Tag Archives: Live

(Upcoming Show) John Reilly and Friends at Codfish Hollow Barn on June 21st

Posted on by
Reply

John Reilly and Friends at Codfish Hollow Barn Poster

Continuing the trend of jaw-droppingly awesome shows at Codfish Hollow Barn in Maquoketa, this Friday, June 21st,  it will play host to actor John C. Reilly’s non-film music endeavor John Reilly and Friends.

For the past few years Reilly has been working with some musician friends of his to bring a revue of old country and folk music  of the likes of the Stanley Brothers, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, The Everly Brothers, Claude Ely and the Delmore Brothers to name a few. With regular “Friends” sidekicks Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond and Tom Brosseau (solo and of Les Shelleys) Reilly cut two 7-inch singles on Jack White’s Third Man Records.

The band is doing a run of dates through the Midwest from June 13th to June 22nd, with a stop at the wonderful Codfish Hollow Barn in Maquoketa, IA– home of many Daytrotter.com Barnstormer shows as well as a few shows put on by the Biehls themselves. Joining Reilly, Stark and Brosseau will be Mt. Vernon, IA native Dan Bern (who headlined his own show in May), Willie Watson— formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS’s “Wagon Wheel” has been covered by Darius Rucker and climbing the charts currently), and Sebastian Steinburg– formerly of Soul Coughing and these days a go-to bass sideman (Marc Ribot, Dixie Chicks, k. d. lang). That’ s one hell of a lineup with lots of varing backgrounds, so you can count on some pretty inspired performances!

According to Brosseau’s website, there will be copies of the Third Man Records 7-inches as well as “the official John Reilly and Friends teeshirt” at the merchandise table. Tiffany Biehl also told me about exclusive stickers with art done by Dan Bern and limited-edition posters done by the Biehl’s and sent me images of those:

john reilly sticker

John Reilly and Friends Codfish Hollow Barn Sticker

john reilly pitchfork poster

John Reilly and Friends Limited Edition Codfish Hollow Poster available at the show.

Opening the show will be Andru Bemis from New Mexico.

As usual, there will be camping available (with no service hookups), food vendors with soft beverages and just good old fashioned great times with other people who are there for the music. Coolers are welcome. Here is a list of what food will be available onsite:

Grilled chicken sandwiches
BBQ pulled pork sandwiches
All beef hotdogs
Brats and sauerkraut
Veggie dogs/brats
Nachos and cheese
Beef taco nachos
Chicken/pork nachos
Vegetarian bean nachos
Chips
Candy bars
POP- Mt.Dew Pepsi, Diet Pepsi,Sprite
Water

YUM!

At the time of this writing there are still tickets left, but you should expect that this show will sell out this week. Doors are at 6:30PM with the bands hitting the stage at 8PM. The tickets are $25 in advance (plus some minimal service charges).

Click Here for the Facebook Event and RSVP!

Click http://johnreillyandfriends.eventbrite.com/ to order your tickets!

I was interviewed in The Cedar Rapids Gazette Arts and Entertainment magazine Hoopla– click here!

Click Here to visit the Third Man Records page on John C. Reilly and purchase his two singles.

Tour Dates:

15 June 13: The Assembly at the Women’s Club of Minneapolis: Minneapolis
16 June 13: Miller Caves: Milwaukee
17 June 13: Muskegon Unity Church: Muskegon MI
18 June 13: Ramsdell Theater: Manistee MI
19 June 13: The Magic Bag: Ferndale MI
20 June 13: Radio Radio: Indianapolis
21 June 13: Codfish Hollow Barnstormers: Maquoketa
22 June 13: Old Town School of Folk: Chicago

 

(Upcoming Show) Grant Lee Phillips Brings His Lone Star Songs to CSPS in Cedar Rapids on 5/15

Posted on by
Reply

grantlee.KenScott_04

I think it must have been a compilation CD that came with CMJ Magazine that included a song from the 90’s band Grant Lee Buffalo that lured me to purchase Mighty Joe Moon in 1994 or so. The album kicks off with the searing guitars of “Lone Star Song” and proceeds to swing bipolar between sweet folky acoustic and burning electrics all housed in HUGE unabashed reverb like only the 90’s could deliver. Needless to say this was exactly what my then 26-year-old self thought was the best thing ever! Playing though that CD this evening and writing this article, it is still surprisingly an exciting and emotional album for me.

