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Tonight: Tweedy

Father and son make their way through town tonight in the newest creation by Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy. With Jeff taking his usual spot at guitar and lead singer, you can find his oldest son, Spencer, behind him on drums. Listening to their music, you get the sense that it’s more than just a hash mark off Jeff’s list of “things to do as an accomplished musician.” Beyond the blood they share, the lyrics are personal—in many places you can see themes of the most intense thing the two now face on this earth: a mom and wife fighting with cancer. The duo’s first album, Sukierae, is indeed named after Jeff’s wife, Sue Miller. It features 20 songs soaked with a Jeff Tweedy at his most raw. But then again, I suppose his lyrics are always served best with a high dose of emotional turbulence. While in many cases[...]

Tonight: Ark Life

Buffalo will get a dose of Colorado tonight as Ark Life makes it’s way through town, breathing magic into the newly reopened Mohawk Place with their soul-steeped take on folk-rock. This is a band that hit the ground running—they’ve been together little over year, with one record under their belts and nearly 200 shows in their pockets. They’ve shared bills with the likes of Shakey Graves, of Montreal, Barcelona and Warpaint, and have a string of shows with Dispatch and State Radio guitarist Chadwick Stokes coming up in early November. Their summer tour dates now blending into fall, this quintet will bring their stories with them, soaked in the harmonies and passion that have led them down such a thunderous road of early success. Joining them will be Buffalo romantic-folkies Tiny Rhymes. 8pm start. $5 gets you a couple ears full of beautiful tunes.

Keller Williams

It’s Friday, September 12th, which means Keller Williams’ show at the Tralf is exactly one week away. I sat down to call him on one of those typical, overcast Buffalo mornings of early fall. You know, where the chill makes it hard to get out of bed, and you realize how much you’re still holding on to summer. It’s his second day at the much warmer Utopiafest in south-central Texas, and he’s getting ready to play a set with Grateful Grass, one of the many side projects in which he currently dabbles. They just released their second of two live albums in August—a fundraising initiative to benefit the REX Foundation, a non-profit started by the Grateful Dead. Appropriately, it’s titled DOS. buffaBLOG: Last time I saw you was at Summer Camp in May with More Than a Little. How’s your summer been? Keller Williams: It’s been super fun. It kind of[...]

Tonight: Greensky Bluegrass

It takes a relentless disregard for boundary to push the music like Greensky does. They have this uncanny aversion to falling in line with what so many might think of as bluegrass in the conventional sense. Where the skill of songwriting is mixed with the finesse of an all string quartet, this progressive ensemble takes root in an old genre, turning it on its head to make it new. Hell, if nothing else, the proclamation lies in the name, as if trying to say, “it’s opposite day, and we’re here to fuck with all of your preconceptions.” You see a lot of jam bands make that push—one could argue it’s stylistically inherent to the approach—and in many cases it’s easy to see where the bluegrass roots have taken hold. Phish, String Cheese Incident, or moe., just to name a few. And while I hesitate to stick Greensky with the jam[...]

Faux Leather Jacket Releases Music Video for “Only I Can Break My Heart”

Rochester’s alt-country rockers, Faux Leather Jacket, released a music video late last week for “Only I Can Break My Heart,” the shining track on their debut EP, Sorry, Bud. In collaboration with Rocco Hagan, who shot and edited the video, it features a dreamlike montage of friends goofing off, dudes playing with hatchets, and, as many of us can relate to, a man on a mission to make things as hard as possible for himself. With a wisdom of the ages, this youthful group highlights the song’s title through the pointed words of a repeating chorus: “Don’t go feeling guilty/ Don’t even start/ It’s like I’ve told you once/ Only I can break my heart.” It only seems right, then, that the video’s protagonist (songwriter, lead vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Trevor Courneen) might be likened to something of Sisyphus, as he makes a hellish journey across town hauling a burlap sack[...]

Tonight: Mr. Boneless

When I first checked out Mr. Boneless’ latest album, Cutting Teeth, I was at a loss for what to make of the guys on the other side of my headphones. You begin with a pedestrian, almost mechanic rhythm of some rockabillies getting ready to roll through tales of train hopping or sipping on moonshine or some shit like Oklahoma, and just when you think you’ve got them pegged, they turn the on the distortion and kick it up to 90. With instrumental foundations in the blues and a tendency towards punk rock screaming, it’s pretty clear this band has no qualms with busting down the walls of genre, or even of finding a placement in one, for that matter. They’ve got a guitar that shreds and a one-of-a-kind singer who doesn’t hesitate to shift his constitution. They’re mad and they’re explorative and they straddle the line of in your face[...]

Tonight: Alan Evan’s Playonbrother

Come check out some interstellar, funkalicious grooves as supplied by Playonbrother tonight at Larkinville, USA. In this melting pot of soul-steeped talent, band-leader (and Buffalo’s own) Alan Evans exhibits the visionary freedom to do more than lay down his traditionally explosive backdrop of drum work—though you can damn well bet he does. In the studio, he demonstrates a variety of instrumental talent, taking guitar, bass, and even mic in hand. He envisions, he records, he mixes, he produces. And perhaps most remarkably, he is able to bring his broad range of talents into the live arena under an umbrella of direction that successfully blends a fiery fusion of Scofield-inspired guitar licks (Danny Mayer) with whirling strokes of organ meanderings (Kris Yunker) as they tactfully improvise their way in and out of focus. It’s an electric wall of funk-rock clamor, one that screams a skill and style to easily separate itself[...]

