Show Detective – Weekend Shows – Fri, June 16th – Sun, June 18th
Written by Staff on June 15, 2023
Show Detective
Friday, June 16th
Gaelic Storm, The Egg, Albany, 8pm
Part of the Rhythm International Series
Since their performance in the 1997 feature film “Titanic” catapulted Gaelic Storm to international acclaim, the band has remained one of the world’s foremost Celtic fusion bands and they return to The Egg for an evening of party drinking songs, patriotic anthems, quiet folk songs and spritely instrumentals.
TLC & Shaggy, SPAC, Saratoga Springs, 7pm
with En Vogue and Sean Kingston
Millington, Keep Flying, What Makes Sense, Empire Underground, Albany, 7:30pm
Brian Kane, Rustic Barn Pub, Troy, 7pm-10pm
Brian Kane Solo gig
Bumpin Uglies with Mike Pinto, Lark Hall, Albany, 8pm
Bumpin Uglies knows all about hustle. The Maryland reggae-rock band had spent more than a decade on the road, starting with local open mics and backyard parties and growing into road warriors, building an ever-expanding audience with sold-out shows in clubs and prime spots at festivals from coast to coast, on one national tour after another. Then the pandemic hit, and touring shut down.
After being in motion for so long, singer and lead guitarist Brandon Hardesty wasn’t about to sit still, even if he couldn’t be out on tour. In fact, Bumpin Uglies never really stopped working — they adapted. The group returned to playing backyard parties around Annapolis, where they’re based, and added socially distanced concerts and full-band livestreams. In the fall of 2020, they also started releasing a new song every month as part of a project called the Never Ending Drop.
“We felt like prospectors going out and trying to find gold — it was just uncharted territory,” Hardesty says. “We had to figure out a way to make a living. That’s kind of what being a musician during Covid has felt like to me. You can do it, but you have to be bold.”
Hardesty has been bold from the start. He was waiting tables when he started the band in his early 20s. With an ear for melodies and the determination to succeed, he poured his time and energy into making Bumpin Uglies a success. For years, the band did just about everything themselves, from booking shows to releasing their own albums, building a sense of momentum along the way that eventually became self-sustaining, and then Hardesty wasn’t waiting tables anymore.
No surprise, then, that a musician with his strong work ethic found a way to take maximum advantage of the sudden surplus of time at home. For one thing, he got to hang out with his toddler son, and he and his wife welcomed a new baby. He also wrote a ton of songs. For the first time, Hardesty approached songwriting as a discipline, dedicating time to working on new music rather than waiting for inspiration to strike and then jotting down ideas in the back of the Bumpin Uglies van on his way from one gig to the next.
“I just woke up every morning and I made a pot of coffee, and I had this running list of ideas in my phone for hooks and riffs and progressions,” he says. “I sat down every day and made myself write a song, and 85 percent of them were pretty good. And it was awesome. I really, really enjoyed the process.”
The result is the band’s seventh studio album, Mid-Atlantic Dub, which they recorded in 2021 and plan to release this fall. After showing the breadth of Bumpin Uglies’ influences on the Never Ending Drop, from folk to classic country to hip-hop, Mid-Atlantic Dub brings the group — also featuring Dave Wolf on bass and vocals, Ethan Lichtenberger on keyboards and TJ Haslett on drums — back to the core of what they do.
“It’s very groove-focused,” Hardesty says. “It’s very hooky, very vibey. It’s very accessible, but there was no compromise on the storytelling or the lyricism.”
In fact, Hardesty had a lot on his mind while working songs for Mid-Atlantic Dub. He had recently lost his own father while he was stepping into being a dad himself and letting go of the vestiges of childhood, all during the uncertainty of a global pandemic. It’s all there on “Slow Burn,” featuring Jacob Hemphill from SOJA. “Before the oak you got the sapling and the seed / Before you triumph you will swallow a defeat,” Hardesty sings over unhurried upstroke guitars and a beat laid back into a deep pocket.
“I was doing a lot of growing up during Covid,” he says. “It was very much like a survival thing, and when you’re in that kind of mode, it forces you to cut a lot of bullshit out of your life.”
What’s left, in Hardesty’s songwriting as in his daily life, is what’s real, and what’s real stands a solid chance of connecting with an audience that appreciates openhearted lyrics paired with a tight reggae-rock vibe.
