Weekend Picks: Justin Townes Earle, Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors, The Congress, Trongone Band, Richmond Bluegrass Jam, Hardywood Carnaval

It was even cold in New Orleans for real Mardi Gras, but perhaps things will warm up and at least you'll be indoors for Hardywood's Carnaval on Friday night. This will be Mardi Gras Brazilian style, thus the Carnaval title. It's FREE to get in and all ages are welcome. Things get underway at 5:30 with Capoeira Resistencia Brazilian martial art dance. Then, hometown heroes Bio Ritmo bring the salsa and Dende (from NYC) will close things out with Afro-Brazilian funk. Here's a preview video of Dende:

Trongone Band bring the jam/classic rock, both covers and originals, to The Camel Friday night. It's $7 to get in, doors open at 9 and the show starts with openers Dead 27s from Charleston SC. Here's Trongone Band at The Camel last month with "Ain't It Funny":



Saturday, the 6th Annual Richmond Bluegrass Jam lands at the Cultural Arts Center in Glen Allen. It will run from noon until midnight with 30 bands playing on 3 stages. You'll be able to eat at local food trucks and get beer but this is a family friendly event with activities for the kids. There is no charge at the door, but donations are suggested and encouraged as the money raised goes to the Richmond Fisher House, a home for military families to stay while their veterans and soldiers are in the VA medical center. The full band schedule is HERE. Jackass Flats will close out the evening at 10:20 PM. Here they are at Camp Barefoot last August:

Americana rock band, The Congress, who are much, much better than the US Congress, will perform at The Camel Saturday night. Tix are $12 in advance, $15 at the door, doors open at 8, show starts at 9 with Butcher Brown. The Congress will be supporting Tedeschi Trucks Band at the inaugural show at Blue Ridge Bowl on the Lockn' Festival site on April 18. Here's the Congress with "Ain't It Easy":

Country rock band Everwilde will be at Tobacco Company Saturday night. That starts at 9:30 and it don't cost nothin' to get in. They play originals and covers and here they are covering The Grateful Dead's "Friend of the Devil" at The Tobacco Company a year ago. The video isn't much to look at but the sound is pretty good.



Americana rock artist Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors are at The Broadberry Sunday night. Angaleena Presley opens the show. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8, $13 in advance, $15 at the door. Drew's latest album, "Medicine", recently got into the top 30 on the Billboard charts. Here they go doing "Here We Go". Looks like they emptied out the costume store for this video.



Rootsy singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, son of Steve, will be at the Modlin Center for the Arts Camp Concert Hall Wednesday. The show starts at 7:30 with Gill Landry. Tix range from $10 to $28 depending on your demographic. After a brief bit of talking (36 seconds), here's Justin doing "Call Ya Momma":



Here's one from the guy who gave Justin his middle name and who was a mentor to Justin's dad, Steve. This is Townes Van Zandt doing his song "Pancho & Lefty", which was famously covered by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson.


Have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan

RiverRock, Galactic, Justin Townes Earle, Infamous Stringdusters, Dark Star Orchestra, Donna the Buffalo, Jerry Joseph, Jonny Lang, Willie Nelson

NOTE: Corrected night of Dark Star Orchestra show from Friday to THURSDAY. Thanks to Michael W. for noting the mistake and letting me know about it!

Big weekend starts Thursday with some bluegrass and some old school jams.  Bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters kick off the Groovin' in the Garden series this year. The show will be at the beautiful Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the gate and kids 10 and under are free. Gates open at 5:30 and the music begins at 6 with Steep Canyon Rangers who have recently been playing with Steve Martin, though Steve is not expected to be at the show. The Stringdusters will be at Bonnaroo this year. Here they are performing "I Wonder" and "Y2K" in Portland OR in April:



Also, Friday THURSDAY night, Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra will perform in what should be a beautiful setting at Pocahontas State Park Amphitheater in Chesterfield. Tix are $16.50 in advance and $20 at the gate. Children 10 and under are free. There will also be a $5 fee per car charged at the park entrance but that fee is going to the park so that's cool. Gates open at 6, show starts at 6:30 with two 90 minute sets from DSO. Here's DSO doing "Scarlet Begonias > Fire On the Mountain" with former Grateful Dead member Donna Jean Godchaux on vocals at the Gathering of the Vibes in 2011:


Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Dominion Riverrock takes over Brown's Island for what is always a rockin' good time. There will be people mud runnin', dogs catchin' air and jumpin' in the water (my kids love this), freestyle BMXing, kayaking and rock climbing and, of course, great music. There are two stages this year and music will be going on the whole day, each day, Friday starting at 6:30, Saturday and Sunday starting at 1 PM. For the full schedule, click HERE. Headliner on Friday is great bluegrass with Keller Williams with the Travelin' McCourys coming on at 9 PM and going until 10:30. Headliners on Saturday will be Galactic (9 PM), bringin' the New Orleans funk and featuring Corey Glover of Living Colour on vocals, and JJ Grey and Mofro (r&b and roots rock n' roll at 7:30 PM). On Sunday, the festival closes with Allman Brothers tribute band, Skydog, starting at 4:00 PM. By the way, did I mention that the whole festival is FREE. Here's the first three songs of Galactic's set on April 18 in Nashville:



More bluesy, folksy jam bands at Kingdom on Friday night with Donna the Buffalo, Rattlemouth, and Men of Leisure. Show starts at 7 and it's $17 to get in. Here's the full set from Donna the Buffalo at the Virginia Key Grassroots Festival near Miami earlier this year:



Also, Friday, roots rocker Jerry Joseph and the Jackmorons will be at Capital Ale House downtown. Show starts at 10 PM and there does not appear to be an opener. Tix are $10 in advance, $13 day of show. The band has a new live concert DVD out. Here's a track from that:



Also on Friday, NO BS Brass Band will be at The Camel with Paul Wilson opening. It's $7 to get in and the show starts at 9 PM. Here's No BS doing "2 the day":



If you are at home at all this weekend, you can check out the live stream of the Hangout Music Fest from Gulf Shores, AL HERE on MySpace. Yes, that MySpace. They are still around and trying to make a comeback, I guess. I'm not sure if this is video or just audio. But you can't argue with the bands on the webstream including Jack White, String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee (coming to Groovin' in the Garden this summer), Dispatch, Gogol Bordello, Michael Franti & Spearhead (coming to The National this summer), G. Love & Special Sauce, Dr. Dog, Dawes (coming to Friday Cheers this year), Alabama Shakes (also coming to Friday Cheers this year), Gary Clark Jr. and others. They had a schedule up earlier but it's not up now. Music starts at the festival at 12:30 PM ET on Friday, and 12:15 ET on Saturday and Sunday so check it out then.

Saturday, blues guitarist Jonnny Lang will be at The National. Tix are $35 reserved orchestra / $30 reserved balcony / $25 reserved balcony / $25 GA standing. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Michael Williams Band. Jonny has been in the studio working on a new CD so maybe you'll hear some new tunes on Saturday night. Here's Jonny and his band acoustic with "I Believe":



Willie Nelson plays his rescheduled (from May 9) show at Innsbrook on Sunday night. Gates open at 6 and music starts with a tba opener around 6:30. Tix are $20 in advance, $25 at the gate for GA and $45 for Gold Circle. Children under 10 are free. Here's Willie doing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain":



Tuesday night, Groovin' in the Garden continues with a great Americana triple bill of Justin Townes Earle, Tristen, & Todd Snider. The show is at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Gates open at 5:30, music starts around 6. Ticket prices are General Admission Lawn- $20 in advance, $25 at the gate. Children 10 and under are free.  General Reserve Seating- $35 in advance. Here's Justin on Letterman in February performing "Look the Other Way":



Have a great weekend!  I'll see you at RiverRock, hopefully both nights and maybe some other places too.

Tony Jordan

Late Night Pick of the Night: Justin Townes Earle

Son of Steve, alt-country singer-songwriter (just like his daddy but different) Justin Townes Earle will be on Last Call with Carson Daly tonight at 1:35 AM on NBC.  They also repeat the show on Fuse TV at various times over the next day or two. 

Here's JTE's video for "Slippin' & Slidin'" from the album "Harlem River Blues".  The album was nominated by the Americana Music Association for Album of the Year.

