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Ashton Shepherd |
Ashton
Shepherd
GE
Theatre at Proctors, Thursday
Country-music
radio station WGNA kicks off its new Rising Country Star Series
tonight (Thursday) with a performance by 21-year-old Alabaman
Ashton Shepherd. Shepherd, who’s been winning plenty of praise
for her soon-to-be-released debut album Sounds So Good,
claims she’s been writing songs since she was all of 5 years
old. “As soon as I was big enough to write on paper, I was
coming up with stuff. I’ve got notebooks where I was writing
down songs when I couldn’t even spell correctly,” she says.
Sounds So Good is the end product of a Cinderella story
of sorts that found Shepherd winning a talent competition
near her hometown, opening for country star Lorrie Morgan,
getting discovered by a big-shot producer, and being invited
to Nashville where the album was recorded—all within the course
of 14 months. Can you say “overnight sensation”? We knew you
could. (Feb. 7, 7:30 PM, $12, 432 State St., Schenectady,
346-6204)
Vampire
Weekend
Williams
College, Friday
Clap your hands, say Graceland: The much blogged-about
Vampire Weekend will make a stop at the Currier Ballroom on
the Williams College campus tomorrow (Friday) night. A quartet
of Columbia University nerds, Vampire Weekend are just about
the hipster-est band of hipsters on the market right now:
They fancy African guitar and Western classical music, and
claim to specialize in such styles as “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,”
“Upper West Side Soweto,” “Campus,” and “Oxford Comma Riddim.”
(Really.) While this all sounds awfully precious, the band’s
music is a fascinating blend of twee indie-pop melodies and
world-beat rhythms; their self-titled debut disc, released
last week on XL Recordings, is sure to be ranked among this
year’s best. Catch them now, before the inevitable backlash
sets in. Sam Buck Rosen opens. (Feb. 8, 8 PM, free, Williamstown,
Mass., 413-597-2736)
The
Doc Marshalls
WAMC
Performing Arts Studio, Friday
With a fiddle, washboard, accordion and mandolin, the Doc
Marshalls, a New York City-based quintet led by Texas native
Nicolas Beaudoing, will bring their Cajun sound to life at
a Mardi Gras Dance celebration tomorrow (Friday). With influences
ranging from traditionalist (a la Johnny Cash) to more progressive
influences (a la Dwight Yoakam), the rootsy Marshalls play
at venues not often known for such performances, winning over
those unsatisfied with mainstream country. At the end of last
year, an advance copy of the band’s second album, Honest
For Once—which wasn’t scheduled for release until 2008—found
its way to the folks at country-music blog Take Country Back,
who then included it in their Top 20 for the year. We’ll have
to wait another 11 months to see if it can pull off a repeat;
in the meantime, catch the band at the Linda, along with special
guest Jesse Lege. (Feb. 8, 8 PM, $20, 339 Central Ave.,
Albany, 465-5233 ext. 4)
Joey
DeFrancesco Trio
The
Egg, Saturday
The Hammond B-3 organ is a monster of an instrument, and we’re
not just talking bulk. Few men can claim to be masters of
the B-3—John Medeski and Booker T. Jones come to mind—but
Philly native Joey DeFrancesco is easily deserving of a spot
at the top of the list. DeFrancesco has been rocking the keys
for a few decades now—his debut release came out in 1989,
when he was just 17 years old—and his work helped spark a
renewed interest in the behemoth instrument through the 1990s.
He earned five consecutive Critics Poll awards from Downbeat
magazine (from 2002 to 2006), and he’s recorded and performed
with the likes of Miles Davis, Elvin Jones and John McLaughlin,
to name a few. Simply put, DeFrancesco’s a badass, and he’ll
bring his trio—and his B-3, naturally—to the Egg this weekend.
(Feb. 9, 8 PM, $24, Empire State Plaza, Albany, 473-1845)
Finch
Revolution
Hall, Tuesday
They started as a Deftones cover band. Is that all you need
to know about Temecula, Calif.-based hard-rockers Finch? Almost,
but not quite. Their seemingly brief career is actually full
of interesting factoids. For instance, the band had a well-publicized
scuffle with Disturbed at a 2004 festival show, stemming from
the following comment, made by Finch guitarist Randy Strohmeyer
in a 2002 magazine interview: “They’re just cheesy. . . .
[Their] music is terrible, and what they’re about, it’s just
shit. Hopefully all that music will die out soon, and hopefully
it will make room for the good music.” We couldn’t agree more
(about Disturbed, anyway). Finch recently reunited after a
two-year hiatus, and they’ll hit Revolution Hall this week,
with guests Oh! Sleeper and Sound the Alarm. (Feb. 12,
6:30 PM, $15, 425 River St., Troy, 274-0553)
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Noted |
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Jesse
Stewart
|
Canadian
power-poppers the Cliks return to Revolution
Hall tonight (Thursday); last week’s Metroland
cover models Ten Year Vamp will open (7
PM, $10, 274-0553). . . . Tonight’s also New Urban
Blues night at Tess’ Lark Tavern, featuring music
from J.V. and the Cutters (8 PM, free,
463-9779). . . . Tomorrow (Friday), the folks
at Ground Zero (in the basement of RPI’s Nugent
Hall) bring the improvisational goodness with
performances by Little Women and Fly
Starward (8 PM, $3, www.gzbase ment.net).
. . . Phoebe Henry will debut her new music
video this Friday at Melville’s Mug, a new coffeehouse
opposite the Palace Theatre (5 PM, free, 694-9991).
. . . Also on Friday, catch the dub-reggae sounds
of J-san and the Analogue Sons at Red Square;
Skadee and Sugarproof share the
bill (9:30 PM, $7, 465-0444). . . . The Colonial
Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., presents a tribute
to our favorite Muppets sideman this Friday and
Saturday, lovingly titled Almost Heaven: Songs
of John Denver (Fri at 8 PM, Sat at 2 and
8 PM, $25-40, 413-997-4444). . . . On Saturday,
blues great Rory Block performs at the
GE Theatre at Proctors for a show presented by
the Eighth Step (7:30 PM, $21, 434-1703 or 346-6204).
. . . Local country upstart Jesse Stewart
performs at Caffe Lena on Sunday night (8 PM,
$12, 583-0022).
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