I bought Fuzzy and Jubilee and listened to them quite a bit, but by the end of the last century I was listening to much different music and didn’t continue to follow what frontman Grant Lee Phillips was up to. As it turned out, he kind of abandoned the band in pursuit of a solo career, and has eclipsed the band in releases.

His most recent release came out in October, 2012 and is called Walking in the Green Corn. The album, which concerns itself with the extensive research that Phillips did regarding his Native American roots was recorded very quickly over the winter months leading into 2012. “I do my best work when nobody’s paying attention – including myself,” he recalls. “That’s what happened: it really snuck up on me. By the end of the year, I had most of the album written and recorded.” The resulting album leans more towards the thoughful folk acoustic sound than the often blistering electrics of his previous band, but doesn’t abandon the emotion and sentiment distilled from his mixed heritage. “Connecting to my ancestry is like having this deep trunk that’s embedded in the earth, with deep roots. It was always something that was important to my grandmother, who was Creek, and to my mother.”

Phillips is on tour right now and is bringing his show to the crown of the NewBo district, CSPS on Wednesday night at 7PM. Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 at the door. This is a rare chance to catch him– I don’t remember the last time he was in the area!

Click Here for information about the show at the Legion Arts website and how to get tickets.

The player on Phillip’s website has most of the new album in it if you want to check it out.

Last year Grant Lee Phillips was on tour with another CSPS alum Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket and WPA. Here are the two of the performing the title track:

Power Pop Descends Upon CSPS in the Form of Chicago Rocker Dick Prall

Posted on by
Reply

Well, it’s been a pretty great week for acts at CSPS! The Duncan Sheik show on Thursday night was pretty damn amazing, and I found a couple of acts I want to keep an eye on– that new Alpha Rev album coming out next year will be one that I’m looking forward to.

Tonight the big stage at CSPS will be graced by Dick Prall who used to live in Iowa, but now crafts his Brit Pop-influenced Midwestern Rock from the Windy City. He’s put out a solid run of pop rock masterpieces since his first release Somewhere About Here in 1998.

This year he is kicking off a new project that is a little different than his standard album releases. He is working with Pat Sansone of Wilco and The Autumn Defense to release a series of digital singles which will culminate in a full release with bonus material next year. In an e-mail exchange with Prall he said, “We’re trying a different methodology this time around to hopefully keep folks interested and engaged on a monthly basis – that’s the theory, anyway. All the songs are being done with Pat Sansone, who digs the idea, so I’m in good company.”

If the first single “Wanted Blue” is any indication, it will be one for the “Best of” list for 2013! Prall also said that they are considering vinyl for this release! Listen for yourself and download:

Dick is bringing a band with him tonight that he describes as “drums, bass, violin, & hollow-bodied guitar put together in a sort of laid-back Buddy Holly & the Crickets meets Elvis Costello backed by Spoon sort of way.” Sounds like my kind of lineup!

The show is at 8PM at CSPS, and tickets are $17 in advance and $21 at the door. The opener is Stolen Silver. Details at the LegionArts.org site.

Listen to Dick Prall’s acoustic session on Daytrotter.com (it’s a free trial if you don’t have a subscription)

Here are upcoming shows (from dickprall.com)

Duncan Sheik Returns to CSPS Thursday 11/15 With Sunset Sessions Lineup

Posted on by
Reply

Holly, Gerry & Duncan

Duncan Sheik is making a return to Cedar Rapids tomorrow night. He is making a stop in the area as part of the Sunset Sessions Live tour and also in support of the fact that his Tony and Grammy winning musical Spring Awakening is going to be put on by U of I Arts. Sheik is going to speak at the UI Theatre from Noon to 1 and then he’s performing at CSPS at 7PM along with Austin band Alpha Rev and New Jersey singer/songwriter Laura Warshauer.

I saw Duncan in 2009 at CSPS when he came through Iowa in support of his Whisper House album. He apparently likes to tour with an ensemble– as in 2009, he’s bringing other bands with him. This tour is sponsored by The Sunset Sessions which is an organization that puts on events which are specifically designed to draw together musicians with radio programmers and music supervisors (the people who put your new favorite songs into TV shows, movies, advertising and video games). These days, music supervisors are up there as the leading tastemakers (next to music blogs, ‘natch 🙂 ). This tour is designed as a showcase for some bands that have been featured in these events, so we get to hear some new music from Duncan Sheik, as well as Alpha Rev (who has music all over TV on VH1, Bravo, ABC, The CW as well as film, and Laura Warshauer (who has been recently signed to Def Jam/Island).

