Show 8pm // $18 Advance // $22 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
GLITTERFOX
The Portland based band Glitterfox has released five singles in just six months under their new record label Kill Rock Stars, with two more arriving this Spring. The band’s been growing steadily since “Drive” came out in August 2023, with their indie rock recipe that deftly balances Southern songwriting shine and nostalgia-fueled anthems.
The four-piece band’s songwriters and front persons, married couple Solange Igoa and Andrea Walker, have always channeled their personal struggles as well as experiences as queer, neurodiverse individuals into their songwriting.
Bassist Eric Stalker and drummer Blaine Heinonen bring a love of Americana, grunge, and dance music into the mix. All of these influences can be heard on the band’s latest singles, produced by Chris Funk of The Decemberists, and in their spirited live shows as they prepare for their full-length album debut in 2025.
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $24 Advance & $28 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
WEEDEATER with Special Guest REBELMATIC
and BARF
Show 8pm // $22 Advance & $27 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
COLBY ACUFF
with BENJAMIN DAKOTA ROGERS
Sometimes it seems like country has forgotten its wild roots – or least outgrown them, changing
as it has to reflect an ever-evolving world. Then there’s a guy like Colby Acuff.
A fourth generation Idaho native with a rugged spirit true to his mountain home, honest-to-a-fault
lyrics and a sound as raw as the remote wilderness, Acuff’s untamed brand of country stands
proudly apart in today’s format, pure and untouched by modern gimmicks.
Self-taught and largely self-contained, he’s already used it to find success on his own terms. Just
don’t expect him to follow the pack.
“If you wanna do something right, you’ve gotta do it yourself,” Acuff says, speaking with the
hardscrabble charm of an old-soul troubadour.
Hailing from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, a Rocky Mountain oasis near the very top of the continental
U.S., that proudly-independent attitude forms the heart of Acuff’s outgoing personality – and a
creative drive stretching all the way back.
Growing up, Acuff was always busy with three things – fishing, duck hunting and making music –
and it was music that captured his imagination. He learned piano at 5, drums at 9 and guitar at 11,
took the stage for the first time at 12 and was even writing songs by 15 – and even those early
efforts were unique, inspired by bold artistic outliers.
Favorites included bluegrass trailblazers like Flatt & Scruggs, who broke away from the great Bill
Monroe to go their own way, plus country “outlaws” like Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson –
some of the first to successfully buck the Nashville system. Even modern-day mavericks like
Sturgill Simpson and Tyler Childers have his admiration, although Acuff has always followed his
own winding path. So winding, in fact, he eventually wondered what else he could do ... and with
typical go-your-own-way flair, went and found out.
Studying economics in college, Acuff excelled in finance, sold real estate for rent money and was
even offered a job as a junior stockbroker – a cushy opportunity for any recent graduate. But he
turned it down cold. He could have worked 15 years and been handed a successful business,
Acuff explains. But that wasn’t him. As much as he bristled at the thought of office life, even
worse would be following a course he didn’t chart himself.
Instead, Acuff became a fly-fishing guide, spending days on the river and selling out bars each
night. The hometown hero traveled the Northwest releasing three independent albums from 2020
through 2022, including the “life changing” If I Were the Devil.
From two-stepping honky tonk anthems with a frontier philosopher's eye, to serene campfire
confessions, full of spiritual scar tissue and road-weary wisdom, each one was written solo and
pulled straight from the life he actually lived – and because of that, none were your “typical”
country song.
“I’ve never written for radio, I’ve never written for anything other than me and my fans – and I
don’t write love songs,” Acuff says with a laugh. “My girlfriend hates that about me.”
Working with acclaimed producer/engineer Eddie Spear (Zach Bryan, Brandi Carlile, Cody Jinks),
Acuff’s released his major label debut, Western White Pines, in 2023. Another batch of gritty,
solo-written songs – plus the first ever cowrites of a promising career – it introduced a country
talent as wild and free as the Idaho mountains themselves. The collection was regarded as one of
the year’s best albums by Saving Country Music, Whiskey Riff, All Country News, Country Chord,
and more.
He’s on the road with Flatland Cavalry and 49 Winchester throughout the spring and will join
Luke Combs for stadium dates across the country this summer. But despite this new chapter, he’s
got no plans of taming down.
“You’ve got two options: you can make music for you and the people who are gonna hear it, or
you can make music for the people who are gonna pay for it,” Acuff says. “And I always lean
toward making music for you and your fans.”
ColbyAcuff.com | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $24 General Admission
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
PETTY THEFT - SAN FRANCISCO TRIBUTE TO TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $27 Advance & $32 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
STEPHEN INGLLIS, BARRY SLESS & ROB BARRACO
In April 2024, Stephen Inglis had the great honor of playing with Rob Baracco during his opening set for Darkstar Orchestra at the Hawaiʻi Theatre. One song into their soundcheck, both Baracco and Inglis decided that they needed to get together for some trio shows with their mutual friend, the amazing Barry Sless.
Longtime friends and musical collaborators, Barry and Rob had already talked about Inglis and Slessʻ recent duo shows where they set sail with traditional Hawaiian songs, Inglis originals, favorites from the Grateful Dead and Dylan songbooks and much more, to rapturous reception of music loving crowds in California and Hawaiʻi. After the Hawaiʻi Theatre show, it was clear that adding Baraccoʻs keyboard virtuosity to this delicious musical stew, was an idea too good to pass on. Donʻt miss the debut of Slack, Steel and Song with special guest Rob Baracco!
Rob has been a professional musician all his adult life. He’s probably most known for his work touring with Phil Lesh & Friends, The Dead, and his current band Dark Star Orchestra, who he’s been touring with since 2005. Rob has one solo CD co-written with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, titled "When We All Come Home”.
Barry has been making frequent trips to the islands over the past few decades as a member of The David Nelson Band and other acts, which has kindled his love of Hawaiian music. He was a frequent member of Phil Lesh’s touring bands from the early 2000’s and currently tours as a member of Bobby Weir and Wolf Bros, Moonalice, and continues in his 30th year with David Nelson Band.
Born and raised in Honolulu, Stephen plays Grammy-nominated Hawaiian slack key and is equally at home playing improv-rock on the electric guitar. He is the 2021 recipient of the Ki Hōʻalu Legacy Award (Honoring those who perpetuate the art if Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar) giving him his third nod at the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards; Hawaiʻiʻs highest musical honor. One
of those is for the duet album with the legendary Dennis Kamakahi; Waimaka Helelei, which is on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Barely out of his teens, Stephen formed a group with legendary Grateful Dead drummer, Bill Kreutzmann.
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $24 Advance & $26 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
BOOSTIVE
with DRIFTR
Boostive believes strongly in the energy created through collaboration. The groups diverse cultural and musical backrounds meld into a massive yet singular sound that can only be created by a tight knit family of musicians. Some going back over 20 years, these friendships are felt in the live performance, welcoming audiences of all kinds into the excitement and unity presented on stage.
Doors 7pm // Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $25 Advance $30 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
COUCH
with SOPHIA JAMES
Boston-based band Couch infuses pop with funk, rock, and R&B/soul. Their vibrant sound is further defined by the members’ backgrounds in jazz, a cappella, and musical theater.
Until Spring 2021, Couch members were scattered across the country at various universities; they tackled the challenges of being a “long-distance” band, writing and even recording virtually for three years. Despite these challenges, they celebrated the release of their debut EP, “COUCH,” in February 2021 as well as three new singles and a headline tour in 2022.
