MILK CARTON KIDS, THE STATE ROOM, Thursday, June 5, 8 p.m., Sold out
When the Milk Carton Kids came through The State Room last year, I wasn’t very familiar with the duo or their excellent album The Ash & Clay. I had simply heard enough good word of mouth to drag myself out to a show for a band I hadn’t heard. Turned out to be a great decision, because watching Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan trade between-song barbs, gorgeous harmonies and serious guitar skills was one of the highlights of my year. Simon & Garfunkel immediately comes to mind when you listen to the Kids’ album, but in concert they have a lot more hilarious cynicism on display than I can ever imagine coming from the mouths of Artie and Paul. The Los Angeles duo had garnered ever-louder praise in the past few years, and seeing them in the cozy confines of The State Room should be a real treat. If you can get some tickets to this sold-out show–do it. Tom Brosseau opens the show.
EMMYLOU HARRIS, RED BUTTE GARDEN, Tuesday, June 3, 7 p.m., Sold out
When Red Butte Garden announced its summer slate of concerts this year, it featured the typical mix of musical styles, of artists young and old, and of acts that are familiar faces at the venue and those playing the garden for the first time. When I saw the lineup, I naturally looked for the opener, since the first Red Butte show is a sort of my unofficial start of summer. And I couldn’t have been happier to find the legendary Emmylou Harris in the starting position.
With a sound steeped in country and folk, Harris has spent more than four decades recording and touring with the best in the business. Her incredible voice has proved a perfect complement to those of people like Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Mark Knopfler. More recently, she won the 2014 Grammy for Best Americana Album for her album-length collaboration with Rodney Crowell on a set called Old Yellow Moon.
Her solo work is excellent, too, and this summer she is celebrating the reissue of her excellent 1995 album, Wrecking Ball. The collection was produced by Daniel Lanois, and includes songs written by the likes of Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Lucinda Williams. The album re-established Harris as a musical force, and I expect we’ll hear plenty of songs from that set at her show at Red Butte Garden. Nathaniel Rateliff opens the show.
The touring production of Tony-winning musical Memphis currently playing at the Capitol Theatre could have simply delivered a musical revue of some of the best rock and roll America has ever produced. The home of Sun Records, STAX Records and other pioneering record labels certainly has plenty of classics to fill such a show.
Instead, the original songs in Memphis manage to capture the vibe of segregation-era Memphis, while the show as a whole has a lot more meat to it than I anticipated, tackling thorny issues of race and class while maintaining a generally upbeat vibe through most of the proceedings. For that, the show deserves a lot of credit–it’s a nice compact history (albeit told through fiction) of how music helped bridge the differences in black and white communities in the South.
The show is a big, bold musical with a large cast and several show-stopping production numbers, but this touring version really succeeds thanks to the talents of its two primary stars. Joey Elrose leads the way as Huey, a young Memphis white man who falls in love with the sound of a black R&B club as he walks by, becoming a rock and roll evangelist in the process. Huey’s enthusiasm for the music, and its power to transcend racial lines, is infectious. And in Memphis, that passion propels him from a struggling misfit into a popular DJ.
It also leads to problems for him and the other lead, black singer Felicia (Jasmin Richardson), as they establish a relationship that evolves from professional to deeply personal over the course of a number of years covered during the course of the show. While their shared love of music helps the duo navigate a touch-and-go start to their relationship, the outside forces in Memphis–white and black–aren’t quite as ready to accept their colorblind relationship.
Both Elrose and Richardson display some serious vocal chops, and the songs they take the lead on in the show outshine the group numbers or those featuring other members of the cast. “The Music of My Soul” brings them together early on, and “Ain’t Nothin’ But a Kiss” showcased a palpable chemistry between the two characters.
With energetic dance numbers and a band full of urgent horns playing retro-tinged soul and rock music, Memphis worked for me, even as someone who doesn’t love musicals. The story, the music, the big themes tackled in the script–it all comes together nicely. It’s no surprise Memphis proved a popular favorite on Broadway.
