Railroad Earth, Joanna Newsom, The Nighthawks, Jimmy Herring Band & more

If you are an Americana fan, you have a choice to make on Friday night.  Jamgrass band Railroad Earth will be at The National.  Tix are $22, doors open at 8 and the show starts at 9 with opener Cornmeal.  Here they are performing "Dandlion Wine" at the Greyfox Bluegrass Festival in 2010:


Also, on Friday, local Americana act, The Atkinsons, will be at Ashland Coffee & Tea.  The show starts at 8 and tix are $10 at the door.  They'll be releasing their second CD, "Mile Marker" in early 2011 so I'm sure you'll hear a few tunes from that.  Here they are performing "Out of Time" at The National on October 16, 2010:


Saturday night, Joanna Newsom, the other-worldly singer and harpist (that's right, harpist) will be at The National.  This is a Seated General Admission show.  Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the door.  Doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with opener Neal Morgan.  Caught Joanna one day on "Later with Jools Holland" and I had to stop what I was doing and listen to her unique mesmerizing music.  Here is that performance, a song called "81".  (BTW, "Later with Jools Holland" is on Ovation network and I highly recommend this no-frills, eclectic show featuring four or five different artists on each show.) There may be a short ad before the video, but its a nice quality video so deal with it.


Allman Brothers tribute band Skydog will be at The Camel on Saturday with fellow tribute band Led Zepplica.  Show starts at 9 and its $7 to get in.  Here's Skydog doing "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed":


If your taste is more yacht rock tribute than jam rock tribute, check out Three Sheets To The Wind at The Republic on Saturday night.  Show starts at 9 PM and its FREE.

Here is the band performing the Stephen Bishop classic "On & On" in Palm Beach FL earlier this year, putting the yacht in yacht rock.


Blues rockers The Nighthawks will be at Shenanigans for an early show on Sunday night starting at 6:30.  There may be a cover charge which probably won't be too much but if you want to know call Shenanigans at 804-264-5010.  Here's The Nighthawks in Littleton CO in October:


Monday night, The Jimmy Herring Band will be at The Hat Factory.  Tix are $16 in advance, $20 day of show and the show starts at 7 with opener Barrelhouse.  Jimmy has played with just about every jam band starting with Aquarium Rescue Unit, then Phil Lesh & Friends and The Dead, Allman Brothers Band, and now Widespread Panic.  The rest of the band features a lot of jam rock vets with drummer Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Jazz is Dead, Shawn Lane), keyboardist Matt Slocum (Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks), and Neal Fountain on bass (Col Bruce Hampton, Alex Machacek).  They'll be playing stuff from their latest album along with covers of Led Zep, The Beatles, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa and others.  Here they are playing "Transients" in RI a few days ago:


That's the weekend and more.  Have a great one!

Tony Jordan