Enjoy a compilation of selected tracks by artists playing shows we're excited about in Madison during the week of Aug 24-31, 2017. For more information on these shows, read on under the Spotify playlist!
Orton Park Festival, Thursday-Sunday, Aug. 24-27, Orton Park: Summer afternoons and evenings spent under a spreading canopy of friendly trees are a must-do as we creep inexorably toward fall. This year’s Orton Park Festival offers an embarrassment of riches for regional music fans, including sets by genre-blenders such as Appleton country-pop-psychers Dusk (Saturday, 5 pm) and Minnesota jazz-blues-soul quintet Davina & the Vagabonds (Sunday, 5:45 pm). Also in the mix are legendary roots rock singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo (Saturday, 8:15 pm), and New York blues rockers Jane Lee Hooker (Sunday, 4 pm), who wowed the crowd at last year’s AtwoodFest. And don’t forget those denizens of the trees, Cycropia Aerial Dance, performing both Thursday (7:30 pm) and Friday (8:30 pm).
Dave Rawlings Machine, Thursday, Aug. 24, Overture Center-Capitol Theater, 8 pm: If you’re a fan of Americana, chances are Dave Rawlings is your favorite artist’s secret weapon. Known for his long-running partnership with Gillian Welch, who sings and plays guitar with the band, Rawlings has also collaborated with the likes of Ryan Adams and Bright Eyes. His latest as Dave Rawlings Machine — Poor David’s Almanack, released earlier this month — marks his eighth collaboration with Welch, and also includes contributions from members of Dawes and Old Crow Medicine Show.
Desert Noises, Thursday, Aug. 24, East Side Club, 6 pm: Desert Noises toured extensively in the first half of the decade, and their atmospheric rock earned high-profile fest appearances, including the Austin City Limits Music Festival. After a move to Nashville in 2015, the group went on hiatus, working on other projects before resurfacing at this year’s Mile of Music in Appleton. Expect to hear songs new and familiar, with a guitar assist from tourmate Liz Cooper, also opening with her band the Stampede. Also on the bill is most excellent Madison singer-songwriter Evan Murdock.
Mad Gael Music Festival, Friday-Saturday, Aug. 25-26, Breese Stevens Field: There’s a distinct advantage to Mad Gael’s rising popularity — combined with Milwaukee’s longstanding Irish Fest, Ireland’s top musical talent now have even more reason to come hang out in Wisconsin in August. Three of Mad Gael’s headliners, including the Americana-inflected We Banjo 3, Scotland’s Skerryvore and Celtgrass specialists JigJam, will have honed their chops on the shores of Lake Michigan last weekend. This year’s lineup certainly doesn’t stop there: Madison faves the Kissers and Tairis are in the mix, as are non-musical things like art exhibits, kids activities and hurling demonstrations. Take that, Ultimate Frisbee.
Heart Society, Friday, Aug. 25, North Street Cabaret, 9 pm: In 2015, Teneia Sanders-Eichelberger and her husband and musical partner Ben sold most of their possessions, bought a travel trailer and hit the road to spread their music and their message of love and equality.. She sings and plays guitar, he plays bass and percussion; the result is a joyful, spine-tingling fusion of gospel, soul and folk. The duo recently announced they are changing their band name from Teneia to Heart Society. ALSO: Saturday, Aug. 26, 9 pm, at Club Tavern, Middleton.
John Gorka, Saturday, Aug. 26, Art in The Barn in Fitchburg, 7:30 pm: In 1991, Rolling Stone called folkster John Gorka, “the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement.” Nowadays, his folk isn’t so new anymore, but it can still be heard in all the new kids’ stuff ranging from Bon Iver to The Staves. Still, Gorka has never left us and has quietly kept producing quality albums, including 2014’s Bright Side of Dawn and 2016’s collection of unreleased tracks Before Beginning. The New Jersey native will be preceded by special guest Josh Harty, and the whole show will benefit Haiti Allies.
Jukebox Life with Jarrod Spector, Saturday, Aug. 26, Capitol Theater at Overture Center, 2 & 8 pm: “ Oh, what a night, late December back in ‘63. What a very special time for meeee...” Oh, sorry. Got caught up there. As a lead of two hit jukebox musicals, Jersey Boys and Beautiful: The Carole King Story, Broadway star Jarrod Spector has been surrounded by hits throughout his career and, as it turns out, his entire life. In Jukebox Life, Spector shares his life story, from his native Philadelphia to the bright lights of Broadway, with the very songs that got him from point A to point B and everything in between.
