John Nelson

When multi-Grammy winning rock icon Melissa Etheridge comes to the Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre, she likes to bring along friends. This year’s co-headlining companion is folk-rock-country superstar Jewel. SLC music lovers can catch this must-see show at Red Butte Gardens on July 29, 2024. 

In the mid-1990s a handful of records, all by female artists, sat in my stereo’s multi-disc CD player on constant rotation (that’s how we “streamed” music back in the day). Melissa Etheridge’s Yes I Am, Jewel’s Pieces of You, Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, and Joan Osborne’s Relish shaped my musical tastes then and remain among my favorites, almost 30 years later.

A tour-de-force rock and blues artist, Melissa Etheridge ignites her signature power ballads with hard-driving guitar licks and a raspy, soulful voice. In the late ‘80s she gained underground success with her self-titled debut album. Compared to Tina Turner and Janis Joplin, Ethridge won her first Grammy in 1992 with the single “Ain’t It Heavy.” She enjoyed massive commercial success in 1994 with two chart-topping singles “I’m The Only One,” and “Come To My Window,” and a second Grammy for her fourth record, Yes I Am.  Her follow-up multi-platinum selling record Your Little Secret produced the mega-hit “I Want To Come Over” and established Ethridge as one of the decade’s premier rockers.

In the midst of her battle with cancer and aggressive chemotherapy in 2005, she ignited the Grammy stage with the performance of a lifetime. Her live rendition of “Piece of my Heart ‘‘ showed the world she could beat cancer and keep on rockin’. In 2006, she received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “I Need to Wake Up” featured in the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth. 

Jewel began life in rural Alaska on a homestead without running water. As a teen she left the frozen frontier to study opera in Michigan before busking her way onto the San Diego music scene. In California, her hardscrabble folk songs got her noticed, a record deal followed, and her debut album Pieces of You launched her into the pop stratosphere. The record produced three commercial hit singles: “Who Will Save Your Soul,” “You Were Meant for Me,” and “Foolish Games.” 

Fun fact: Jewel was born in Payson Utah before the family moved on to Homer, Alaska

In addition to selling over 30 million albums worldwide, Jewel is an accomplished author having published five books, including her 2015 New York Times best-selling memoir, Never Broken. Jewel has released 13 studio albums, including her latest release Freewheelin’ Woman.

This show is sold out, but plans can change for ticket holders, so stay vigilant and lookout for available tickets from trusted sources.

To whet your appetite watch this amazing video of Etheridge and Jewel doing “You Can Sleep While I Drive.”

Tickets are still available for these Red Butte Garden shows:

• Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo (7/31) They totally rocked last summer!
• Stray Cats w/ Midnight Cowgirls ( 8/5) They’re gonna “Rock This Town.”
• Gary Clark Jr (8/11)
• Yonder Mountain String Band/ Railroad Earth/ Leftover Salmon (8/15). Three amazing acts for under $60. Wow!
• Gipsy Kings featuring Nicolas Reyes (8/20)
• Pink Martini featuring China Forbes (8/27)
• Lukas Nelson w/ Talia Keys (8/28) I won’t miss this one!
• The Airborne Toxic Event w/ Tyler Ramsey (9/5)
• Keane w/ Everything Everything (9/8)
• Jesús Aguaje Ramos and his Buena Vista Orchestra (9/9). I’ll be there!
• Crowded House (9/18)
• Rodrigo Y Gabriela (9/24)

Who: Melissa Etheridge and Jewel
What: Co-headlining show
Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
When: 7/29/2024
Tickets and info: https://redbuttegarden.org/concerts/

---

On Tuesday, July 16, 2024 Slash took us on a tour of Blues roots from 1920s Mississippi Delta to Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s electrified sound that would later give us rock ‘n’ roll (and punk) and sprout other branches like folk, country, funk, hip-hop and R&B. Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre provided the perfect portal for the mad hatter himself, to usher us down the musical rabbit hole that is the Blues.

Slash’s S.E.R.P.E.N.T. festival, which stands for Solidarity, Engagement, Restore, Peace, Equality, N’ Tolerance, brought fans together to celebrate the spirit of the Blues and support marginalized communities. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales goes to The Equal Justice Initiative, Know Your Rights Camp, The Greenlining Institute, and War Child.

Jackie Venson started the celebration with a modern take on the Blues with “Keep On,” a disco-delic rhythm and blues tempo interspersed with electrified guitar riffs. With Rodney Hyder on drums and Venson’s guitar magic, the duo delivered a big sound. On “Next Life” she again blended psychedelic disco, funk, and R&B into a fresh mix while her wailing guitar kept us close to her musical origins. For me, the standout number, “Rollin’ On,” oozed old-school blues. 

Venson is an innovative artist modernizing and reinterpreting blues music for a new generation. She ended her lively five-song set with “Always Free” leaving the sun-soaked audience wanting more. 

