Lake George’s summer concert series “Fridays at the Lake” returns this year with an exciting lineup. From July 5 to August 30, Shepard Park Amphitheater will host a concert every Friday. Concerts are free, and will feature a beer and wine garden.
Amanda Metzger
On July 5, The Ultimates will open for the New York Players, who will be returning to Fridays at the Lake this year. The New York Players are known for being dance party experts, with over 1,000 events under their belt. On July 12, Yellow Dog will open for Soul Session.
Dirt Cheap will open for E.B Jeb with classic blues and rock on July 19. E.B Jeb has been bringing authentic Southern Rock to upstate New York since 1980.
July 26, Saratoga-based pop group The Schmooze will open for Vivid. The Hartford based band is known for playing upbeat and danceable pop rock covers.
Albany band Sirsy will bring pop rock with folk intimacy to Fridays at the Lake on August 9. They will open for the TS Ensemble, a high energy, eight piece band from
Sirsy by Chet Seidel
The US Navy band will open for The Accents on August 23; The Accents will be returning for another performance this year; Lake George regulars, the Accents have performed at Fridays at the Lake and thousands of other events.
On August 30, Troy rock trio Super 400 will open for Ten Most Wanted. The Ten Most Wanted is a ten piece band known for their powerful vocals and sizzling horn section.
All events are family & dog friendly, and bouncy houses will be available. Openers will take the stage at 6:00, and headliners will start performing at 7:30. A recap of last years’ Fridays at the Lake is available at the following link, and a video of a performance from a previous year is available below.
Grammy Award winning pop star, Jason Mraz will perform alongside the Boston Pops at Tanglewood on Tuesday, July 2.
This iconic singer-songwriter has been releasing music since 1999 as a self-published artist and released his first studio album Waiting For My Rocket To Come in 2002. Mraz’s career started at Java Joe’s coffee shop in Ocean Beach, San Diego. Mraz was signed to Elektra Records in 2001 and opened on Jewel’s 2002 tour.
His singles “The Remedy” and “You & I Both” made it onto Billboard charts. In 2005, he released Mr A-Z with Atlantic Records and went on to open for stars like The Rolling Stones and Alanis Morissette. His 2008 album, We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things, blossomed his career and gave listeners his most well known songs like “I’m Yours,” “Lucky” and “Make It Mine.” He won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Make It Mine” and Best Pop Collaboration for “Lucky” with Colbie Caillat at the 2010 Grammy Awards.
Currently, The Jason Mraz Foundation raises money for arts education organizations like Harmonic Humanity and the Rock n’ Roll Camp For Girls. Since 2011, he has raised over $1 million to help these inclusive arts programs.
The Boston Pops will perform alongside him on the Koussevitzky Music Shed stage. They have performances throughout the Tanglewood concert series including with the band DISPATCH and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra during their film nights. Tanglewood is a summer series located in the Berkshire hills in Western Massachusetts and will continue until August 31.
For more information of Jason Mraz’s Tanglewood performance and to purchase tickets you can visit the website here.
The legendary James Taylor and his All-star band will perform two nights at the Tanglewood concert series on July 3 and 4.
The “Fire and Rain” singer is also a six-time Grammy award winner and was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. Taylor started his journey playing with a band in Greenwich Village, NYC. After leaving a rehabilitation center for drug abuse, he signed to Warner Bros. Music and released his iconic sophomore album Sweet Baby James.
Throughout his long and ongoing career, Taylor has released 20 studio albums and collaborated with other folk artists like Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Linda Ronstadt.
Taylor is currently touring with his talented band members including Kate Markowitz and Dorian Holley on vocals. His instrumentalists include Andrea Zonn on fiddle, Larry Goldings on piano, Lou Marini on horns, Walt Fowler on keyboard and horns, Michael Landau on Guitar, Jimmy Johnson on bass, Luis Conte on percussion and Steve Gadd on drums.
After his July 3 performance, Taylor will receive The Tanglewood Medal due to his contribution to the concert series. Altogether, he has performed on the Koussevitzky Music Shed 51 times.
James Taylor’s July 4 performance will end in a celebration of fireworks and in addition, all the proceeds from his performance will be donated back to Tanglewood.
