Music

When ​​Tarriona “Tank” Ball joined the rest of her band on Saturday night at The Commonwealth Room (Jan. 18, 2025) in Salt Lake anticipation far outweighed expectation, or maybe switch those around? Either way, the crowd automatically erupted without her so much as offering a word.

That’ll happen. The more the band gets noticed, the more the accolades get stacked up. It should be common knowledge that the New Orleans natives took the grand prize for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert series not so many years ago. This year, they already received a Grammy nod for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album for their latest mind rattler of a creation, aptly titled The Heart, The Mind, The Soul. Early prediction? They’ll snag it.

As a live experience, it’s hard to describe how magnetic Tank is, but I’ll try. Keeping my eyes off all she said and sang Saturday night was hard to do. While her small touring band of a couple of keyboardists, a drummer, a bassist, and a backup vocalist aptly created the needed-and-appreciated warm club vibe (all wispy smoke and purple lights), she spilled her stories. Sometimes it was hard to keep up with all she said; it was easily one of the most verbose shows I’ve seen. My wide-eyed brother leaned over mid-show and said, “So many words.” There were no cue cards, no lyrical cheat sheets. A mental note was made to circle back and pour over the themes later. This was a time to move, absorb and feel.

After all, Tank and the Bangas was giving us jazz. There was subtle rap. It was next-level show-woman-ship, a poetry reading made sexier that you could move and snap fingers in appreciation throughout. And while there is an often incessant urge to find a place for sounds and sights you’re seeing live for the first time—the politicizing of Gil-Scott Heron, the flow of Lauryn Hill, the geniuses of today propped up by those giants who’ve come before—it’s best to just let this band be it’s own. No need for comparisons. What they’re doing needs to continue forever and ever, and we will accept all of it gladly and a little greedily.

Photos by Stephen Speckman @saspeckman on Instagram.

no images were found

Unabashed adoration was on full and decidedly gleeful display from both sides of the stage Friday night at The State Room. Celebrated Utah musicians and bands (some well-known, some not so) and plenty of early ’90s alternative rock fans gathered en masse to enjoy themselves by playing, singing, and dancing along to every last song of Weezer’s two best albums: The Blue Album and Pinkerton. If you were there, you’re one of the lucky ones. Whether or not you knew all the words to gems released into the world almost exactly 30 years ago, you couldn’t help but scream-sing along to all the parts of “Buddy Holly” or “Say It Ain’t So” that you DID know, and that’s a beautiful thing. While so much of live performance amounts to buying tickets to a ramshackle time machine set to the year of your choice, only the best ones allow us to bump into old memories we forgot we still had stored up inside.

The all-star house band made up of members of Fictionist, Parlor Hawk, Pinguin Mofex, and The Madison Arm and singers including Book On Tape Worm’s Scott Shepard, Fictionists’s Stuart Maxfield and Debra Fotheringham of The Lower Lights as singers (among a laundry list of ever-rotating guest stars) gave us all knew how could give. Some slated to perform didn’t. A new drummer was added 24 hours before showtime. Dicey microphones occasionally marred the sound. Would you believe none of that mattered, not to the buying audience? We gathered in the dual name of joy and blessed recollection, which was paid in full. Save for a brief intermission separating the two albums presented, the concert was a train that kept rolling, regardless of all else, and everyone benefited. Memories were offered, and joy was expected. Memories were discovered like treasure, and joy was celebrated.

By the time you left, if you weren’t fondly thinking of a time gone by with Weezer songs permanently adhering to said time as its soundtrack, chances are you need to get your ears checked. Or wait for these sorts to fire up the time machine again. Definitely one or the other.