Samantha Fish continued the musical romp and shifted directly into fourth gear with “Kick Out The Jams,” a homage to the late ‘60s band MC5, a precursor to punk rock. She grabbed her cigar box guitar and thrilled us with her original composition, “Bullet Proof.” Fish comes from Kansas City and now hails from New Orleans, but her musical style is a modernized take on the countryfied offshoot of Delta Blues known as Mississippi Hill Country Blues. Regardless of the origin, her stage presence and guitar mastery is pleasingly hypnotic. She breathed new life into early ‘60s soul with “Somebody’s Always Trying.” Slash joined her on stage for her final mesmerizing number “I Put a Spell on You.” Her electrified four-song, 30-minute thrill-ride of a set ended much too soon.

Keb’ Mo’ is a living link to the seminal Delta Blues that traveled up the Mississippi River and across the expanse of America. His multi-Grammy-winning post-modern blues style crossed many sub-genre tributaries. He started his nine-song set with “Somebody Hurt You” before funkin’ it up with “Government Cheese.” For me, the highlight of his remarkable set came when he grabbed his shiny National resonator guitar and harmonica and did some fine old-style blues pickin’ on “Suitcase,” “Am I Wrong” and “She Just Wants to Dance.” Accompanied by a full band, Keb’ Mo’ blended the sounds of struggle from the rural South of the 1920s with the urban beats of injustice today. He ended his set with “I Remember You.” 

The show traveled full circle: from the modern style of Jackie Venson to Samantha Fish’s electrified middle, and Keb’ Mo’s blend of the old and new. Slash and his band brought us home. They tackled Bukka White’s 1940 Delta Blues classic “Parchman Farm Blues.” Their rendition was full-throttle rock ‘n’ roll with keyboardist Teddy “Zig Zag” Andreadis taking lead vocal. 

Slash just released a remarkable new album Orgy of the Damned. On this project, he reworks a dozen blues and rock classics into his musical style (with a great selection of guest vocalists). The new album is a perfect vehicle for this festival. Slash gave us 10 of the album’s 12 songs starting with Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor,” a Chicago Blues standard. For this show Tash Neal sang lead vocals while accompanying Slash on the driving guitar riffs. I really liked their rendition of “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” with Neal on lead vocals and “The Pusher” featuring Andreadis on vocals. Slash really showed off his blues guitar skills on “Stormy Monday.” Though I must note on the new record Beth Hart provides the vocals for the remake. At the Garden Andreadis took lead vocals and he’s no Beth Hart, but did a fine job nevertheless. 

They ended their robust 13-song rockin’ blues set with their rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s “Stone Free” and encored with an electrified version of Dylan’s folk classic “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.”

Slash put together a fine crew to celebrate the Blues (and all the other genres that grew from its seed). It truly was a music festival packed into a perfect evening at the Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre. And as always the sound crew did an amazing job.

As a fun post-script, my wife and I left for Denver the following morning and we ended up meeting Jackie Venson, her drummer Rodney Hyder, and their team at the airport as they were boarding the same flight to Denver, the next stop on their tour. I’d love to catch Venson again at an intimate venue like The State Room. I already have tickets to see Samantha Fish later this month in Phoenix on her headlining tour. You can never get too much of a good thing.

Who: Slash, Keb’ Mo’, Samantha Fish, and Jackie Venson
What: Slash S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival: A Celebration of the Blues
Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
When: Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Info: https://redbuttegarden.org/concerts/

---

Bass player down! Just five songs into Blues Traveler’s set at Red Butte Garden on Sunday night bassist Tad Kinchla collapsed due to an undisclosed medical emergency,  temporarily halting the show as crews whisked him backstage. 

Blues Traveler’s set had begun innocuously enough before the incident when the band took the stage as “Cherry Bomb” by the Runaways played over the PA system. They kicked it off with “Run-Around,” their epic 1994 hit before sliding right into Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Frontman John Popper shined as he subbed out the hard-charging fiddle parts with his harmonica. Without pause they segued into “The Wolf is Bumpin,” “Things Are Looking Up,” and “Funky Bitch.” Popper and guitarist Chan Kinchla (brother of bassist Tad) stood just off stage right as the keyboardist, drummer and bassist began jamming to what I think was Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs,” but they didn’t get too far. I noticed Tad Kinchla looked a little distressed and he awkwardly lunged toward the front of the stage before going down. 

As the old showbusiness adage goes, “the show must go on,” and it did. After coming up with a more acoustic-oriented set on the fly, they continued with “But Anyway,” their first single to get them noticed in the early ‘90s. They did a nice acoustic jam on “100 Years” and with just keyboards and Popper’s soulful vocals they belted out the ballad “Look Around.” I suspect that deep cut was not on the original setlist, nor the even deeper cut “Ode From The Aspect.” Popper dedicated it to the garden audience and shared the song’s origin story about writing it on mushrooms while attending a Jam Cruise. Despite the circumstances that prompted the impromptu set, the band’s unplanned ballads were a highlight. 

Guitarist Chan Kinchla took the lead vocals on Petty’s “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” a song tailored to the band’s harmonica-heavy bluesy style. They finished with an electrifying jam on “Carolina Blues” and “Hook.” I hope bassist Tad Kinchla has a speedy recovery from whatever ailment led to his incapacitation on Sunday night. I appreciate Blues Traveler’s professionalism in the face of adversity. 

