Nightspots
Friday Jul 24, 2009
The Ark: Sonny Landreth.
Veteran singer-songwriter and slide guitar virtuoso from Louisiana whom Eric Clapton calls "the most underestimated musician on the planet." The first white member of the late zydeco king Clifton Chenier's Red Hot Louisiana Band, Landreth has played with everyone from John Hiatt and Jimmie Dale Gilmore to John Mayall and Junior Wells. His songs--whose music blends Cajun, swamp rock, and Mississippi roadhouse blues and whose lyrical sensibility draws inspiration equally from William Faulkner and Robert Johnson--are rooted in a feeling for the sights, sounds, and flavors of life in southwest Louisiana. "He uses both hands to coax, pound, and stroke sounds out of his guitar that don't seem possible until you see it," says Bob Gottlieb in his Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange review of Landreth's 2005 live CD Grant Street. $25.
The Blind Pig: A Working Model
Local progressive rock quartet whose influences range from King Crimson to Tool. Opening acts are the local prog-metal band Commerce & Hiller, the local rock trio Idol & the Whip, and the Detroit-area hardcore band Dire Wolf.
Club Above: Orange Door Hinge
(6:15-8:30 p.m.) Local big band led by saxophonist and II-V-I Orchestra frontman David Swain that plays an eclectic mix of everything from funk and disco to Steely Dan and TV cop show themes.
Conor O'Neill's: DJ Big Daddie
Crazy Wisdom Tea Room: Andie & Tracy
Foot-stomping avant-hillbilly music by an acoustic quartet fronted by the Detroit husband-and-wife duo of vocalist Andie Webb and bassist Tracy Webb.
Elbow Room:
TBA.
The Firefly Club:
Live bands TBA.
The Firefly Club: Easy Street Swingtet
(5-8 p.m.) Dixieland and swing by this local ensemble led by saxophonist and trumpeter Paul Klinger.
The Firefly Club: Kirsten Gustafson
This mainstream jazz vocalist, a UP native and EMU grad, is backed by the Dick Reynolds Trio, an ensemble led by pianist Reynolds, Nancy Wilson's former music director.
Goodnite Gracie: Randy Brock Group
Detroit blues trio.
Guy Hollerin's: Michael May & the Messarounds
Jazz-inflected blues and blues-rock by this veteran local quartet led by vocalist and blues harpist May.
The Habitat Ultralounge: Ultraviolet
Detroit band that plays 70s & 80s rock hits.
Tap Room: John Latini & Friends
Acoustic rock-based originals by this veteran local rock 'n' roll singer-songwriter, who is joined by different guest musicians TBA each week.