Photos by Natalie Simpson – Beehive Photography – @beehivephotovideo

no images were found

There’s a lot of musical love to go around this month, here are seven shows in Salt Lake City that caught our eye:

• When: Jan. 11 (Saturday)
• Who: Thee Sacred Souls
• Where: The Union Event Center, Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. 
• Why: Ah, when Daptone Records gets it right, they really do its fans the favor of knocking it clean out of the park. From the same lot who gave us Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, the soul and R&B Brooklyn-based label has produced another winner in signing Thee Sacred Souls. There’s a great reason why the San Diego natives promptly sell out every single time they visit these parts. Listening to a song like “Can I Call You Rose?” is akin to stepping into a time machine, all gauzy and heavy and soft around the edges, all the soul, doo-wop and straight-up shag carpet good vibes you could ever ask for. The music they make together is what falling in love sounds like. And if you go, you’ll be surrounded by lots of lucky sorts falling in love there, too. Comes with the territory.   
• Tickets

• When: Jan. 17 (Friday)
• Who: All-Star Weezer Tribute: Pinkerton & The Blue Album
• Where: The State Room, Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.
• Why: From the same local wizards that brought us sprawling, sell-out tribute shows dedicated to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Neil Young in years past comes their latest creation: two full Weezer albums, performed in their entirety for your listening pleasure. If you’ve been to the shows these sorts have put together in the past, you already know they’re so good that they could take any of those acts on the road if they wanted to. If you haven’t seen them yet, you’re set to enjoy a lot of local talent ℅ curator, musician (and all-around nice bearded guy) Paul Jacobsen. Weezer’s debut turned 30 last year; while album birthdays hardly require tributes this grandiose, it’s as good an excuse as any to get together and make merry as there ever was.
• Tickets

• When: Jan. 18 (Saturday)
• Who: Tank and The Bangas
• Where: The Commonwealth Room, Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. 
• Why: If you’re an avid KRCL listener and supporter (so unabashedly guilty over here), you might also hear how excited some of its deejays tend to get when they talk about Tank and The Bangas. Sometimes, it happens right before or after they spin one the band’s feel-good tunes, and sometimes, they talk about them just because. This has been happening for months, at least ever since the show was announced. But when a New Orleans band has this much talent, showing off via melodies, raps, poetry (and that list goes on), it’s hard not to take notice. For extra proof of a great thing — your sneak peek du jour — go watch their NPR Music Tiny Desk concert from a few years back, from when they won first place out of 6,000+ submissions. 
• Tickets

• When: Jan. 19 (Sunday)
• Who: Houndmouth
• Where: The Depot, Show at 7 p.m. 
• Why: For a band that still somehow feels new, even after more than a decade and a string of albums together, Houndmouth conjures up a curious brand of Sunshine State nostalgia for me. It’s where I lived when the band was out making a name for itself, so songs like “Sedona” — it home to that sing-shouting harmony sound they’ve built their name on — sound like muggy Florida evenings to me, like trees dripping with Spanish moss or day trips to the beach. Of the times I saw them live (twice? thrice?), the Indiana band never once phoned it in. They worked so hard to be able to continue all they were doing and they have managed to keep that dream going. Catch them this month a few nights into their upcoming 25-night run (!). Schedule it as the tail end of your Sunday Funday for best results. 
• Tickets

• When: Jan. 20 (Monday)
• Who: Collective Soul
• Where: The Union, Doors at 7 p.m., Show at 8 p.m. 
• Why: About 20 years ago, I saw Collective Soul do what that band does so well over yonder at the Delta Center. While I’m not nearly old enough to have ever seen Jim Morrison do his thing live, watching lead singer Ed Roland hypnotize the crowd that night felt like he was tapping into some honest-to-garsh real Lizard King energy. That’s the only way I know how to put it. On top of flaunting a lot of familiar radio rock hits (“Shine,” “The World I Know”), the guy was absolutely magnetic. If you were there, you remember. The Union is a little-to-lots smaller than that other venue, of course, but that feels like a bonus. Intimate concerts are welcome here.
• Tickets

