Old Crow Medicine Show

  Before the Mumford and Sons plumbing company decided that they too could strum banjos and sing harmonies, they were probably listening to a lot of Old Crow Medicine Show. Whatever you think of contemporary Americana’s rise to mainstream ubiquity, Old Crow helped build the formula out of folk, bluegrass, punk and old-time traditions. Their [...]

New Shows at MASS MoCA

  The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art doesn’t mess around. The museum will open four new exhibits this weekend: Guillaume Leblon, Jason Middlebrook, Joseph Montgomery and Love to Love You. This is Paris-based sculptor Guillaume Leblon’s first solo museum show in the United States. The exhibit, which opens Sunday (May 26) and runs through April [...]

Capitol Chamber Artists

  Capitol Chamber Artists will complete their 44th season this Saturday night with a varied program, with works that range from the romantic era to the 20th century. These will include Joseph Rheinberger’s Six Pieces for Violin and Organ, as well as works by Maurice Durufle and CCA organist Alfred Fedak. To celebrate John Corigliano’s [...]

Portugal. The Man

  Do you listen to WEQX? If you like Portland rockers Portugal. The Man, you probably should and already do. But more to the point, your only hope of getting in to see the band’s special, free acoustic show tonight at the Hollow Bar and Kitchen (still kinda half called the Bayou Café Albany) is [...]

Also Noted

  Tonight (Thursday) at the Fuzebox, MIRK will fire up a solo DJ set along with Paleman for the Albany Frequencies seris (9 PM). . . . Legendary reggae group Toots and the Maytals will play a special acoustic set tonight at Bearsville Theater (8 PM, $40-$60, 845-679-4406). . . . Is Jake Miller Mac [...]

Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck

  Names like Fugazi, Yes, Ali Farka Toure and Jerry Garcia are rarely used in the same sentence. Vermont singer-songwriter Bow Thayer makes the combination necessary. There’s a few other names he demands we mention too: the late Levon Helm, who hosted the band at his Midnight Rambles and played drums on the Perfect Trainwreck’s [...]

Mario Party

  So, there was this one concert where all of a sudden it seemed like we were in a level from Mario Bros. 3, having downed that one-up mushroom out of sight of the Bowser guarding the door, checked our Tanooki Suit inside the venue and made our way through a crowd of Goombas and [...]

Aaron Neville

  “The touch, the feeeel, the fabric of our liiiives.” Does it reflect poorly on us that this—his commercial jingle for Cotton Incorporated—is the first hit that comes to mind when someone mentions New Orleans legend Aaron Neville? After all, the angel-throated 72-year-old has more Grammys, No. 1 hits, movie soundtracks and national anthem appearances [...]

Chris Corsano, Joe McPhee

  When two great free-jazz improvisers are onstage together, it can be like watching Univision and suddenly understanding every word. The language that emmerges in that space is fluid, universal and raw. Drummer Chris Corsano is no stranger to Capital Region stages, even while he’s become an international touring force with Rangda, Bjork and others. [...]