Amen Dunes (Photo courtesy Ticketfly)
Amen Dunes released Freedom, the project’s fifth studio album, last year via Sacred Bones. Damon McMahon now is touring his band with a stop at 9:30 Club on Thursday, Jan. 31. You can win tickets to go with Parklife DC!
The Smithereens for the State Theatre show, left to right: Jim Babjak (guitar), Robin Wilson (lead vocals), Dennis Diken (drums), and Mark Mesaros (bass) (Photo courtesy Lappen Enterprises)
Power pop aficionados think of the ’70s and ’80s as the genre’s heyday — an era that included performers like Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds, years that saw the emergence of bands like Big Star and Cheap Trick, and a time that culminated with the Gin Blossoms and Matthew Sweet.
For many music lovers (myself included), The Smithereens captured all the salient characteristics of a classic power pop band: the jangly ringing Byrds-like guitars, the Beach Boys’ high harmonies, the Beatles melodic lyricism… and perhaps the crunching heaviness of Black Sabbath? But The Smithereens added an East-Coast, Jersey Shore roots-rock sensibility.
Mark Caicedo of Parklife DC recently chatted with Jim Babjak, guitarist of The Smithereens, in anticipation of the band’s show at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, on Jan. 18.
Psycho Killers Tribute Band: Bassist Ryan Porter (kneeling, right) is also a member of The Love Boat (Photo courtesy Psycho Killers)
The Love Boat, a new yacht rock tribute band, will perform its first DC show at Pearl Street Warehouse on Saturday, Jan. 12! This Baltimore-based cover band invites you to come aboard — for something smooth!
Maryjo Mattea performs at DC Rocks Music Festival at 9:30 Club on Aug. 18, 2018. (Photo by Paivi Salonen)
DC indie songstress Maryjo Mattea opens DC rockers One Way Out at DC9 on Friday, Jan. 11. Show up early to catch Maryjo!
Kentucky Avenue performs at The Hamilton Live on Jan. 5, 2019. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
DC-based Americana band Kentucky Avenue performed a set at The Hamilton Live recently. The performance on Saturday was in support of Celtic-rock sensation, Scythian, who headlined the evening.
Alejandro Escovedo (Photo courtesy Yep Roc Records)
Punk legend Alejandro Escovedo released a new album, The Crossing, in September via Yep Roc Records. He visits City Winery DC on Tuesday, Jan. 15 for a stop on The Crossing Tour.
Scythian performs at The Hamilton Live on Jan. 5, 2019. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
Scythian, DC’s favorite Celtic rock band, played to a capacity crowd of revelers who danced among tables (and a few on the tables) Saturday at The Hamilton Live.
Rachael Price fronts Lake Street Dive at Rams Head Live on Jan. 3, 2019. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
Lake Street Dive kicked off 2019 on the right foot recently with a sold-out show at Baltimore’s Rams Head Live. The show continued the band’s successful Free Yourself Up Tour, begun last summer in support of its most recent album of the same name, released in May 2018 via Nonesuch Records.
The John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band performs at City Winery on Jan. 2, 2019. (Photo by Ari Strauss)
Many identify bluegrass music with the classic bluegrass music of Bill Monroe, or Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt. While that represents the roots of bluegrass, the music has evolved, even developing into distinct styles. At City Winery DC, the John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band, J2B2, recently gave a virtuosic performance of progressive bluegrass.
Rayna Gellert and Kieran Kane (Photo courtesy the artists)
The godfather of Americana music is coming to DC metro to perform in at the Institute of Musical Traditions in Rockville, Maryland. Kieran Kane will perform with prodigious fiddler Rayna Gellert in what is sure to be a show to remember at the School of Musical Traditions on Saturday, Jan. 12.