In 2023, Couch released their sophomore EP, Sunshower, accompanied by an eponymous 20-city national tour, performances at Boston Calling and Levitate, and a sold-out UK tour.
Couch injects each project with their signature flavor: expressive horns, warm vocals, and bubbling synths—crafting an oasis of joy for musicians and non-musicians alike. Stay up to date on their activity by following them on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
SOPHIA JAMES
Sophia James is a once in a generation vocal talent, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. Born into a family of famous touring musicians, Sophia’s life has been spent performing, creating and breathing music. As a new artist with over 23 million streams from independent releases, Sophia can be described as “timeless authenticity”, in an age characterized by of-the-moment trends. Since graduating from UCLA music school in 2022, Sophia has been writing, releasing, and performing her own music. Equally confident with a full band, solo, or with a looping machine, she has toured extensively, and has recently opened for acts such as Eloise, Jensen McRae, Cannons and Couch. Her third EP “Clockwork” is set to release on April 1st.
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $22 Advance & $25 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
SAMBADÁ
Show 8pm // $15 General Admission
***This is a fully seated general admission show. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Show 7:30pm // $10 at the door
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
This coming Summer Solstice Friday June 21st 2024 Them Dirt Rakers are hosting their 3rd “Americana Night” at Felton Music Hall sharing there set with local musical legend special guest Patti Maxine. We Also are featuring SUGAR BY THE POUND duo Erin Valdiva and Cristy Aloysi also accompanied by Patti Maxine . Our 3rd local band is AXE & ROSE … everyone for this “Americana Night” / Summer Solstice event resides here locally… a true “Local Flavored event”
PATTI MAXINE
Lap steel virtuoso and vocal stylist, Patti Maxine has become a household word in Santa Cruz area as well as Hawaiian circles. A musical Swiss army knife, she handles a variety of styles with ease, sliding gracefully from Hawaiian to swing, from R&B and rock, from blues , jazz and Americana. She has played with countless bands, established and up-and- coming musicians and visiting Hawaiian players. Audiences love her incredible musicianship and unique vocal interpretation along with her comfortable and fun stage presence, and undeniable oneness with her music. She always leaves 'em wanting more.
Her achievements include: World Championship Steel Guitar 1955 (Ohio - age 17!), induction in Sacramento Western Swing Society Hall of Fame in 2011, Gail Rich award 2017, San Lorenzo Valley Woman of the Year 2018, Good Times cover story 2018, and participation as a master player at the Lap Steel Festival on Maui from 2014-2018.
SUGAR BY THE POUND (duo):
Erin Valdivia (guitar, bass and vocals ) and Cristy Aloysi (mandolin and vocals) of Sugar By the Pound explore musical styles ranging from old time, to folk, bluegrass and americana with a captivating mix of original and cover tunes. Sugar by the pound is an all women's string band from the Santa Cruz mountains… Erin and Cristy will also be accompanied by Lap steel virtuoso and vocal stylist Patti Maxine
AXE & ACOUSTIC:
Axe & Acoustic is a local band with both acoustic and electric roots. A blend of favorite classics from Tom Petty and Bob Dylan and lesser known but dearly loved tunes by Uncle Tupelo and Gilyan Welch are rounded out with fun originals. This high energy foot stompin’ band features Chad on guitar, harmonica and vocals, Pam on guitar, dobro and vocals ( from The Swirly Girls )and Michele DeMay on tight drums. Don’t miss this band!
A little about the hosting Band :
DIRT RAKERS:
The Dirt Rakers are an Americana (Santa Cruz mountains honey jar Americana) band featuring Erik Rozite (guitar and vocals), Jayne Williams (mandolin and vocals), Jay Hansen (lead acoustic resonator guitar, slide), and Jojo Fox (bass and harmonies) Louisa Sandman (washboard). We're a home-brewed group out of the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains, blending a high octane / cask-fermented feel, purdy harmonies, and a deep love of all rootsy genres of music. Rock, country, bluegrass, blues, jam band and folk all swirl together in our magical musical brew. We mix our original songs with some covers by anyone from Tom Petty, Wilco, Neil Young, and Devil Makes Three to old school tunes like Hank Williams, and The Carter Family … We're a bunch of good-time friends playing good-time music.
OUR Album “FOGGY FOREST” can be found :
Our website is dirtrakers.com where you can find out where we are playing and or have played (flyer section) we also have a few videos and pictures on our website for your viewing
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $32 Advance & $37 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
BLIND PILOT
Blind Pilot, which consists of Israel Nebeker, Ryan Dobrowski, Kati Claborn, Dave Jorgensen, Ian Krist and Luke Ydstie, was formed in Portland, Oregon in 2007 when songwriter Israel Nebeker and co-founding member Ryan Dobrowski went on a west coast tour via bicycle. Twelve years later, Blind Pilot has released three studio albums, 3 Rounds And A Sound (2008), We Are The Tide (2011) and And Then Like Lions (2016) and has sold out concerts throughout the U.S., Europe and the UK since its inception. The band has performed on Ellen and The Late Show With David Letterman as well as at Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza among others.
Show 8pm // $20 Advance / $22 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
MARISSA NADLER
with SCOUT GILLETT
Over the course of nearly 20 tireless years of writing, recording, and touring, Marissa Nadler has amassed one of the most singular catalogs in contemporary music. Her work glides between delicate folk, windswept Americana, doom metal-adjacent darkness, meditative ambient music, and fearlessly experimental sounds, all anchored in her unmistakable singing voice and finger-style guitar.
Shortly after finishing her Masters degree at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Nadler released her first proper full-length album, the ethereal Ballads of Living and Dying, in2004. Though she was initially associated with the indie-folk movement, Nadler soon distinguished herself with her willingness to go darker and more personal, writing songs that felt deeply intimate with solitude and heartbreak while still retaining an otherworldly sheen. If she was born a century earlier, it’s not a stretch to imagine that her vast talents would be mistaken for conjured magic.
After a decade of releasing records with various labels and on her own, Nadler joined forces with Sacred Bones Records and Bella Union for 2014’s seismic July. That record marked a kind of reset in Nadler’s career, and the sounds she explored there served as a jumping off point for subsequent modern classics like For My Crimes and her collaboration with Stephen Brodsky, Droneflower — both of which she created the cover art for.
The Path of the Clouds is Nadler’s ninth solo album, and it feels like yet another significant evolution. Two decades into a storied career, there’s still an untapped reservoir of thrilling musical ideas and stirring emotions lurking in her endlessly creative mind.
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $17 Advance & $22 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
MOUNTAIN GRASS UNIT SUMMER TOUR
Mountain Grass Unit consists of three Birmingham pickers, Drury Anderson (mandolin and vocals), Luke Black (acoustic guitar and banjo), and Sam Wilson (upright bass). Mountain Grass Unit has played music festivals, private functions and multiple music venues, playing bluegrass tunes and adding a bluegrass touch to country, jazz, funk, rock, and even metal. With the addition of Luke Black and Sam Wilson on harmonies, Mountain Grass Unit has established the firm foundation to take on not only the vocal harmonies of traditional bluegrass tunes, but also the freedom to adapt songs from various genres to an all-acoustic format. Aside from their original songs, all three are equally comfortable restyling a Tony Rice number, a classic Grateful Dead tune, or covering contemporary acoustic masters like Billy Strings. The youthful exuberance and energy they bring to the stage is always remarkable. Their competency at what they do was best described by Birmingham music promoter Steve Masterson when the boys performed at his Acoustic Café festival: "They don't just play good for their age, they play good. Period." Sam, Luke, and Drury are excited to share with their audiences this new and exciting musical chapter.
