Live Music in Charlottesville
Yowza, it’s hot out there, temperature-wise.
Music-wise, things generally cool off a bit during the week surrounding the Fourth of July, but not this year.
The month gets off to a blazing start on Friday, July 3 with a hand-full of shows to choose from. Fridays After Five brings back longtime C’ville favorites, Baaba Seth, for their first show since a sold-out appearance at the Southern on 2023. Billed as “hometown world groove,” Baaba Seth was an early avatar of world music and, despite disbanding in 2000, still reunited for occasional local gigs.
Over at Chisolm Vineyards’ Friday Night Sunset Soiree you’ll find retro honky tonk with Brandon Wayne and His Lonesome Drifters.
Local ax-slinger Ian Gilliam sits in on lead guitar for this one, adding a bit of a surf-twang edge to the sound.
Heading indoors, the Paramount brings Black string band supergroup Dom Flemons & The Traveling Wildfires to the stage. Flemons is a Grammy Award–winning musician, American Banjo Hall of Fame inductee, and co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. His new group gathers Black multi-instrumentalists together to draw on bluegrass, country, folk, blues, and Black string band music for a rousing showcase of America’s oldest traditions.
And in the clubs, look for the Chickenhead Blues Band to hold down its longstanding first Friday gig at Holly’s Diner, while Dürty Nelly’s promises everyone a New Pony and a 7th Grade Girl Fight all on the same night.
If you’re keeping score, these two local indie bands should win points for best names.
After that Big Friday, things do begin to cool down for the rest of the month. The Ting Pavillion presents Alison Krauss & Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas, on Saturday, July 18, followed by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit on Sunday, July 26. Both acts have been through town several times in recent years. Krauss is arriving fresh off a two-night stand at Wolf Trap and Isbell’s appearance is a fundraiser for the Charlottesville Free Clinic.
Finally, on Tuesday, July 21, Lyle Lovett brings his Small Large Band and unique off-kilter Texas sensibility to the Paramount.
No one does the cosmic Texan thing better than Lovett. One could make the argument that he’s right up there with Willie as a national treasure and ambassador for the best the Lone Star State has to offer.
Article by William Cocke
