John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives return to White Water Tavern with their rambling honky-tonk flavored indie rock, propelled by the band’s love of rockabilly guitars, pedal steel, piano and driving drums. The band’s debut album is Spills and Thrills.
The Red Dirt country rockers Jason Boland & the Stragglers are still touring behind their 2008 release, Comal County Blue, an album that hit the top 40 of the country music album charts. And, earlier this year, the outfit released High in the Rockies: A Live Album. Expect that live album to come alive with a boot-stomping good time with music blending country and rock when Boland and company visit Revolution Music Room. The opening act is to be announced, but expect the music at 9 p.m. with tickets for the 21-and-up show $10 advance and $12 day of.
Here’s John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives with an Ardent Sessions show:
When Samantha Allen took over the ownership of Downtown Music, there was one show in particular she pointed to as being groundbreaking: Bane. What’s so groundbreaking about it? It’s the first Little Rock show ever for the Massachusetts hardcore band. Since forming in the mid-1990s, the band has stayed true to three chords of hammering truth, lyrics about real life and a nonviolent dancefloor filled with moshers. Cover for the show will be $12 with the music starting at 7 p.m. with a trio of bands also touring with Bane: Baltimore hardcore band Trapped Under Ice, Maine hardcore act Cruel Hand and California hardcore group Alpha & Omega.
The indie rock of McAllen, Texas, act Dignan returns to Juanita’s. Dignan’s newest is Cheaters & Thieves, an album lead singer/guitarist Andy Pena said, “Sort of came together on their own. All of the themes in each of these songs are things that really tug at my heart: infidelity, the search for life’s answers, the struggle between right and wrong.” Sounds like the perfect thoughts to put to indie rock rhythms. Local bands Bear Colony, with their electronica-tinged indie rock sound, and Whale Fire, with their north of the Arkansas River indie rock, kick off the music at 8 p.m. Cover for the all-ages show is $8.
Rock Town Distillery is officially unveiling their Brandon’s Gin and Brandon’s Vodka at the Arkansas Arts Center with an event titled Taste History As It Happens — Brandon’s World Premiere from 6-9 p.m. It’ll be the first public tasting of Brandon’s Vodka and Gin from Arkansas’s first craft distillery. Hors d’oeuvres will be provided by Simply The Best Catering with an open bar with specialty drinks using Brandon’s Vodka and Gin, and music by Tragikly White. Admission is $30 per person in advance or $40 at the door with proceeds benefiting the Arkansas Arts Center.
Girl in a Coma, the San Antonio rock band that includes the sisters Phanie Diaz and Nina Diaz, and their friend Jenn Alva, comes to Juanita’s to showcase their music that has drawn comparisons to The Smiths, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Pixies. The opening acts are Sacramento, Calif., garage rock band Agent Ribbons and Gringo Star, an Atlanta band known for their fuzzed-out guitar, psychedelic-fueled, stammering-garage rock. The all-ages show begins at 9 p.m. with tickets either $10 advance or $12 at the door.
Bob Marley might be gone, but his music lives on with his backing band — The Original Wailers – carrying on the reggae icon’s tradition. The band, which includes Wailers Junior Marvin and Al Anderson sharing lead vocals and guitar duties, visits Revolution Music Room with the rock/reggae/hip hop sound of Philadelphia’s The Movement as the opening act, kicking off the music at 9 p.m. Tickets for the 18-and-up show are $15.
White Water Tavern presents a night of singer/songwriter driven music with appearances by Cory Branan, a folk rock singer/songwriter known for his mesmerizing, poetic fingerpicked tales and sliding between intimate folk tunes such as “Last Man on Earth” and rugged rock ‘n’ roll tracks such as “Prettiest Waitress in Memphis,” and twangy, Colorado country rock outfit Drag the River. Branan and Drag the River’s Jon Snodgrass also recorded a batch of songs so you might expect the two acts to cover that ground as well.
New Jersey abrasive indie rockers Titus Andronicus are one of the hottest bands out there: earning a Best New Band of 2010 label from Rolling Stone and a sterling review from Pitchfork for their March 2010, Civil War-themed release The Monitor. The band is continuing to tour in support of their sophomore release, including a stop at Revolution Music Room. The band’s debut was 2008’s The Airing of Grievances, an album Pitchfork said was “rife with constant builds and breakneck rhythms.” Expect Pogues, Springsteen and Guided By Voices inspired rock with a punk edge, and lyrical references to Cormac McCarthy, Albert Camus and Abraham Lincoln. Local indie rockers The See and Wicked Good are the opening acts, taking the stage at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 for the all-ages show.
Here’s Titus Andronicus with their “A More Perfect Union”:
After opening for other artists such as Hayes Carll and Robert Earl Keen in central Arkansas, Canadian country artist Corb Lund returns to Sticky Fingerz to headline, showcasing his rough-and-ready, genuine country — more in the vein of alternative country, with Lund delivering tales about cowboys, gunslingers, ranchers, oil drillers and military ghosts. There’s no opening act, just Lund starting at 8 p.m. with cover $10 for the 21-and-up show.