JJ Grey & Mofro opened the show with a sturdy co-headlining 12-song set. Mofro didn’t have any missing pieces, in fact, there were 10 Mofros supporting Grey. With a brass section, stellar backup singers, and additional percussion, Mofro provided Grey with his signature country funk sound. 

Grey began the sun-soaked Garden party by walking on stage blowing a fiery harmonica. Trailed by his large crew, they rattled the hillside with a sizzling “Olustee,” the title-track to Grey’s sensational new album. His first full-length record of new material in a decade , he came ready to share. For his second number he reached back to his first studio album in 2001 with the sing-along “Air.” The chorus goes “We’ve been walking on air, y’all, we’ve been walking on air.” Some days in Utah you can actually walk on the polluted air, but on Sunday we were met with blue skies and clean air allowing us to fill the Garden with our collective harmonies.

Grey & Mofro mixed in a nice balance of old and new. From his latest release, he thrilled us with “Rooster,” got us singing again on “Top of the World,” and he belted out a fresh ballad “Starry Night” before delivering a highlight,“Seminole Wind.” Longtime fans were delighted with his performance of his classic “Orange Blossom” (including more collective singing.) On “Lochloosa,” exuberant patrons tossed flowers on stage much to Grey’s delight (don’t worry, no Red Butte flowers were harmed). His backup singers engaged him in a vocal duel that Grey conceded he couldn’t win. The 11-artist ensemble ended their powerful set with the spiritual “The Sun is Shining Down,” and it certainly did. 

Despite our concern over the well-being of Tad Kinchla, Blues Traveler and JJ Grey & Mofro gave fans a night to remember. 

Epilogue: Blues Traveler didn’t make any public statement about the incident, but I noticed Tad took the stage two nights later in Montana. Maybe the heat or some funky Chick-fil-A got the best of him. Of course, a “tequila accident” would make for a better story (but I’d just be making that up and I don’t write for Fox News.) Either way he is back on stage and we’re happy he’s doing fine.

Who: Blues Traveler and JJ Grey & Mofro
What: Red Butte Garden Outdoor Concert Series 2024
Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
When: Sunday, July 7, 2024
Info: https://redbuttegarden.org/concerts/

---

Slash, the Guns n’ Roses iconic lead guitarist, is bringing his S.E.R.P.E.N.T Festival: A Celebration of the Blues to Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. The all-star Blues lineup includes Keb’ Mo’, Samantha Fish, and Jackie Venson.

The S.E.R.P.E.N.T. festival, which stands for Solidarity, Engagement, Restore, Peace, Equality, N’ Tolerance brings fans together to celebrate the spirit of the Blues and supports marginalized communities. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to The Equal Justice Initiative, Know Your Rights Camp, The Greenlining Institute, and War Child.

Slash, the Grammy-winning guitarist and songwriter is also touring in support of his highly anticipated sixth solo album Orgy of the Damned. On this project, he joins forces with other rock and blues legends to infuse new life into great classics. Chris Robinson adds a Black Crowes spin to Steppenwolf’s 1960s psychedelic tune, “The Pusher.” Beth Hart reignites T Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday” with Slash providing his bluesy guitar magic. Others in the star-studded lineup include Chris Stapleton, Iggy Pop, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, Billy F. Gibbons to name but a few. 

Keb’ Mo’ returns to the Garden to share his chart-topping, post-modern Delta Blues. A bluesman and multi-Grammy award winner, and straight out of Compton, California, Keb’ Mo’ isn’t afraid to infuse more contemporary urban R&B into his repertoire. Now a resident of Nashville, he’s also at home mixing in country, soul, pop and Americana flavorings to his musical stew. A master entertainer and storyteller, he tackles the struggles of life with a resilience and hopefulness that leaves his audience feeling uplifted. 

His song “The Medicine Man,” for example, captures the anxiety and isolation we all experienced a few years ago. Yet, to combat that despair, he optimistically reassures us that we’ll get through the hard times together. Click this link for a fun live-performance video of Keb’ Mo’ playing the song with Old Crow Medicine Show. 

Samantha Fish is a must-see blues master. Her song “Bulletproof,” performed on her signature cigar box guitar, stokes everything that thrills me about live music: talent, pageantry, performance, and a great rockin’ blues guitar riff. See a video of the tune here. I first discovered Fish in New Orleans several years ago and have since seen her in Denver and most recently, at The Commonwealth Room. Her latest record Death Wish Blues earned her a 2024 Grammy-nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Fish has amassed a huge catalog of great rockin’ blues music, but it’s her live performance that brings the material to life. Here’s a video of her performing the classic “I Put A Spell On You.”

See our review of Samantha Fish at The Commonwealth Room in 2023.

Jackie Venson, from Austin,Texas celebrated her national television debut on her hometown Austin City Limits stage in 2020. See a video of the performance here. A relative newcomer (she’s only been putting out records for a mere decade) and a Berklee College of Music alum (she studied classical piano), Venson picked up the guitar in her senior year and now shreds it professionally with a laid-back grace. Influenced by blues guitar legends Buddy Guy, Eric Gales, and Derek Trucks, Venson blends raw blues licks with electronic beats which allows her to incorporate hip-hop and R&B elements to her sound, adding a soulful rhythm and blues to the complex canopy of the Americana tree.