• When: Jan. 23 (Thursday)
• Who: Hot House West Swing Orchestra
• Where: Kingsbury Hall, Show at 7:30 p.m.
• Why: This is yet another opportunity for the Beehive State to show off that it’s just dripping in musical talent, a chance to support the always-burgeoning local arts scene while getting a chance to be flat-out amazed at what feels like it’s been in hiding sometimes. And, if you’re a lover of jazz music in any form, you win. For one, there will be horns. There will be strings. And there are going to be fourteen damn musicians joining forces, all drawing inspiration from the same place: the genius of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. The jazz scene has sometimes been a bumpy ride in the city, but that ought not be the case. With some luck (and lots of filled seats), nights like this one may happen more often. We’ll tap our toes. We’ll cross our fingers.
• Tickets

• When: Jan. 24 (Friday)
• Who: Alan Sparhawk
• Where: Urban Lounge, Show at 7 p.m.
• Why: As Alan Sparhawk co-founded the critically adored band Low over 30 years ago, the intrigue factor for this performance is sky-high for many. Since his late wife Mimi Parker (Low’s other founder) passed away in 2022, Sparhawk’s off on a new journey altogether, a welcome departure from how that other band sounded. It’s wild to think that this far into his career (Low first formed in 1993), he’s only just released his solo debut (2024’s White Roses, My God). And the fact these new songs are not a sequel to the sound he helped create with Low is an endlessly beautiful thing. When an artist is handed new horse reins and allowed to branch out into new territory in a way that speaks to them now, that’s often a magical, powerful thing to witness
• Tickets

---

I’m NOT dreaming of a white Christmas. Sun and music are more my jam. Luckily, Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music (OFOAM) are working diligently to book marque acts and plan out next year’s three-day Ogden Music Festival scheduled for May 30-June 1, 2025. In the meantime, are you shopping for the perfect Christmas gift? Give your loved one an unforgettable musical adventure (it’s way better than some “thing” that’ll just end up collecting dust.) Holiday discount tickets are on sale now through January 1st. Three-day camping or single-day passes are available.

The Ogden Music Festival, it’s an intimate three days of music, camping, interactive workshops, and jam sessions with nationally touring artists. It’s big enough to draw top performers, but small enough for an immersive musical experience. Last year festivarians got to hang out and learn about songwriting from Sarah Jarosz and John Craigie. How cool is that? 

Don’t let the “acoustic” moniker fool you. OFOAM brings in blues, funk, rock, folk, and Latin beats alongside bluegrass, newgrass, and string bands. It’s an inclusive celebration of Americana music and all its important influences. There’s something for everyone. 

The OFOAM organizers have already shared a sneak peek of just some of the eclectic acts they’ve secured for this spring’s musical feast. 

• Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives. Stuart is a five-time Grammy winner, Country Music Hall of Famer, and AMA Lifetime Achievement honoree. A musical legend whose style fits perfectly with the OFOAM goal of bringing us top-notch artists who bring a good-time vibe.
• Cimafunk is an emerging Afro-Cuban superstar. He explores the intersections of funk, hip-hop, and Afro-Caribbean music. He’s all set to add Ogden to his list of epic festival appearances including the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Lollapalooza, and Coachella.
• AJ Lee & Blue Summit is a troupe of musical virtuosi who play California Grass, a spirited blend of traditional bluegrass and West Coast hippy jams. Salt Lake magazine covered them in 2023 when they shook The State Room’s rafters! (Does the State Room have rafters?) See our post-show review of their stirring performance.

• Margo Cilker is a must-see artist who captivated fans at The State Room last year. Cilker has two award-winning full-length records to her credit and a growing catalog of great songs. If you’re a fan of  Lucinda Williams, Eilen Jewell, or Nikki Lane then you’ll want to know Cilker’s music. Don’t miss catching her live. Here’s our review of her jaw-dropping SLC show. I’m thrilled to see her again!

• Sister Sadie is a wildfire. They combine raging hot bluegrass with breathtaking instrumental drive and awe-inspiring vocals. In 2024, this all-female ensemble took home the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award for Female Vocalist of the Year (Jaelee Roberts) and Fiddle Player of the Year (Deanie Richardson.) The group’s latest album No Fear has received a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album.
• East Nash Grass is one of the hottest new bands in bluegrass and just picked up the IBMA award for Best New Artist. Of course, OFOAM booked them! That’s what they do.
• New Dangerfield is a recently-formed Black string band supergroup that brings together Afrofuturist fiddler Jake Blount with composer, songwriter, and old-time banjo player Kaia Kater alongside award-winning banjoist Tray Wellington and bassist Nelson Williams. New Dangerfield is on a mission to celebrate the Black string band tradition.