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $17 Advance & $22 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
MOUNTAIN GRASS UNIT SUMMER TOUR
Mountain Grass Unit consists of three Birmingham pickers, Drury Anderson (mandolin and vocals), Luke Black (acoustic guitar and banjo), and Sam Wilson (upright bass). Mountain Grass Unit has played music festivals, private functions and multiple music venues, playing bluegrass tunes and adding a bluegrass touch to country, jazz, funk, rock, and even metal. With the addition of Luke Black and Sam Wilson on harmonies, Mountain Grass Unit has established the firm foundation to take on not only the vocal harmonies of traditional bluegrass tunes, but also the freedom to adapt songs from various genres to an all-acoustic format. Aside from their original songs, all three are equally comfortable restyling a Tony Rice number, a classic Grateful Dead tune, or covering contemporary acoustic masters like Billy Strings. The youthful exuberance and energy they bring to the stage is always remarkable. Their competency at what they do was best described by Birmingham music promoter Steve Masterson when the boys performed at his Acoustic Café festival: "They don't just play good for their age, they play good. Period." Sam, Luke, and Drury are excited to share with their audiences this new and exciting musical chapter.
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $41 Advance & $46 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
THE ENGLISH BEAT
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $24 General Admission
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
THE PURPLE ONES: INSATIABLE TRIBUTE TO PRINCE + THE BLACK STONE FUNK REVIVAL
Felton's FUNKIEST Prince party!
Since 2012, Oakland California’s The Purple Ones treat the music and patented vibe of Prince’s legacy with the utmost respect. The musical dexterity of The Purple Ones – with 10-12 pieces on stage (including a 3-4 piece horn section and 3 vocalists that trade off lead vocals) – delivers their own spin on Prince’s (and other Prince related artists such as The Revolution, The New Power Generation, Sheila E., Morris Day & The Time and the general Minneapolis Sound) live onstage, as this funk machine, dance party has to be experienced to be believed!
Show 8pm // $34 Advance $37 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
PROTOJE MEETS TIPPY I
Born and raised in Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica to singer Lorna Bennett and former calypso king Mike Ollivierre, Protoje blends hip hop, soul and jazz into his native sounds of reggae and dancehall. The musical prodigy, along with a collective of artists, began getting mainstream attention for their addictive melodies and conscious lyrical messages in a movement dubbed the “reggae revival.” Around this time, his 2014 breakthrough anthem “Who Knows” ft. Chronixx was heard blaring through every street, sound system and party. Publications such as VOGUE, i-D, Rolling Stone and The FADER declared him one of the brightest talents out of Jamaica. He has performed on Later...With Jools Holland, NPR Tiny Desk, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon & The Late Show with Stephen Colbert #PlayAtHome. Jorja Smith, Alicia Keys, Wiz Khalifa, Pa Salieu, Popcaan, Chronixx and Koffee are just a few of the artists he has collaborated with musically. His song "Switch It Up" with Koffee shined as the 2nd Song Selected on Barack Obama's 2021 Summer Playlist. He has toured with Ms. Lauryn Hill, headlined sold out shows and appeared on major festivals including Roots Picnic (U.S.), Coachella (US), Glastonbury (UK), Afropunk (US), Reading & Leeds (UK), Sole DXB (Dubai) and Lollapalooza (Chile), reaching audiences far and wide with his genre-fusing sound. He also founded his own label and management company Indiggnation Collective, "a significant incubator for Jamaica's new emerging soundscape" (NYLON) which signed talent from the island. In 2020, he inked individual deals for himself and Indiggnation Collective artists Lila Iké, Sevana and Jaz Elise with RCA Records. Protoje is an artist acutely aware of the passage of time, as evident by his album discography: 7 Year Itch, The 8 Year Affair, Ancient Future, A Matter Of Time, In Search of Lost Time and Third Time's The Charm. He received his two Best Reggae Album GRAMMY nominations for 2018’s A Matter Of Time and 2022’s Third Time's The Charm.
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $22 General Admission
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
PETE FLOYD - Premier 8-Piece Pink Floyd Tribute
Pete Floyd is a premier Pink Floyd Tribute Experience led by two Petes. This 8-piece band brings authentic album-worthy renditions of Pink Floyd favorites with soaring vocal talents, exquisite musicianship, and visual experiences that has grown their fanbase exponentially and sold out local venues since the founding in 2021.
Pete Delaney - Guitar/Vocals, Pete Hale - Guitar/Vocals, Teal Collins- Guitar/Vocals, Bob McBain - Keys, Toby Tyler - Bass, Sean England - Drums, Paige Clem-Vocals and Alex Garcia-Sax and Keys
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $22 Advance & $27 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
JAKE XERXES FUSSELL
with Special Guest ROBIN HOLCOMB
Reared in Georgia and now settled in North Carolina, Jake Xerxes Fussell has established himself as a devoted listener and contemplative interpreter of a vast array of so-called folk songs, lovingly sourced from a personal store of favorites. On his latest album, When I’m Called—his first LP for Fat Possum, and his first as a parent—Fussell returns to a well of music that holds lifelong sentimental meaning, loosely contemplating the passage of time and the procession of life’s unexpected offerings.
The album was produced by James Elkington and mixed by Tucker Martine. In addition to Elkington, it features the playing of Ben Whiteley (The Weather Station), Joe Westerlund (Bon Iver, Califone), and others. Blake Mills contributes guitars on several tracks. Joan Shelley and Robin Holcomb provide backing vocals.
“…Fussell is the rare contemporary to approach folk in its pure form, shunning self-penned compositions about bummer relationships to concentrate on material handed down from bygone, hardened times.” – The New Yorker
“(Fussell) is one of the great magpies of American song, collecting forgotten, tarnished gems with a folklorist’s zeal… his renditions aren’t so much cover versions as composites…” – The Guardian
“…maybe the leading interpreter of American folk music right now.” – Ann Powers, NPR
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $34.50 Advance & $39 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
PEDRO THE LION
with DANIELLE DURACK
Pedro The Lion - Early into Santa Cruz, the poignant third album in David Bazan’s ongoing musical memoir of his sometimes-uncanny life, he discovers the Beatles. He is the new kid from Arizona in a new school in the famous California coastal town where his dad has accepted another post at a Bible college. He and his first friend there, Matt, are sitting on the carpet in Matt’s little bedroom, flipping through the records bequeathed by his father, when Bazan spots a familiar cover—The White Album, known only from a church documentary that warned children of the Satanic secrets of “Revolution 9.” Play it backwards, the propaganda said, and it would offer a command: “Turn me on, dead man.”
So, of course, the kids played it forward and were fascinated by the sound, by the imagination, by the act of consecrated creativity far outside of Christian rock. Bazan was 13. “Treading water on the open ocean/Then you threw me out a life ring,” he sings, the smile obvious just through the sound as the beat picks up like a racing pulse, more than three decades later. “All I needed was a little help from a friend.” That is the moment where, in many ways, the remarkable songs of Pedro the Lion begin to take shape.
In 2019, after a 15-year break filled with solo records and side-projects, Bazan returned to the moniker under which he had become one of indie rock’s most identifiable voices and incisive songwriters, Pedro the Lion. He sort of stumbled into 2019’s Phoenix, a charged chronicle of his childhood there, while spending the night with his grandparents during a tour stop. But he soon understood that unpacking his peripatetic youth, where his music minister father shifted around the country like a Marine moving bases, was helpful, healing, and maybe even interesting. The gripping Havasu followed in 2022. Bazan was onto something, untangling all the ways his past had both shaped and misshaped his present inside some of his best songs ever.