Duncan is touring in support of his latest album, Covers 80’s Remixed, which, as the title implies, is a remix album of his 2011 release Covers 80’s, which has him delivering interpretations of his favorite songs from bands like Japan, Psychedelic Furs, The Smiths, The Cure and Tears for Fears.

This promises to be a pretty spectacular evening, frankly– some up-and-coming acts coupled with some 80’s nostalgia delivered from a great songwriter. It can’t miss.

Duncan Sheik, Alpha Rev and Laura Warshauer will hit the CSPS big stage at 7PM. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Details at the Legion Arts Website.

HERE is the Facebook Event for the show.

Gayngs Related Minneapolis Band Poliça to Play Voices Warehouse in Dubuque 9/25

Posted on by
Reply

What does one do when Ryan Olson, the mastermind behind the Minneapolis Supergroup Gayngs suggests that you start your own band? Well, if you are Channy Leanagh (née Casselle) formerly of Minneapolis folk band Roma di Luna and one of the vocalists in Gayngs– you take the suggestion and help. Olson took some of the songs that Channy had been writing and added some of his own electronic wizardry– a process similar to how he grew the Gayngs album. Olson then called in some other musicians he had worked with the vision of creating not just a solo Leanagh project but a complete band.

The unique formula of Poliça (pronounced POE-LISA) takes the vocoder fetish from Gayngs (and Bon Iver for that matter) and layers it over a no-guitars lineup of electronics (mostly handled by Leanagh in a live settng), insane bass guitar by Chris Bierden of Twin Cities Indie Psych band Vampire Hands, and twin drummers Drew Christopherson (of Olson’s bands Digitata and Blunts) and Ben Ivascu (of Olson’s bands Building Better Bombs and Marijuana Deathsquads). Mike Noyce of Gayngs and Bon Iver guests on a couple of tracks, too. Poliça brings a significant pedigree to the table and the results are impressive– a very trip-hop electronica sound reminiscent of Portishead in my opinion.

Since Poliça released their debut album Give You The Ghost on February 14th on Olson’s Totally Gross National Product label (on CD and LP) they’ve been touring seemingly non-stop in the US and Europe. They played Iowa City in February as part of their album release shows, so it’s pretty interesting that they will be back in Eastern Iowa playing the Voices Warehouse Gallery on September 25th. Voices is a really special venue down in the Warehouse district of Dubuque. Beautiful exposed brick and pipes with a well-worn wood floor housing interesting sculptures, prints and paintings. I’ve seen a couple of shows there– Tortoise and Bo Ramsey and both were cozy personal shows.

Poliça played “Dark Star” on Jimmy Kimmel last week, and it was announced that they have signed to Mom + Pop Music (home of Andrew Bird, An Horse, Sleigh Bells) who will reissue the album and have already released a remix EP for “Dark Star.” All really great news for the band who will be opening for Bon Iver’s upcoming four-night run at Radio City Music Hall, which is just before the Dubuque show.

Opening the show will be Canon Blue, aka Daniel James. James’ new album Rumspringa is a orchestral/chamber pop album that was recorded while on tour with Efterklang. Check the audio out on his site– beautiful stuff.

Tickets for Poliça and Canon Blue are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. The show starts at 8PM. For more information check out the Voices Warehouse website.

Check out Polica’s Daytrotter Session Here.

(Upcoming Show) Lindsey Buckingham at The Englert in Iowa City Sunday, 9/2/2012

Posted on by
Reply

(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Lindsey Buckingham is having the time of his life.

At the time of his sixth solo album The Seeds We Sow in 2011, Lindsey Buckingham is able to frame his life as a musician and family man in the context of his journey thus far. He attributes his peace to two things. The first is his personal life, “To finally meet someone and to have the family thing happen, that’s been a real gift,” he says. The other is musical. “If there is a level of contentedness that I’ve arrived at, part of it is because I think in the last three or four years what I experienced during the solo albums and then what I experienced on the last Fleetwood Mac tour I felt like I had come to a point where there was so much foundation that I had built for myself making incremental steps forward as a musician and as an artist.”