Fun Fact: Jackie Venson sports an alter ego:  DJ jackie the robot (all lower case) where she takes her music and mixes it to create psychedelic electronic dance grooves.

Slash and company put together a blues festival and packed it into one magical evening on the hillside. Tickets may still be available. But, don’t wait too long. 

Who: Slash, Keb’ Mo’, Samantha Fish, and Jackie Venson
What: Slash S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival: A Celebration of the Blues
Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
When: Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Info and tickets: https://redbuttegarden.org/concerts/

---

Red Butte Garden is hosting an inflation-busting show on July 7, 2024. The Utah audience will enjoy two headliners for the price of one: Blues Traveler and JJ Grey & Mofro. Fans will get a hefty dose of great blues-infused music from both marque artists.

Dark clouds have hung over the political hellscape of Florida lately. Fans have waited nearly a decade for a fresh batch of Grey’s funk n’ blues-driven swamp-rock. Luckily, Jacksonville-native JJ Grey & Mofro offers soothing sol to the Sunshine State with Olustee, their stellar 2024 11-song  album. Grey pounds out a southern rock jam and takes us on a harmonica-laden journey through a literal firestorm on the title track. He sits pretty on “Top of the World” and struts with plenty of brassy funk to get our bodies moving on “Rooster.” Grey shows off his powerhouse voice on the soulful ballads “The Sea,” “Deeper Than Belief,” and “On a Breeze.” His rendition of John Anderson’s “Seminole Wind” is the cherry on top of a great new record.

I can’t wait to picnic in the garden and listen to JJ Grey & Mofro perform their new material alongside some personal favorites like “Orange Blossoms,” The Sweetest Thing,” and “99 Shades of Crazy.” 

Fun fact: Mofro is a moniker Grey chose to describe his music. His first two albums were released under the name. Mofro band members changed over the years and in 2007 when the band signed with a new record label, they became JJ Grey & Mofro. 

Formed in a New Jersey basement in 1987, Blues Traveler hit the New York City club circuit as a blues-inspired indie-rock jam band. By the early 1990s, they secured a record deal and gained a following with their energetic live performances. David Letterman took notice, and in 1991 he booked them on The Late Show (as Letterman’s “favorite band,” they’d play the show more than any other musical artist). It wouldn’t be until 1994, when the band released their fourth studio album, aptly titled Four, that the band would reach stratospheric success with the upbeat pop single “Run-Around.” The song broke records for the most weeks on the charts and earned the band a Grammy in 1995 for Best Rock Performance. The chart-topping album also produced the hit singles “Hook,” and “The Mountains Win Again.” 

Over their 35+ year career, Blues Traveler released 15 studio albums, four of which achieved gold, three platinum, and one platinum six times over. They’ve played more than 2,000 live shows in front of 30 million people. The band’s never rested on past successes, in 2022, their record Traveler’s Blues received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album. The band has a new record, Traveler’s Soul, a delightful 12-song batch of classic R&B standards performed with a modern vibe.

With two powerhouse performers jamming some great funk and blues, the Garden is sure to be rocking.

Who: Blues Traveler and JJ Grey & Mofro
What: Red Butte Garden Outdoor Concert Series 2024
Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
When: Sunday, July 7, 2024
Info and tickets: https://redbuttegarden.org/concerts/

---

Red Butte isn’t done filling its summer calendar (as if 30 great shows weren’t enough). They just added Lukas Nelson on August 28th to their amazing Outdoor Concert Series. Tickets for this bonus show go on sale June 21, 2024.

Lukas Nelson is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter whose musical style blends boot-stomping country with soulful blues to create a unique and exciting Americana sound. 

Fun fact: Nelson received a BAFTA (the British equivalent of an Oscar) as co-producer on the 2018 movie soundtrack for A Star Is Born.

In case you didn’t score tickets during the initial April rush, don’t despair. There are still tickets available for these incredible artists:

• The String Cheese Incident
• Slash w/ Keb’ Mo’, Samantha Fish, and Jackie Venson (Samantha Fish is a must-see!)
• Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue w/ Big Boi
• Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo w/ The Vindys (Benatar rocked the Garden last summer!)
• Stray Cats w/ Midnight Cowgirls
• Gary Clark Jr.
• Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth & Leftover Salmon 
• Gipsy Kings featuring Nicolas Reyes
• Pink Martini featuring China Forbes
• The Airborne Toxic Event w/ Tyler Ramsey
• Keene w/ Everything Everything
• Buena Vista Social Orchestra
• Crowded House
• Rodrigo Y Gabriela

Check out a few of our past reviews:

Samantha Fish

Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo

Melissa Ethridge and Keb’ Mo’

What: Red Butte Garden Outdoor Concerts Series
Who: Lukas Nelson
Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
When: August 28, 2024
Info and tickets: https://redbuttegarden.org/concerts/

---

The nonprofit organization, Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music (OFOAM), knows how to create a first-class music festival. Don’t let the “acoustic” moniker fool you. The festival held at Fort Buenaventura on May 31-June 2, 2024 included more than string bands and bluegrass (though they did bring in world-class bluegrass acts). Featuring a staggering 27 musical acts over three days, OFOAM balanced the lineup with other genres of the American roots canon like soul, blues, R&B, Afro-Mexican rhythms, folk, mariachi, funk, and disco. It was a stellar all-star lineup. 