That past truly begins to become the present on Santa Cruz, the most fraught and frank album yet in a planned five-album arc; this one covers a little less than a decade, from just after he turned 13 until he turns toward adulthood around 21. These songs ripple with the anxiety and energy of teenage awakening—of hearing rock ’n’ roll, of understanding that independent music exists, of making out with an older schoolmate in deepest secret, of falling in love, of finally starting to understand that in order to be yourself you’re going to need to be something other than your parents’ vision of you. It is the rawest, most affecting and affirming album Pedro the Lion has ever made.
Santa Cruz begins with a prayer that feels like a dirge, a synth-led funeral march to another town where Bazan knows no one. “If I lay it down/And I keep my eyes on you,” he moans, steeling himself through self-sacrifice. “It’ll all work out.” But when he arrives in Santa Cruz to begin eighth grade, the self-flagellation comes quickly, Bazan lecturing himself for the lameness of the neon-green backpack he picked out in Phoenix and the Christian rock that is his lifeblood. For decades now, Bazan has been known for his music’s deliberate pace, often linked to slowcore. Here, however, he renders detailed images in rapid-fire waves, his voice stapled atop the quick rhythm like never before in order to capture his nerves as he learns there might be life outside of his family’s Christian fiefdom—apocrypha, whispers of sex, mere games of ping-pong.
But every time stability seems to appear during these 11 songs, the family is off to another job. By ninth grade, amid the metronomic mile markers of “Tall Pines,” they are headed for little
Paradise, where there are dreams of drum sets and clandestine shirtless make-out sessions when his parents are away. With the stirring “Don’t Cry Now,” as close to a dance track as Pedro the Lion has ever made, they’re bound for Seattle, where Bazan found his own fledgling music scene, deepening friendships, and the dawn rays of what would become his future.
When his family splits for California yet again, he stays behind, living with a friend just so he can graduate from the place where he’s become so invested in drums, guitars, and songs that he’s barely maintained his grades. The day after he graduates, he stuffs everything he owns into plastic garbage bags and heads south with his mom, returning to the family flock, now in Modesto. “You sweetly slept in the passenger seat/I gripped the wheel, messed up inside,” he sings of his mother during “Parting,” his voice a true-to-life admixture of love and longing, of devotion and doubt.
The six-month stay in Modesto, though, would prove to be among the most transformative moments of his life, the slow-motion catapult that sent him into right now. After he quits selling vacuum cleaners to sad women, he nabs a gig at a guitar store. That’s where he hears a crisp piece of lo-fi wizardry from a local Modesto band, a moment that feels almost like a Beatles-sized revelation, a permission slip that says he can, in fact, make music on a scale as small as he wants. He writes the first Pedro the Lion songs there, and, in the cathartic and gorgeous climax of “Modesto,” vows to return to Seattle, to be in a band, to fall in love, to be himself. Its successor, “Spend Time,” feels like some skeletal and celebratory arena-rock anthem, with incandescent harmonies and sharp harmonics and slicing riffs. Back in Seattle, “back in his room, drumming with Paul,” he is on the precipice of the rest of his life, the life that you now know as a listener.
When Bazan began considering the times and the songs that would soon become Santa Cruz, he thought about fictionalizing it all. He could break with the narratives of Phoenix and Havasu to give himself and everyone else in the story some critical distance. These events are not old news, after all, and he worried about untangling the active threads of the rather recent past from right now. And would it seem like he was scolding his parents, two people trying to raise kids the best they knew how? The result does not feel like blame. It feels like redemption, like finding the way forward for yourself, however it happens. “Your grief is not a burden,” Bazan beautifully sings in one of the final verses. “It’s energy.” And it’s currently powering one of the most real, riveting, and powerful song cycles in memory, happening right now.
Danielle Durack - The Arizona-born, Nashville-based Danielle Durack’s music combines the pop sensibilities of childhood favorites like Sara Barellies with a modern wit that slots her right next to contemporaries like Boygenius and Hop Along. Beginning with debut album Bashful, Durack’s developed her own sound into something mature and emotionally complex, without skimping on the hooks and humor. Her third album, Escape Artist, arrived February 16th.
Following Bashful, a breakup led to an artistic breakthrough: her sophomore record, No Place garnered praise from Pitchfork, NPR, and other outlets for its honest portrayal of a long term relationship’s dissolution. No Place was released in the middle of an intense, lockdown-induced writer's block. Once she started writing again, music became her solace, a way out of a mundane day job and a place to safely process the emotional turmoil of her past year. The title, Escape Artist, is a reflection of this.
Escape Artist, recorded with Rosson once again, is her densest, most emotional record to date. The topics are more wide-ranging; lighthearted breakup narratives now coexist alongside darker material about anxiety and codependency. The songs here serve as a means to somehow, if only just temporarily, transcend the doldrums of daily life and all its earthly hardships and practicalities. The soundscapes where Durack finds herself on Escape Artist, in and of themselves, are someplace heavenly and otherworldly in which to lose herself for just a little while: “Music has been a safe place for me to go to all this time.”
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $27 Advance & $32 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
ASSEMBLY OF DUST
“As a child I can remember locking myself in my room with a big old set of headphones and listening to the Band's Music From Big Pink album over and over again,” said Reid Genauer, the lead singer and founder of the New York based quintet Assembly of Dust. “Besides loving the hell out of the music, I was intrigued with the production value in the recordings. As I listened I felt almost like I was there in the room with the Band at a moment of perfection. That intimate listening experience drew me in and is what inspired me to be a musician.”
Drawing on that influence and countless others, over the last ten years Assembly of Dust has crafted a unique sound that recalls the likes of the Band, Traffic and Neil Young. They have taken that early 70's Americana swagger, put their own funky spin on it, and earned comparisons to the next generation of Americana heroes including Ryan Adams, Mumford and Sons and Wilco. Hooky melodies, poetic lyrics, and a profound depth of musicianship promptedUSA Today to say Assembly of Dust has what it takes to "dazzle the Alt-Country universe."
The allure of spacious production value has clung with Genauer his whole life and when he listened to Ray LaMontagne's 2010 album God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise, he heard something that struck a chord deep within him. After just a few seconds sniffing around the liner notes he found the name he was looking for and within a couple of months Assembly of Dust was in the studio with engineer Ryan Freeland.
With three Grammy's on the shelf and credits that include musical luminaries like Bonnie Raitt, Joe Henry, and Art Garfunkel, Freeland's aesthetic was exactly what Genauer was going for on Assembly of Dust's fourth studio album Sun Shot. "I’ve always had a penchant for acoustic music” said the songwriter. “While Sun Shot isn’t an acoustic record by any stretch of the imagination it has the touch and nuances that allows the listener to be nearer to the music. It’s certainly a mellower record, it’s a vibey record, and it’s the most singer-songwriter record we’ve done."
While the recording processes used on Sun Shot harkens back to an analogue past, the rest of the project was decidedly technology driven. In the summer of 2012, as they struggled with the realities of financing an artistic venture of this scale, the band launched a crowd sourced funding campaign through Kickstarter. Looking back on it Genauer talks about the project as more of a spiritual journey than simply a fund raising exercise.