Solid Freex + Male Gaze, Saturday, Aug. 26, Mickey’s Tavern, 10:30 pm: Get ready to up the punx, Madisonians, because Mickey’s is gonna get loud. Local rabble-rousers Solid Freex are set to deliver a night of blistering garage punk. Along for the ride is Male Gaze, another rambunctious rock act out of Los Angeles, and another raucous Madison punk quartet, Fire Heads. And it’s free. Don’t miss out.
Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Saturday, Aug. 26, Token Creek Festival Barn (4037 Hwy 19, DeForest), 8 pm: This peaceful barn is the perfect setting for fantastic classical music. Launched by Pulitzer-winning composer and pianist John Harbison and violinist Rose Mary Harbison, the festival kicks off with a mostly Bach program — with a Dash of Haydn and Harbison — and continues through Sept. 3, with many musical delights planned. For the full schedule, visit tokencreekfestival.org.
Peaking Lights, Sunday, Aug. 27, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm: Listening to Peaking Lights is like walking through a cave that oscillates between pitch black and blindingly lit. Their techy synth-pop disorients as it takes you on a strange journey to unknown points. The husband-and-wife duo of Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis lived in Madison for a few years before moving to Los Angeles, and are touring in support of their appropriately named 2017 LP, The Fifth State of Consciousness. Opening is Golden Donna (aka local writer and musician Joel Shanahan), who will provide a more house-oriented counterpoint.
Betty Who, Sunday, Aug. 27, Majestic, 8 pm: Betty Who is the Australian-by-way-of-Los Angeles version of pop superstars like Katy Perry. Her epic compositions deliver the same huge, vocal-heavy sound of young love and loss, boosted by her Berklee School of Music background in multiple instruments. Her new album, The Valley, mixes R&B and hip-hop rhythmic influences with electronic flourishes, creating a danceable sound that pleases both indie-pop and stadium-friendly fans. Electro-pop openers Geographer will help ensure a full night of dancing.
Korby Lenker, Monday, Aug. 28, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm: Nashville-based singer-songwriter Korby Lenker took a unique approach to making his seventh album, Thousand Springs. He skipped the studio and recorded in places that had meaning to him — the edge of the Snake River Canyon, a cabin north of Sun Valley and his undertaker father’s mortuary. The result is personal, conversational and deeply emotional indie folk. With fellow Nashville artist Nora Jane Struthers and local folk-rockers Lost Lakes.
The Gambol (final show), Tuesday, Aug. 29, High Noon Saloon, 8:30 pm: All good things have to end sometime. For Madison-based Americana band The Gambol, that day will be Tuesday, when they will go out with a bang. Their March debut LP, recorded in Nashville, is notable for its blending of genres all across the Americana spectrum and some outside of it entirely. It’s sad a band with such talent is breaking up, but it should make for a night to remember. They will be joined by fellow Madisonians Emerald Grove, a “switch-blade” folk band whose songs are as incisive as their self-description suggests.
Bonnie Raitt, Wednesday, Aug. 30, Overture Hall, 7:30 pm: Bonnie Raitt has consistently followed her muse since the start of her recording career, commercial considerations be damned: Mix the blues with a bit of country and rock, add her soulful vocals and tasty slide guitar, and enjoy. She’s remained a roots music standard bearer ever since the general public finally caught on to her sound via the 1989 chart-topper Nick of Time. Raitt and her longtime touring band kick off a fall tour supporting her most recent release, Dig in Deep, right here in Madison. With Anders Osborne.
Poney, Thursday, Aug. 31, High Noon Saloon, 8:30 pm: If you like anything that falls into the “alternative rock” genre, this may be the show for you. On the heavy end of the spectrum, you’ve got Poney, Wailin’ Storms (Durham, North Carolina), and Dos Malés (featuring members of Bongzilla and Pyroklast), playing everything from stoner metal to progressive post-hardcore. And at the opposite end is Heavy Looks, a punky power-pop crew. There’s a little something for everyone
Find the full rundown of this week's Isthmus Picks here.