I’ll try to highlight the best of the fest, though picking the finest performances from a lineup of 27 amazing acts is no easy task.

Ogden Music Festival Highlights

The OFOAM team. They put on a well-organized festival with laser precision. The vibe is chill and the crowd is big enough to draw incredible artists, but small enough to enjoy them. It’s my favorite festival.

Salt Lake City-based Pixie & The Partygrass Boys kicked off a barn-burner night of music. Their spirited nine-song set got the party started. Their opening number, “All Good Things” foretold the coming weekend. They followed it with “Home,” a signature tune with all the qualities of a top 40 hit. With “Appreciate Where You Come From,” they got the crowd singing “Go-Go Vagina,” not what you’d expect to hear anywhere in Utah. I particularly liked their cover of “We Like to Party” by the obscure Dutch Europop band Vengaboys. They replaced the drum machine/synth techno beat with Amanda Grapes’ driving fiddle. 

Say She She, the disco-delic trio from Brooklyn, backed by members of Orgone, turned the open-air space into a Studio 54 dance party. Of course, it’s not 1977, so no lines of cocaine were being snorted in the bathroom stalls (to my knowledge). Somehow snorting coke in a Porta John doesn’t have the same glamorous appeal. Their hypnotic yet trippy tri-vocal harmonies on “C’est Si Bon” and “Prism” felt like a siren call to dance and forget your troubles.

What happens when you mix a Broadway-caliber voice with a guitar slinger?  Celisse. Friday night’s headliner was a true wildcard. Her soulful voice led her to Broadway, but her electric guitar skills turned her into a go-to touring guitarist for Brandi Carlile, Alicia Keys, and Joni Mitchell. She has yet to release her debut album. Nevertheless, she sells tickets on reputation alone. 

Accompanied by a drummer and bass player, Celisse rolled our socks down with a mesmerizing mix of covers and originals. Her golden gospel voice and face-melting guitar prowess commanded the stage as she riffed a little of the Beatles “Get Back” before belting out Aretha’s “Chain of Fools.” She paired her booming vocals with expressive guitar licks on unreleased originals like “Mystery To Me” and “Lost.” My wife noted a blissful expression on my face for the duration of her set. 

Hayes Carll and his band gave us a solid 13-song set and plenty of whimsy to go along with his clever rootsy country-folk tunes. He started us off with “You Get It All” from his 2021 album by the same name. He played a few signature tunes like “Drunken Poet’s Dream” and the sprawling “KMAG YOYO,” military speak for “Kiss my ass goodbye; you’re on your own. Fans got a bonus 11-song solo acoustic set on Sunday when Carll thrilled the crowd with deep cuts from his massive catalog. He started set two with “Beaumont” and played the just released “Nobody Dies From Weed,” he recorded with The Band of Heathens. Carll will return with The Band of Heathens at The Commonwealth Room on September 15, 2024, for those who missed the double-set in Ogden. That’ll be an epic evening!

Sarah Jarosz. The multi-instrumentalist and multi-Grammy-winning Americana artist just released her seventh full-length album Polaroid Lovers. The record shifts the musical winds of Laurel Canyon toward Nashville to create a pop-adjacent masterpiece: diverse love stories told with a breezy country-pop sound. She played a hefty portion of her new material starting with “Jealous Moon,” a great country rock song that compliments her string band style. Her cover of Massive Attack’s “Tear Drop” sent me shivers. Jarosz can mold a song from any genre into her wheelhouse. She grabbed her banjo and reminded us of her musical roots with “Annabelle Lee.” “Build Me Up From Bones” was a highlight among many. She ended her 16-song set with “Runaway Train,” another new uptempo gem that spices up her Americana songbook.

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway. Tuttle and her band of world-class musicians are the undisputed leaders of modern bluegrass. Her last two albums won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album and filled her catalog with a rich selection of tunes. She started her 14-song set with “El Dorado,” a gold rush song played to perfection with Tuttle on guitar and lead vocal, Shelby Means on bass, Kyle Tuttle (no relation) on banjo, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on fiddle and Dominick Leslie on mandolin. Means started their version of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” with an ominous bass line and Keith-Hynes delivered a chilling psychedelic wail from her fiddle. It’s bluegrass on mushrooms!  The crew played a top-flight extended jam, taking their instruments to new heights on “Where Did All the Wild Things Go?” and “Dooley’s Farm. In a musical tribute to Hazel Dickens, a bluegrass pioneer from the 1930s, Jarosz joined Tuttle on stage to play one of her songs. Seeing two titans of modern roots music pay homage to one of their musical heroes warmed my soul. In another throwback moment, Tuttle and Golden Highway played a magical bluegrass rendition of The Rolling Stones’s 1967 trippy hit “She’s A Rainbow.” Maybe LSD and Moonshine don’t mix, but acid rock and bluegrass make a fine cocktail. The Grateful Dead figured it out and Tuttle is taking it in an exciting new direction. She ended a mind-blowing performance with “Crooked Tree” and “San Joaquin.” Tuttle and Golden Highway are the hottest tickets in roots music.  