Certainly, the last few years have been very productive for Buckingham, starting with an out-of-the-blue solo album in 2006, a derailed follow up that morphed into a new studio album for a re-ignited Fleetwood Mac, a re-imagining of the derailed follow up in 2008, a live album and then The Seeds We Sow in 2011.

The Seeds We Sow represents Buckingham taking full control over his career handling all of the recording, production and also releasing himself. The album is a very up-close-and-personal perspective of Buckingham at times sounding like a really well-produced home demo, which I suppose it really is.

I consider Lindsey Buckingham to be a personal musical hero. His distinct sound and contribution to the canon of rock music with his solo work as well as his years in Fleetwood Mac have impacted me at a level that might be chromosomal. I started listening to music on my own around the time of Rumours and his music has been with me ever since. I have been fortunate to see him with the Mighty Mac three times in my life but never solo, so the news that he will be performing at the wonderful Englert Theatre in Iowa City on Labor Day Weekend is exciting news! He will be performing at 8PM on Sunday, September 2rd.

The presale for the show started on Tuesday for Friends of the Englert, and general sale for the show starts on Friday,  June 22nd at 1PM. Tickets are $55 for Tier One Tickets and $45 for Tier Two.

Click Here for more information about Lindsey Buckingham at The Englert in Iowa City, including how to order tickets.

Click Here to find out about how you can be a Friend of the Englert and get in on great pre-sale deals and other perks.

 

Ryan Adams – Live After Deaf Vinyl Box Set – The Details

Posted on by
Reply

I make no apologies for being a Ryan Adams fan of the first order, nor do I apologize for feverishly collecting as much as I can of his recorded output– including the PaxAm Records releases. I have most of them and they are wonderfully well done and always targeted at the vinyl fans as Ryan himself is a collector.

This week a picture of a vinyl boxset titled Live After Deaf was posted to Ryan’s Facebook page by the dutiful Val (who runs his social media outlets) with “Live After Deaf. Friday. This will not be repressed.” This was followed on Wednesday with some more information: “144 tracks of live acoustic Ryan spread across 15 vinyl discs…with a download card featuring all 144 tracks PLUS an additional 74 digital-only bonus tracks (yup, that’s a total of 218 tracks) all in a heavyweight cloth box. Super Duper limited numbers available ONLY at http://paxamrecords.com/ beginning 1:30 p.m. EST on Friday, June 15.” We also found out that this limited release would only be $130 plus shipping (which would be pretty steep considering it apparently weighs in at 13 pounds!).

The title is obviously a reference to his bout with Ménière’s disease which temporarily derailed his music output back in 2009. Ever the heavy metal fan, the title might also be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Iron Maiden live album Live After Death. We still weren’t sure what this box would contain. 15 LP’s certainly didn’t make a very encompassing live box set– was it just one performance of every song he performed during the extensive Ashes and Fire tour? All we could do is sign into the site on Friday to see what it would be.

On Friday, unfortunately, the folks at KungFu (the people who host his website and merchandise site) were not expecting the heavy traffic at 1:30PM. I signed in an hour before to make sure that my account information was still accessible. At 1:30PM the website became unresponsive. Looking at the posts on Facebook, they were scrambling to address the issue and an hour or so later the posted a resigned message that they would work over the weekend and try it again on Monday, June 18th at 4PM EDT.

In the meantime the rabid fans over at ryanadamsarchive dug up some details on the boxset (this is the thread that contains it). A poster who goes by “Cowboycat” somehow found a picture of what I assume is the back of the box with all of the tracks.

The  boxset is a compendium of the 2011 solo acoustic “Acoustic Nightmare” European shows, with each LP representing one show on the 15-date run. For each show to fit on an LP, Ryan had to edit the shows down to select songs, and possibly no inter-song banter that he’s known for. Another poster on the ryanadamsarchive board who goes by the handle hobbsy took the setlist database and showed what songs were and weren’t played for each show. Here’s the tracklist (thanks to hobbsy):

LP1: Cork Opera House, Ireland (7th June 2011)
01 Dirty Rain
02 Two
03 Blue Hotel
04 Carolina Rain
05 Crossed Out Name
06 Dear Chicago
07 Ashes And Fire
08 Avenues
09 Withering Heights
10 Desire
11 Please Do Not Let Me Go