Here’s Corb Lund with “I Wanna Be in the Calvary”;
Big Smith, the Springfield, Mo., band composed of five cousins and one, fiddle-playing non-cousin, earlier this year released their first studio album of original material since 2000’s Big Rock, titled Roots, Shoots and Wings, a 16-track collection of the band’s modern take on hillbilly music. To celebrate — and play — the new music, Big Smith is hitting the road, including a return to Revolution Music Room. Big Smith is simply an Ozark-Mountains powered, musical hootenanny of explosive bluegrass music mingled with country, rock ‘n’ roll and folk. The opening act is only promised as special guests, with the music starting at 8:30 p.m. and cover $8 for the 18-and-up night of music.
The Voices for Justice concert will be held at Robinson Center Music Hall starting at 7:30 p.m. The Rev. Thompson Murray and representatives from Arkansas Take Action will present new video messages from Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley along with special acoustic performances by Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Dixie Chick Natalie Maines. Tickets are $26.75.
Mulehead returns to White Water Tavern on Saturday night. The Saturday night will feature a special guest as opening act at 10 p.m. Advance tickets are $10 with any remaining tickets $12 day of show. Advance tickets are available through www.lastchancerecords.com. Expect the Arkansas-stamped alt country outfit Mulehead to rock through about 30 tunes over the two nights, including five from The Gospel Accordion II, 11 from Rocket Surgery and six from Finer Thing along with covers, including The Who’s “Squeeze Box.”
Mulehead returns to White Water Tavern on Friday and Saturday night. The Friday show kicks off with Slobberbone leader Brent Best at 10 p.m., and Saturday night will feature a special guest as opening act at 10 p.m. Advance tickets are $10 with any remaining tickets $12 day of show. Advance tickets are available through www.lastchancerecords.com. Expect the Arkansas-stamped alt country outfit Mulehead to rock through about 30 tunes over the two nights, including five from The Gospel Accordion II, 11 from Rocket Surgery and six from Finer Thing along with covers, including The Who’s “Squeeze Box.”
Country rock favorites Eli Young Band are swinging back through Little Rock with a show at Revolution Music Room. The opening act is to be announced, but expect the music around 9 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are on sale now for $15. Here are the band’s talking points: Their last album, Jet Black & Jealous, debuted at No. 5 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart, and their single, “Always the Love Songs,” hit the Top 10 on country radio. All this success has also led to the band performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live and being featured in USA Today, People, Billboard and Country Weekly, etc. The band’s newest single is “Guinevere.”
It’s not The Band. It’s not Bob Dylan. What it is, is The Last Waltz Ensemble at Revolution Music Room. Expect the music to begin around 9 p.m. with cover $8 for the 18-and-up show. No opening act has been announced. And the music? It’s the classic rock ‘n’ roll sound of The Band, the legendary band that included Arkansas native Levon Helm on drums and vocals, and the legendary music of Bob Dylan. Basically, it’s some of the best darn rock ‘n’ roll cover music you’ll ever hear from two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members.
So it’s been a few months since the Metallica tribute band Battery — Masters of Metallica graced a Little Rock stage. Have no fear metalheads. The band — Metallica approved — returns to Sticky Fingerz for a night of thundering metal. The opening act is to be announced, but the riffs start roaring at 9 p.m. Cover for the 21-and-up show is $10. Expect Battery to recreate the roar of Metallica in a club, playing Metallica tunes from hard rocking ’90s tunes (“Sad But True”) to classic, ’80s slaying metal (“For Whom the Bell Tolls”), and even 21st century music in between. It’s not James, Lars, Kirk and Robert, but it’s close enough.
Arkansas Educational Television Network studios will welcome Bonnie Montgomery and Montgomery Trucking for a taping of AETN Presents: On the Front Row. The free show gets underway at 7 p.m. Audience members are asked to RSVP at www.aetn.org/rsvp and arrive at the studio by 6:15 p.m. Montgomery is an Arkansas native who mixes country, folk and opera. With her backing band Montgomery Trucking, Montgomery blends guitar, kazoo and mandolin to create her Ozark-flavored folk rock. Also included in the night will be song excerpts from Montgomery’s work-in-progress Billy Blythe, a short-length opera set in 1950s Hot Springs about the adolescence of President Clinton.
Here’s The Last Waltz Ensemble with their version of “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”:
The news release announcing Detroit/London/Nashville, Tenn., rock ‘n’ roll outfit Deadstring Brothers‘ visit to Sticky Fingerz states the band is a “little rough and tumble … roots rock drawing from Muscle Shoals, soul and blues in one fell swoop. … They rock, pretty much.” Sounds like a good enough time. Drawing comparisons to The Rolling Stones circa Exile on Main St., Deadstring Brothers will headline a show that starts at 9 p.m. with unannounced special guests. Cover is $7 for the 21-and-up show. Relix said the band has studied at “The Keith Richards Academy of Pick Harmonics and String Bends. Chuck Leavell’s Institute of Insane Keyboarding. Patsy Cline’s Honkytonk Heartbreak Clinic.”
The Nightmare River Band is a New York City quartet who crank out boot-stomping, punk-flavored country rock about drinking, loving and losing, and the outfit is making an early week appearance in Little Rock, playing Juanita’s. Opening the show is Little Rock’s Mandy McBryde, an acoustic country singer/songwriter who sometimes writes sad songs. The all-ages show starts at 9 p.m. with a $7 cover.
Here’s Deadstring Brothers with their “Sacred Heart”:
