ROMP: Bluegrass Roots & Branches festival in Owensboro, Kentucky, features return performances from Carolina Chocolate Drops, Punch Brothers ... Laurie Anderson joins Angélique Kidjo for Celebrate Brooklyn! ... Billy Bragg, Shawn Colvin each tour the US Northeast ... Dr. John, Lianne La Havas play Hop Farm fest ... Emmylou Harris is in Michigan and on Animal Radio ... k.d. lang plays in her new hometown of Portland ... Pat Metheny Unity Band tours Europe ... Joshua Redman joins The Bad Plus in Minnesota ... Sara Watkins joins her brother Sean for the Watkins Family Hour in LA ... and more ...
ROMP: Bluegrass Roots & Branches festival takes place at Yellow Creek Park in Owensboro, Kentucky, this weekend, featuring return performances from two Nonesuch groups who performed at last year's festival: Carolina Chocolate Drops and Punch Brothers. The event helps raise funds for the International Bluegrass Music Museum, which showcases Kentucky's official state music, and includes artist-hosted instrument workshops and late-night "after party" sets in addition to the three-day line-up of on-stage performances.
Punch Brothers take the stage tonight and Carolina Chocolate Drops on Saturday, just before Old Crow Medicine Show closes out the festival. The Chocolate Drops precede their ROMP set with a show at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, tonight.
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John Adams's Nixon in China continues its San Francisco premiere run with the San Francisco Opera's performance at the War Memorial Opera House on Saturday night. The San Francisco Chronicle calls the production "suave, imaginative, and superbly sung." The final performance is on Tuesday.
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Laurie Anderson performs at the Prospect Park Bandshell in Brooklyn on Saturday as a special guest in Angélique Kidjo's Women Waging Peace, a tribute to the late Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai. The concert is part of the Celebrate Brooklyn! series of free concerts.
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Björk brings the music of her latest album, Biophilia, to Lyon, France, on Saturday for a set at the Nuits de Fourvière Festival.
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Billy Bragg continues his Ain't Nobody That Can Sing Like Me Tour of the United States, featuring the words of Woody Guthrie set to music by Bragg and Wilco, as heard on Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, as well as favorite songs from throughout his career. The tour makes three stops in the Northeast this weekend: at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, Maine, tonight; The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Saturday; and Higher Ground in South Burlington, Vermont, on Sunday.
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Shawn Colvin performs at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center in Westhampton Beach, New York, tonight and at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia on Saturday. The Boston Globe, reviewing a recent concert, found Colvin in "sterling voice." The concerts feature songs from Colvin's new album, All Fall Down, which the Globe calls "superb," all delivered "with perfect pitch and quiet charm."
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Dr. John launches his European summer tour with performances at the Hop Farm Music Festival in Paddock Wood, England, today and at the Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois-sur-Seine in France on Saturday.
Also performing at Hop Farm today is Lianne La Havas, whose new album, Is Your Love Big Enough?, is due out in the US in August.
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Emmylou Harris performs at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, tonight. Harris spoke with the Grand Rapids Press in advance of tonight's concert and its idyllic surroundings, with writer Lorilee Craker describing Harris's shows as well as "natural wonders." Read the article at mlive.com.
Fans both in and outside of Grand Rapids can tune in to Animal Radio this weekend to hear Harris on the show, said to be America's "most listened-to" pet show. It airs on radio stations across the country and nationwide on XM satellite radio channel 166 at noon on Saturday and 5 PM ET on Sunday.
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Wanda Jackson is on tour in Europe, making two stops in England this weekend, performing in People's Park in Jersey for the Folklore Festival on Saturday and at the Wildest Cats in Town in Lowestoft, Suffolk, on Sunday.
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k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang are on the West Coast this weekend, performing two shows in her former home state of California—at the Gallo Center for the Arts' Mary Stuart Rogers Theater in Modesto tonight and the Black Oak Ranch in Laytonville for the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival on Saturday—followed by a performance at the Oregon Zoo in her new hometown of Portland on Sunday.
Yes, the Portland show is a homecoming of sorts for lang, who recently moved to the city. She spoke with The Oregonian's Kristi Turnquist about the move and what brought her to the Rose City. Find out what she had to say at oregonlive.com.
Broadway World's David Green, reviewing one recent "pitch perfect" California show from k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang, writes: "There are rare times when you sit in the theatre and have to pinch yourself and think 'Memorize this moment—it is something very special.' Last night, I spent the evening with k.d. lang and it was truly one of those rare and special moments."
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The Pat Metheny Unity Band—featuring Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet, drummer Antonio Sanchez, and bassist Ben Williams—continues its European tour with a concert at the Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna tonight and the Théàtre du Casino d'Enghie in Enghien les Bains, France, on Sunday.
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Joshua Redman performs as a special guest of The Bad Plus at Mears Park in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday for the Twin Cities Jazz Festival.
Members of the band spoke with the Minneapolis Star Tribune about Saturday's show and the roots of their relationship with Redman. Read the story at startribune.com.
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Sara Watkins joins her brother Sean for the latest in the Watkins Family Hour series of shows at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles on Saturday. Also joining them for the show is Val McCallum, Z Berg, Davíd Garza, and other very special guests.
The latest episode of the Watkins Family Hour podcast, recorded live at a recent Largo show, is now available for free at iTunes. Also available is Watkins' latest album, Sun Midnight Sun, released this spring on Nonesuch.
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