This is just a small sample of the dozens of performers on deck for 2025. The Ogden Music Festival is a personal favorite. Just a short drive or FrontRunner hop from SLC, the well-organized event always features an impressive line-up. I really love the chill vibe. 

Stay tuned as the full lineup takes shape over the next few months. In the meantime, check out our review of last year’s festival.

• Who: Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music (OFOAM)
• What: Ogden Music Festival
• Where: Fort Buenaventura (Ogden)
• When: May 30, 2025- June 1, 2025
• Info and tickets: ofoam.org

---

The Portland Cello Project brought two sets of holiday cheer to Salt Lake last weekend for an evening at The State Room on Dec. 14, 2024, and we were better off for their visit.

The touring group was a pared-down version of their usual cast of characters, featuring four incredible cellists instead of the usual revolving number of 7-14. In this case, less was more. Nobody minded a bit. It helped allow for a more intimate evening than usual. All was calm and intermittently bright.

And while a heavy sprinkling of the festive numbers was all but expected, there were continual surprises. It’s hard to think of many other Christmas-themed concerts casually dropping their own arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” into the mix, following it up immediately with Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” The latter got some of the night’s biggest reactions (in the form of both hoots and hollerin’), probably because you don’t get to see cellists headbang, well, ever.

“Shalom Chaverim” (from the group’s Winter album) was a lovely turn, offering their take on a song children might sing during a Hanukkah celebration. There were arrangements inspired by Looney Tunes (a race through William Tell’s Overture), Charlie Brown (“Linus and Lucy” will never get old), and even their very renaissance-founding take on Fleet Foxes’ “White Winter Hymnal.” Special personal highlight? A romp through Soundgarden’s “Fell On Black Days.”

The unexpected worked wholly to their advantage, and perhaps that’s a learned tactic resulting from a lot of live experience. The intrigue factor was high for what should have seemed a standard performance of four incredible musicians. It meant a standing-room-only crowd collectively held its breath and wondered what might come next. If the universe is kind, it’ll send them back with the entire crew for one of their Radiohead tributes. Dare to dream, baby.

Have you ever done that weird thing where you wondered what a band might have sounded like if certain core members in it had never met? Sort of a Sliding Doors type scenario? Sure, it’s an unusual thought to land on a few songs into a Shovels & Rope concert, as I did last night Thursday night (Dec. 12, 2024) at The Commonwealth Room. And there’s even a chance the band would have ceased to exist entirely should one or the other have chosen to go right instead of left.

Granted, that’s a lot of conjecture, maybes and what-ifs. But when you hear how easily the voices of husband and wife duo Shovels & Rope (Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst) sound together as each buoys the other up, it sounds like they’ve always belonged together, wrapped around one another, two halves of a whole.

It hasn’t been so long since they visited us, but they hauled their duets and joy back here Thursday. And while comparisons are mostly lazy shortcuts, they build on that loose Jack and Meg White Stripes geetar-and-drums sound by giving it more muscle, melody and even better storytelling—smashing the blueprint and improving the model. And here’s a way to keep your audience wide-eyed: play musical chairs throughout, taking turns drumming and guitaring and pianoing, doing each impossibly well, even further proof of their effortless talent.

Photography by Natalie Simpson

We were treated to highs and lows throughout the night. When the band sang of our fair state early on (“C’mon, Utah!”), it was the good vibe we all yearned for, and they prefaced the tune by saying it never sounded better anywhere else. There was a sad turn, too, when Trent shared that it was the anniversary of his father’s passing, and he gave us an emotional tribute of a number in his memory.
The one-song encore helped put a final bookend on the night, and they brought out opener Al Oleander to put her best Roy Orbison foot forward with her take on “Blue Bayou.” It was maybe the first time in the evening that Shovels & Rope seemed to take a breather, opting to support instead of clambering toward the spotlight. Classy touch, that one. Besides, they’d more than earned the chance to take a rest.

