Live music returns to Saranac Brewery in Utica as Creative Concerts brings Blackberry Smoke on their You Hear Georgia Tour on Sunday, September 26th.
Throughout their career, Blackberry Smoke—vocalist/lead guitarist Charlie Starr, guitarist/vocalist Paul Jackson, bassist/vocalist Richard Turner, drummer Brit Turner, and keyboardist Brandon Still—has embodied Georgia’s rich musical legacy, honoring the people, places and sounds of their home state. As the band celebrates their 20th anniversary this year, their reverence for Georgia has only deepened.
On their latest album, You Hear Georgia, the follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Find a Light, Blackberry Smoke is further celebrating these roots with 10 new songs that feel like Georgia, accented by the addition of Grammy-winning producer and fellow Georgia-native, Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile). “Dave and I had spoken for the last few years about making a record,” Starr says. “Finally, it worked out, our schedule and his schedule, and we said, yes—let’s make a record.”
Blackberry Smoke worked quickly, spending just 10 days at Nashville’s famed RCA Studio A, Cobb’s home base since 2016. The band recorded live on the floor, giving You Hear Georgia a crisp, outgoing feel. Like other Blackberry Smoke efforts, this album leans into well-crafted Southern rock driven by jagged guitar riffs and rich instrumentation, as the band layers on everything from rollicking piano to funky grooves, and introspective acoustic sounds.
Saranac: F.X. Matt Brewing Company is the fourth oldest family-owned brewery in the United States, having brewed beer since 1888. They introduced the Saranac line of beverages in the mid-80s.
This is a general admission show and all ages are welcome. Tickets go on sale Friday, July 30th at 10am at CCTix.com. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 day of show. Doors open at 6pm with music starting at 7pm. This is a rain or shine event. The brewery has limited on site parking but there is street parking available in close proximity to the venue.
Manhattan’s Blue Note Jazz Club is bringing together GZA and Talib Kweli for four performances over August 24 and 25. The Genius, aka the GZA, will bring his live band, featuring guest MC Talib Kweli, performing classics that have shaped the sound of hip hop.
GZA, the most cerebral MC in the Wu-Tang Clan, as well as perhaps the most acclaimed has a cool, precise flow and intricate, literate rhymes. While he wasn’t as theatrical as Method Man or Ol’ Dirty Bastard, the two biggest commercial stars to spring from the collective, GZA was revered for his flawless technique and lyrical dexterity, and was considered by many to be the best pure rapper in the entire Clan.
After nearly 20 years of recordings and performances, Talib Kweli stands as one of the world’s most talented and most accomplished hip hop artists. Whether working with Mos Def as one-half of Black Star, partnering with producer Hi-Tek for Reflection Eternal, releasing landmark solo material or collaborating with Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Just Blaze, J Dilla, or Madlib, Kweli commands attention by delivering top-tier lyricism, crafting captivating stories and showing the ability to rhyme over virtually any type of instrumental.
Since 1981, Blue Note Jazz Club has been a cultural institution in New York City and one of the premiere jazz clubs in the world. Blue Note strives to preserve the history of jazz, and the club is a place where progression and innovation – the foundations of jazz – are encouraged and practiced on a nightly basis. In addition to the main acts that feature the likes of Robert Glasper, Pat Metheny, Christain McBride, Joshua Redman, Ron Carter and Chris Botti, Blue Note regularly showcases up-and-coming jazz, soul, hip-hop, R&B and funk artists. After 40 years of success, Blue Note continues to carry the torch for jazz into the 21st century in the cultural heart of New York, Greenwich Village.
Creative Concerts is excited to help bring live music back to Baldwinsville this summer, presenting Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime on Friday, August 13th at Paper Mill Island.
Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime – The phenomenon known as Sublime, arguably the most energetic, original and uniquely eclectic band to emerge from any scene, anywhere, ended with the untimely death of lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Brad Nowell in May of 1996. But encompassing the sense of place and purpose long associated with Sublime’s music, Badfish, a Tribute to Sublime continues to channel the spirit of Sublime with a fury not felt for some time.
What separates Badfish from other tribute bands is that they have replicated Sublime’s essence, developing a scene and dedicated following most commonly reserved for label- driven, mainstream acts. Badfish make their mark on the audience by playing with the spirit of Sublime. They perform not as Sublime would have, or did, but as Badfish does! Doors open at 6pm with music starting at 7pm. This is a rain or shine event.