There’s nothing like a little Sunday afternoon mariachi music to get the festival vibes flowing. Utah’s own Mariachi Aguilas de la Esperanza, 20 children from Esperanza School, started us off with Mariachi, Banda, Norteno, and Sierreno music.

Reminiscent of an unplugged version of the Doobie Brothers meets the Workingman’s Dead, The Mountain Grass Unit, a jamgrass band from the Appalachian foothills of Birmingham, Alabama took the stage. They began with “Jerico” from their 2022 debut album Places I’ve Been and mixed in originals like “Shay’s Rebellion” and “South Woodbridge” alongside The Grateful Dead’s “Bird Song” and “I Know You Rider.” With just an upright bass, mandolin, and an acoustic guitar, they created a heavy jam. The trio mentioned a possible return to Utah later this summer, so keep an eye out for a potential appearance at Kilby Court. 

East LA’s Las Cafeteras coaxed the sun-soaked late afternoon festivarians out of their low back chairs and onto their feet to dance. The crowd-pleasing troupe started with their socially-conscious 2020 release, “Long Time Coming,” and soon found their way into the crowd to form a conga line. Las Cafeteras thrilled the crowd with their version of “La Bamba,” an ancient Afro-Mexican folk song originally performed in the musical style son jarocho. The band kept the Veracruz traditional free-style, but added in hip-hop to create “La Bamba Rebelde.” I loved the way Las Cafeteras reworked an ancient, yet familiar song into something so fresh and meaningful. The band’s high-octane performance became a late-festival highlight!

The task of opening and closing this year’s highly successful Ogden Music Festival fell on veteran players of the Salt Lake City music scene. Pixie and the Partygrass Boys rocked the opening and Josie O and the Big Six closed out the three-day festival and left us wanting more! Josie O and the Big Six are a supergroup of premier Salt Lake City artists or as lead vocalist Melissa Chilinski put it: “a band of many bands, but also a band.” These musical archeologists breathe new life into long-forgotten old-tyme honky tonk music with passion and precision. For you musical nerds, the band gets their name “Josie O” from an old fiddle tune. 

They covered Hank Williams’ “My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It,” and Hank Williams Jr’s “Tennessee Stud.” Trading his drum kit for vocals, Daniel Young made a 1930s gospel tune, Turn Your Radio On,” relevant to a 2024 audience. Josie O and the Big Six put an exclamation point on the 16th annual Ogden Music Festival. The crowd demanded an encore! 

A shout out to the “Tweeners” who kept the music flowing while main stage performers set up between acts. The competition for a coveted tweener spot was fierce (63 applicants for 11 slots). Depending on the setup between main stage acts, OFOAM allotted tweeners a limited amount of time to showcase their talent. Heber’s Alicia Stockman followed Say She She’s amazing set and before Celisse—no pressure there. Rising to the challenge, she delivered a powerful four-tune acoustic set, including new material she will be releasing in late June. Salt Lake City’s Andrew Wiscombe provided a great bridge between Hayes Carll and Sarah Jarosz with smart, well-crafted folk songs like “Working Man’s Mile,” and from his latest album, “Cosmic Holiday,” he premiered “Alone With You” and “Lovely Lola Jean.” SLC’s Emily Hicks and Zaza Historia VanDyke also shined.

Staying true to its mission, OFOAM puts musical instruments in kids’ hands and fosters the next generation of great artists. To their credit, they peppered the bill with young up-and-coming artists like 15-year-old Tennessean Wyatt Ellis who first took up a musical instrument during the pandemic and is now a multi-instrumentalist and composer with a hit record climbing in the bluegrass charts. Moab’s The Prairie Dogs featured three fiddle-playing kids performing traditional bluegrass songs like “Nine Pound Hammer.” Maybe we just saw the next Molly Tuttle or AJ Lee? The students of the Esperanza School, Mariachi Aguilas de la Esperanza, exuded promise and talent that might take them in multiple musical directions. 

The festival is extremely well-organized and chill. It’s kid-friendly too with plenty of activities to expose children to the musical arts. They also provided workshops where masterful musicians share their wisdom about songwriting, performance, and other secrets of the music industry to newbies and fellow travelers. Where else can you get a free and intimate tutorial from Sarah Jarosz or Hayes Carll? They also held a “Jam Camp” where patrons could grab their favorite instrument and jam with headliners like Twisted Pine or Slocan Ramblers.

OFOAM will be back next year for its 17th festival on May 30, 2025. I’ve already saved the date!

• What: 16th Ogden Music Festival
• Where: Fort Buenaventura 
• When: May 31–June 2, 2024
• Info: ofoam.org

See our review of the 2023 Ogden Music Festival.

Featured image: Artist Celisse performs at the 2024 Ogden Music Festival. Photo by Sam Crump (@samcrumpphoto), courtesy OFOAM.

Read more of our music coverage and get the latest on the arts and culture scene in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your curated guide to the best of life in Utah.

