Preview: Rod Stewart @ Merriweather Post Pavilion, 8/27/22

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Parklifer in Preview and tagged blue-eyed soul, blues, England, London, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Rod Stewart, soft rock, soul.

Rod Stewart performs live at Caesars Palace Colosseum in Las Vegas on Sept. 30, 2019. (Photo by Denise Truscello)

Sir Rod Stewart, the legendary two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted singer-songwriter, earlier this year announced a slew of dates for his highly anticipated 2022 North American summer tour with special guests Cheap Trick, including a stop at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Saturday, Aug. 27.

Produced by Live Nation the tour will be Stewart’s first in four years and promises an unprecedented night of iconic hit songs from one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Live Review: The Black Keys @ Merriweather Post Pavilion — 7/25/22

Posted on July 28, 2022 by Will Colbert in Live Review and tagged blues, garage, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Nashville, Tennessee, The Black Keys.

***The Black Keys perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion on July 25, 2022. (Photo by Will Colbert)***

The life of a touring musician can’t be easy. During a career that spans nearly 20 years, it’s probably safe to say that The Black Keys have logged a considerable amount of travel miles. They’ve laid their heads in unfamiliar beds and digested food unfit for rock gods — nonetheless, they’re back on the road. The duo, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, made a recent stop at Merriweather Post Pavilion for their Dropout Boogie Tour.

Live Review: The Deslondes @ Metro Gallery — 7/19/22

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Casey Vock in Live Review and tagged Americana, bluegrass, blues, Louisiana, Metro Gallery, New Orleans, The Deslondes.

Sam Doores performs with The Deslondes at Metro Gallery in Baltimore on July 19, 2022. (Photo by Casey Vock)

A five-piece band from New Orleans: That’s about as far as one might get in solving the formula yielding The Deslondes, a group that got its start under a different identity in 2010 and in 2013 changed its name to one paying tribute to a street in the Lower Ninth Ward where the group originated.

And by blending their collective vision with allure and character, there’s no question that this group of pals and extraordinary songwriters is honing its own Big Easy neighborhood sound into some of the most intoxicating and mystifying music you might hear today.

Live Review: Tedeschi Trucks Band w/ Los Lobos @ Wolf Trap — 7/19/22

Posted on July 21, 2022 by Mark Engleson in Live Review and tagged Americana, Ari Strauss, blues, Florida, Jacksonville, Los Lobos, soul, Tedeschi Trucks, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Wolf Trap.

Tedeschi Trucks
Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi perform at Wolf Trap on July 19, 2022. (Photo by Ari Strauss)

Tedeschi Trucks Band is all about family: It’s fronted by the married duo of guitar virtuoso Derek Trucks and vocalist-guitarist Susan Tedeschi. Their annual Wheels of Soul Tour is a highlight of the summer season every year at Wolf Trap, and this year’s event, which also featured East LA rockers Los Lobos and Tedeschi Trucks keyboardist Gabe Dixon in an opening slot was all about family. Over the course of three sets and four hours, fans got to see these first-class musicians play with each other in a joyous, celebratory atmosphere.

Preview: The Black Keys @ Merriweather Post Pavilion, 7/25/22

Posted on July 18, 2022 by Parklifer in Preview and tagged blues, garage, Merriweather Post Pavilion, Nashville, Tennessee, The Black Keys.

The Black Keys (Photo by Jim Herrington)

The Black Keys have launched their Dropout Boogie Tour, a 32-date North American run produced by Live Nation coming to Merriweather Post Pavilion on Monday, July 25.

This is the band’s first string of shows since touring in support of their 2019 studio album Let’s Rock (Nonesuch), and they will be supported by Band of Horses and Ceramic Animal.

Live Review: Fantastic Negrito w/ Mike Montali @ 9:30 Club — 6/22/22

Posted on June 27, 2022 by Mark Engleson in Live Review and tagged 9:30 Club, blues, California, Fantastic Negrito, folk, Mike Montali, Oakland, R&B, Rashad Polk.

Fantastic Negrito performs at 9:30 Club on June 22, 2022. (Photos by Rashad Polk; Words by Mark Engleson)

Fantastic Negrito’s latest album, White Jesus, Black Problems, is deeply personal. It delves into family history, into the story of his seventh-generation great-grandparents, an enslaved Black man and indentured Scottish servant woman, who came together in Virginia in 1759. That’s not to say his other albums aren’t personal as well: The Last Days of Oakland is very much about the city where he was raised as one of 14 children. But the focus in his recent performance at the 9:30 Club was on telling the story of that interracial union.

“I wasn’t who I thought I was,” Fantastic Negrito explained. “But I’m exactly who I need to be.”

Live Review: Bonnie Raitt w/ Lucinda Williams @ Wolf Trap — 6/10/22

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Mark Engleson in Live Review and tagged Americana, blues, Bonnie Raitt, California, Lucinda Williams, Wolf Trap.

Bonnie Raitt (Photo by Susan Weiand)

I don’t normally begin a show review by talking about an opener rather than the headliner, but I’m going to break from precedent and start this blog by talking about Lucinda Williams’s opening set for Bonnie Raitt at Wolf Trap on Friday.

In the evening’s most emotional moment — and it was an evening full of emotional moments — the crowd rose and gave her a standing ovation when she explained she wasn’t playing guitar because she had survived a stroke late last year. Her band included an additional guitarist to cover those parts, and she had some assistance with with taking and leaving the stage, but she stood, strong and proud, for the entirety of her roughly hour-long set.

Live Review: One Way Out @ DC9 — 6/4/22

Posted on June 9, 2022 by Mark Caicedo in Live Review, Local Spotlight and tagged blues, DC, DC9, hard rock, One Way Out.

One Way Out performs at DC9 on June 4, 2022. (Photos by Mark Caicedo; Words by Mickey McCarter)

It’s not every day that you encounter a band that’s not old enough to drink but has more love for Led Zeppelin than they do Machine Gun Kelly.

But hearing is believing in this case! The young members of One Way Out rocked hard at DC9 recently for a hometown stop on their Music and Euphoria Summer Tour.

Preview: Bonnie Raitt w/ Lucinda Williams @ Wolf Trap, 6/10/22

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Parklifer in Preview and tagged Americana, blues, Bonnie Raitt, California, Lucinda Williams, Wolf Trap.

Bonnie Raitt (Photo by Shervin Lainez)

Following major acclaim for her brand new album Just Like That…, the legendary Bonnie Raitt performs at Wolf Trap on Friday, June 10. And she brings along with her special guest Lucinda Williams!

Limited tickets remain for this wonderful show.

Live Review: Anders Osborne and Jackie Greene @ The Hamilton Live — 5/27/22

Posted on May 31, 2022 by Mark Engleson in Live Review and tagged Americana, Anders Osborne, blues, Jackie Greene, Nashville, Tennessee, The Hamilton, The Hamilton Live.

Anders Osborne (Photo by Brandt Vicknair)

Anders Osborne cuts a unique figure on the musical scene. A native of Sweden, the longtime resident of New Orleans has become a fixture and even an elder statesman of that city’s music scene. As a performer, his own musical stylings hew strongly to the blues and R&B of his adopted city, with connections to the related jam band scene. (He often plays with Luther and Cody Dickinson’s Hill Country blues-meets-band jam band, The North Mississippi Allstars, as North Mississippi Osborne.)

As a songwriter — which has been, throughout his career, his principal employment — his greatest success has come through the Nashville country music establishment, where he was employed for decades as a staff songwriter, and commuted between the cities. In 2003, Tim McGraw’s cover of his “Watch The Wind Go By” reached number on the country charts.