Mindy Smith
Monday 8.6
Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
A bluegrass and folk legend, the sweet-voiced California singer/fiddler is one of the monarchs of front-porch picking and keening. Mandolinist Tom Rozum is a member of the extremely capable Right Hands.
Jason Webley
Nottingham Cooperative, 8 pm
The accordion-toting Seattle singer can be either hard or soft and, when the mood strikes him, seriously concerned with the subject of garden vegetables. The Gypsy half of his punk-pleasing repertoire is downright delightful.
Tuesday 8.7
Sanford Horwitt
Borders Books West, 7 pm
Horwitt discusses his admiring biography of Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, Feingold: The New Democratic Party. Here's your chance to learn how young Rusty learned the values that made him a real-life Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Wednesday 8.8
Jazz at Five
State Street and the Capitol Square, 5 pm
The series returns with free outdoor concerts, featuring both local and national talent. This week, Grammy-nominated vocalist Karrin Allyson will swing with authority as she puts words to classic jazz instrumentals. Opening is the bass-piano duo of Richard Davis and Willie Pickens, whose dazzling interplay had jaws dropping at June's Isthmus Jazz Festival.
Concert in the Park
1200 John Q. Hammonds Dr., 7 pm
You can still pack a picnic dinner and see a free pops concert by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra this summer; you just have to drive a bit farther west. Oboist Naomi Bensdorf plays Marcello's "Oboe Concerto"; Prof. Bassam Shakhashiri and Dr. Rob Schreiner demonstrate science experiments; and fireworks light up the late-summer sky following the concert.
Mindy Smith and Teddy Thompson
Cafe Montmartre, 8 pm
English singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson's Upfront and Down Low is as fine a collection of classic country and twangy rock 'n' roll covers as you're likely to hear. As for reflective songbird Mindy Smith, she's emerged as one of the more compelling voices to come out of Nashville in several years. Folks who appreciate songcraft won't want to miss this stellar twofer.
Down Lo and The Dewayn Brothers
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
Funk-loving pickers Down Lo and amped-up Kansas-based "bastard bluegrass" band the Dewayn Brothers tune up for Minnesota's Logjam Festival at this official pre-fest party.
The Dollyrots
Annex, 9:30 pm
You'll dance like grease on a hot grill when these L.A. pop-punks get to the bubblicious chorus of "Because I'm Awesome" (think Avril Lavigne to the tenth power). IfIHadAHiFi and Johnny Nobody open.
Thursday 8.9
The Sleeping
Loft at the Lussier Teen Center, 7 pm
Long Island's the Sleeping headline a full night of all-ages fun with a set of urgent, pop-laced emocore.