Memphis runs through Sunday, June 1, at the Capitol Theatre. Visit the Broadway Across America-Utah website for more information and tickets.
Jasmin Richardson (Felicia) and Joey Elrose (Huey) in touring production of Memphis. Photo by Jeremy Daniel.
OGDEN MUSIC FESTIVAL, FT. BUENAVENTURA, OGDEN, May 30-June 1, 3-day pass $47, single-day pass $27, kids 16 and under free
Hard to believe it’s been seven years since the good people at the Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music launched the Ogden Music Festival, an annual throwdown that attracts all manner of roots-music artists–local, regional and national–to the lovely Fort Buenaventura park in O-town. This year’s lineup is full of excellent attractions worth any music fan’s attention. The headliners include the legendary Texan Alejandro Escovedo, whose career has spanned punk music to pioneering alt-country cats True Believers to a long and stellar solo career, as well as traditional bluegrassers The Steel Wheels, popular Canadian acoustic act The Duhks and excellent Boston-based Della Mae. The Shook Twins (pictured), Hollering Pines and Triggers & Slips are among the excellent local and regional attractions, and catching up with the Utah State Instrumental Championships is always a treat. Add in activities for the kids–and all kids 16 and under get in free–and some great Ogden food and drink, and you have a fine time easily accessible by Frontrunner for music fans along the Wasatch Front.
Here’s the day-to-day schedule for this year’s festival:
Friday, May 30
5 p.m. Utah State Instrument Championships–Fingerstyle Guitar
7 p.m. Triggers & Slips
8 p.m. Della Mae
8:30 p.m. Alejandro Escovedo
Saturday, May 31
8:30 a.m. Utah State Instrument Championships–Fiddle and Flatpick Guitar
Noon Sweetwater Crossing
12:45 p.m. Jeff Scroggins & Colorado
2:15 p.m. Bluegrass Rising
3:15 p.m. Shook Twins
4:45 p.m. The Hillbenders
6 p.m. Della Mae
7:30 p.m. The Steel Wheels
9 p.m. The Duhks
Sunday, June 1
8:30 a.m. Utah State Instrument Championships–Mandolin and Banjo
Noon The Hollering Pines
1 p.m. Marley’s Ghost
2 p.m. Joe McQueen
3:15 p.m. The Steel Wheels
4:30 p.m. The Duhks
6 p.m. The Hillbenders
tUnE-yArDs, THE URBAN LOUNGE, Tuesday, May 27, 9 p.m., $18
In the modern music business, you rarely hear of an artist taking their time between albums anymore. In fact, full-length albums are almost a foreign concept to the young music fans used to consuming their music one downloaded song at a time. Merrill Garbus has certainly released plenty of winning singles under her pseudonym tUnE-yArDs. Songs like “Gangsta” and “Business” helped propel her 2011 album whokill to the top of many critics lists of that year’s best releases. Whokill was clearly a breakthrough release for Garbus, but it came out three years ago. This month marks the long-awaited return of Garbus after resting up following two years of solid touring. The album is called Nikki Nack, and it retains the vibe of Garbus’ past work while expanding her sonic palette. For the first time, Garbus worked with outside producers—people who have produced the likes of Alicia Keys, Shakira and M.I.A. The results are predictably experimental, and predictably excellent. Sylvan Esso opens the show.
HAIM/TENNIS, THE DEPOT, Thursday, May 22, 8 p.m., $21
Haim is certainly one of the breakout music stories of the past year, as the debut album by sisters Este, Danielle and Alana Haim, Days Are Gone, has been a slow-burning success since arriving in September on a wave of huge buzz about the siblings pop-rock sound. They’ve been performing together for years even though they’re all still way young–they had a family cover band with their parents before the three sisters started writing their own songs and struck out on their own. That was a good decision. Songs like the title track, “The Wire” and “Falling” helped draw rave reviews of the album from critics happy to hear some classic-sounding Cali rock, full of hooks and harmonies. The band has won over crowds at giant festivals and on club tours, as well as stints opening for the diverse likes of Vampire Weekend, Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons. Tennis opens the show.
Daniel Nailen 