LP2: Dublin Olympia Theatre, Ireland (8th June 2011)
01 Oh My Sweet Carolina
02 Everybody Knows
03 Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)
04 New York, New York
05 In My Time Of Need
06 16 Days
07 Strawberry Wine

LP3: Stockholm Cirkus, Sweden (10th June 2011)
01 Firecracker
02 Please Do Not Let Me Go
03 Call Me On Your Way Back Home
04 Invisible Riverside
05 Dear Chicago
06 16 Days
07 Two
08 Come Pick Me Up
09 September
10 Halloween
11 Houses On The Hill

LP4: Oslo Foleteatret, Norway (11th June 2011)
01 Oh My Sweet Carolina
02 Don’t Fail Me Now
03 Let It Ride
04 Desire
05 The Rescue Blues
06 Dancing With The Woman At The Bar
07 If I Am A Stranger
08 Sylvia Plath
09 Friends

LP5: Malmo Concert House, Sweden (13th June 2011)
01 Firecracker
02 Damn Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)
03 My Winding Wheel
04 Let It Ride
05 Desire
06 Cannonball Days
07 Star Sign
08 Chains Of Love
09 Lucky Now
10 Come Home

LP6: Copenhagen Kocerhauset, Denmark (14th June 2011)
01 Carolina Rain
02 Invisible Riverside
03 Jacksonville Skyline
04 This House Is Not For Sale
05 Halloween
06 New York, New York
07 Sweet Illusions
08 September
09 Sylvia Plath
10 Do I Wait

LP7: Lisbon Aula Magna, Portugal (16th June 2011)
01 Don’t Fail Me Now
02 If I Am A Stranger
03 Invisible Riverside
04 200 More Miles
05 This House Is Not For Sale
06 English Girls Approximately
07 Strawberry Wine
08 I Love You But I Don’t Know What To Say

LP8: Porto Teatro Sa Da Bandeira, Portugal (17th June 2011)
01 Off Broadway
02 Sylvia Plath
03 Carolina Rain
04 Firecracker
05 Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)
06 Sweet Illusions
07 Two
08 Dancing With The Women At The Bar

LP9: London Barbican Night 1, UK (19th June 2011)
01 Oh My Sweet Carolina
02 Why Do They Leave?
03 Let It Ride
04 Carolina Rain
05 The Rescue Blues
06 In My Time Of Need
07 Bartering Lines
08 Come Pick Me Up

LP10: London Barbican Night 2, UK (20th June 2011)
01 To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
02 Damn, Sam (I Love A Woman That Rains)
03 Everybody Knows
04 My Winding Wheel
05 Invisible Riverside
06 Ashes And Fire
07 Desire
08 English Girls Approximately
09 Amy
10 Stop

LP11: Brighton Dome, UK (22nd June 2011)
01 Bartering Lines
02 Why Do They Leave?
03 The Rescue Blues
04 Let It Ride
05 Everybody Knows
06 Firecracker
07 Jacksonville Skyline
08 Houses On The Hill
09 Come Pick Me Up
10 Strawberry Wine

LP12: Manchester Bridgewater Hall, UK (23rd June 2011)
01 Blue Hotel
02 Save Me
03 Carolina Rain
04 Sweet Lil’ Gal
05 Desire
06 To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
07 This House Is Not For Sale
08 New York, New York
09 Amy
10 Why Do They Leave?

LP13: Glasgow Academy, UK (25th June 2011)
01 Please Do Not Let Me Go
02 My Winding Wheel
03 Sweet Illusions
04 To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
05 16 Days
06 Sylvia Plath
07 Come Pick Me Up
08 English Girls Approximately

LP14: Oxford New Theatre, UK (26th June 2011)
01 Why Do They Leave?
02 Carolina Rain
03 Sweet Lil’ Gal
04 Everybody Knows
05 September
06 My Winding Wheel
07 I See Monsters
08 Come Pick Me Up
09 Strawberry Wine

LP15: Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Netherlands (28th June 2011)
01 Oh My Sweet Carolina
02 To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)
03 Carolina Rain
04 Firecracker
05 Let It Ride
06 Bartering Lines
07 New York, New York
08 I See Monsters
09 Two
10 Stop

It looks like a wonderful release, and Ryan’s solo acoustic shows have been really beautiful. Of course, people are hoping for a volume 2 that would include U.S. shows. It would be great to get those metal covers on vinyl (Ratt, “Round and Round” FTW).