While there is no public parking on Paper Mill Island, there is plenty of parking within walking distance. Public parking is available near the intersection of Oswego Street and E Genesee Street. Once you are parked the venue is a quick walk across the bridge.
This is a general admission show and all ages are welcome. Tickets for Badfish: A Tribute to Sublime at Paper Mill Island are on sale now at CCTix.com, at $20 in advance and $25 day of show.
The Historic Grassroots stage in Trumansburg, NY hosted Syracuse outfit Sophistafunk and Grammy Award winner Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles on Saturday, July 17.
The rainy weather pushed the performance to the site’s grandstands stage. The precipitation didn’t stop the grassroots audience from dancing to the grooves emanating from the bandstand. Don’t let the rain get the best of you and don’t let it saturate your brain, it comes as fast as it passes through so why fear the rain?
Sophistafunk hit at 7PM and immediately got the soaked masses moving. The original trio included a full three-piece horn section to add extra layers of funk. Drummer Emmanuel Washington’s neo soul beats resonated on the bodies in motion. They ended their set with a unique mash up of Sly and the Family Stone’s “If You Want Me To Stay” with a Notorious B.I.G. sample of “Juicy.”
Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles spoke with NYS Music about some influential shows they personally saw live in New York State before their set.
Cory Henry: I saw Stevie Wonder on his 2014 Songs In the Key of Life tour at Madison Square Garden. That completely changed my life. That’s what inspired me to play the harpejji instrument that he uses.
Isaiah Sharkey: I would say Joey DeFrancesco at the Blue Note in Manhattan.
Josh Easley: Cory (Henry) actually at Rockwood Music Hall in Manhattan.
The funk apostle ensemble that came through Trumansburg on Saturday consisted of Dave Wood on Drums, Joshua Easley on Bass, Isaiah Sharkey on Guitar, Denise Renee and Matia Washington on backing vocals and Cory Henry on lead B3 Hammond Organ and vocals.
This was Henry’s second show this July after splitting the bill with Lettuce in Lake Dillon, Colorado. The band hit at 8:30 and played till 11 PM with only one break before the encore.
Brooklyn native Cory Henry is a true front man. His stage presence was the lightning to the pouring rain that evening. A nod to the evening’s soul climate was expressed on Henry’s “Don’t Forget” with his lyrics, Sunshine don’t come without rain, and that’s ok, love ain’t magic without pain.
He had a dynamic interplay with all of the other musicians on stage that kept hitting the audience with waves of emotion. He visits the strain of love with a sassy groove during his tune “Switch” singing, I miss the way we were before you flipped the switch and never flipped back.
He celebrates the sunnier side of love during “GawtDamn.” His words show the delight of having the right one by your side. Cause when the girls see her they say Gawtdamn (gawtdamn) and when the boys see her they say “OOEE” they better know I keep her next to me, I never met a girl who made me wanna keep her near oh.
The other musicians on stage all had a chance to stretch out as well. Guitarist Isaiah Sharkey hit all of the ascending musical notes like a crashing wave. Some in the crowd recalled his performance with John Mayer two July’s prior at Albany’s Times Union Center.
Josh Easley truly came full circle on stage with Henry after seeing him from the audience at Rockwood Music Hall years ago. Drummer Dave Wood ended up shirtless, digging trenches of groove on stage. Denise Renne and Matia Washington helped keep the vocal section ablaze the whole performance.
During the encore, the band channeled the woman who can’t stand the rain, Miss Tina Turner. They performed their own improvised groove of “Rolling on the River.” The river beat trailed off of Henry’s words to the audience before closing, “So I encourage you, no matter what you’re going through, no matter what’s going on around us that life…keeps on rolling.” “Say that a life’s got to keep on rolling…” jam went on for eight minutes to end the encore.
Musically it got to a level where everyone on the bandstand was having fun and could hear each other with the audience locked in, launching the performance to a spiritual level. If you came to this show Saturday night, you were allowed to miss church the next day.
The Grassroots 30th anniversary music festival keeps rolling in Trumansburg this weekend July 22-24 with headlining sets from hometown heroes Donna The Buffalo and a slew of other acts. Isaiah Sharkey will be at The Blue Note on August 9 & 10, and Cory Henry will be part of a four-night residency at Manhattan’s Legendary Blue Note on September 23 through September 26.
Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles 7/17/21 Trumansburg, NY Setlist: Testify, Trade it All, In the Water, Our Affairs, Gawtdamn, Don’t Forget, Switch, Rise Encore: Rolling on the River/ Life’s got to Keep on Rolling
Avant-Garde Arama is a two-day festival of short works of dance, performance art, poetry and music that will take place at Mount View Studios in Woodstock, July 24 and 25 at 8 pm.
Avant-Garde-Arama was originated in 1980 at the legendary East Village venue Performance Space 122 (P.S. 122) by performance artist/dancer Charles Dennis, who also co-founded this still vibrant cultural institution. This is the first time the event will take place in Woodstock.
Premiering in 1989 to raves in media like The Village Voice, Dennis’ movement piece “2 x 2 x 4” is a dramatic dance duet performed with fourteen wooden 2 x 4s, one whose mood will only be height by Cataldi’s atmospheric live loop & drone based guitar improvisations.
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Cataldi’s debut album under Spaghetti Eastern Music moniker, Sketches of Spam, is a 16-track, 69-minute, genre-surfing journey through contrasting moods, with instrumentals inspired by 70’s Miles, Krautrock, Ennio Morricone, Fripp & Eno and ECM’s icy guitar great Terje Rypdal giving way to bare-bones acoustic vocal tunes reflective of the influence of John Martyn and Nick Drake.
In 2020, Cataldi followed this with a trio of critically-acclaimed atmospheric singles that have been heard around the globe, “Her Lemon Peel Raincoat – Because It’s Raining,” “Peace Within” and “And This is Their New Hoax,” a COVID-19 musical editorial featuring samples of President Trump’s most noted denials to Cataldi’s soundpainting guitars and synths. His latest release, “Blues for A Lost Cosmonaut,” is a nine-minute plus maxi single again in the ambient mode, one that will inform the live tracks he will perform to Dennis’ dance piece. His music has received high praise from our site and other outlets including The New York Times, Time Out New York, Jazz Times, Huffington Post and many others.
For information and ticket information for Spaghetti Eastern Music at Avant-Garde Arama in Woodstock, please visit the Facebook event page or .
John Mayer just released his new solo record Sob Rock, produced by Don Was and released on Columbia Records and Tapes.
Mayer also announced a 2022 Sob Rock Tour starting at the Times Union Center in Albany, NY on February 17. This marks the fourth world tour he has started in the Capital Region of New York In 2015, he played his first Dead and Company Show there. In 2017, he started his Search for Everything Tour at the arena, and Mayer also started his last solo summer tour in Albany on July 19 2019.
John Mayer’s musical journey over the past twenty years is a classic rock and roll dream. Growing up, Mayer never had a doubt about what he wanted to be. His bedroom in the 1980s was adorned with Stevie Ray Vaughn posters. At this time, he was inspired by Buddy Guy’s “Damn Right I got the Blues.” Mayer is one of the last artists to amplify his sound to the masses through original radio and TV circuits, years before the social-media/stream world of exposure.
In 2002, he played at Onondaga County War Memorial on his first solo American tour the same fall Bob Weir and Jeff Chimenti’s Ratdog played Syracuse’s Landmark Theater down the street. 20 years later they are Mayer’s band mates with Oteil Burbridge, Bill Kreutzman, and Mickey Hart on tour as Dead and Company, with four dates in New York scheduled for this August.
Dead and Company Fall Tour opener Albany 2015
In between this time, Mayer’s life was a continuum of battle studies majoring in heartbreak warfare in cities like New York. Who says he can’t get stoned and call a girl he used to know? Halfway to the moon, his vocal cords needed a recharge, which led to him living off the grid in Montana. A poolside chance encounter with the Grateful Dead’s Althea on satellite radio helped Mayer carve out another new sound. He then debuted his psychedelic chops on solo albums Wildfire and Paradise Valley before joining Dead and Co.
Mayer kept his blues roots alive by inducting Stevie Ray Vaughn in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Mayer and Gary Clark Jr helped pay musical tribute at the ceremony. Mayer also kept his English blues roots atone for performances with The Rolling Stones and joining Eric Clapton for his 70th birthday at Madison Square Garden. He reunited with producer and drummer Steve Jordan to help bring back the John Mayer Trio with Pino Palladino. Dont’t forget Pino’s groove on Don Henley’s 80’s anthem “Boys of Summer”. He recruited D’Angelo guitarist Isiah Sharkey for the his recent solo tours as well. Mayer also dabbled after midnight at the LOCKN festival with Lettuce for Jerry Garcia Band Tribute.
