BOOKER T JONES
American Music Legend
November 1 & 2 | 7 & 9pm – click here for tickets
It can be argued that it is Booker T. Jones who set the cast for modern soul music and is largely responsible for its rise and enduring popularity. On classic Stax hits like “Green Onions,” “Hang ‘Em High,” “Time Is Tight,” and “Melting Pot,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Musicians Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient pushed the music’s boundaries, refined it to its essence and then injected it into the nation’s bloodstream.
MASTERS OF HAWAIIAN MUSIC:
GEORGE KAHUMOKU JR, KAWIKA KAHIAPO, NATHAN AWEAU
Slack-Key Guitar Stars Converge
February 15 | 7pm – click here for tickets
From the renowned “Slack Key Show” on Maui that produced four Grammy Award-winning CDs, three masters share the delightful experience of slack key guitar – the distinctly Hawaiian style of open tunings – ‘ukulele, Hawaiian songs, and a kolohe (rascal) sense of humor.
THE PARIS COMBO
Neo Hot Club
February 18 | 7 & 9pm – click here for tickets
Five albums and two decades spent criss-crossing the globe, playing to enthusiastic audiences from Paris to Sao Paulo and Berlin to Istanbul, have enabled France’s Paris Combo to create a unique cosmopolitan sound, establishing the band as one of the most piquant, intriguing groups on the international music scene. Fronted by the charismatic vocals of chanteuse Belle du Berry, the combo have struck a chord with critics and audiences alike for their fun-loving mix of swinging gypsy jazz, cabaret, French pop and Latino and Middle Eastern rhythms.
RUN BOY RUN
New-School Southern Folk
March 5 | 7pm – click here for tickets
Existing comfortably in the tension between tradition and the musical frontier, Tucson five piece Run Boy Run blends bluegrass, folk and the old timey American vernacular with touches of classical and turn of the century details. Their new album, Something to Someone, has been praised by Performer Magazine, All Music Guide, PopMatters, The Guardian, and others. The album was recorded at historic Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington with producers Ryan Hadlock and Jerry Streeter (The Lumineers, Brandi Carlile, Elephant Revival), whose attention to detail shines in Run Boy Run’s multi-voiced and multi-stringed arrangements. It’s no surprise that the band counts Garrison Keillor of NPR’s ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ and renowned Irish fiddler Kevin Burke among their growing legion of fans.
VICTOR WOOTEN
Dynamic Bass Virtuoso
March 9 & 10 | 7 & 9pm – click here for tickets
Five-time Grammy award winner Victor Wooten, known for his solo recordings and tours and as a member of the Grammy-winning super-group Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, has won most every major award given to a bass guitarist. He was voted Bassist of the Year by Bass Player Magazine three times and is the only person to have won the award more than once.
LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III
Iconic Singer/Songwriter Humorist
March 29 | 7pm – click here for tickets
Loudon Wainwright III is one of — if not the — first to be anointed with the title of the “new Bob Dylan” back in the late 1960s, when he began plying his trade in the folk clubs of Boston and New York. His self-effacing wit and broad humor earned a cult following — and, in 1972, a bona fide top 40 hit in the form of the rollicking “Dead Skunk.” By the middle of that decade, his reputation as one of the folk-rock scene’s true characters — in contrast to his peers, he had a fondness for Brooks Brothers’ flannels and neatly-shorn hair — had spread far enough that he was tabbed as a recurring character on the CBS series M*A*S*H, on which he portrayed “singing surgeon” Calvin Spaulding.
STACEY KENT QUARTET feat. Jim Tomlinson
Distinctive & Eloquent Vocals
April 5 & 6 | 7 & 9pm – click here for tickets
Stacey’s band features Jim Tomlinson (sax). Together, their album, ‘The Lyric,’ was awarded Best Album at the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards and Best Vocal Album in the 2007 Ronnie Scott’s Awards. Jim’s songwriting partnership with famed novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro, has formed a central plank in Stacey’s recent albums, which, alongside the Great American Songbook, gives Stacey’s repertoire a uniquely broad and fresh sound.
RICHIE FURAY
Country Rock Architect
April 28 | 7pm – click here for tickets
As a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, Richie has been a pioneering force in rock and country music. A founding member of Buffalo Springfield, Poco, and Souther-Hillman-Furay, Richie is an innovator of new musical forms, and he has contributed some of rock’s best vocals. In 1967, Richie moved to Los Angeles to meet up with his friend Stephen Stills. The two young musicians soon connected with Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin. The five would join together to form Buffalo Springfield. The group produced three great albums before disbanding. While recording the last album with new member Jim Messina, Richie and Jim discovered they shared the same unique musical direction. Poco was born.