“For me, it’s just all about honesty,” Hardesty says. “That’s what I listen for when I’m listening to music. I want to feel like whatever the author’s saying is honest.”
Mikaela Davis w/ Ongoing, Putnam Place, Saratoga Springs, 9pm-12am
Five years since her debut album Delivery, Mikaela Davis has moved away from her hometown of Rochester, shared the stage with the likes of Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Christian McBride, Bon Iver, Lake Street Dive and Circles Around the Sun and entered a new decade. But it’s the ever-evolving relationships between her closest friends and bandmates that has propelled the Hudson Valley-based artist onto her new album And Southern Star––a truly collaborative effort that ruminates on the choices we make, and the people we always come back to.
Davis earned her degree in harp performance at the Crane School of Music, and has molded her classical music training to create an original and genre-bending catalog that weaves together 60s pop-soaked melodies, psychedelia and driving folk rock. She met her bandmates at pivotal moments in her life––drummer Alex Coté in childhood, guitarist Cian McCarthy and bassist Shane McCarthy in college, and steel guitarist Kurt Johnson in her early twenties. It’s the band’s collective step into adulthood that has informed much of And Southern Star’s thematic landscape.
Navigating the periphery of past selves, the coexistence of isolation and excitement in a new environment and the tension of growing away from what we thought we wanted is tackled with a luscious, kaleidoscopic grace. And Southern Star picks apart the reflection we used to recognise, while trying to build a new one. “I finally feel like this album is more me than anything else that’s been released,” Davis says, adding that producing the album along with her four bandmates allowed them to carve out their own ideas, rather than someone else’s. Despite playing together for over a decade, it’s the first time the five-piece have appeared on a full length album together.
The bones of And Southern Star was recorded at Old Soul Studios with Kenny Siegal, a person who was an integral part of Davis’ move to the area. The rest was recorded by Cian McCarthy at Horehound Mansion, adding to the album’s intimate nature. The album was mixed by Mike Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios, who is lovingly nicknamed as the ‘silent sixth member of the band.’
Davis describes the band’s bond as “meditative and telepathic,” adding that although many of the songs were written individually across the past few years, something instantly clicked once they were together. Opener “Cinderella,” written by Coté and Davis, begins with Davis’ distinctive harp plucks and ethereal vocals. It’s a sonic choice that directly points to Davis’ solo beginnings, before blossoming into the textural patchwork of the band’s contributions. The fairytale wanderings of the song peel back in the album’s dream-like canopy, where tracks offer an otherworldly escape from the constraints of reality.
The album, however, doesn’t shy away from the very real, lingering fog of solitude and uncertainty that comes with entering new chapters. “Far From You,” written by brothers Cian and Shane McCarthy, introduces a stark spotlight, with ghostly vocals and gentle piano accompanying the weight of loss. “Oh but if I was to meet you in the moonlight,” Davis laments before the song offers a tentative optimism through a stirring, psychedelic instrumental outro, written by Davis, that’s full of bright percussion and driving harp and guitar. This optimism lingers on “Home in the Country,” also written by Cian McCarthy, where rousing harmonies and honky-tonk frills encourage us to seek out the blue skies beyond the heavy clouds.
“Promise” was crafted by Davis and Coté years ago as she was illustrating the pains of a close friend, but soon found herself relating it to her own life. Like the evolutionary tint of the album’s scenery, And Southern Star reckons with the changes that creep into a hairpin bend. “The Pearl” is there to anchor these dizzying shifts, as steel guitar and glittering harp creates a frame around the core-memories that shaped us. “You will always feel like that inner child,” Davis explains. “Sometimes you’ll forget about them but then it hits you.”
And Southern Star is an album that toes the liminal space of growing into ourselves, while tugging at parts of the past that we’re desperate to keep. Moving forward, and accepting change, is one of the most painful parts of renewal and we can often find ourselves stuck in the difficulty of it all. Davis, along with her band, understands that while these bumps may hurt at first, they’re not forever and just like the message of album track “Saturday Morning”: sometimes “the illusion of darkness breaks its spell.”