Mayer’s first record fresh off the heels of growing up, however, has an ironic connection to his most recent. Romanticizing years ago on the track “83” off Room for Squares with lyrics like Oh, if only my life was more like 1983. All these things would be more like they were at the start of me. I’d plot a course to the source of the purest little part of me.
John Mayer Search for Everything Tour Albany 2017
Sob Rock is a nod to this era of Mayer’s life experience until now, the simplicity of any given 1980s summer day before we all had to grow up. “Why you no love me?” Is a great example of this angle “They are the most brutal lyrics I’ve written. Musically you’re on a sailboat, but lyrically it’s intense. ‘Why you no love me?’ I’ve spoken those words in relationships and it is the child learning that language. Maybe it takes 43 years to ask it?”
The song’s lyrics, Hurt me once I let it be. Hurt me twice, you’re dead to me, Three times makes you family. Mayer reflects on these words about getting older, “Do not try and create bonds with scar tissue, there are people in our lives who have hurt us enough to join this legacy gang. As you’ get older you learn not to build relationships on the connective tissue of ‘sorry’ hangovers and morning afters. As you get older you say, ‘Be good to me from the start.’
Sometimes nothing feels better for someone than stitching up a wound they made. At 28, that felt like love times a thousand but when you get in your 40’s its sexy to hear someone say, “I would never do that to you” That’s the new language you become attracted to
John Mayer
Musically a Dire Straits tone is found on “Wild Blue” with chilly Knopfler-like vocals. “I’m walking through the wilderness and living off the loneliness. I found myself when I lost you.” Sob Rock is binge watching Stranger Things for its Eighties nostalgia with Carla Francesca in an October past. Mayer wants this album to create memories that you might not have actually had. Can you have memories of things that never happened to you? “For me, I can’t quite see the memory…I’m almost there…it’s my grandmother’s house and Gumby is on TV…is it a dream?…a memory?” Maybe its all a dream I’m having at seventeen, I don’t have tattoos and very soon mother will be calling me and saying come upstairs you got some work to do.
Additionally, two music videos released off the record, “Last Train Home” and “Shot in the Dark,” look like playbacks of recorded VHS tapes off an old Zenith console TV. We cast the same scenes in our social circles. His live performance on the tonight show with Isaiah Sharkey really shows the reflection on the stitches of old love from the road Now the road keeps rolling on forever and the years keep pulling us apart, if its on someone i blame both of us, it shouldn’t matter but it does
His experience with Dead and Company has affected the guitarist in that he wants to hear how the music has affected you. Where did it take you and what has it brought out personally? New York musicians like John McConnell, whose only rest in 20 years was for vocal chord treatment like Mayer, his song “When This, Then That” with the lyrics “So I’ll settle in and relax for a while, I’m a 40 something victim of comfort but I do it with style” is certainly a sound off the new light trail Mayer has bended for all to hike on. At this stage in his life John (Mayer) just wants to be a musical servant. “I’m only here for transportation.”
Key Tracks: Why You No Love Me?, Wild Blue, All I Want is to Be with You
John Mayer 2022 Sob Rock Tour Dates tickets go on sale Friday, July 23 at 11 am ET at JohnMayer.com.
Feb. 17 – Albany, NY – Times Union Center Feb. 18 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center Feb. 20 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden Feb. 23 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena Feb. 25 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena Feb. 27 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena March 1 – Belmont Park, NY – UBS Arena March 4 – Boston, MA – TD Garden March 11 – Las Vegas, NV – Grand Garden Arena March 13 – Los Angeles, CA – Forum March 15 – Los Angeles, CA – Forum March 18 – San Francisco, CA – Chase Center March 22 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena March 25 – Salt Lake City, UT – Vivint Arena March 27 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena April 2 – Sunrise, FL – BB&T Center April 5 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena April 8 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena April 11 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center April 13 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena April 20 – Austin, TX – Moody Center April 23 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center April 24 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center April 28 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Lettuce finished two nights in the Adirondacks as part of their “bring back the love” Summer 2021 and converted Charles R Wood Park to “Lake George Duke,” in honor of funk keyboardist George Duke. Lettuce founding member Sam Kininger special guested on Saturday night.
