Live Music in Charlottesville
The new year starts off mild and bright with some interesting shows on tap.
The Southern has a couple of mid-month offerings for funk fans and aficionados of wild man rock ravers.
The Psycodelics, out of Charleston, South Carolina, set down on Jan. 17 for a potent blend of soul and funk that evokes a fusion between Parliament-Funkadelic and Morris Day & the Time-era Prince.
Voted Best Soul/R&B Act of the Year in 2021’s Charleston City Paper, this is an energetic young band to watch out for.
On the 22nd, Jon Spencer returns to the Southern with his own unique concoction of fuzzed-out pyschobilly freak outs. At various points in his long career, he’s fronted Pussy Galore, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Heavy Trash, and Jon Spencer & the HITmakers. He’s collaborated with an impressive number of artists, including the North Mississippi Allstars, the Sadies, Chuck D, Bernie Worrell, Beck, and my all-time favorite, R. L. Burnside (on the essential A Ass Pocket of Whiskey.) Looks like he’s fronting a power trio this time around.
Toward the end of the month, two shows on Friday, Jan. 30 present a difficult choice between a pair of grizzled old-timers and an up-and-coming fresh face.
Veteran singer-songwriters Chris Smither and Loudon Wainwright III team up for a double bill at the Jefferson Theater. Between them, Smither and Wainwright have written dozens of great songs. They’re also experienced storytellers, so an evening with these old hands should be filled with ballads and banter in equal measure.
Just a few doors down, at 300 E. Main Street, inside the historic Vault Virginia building, Charlottesville native and Grammy-winning fiddle player Bronwyn Keith-Hynes will play at a new performance space, The Guild.
Besides winning a Grammy for her work in Molly Tuttle’s band, Golden Highway, she’s also a two-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year. This will be Keith-Hynes’ first hometown show with her own band. If you want to check out a bluegrass artist at the beginning of what promises to be a stellar career, then this should be a no-brainer.
As we pass from the end of one year into the next, it’s an appropriate way to celebrate the month of January, named after the Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, thresholds, and bright, new futures.
