all his own.
In
addition to two stints with the Country Gentlemen, Jimmy
has also performed with JD Crowe and the New South, with
The Tony Rice Unit (for 9 years), and with his own bands
Country Store, Spectrum (with Bela Fleck), Chesapeake, and
Auldridge, Bennett & Gaudreau.
In
2005, Jimmy was inducted into the Society for the Preservation
of Bluegrass Music in America's "Hall of Greats" and
featured in a Mandolin Magazine cover story.
Moondi
Klein - While on a trip to The Carter Fold in
southwest Virginia with his dad, Moondi Klein, born in
Manhattan,
got his first taste
of mountain music and hasn't looked back since. He learned
to play the guitar and banjo, and after studying music in college,
moved to the Washington, D.C. area and helped form Rock Creek.
Later he replaced John Starling as lead singer with The Seldom
Scene and eventually went on help form the band Chesapeake,
whose three albums released on the Sugar Hill label have gained
critical acclaim. Moondi's music can be classified as reggae-,
rock-, Celtic- and county-influenced bluegrass
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Sharon
Jones and the Dap-Kings/Marc Broussard,
$19 - July 27
 “You’ve
got to feel it,” is the first thing that comes from the
mouth of seasoned soul singer Sharon Jones when asked what makes
great music. “You’ve got to feeel it! In your bones,
your heart, in everything and everywhere!” And if you’ve
ever been to a Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings show, you know
you can’t but help feel their music. From the rumble and
grumble of thick funk jerking you to the dancefloor, to the soaring
soul guaranteed to make you sigh, one thing is for sure: Sharon
Jones and the Dap-Kings are legitimate heavy-hitters.
Ms.
Jones’s
funk pedigree can be traced to her hometown of Augusta, Georgia,
the same town that birthed the Godfather of Soul
himself: James Brown. Like Mr. Brown and countless soul singers
before her, Sharon honed her vocal chops in the church. It didn’t
take long for the young Sharon to be encouraged to take the spirit
from the gospel and apply it to a more secular setting. This
setting was realized when as a teenager she moved with her family
to Brooklyn,
NY and soon found herself saturated with the pulse of funk and
disco. Little time passed before she became a staple within the
studios, doing often uncredited back-up work for gospel, soul,
disco and blues artists.
Fast
forward to 1996. Still singing for her church, Sharon crosses
paths with NYCs great indie-soul & funk
label Desco Records. It is a match made in proverbial soul heaven;
Sharons hefty voice
greased by Desco house-band, the Soul Providers. Sharon’s
first full-length album, 2002’s successful “Dap Dippin’” with
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kingson Brooklyn-based Daptone Records,
served to solidify her reputation as Soul Sister ..1. And, finally,
after several more years of non-stop worldwide touring and recording
with other notable artists such as Greyboy, Sharon Jones and
her mighty Dap-Kings give you their finest full-length effort
to date, “Naturally”.
View
a video
clip of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
 Marc
Broussard
The
son of Louisiana Hall of Fame guitarist Ted Broussard (of the
legendary blue-eyed soul combo, the Boogie Kings), Marc grew
up surrounded by the diverse musical panorama for which his homestate
is world-renowned. Music informed his life from the get-go. As
he hit his teens, Broussard was already an accomplished artist,
the veteran of a string of local bands and solo acoustic performances,
known for tearing up the stage with the raw-throated gusto and
worldly emotive power of a man three times his age.
Broussard
made his recorded debut in 2002 with the remarkably mature
independent release, "MOMENTARY SETBACK." He drew coast-to-coast
acclaim in 2004 with his major-label debut, "CARENCRO," a
full-blooded take on the blues, soul, Cajun music, rock, and
swamp-pop of his native Louisiana, distilled through the talented
young tunesmith's
flair for smart contemporary songwriting. Broussard performed
showstopping sets at festivals like South By Southwest, Bonnaroo,
and of course,
the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival; and tours alongside
such like-minded musicians as Dave Matthews Band, Willie Nelson,
Bonnie Raitt, Gavin DeGraw, O.A.R., and Maroon 5.
Marc
followed up "CARENCRO" with 2007's critically acclaimed "S.O.S.:
SAVE OUR SOUL." The album saw Broussard and his crack band
plumbing the vaults of historic labels like Motown and Stax to
create 11 incendiary performances of soul classics originally
recorded by Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding, the Staple
Singers, Bobby
Womack, and other members of R&B royalty as well as one original
tune recorded in the same classic soul vein. Among the album's
many highlights was a sweltering take on Marvin Gaye & Tammi
Terrell's "If I Can Build My Whole World Around You," performed
as a duet with Toby Lightman.
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Boz
Scaggs $24 - August 13
David Jacobs-Strain
 Grammy
Award-winning artist, Boz Scaggs, and his band will hit the road
in 2008, performing the best known songs of his career, hits
that are constantly requested like "Lido Shuffle," "Look
What You've Done To Me," "Miss Sun," "Jo
Jo," "Heart Of Mine," "Lowdown," "Harbor
Lights," "We're All Alone" and many others will
be showcased throughout the tour.
Born
in Texas and raised with an abiding respect for a wide spectrum
of American roots music,
Scaggs has combined rock, jazz, R&B
and blues to create a trademark sound. With an extensive and distinctive
career that has spanned 30 years and many accolades, Scaggs continues
to prove himself as one of music's most creative and original artists.
Boz will be releasing a new studio record in April, 2008.