(Upcoming Show) Counting Crows Bring Tour to Codfish Hollow Barn for 4th of July!

Posted on by
Reply

Codfish Hollow Barn in Maquoketa, IA Ready to Be Stormed

As many things do any more, it all started with a tweet.

Around the time that Dawes played the “Barn on the Fourth” show in Maquoketa, IA at Codfish Hollow in 2010, Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows tweeted that he wanted to play in a barn. Last month it was announced that Counting Crows would be performing in Cedar Rapids as part of their RAGBRAI event. At that time, I speculated that it would have been a good time to do a Daytrotter Barnstormer show and mentioned it to Tiffany Biehl (Tiffany and her husband organize the Barnstormer shows on their farm) on Facebook, and she responded with “I wish.”

For the last couple of weeks Daytrotter has been featuring some of the notable sessions from the previous Barnstormer shows, so when Codfish Hollow posted to Facebook yesterday about some big news coming up, I figured it was going to be a Barnstormer announcement since Codfish Hollow has had the distinction of being the home base for these shows.

Wishes apparently come true! This morning Counting Crows sent out an e-mail to their fans about their decision to release their newest album of covers Underwater Sunshine for free via BitTorrent. Included in this e-mail was an update about their upcoming Outlaw Roadshow summer tour, which included this:

The first leg (Featuring Counting Crows, Good Old War, Foreign Fields, and Filligar) has already been onsale for a week. It starts in Asbury Park and heads north through Connecticut and upstate NY to Ontario then criss-crosses down through the Great Lake States and the Shenandoah Valley, passing back & forth through Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, and Virginia before traveling down south to Alabama, South Carolina, and Mississippi just west of the Tennessee state line. It ends in Maquoketa, Iowa and Rock Island, Illinois where all the bands will celebrate Independence Day at Codfish Hollow Barn playing a Barnstormer show and then retire to Rock Island to record Daytrotter Sessions. (emphasis mine)

The details for this show are only just finalizing right now, so there isn’t any information about tickets yet, but considering that the venue (also known as a “barn”) has a reasonable capacity of around 500, these tickets will be as rare as hen’s teeth, as they say. I’ll update this post with any information that I get.

What a wonderful opportunity for Eastern Iowa!

You should consider signing up for a subscription to Daytrotter— a fantastic deal at $2 per month for some amazing sessions and other perks.

Click Here to listen to Counting Crows last Daytrotter Session.

(Upcoming Show) California Guitar Trio Returns to CSPS 3/23/12

Posted on by
Reply

California Guitar Trio at CSPS on 10/9/2008
The over-the-top classical-slash-progressive-slash-surf instrumental guitar group California Guitar Trio is making a return visit to Legion Arts/CSPS on 3/23. Their last visit to our fair city was in October of 2008, and marked the first show following the devastation of the 2008 Flood.

For that show, CGT was touring in support of their covers album Echoes (named after the jaw-dropping cover of the Pink Floyd song). The trio played on the small risers in front of the stage to a very receptive house– everyone in attendance aware of the miracle which was the reopening of CSPS in such a short time. The band graciously donated part of the proceeds of the show to Legion Arts which goes to show how much they appreciated being part of the resurrection.

Four years later and the venue is again following a period of being closed, but this time it is due to a major overhaul of the facility that finds it even more a center of the arts for Cedar Rapids with new creative spaces created in the century-old brick building. CGT is on tour for their 13th album Andromeda which is the first release that is comprised completely of original pieces and they bring in some guest musicians to help round out the album. Incidentally, Andromeda marks the first release on vinyl for the band (that hopefully they will bring so I can get one signed!).

 

I’ve been a big fan of California Guitar Trio dating back to their work with Robert Fripp (of King Crimson). The trio met in one of Fripp’s Guitar Craft schools and he asked them to be part of his Robert Fripp String Quintet along with Chapman Stick player Pat Mastellato. Mastellato would become part of the “double trio” reformation lineup of King Crimson in the late 90’s, and it was during that tour in Minneapolis that I saw California Guitar Trio for the first time. Their mixture of classical, surf and sheer virtuosity and mind-blowing synchronized guitar work still amazes me to this day.