“Sam’s The Godfather of Lettuce, he believed in us before we did,” said Lettuce drummer Adam Deitch. The current Lettuce hybrid batch has guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff on guitar, Nigel Hall keyboards/vocals, Adam Deitch on drums, Erick “Jesus” Coomes On Bass, Ryan Zoidis on saxophone and trumpeter Eric “Benny” Bloom. The groups second to last New York show was at the Capitol Theater on 4/20 with special guest John Scofield.
Friday night included a two set performance and encore. The evenings highlight was an original off Lettuce 2008 album Rage! “By Any Shmeeans Necessary” mixed with a New York instrumental tribute to Notorious B.I.G. The band laid down the original funk track “Juicy Fruit” that the Brooklyn artist sampled.
Rolling off this great energy the band put on an epic Saturday night show with special guest Sam Kininger. Sam’s on stage presence was the ultimate “Break Out” for live sets this year. The second set culminated in another New York nod for “Madison Square.” It got everyone on the bandstand lifted with the grooving audience.
This was Uticat’s Kininger second live performance this year. He played his sons wedding at the Stanley Theatre in Utica where he last performed with Lettuce on November 20 2019. “The Sam Fam” were all in attendance for a funked up reunion on the newly crowned “Lake George Duke” Guitarist Micheal Wooten said of the performance “You can tell they are having fun again up there” The band encored with a kickin cover of the James Brown classic “Funky Drummer.”
Drummer Adam Deitch and Bass player Erick “Jesus” Coombs kept the Saturday night groove going at KRIS & Co featuring Ryan Dempsey after show party in town. The duo jammed on the spot to samples of the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street” and J.J. Cale’s “Cocaine.”
Lettuce kept burning in the Empire State on Wednesday July 14 for their third New York date, this time at Lewiston’s Artpark. The historic park stage sits next to the running Niagara River across from Canada. The band and audience played off the great landscape for a three hour set and encore. The sunset over the border brought out a third stone from the sun tease by guitarist Adam Smirnoff. The crowd responded to Lettuce outbursts of groove by throwing heads of actual fresh produce lettuce in the air during the performance.
The band resonated by debuting a brand new song not on the setlist named “The Lock,” off an upcoming record. Lettuce is bringing back the love this summer and knocking out crowds along the way. Nigel Hall’s vocals over the grooves, “Think I’d better let it go, looks like another love T.K.O. (Oh, Oh)” during a Teddy Pendergrass Cover.
The band encored with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears to keep this ’80s-style New York summer resurgence of live music. Lettuce returns to New York at Brooklyn Steel on November 6 2021.
Lettuce 7/9/21 Lake George, NY: Blaze, MR Shminklehuffer, Kron Dutch, Shmink Dabby, By Any Shmeans Necessary( Don’t stop the music/Juicy Fruit) Ready to Live, Larimar, Trilogy->Trap->Makin my way->Checker Wrecker, Suppit, Do it like You do Encore: RVA Dance
Lettuce 7/10/21 Lake George,NY: Luck of Lucien->Krewe, Pocket Change, Gratitude, Mr Yancey, Sam Huffs Flying Machine->Squadlive Royal highness, Supit, Don’t Change, Breakout–>Relax, Nyack–>Madison Square Encore: Do it like you do (funky drummer)
Lettuce 7/14/21 Lewiston, NY: New Reel, Royal Highness, In the Middle -> Silence is Golden, SquadLive, Fly, Phyllis, Love TKO, RVA Dance Encore: Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Lettuce guitarist Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff and drummer Adam Dietch spoke with NYS music about past, present and future music experiences in the state.
Matthew Romano: Tell me about some music you have seen live in New York State that helped put the groove in you
Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff: I remember my Uncle bringing me to see Stanley Jordan at the Blue Note in NYC. That blew my mind as a kid. I have all these different ages of seeing things that changed me. One of my first concerts was Robert Cray “Forecast Calls for Pain Tour.” At 17 years old I saw Phish at Jones Beach for the first time and it helped me understand you could build a grass roots audience. You didn’t need to be on the radio. You could follow your own path. That’s how Lettuce has aimed itself.
AS: Does seeing the Grateful Dead In 1990 at the old Giants stadium count? Sting opened and Branford Marsalis sat in on “Eyes of the World.”
