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Top tickets: September 12, 2013
FRIDAY Bukuru Celestin CD Release Bukuru Celestin and his family arrived in America as refugees from Burundi almost six years ago. Since then, he has attended Music Lab at Jefferson Center where, by the time he graduated, his African gospel/folk music had caught the ear of international jazz-funk bassist and producer Michael League, of Snarky Puppy. Celestin and League collaborated on an album, “Amkeni,” released on the groundUp/Ropeadope label. The disc came
Elmwood Park to host Oak Barrel Blues Festival this weekend
It’s a well-known fact of the blues world: A blues man has got to ramble. That urge took Kevin Selfe from his hometown of Roanoke to Portland, Ore. And Selfe has navigated that city’s strong blues scene very well. Some six years after heading west, he and his band, the Tornadoes, are perennial winners at the Cascade Blues Association Awards. And that’s no joke — other winners have included Curtis
Oak Ridge Boys going strong
In the early 1970s, bass singer Richard Sterban was living the good life in music. Legendary bass singer J.D. Sumner had hired him to take his place in the Stamps Quartet, and six months after he got that gig, Elvis Presley brought on the Stamps as his male backing vocalists. “To actually sing with the ‘King of rock ’n’ roll,’ that was almost mind-boggling,” Sterban recalled. “You can’t beat that.
Nelson family harmony
It should shock no one that a son of American music icon Willie Nelson likes being on the road. Lukas Nelson even travels in his dad's old tour bus. These days, the road is also where the pair typically get to hang out, said the younger Nelson, who opens for his father on Friday at Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre. After a set with his own band, Promise of the Real,
Out & About in the Roanoke area: Pete Anderson
Fans of country music's Dwight Yoakam are familiar with the red-hot guitar lines that elevated such numbers as "Little Sister" and "Long White Cadillac." Those flashes of six-string insanity came courtesy of Yoakam's producer, Pete Anderson. In the decade since Anderson and Yoakam parted ways, Anderson has focused most of his time on his own music. But don't expect to hear the alt-country grooves that made their music famous. Anderson
Donna the Buffalo release new album
Americana rocker act Donna the Buffalo’s 10th album, “Tonight Tomorrow and Yesterday,” was a long time coming. The previous record had come out in 2008. And as the years spun by, some of the group’s fans were complaining that they weren’t hearing new music. That fact wasn’t lost on the band, Donna co-founder Tara Nevins said. “We ourselves felt artistically like we were kind of jonesing to put out another
Top tickets: Time to get folksy, get bluesy
TONIGHT The Honeycutters Quite a few Asheville, N.C., bands are in town this week. This group, which travels the alt-country/Americana route, crowdfunded a recent album, “When Bitter Met Sweet,” and an upcoming release via Kickstarter.com. Singer, songwriter and band leader Amanda Anne Platt has a good thing going here. Details: 7:30 p.m. Kirk Avenue Music Hall, Roanoke. $15. kirkavenuemusic.com, thehoneycutters.com Sweet Honey in the Rock Read our review of the
FloydFest hears coda of controversy
From an artistic and financial standpoint, FloydFest 12 was the event’s most successful to date. The July 25-28 event sold out before the first note was played — the first-ever sellout. But the outdoor music festival with at least 17,000 paying customers once again experienced problems that at best irritated patrons and at worst angered them. Organizers fixed FloydFest 11’s big problem — getting out on Sunday. But getting them
Jam packed Labor Day weekend
FRIDAY >> SUNDAY Front Porch Fest With Dangermuffin, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Big Daddy Love, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Peoples Blues of Richmond, Former Champions, The Shack Band, Galaxy Dynamite, After Jack and more A full live music lineup is scheduled at a spot that many say is one of the most magical and peaceful in the state. Americana favorites Dangermuffin, Holy Ghost Tent Revival and Big Daddy Love mix
Top tickets: Prodigy & masters showcase
TONIGHT Conrad Oberg Jacksonville, Fla., has spawned some mighty, mighty musicians — Butch Trucks and his nephew, Derek Trucks, The Van Zant brothers, Vic Chesnutt, Ray Charles and Blind Blake. Conrad Oberg, 19, a guitarist and pianist with a blues-rock bent, is moving along that same path. He has already impressed the likes of Edgar and Johnny Winter and Robert Randolph, along with departed icons Doc Watson, Hubert Sumlin and
Young bluesman Conrad Oberg learned from the masters
Rare is the player who can say he has performed with blues masters Hubert Sumlin and Pinetop Perkins, country music icon Doc Watson and funky pedal steel guitar blaster Robert Randolph — all before he was 20. Guitarist, pianist and blues-rocker Conrad Oberg has all those names on his resume, with YouTube videos to prove it. When Oberg brings his trio to Billy's Barn in Salem on Thursday, the vibe