Website: www.mikaeladavis.com
Bright Series: The Wildwoods, Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, 8pm-10pm
Comprised of husband and wife team Noah (guitar) and Chloe Gose (violin), as well as Andrew Vaggalis (bass), The Wildwoods draw inspiration from a wide range of influences including the styles of: Watchhouse, The Decemberists, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Peter, Paul, & Mary, Nickel Creek and Joni Mitchell. The folk/Americana trio work to harmoniously and delicately blend their voices to create a sound so nostalgic that you may find yourself dreaming and longing for those sweet memories from your former days. Praised by Paste Magazine as “focused and charmingly human,” the Wildwoods’ delicate melodies and descriptive lyrics come from nature, love, experiences from the road, and growing up in Nebraska.
In 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021 The Wildwoods were nominated by the Omaha Arts and Entertainment Awards as a top Americana/Folk artist in Nebraska, and in 2022 they were named “Best Band” by the Lincoln Journal Star’s Lincoln’s Choice Awards. The group’s musical momentum continues into 2023 releasing “Thirteen Sailboats” as the first single off their new full-length LP, Foxfield Saint John.
The Bright Series is made possible by the generous support of Kevin & Claudia Bright.
The Silos w/s/g Coal Palace Kings, Hangar on the Hudson, Troy, 8pm-10:30pm
Heralded at their outset by Rolling Stone as “America’s Best New Band,” the resilient Silos mix punk, roots, rock, and sage art-damaged truth telling. They’ve created a sound that’s hard to pin down. “The band’s austere style inflects the astringent twang of The Velvet Underground with the drone of R.E.M. and adds countryish echoes that recall Gram Parsons,” offered The New York Times. ”
With special guest Coal Palace Kings!
Sexless Marriage / Easy Blame / Flowers For Burial / Quiet / Cinnamon, No Fun, Troy, 7pm-11pm
Ed Gein – https://edgein.bandcamp.com
Flowers for Burial – https://flowersforburial.bandcamp.com
Sexless Marriage – https://sexlessmarriage.bandcamp.com
Easy Blame – https://easyblame.bandcamp.com
Saturday, June 17th
Dead & Company, SPAC, Saratoga Springs, 7pm
Don’t Iron While the Strike is Hot!, Cohoes Music Hall, Cohoes, 2pm, 7pm
The musical story of Kate Mullany and the Troy Collar Laundry Union 1864 Strike!
The musical Don’t Iron While the Strike is Hot! tells the fascinating story of how a group of courageous and mostly Irish young women won the strike by their determination and the support of the local Iron Molders Union. Through storytelling enhanced with traditional Irish music and dance, the show demonstrates how they set the example for thousands of women workers who would form unions in the following years across America in order to improve their wages and working conditions.
The organization of the Troy Collar Laundry Union in 1864 marked the beginning of a women’s labor movement in the United States.
Kate Mullany’s colleague, Esther Keegan, said that “when war broke out, their week’s wages could only buy a pair of shoes.”
When they “asked for higher wages” they “were not listened to.”
But when they formed the union and went on a weeklong strike in February of 1864, “they got the advance they asked for.” Union leader Kate Mullany later noted that their membership grew to over 500 strong. Keegan said that the union was “the mother of their success” and their “success was the mother of their commitment to trade unionism.”
Pink Talking Fish Play Dead (Dead & Co After-Party), Putnam Place, Saratoga Springs, 11:30pm-2:30pm
Come join us for a special Dead & Co. after-party featuring Pink Talking Fish Play Dead, performing their unique fusion of Pink Floyd, Talking Heads, Phish AND GRATEFUL DEAD.
Pink Talking Fish is a Hybrid Tribute Fusion Act that takes the music from three of the world’s most beloved bands and creates a special treat for fans of the music.
Pink Floyd, The Talking Heads and Phish are all more than just bands… they are Phenomenons. Their creations have artistically inspired people and their mind-blowing live performances have brought people together to form a special sense of community around the love for their favorite band.
Although the music from each act is different, Pink Talking Fish has discovered that fusing the material together creates an amazing story. The epic emotion of Pink Floyd…. The funky, danceable layerings of The Talking Heads…. The multitude of styles, unique compositional structures and pure fun of Phish…. to merge these three into one gives music lovers a special experience.
Pink Talking Fish features Eric Gould on bass, Richard James on keyboards, Zack Burwick on drums and Cal Kehoe on guitar. This is a band created by musicians who love the music of these acts. It’s purpose is to heighten people’s passion for this music by creating something fresh and exciting for fans.
