Weekend Picks: Riverrock, Blues Traveler, Greensky Bluegrass, Ani DiFranco, Carbon Leaf's Ragtime Carnival, Avers, Iris DeMent, Beach Fossils

This is a crazy, busy weekend but it should be a lot of fun!

The big event is Dominion Riverrock which goes on all weekend down on Brown's Island. This combination of adventure sports (mud runs, mountain bikes, rock climbing, kayaking, slacklining, air dogs and paddleboarding) and music (see the schedule below) is always a blast. Bring the kids, bring your dog, watch the events and take in some great music. It's free to get in, too, and adult beverages and other food and drink are served. The music headliners this year are Greensky Bluegrass on Friday night, and Blues Traveler on Saturday night. Here's the full music schedule along with little Blues Traveler, the band that started the second wave of jam bands that included Phish, Widespread Panic, and Dave Matthews Band.

Friday, May 15

6:30 pm - 7:00 pm            PGrass

7:45 pm - 9:30 pm            Greensky Bluegrass

Saturday, May 16

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm            Manatree

2:15 pm - 3:00 pm            Sam Reed Syndicate

3:30 pm - 4:15 pm            Mighty Joshua and the Zion #5

4:45 pm - 5:45 pm            The Shack Band

6:15 pm - 7:15 pm            American Aquarium

7:45 pm - 9:30 pm            Blues Traveler

Sunday, May 17

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm            Houdan the Mystic

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm            The Flavor Project

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm            Major and the Monbacks

The other festival this weekend is Carbon Leaf's Ragtime Carnival at Pocahontas State Park on Friday and Saturday. You can get single day tickets (see the schedule below for prices) or a two-day pass for $35. You can also get a camping pass for the weekend, if you are so inclined. Here's the schedule along with some Carbon Leaf doing the song that gave the name to the festival.

Friday, May 15

Tickets $10.00 advance/$15 door (general admission only)

Doors 5:30pm

Main Stage

6:00pm - People's Blues of Richmond

8:15pm - Carbon Leaf (full set)

Acoustic Stage

7:30pm - Ben Daniels Band

Saturday, May 16

Tickets $25.00 advance/$30 door (general admission only)

Doors 10:45am

Main Stage

11:30am - Sons of Bill

1:00pm - Scythian

2:30pm - Red Wanting Blue

4:15pm - Jeff Daniels & the Ben Daniels Band

6:15pm - Trigger Hippy

8:15pm - Carbon Leaf (full set)

Acoustic Stage

11:00am - Carbon Leaf (acoustic set)

12:30pm - TBA

2:00pm -  Ian McFeron

3:45pm -  Marie Miller

5:30pm -  von Grey

7:30pm -  Mandolin Orange

Trongone Band will host a Riverrock after party at The Camel Friday night. Trongone Band will play their mix of originals (they'll have some new tunes ready for the show) and jam band/classic rock covers. It's $7 to get in. Doors will open at 8, music should start around 9 with openers Dalton Dash & Rooster Blood. I love when Trongone Band plays this one; the Grateful Dead's "New Speedway Boogie". Here's a great version from Gypsy Sally's in DC last Saturday night:

If you want something familiar but different, head to The National Friday night for Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 and there doesn't appear to be an opener. Tix are $20 for GA on the floor, $25 for a reserved seat in the balcony. The band became a sensation on YouTube with their versions of modern pop music done in the style of say, 20's jazz, New Orleans piano music, Motown or 60's surf music. Here they do Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"in vintage 1920's style:



Cary St. Cafe showcases Mekong Xpress & The Get Fresh Horns on Friday night. The funk will be drippin'! That starts at 10 PM and it's FREE to get in! The Slank open the show. Here's Mekong taking you to the promised land with "Moses".



Saturday night, legendary Americana/folk singer Iris DeMent is at Tin Pan. Show starts at 8 PM and it's $35 to get in. Emmylou Harris said of Iris, "Her voice is extraordinary, there's nobody like her. Here's Iris' most famous song, "Our Town", with the aforementioned Emmylou Harris helping out on vocals:

The Southern Belles host the post-Riverrock party at The Camel on Saturday night. Tix are $7 in advance, $10 at the door. Doors open at 9, music starts at 10 with the Sam Reed Syndicate opening the show. Get there early to see Sam Reed. She's got a soulful voice that will knock you out. Here's the Belles at Rapture in C'ville last week:



Love Canon, the bluegrass band that plays hits from the '80's, will be at Broadberry Saturday night. It's $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Doors open at 8 and Notch 9 opens. Love Canon is stretching out their danger zone and will be doing a three date residency at Brooklyn Bowl in Brooklyn this summer. And they'll take you to the danger zone too:



Shack Band heads to Tobacco Company Saturday night after their appearance at Riverrock. They'll start at 9:30. Baltimore soul band, Bosley, will open the show. It'll be $10 to get in. Shack Band is right in the middle of a tour taking them from MD to GA. Here's a track from Shack Band's recent show at the US National White Water Center in Charlotte NC.