"When we went into it we were thinking of a black and white exchange of goods and services, but what we discovered was a weighty emotional interchange" he admitted. "The Kickstarter contributors demand something beyond a record and we found it to be a really intimate experience to craft special rewards for people who genuinely care about us and our music. It helped us truly appreciate the passion our fans feel for us and the depth of our community.”
Sun Shot is one part Singer-Songwriter, one part Alt- Country and one part Rock and Roll, but the thread tying it all together is Genauer's heartfelt and beautifully written lyrics. In 2009 the New York Times praised Genauer's songwriting skills as some of the most eloquent "to emerge in the long wake of the Grateful Dead” and the songs on Sun Shot may be the best work of his career.
The raw building blocks of Genauer's songs stand strong on their own and they are polished to brilliance in the hands of the band he’s surrounded himself with: Adam Terrell (Lead Guitar), John Leccesse (Bass), and two newer members Jason Crosby (Piano and Violin) and Dave Diamond (Drums). Together Assembly of Dust has created an album laced with the influences Genauer recognized as a child. It’s a recording with many rooms. Some are flashy and aloof, others bony and pale, but collectively they are Sun Shot.
Show 8pm // $24 Advance $27 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
MASON JENNINGS
Minneapolis songwriter Mason Jennings shares his new video for the single, “Only Lovers Welcome” from his brand new album, Underneath The Roses out now via Loosegroove Records. Underneath The Roses is available on limited-edition colored vinyl and is available here. Watch and share the video for “Only Lovers Welcome” here.
Jennings writes that the songs from Underneath The Roses were, “Written in an unprecedented burst,” following the birth of his son, Western, in March 2022. Jennings explains, “I hadn’t written any songs in about a year. I had been dealing with the psychological after effects of the pandemic as well as the loss of my dad. So, when Western was born I didn’t expect to be writing much. But immediately he was responding to music in a very intense way. For this album, between May and November 2022, I wrote 48 songs! They certainly uplifted me and connected me with the creative spirit, and spirit in general, again. They cover all kinds of ground but, when I listen back, I think the central theme is overcoming fear with love.”
Jennings also released a video for, “No Ordinary Friend,” which he explains, “Depicts two of the most important decisions a person can make. One, whether or not they believe in a loving higher power and two, who they decide to choose as a life long romantic partner. This song is referring to both of those and the choices I’ve made.”
"Stone Gossard and Regan Hagar from Loosegroove Records helped me edit the 48 down to 11. I then enlisted the help of my Painted Shield bandmates to record the songs.”
Jennings and Gossard are ongoing collaborators in the band Painted Shield, who released their 2021 debut album on Loosegroove, the influential indie label that Gossard founded back in 1994 issued records from acts such as Critters Buggin, Malfunkshun, Weapon of Choice and Devilhead, and was the launching point for Queens of the Stone Age’s debut album in 1998.
Jenning’s previous album ‘Real Heart’ came out in January 2022 and received Triple/Non-comm radio across KCMP Minneapolis, WFPK Louisville, WPYA Birmingham, KRCL Salt Lake City, WMMM Madison, WQKL Ann Arbor, KCSN LA, KRVB Boise, WCLZ Portland, WDSE Duluth, WRLT Nashville, WXPN Philly, WXRV Boston, & WZEW Mobile.
Press highlights include: American Songwriter, Relix, No Depression, Grateful Web, Take Effect 9/10 review, & Jam Bands
Jennings adds “I called it Underneath The Roses because I feel like these songs are musical roses and when I look below them there are many thorns and so much dirt and soil. All of it was needed for them to come into existence and bloom. It’s been a long hard road of self-discovery and discernment for me the last few years and the roses wouldn’t be here without what lies underneath. Hope you enjoy the music!”
Show 9:30pmpm // Ages 21+ // $29.50 Advance & $35 Day of Show / $98 4-Pack
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
A Magical Two Night Celebration of The Days Between with
JERRY'S MIDDLE FINGER
Show 9:30pmpm // Ages 21+ // $29.50 Advance & $35 Day of Show / $98 4-Pack
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
A Magical Two Night Celebration of The Days Between with
JERRY'S MIDDLE FINGER
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $24 Advance & $26 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
PHUTUREPRIMITIVE
with SPACESHIP EARTH
Phutureprimitive is the moniker of Bay Area producer and songwriter Rain. Early childhood photos reveal Rain sitting at the piano plinking keys, grinning from ear to ear... a true sign of things to come.
The Phutureprimitive sound is mind melting sonic bliss. Lush melodies drift across intricate rhythms, groove heavy beats and warm, fuzzy bass lines. Often exploring a dark and dense palette, his music also manages to convey a sense of tranquility and beauty. Shimmering with cinematic qualities, his music ultimately speaks to the body, mind and soul. It's often said that Phutureprimitive is his own genre.
The sound of Phutureprimitive has spread far and wide with performances From North and Central America, Western and Eastern Europe and Australia.
Rain is also the owner of The Phuture Producer Method. An online portal for courses for learning EDM production and Song Builder Kits.
"Music is medicine. Let's go on a journey together"
Show 8pm // $31 General Admission
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
RASH: A TRIBUTE TO RUSH
Since 2010, Rash: A Tribute to Rush has recreated the energy, the sound – the whole spectacle – of Rush live and in their prime. Seasoned performers all, this group of Rush fans came together with single-minded intent to perform their favorite Rush music and to sound as much like Rush as possible. Performing greatest hits and deep cuts with tremendous attention to detail, Rash will please the hardcore fan and casual listener alike.
Show 8pm // $27 Advance & $32 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
MOONSHINE BANDITS
Moonshine Bandits, the California duo of Dusty ‘Tex’ Dahlgren and Brett ‘Bird’ Brooks, are back with their new album Pour Decisions. The duo continues to champion their signature sound of backwoods bravado, country soul, keg-thumping beats, and hip-hop fusion. Pour Decisions is the grittiest, most spirited, and distinctly grassroots release of their sixteen-year campaign of musical badassery.
"Let’s face it, our fans love to party and so do we. With the amount of partying we all do, poor decisions can be made," said Big Tex with a chuckle, referring to the inspiration behind the album title. "We flipped it to ‘Pour Decisions’ to coincide with our new Bucked Up Whiskey brand. Now you can make the right 'Pour Decision' when you choose to pour a shot of our whiskey. Cheers!"
Pour Decisions takes its inspiration from the struggles and successes of America’s extraordinary era when dreams were being made while hunting for that elusive precious gem.
"This album is nothing like our past albums because we wanted to level up from the songwriting to the recording. We really stepped up our game in singing and songwriting on this project and it shows," said Bird about the new sonic direction. "The overall sound of the album is big and has a lot of energy. We used more live instrumentation than ever before, we even had a choir come in and sing on a track, everything was meant to sound bigger when we created these songs. I think the fans will see we all stepped up our game."
Big Tex adds, "We didn't cut any corners. In the past, we would have to worry about touring or timelines, but we're finally in a spot in our career that if we can 'dream it', then we can make it happen. We weren’t rushed, and we had the finances to do whatever we wanted on this album. We took our time with this and made sure to put the cherry on top of each song."
Pour Decisions features tracks like "I'm A Rebel," "I'm A Problem," "Silhouettes In The Sun," "Chasing Ghost," and "Can't Take My Hometown." The album showcases the Moonshine Bandits' signature style, with the tracks taking listeners on a journey filled with good, bad, and even some ugly experiences. Thematically, Pour Decisions pays homage not only to the band’s career journey but also, and profoundly, “a journey about the people we have come in contact with. The people that inspire our songs.”