Seeing Prince at Madison Square Garden has to be the big one. He was such a genre breaking musician. He went up there and played what he felt and didn’t have to categorize everything. I feel like for New York that’s a big part of it. It’s the melting pot. We’re all different, a little bit of everything and try and make it a little bit like you too. It also represents modern humanity. That New York attitude. “Just got to pull up your britches, do the best you can do and be yourself.”
MR: Any current musicians that are on the scene that you have been digging?
AS: Well You have Taz, other younger cats like Justin Lee Schultz. DOmi and JD Beck that’s been playing with Thundercat. You got MONONEON. I just got to jam with Cory Henry, TaRon Lockett and Isiah Sharkey.
MR: What about the future of your own musical journey? What’s on the horizon?
AS: Well we have been lucky enough to play with some of our heroes. Our new recording that we just finished I feel we have made some beautiful music and history with Bootsy Collins. I can’t wait for y’all to hear this.
Adam Deitch: Our friend Alissa Bennevente whose an amazing bass player runs Bootsy’s Instagram. She sent us an uplifting video of him speaking during our time off that gave us hope. It’s Bootsy giving a positive message to everyone out there . At the end of the video he just kept saying (finger snaps) “Keep The Funk Alive” (finger snap). I immediately downloaded the sample of it and sent it to the guys
MR: Wow. So you just took the end of him speaking on the video and sampled it? That sounds like an organic way of creating a groove.
AD: Yea exactly. I added drums and quickly sent it to everyone in the band. They all kept adding their parts to it.
AD: We sent it to him and he loved it. He played bass and added his vocals to it. Showed interest in wanting to make a video of it. He even eluded that he’s glad a band like ours is still playing real funk music.
MR: Sounds as if you’ve been added to Bootsy’s shot calling like on the 1980s Dave Sanborn TV special… “Lettuce”… get ready to roll!
Vermont-based jam quartet Twiddle has announced its annual “Frendsgiving” celebration for 2021. This year’s shows will occur on Friday November 26th, and Saturday November 27th at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.
Friday night will feature an opening set from guitar virtuoso Keller Williams. Saturday will see an opening set from Connecticut rock outfit Eggy, who make their Capitol Theatre debut.
Tickets are now on sale. For more information, visit twiddlemusic.com
The 2021 New York State Blues Fest, a free concert at the State Fairgrounds in Syracuse over Thursday June 24 till Saturday June 26 in Chevy Court. Downtown Syracuse’s Clinton Square hosted Dumpstaphunk at the last Blues Fest held in June 2019.
Artists included Larkin Poe, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Carolyn Wonderland, Vanessa Collier, Ghost Town Blues Band, Ray Fuller & The Bluesrockers The Gabe Stillman Band, The Ripcords, Miller & The Other Sinners, Diana Jacobs Blues Band Jane Zell & The Zelltones Colin Aberdeen & Max Eyle Hot Dogs & Gin Chris Merkley, Mark Nanni and Ryan Holweger.
County Executive Ryan McMahon helped kick things off on Thursday for one of the Northeast’s largest free festivals. Southern Pennsylvania power trio Gabe Stillman Band and Robert Randolph and the Family Band opened the first sounds at Chevy Court in over a year, with Stillman Band performing a great cover of Bill Withers “Friend of Mine.”
Robert Randolph and The Family Band helped bring the State Fair experience to all in attendance. The family band has Lenesha Randolph on vocals, Ray Ray Holloman on guitar Stevie Ray Ladson On Bass, and Rochester native Levi Bennett on drums.
Stevie Ray Ladson, Lenesha Randolph, Robert Randolph
The group periodically changed instruments during their soul set performance. Lenesha Randolph was quoted “It was great to be out in the land of the living. Such a great time, thank you guys for welcoming us.”
Local Solvay saxophone player Dunham Hall got the call at 5:30 to join Randolph’s set at 7PM. He showed up and laid down saxophone for an extended cover of Sly and The Family’s Stones “Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf) Again”.
Levi Bennett Ray Ray HollomonnRobert Randolph Lenesha Randolph
Robert Randolph spoke with NYS Music at the Jus Sum Jazz lounge following his show:
Matthew Romano: It’s good to have you guys back in New York State performing live. What memories come to mind when you play Upstate?
Robert Randolph: It’s crazy how many iconic shows have happened up here. One of the first shows I played with The Word was at a small club in Syracuse in 2000. The Word is playing at Tipitina’s at Jazz fest in New Orleans this year. It’s a vibe.
