Mon, 03/15/2010 - 03:39

You never know what configuration Keller Williams will show up in but you can be pretty sure he'll be on the bill at All Good Music Festival & Campout. He heads the list of second-round additions as Keller Williams and the Added Bonus.

And what is the Bonus? It is described on Keller's Facebook page as "an even blend of Keller's solo looping show and new flavors of grassy disco jazz funk featuring Claude Arthur, Jay Starling, Toby Fairchild as well as digital visuals by Scott Sunn." Sounds good.

Also new for the 2010 fest running July 8-11 at Marvin's Mountaintop in Masontown WV are Bassnectar, Garage a Trois, The Travelin' McCourys, Dr. Didg, and The Lee Boys. Also sounds good. 

They join a great jamfest lineup led by Further (the latest Bob Weir-Phil Lesh incarnation), Umphrey's McGee and Widespread Panic.

Sun, 03/14/2010 - 18:55

Canada's oldest folk festival remains one of North America's best all-around roots music festivals, judging by the just released 2010 lineup.

Some of the notable international stars on the bill include John Hiatt & The Combo, The Levon Helm Band, The Avett Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Hot Tuna. But the festival is known for its eclectic mix of singer-songwriter, world, blues, indie, string-band, Celtic, and other styles.

Other acts to look forward to include Andrew Bird, The Cat Empire, The Swell Season, Sarah Harmer, Greg Brown, Sonny Landreth, Geoff Muldaur, Alvin Youngblood Hart, The Wilders and Works Progress Administration. Hip-hop stars Arrested Development will make a much anticipated debut.

Winnipeg maintains its connection with the early days of the folk genre by presenting third-generation representatives of folk legends Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger with Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion and Tao Rodriguez Seeger. Also, nonagenarian Oscar Brand, a native of Winnipeg who played the very first festival in 1974 will get a honored appearance.

Sun, 03/14/2010 - 18:12

Earthdance Northern California announced its 2010 festival running Sept. 17-19 will be its last year at Black Oak Ranch in Laytonville CA, after which it will move to a larger venue. Early bird ticketing opened for an allocation of 500 tickets at the discount price of $140. The festival plans a "grand farewell" to the grounds that have hosted the event for eight seasons.

For more information

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 18:57

Ravinia Festival, the Chicago area concert series that claims to be America's longest running music festival, announced its popular music schedule, supplementing the previously released Chicago Symphony Orchestra repertory season schedule.

The most in-demand tickets could be for two performances by Sting backed by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra as well as shows by Crosby, Stills & Nash, Sheryl Crow, and Carrie Underwood.

But there are a huge number of major stars in every popular music genre, including Backstreet Boys, Big Head Todd And The Monsters, Bobby McFerrin, Buddy Guy, Cheap Trick, Colbie Caillat, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Earth, Wind & Fire, Garrison Keillor, George Benson, Jethro Tull, John Hiatt & The Combo, Nancy Wilson, Nelly Furtado, Peter and Paul, Poi Dog Pondering, Procol Harum, Sheryl Crow, Soulive, Squeeze, Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers, The B-52s, The Beach Boys, The Bodeans, The Cat Empire, The Four Tops, The Levon Helm Band, The Moody Blues, The Ramsey Lewis Trio, The Swell Season, The Temptations, Train, and Vince Gill.

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 17:22

The Jewish culture blog Jweekly.com has a nice preview of the upcoming major Jewish culture festival, the Bay Area's Jewish Music Festival, which starts on March 28. The article also highlights artist Lorin Sklamberg, who will be performing both with and without his main band, the Klezmatics, during the festival:

It’s easy to see why Ellie Shapiro, the director of the Bay Area’s vaunted Jewish Music Festival, wanted to include singer Lorin Sklamberg in this year’s lineup.

Once, at a Shabbat dinner both attended, Sklamberg led a niggun chant with such fervor that Shapiro accidentally broke her wine goblet while pounding on the table.

To see the whole article, click here.

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 17:19

The Jewish culture blog Jweekly.com has a nice preview of the upcoming Jewish Music Festival, which starts on March 28:

It’s easy to see why Ellie Shapiro, the director of the Bay Area’s vaunted Jewish Music Festival, wanted to include singer Lorin Sklamberg in this year’s lineup.

Once, at a Shabbat dinner both attended, Sklamberg led a niggun chant with such fervor that Shapiro accidentally broke her wine goblet while pounding on the table.

To see the whole article, click here.

Fri, 03/12/2010 - 13:48

Additions: .moe, The Infamous Stringdusters, Crooked Still, Jessica Kilroy and Benny Galloway, Pete Kartsounes, Crunchy Western Boys

Comment: Joining compatriots and host band Yonder Mountain String Band, .moe gives the Pacific North jamgrass festival another marquee jam name that will draw fans from near and far. Plus, The Infamous Stringdusters and Crooked Still give the festival two of the top progressive bluegrass acts going, three counting Darol Anger's Republic of Strings, a standby at the festival. Another previously announced standby is Danny Barnes, who leads the festival's traditional Super Jam, which will be a hoot as usual with all the above acts plus more artists to be named. Of course, Yonder closes all three nights as usual.

Thu, 03/11/2010 - 18:33

Doheny Blues Festival added blues organ legend Booker T. Jones and four others to its 2010 lineup, bolstering a bill headed by Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Black Crowes for the May 22-23 event at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point CA.

Booker T. took home his first Grammy Award as a solo artist last month, winning the trophy for best pop instrumental album for his 2009 release Potato Hole, which he recorded with the Drive-By Truckers. The artist is best known for his decades of work with his former band The MGs.

He appeared at numerous festivals in 2009 with the DBTs, but is booked at fewer festivals in 2010 with solo billing. At Doheny, he'll be a featured act on Sunday, May 23, playing before Crosby, Stills & Nash close out the festival.

Also named for the upcoming festival are long-time blues-rock favorites The Fabulous Thunderbirds, acoustic blues guitarist Otis Taylor, Euro bluesman Igor Prado with Lynwood Slim and New Orleans funksters Big Sam's Funky Nation.  

Thu, 03/11/2010 - 13:52

In response to user requests, we've added a new search capability for finding festivals occurring within specified date ranges. The new Search by Date Range page is here. To use it, use the pull-down menus to select two dates and optionally select one or more regions, then hit the "apply" button. The results will display all festivals meeting your region specification whose start and end dates fall within the range.

Festival Preview strives to respond to all user feature suggestions. Feel free to contribute your ideas here.

Wed, 03/10/2010 - 17:43

Norman Music Festival has unveiled even more performers for its April 24-25 festival on the streets of downtown Norman.

Bands announced this week include local and regional music acts OK Sweetheart, Native Lights, aul Benjaman Band, Broncho, Jesse Aycock, The Red Alert, Cecada, Bear Colony, The Burning Hotels, Marcy Priest, Graham Colton, Jabee, Jacob Abello, Odis, Beau Jennings, The Workweek, Ishi, The Orbans, PBrine Webb, Radiant, Chrome Pony and Chase Pagan.

The festival tries to shine a spotlight on up-and-coming talent, organizers said on the official NMF Web site.

In January, NMF announced the Dirty Projectors as headlining act.

As first reported in the Tulsa World, Pollstar Pro online also lists Leon Russell, The Gourds, Those Darlins and James McMurtry as part of the weekend's bill, which runs April 24 and 25 on Main Street in Norman.

Read more