Tonight: Humminbird

Rock on down to Electric Avenue tonight to catch the avant-garde folk of Chicago’s Humminbird. Normally featuring the ethereal vocals of Muyassar Kurdi and the decisive finger picking of Matthew Schneider on guitar, Kurdi will ride solo this evening with a sound taking on a novelty that almost seems  to come straight off of one of your parent’s old 45’s. Also taking the stage will be Buffalo folk-rockers Difficult Night, as well as the experimental lounge beats of Different Planets. Doors at 10pm.

Tonight: Crows & Jays with FolkFaces

It’s the second Friday of the month, and Buffalo folkies Crows & Jays will be performing with FolkFaces in The Front Yard of the Burchfield Penny Art Museum. Using clever harmonization to emphasize a lyrically driven approach to their take on indie-folk, Crows and Jays have made quite the sonic splash since their 2012 formation. Touring as the opening act for The Whigs only three months into the band’s conception, and with one EP and one LP already floating in their wake, this quartet is sure to bring some live and folked-out energy to the Elmwood Village tonight. Walking a more roots-driven line down the broad paths of bluegrass, jazz, ragtime, and more, the folks of FolkFaces tout an array of instrumental talent. Dobro, banjo, upright bass, washboard and harmonica, just to name a few. Together, these two bands should prove perfect compliments under the warm-setting sun of a Buffalo[...]

Tonight: All American Music Party ft. Dear Rabbit

It’s an all American extravaganza, featuring none other than one-man-band Dear Rabbit, with his gypsy-like assemblage of accordion, guitar, cornet, and a fresh new album to top it all off. Joining the cast will be purveyors of Bela Bartok and other European folk jams Shubbaluliuma, as well as songwriter Joseph Murray Myers. It’s all going down tonight at 100 Plymouth Ave, 10:30 pm. $5 dollar suggested donation. Fireworks not included. BYOB. Dear Rabbit / When The Well Dries Out from HISTORIAN SESSIONS on Vimeo.

Tonight: Dirty Dozen Brass Band

The jazz-infused horns of New Orleans’ Dirty Dozen Brass Band will be boogying their way through town tonight for what promises to be the most intimate of get-downs at Main Street’s Tralf Music Hall. Known for a broad incorporation of bebop, funk, and rhythm n’ blues into the foundation of their jazz-based approach to improvisation, their sound is as much a melting pot of genre as it is of talent. With their five-horn collective and a supporting rotation of instrumentation to top it off, the grooves are sure to be tight and the dance floor boppin.’ Be careful out there Buffalovians, things might get dirty. Tickets for $24 day of, dancing shoes not included. Doors at 7pm.

Tonight: An Evening With moe.

Earlier this week, I put out an article featuring an interview with moe. drummer Vinnie Amico. Tonight, he and the band will be coming to Canalside for a free show at Buffalo’s waterfront venue. To see the part of the interview where he reminisces about his Buffalo roots, and for a preview of moe.’s impending show, check out the article beyond. With their first Buffalo appearance of the year, moe. will be spending an evening at the Harbor, in the city where their humble beginnings as a local bar band first brought them into the public eye. In a conversation I had with Vinnie a few weeks ago, we spent some time talking about Buffalo as the city that fostered both his and moe.’s growth as musicians. They’ve come a long way since playing in those dingy bars littered around the city, so I asked him what kind of meaning[...]

A Time of Music, The Music of Time

As far as bands go, there are many comparisons you could hail in speaking between the two. They each frolic on the edge of rock, offering a heavy improvisational approach to their music that transcends the boundary of genre and gives a dynamic sense of adventure to their respective sounds. And just as moe. cut their teeth around the gritty Buffalo bar scene before breaking into regions far and wide, so too did Aqueous, albeit over a decade later. But around here the footprints still feel fresh, and time has a funny way of morphing conceptions, of turning prodigies into legends and making legends seem they always were. Though maybe that’s just my tendency towards romantic analogy when it comes to music. After all, I’m still young, and I can’t say that I was entirely present for either group’s ascension to their current music posts. To start, moe. came up[...]

Tonight: William Fitzsimmons w/Leif Vollebekk

William Fitzsimmons will hit Buffalo Iron Works tonight with his contemplative crooning and the sophisticatedly subdued finger picking of his acoustic guitar. He’s a man who’s known conflict and sings to tell the tale, touring on the fruits of his latest studio effort, Lions (2014). Helping him out is Montreal-based singer-songwriter Leif Vollebekk, touring on his own latest release, North Americana (2014). Featuring the likes of Arcade Fire’s Sara Neufeld on violin, and Vollebekk himself on guitar, piano, harmonica, fiddle, and of course, the vocals that drive it all, the album culminates in the finessed production of a man on an international ramble for the perfect take. Together, the two should put on an indie-folk show filled with a sentiment to withstand the ages. Doors at 8pm, tickets for a $20 spot.

Tonight: Willie Nelson & Alison Krauss

Hop on that country wagon when Willy Nelson & Family hit the stage tonight with Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas at Lewiston’s Artpark. A man who needs no introduction, Willie has made a name for himself through the endless stream of albums he’s masterminded, the 30-something movies he’s acted in, the several books he’s written, and the activism he’s fueled by his own creative genius. As for Alison Krauss, underneath her 27 Grammy Awards and 49 nominations—she won her first in 1991, when she was only 20—is a virtuoso credited with helping to renew popular interest in bluegrass in the United States. Between the sweet finesse of her fiddle, the graceful range of her voice, and the raw talent that comprises her backing band Union Station, there are few that stand ahead in bridging the roots/country gap. Roll one up and come enjoy the scenery-backed country tunes. Doors[...]