MR: This jazz club has a New Orleans vibe to it.
RR: Yea I like it. It’s reminds me of a modern day juke joint.
MR: What shows have you attended in New York State that made an impact?
RR: The first Phish show I saw was at Madison Square Garden. I remember it was a blast but it also humbles you. It’s one of these things where It all becomes special. I go to the Dicks shows in Colorado too.
MR: What shows of your own are on the horizon in New York State In 2021?
RR: I’m playing with The Word at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock. That’s gonna be special, def come check that out.
Robert will be performing at the Gorge Amphitheater with Dumpstaphunk and Dave Matthews Band Labor Day weekend when live music continues at the Fairgrounds.
Vanessa Collier from Dallas took on a James Brown-like stage presence on Friday night at the Fairgrounds. She was out front counting on the one in between playing funky arrangements on lead saxophone.
The Fabulous Thunderbirds from Austin TX helped keep that legendary blues smoke going to close the night. Attendees in the crowd reflected on Stevie Ray Vaughn’s New York State Fair performance in 1986. The Austin, TX guitarist played “The Sky is Crying” while the rain came down upon the old grandstands. Vaughn and Double Trouble walked a tightrope at Miller Court in 1989 as well.
Saturday afternoon’s set by The Ghost Town Blues Band from Memphis was definitely channeling older spirits. Gregg Allman’s chilling composition “Whipping Post” was taken on by the ensemble. Matt Isbel’s whiskey gravel soaked vocals helped resurrect Allman’s sound. Trombonist Suavo Jones traded notes off Cedric Taylor’s howling B3 Hammond to boot.
Perhaps this was a nod to the 50th anniversary of the Allman Brothers Band closing the Fillmore East. Their final performance on June 27, 1971 found the Allmans playing until 8AM. 2016 NYS Blues Fest artist Butch Trucks reflected “I remember Duane (Allman) walking in front of dragging his guitar while i was sitting there completely burned and he said “Damn its just like leaving church”
Suavo Jones
Rebecca and Megan Lovell from Georgia performed as part of Larkin Poe to close the weekends music. They are descendants of tortured artist and genius Edgar Allan Poe. The duo and their band treated the crowd to songs off their 2020 album’s “Self Made Man” and “Kindred Spirits.”
The title tracks lyrics resonated on the blues soaked audience “I was down and out, now I’m up again When I roll the dice, everybody wins Like a cannonball, moving down the track, Baby’s on her way, she ain’t coming back”
New York Blues Fest has made its way back across the land helping ease everybody’s same old blues on a different day.
Creative Concerts has announced that moe. will perform at Apple Valley Park in LaFayette, NY on Saturday, August 7th and Sunday, August 8th.
Unlike other upcoming shows at Apple Valley, these two moe. shows are general admission only. With NYS restrictions lifted, the venue looks forward to welcoming moe.rons to the area in a format of outdoor concert many live music enthusiasts have all been missing.
Enjoy an evening with moe. on Saturday, August 7, with gates opening at 4pm and music starting at 6pm. On Sunday, August 8, Marco Benevento will open the night, with gates opening at 3pm and music starting at 5pm.
For three decades, moe. has corralled myriad musical forms on a truly original journey rich with crafty, clever songwriting and astonishing resourcefulness. Fueled by an impassioned fan base, moe. has spent much of those thirty years on the road, encompassing countless live performances marked by eclectic wit, deep friendship, and exploratory invention.
Having built an enduring legacy with hard work and a confirmed commitment to creativity and community, moe. seem as surprised as anyone to find themselves at such a significant landmark. Impossible to pigeonhole as anything other than simply moe., this one-of-a-kind band has never been easily categorized, their sonic adventurousness and tongue-in-cheek humor distinctly and undeniably their own.
Apple Valley Park is located in beautiful LaFayette, NY. With its rural atmosphere, rolling hills, and expansive fall foliage, it has proven to be a wonderful home to the annual LaFayette Apple Festival since 1973. More recently it has expanded to host other live entertainment events, including a few successful drive-in concerts in the fall of 2020.
Apple Valley Park upcoming shows Umphrey’s McGee (June 25, 26) Blackberry Smoke (June 29) Warren Haynes (July 3) Tedeschi Trucks Band (July 9, 10, 11) Dark Star Orchestra (July 31, August 1)