DJ to the jam band world, DJ Logic, will be at The Canal Club Saturday night. DJ Logic has played with Ratdog,, moe., String Cheese Incident, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, Warren Haynes, Mike Gordon and Stanley Jordan, but he'll be doing his own thing at this show. Tix are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 10 and Blaqtronic (featuring DJ Williams who isn't a DJ but is named like one) open the show and will undoubtedly join DJ Logic for some tunes.. Here's DJ Logic joining Marcus Miller at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 2008:



Sunday, there is a free show at Hardywood with psychedelic garage pop band Avers (4:30 PM), "world circus folk" band Happy Lucky Combo (3:15 PM), and surf rock band Red Hot Lava Men (1 PM). Doors open at noon and this is a showcase for Bijou Film Center, who are a non-profit, independent art house cinema, cafe and film center coming soon to RVA's downtown arts and cultural district. There will also be beer and food trucks. Here's Avers playing "Girls with Headaches":



Righteous babe and folk singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco will be at The National on Monday night. Tix are $27.50 in advance, $30 at the door. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with That 1 Guy. The night before The National show, Ani will be in DC performing with The Blind Boys of Alabama at the Lincoln Theater for JusticeAid which benefits the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project and Innocence Project New Orleans. The Innocence Project works to correct and prevent the conviction of innocent people. Here's Ani in March performing for KRVB in Boise:



Alt-indie-lo-fi-pop-rock band Beach Fossils are at Strange Matter Monday night. They are the early show so you can check them out and still get home and get some sleep for work in the AM. Did I just say that? Man, I'm getting old. The doors open at 6 PM. RVA's Sleepwalkers and Clair Morgan open. It's $12 to get in. Here's the Beach Fossils' "Adversity":



And that'll do it! See you at Riverrock, Trongone Band, Hardywood and Ani DiFranco. The music never stops!

I'll leave you with this "Tribute" from Tenacious D. See if you can spot Dave Grohl.



Tony Jordan

Bob Dylan, Carytown Beer Fest, White Lung, Rusted Root, Beach Fossils, Wrinkle Neck Mules, Ivan & Aloysha

Lots of music going on this weekend and on into next week.

We start Wednesday night with Rusted Root at the John Marshall Ballroom. The show will start at 8 and tix are $40 VIP and $25 GA. Rusted Root still making great music but still best known for their hit "Send My On My Way" which has also been in a lot of movies and commercials since then. They do have a sense of humor about that. A few years ago, when they played Brown's Island, they introduced the song saying, "This is the one all the kids are waiting for. We call this one the "Ice Age" song." And indeed my young son, Zach, had waited patiently all night for that one. Here's a track from Rusted Root's latest album, "The Movement", called "Monkey Pants".



Thursday night at Strange Matter, it's an underground punk fest (Stay Sweet III pre-fest) with 14, count 'em, 14 bands. The actual Stay Sweet Fest III is at The Camel Friday through Sunday, but it's sold out, so if you didn't get tix for that, this the next best thing. Doors will open at 5, show starts at 5:30. It's $8 to get in, $10 at the door. You can go HERE to see the full lineup and show times. The headliner is Vancouver riot grrrl group (and guy) White Lung. Here's White Lung's video for "Take the Mirror":



Starting Friday afternoon, the Coachella Festival will be webcast on YouTube HERE Friday through Sunday. Figure it's on the West coast so it will start somewhere between 3 PM  - 5 PM. They haven't put the webcast lineup on YouTube yet but bands playing the festival include Stone Roses, Blur, Phoenix, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Modest Mouse, Sigur Ros, New Order, Japandroids, Franz Ferdinand, Moby, Violent Femmes, Janelle Monae, Shovels & Rope, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Social Distortion, Tame Impala, Lumineers, La Roux, Gaslight Anthem, OMD, Father John Misty, Rodriguez, and many more. YouTube usually runs two or three different feeds so you can pick the band you want to see.

Here at home on Friday, dreamy indie pop band Beach Fossils will be at Strange Matter. It's $12 to get in, doors open at 9, Positive No and Warren Hixson will open. As you can see from the poster up there, this is the first show of the tour. Here's their song "Adversity":


Bluegrass/roots band Wrinkle Neck Mules will be over at Capital Ale House Downtown for a Saturday night hoedown and hootenanny. It'll be a 10 spot to get in, doors open at 8, showtime is at 9 with a "special guest" opening. That means they didn't have an opener lined up when they posted it on the web site. The Mules have been working on some new songs so you may hear something for the first time at the show.
Here's the band performing "When the Wheels Touch Down" at The Southern in C'ville last year:



Sunday, quaff some ales at the Carytown Craft Beer Festival in, guess, Carytown! It'll run from noon to 6 PM. It's $15 in advance, $20 at the gate and your admission gets you a souvenir pint glass and unlimited tastings. There is also a $10 designated driver admission which includes free soft drinks.

Monday at Strange Matter, folk-pop band Ivan & Aloysha will perform for your pleasure. It's $10 in advance, $12 at the door. The Lone Bellow (who will be at Friday Cheers this year) and In Sheep's Clothing open. Here they are doing their song, "Running for Cover" live on KCRW last month:



Finally, next Tuesday, 4/16, a show I'll be attending with the legendary Bob Dylan and his Band at the Landmark Theater. Dawes will be opening. The show will start at 7:30 and tix are $52. Bob ain't gettin' any younger so you may want to catch him now before he joins the immortals in rock and roll heaven. There are still some tickets available in the top balcony but not many left. Here's a video from Bob's latest album, "Tempest", which see him continuing to mine traditional American music. This is "Duquesne Whistle" in which we learn not to try to pick up women who drive Gremlins and that Bob in some sort of Mexican gang:



I'll see you at the Bob show. I'm calling it a night as the allergies have kicked in and I've got a weird too-much-Sudafed and beer buzz going on. In a daze but wide awake. Hope I can get to sleep soon and I know the dreams will be strange.

Tony Jordan