The album is an ode to the brick-and-mortar, mom-and-pop’s, local friends, and corner watering holes that provided the foundation of everyday life, culture, and economics in America. Pour Decisions features 15-tracks that continue to show Moonshine Bandits paving their own lane. There aren't stops or boundaries, and with Pour Decisions, they prove that they still live by their code.
This is a genre-bending album from the featured guests to the sound and displays the band’s versatility with some special guests. Weed kingpin Afroman joins the group on "Roof Back" to fire it up for the West Coast, Josh Todd of Buckcherry unleashes some crossover rock fury on "Wild," and then American pride crashes head-on with hip-hop swagger on "I'm A Problem" featuring Canadian Juno Award-winning rapper Madchild. Somehow, it all comes together in one musical Molotov cocktail that Moonshine Bandits provide the spark for.
“We are very grateful to all of these super stars to take time out of their schedule to be part of an album that we truly believe in. We got wide variety of guest from Adam Calhoun to Krizz Kaliko, to Demun Jones, Brandon Hartt to help us bring out all the different influences. It feels like and old-school rap record where guys like E-40 or Tech N9ne would just have their friends jump on the album with them. This album is a stacked lineup of all-stars.”
Since their formation in Los Banos, California, in 2003, the Moonshine Bandits have continued a campaign of crossover genre-bending musical mayhem that appeals to the eclectic, color-outside-the-lines tastes of listeners. Their musical style has always been full-throttle and in your face. Just like the rumrunners, bootleggers, smugglers, and outlaws of old – the Moonshine Bandits provide a supply of goods for the demand, defying the mandates and trends of mainstream pop-culture.
Pour Decisions is rebellious, anti-establishment, and a little bit symbolic of an elusive time when there actually was Honor among thieves. For the Moonshine Bandits, Pour Decisions is a lesson learned from experience, and it's their way of doing things.
Show 8pm // $24 Advance $27 Day of Show // 21+
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
RANDOM RAB
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $22 Advance & $37 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
THE MESSTHETICS AND JAMES BRANDON LEWIS
Joe Lally was onstage, playing at full throttle, when he realized that his band had found a true kindred spirit. It was the fall of 2021 and the Messthetics — the instrumental trio of Lally on bass, his former Fugazi bandmate Brendan Canty on drums and guitarist Anthony Pirog — were at Brooklyn venue the Bell House, digging into their uptempo riff workout “Serpent Tongue.” Joining them for the piece was a special guest, acclaimed jazz saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, making only his second cameo with the group after a drop-in at another New York show back in 2019. That first meeting had been a success, but this time, Lewis’ presence sparked something new.
“It pushed the song like crazy,” Lally recalls of a passage when Lewis and Pirog began trading fiery solos. As the intensity kept building, the bassist felt simultaneously challenged and exhilarated. “You’re just holding on and going, ‘It sounds great,’” he remembers telling himself. “‘Just keep going.’”
That imperative — the sense that there was more to explore within what began as an ad hoc union among the four musicians — lingered after the performance ended. Now, Lewis, Pirog, Lally and Canty are ready to unveil their first full-length album as a quartet. Recorded in just two days in December 2022 at Takoma Park, Maryland, studio Tonal Park, with engineer Don Godwin, The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis features nine tracks that capture the combustive chemistry Lally originally sensed onstage while expanding the collaboration in all directions. Across the album, due out on March 15th via the legendary Impulse! label, the quartet can be heard locking into a hard, swaggering funk groove on “That Thang,” cradling a wistful, jazz-like theme on “Asthenia” or rocketing into ecstatic art-punk overdrive on “Emergence.”
Canty relishes the way the album preserves a feeling of real-time musical conversation. “In a world that can be perfected in a myriad of ways using computers, it's super important to allow the thing you've honestly reacted to, to live,” the drummer says. “So I've spent a lot of time, since that first initial recording, protecting this recording. We did try to mix some of it, but we really left it as rough mixes for the most part.”
“Sometimes you'll play a record live and it just doesn't translate like it does onstage,” Pirog adds. “But this was just one of those moments where we were just prepared enough, everyone was open to being loose enough, that we just sat down and made it happen really fast.”
Evidence of that spontaneity runs throughout the record. Listen to the way Canty and Lewis play a tumbling, stop-start duet against Pirog and Lally’s tight descending vamp at the end of opening track “L’Orso” or how Lewis and Pirog improvise together atop a dubby groove during “Three Sisters,” urging one another toward thrilling new peaks.
Even when the guitarist and saxophonist solo sequentially, as on closing track “Fourth Wall” — where Lewis ends his statement with a gritty wail and Pirog answers with a snarling, soulful line — you can hear a certain charge passing between them.
“The duality of them playing together — all these melody lines and then egging each other on during the solos — was super liberating,” Canty says of Pirog and Lewis’ interplay. “And for me as a drummer, I felt like I could literally just be a utility player, just to support.”
Though the configuration heard on The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis is relatively new, it builds on long-standing musical relationships. Lewis and Pirog first met around a decade ago at a session led by free-jazz drummer William Hooker and instantly hit it off, going on to work together extensively in Lewis’ own groups. “Since day one of knowing Anthony, me and him just fit,” says Lewis, now widely acclaimed as one of the most compelling bandleaders on the contemporary jazz scene. “We looked at each other after that William Hooker session, and we was like, ‘Damn, this shit is on point.’”
Lally and Canty of course share a similar brotherhood, rooted in the 15 years they spent touring the world as the supple yet rock-solid rhythm section for Washington, D.C.’s iconic Fugazi. “I play differently with Joe than I play with anybody else,” Canty says. “He creates this foundation that I call a very sturdy jungle gym for all of us to play on. He keeps it dubby and rhythmic, and there’s a lot of times where there’s a sixth sense — there's things that happen between us when we're playing that there’s no accounting for except for the fact that we've been playing together for 30 years.”
Lewis likens the experience of playing with Lally and Canty to his work with various jazz elders. “The way I revere them is the same way that I revere playing with Jamaaladeen Tacuma or playing with William Parker,” he says, citing a pair of esteemed veteran bassists. “It's a certain road experience that you can't get in school.” He also appreciates that he can hear the rich musical heritage of their hometown in their sound. “Growing up in the D.C. area, Brendan and Joe are familiar with go-go, with all of the stuff from the area,” he says. “So I will say that the time feel — it don't get no better than that. It's like a well-oiled machine playing with them.”
That steady rhythmic backbone, coupled with Pirog’s omnivorous guitar approach — which draws on jazz, punk, free improvisation and everything in between — gave the Messthetics a huge sonic palette right from the start, showcased on both their self-titled 2018 debut and 2019’s Anthropocosmic Nest. But Pirog had always been curious what his friend Lewis might add to the band, leading to him extending the invite for the saxophonist’s initial 2019 sit-in, which took place at New York’s Winter Jazzfest.
“James was just someone who I felt had the right energy to add another texture to the group, and immediately we already had a good interplay going from playing in his groups,” Pirog says. “I also just wanted to share this group that I've been working with, with him because he was so generous with me.”
Once the quartet established a rapport onstage, the Messthetics followed up with an invitation to team up for an album, which Lewis quickly accepted.
“Every time I played with them, there was a vibe and it was a good chemistry,” Lewis says, looking back on his early appearances with the group, which eventually led to a one-off studio track that appeared on the saxophonist’s 2023 LP Eye of I. “They hit me up and they're like, ‘Yo, man, would you want to record a full record?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, sure,’ because the vibe was so natural.”