---

What needs saying first: when you witness the Lower Lights, you experience more than a band. The group opened their three-night stand on Dec. 11, 2024, at Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah campus. There are two more shows on Dec. 13 and 14. 

Sure, these 16-17 rotating musicians have shared their lauded Christmas shows with this valley and its growing fan base for at least 15 years, and that’s plenty of time to experiment, sand rough edges, and make the good better. But understand these are also friends who’ve written music before (and during) that period. They’ve played on one another’s albums, dreamed up their own, and had tours with their names in real or proverbial lights.

However, when they join arms as this entity, the results are wholly different. Maybe that’s a given. They create moments of magic they’d not be able to make on their own, at least not entirely.  

Sharing nearly two-and-a-half hours with the Lower Lights means tapping into one of the greatest collections of Christmas and gospel music that’s likely ever been pieced together. And it’s hardly a rehash of tired carols. Nothing pedestrian is allowed in this space. 

Instead, you hear what friendship and deep care and empathy sound like when swirled together. A version of “Silver Bells” may not come out exactly as planned, and those who feel their way through it will tell jokes about what did and didn’t happen, but it’s hard to mind that much as a member of the audience. Perfection wasn’t promised, and it was hardly sought. In its place, you receive warmth. The roaring campfire you didn’t know you needed showed up at the right time.

And when that happens, you’re allowed to shake your head in disbelief and maybe chuckle at how great these Lights are when the spotlight is shown on all instead of one. 

The Lower Lights isn’t a “nice to have” for Salt Lake City. It feels necessary. When Dominic Moore and Paul Jacobson duet on Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” for example, it helps soften a divisive feeling still lingering on an election year. Also needed: Kiki Jane Sieger’s soulful turn on “Pretty Paper,” a sultry take on “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” and banjos and mandolins and three-part harmonies sweet enough to scare out surprise tears.

This feels like a spoiler alert, but it’s not. All of this happened, and those who gathered were grateful. Once invited by Sarah Sample to dance along, we stood and participated immediately. We danced along in balconies and aisles (with and without kids in arms), and even in place when that notion struck. The thing was, it struck often. With a massive stage as filled as it was with talent, we wanted to join. We wanted to react. Joy begets joy, after all.  
The great part about reading these strung-together thoughts (and hopefully on Thursday, when they’re still fresh out of the gate), is that the Lower Lights are set to join forces twice more, on Friday and Saturday. This puts me in a precarious and incredible position. Should these words have any sway, please know buying any available ticket to either show will be a heralded decision on your part, an early Dec. 25 gift you get to give yourself.

• Who: The Lower Lights Christmas Concerts
• When: 7 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14, 2024
• Where: Kingsbury Hall, University of Utah Campus
• Tickets and info: utahpresents.com

• Read more: Our Interview with Lower Lights’ Sarah Sample
• Read more: Our interview with Lower Lights’ Paul Jacobson

The Lower Lights are coming. If you’re brand new to the Beehive State, you’re forgiven for not knowing about the huge local band conglomerate that’s steadily grown into a holiday tradition around these parts. You have no excuse if you’ve been here a while. The Lower Lights have been singing and dancing and carol rearranging for the masses for about 15 years now. It’s reached a point where they can’t do it all in one night (with three shows available, you may choose your own adventure). They will sling the holiday magic Dec. 11, 13 and 14, 2024 at Kingsbury Hall.

We caught up with Sarah Sample at her home in Wyoming this week, where she lives in a small cowboy town near the Bighorn Mountains, a space with a lot of wild edges to it. “Drive 10 miles in any direction and you’re still on a dirt road,” she says. While she loves where she’s planted roots with her family, coming back to Salt Lake for this string of shows is never a burden.