So, I’m pretty excited to announce that they will be back in Cedar Rapids Friday night, and I’ll be there. Tickets are $17 in advance and $21 at the door.

Click Here to get more information about the show from the Legion Arts Website.

Click Here for the band’s website.

Click Here to visit the band’s current record label Karate Body, who had the sense to press Andromeda on vinyl.

(Upcoming Shows) Glenn Jones Brings His American Primitive Guitar to Iowa

Posted on by
Reply

Photo taken by Tim Bugbee

 I feel like I’ve arrived at the party late.

While I was familiar with the work of John Fahey and his proteges like Leo Kottke, until recently I didn’t really look into the phenomenon that is generally known as “American Primitive.” Musicians I follow closely like Joey Burns of Calexico, and MC Taylor from The Court & Spark and Hiss Golden Messenger, and the guys from Tortoise have all mentioned Fahey one time or another.

It actually took a conversation with MC Taylor regarding Tortoise and the similarity of the song titles “In Sarah, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Women and Men” from TNT, and “In Christ There Is No East and West” the Christian standard interpreted by Fahey and a chance PR e-mail from Thrill Jockey about their new signing of Glenn Jones to send me falling down the rabbit hole that is John Fahey’s career. In particular, it was this video of Glenn Jones that Thrill Jockey sent that really grabbed me:

Glenn Jones – Of Its Own Kind from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Beautiful, right? The fact that there is a whole genre of music that is based in this classically-inspired folk acoustic guitar playing is a bit overwhelming to me. In an e-mail exchange with Glenn Jones recently, he referred to Fahey as “the fountainhead” in that Fahey inspired so many guitarists with his work. In addition to his own career recording his own music, he also worked on a very extensive reissue of Fahey’s early works dating from 1958-1965. Titled John Fahey: Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You (The Fonotone Years 1958-1965) it is a project that Jones started working with Fahey on before his passing in 2001. Weighing in at 115 tracks spread over 5 CD’s and an 88-page accompanying book, it is clearly a labor of love for Jones.

Jones continues his Fahey influences in his own solo work. Spread over three albums on the label Strange Attractors Audio House Glenn Jones’ solo work are stringed instrumentals– guitar, slide, banjo– in spare arrangement. His fourth solo album and first on Thrill Jockey titled The Wanting continues largely in this vein, although it is really a culmination of the developments he has made.

The Wanting has been in very regular rotation for me since I got the promo and I’m still struck by the sheer beauty of the work and I’m looking forward to seeing him perform this week in Iowa City and Dubuque. Monday night he will be at The Mill in Iowa City and admission is $7 and doors are at 8:30PM. On Tuesday night he’ll be in Dubuque at Monk’s Kaffee Pub which will be NO COVER and is a super place to see Glenn who should benefit from such an intimate setting!

Click Here for Glenn Jones’ Facebook Page (that I’m helping him with) – please consider clicking “Like”

Below is the full tour schedule.

Glenn Jones Tour Dates (from Thrill Jockey)
Sun Oct 16 Chicago, IL – The Hideout
Mon Oct 17 Iowa City, IA – The Mill
Tue Oct 18 Dubuque, IA – Monk’s
Wed Oct 19 Bloomington, IN – Russian Recording
Thu Oct 20 Lexington, KY – Collexion
Fri Oct 21 Louisville, KY – Clifton Cultural Center
Sat Oct 22 Knoxville, TN – The Pilot Light
Sun Oct 23 Asheville, NC – Harvest Records
Mon Oct 24 West Columbia, SC – Conundrum Music Hall
Tue Oct 25 Greenville, SC – Horizon Records
Wed Oct 26 Decatur, GA – Decatur CD
Thu Oct 27 Chapel Hill, NC – The Nightlight
Fri Oct 28 Takoma Park, MD – Potts-Dupre Schoolhouse
Fri Oct 28 Takoma Park, MD – House of Musical Traditions
Tue Nov 1 Brooklyn, NY – Zebulon
Thu Nov 3 Easthampton, MA – Flywheel
Fri Nov 4 New Haven, CT – Never Ending Books
Sat Nov 5 State College, PA – Schlow Centre Region Library
Sun Nov 6 Harrisburg, PA – Moviate