Live Music in Charlottesville

Wow. It’s hot out there. Summer is just getting started and the dog days are already howling at the door. 

If you can stand the heat, Fridays After Five has a strong July lineup, starting with a July 4 show from Kendall Street Company. The Barons with Ark of Mark follow on July 11, and New Boss with Meraki close out the month on July 25. But the real fireworks are saved for the third Friday, July 18, when J. Roddy Walston and the Automatic Band bring some blistering rock ‘n’ roll to the Ting Pavilion stage. 

Walston is a throwback—a piano-pounding wild man, originally from Cleveland, Tennessee, and later based in Richmond, who brings a psychobilly intensity to his frenetic live shows.

His chaotic, testifying-like-Jerry-Lee-on-a-bender stage show usually brings down the house. It should prove to be an interesting way to start off the weekend. 

Otherwise, July is pretty sedate, with only a handful of shows that leap to mind.

Lukas Nelson is touring behind a new solo album and will be appearing at the Jefferson Theater on July 17. White Denim brings a spaced-out cosmic Texas vibe to the Southern on July 12. 

Otherwise, it’s time to hunker down and hope for cooler days ahead.