THURSDAY, MAY 23
Hockey/The Hush Sound w/River City Extension/Genevieve/Lucas Carpenter The sexy post-punk rock and electro-disco roll of Hockey’s debut full-length, Mind Chaos, made it a favorite of 2009, though the Portland-based outfit (featuring core members Benjamin Grubin and Jeremy Reynolds) has since ventured into synthesized dance punk territory with more fuzzy tones, New Wave bounce and technotronic embellishments and effects in sophomore follow-up Wyeth IS, out digitally a few weeks ago and due for a physical release in late June. Co-headlining this run of dates is Chicago-based jangly pop-rock quartet The Hush Sound, on the road behind their first new recording in more than five years, the Forty Five EP, which features two singles, the pleasant easy-going groove of “Not a Stranger,” and “Scavengers,” a new riff on that old Maxine Nightingale-produced disco tune, “Right Back to Where We Started From.” (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Krisiun w/The Hackish/Arbitration/Contorted/Prophecy Z14 Three brothers (Moyses, Max and Alex) make up Brazilian outfit Krisiun, which serves earsplitting doses of crunchy-shredded guitar, heavy-hammering drums and enough guttural-toned, speaking-in-tongues-style barks and bellows to make any death metal devotee happy. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell So, yeah, Steve Martin plays banjo. In fact, he’s been a plucking fool since the age of 17, self-taught to start, then with educated help from legendary folkie John McEuen (who happens to be performing at the Hideaway on Friday night). He actually opened for McEuen’s Nitty Gritty Dirt Band when touring with the banjo-accompanied routines of his early (1970s-era) stand-up career, and the past several years have seen his focus veering away from acting and comedy toward his love of bluegrass. His first-ever musical recording, the McEuen-produced The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo, was delivered in 2009 and earned a Grammy award. He connected with Steep Canyon Rangers on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion following its release, and the N.C. bluegrass quintet has regularly backed him since, appearing in 2011 follow-up, Rare Bird Alert, and supporting him on the road. This tour finds the 67-year-old joined by folk-rock songstress Edie Brickell as they promote a new joint LP, Love Has Come for You (Rounder Records), and the setlist will feature material from all three of the aforementioned albums, among other surprises. (Mahaffey Theatre, St. Petersburg)
FRIDAY, May 24
John McEuen A country rockin’ folkie of some renown and Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s most famous founding member next to Jackson Browne, John McEuen has been laying it down for nearly five decades and has appeared on more than 40 albums as producer, writer and session artist. Though he’s a multi-instrumentalist versed on guitar, fiddle, mandolin, piano, lap steel and bass, his chops on 5-string banjo (see the previous item on Steve Martin) have earned him the title of “The String Master.” (Hideaway Café & Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
Eric Lindell New Orleans-by-way-of-Cali singer-songwriter Eric Lindell sets his raspy soulful vocals against an easy-going, horn-escorted mix of blues pop sweetness, swamp rock grooves and funky rockin’ R&B. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Willie Heath Neal A roadworn, Atlanta-rooted outlaw country troubadour who cites Hank Williams and Johnny Cash as influences, Neal’s deeper-toned drawl crooning and howling against guitar-driven odes. Neal makes three stops around town this weekend; this night at Ella’s, The Hub in Tampa on Saturday and Copperheads Taphouse in Safety Harbor on Sunday. (Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa)
Daddy Yankee The media buzzed with rumors about Daddy Yankee’s sexuality last month when a photo of his doppelganger smooching another man surfaced on the Internet, and was followed by a statement supposedly written by Daddy Yankee confirming his fear of being outed. The rumor-mongering got so unruly, in fact, that the bilingual Puerto Rican reggaeton and hip-hop artist was forced to hold a press conference to squash it. No, he’s not gay. Yes, he supports gay rights: “I have people on my team who are gay, and I respect them entirely and give them work,” he commented. This date supports sixth studio album Prestige, issued last year. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
Drowning Pool w/A(k)new/Blinding Darkness/War Of Thrones “Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor,” whisper-chants the late Dave Williams before he roars into the refrain of “Bodies,” the highest-charting and best-known single by grungy heavy metal outfit Drowning Pool. Williams passed away in 2002 and his position was most recently filled by Jasen Moreno, who joined Drowning Pool last year and is featured on 2013 fifth studio album, Resilience. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Poncho Sanchez & His Latin Jazz Band Delivering a vibrant, percussive-infused brand of Afro Cuban-style jazz is iconic conga player, salsa vocalist and Latin Jazz Band leader Poncho Sanchez. The expressive Mexican-American conguero’s last studio album, 2011’s Chano y Dizzy!, honored the musical legacy of his idols (the late Chano Pozo and Dizzy Gillespie) with songs from their repertoires as well as compositions by others capturing the essence of one or the other or both. The album was produced with help from Concord Jazz labelmate, trumpeter/composer/arranger Terence Blanchard, and longtime bandmate Francisco Torres (trombone/vocals). On this Tampa date, Pancho, Torres and the rest of his band (pianist David Torres, sax player Rob Hardt, trumpeter Ron Blake, bassist Tony Banda, timbalist George Ortiz, and percussionist Joey De Leon, Jr.) perform selections off Chano y Dizzy! (“Manteca” “Con Alma” “Groovin’ High” and the like) as well as various other cuts from the Sanchez catalog. (Friday Morning Musicale, Tampa)