View
a video
clip of Boz Scaggs
 David
Jacobs - Strain
David Jacobs-Strain,
a consummate finger-style and slide guitarist, plays in the blues
tradition but isn't from it. Jacobs-Strain’s
latest CD, “Liar’s Day” is a genre-defying journal
of his pursuit to honor both the roots of American country blues
and the possibilities that can grow from them. The 24-year-old
artist has toured the country performing at musical festivals and
opening for acts such as Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Taj Mahal,
Etta James, Boz Scaggs, and the Blind Boys of Alabama.
View
a video
clip of David Jacob - Strain
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|
 Amos
Lee with Special Guests,
$18 - August 21
Taking
inspiration from soul greats, Stevie Wonder and Bill Withers,
and folk legends, John Prine and Dave Van Ronk, Amos Lee directs
his music with a spirit and presence rooted in American tradition.
Amos delivers a unique brand of folk-soul music that aims to
unite, uplift, and inspire. The "folk" side is reflected
in his nimble acoustic guitar playing and the intimacy of his
live performances. The "soul" strain comes through
in the engaging song-poetry of his lyrics and in what the Philadelphia
Inquirer described as his "easygoing voice" and "raw,
unedited emotion."
“
Amos Lee”, his eponymous Blue Note debut, is set for release
in March 2005. The eleven tracks, all composed by Amos, were
produced by Lee Alexander and recorded by Danny Kopelson in July
2004 during
two weeks of sessions at The Magic Shop in New York City. Among
the album's choice cuts are the atmospheric opener "Keep
it Loose, Keep it Tight" and "Arms of a Woman," a
classic triplet ballad that could have been covered in an earlier
era of
soul. Enhanced by a delicate string arrangement, "Soul Suckers" warns
a young performer of the hazards of the music business. "Bottom
of the Barrel" echoes classic John Prine in its wry humor,
resilient spirit, and timeless melody.
The
27-year-old former schoolteacher grew up going between Philadelphia
and entered
the University of South Carolina in 1995, where he
began to play acoustic guitar and write songs. After graduating
college with a degree in English, Amos returned to Philadelphia
where he taught elementary school. His desire to pursue music
as a career forced him to make the difficult decision to leave
teaching.
After
having had the honor of opening shows for such legends as Bob
Dylan, BB King, and Mose Allison, a break came
when
Norah Jones
became an early convert to his cause and invited Amos to
open her European tour, beginning in April 2004. Equipped with
only
his
voice and guitar, Amos found himself facing 3,000-5,000 listeners
a night--and up to three times that number when he joined
Norah's US tour (through November '04.
View
a video
clip of Amos Lee
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The
Avett Brothers
$18 - August 27
Shawn Mullins
 If
you put your ear to the street, you can hear the rumble of the
world in motion; people going to and from work, to school, to
the grocery store. You may even hear the whisper of their living
rooms, their conversation, their complaints, and if you're lucky,
their laughter. If you're almost anywhere in America, you'll
hear something different, something special, something you recognize
but haven't heard in a long time. It is the sound of a real celebration.
It
is not New Year's, and it is not a political convention. It
is neither a prime time game-show, nor a music video countdown,
bloated with fame and sponsorship. What you are hearing is the
love for music. It is the unbridled outcry of support for a song
that sings to the heart, that dances with the soul. The jubilation
is in the theaters, the bars, the music clubs, the festivals.
The
love is for a band.
The
songs are honest: just chords with real voices singing real melodies.
But, the heart and the energy with
which they are sung,
is really why people are talking, and why so many sing along.
They
are a reality in a world of entertainment built with smoke
and mirrors, and when they play, the common man can break the
mirrors and blow the smoke away, so that all that's left
behind
is the
unwavering beauty of the songs. That's the commotion, that's
the celebration, and wherever The Avett Brothers are tonight,
that's
what you'll find.
View
a video
clip of The Avett Brothers
 Shawn
Mullins
Shawn
Mullins’ vibrant new album, “honeydew” (released
March 11th) is teeming with humanity — hobos, railroad workers,
traveling salesmen, homeless troubadours, fearful old people, youngsters
yearning to escape from a dead-end existence, and several generations
of family members, living and dead. There’s a ton of heartache
in this record, and a ton of hope as well, as Mullins explores
the dark corners of contemporary existence while also delving back
into the past, capturing vivid pictures of his native Atlanta and
the surrounding South in a voice of plainspoken eloquence and uncommon
genuineness. This richly interwoven, character-driven work is at
once the most panoramic album of Mullins’ distinguished career
and the most intensely personal.
A
song cycle in 12 parts, “honeydew” took
shape organically out of a series of devastating events in Mullins’ life,
beginning with the death of his mother in October 2006. “It
was a tough year,” he acknowledges, emitting a brief, rueful
laugh before continuing. “And this is like a bad country
song, but then my dog died. Roadie had been with me for almost
17 years. I was
halfway finished with writing the record when all this devastation
went down — I felt like death was all around me, and the
process of writing helped me get through it.”
While
the performances from Mullins and his fellow players are enthralling
in their naturalness and subtlety, “honeydew’s” most
revelatory aspect is the songs themselves. “The artists
who inspire me are incredible songwriters with a way of painting
a
picture — it sounds cliché, but that’s the
way it is,” says Mullins. “More than anything, I’ve
always aspired to write great songs, and I think I’ve grown
a lot as a songwriter. Part of it stems from the fact that I
finally feel complete artistic freedom, and because of that,
the songs
on this record say exactly what I wanted to say. These are my
own pictures.”
View
a video
clip of Shawn Mullins
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