Franklin County's Wright Kids evolve
They'll have to change the name at some point. After all, they can’t be The Wright Kids forever. It’s a fact of which the members of the Franklin County-based band The Wright Kids have become well aware. It’s been five years since the siblings were contestants on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” The Wright Kids finished in the top 10 in the 2008 season, and it brought them fame and Jerry
Top tickets: Rock & jam, indoors and out
SATURDAY Live at the Rives Summer Series With Possum Jenkins, Bottoms Up Blues Gang North Carolina Americana band Possum Jenkins rocks it outdoors. Details: 6 p.m. Shining Star Farm, 3838 Barrows Mill Road, Martinsville (rain address, Rives Theatre, 215 E. Church St., Martinsville). $12 advance; $15 door. 276-638-2107, 276-647-1973, facebook.com/rivestheatre, possumjenkinsband.com SATURDAY Roanoke Wing Fest With The Color J, Tobacco Apache, Erin & The Wildfire, Carrington Kay Some of the
Country singer Ricky Skaggs reflects on his musical beginnings
Bluegrass and country star Ricky Skaggs spent some of the most difficult days of his life in Roanoke. In August 1986, his 7-year-old son, Andrew, had been shot in the face, the victim of a drug-fueled, sleep-deprived long-haul truck driver’s road rage on Interstate 81, near Daleville. Twenty-seven years later, his son is doing relatively well. And Skaggs has found himself frequently reliving that time on a book signing tour
Out & about: Camp Barefoot 7 Music & Arts Festival
A lineup of nationally recognized, jam-friendly acts will be hitting stages this weekend at the West Virginia event Camp Barefoot 7 Music & Arts Festival. A handful of bands with Southwest Virginia ties are scheduled to perform, too. String Cheese Incident keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth is the scheduled headliner for Camp Barefoot, which runs Thursday-Saturday. Along with Hollingsworth will be epic slide guitarist Anders Osborne and The Motet Horns. The latter
The Sword comes home for concert Wednesday at Martin’s
Coming home to play music hasn’t worked out perfectly so far for Cave Spring High School graduate J.D. Cronise. But the singer, guitarist, songwriter and frontman for popular heavy rock band The Sword is trying it again Wednesday. The Sword headlines a three-band bill at Martin’s Downtown Bar & Grill, touring behind its 2012 CD “Apocryphon,” which debuted at No. 17 in the Billboard top 200 albums chart. The band
Interlocken Music Festival is already a hit
LOVINGSTON — More than 15,000 tickets have been sold so far for the Interlocken Music Festival next month — four days of rock 'n’ roll at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Nelson County. The newest and, likely, the largest musical gathering to hit Central Virginia will feature performances by legends Neil Young and former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh at the nearly 5,000-acre Oak
Chris Hillman, Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands in Roanoke this weekend
This weekend’s music lineup in Roanoke features a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member who helped found The Byrds and an up-and-coming act that impressed listeners at FloydFest. Chris Hillman, who in 1991 joined the rock hall with The Byrds, joins forces with another roots music master, Herb Pedersen, at Kirk Avenue Music Hall on Friday. Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands, which finished second in 2013 FloydFest’s On
Top Tickets: Eclectic, original selections
TONIGHT Pigeons Playing Ping Pong This Baltimore-based quartet goes hard funk-rock, with grooves for days, cheese-jazz inclinations and psychedelic flashes, all of which makes up for vocals that aren’t the strongest. If you want to sweat and jam out before the weekend, this is the show to see. Details: 10 p.m. Martin’s Downtown Bar & Grill, Roanoke. $5. 985-6278, martinsdowntown.com, pigeonsplayingpingpong.com FRIDAY-SATURDAY GypsyFest With Black Girls, Midnight Spaghetti and the
Chuck Prophet to bring ‘Temple’ to Salem's Parkway Brewing Co.
The road is littered with bands that imploded after relationship troubles. Rare are the acts that can keep it rolling when a married couple is at least half of the act. That’s not been a problem for singer, songwriter and rocker Chuck Prophet and his wife, Stephanie Finch, a singer, guitarist and keyboardist. The pair has been recording and touring together for years. Prophet is a member of Finch’s band,
1. Britney Spears spotted at Lynchburg restaurant
2. Roanoke resource officer's quick action saved young girl
3. One person injured in Friday night shooting in Roanoke
4. East Carolina poses new challenge for Virginia Tech football
5. Captive in Roanoke County describes harrowing time with angry friend
6. Lowe's tapes may hold clues to Roanoke woman's death
7. Roanoke County electrical short quiets 5 Wheeler radio stations
8. William Byrd stuns Salem in football win
9. History says this one will matter for Virginia Tech
10. Concert review: Timeless Willie Nelson plays to appreciative crowd
THE ROANOKE TIMES