Tanglewood is located in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts. The series is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and features performances from other stars like Brandi Carlile, Jason Mraz and Jon Batiste.
To find more information and to purchase tickets you can visit the website here.
Celebrating the event’s 20th anniversary, Colonie, NY, unveiled the lineup for this year’s Tuesday Nights in the Park Concert Series. The free-to-the-public series will run every Tuesday night between now and August 27, with shows starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Cook Park Frank A. Leak Amphitheater.
Colonie, is a town of about 80,000 people nestled at the north end of Albany County. Besides having many beautiful parks, including the Crossings, a 130-acre passive park with miles of biking and walking trails, and numerous historical sights, Colonie is home to the annual Tuesday Nights in the Park Concert Series at the Cook Park Frank A. Leak Amphitheater.
The free concert series captures the attention of locals every year, with performances often bringing in crowds that fill out the on-looking field with an array of multicolored lawn chairs and blankets. This year’s series is particularly special, with it being the 20th anniversary of the first Tuesday Nights in the Park show in 2004.
The 2024 series boasts a lineup of performers that play a wide variety of musical genres, ranging from New Orleans cajun blues to Celtic to soul. From originals in unique genres to classic covers, there’s bound to be something for everyone in this year’s setlist.
Funded entirely through sponsors, benefactors and individual patrons, Tuesday Nights in the Park is a true Colonie community event. In the words of Colonie Village Hall, “During the summer, Tuesday nights in Cook Park are alive with music, laughter, dancing, and community camaraderie.”
Food and refreshments will be sold on-site by Mike’s Hot Dogs, and bathrooms are available in the nearby Cook Pavilion. In the event of rain, shows will be held on the following Wednesday in the same location, weather permitting. For any questions regarding the series, the Colonie Family Recreation Center can be contacted at (518) 218-7782.
The official poster and full written lineup are below.
Tuesday Nights in the Park Full Schedule with Musical Genres
June 25 – Electric City Horns (Rock/Pop/Swing)
July 2 – Lucid Street (Pop, Rock and Beyond)
July 9 – TS Ensemble (Sinatra to Today)
July 16 – Skeeter Creek (Country)
July 23 – Triskele (Celtic)
July 30 – The Accents (Greatest Hits)
August 6 – Capt. Squeeze & the Zydeco Moshers (New Orleans Cajun Blues)
August 13 – Soul Session feat. Garland Nelson (Multi-Genre Soul Session)
Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, Brandi Carlile, will perform at Tanglewood on Sunday, June 30.
Carlile grew up outside of Seattle, Washington and played in clubs across the city. In 2004, she was signed to Columbia Records and released her first self-titled album in 2005. Her second album, The Story, topped international charts and sold over 257,776 copies in the U.S.
Her song “The Joke” off of the 2018 album, By The Way I Forgive You, earned her two Grammy awards for both best American roots song and best American roots performance. The album won Best Americana album.
In 2018, she founded her music festival “Girls Just Wanna Weekend” in Cancun, Mexico. The festival headlined female only bands and artists like The Indigo Girls, Maren Morris and Patty Griffin. Most recently, she’s collaborated with big names like Noah Khan, Hozier and Miley Cyrus on their albums.
Joining Carlile on the Koussevitzky Music Shed, is a group she performed with during her Seattle beginnings, The Hanseroth Twins. Phillip John and Timothy Jay Hanseroth have been writing music since the 90’s and have written many widely popular Carlile songs such as “The Joke,” “The Story,” and “The Eye.” They’ve performed alongside Carlile herself as well as Joni Mitchell and Kristoffer Kristofferson.
Each year the Tanglewood concert series in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts, becomes the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Tanglewood which will run until Aug 31, welcomes headliners from across the world.
For more information about Brandi Carlile’s Tanglewood performance you can visit the Tanglewood website here.
Four decades since its creation, the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival has not just survived but flourished. The beloved five-day celebration of all bluegrass music is set to return to Oak Hill, NY, this summer, from July 17â21.
The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival is one of the oldest continuously running bluegrass festivals in the U.S. Now, the festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary and the 16th year of Oak Hill as its home. Throughout its many years of operation, Grey Fox has grown into a community essential, now being a foundational annual event for locals in the Oak Hill area. For anybody who enjoys bluegrass music, or even just live music for that matter, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival should be on your list of New York’s summer festivals to visit.