Discovering connections is part of the fun: Pink Floyd’s “On The Run” seamlessly fitting in the middle of the composition of Phish’s “You Enjoy Myself”. Perfectly placing Phish’s “Sand” into the groove of The Talking Head’s “Slippery People”. Segued collections from all three acts such as Run Like Hell > Making Flippy Floppy > Piper > Run Like Hell or Mike’s Song > Have A Cigar > Once In A Lifetime > Weekapaug Groove. These ideas are the spirit behind Pink Talking Fish.
The story is ever evolving. The experience is always exciting. Come join Pink Talking Fish for the ultimate fusion tribute and celebrate the love of this music in unique fashion.
Band Website: www.pinktalkingfish.com
Joe Louis Walker Album Release Tour, Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, 8pm
Blues Hall of Famer Joe Louis Walker has an impressive list of credentials: a six-time Blues Music Award winner, nominee for the Contemporary Blues Grammy and a duet with B.B. King on his Grammy award-winning Blues Summit album. But that doesn’t come close to describing the euphoria-inducing, feel-good rollick of one of the greatest bluesmen in a generation. Billboard hailed his playing as “…gutbucket blues, joyous gospel, Rolling Stones-style rock crunch, and aching R&B. Walker’s guitar playing is fine and fierce.” NPR described Joe Louis Walker as “a legendary boundary-pushing icon of modern blues.” A brilliantly lyrical guitarist, soulful singer, and prolific songwriter, Walker just might bring the house down.
The Hi-Jivers, Hangar on the Hudson, Troy, 8pm-10:30pm
Austin John & Dawna Zahn moved to Nashville from Central New York in September 2014 with one intention: to form a band inspired by their favorite Rhythm & Blues and Rock N’ Roll artists of the 1950s and 1960s. By the beginning of 2015, they met upright bass player Hank Miles and drummer Aaron Mlasko who had recently moved to Nashville from Seattle, WA. The group bonded over their love of American roots icons such as Wynonie Harris, Big Mama Thornton, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Richard, and Etta James. The Hi-Jivers formed in February 2015, and by the summer they were playing frequently in Nashville and Memphis, TN. That first summer also brought about the band’s first ever release, a four song self-titled, self-released EP, which included original tracks “Hotwire Woman” and “Something’s Gotta Shake”. After Mlasko moved on to pursue other ventures, The Hi-Jivers shared the stage with a rotating cast of talented drummers, including Tony DeCurtis and Jason Smay.
In 2017, the band began touring and appearing at festivals across the U.S. They wrote and self-released a second 6 song EP, “Always Talkin’ Down”, which included soon-to-become fan favorite track “Knee High & Risin’”. During the 2017 Nashville Boogie, Bopflix Films’ Chris Magee took an interest in the band, producing and recording a live video of an acoustic version of original track “Hotwire Woman” in the dressing room at The Nashville Palace. Upon the video’s release, The Hi-Jivers began to gain traction in the international Roots music scene, introducing their sound to a new audience. In March 2018, they traveled to Los Angeles to record their first full-length album at the Wild Records studio. The album “Something’s Gotta Shake” included new recordings of a few previously released tracks as well as new original material. By 2019, The Hi-Jivers were bringing their live show overseas to festivals like the Rockin’ Race Jamboree, Rockabilly Rave, and Rhythm Riot.
Spring of 2020 brought a wave of change to The Hi-Jivers, as they saw their long-time bandmate Hank Miles move to Austin, TX to pursue a career in custom car building. Before his departure, the crew recorded two final versions of “Something’s Gotta Shake” and “Knee High & Risin’”, set to be released as their first ever 7″ vinyl record this coming summer. The tracks were recorded and produced by McKinley James at Red Lodge Studios in Nashville, Tennessee and featured Jason Smay on drums.
Big Lettuce / Yung Alfredo / J Buckets / Bri da God / DJ Stacks Pearson, No Fun, Troy, 7pm-11pm
Big Lettuce – https://biglettuce.bandcamp.com/album/the-afters
Yung Alfredo –
J Buckets
Bri da God
DJ Stacks Pearson
Point Blank MTBA, Pauly’s Hotel, Albany, 7pm
Sunday, June 18th
‘Come Alive!’ by The Dance Department, The Egg, Albany, 2pm
Part of the Guest Dance Presentation Series
‘Come Alive!’ Dance Recital by The Dance Department
Great Quintets, SPAC, Saratoga Springs, 3pm
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Harmonic Duo, Rustic Barn Pub, Troy, 7pm-10pm
The Duo with the sound of a full band!