The Messthetics spent a few months in the fall of 2022 assembling and arranging material as a trio before meeting with Lewis for just one day of rehearsal prior to the recording in December. Even with minimal prep time, the material evolved considerably. Lewis added a lush, spiraling melody to the chorus section of “The Time Is the Place,” originally called “Meters Groove” in honor of the song’s Canty-written central riff, a crisp seven-beat strut. And Lewis was the key element that unlocked Lally’s “Railroad Tracks Home,” joining the bassist on the second pass through the theme and turning the subtle, swinging mood piece from something, in Lally’s words, “dirge-y and dark” to “a light-bringing thing.”
The seven-and-a-half-minute “Boatly,” meanwhile, made room for each member of the band to explore his full dynamic range, with brushed drums and a ballad-like texture segueing into a breathtaking coda — which Pirog cites as his favorite moment on the album — where Lewis unleashes fierce cries and brawny blasts over a cyclical 6/8 theme as Canty works up to a cymbal-bashing climax.
The fervor of Lewis’ playing both here and elsewhere on the record clearly points back to John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, firmly rooting the album in the soil of the classic Impulse! catalog, despite its thoroughly contemporary feel. Lally says he can’t wait to see his band’s name next to the unmistakable orange, white and black Impulse! logo. “Looking at a record and I'm on impulse! with Alice Coltrane?” he adds with giddy disbelief. “It's like being on Otis Redding's label.”
“I’m trying to be cool about it,” Canty says with a laugh of being associated with such a storied catalog. “Hopefully nobody’s going to figure out that I’m the imposter in the temple.”
Thankfully, it’s hard to imagine today’s listeners thinking in those restrictive terms, as the album is arriving at a time when the borders of genre are blurrier than ever. Lewis, for one, relishes the chance to plug into the power of the Messthetics’ punk-adjacent milieu. “I think that’s ultimately why I said yes” to pursuing the full-length, he says. “I love nuanced stuff, but I also like the ability to really just put out some energy. When you hear the Messthetics by themselves, that shit is cranking. And I'm always signing up to crank.”
Judging by the enthusiastic response the Messthetics and their esteemed guest have received during more recent live meetings, listeners are similarly eager to hear what happens when brilliant players like these stretch themselves through collaboration.
“I feel like, more and more, there’s an audience for exploration,” Canty says. “And I really hope this record’s part of that.”
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $22 Advance & $25 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
GRATEFUL DUB a Reggae-infused tribute to the Grateful Dead
with Special Guest ROOTS OF CREATION
RoC (Roots of Creation) has taken on a unique new project: Grateful Dub: a Reggae-infused tribute to the Jerry Garcia & The Grateful Dead. Combining their longtime love for Reggae-Dub style music and the Grateful Dead, RoC reworked some of the world’s favorite Dead tunes into a new studio album. RoC had the pleasure of working in the studio with the legendary 5-time Grammy winner Errol Brown who was Bob Marley’s sound engineer for this project. Grateful Dub is also being performed live in its entirety at festivals, theatres, and clubs around the country, and features rotating live special guests that has included Melvin Seals (Jerry Garcia Band), Scott Guberman (Phil Lesh), Zach Nugent, RyMo, AG, & Paul W. (Slightly Stoopid), G. Love (G. Love & Special Sauce), Mihali (Twiddle), Dan Kelly (Fortunate Youth) and others. Grateful Dub captures the spirit and magic of the Grateful Dead, while laying it down Reggae-Dub style.
Doors 6:30pm // Show 7:30pm // Ages 21+ // $32 Advance & $37 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
HOODOO GURUS
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $27 Advance & $30 Day of Show
***This is a fully seated general admissions show. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
BEN OTTEWELL & IAN BALL (of Gomez)
Ian Ball and Ben Ottewell of the British band Gomez are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their sophomore album, "Liquid Skin," with a US tour this fall. The tour kicks off on October 1, 2024, at The City Winery in Boston and includes several other dates across North America.
Gomez, known for their eclectic blend of rock, blues, and experimental sounds, achieved significant acclaim with "Liquid Skin," following their Mercury Prize-winning debut, "Bring It On." The anniversary tour will feature performances of tracks from "Liquid Skin," along with other fan favorites and possibly some new material.
The tour promises an intimate experience as Ball and Ottewell perform as a duo, supported by the special guest artist, Buddy. This setup aims to highlight the unique vocal interplay and songwriting prowess that have defined Gomez's music over the years.
Show 8pm // $26 General Admission & $22 General Admission 4 Packs
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
FOREVERLAND - THE ELECTRIFYING TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL JACKSON
Since 2009, Foreverland has been mesmerizing audiences around the country with their larger-than-life tribute to the one and only Michael Jackson.
Featuring three dynamic vocalists, a powerhouse rhythm section, and the hardest working horn section in the biz, Foreverland recreates hits from the Jackson 5 era through the end of Michael’s incredible career in a way that honors the King of Pop’s musical genius and legendary showmanship like no other tribute band has ever done.
Show 8pm // $29.50 Advance / $32 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
LA SANTA CECILIA
Santa Cecilia (named after the patron saint of musicians) was formed in 2007 as a sextet. Its founding members were guitarist Gloria Estrada, accordionist and requintista Pepe Carlos, bassist Alex Bendaña, percussionist Miguel "Oso" Ramírez, drummer Hugo Vargas and lead vocalist Marisol "La Marisoul" Hernández. The band members were born or came to the United States when they were very young. While they all grew up with traditional forms of Latin music at home, they were also exposed to the sounds of American pop culture: rock, soul, blues, jazz, jazz, funk, punk, ska, reggae and other sounds of the world that were playing on the airwaves and in the neighborhoods. They performed at block parties, bars, coffee shops and, from time to time, as opening acts for out-of-town artists and at festivals.
Los Angeles-based Santa Cecilia is a Latin rock band that draws inspiration from music around the world, using Pan-American rhythms from Colombian and Mexican cumbia, bossa nova, rumba, bolero and tango, and combining them with rock, soul, R&B, ska, jazz and even klezmer. Children of Immigrants, their acclaimed 2013 debut album, Treinta Días, offered an upbeat yet intensely personal take on Latin life, and released the hit single "Ice el Hielo," which became an anthem for the 14 million undocumented inhabitants of the United States and paved the way for the band to win a Grammy for Best Latin Rock Album. In 2017, La Santa Cecilia released Amar y Vivir, an audiovisual album composed of cover versions. The set was recorded live in the streets, plazas, cantinas and theaters of Mexico City. The eponymous 2019 mini album was recorded as a tribute to the parents of three of the band members, who had passed away in the previous 18 months. Its closing track is a cover of the Bessie Smith blues standard "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out." Two years later, La Santa Cecilia released "Quiero Verte Feliz". The title track was recorded in collaboration with singer-songwriter Lila Downs.
The group recorded their first eponymous EP in 2009. Aside from their superb songwriting and performances, the CD revealed something else that was different about this band: They wanted to be part of their community. They sponsored "paint parties" where they played and designed and hand-painted their CD covers with friends and fans, using materials ranging from recycled newsprint to wrapping paper, cardboard and more. No two covers were alike, making them objects d'art. The band's music spread throughout the city and local listeners invited them to play more gigs and festivals. Their incendiary live performances garnered them a fanatical fan base, and music from the EP ended up appearing on the cable TV series Weeds, in the documentary Re-Encounters (about Oaxacan artist Alejandro Santiago) and elsewhere.