It’s a chance for her to reconnect with her musician family and those related by blood, as her mom and sisters still live in the area. 

“Whether it’s 50 or 200 people, I think a smaller crowd size is something most of us were used to,” she says. “To have the demand of a Christmas concert grow to the point where we’re playing multiple nights to 2000+ people at Kingsbury Hall is the coolest. It’s a joy I do not take for granted.”

Doing these shows for as long as she has with some friends she’s known for over 20 years has created a palpable sense of comfort. There’s no jockeying, no hogging the spotlight. In the early years, it was a process of trying to find where you fit in the band of 18-20 musicians on any given night. But everyone has settled into their spaces, and beautifully so.

“I’ve learned my role,” she says. “I love to dance and be in my body. That’s bringing something to the show only I can bring, because I will be the crazy mom who is going to dance, whether my teenager wants me to or not.”

Sometimes it even spawns impulsive copycats, as she once spotted a father and his young daughter in the back of the theater, dancing along to the band’s three-part vocal harmony version of “White Christmas.” That’s a reaction she lives for and hopes to see more of.

But the performances do come with a lot of layers. They are more than singing and dancing. 

“One part of the Lower Lights I really love is the consistency of relationships through change,” she says, reflecting. 

“You know, we all have aged and changed, and our lives and religious standings are different. We’ve had children, we’ve been married, we’ve been divorced, and still, it’s a collective of musicians who care about one another, who show up and basically say, ‘Come as you are. We would love to have you as part of this group.’ And what I hope is that people in the audience feel that same invitation, to come as they are. Whether they’re heartbroken or really excited for the season, we will take them as they come and hope they feel something when they’re at our shows, that they’re welcome to be there regardless of what their lives look like.”

“Hopefully that makes people more comfortable. Our concerts are not perfect. It’s not like we never miss a note … it just doesn’t matter if we do. You’ll still have a great show.”

You heard it here first. Some promises, you can’t help but 100% believe in.

• Who: The Lower Lights
• Where: Kingsbury Hall
• When: December 11, 13-14, 2024
• Tickets and Info: The Lower Lights

Read more: Christmas Music Revival: The Lower Lights

Provided you aren’t hitting all three nights of The Lower Lights in the next 7-8 days, here are a couple of shows we’ll gladly add to your radar. It’s not often we get a couple of bands this good this late in the year, so chances are we’re already applauding for that alone.

• Thursday
• Who: Shovels & Rope
• Where: The Commonwealth Room, Dec. 12, 2024, doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. 

Why: On the heels of the band’s latest (September’s full-length Something Is Working Up Above My Head), the husband and wife duo of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst return to these parts to give us a lot of incredible harmonies laced with a lot of drums, an thundering and steady beat. And, sure, they were here just last year supporting Gregory Alan Isakov, but it’ll be good to see them for a lot longer, showing off all their newly created songs. Is it too much to wish they end up performing their excellent take on “In My Room,” (the one they did along with Sharon Van Etten, on Busted Jukebox, Vol. 3). It’s okay to start manifesting that reality, yeah? In any case, if you’ve never seen them live, know this: even if you don’t know their music well enough to sing-shout along to, just know you’ll really, really want to. And that’s never a bad way to feel, period.  Tickets and info: Tickets

• Saturday
• Who: Portland Cello Project
• Where: The State Room, Dec. 14, 2024, Doors @ 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.

Why: It’s less important to know who is in this band hailing from you-know-where than it is to view them for what they are and the uniqueness that they bring. To paraphrase their own site real loosely, they create music you’d not expect to hear on multiple cellos in places you’d rarely expect to see them performed. And it means, yes, you’ll hear them take on the likes of (spoiler alert) Elliott Smith and Radiohead and Fleet Foxes and Outkast. And considering they’ve recorded their share of holiday tunes, expect one or more of those. Carols may show up. While I can attest to seeing 14 accordions played live at once, I’ve yet to experience what at least 9-12 traveling cellists sound like tackling “Paranoid Android” together. A real gift, indeed. Tickets and info: Tickets