One of Grey Fox’s specialties is the variety they put into every year’s lineup. “We want to have a wide and diverse lineup. We consider ourselves a really big umbrella to bluegrass and roots music,” said Grey Fox Festival Executive Director Mary Burdette. Don’t come to Grey Fox expecting just traditional bluegrass. There’s so much more to discover. “We do embrace all sorts of bluegrass, from traditional to contemporary, jamgrass and jazzy,” Burdette said.
One of the most diverse groups coming to Grey Fox this year is the South Korean bluegrass band Country GongBang. Country GongBang won the International Band Performance Grant in 2023, which gave them the financial assistance they needed to tour in the U.S., with the Grey Fox being one of their stops. Country GongBang’s unique take on contemporary bluegrass music with a mix of English and Korean vocals has already garnered them international attention, with the group already playing festivals in Japan and France. The quintet is set to play Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Grey Fox.
Le Vent du Nord, a French-Canadian folk band, is another standout in the lineup. The seasoned quintet, with more than 2,500 performances all across the globe, has an upcoming album that will celebrate their 20th anniversary as a band and “promises to be a vibrant testament to their evolving artistry.” Shows from Le Vent du Nord often include elements of audience participation and should be a must-see for anybody at Grey Fox looking for a lively set.
Wyatt Ellis, a 14-year-old bluegrass prodigy, is a show that any and all true bluegrass fans can’t miss. Ellis, who played at the Grand Ole Opry just eight months ago, has already garnered major attention in the bluegrass community. His debut single, “Grassy Cove,” even went to #1 on the Bluegrass Today charts. “He’s an old soul in a young body,” Burdette said. Ellis is set to play at Grey Fox on Saturday, the 20th.
On top of the festival’s lineup, every year the Grey Fox Festival designates an artist or group as that year’s artist-in-residence, who will spend the festival bouncing between different stages, playing with other artists on the setlist. This year’s artist-in-residence is Grammy-nominated all-women string band, Della Mae.
Della Mae has long been closely associated with Grey Fox, with one of their first gigs ever being at the festival nearly 15 years ago. Celia Woodsmith, the guitarist and vocalist of Della Mae, even met her husband at Grey Fox. “They love, love, love Grey Fox, and we’re really excited to have them,” Burdette said.
While the music is certainly the highlight of the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, there’s much more that comes with the experience.
The festival is held on the scenic Walsh Farm in Oak Hill, NY, right next to Catskill Creek. There is ample space for both quiet camping and picker’s paradise camping, where you can expect after-midnight jammin’, along with the six separate performance stages. All the other essentials, like first aid, security and information booths, are present as well. A map of the full grounds can be found here.
Grey Fox has been held at Walsh Farm for 16 years, so naturally, the grounds have become special to those who come every year. With the festival itself celebrating its 40th anniversary, enough time has passed that generations of families have grown while attending Grey Fox. “One year I sent our media team out to find a good story, and they stopped at this campsite, and there was an infant, parents, grandparents and a great-grandmother all at that campsite, and they’d been coming all those years,” said Burdette.
A massive appeal of Grey Fox and one of the reasons why multiple generations of families can all come together is the festival’s family-friendly nature. Besides the billed artists, which people of any age can enjoy, kids have an entire stage dedicated to them, Family Stage. The Family Stage is home to a myriad of child-friendly activities, including tie-dying, instrument making, nature crafts, yoga for kids, family concerts, dances, sing-alongs, storytelling, puppetry, ventriloquism, movies and more. “We also have a bluegrass academy for kids, and we’ve had as many as 120 kids from ages eight to 17 learning to play, sing and perform bluegrass music,” Burdette said.
For those who have never been to the Grey Fox Festival, there isn’t too much to worry about. Take the time to learn the lay of the land. There’s no reason to rush, so get acquainted with the stage layouts and where all the other essentials are. “If you don’t really know the music that much, you can just kind of wander around, and you’ll hit something that you love,” Burdette said. No matter where you go on the grounds, music and good times will be happening, so the specifics are not too important.
The music even continues throughout the night, with countless families and groups jamming out in the picker’s paradise camping sections seemingly endlessly. According to Burdette, people will usually be jamming until 6 a.m.