The Jerry Dance Party (Dead & Co. After-Party), Putnam Place, Saratoga Springs, 11pm-2:30pm
Come join us after the second night of Dead & Co. for a special after-party featuring the Jerry Dance Party.
From its inception, The Jerry Dance Party has brought together the best of Jerry Garcia live catalog, from his extensive and wide ranging career with the Grateful Dead to his work with Old & In The Way, Jerry Garcia Band, Merl Saunders, John Kahn, New Riders of the Purple Sage and many more.
“We’re bringing Garcia’s entire career to the dance floor, for three-plus hours of the most ripping, psychedelic live tracks,” says DJ JerrBrother. “Undoubtedly, at every Jerry Dance Party, people come up to me and ask, ‘What show was that from?’ ‘What year is this song from?’.. I’ve combed through hours of live Garcia tracks to find the best of the best. We leave people with a renewed sense of exploration and love for the guy who brought it every night, Garcia.”
Each and every venue where The Jerry Dance Party takes place features state-of-the-art audio combined with a mind-bending light and video experience curated to accompany the music for this unique experience.
Just like Jerry accomplished in his playing, no two Jerry Dance Parties are alike.
Opera Saratoga America Sings! “A Juneteenth Eve Celebration”, Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, 7pm-8:30pm
AMERICA SINGS is a concert series that amplifies the voices of BIPOC artists, who have historically been underrepresented on the concert stage. Each event will feature a wide array of classical, jazz, and popular music. AMERICA SINGS concerts will be hosted in partnership with Caffè Lena, and will also be live-streamed to the public for free, but viewers are encouraged to contribute through a virtual donation to support both Opera Saratoga and this concert series.
Carl DuPont is an artist, innovator, and educator dedicated to Transformational Inclusion and Care of the Professional Voice. His “rich, nuanced baritone” (Columbus Underground) has held center stage in performances at the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Carolina, Opera Columbus, First Coast Opera, Toledo Opera, Opera Saratoga, Sarasota Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera, El Palacio de Bellas Artes, Opera Company of Brooklyn, The IN Series, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Leipzig Opera. Recent roles include Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and Leporello in Don Giovanni. His articles can be found in The Laryngoscope and the Voice and Speech Review. DuPont can be heard on the world premiere recordings of the Caldara Mass in A Major, The Death of Webern, and his solo album, The Reaction. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and the University of Miami (DMA), he currently serves on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute and the Executive Education division of the Carey School of Business. DuPont also teaches at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and is the co-artistic director for the Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera Initiative. This season he joined Annapolis Opera Company as Stephen Kumalo in Lost in the Stars and sang the baritone solo in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra. He will return to Bach in Baltimore in the St. John’s Passion and reprise the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah for the Baltimore Choral Society.
Pianist, Gregory Thompson is known for his work as a Solo and Collaborative artist in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Of his Carnegie Hall debut, the NY Times praised his “intuitive playing”, and his ability to “make a melodic line sing and inflect it with delicate rubato effects” (NY Times). His international performance credits include concerts at Marmolle Hall, Salzburg; The Atelier Concert Series, Paris; and at the Teatro Signorelli. In the U.S., he has played at Weill and Zankel Halls, NYC as well as Steinway Galleries in NC and GA. His varied repertoire ranges from Beethoven and Schubert to Prokofiev, George Walker, and Adolphus Hailstork. Artists with whom he has collaborated include singers Grace Bumbry, Allan Glassman, Russell Thomas, as well as woodwind faculty members of Austria’s Mozarteum. His concerto performances have included Baltimore Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, and Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestras. Thompson delivers performances that engage listeners in the creative process of shaping their own narratives and uncovering their own truths in the music. Thompson holds degrees from Peabody Conservatory, Limestone College, and The University of South Carolina. As a committed educator, he has served on the faculties of colleges and universities in Ohio, as well as North and South Carolinas.
Laveda // Bugcatcher // Birthday Dan!, Hangar on the Hudson, Troy, 8pm
Birthday’s come once a year, but combo Birthday shows featuring the musical stylings of Joe T and Dan M opening up for Rochesters own Bugcatcher and Troys own Laveda?! Hell we may only do this 3 or 4 times! I kid! This is only happening once!
RadioRadioX