Music fans from across the city and beyond gathered on Friday, May 3, 2024 at The State Room to celebrate the record release of Daniel Young’s Leave It Out To Dry, and The Hollering Pines Here’s to Hoping, two masterful new works from Salt Lake City’s finest musicians. 

The Hollering Pines played their record from start to finish. They began with the first track, “Tender Heart,” and followed with “Olive Branch,” featuring Marie Bradshaw’s expressive vocals and dueling electric guitar licks by M. Horton Smith and Dylan Schorer. Julianne Brough lent her impassioned back up harmonies to the radio-ready “Bitter Sweet.” 

Daniel Young at The State Room. Image credit Stephen Speckman.

It’s been five years since we were treated to a fresh batch of Hollering Pines songs. “One Too Many,” by M. Horton Smith, is the lone song on the album not written by Bradshaw. Nevertheless, it fits perfectly into The Hollering Pines repertoire. The final track, “Before I Die” is a beautifully written tune played to perfection. The band, consisting of Bradshaw, Smith, Schorer, and Marcus Bently on bass and Jagoda on drums played a tight set, featuring their new nine-song LP. Then, they performed a sweet cover of Emmylou Harris’s “Where Will I Be,” before ending with two classics, “American Dream” and “Bad Feeling” from their 2019 Moments in Between album. The 12-song set ended much too soon. The band has amassed a robust catalog of great songs over the years and they could have played all night. 

Daniel Young assembled the Rambling Roses, an all-star line up featuring M. Horton Smith, Dylan Schorer, Marcus Bently, Ryan Tanner, Joshy Soul, and Ronnie Strauss, to help him bring his stellar new record to life on The State Room stage. A few guest artists joined him throughout his set too. He started us off with “Desert Air” and proceeded to play the record in its entirety. I particularly liked “Slow Mornings” with Julianne Brough on harmony vocals. “Help Us Get Along” came alive with the three-piece brass (Denney Fuller on trumpet, Patrick Buie on trombone, and Candido Abeyta on saxophone). M. Horton Smith’s guitar work on “Here Comes The Flood” infused the number with an epic psychedelic feel. In a special moment, Bradshaw joined Young on stage for “What About The Questions Now.” Young blended gospel and rockabilly on the spirited “Have You Ever Died.” He concluded his 10-song album set with the pensive “Wade In The River.”

The entire ensemble, a baker’s dozen, took the stage for an energetic encore. Bradshaw began singing “Well, they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night” and the packed house went wild as she and Young traded off versus of “Atlantic City.” They merged the Springsteen version with The Band’s rendition to give it a fresh Rambling Roses bloom. They ended a magical night with Bradshaw and crew rolling the “Tumbling Dice.”

Special thanks to The State Room for hosting this event and showcasing the local talent who make up our robust Salt lake City music scene.  Both these new albums are superb. Check them out here and consider purchasing some vinyl for your collection.

https://danielyoung.bandcamp.com/album/leave-it-out-to-dry

https://theholleringpines.bandcamp.com/album/heres-to-hoping

• Who: Daniel Young and The Hollering Pines
• What: Double Record Release Show
• Where: The State Room
• When: Friday, May 3, 2024
• Info: https://www.danielyoungsongs.com/, http://www.theholleringpines.com/

---

Dig out the camping gear—it’s time for a musical staycation. The 16th annual Ogden Music Festival is back at Fort Buenaventura on May 31-June 2, 2024 with a stellar all-star lineup. The three day concert is the signature event of the Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music (OFOAM) organization, a non-profit group who really knows how to put on a show. 

It’s not all string bands (though there will be world-class bluegrass acts). OFOAM balances the lineup with other genres of the American roots canon like soul, blues, R&B, Afro-Mexican rhythms, folk, mariachi, funk, and disco. The festival includes 27 musical acts over the three day event.

Find the full schedule here

Friday, May 31

Kicking off the festival is the Utah-based, goodtime band Pixie & The Partygrass Boys. Their unique “partygrass” music blends bluegrass, newgrass, pop, punk, and rock ‘n’ roll into a spirit-soaring sound that’s sure to get your feet moving and hips swaying.

Say She She is a soulful female-led disco-delic band from Brooklyn that will transport you back to Studio 54 with their hypnotic tri-vocal harmonies and infectious beats. 

Friday night’s headliner, Celisse, is a relative newcomer to the soul/gospel/blues music circuit. Her artistic ambitions took her to Broadway before she plugged in an electric guitar and channeled Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Godmother of Rock ‘n’ Roll. As a go-to guitarist for Brandi Carlile, Alicia Keys, and Joni Mitchell, Celisse’s musical career is just lifting-off. Her debut album is forthcoming and she’s already made her presence known. I can’t wait to hear her shred her guitar and belt out some soulful gospel blues. I’m stoked to catch her up-close before she hits the stratosphere.

In between the featured artists, “tweener” acts will play a short set to keep the music flowing during set-ups. 