French Quarter Festival, Dr. Dog, The Whigs, Justin Townes Earle, Elikeh

We begin with our first festival webcast of the year.  The French Quarter Festival will be webcast on two sites, WWLTV.com & nola.com.  The festival runs 1 PM ET - 8 PM ET on Thursday, noon ET to 1AM on Friday, 11:30 AM to 1 AM ET on Saturday, 11:30 AM ET to midnight ET on Sunday.  Neither site had a schedule of what they will be showing.  I beleive the WWLTV.com site will be showing what is on the WWL-TV stage, which is local New Orleans music but that should be just fine as the local music in NO is just as good, if not better than, many national acts..  That pretty much goes for the whole festival actually, with blues, jazz, zydeco, dixieland and other musical styles all represented.  Nola.com could be showing anyone and some of the big acts are Bonerama, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (who will be playing Friday Cheers this year).

Closer to home, Dr. Dog will be at The National on Thursday night.  Tix are $22, doors open at 7, show starts at 8 with opener Floating Action.  Dr. Dog hails from Philly and plays what one might call indie pop.  Their influences include The Band, Beatles, Beach Boys, Big Star (why do so many great bands start with the letter B?), Kinks, Harry Nilsson, The Who, and XTC.  Here they are performing at WUTK studios (skip ahead to about :50 to go right to where the music starts) on March 21, 2011.


Also on Thurday, The Whigs will be at Capitol Ale House Downtown.  Show starts at 10 PM and tix are $12.  Here is the little press blurb from the Capitol Ale House site: "Frontman Parker Gispert, drummer Julian Dorio, and bassist Hank Sullivant formed the Whigs in 2002, while the three Athens-based musicians were attending college at the University of Georgia. With a jaunty mix of Westerberg-like swagger, alt-rock songwriting, and a heartfelt country disposition, the Whigs played their first shows around campus and soon graduated to higher-profile performances, including opening slots for the likes of the Killers, Franz Ferdinand, and the Futureheads. Recording sessions for the band's debut album, Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip, took place in an empty frat house several years later, and the disc was independently released in 2005. By the following year, the Whigs' audience had widened considerably, prompting Rolling Stone to hail the trio as one of the "10 Artists to Watch." The bandmates graduated from college that spring, and ATO Records signed them to its roster before the year was up."  Here they are performing "Waiting" on 3/25/11 in Birmingham AL:


On Friday, Steve Earle's boy, Justin Townes Earle, comes to town, getting critical raves of his own.  He too is alt-country, though not as raw as his daddy.  JTE will be at The Camel.  Doors open at 8, show at 9 with opener Josh Small. Tix are $20 but are sold out right now.  Here he is playing at Ringwood Library in Ringwood NJ last Sunday.  This song is "One More Night In Brooklyn":


Saturday night you can groove to the afropop sounds of Elikeh at Alley Katz (turn down your sound if you wish to avoid the horrible music on the Alley Katz site!).  Tix are $10.  The show starts at 11 PM and includes J3 Project & DJ Graybeard of WRIR 97.3 FM.  The Austin Chronicle named Elikeh's album "Adje Adje!" in their Top 10 albums of 2010.  Here's a taste of Elikeh at the 2010 Takoma Park Folk Festival.  I could see this show getting really hot & sweaty with lots of dancin' on a late Saturday night.


Our next scene in Moviefone's the Best Music Scenes in Movies is from Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice".  This would be the scene where Beetlejuice posesses the dinner guests to dance to Harry Belafonte's "Banana Boat (Day-O)".  This movie now really highlights so many stars of the 80's with Geena Davis (my, she was hot), Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder (hey, she was in last week's clip), Michael Keaton (where did he go and when he will be back, other than voice work in Pixar flicks), Catherine O'Hara (loved her since SCTV days), and Jeffrey Jones.  Enjoy!


On to this week's entry from the Paste Magazine 25 Best Music Videos of 2010.  This week its animation from The Avett Brothers – “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise", a great song and a great video featuring the rise and fall of a street in small-town America and the billboard that watches over it all. 


Heading to the Picasso exhibit on Friday and looking forward to that.  Then a t-ball game and Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby on Saturday with my oldest boy.  Sunday, my fantasy baseball draft, which is not as much fun since we now are all spread out and have to do it via conference call, but is still kind of fun.  So a busy weekend but fun busy.  Hope you have a great weekend!

Tony Jordan