And if the atmosphere gets the best of you and you think about joining in, you’re in luck. The Slow Jam Tent, which runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, is primarily for musical novices and features beginner instrumental classes, vocal workshops, and slow jams meant to help anybody with any level of experience. “Every day, all day long, they’re teaching people how to play, and then how to jam, and how to take solos if they’re ready. How to be in the background if they’re not, and just how to play well with others. The people around the campgrounds are just really, really friendly,” Burdette said.
So if you’re looking for a culture-filled music festival with something for all ages, look no further than the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival this July.
See below for lineup.
Full Lineup:
Della Mae (Artist-in-Residence) Del McCoury Band Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway Yonder Mountain String Band The Steeldrivers Hawktail The Travelinâ McCourys The Gibson Brothers Sister Sadie I Draw Slow Shadowgrass Sam Grisman Project Wyatt Ellis Darol Anger & Bruce Molsky Charlie Parr The Mammals SCYTHIAN Chris Jones & The Night Drivers Pine Leaf Boys Charm City Junction Casey Driessenâs Red Shoe Stringjam Brennen Leigh The Faux Paws Joe Newberry Twisted Pine Mike+Ruthy (of The Mammals) Pictrola Zoe & Cloyd Unspoken Tradition John, Trish & Quickstep Jim Gaudet & The Railroad Boys Mark Gamsjager & The Lustre Kings Mild Goose Chase Niamh Parsons & Graham Dunne Country GongBang The Cross-Eyed Possum Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light Into The Fog The Clements Brothers Berklee American Roots Music Showcase
Tickets to the full festival with camping are available here. Single-day tickets will be available soon as well.
The Green Island Gazebo (GIG), in Green Island, NY, located 10 minutes north of Albany, has announced the performance lineup of their annual summer concert series.
All GIG shows will be free to the public and take place every Wednesday between July 10 and August 28 at the scenic Lower Hudson Ave Park.
With a population of roughly 3,000 packed into just a square mile, Green Island is a tight-knit community. 2024 marks the 21st year of GIG’s annual summer concert series, now a staple in the town. The shows have always been held in the quaint Lower Hudson Ave Park waterside gazebo, which is the perfect spot to bring some lawn chairs and relax.
This year’s artists all performed at last year’s GIG summer series, except for Emmy Award-winner and former WNYT News Channel 13 news anchor, Jerry Gretzinger, who will perform a Frank Sinatra tribute show called “Sinatra: The Man. The Myth. The Music.” on July 24.
On top of their annual summer concert series, GIG also hosts the Festival of Trees, which is an annual Christmas tree decoration event, followed by a visit from Santa, who greets the children and sings Christmas carols for them.
All shows will run between 6 and 8 p.m. In the event of rain, concerts will be held under the Collar City Bridge on Hudson Avenue. Visit the GIG Facebook page here.
GIG Concert Lineup and Schedule
July 10 – The Accents
July 17 – Get Up Jack
July 24 – “Sinatra: The Man. The Myth. The Music.” featuring Jerry Gretzinger
Music Haven announced the return of their beloved summer series of international music. From July 7 to September 6, Music Haven will host diverse performances for Schenectady residents.
Each concert will feature artists from different parts of the world, from Brazilian Jazz to Zimbabwean Afro Fusion. Schenectady’s Central Park will host the series in their award winning outdoor venue. Music Haven has transported viewers on a musical trip around the world for over 30 years.
In addition to the returning festival, Music Haven is excited to introduce their new Blues BBQ, and a three-part film and event series.
The Agnes MacDonald Music Haven is a family-friendly, accessible venue that has been voted “Best Outdoor Concert Venue” in the Capital Region. In addition to an excellent venue, the series will boast a collection of local craft beverages from Frog Alley and Wolf Hollow Brewing Companies and Nine Pin Cider. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream will also be available at each show, along with Yanni’s 2-go and Flacos Tacos.
Music Haven will welcome special guests as exciting as their headliners.
The series will open with Mokoomba, a Zimbabwean Afro Fusion group with infectiously danceable music. Special guest Jordan Taylor Hill will join Mokoomba with West African drums and dance.