La Santa Cecilia's second EP, Noche y Citas, was released in 2010 and garnered more critical acclaim, and the group began touring Mexico and eventually North America. Their third EP included four covers and one original song. The covers ranged from Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love" and U2's "One" to "Love Came Here" by the late Lhasa de Sela and "Viento" by Caifanes, showing not only their variety, but their commitment to a wide variety of music.
With growing popularity at home and abroad, La Santa Cecilia signed with Universal and reduced the core group to La Marisoul, Bendaña, Carlos and Ramirez. Their debut album, Treinta días, was released in May 2013 and became the most played debut of the week on Billboard's Latin Pop Albums chart and won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album in February 2014. The band hit the road, playing Bonnaroo, SXSW and many other festivals. They shared the stage with Elvis Costello, Stevie Wonder and Los Lobos. In March, less than a month after winning their Grammy, the band released Someday New. Their single "Cumbia Morada" hit the charts in its first week. In addition, a cover of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" was a hit. Another version of "Ice El Hielo" appeared on the album; the song was used in the FX series “The Bridge”.
La Santa Cecilia worked on the road, taught songwriting workshops and were selected as one of two opening acts for Café Tacuba's 25th anniversary tour. They also became an international headliner in their own right before returning to the studio. In August 2015, they released a pre-release single in English, "I Won't Cry for You," and followed it up with "Nunca Mas (Never Again)" in December. The full Buenaventura album was released in February 2016. The album featured appearances by Enrique Bunbury, Fito Páez, members of Los Lobos and Milwaukee's Latino Arts Strings Program.
The band deepened its collaboration with producer Sebastian Krys and signed to his Rebeleon Entertainment label. The result was the most ambitious recording of their career to date. They decided to record an "audiovisual album" in Mexico City. La Santa Cecilia started out as a street band in Los Angeles, singing rancheras and boleros, as well as pop, soul and rock songs in Spanish and English. To reflect this across the border, they recorded each song - 11 versions, one original - in the plazas, parks, bars and theaters of the great metropolis. Each song was recorded live and accompanied by a video. The material reflected their roots. There were versions of rancheras, boleros and mariachi classics by some of Mexico's best composers, such as Violeta Parra, Consuelo Velázquez (composer of the song "Bésame Mucho") and Tomás Méndez, as well as modern songs by Café Tacvba, Juan Gabriel and Smokey Robinson. La Santa Cecilia has also had the collaboration of Mon Laferte (Chilean singer-songwriter), Noel Schajris (Argentine-Mexican singer), Eugenia León and Rebel Cats (rockabilly). The band previewed Amar y Vivir with three videos, all released on the same day in April 2017, including a cover of the title track, "Amar y Vivir" (written by Velázquez), featuring Mexican rock band Comisario Pantera. The full album was released in mid-May. It reached number 28 on the Top Latin Albums chart and received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Pop Album.
La Santa Cecilia returned in 2019, with a self-titled full-length. Produced once again by Sebastian Krys, the album was written in the midst of loss and grief: three of the parents of the band's four members had passed away in the previous 18 months. Its first single and video, "Winning," was released in July. Mixed by Grammy-winning Dave Pensado, the track was an '80s-inspired surf-rock that addressed the idea that, in the early 21st century, people were more likely to live online rather than experience it, dulling and replacing our reactions to tragedy, disaster and the struggle for justice with clickbait that would be easily replaced during the next "trending" news cycle. The recording also included a groundbreaking version of the Bessie Smith classic "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" to close the set. Saint Cecilia was released in mid-October.
Although the band toured for the first few months of the new year, they were forced off the road and into quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021. They reappeared in October 2021 with the single "Quiero Verte Feliz," recorded in a rare collaboration with singer Lila Downs. The cut served as the final track (and title track) on the band's eight-track album that appeared in November; and was nominated for a Grammy and Latin Grammy for Best Tropical Vallenato / Cumbia Album in 2022 and 2023.
During 2021 and 2022 La Santa Cecilia toured several cities throughout the United States and Mexico with her tour "Quiero Verte Feliz". This tour consolidated their musical career, performing in venues such as The Goldfield, Sacramento; UC Theater, Berkeley; Lunario del Auditorio Nacional; CDMX, among others. In addition to getting 2 sold outs at The Regent California and his first Sold Out in Mexico City at the emblematic Teatro de la Ciudad Esperanza Iris. Likewise, 2022 served as a year of new music for the Mexican-American band, who produced their ninth album titled "4 Copas: Bohemia en la Finca Altozano", released on April 14, 2023; from which titles such as "Dos Botellas de Mezcal", "Copa Rota", "El Andariego", "Almohada" and "Cuatro Copas" can be heard;
La Santa Cecilia continues with its harvest of successes, new music and presentations. They have managed to expand their music to more and more corners, performing at large scale festivals in Latin America such as Vive Latino on March 18th and 19th in Mexico City and the Tecate Pa'l Norte festival on March 31st in Monterrey, Mexico. In addition to achieving an important step in their career by arriving for the first time in Europe, specifically in Spain, where they will participate in the Rio Babel Festival in Madrid and the Pirineos Sur Festival in Lanuza on July 1 and 8 respectively. In addition to two individual dates such as O grove at the Nautico on July 2 and Sala Sidecar in Barcelona on July 7.
Doors 7pm // Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $32 General Admission
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
YOU SHOULD BE DANCIN' - A TRIBUTE TO THE BEE GEES
Show 8:00pm // Ages 21+ // $24 Advance & $30 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
TOPHOUSE
with GRIFFIN WILLIAM SHERRY
Fast-paced, high-energy foot stompers. Ballads that'll make you cry. It's kind of like a rock band married old-fashioned bluegrass and had a little baby. And named it TopHouse.
A lot of people ask us what genre we are. The truth is, we don't know. Check out some of our music and let us know what you think. In reality, if you really want to get to know about TopHouse, y'all should shoot us a message and say hi, come to a show, or listen to some music! Why not all three?
Show 8pm // Ages 21+ // $56 Advance & $60 Day of Show
***This is a standing room general admissions show. There will be a limited number of chairs located in the back of the concert hall. Seating will be first come first served. The restaurant will be open for dinner starting at 4pm.
Felton Music Hall Presents:
TREVOR HALL
Trevor Hall and The Great In-Between marks the start of a new era for musician Trevor Hall. Releasing September 15th, 2023 on Hall’s own 3 Rivers Label, the highly-anticipated record delivers a future-folk masterpiece anchored in Hall’s beloved style, while simultaneously bringing a refreshing new sound to the forefront. Created solely within the confines of a barn-turned-studio in his own backyard, this record marks the first of Hall’s career where he helmed every aspect of the production process. Penned without external influence and from a purely creative and explorative space, Trevor Hall and the Great In-Between unveils raw and unfiltered facets of Hall that remain undiscovered.
Hailing from a small island in South Carolina, Hall was raised in a musical family and began formally studying classical guitar in high school at Idyllwild Arts Academy. Quickly thrust into the world of major labels, Hall signed a record deal at the young age of sixteen. After realizing the restrictive nature of such deals, he decided to pave his own way and reclaim his artistic freedom. Starting in 2017, he began releasing music independently. Since then, Hall has sold hundreds of thousands of albums and amassed billions of streams, leaving an indelible mark on the lives of countless listeners. His memorable live performances have graced venues around the world, including multiple sold-out headline shows at the historic Red Rocks Amphitheater. Hall currently resides in Colorado with his wife, author & photographer Emory Hall, as well as his son.