Saturday, June 1

An insane schedule of great acts from noon till the wee hours are on tap. The Pickpockets, Wyatt Ellis, The Slocan Ramblers, and Twisted Pine rock the daylight (and don’t forget the tweeners who often leave you wanting more.) As the sun begins to dip over the horizon, that’s when a run of headliners come out, and on Saturday night there’s a trifecta of hugely successful acts.

Hayes Carll–The Grammy-nominated Texas storyteller sings whimsical, well-crafted songs with the swagger of rock ‘n’ roll, the saccharine sentiment of country, and introspection of folk. Carll occupies that middle lane between James McMurtry and Ray Wylie Hubbard. His fun, often irreverent songs will put a smile on your face and a dance in your step. His latest single with The Band of Heathens, released just in time for 4/20, is “Nobody Dies From Weed,” an upbeat honky-tonk celebration of mother nature’s gift.

Sarah Jarosz– The multi-instrumentalist and multi-Grammy winning Americana artist just released her seventh full-length album Polaroid Lovers. The record shifts the musical winds of Laurel Canyon toward Nashville to create a pop-adjacent masterpiece: diverse love stories told with a breezy country-pop sound. 

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway– Headlining the coveted Saturday night spot is the winner of the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for City of Gold (she also won the award last year for Crooked Tree.) Tuttle & Golden Highway is the hottest ticket in Bluegrass today. For those who caught her magical performance at The Commonwealth Room in 2023, I’m sure you’re ready for more ( I know I am). For those who haven’t seen this troupe of virtuosi, this is a don’t-miss opportunity in a fabulous location.

Sunday, June 2

Let that late morning coffee kick in. The final festival day begins at noon with Utah’s own Mariachi Aguilas de la Esperanza, approximately 30 children from Esperanza School and 20 youth graduates start us off with Mariachi, Banda, Norteno, and Sierreno music.

The Birmingham, Alabama jamgrass band Mountain Grass Unit will get you kickin’ up some dirt before Hayes Carll returns for a bonus solo show! Don’t miss the electro-folk musical collective Las Cafeteras, the East LA troupe that blends Cumbia, punk, hip hop, and Afro-Mexican beats. Of course there are several great tweeners that’ll keep the rhythms flowing all day. The exclamation point on this year’s Ogden Music Festival comes from the local supergroup Josie O and the Big Six, a gathering of familiar faces from the Salt Lake City music scene who’ll hit us with a foot stomping honky-tonk finale.

Here’s a Spotify playlist to get you festival ready. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/20xOlebH3LkUvBfBIsZjxy?si=fsK4xK8aTVCCsRXStb4Frg&pi=u-U1ZEeOMzTCid

Tickets and camping info: https://ofoam.ticketspice.com/2024-ogden-music-festival

It’s just a short drive (or FrontRunner trip) from Salt Lake City, so whether you choose a three-day camping adventure or a couple of day excursions, you won’t want to miss the great vibes at Fort Buenaventura.

What: 16th Ogden Music Festival
Where: Fort Buenaventura (2450 A Ave Ogden)
When: May 31–June 2, 2024
Info and tickets: https://www.ofoam.org/

---

Read our complete review of the 2024 Ogden Music Festival here.

A welcoming vibe and a crowded house greeted Katie Pruitt at The Urban Lounge on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. The Salt Lake City audience was among the first to hear new material from the Nashville-based folk-rocker’s sophomore album, Mantras. 

Accompanied by a three-piece band, Pruitt opened with “Loving Her,” followed by the hot, rockin’ new singles, “White Lies, White Jesus, and You” and “Self-Sabotage.” In all, she played a powerful 15-song set from her two album catalog and captivated the crowd with her impressive vocal range. 

Some of my favorites included “Phases Of The Moon,” a great new Neil Young-esque song, and the catchy “All My Friends.” She thrilled us with “My Mind’s a Ship” and “Worst Case Scenario” before ending the set with “Expectations.” For her encore, she played “Normal” and saved the best for last with a searing rendition of her signature torch song “Out Of The Blue.” The song resonated in my head for the rest of the evening. 

Pruitt and her band sounded great all night (kudos to the venue’s sound engineer) and the Urban Lounge crowd listened intensely. 

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Jack Van Cleaf opened the evening with “Cowboy.” He brought along a bassist and electric guitar player to help him bring his musical poetry to life. His seven-song set included new material he just recorded in Texas including “Couch Potato,” where a banjo replaced the electric guitar. On “Easter Sunday” Pruitt joined him on stage for a duet. He ended his set with his heavily streamed Spotify hit “Rattlesnake.”

The night was more than just a concert. There was a celebratory vibe of love and acceptance in the room. As our state’s civic leaders assault our children with their culture war nonsense, it’s nice to experience a gathering of people who choose love over hate. I can’t think of a better way to embrace inclusion, compassion, and community than listening to Katie Pruitt’s beautiful music at The Urban Lounge. 

Who: Katie Pruitt w/ Jack Van Cleaf
What: Mantras Tour
Where: Urban Lounge
When: Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Info: theurbanloungeslc.com, www.katiepruitt.com, www.jackvancleaf.com

---

Get the latest on arts and entertainment in and around Utah. And while you’re here, subscribe and get six issues of Salt Lake magazine, your guide to the best of life in Utah.