The next performance will feature Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. & The Legendary Ils Sont Partis Band for an evening of Louisiana Zydeco, a unique blend of jazz, blues, and Indigenous Creole influences. Special guest The Brass Machine will bring New Orleans style jazz .
Afterwards, the next performance will feature Balkan Brass, Roma (gypsy) accordion, and Slavic Soul Party jazz. Special guest Niva will perform Izverna, Macedonian roots music. The musical globetrotting trip will visit Ireland with Goitse, Live Ireland’s “Traditional Group of the Year”. The Capital region’s own Hair of the Dog will join Goitse.
More jazz will follow with Brazilian artist Anat Cohen, Jazz Journalists Association’s “Clarinetist of the Year”. Additionally, the jazz quartet Art D’echo Trio will be joined by percussionist Brian Melick.
Cuban musician Eliades Ochoa will perform classic Cuban Son. Cuban sextet Bolero Blues, led by Walter Ramos, will join Ochoa.
Music Haven will also feature food from around the world.
A full list of Music Haven’s summer events is available below, along with a news interview regarding the 2023 season.
Esteemed singer, songwriter and multi-talented artist Jon Batiste, will perform at the Tanglewood concert series on June 28.
After earning both a B.A and a M.F.A from Juilliard school, Batiste got his start on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert as a bandleader and musical director. His extensive discography ranges from his 2004 jazz album, Times in New Orleans, to his 2023 concept album, World Music Now. Jazz legends such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis are a heavy influence on Batiste’s music, as well as the soul and funk of Stevie Wonder and James Brown.
Notably, Batiste produced the music for Disney Pixar’s film Soul which won an academy award for Best Original Score and a Golden Globe for Best Original Score. The We Are album won five Grammys including Album of The Year in 2021. In 2022, Times Magazine named him top 100 most influential people.
The 2023 Netflix film, American Symphony, explores Batiste’s career. It follows his personal life, his involvement in activism and organizing and of course, his musical successes.
He’ll perform his wide discography in Koussevitzky Music Shed, a venue that will host other iconic artists all summer. Tanglewood is a concert series located in the Berkshire hills of Western Massachusetts. Throughout the summer will also feature many performances from its summer resident, the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
For more information or to purchase tickets to Jon Batiste, visit the Tanglewood website here.
Mr. Jive has cooked up a 12 song showcase worthy of a glance from a wider audience, titled, Hurry Up Please It’s Time”
Opening with “Monsters Write Pretty Songs,” Buggy immediately announces “Good luck,” with a thickly stacked vocal on top of the meandering rhythm guitar that jolts and grabs attention. The crispy blend of gospel and Doobie-esque backing vocals weave a soft takeoff before eventually punching the opening notes of “Scheherazade of Schenectady.” The first single off the record is appropriately verbose, as it touches on principles of fiction writing and brings up the heat after the smooth opener.
Relaxedly defiant, “Don’t Quit Your Day Job,” hints of the prog influence to come later in both “The Music is Beside the Point,” and “The Calendar is a Liar.” Distorted and stanky, the song that garnered the NPR shoutout from Bob Boilen and Bobby Carter somehow still gives front porch rocking chair vibes while hiding a middle finger attitude behind a content and fulfilled smile.
In “Another Song I Ain’t Allowed to Sing,” Buggy Jive offers reminders of his emotional range and musical intent while slowing down the pace, but featuring right-up-front lead vocals and an ocean of harmonies that keep the energy flowing. This range and intent returns in spades on “Autumn Is Burning.” The mid-album walking groove breaks out major key on a bridge change that feels like a full breath after the intentionally dark verse progression. While “Old Man Screams at Sky,” hits more like a barnhouse dance party than gospel groove, those dynamic controls and natural chord voicings remain steady and present.
“Ignore Them Fools,” and “Alpha the Beta,” both ooze confidence, with the former feeling like a class in session and the latter like a player on the field in action. “Alien Robot Love Song About Love,” and “Hurry Up Please It’s Time,” the final two tracks of the album, lay heavy wet grooves that drag the listener deep into the songwriters’ pocket lyrically and musically.
The entire work displays an adventurous attitude as a musician and a deep sensibility surrounding vocals that act as an homage to his influences, both perceived and expressed. Buggy Jive took a big swing on this record, and his dedication and emotion are both easily seen and felt throughout.
