Music

In the wake of Justin Townes Earle’s passing in 2020, he left heaps of fans behind. One was local singer-songwriter and Ogdenite Sammy Brue, who’s scared up lots of local talent to pay tribute to the late singer at The State Room this Friday, Feb. 28, at 8 p.m.

While some JTE fans have taken solace in endlessly playing the many songs he left them, musicians like Brue are building on his legend instead. Brue wrote a record using journals that Justin’s wife shared with him, and it should have a release date any day now. In the meantime, he’s gathered local bands and friends to play Justin’s music, mainstay troubadours like Daniel Young, Andrew Wiscombe, Michelle Moonshine, J-Rad Cooley and The Proper Way.

When they honor Justin, it won’t be by performing solely covers. It’s a tribute, sure, but with a twist. Brue will share new songs he’s written while combing through the lyrics his mentor left behind, songs he wrote in Justin’s memory and with his help. Doing so came naturally, and gaining access to Justin’s words was like being passed a baton. He got to work.

“I met Justin when I was very young, and he’s a hero of mine,” Brue says. “Since I started to play the guitar, I’ve tried to emulate Justin. Finally getting to meet him was surreal.”

It’s fitting Brue met Justin at The State Room when he was just 12 years old. He was too young to attend the show, so his dad did the next best thing by arriving early, hoping to run into him. As luck would have it, Justin was in the parking lot and smoking a cigarette. When Brue asked him to sign his guitar and pointed out the hat he bought to look like his, the one he bought after a lot of busking, Justin was endeared by him. He even placed Brue on the cover of his 2014 Single Mothers album and brought him on tour as an opening act.

“Justin told stories that never existed and didn’t ask [the industry] for anything. He co-existed with music and let it flow through him, describing the feelings he was going through,” Brue says.

“I only hope to achieve a fraction of what he did, and it’ll be a lifelong journey. He inspired the record I recorded, and I’m excited to share it with the world,” he says. “These songs have been written for a year and a half, and I’m still not sick of playing them.”

More songs are being written, too, mainly because Brue still has a lot of journal pages to tackle. He’s taken photos of every page, numbering and transcribing along the way. So far, he’s uncovered over 400 pages and is not even 25 percent of the way finished.

As far as access to heroes goes, Brue’s hit a gold mine. It’s an unexpected dream come true.

“It’s getting trippy. Looking at these journals feels like college. I’m studying, caring for what is precious to me, and giving it new life. I go to sleep at night and have a dream that I’m watching Justin play a song, then I’ll wake up and write three new songs, back to back. It’s beautiful.”

And if Justin gets to visit from wherever he is now and joins the Salt Lake City audience Friday night, there’s only one reaction Brue would want.

“I’d probably just want a hug,” Brue says, and nothing else. “A big hug.”

• Who: Justin Townes Earle Tribute Show
• Where: The State Room
• When: Feb. 28 @ 8 p.m.
• Tickets and Info: Tickets

A rare dream transpired in these increasingly chilly parts this most recent Hump Day past: The Crash Test Dummies performed for a happily sold-out Salt Lake City crowd at The State Room Wednesday night (February 12, 2025).

Once it wrapped up (after what felt like too brief a time together), it was difficult to tell who was more appreciative of that kind of a rare midweek turnout, whether it was those responsible for creating the hard-to-categorize music in the first place or those who’d attached so much of the band’s music to their own nineties-born memories. Applause was constantly met with appreciative smiles, and it was a give-and-take that worked for all. Those who’d fallen in love with the dark poetry attached to songs like “Superman’s Song,” “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” (and, for what it’s worth, even their cover of “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead”) were beyond satisfied by what they heard. Their concert was a gift nobody expected to get in 2025. And while we do appreciate the good things given, this was a cut above, one of the best things even.

The Crash Test Dummies have been in the business of performing for more than 30 years, and yet they still manage to feel like a secret, one some might know of without totally understanding it. They’re hardly music for the masses, but that’s the point: if they’ve made it this far by refusing to follow convention, they get to keep following that path. That includes rocking a keytar unrepentantly and playing an accordion like it’s as commonplace as playing a lead guitar. The often uncool gets its place of acceptance. It’s embraced. 

The band was solidly likable and easy to adore. The greatest pleasure of all was hearing Brad Roberts’ uncommonly deep (and immediately recognizable) vocals and discovering his ability to drop to the very bottom of his register has hardly waned. He allowed the trip along their nostalgia train to feel and sound like we hoped it might. There was at least one unveiled song written in 2024, too, so don’t give in to believing this is a last hurrah. A new song can beget a new album and can beget a future tour. If anything, it’s a big red arrow pointing to what’s set to come next, a flashing marquee with a solid and satisfying promise: COMING SOON. 

Photography by Stephen Speckman

---

Looking for more live music this month? Check out these eight shows we’re looking forward to in February.

Trust me, warmer days are on the way! Like crocus and tulips, Red Butte Garden’s announcement of its first show in its 2025 Outdoor Concert Series is a sure sign that spring is coming! 

On Thursday, May 29, 2025, Trampled By Turtles, the genre-defying sextet, will kick off the season. The Minnesota-based band will play a spirited Midwestern Gothic blend of bluegrass and Indie-rock. Their masterful string arrangements will sound amazing in the Garden’s natural sonic landscape.

Red Butte Garden’s award-winning Outdoor Concert Series has welcomed music lovers since 1987 when the Garden showcased four local bands. Since then, the series has grown into one of the valley’s most anticipated music events, featuring around 30 of the world’s most influential performers and exciting new artists. Voted #1 Best Outdoor Concert Venue and Best All-Ages Concert Venue in City Weekly’s Best of Utah 2024, Red Butte Garden Ampitheatre, with its spectacular Foothills setting, picnic-with-friends vibe, and consistently stacked lineup, can’t be beat.

Tickets for Trampled By Turtles are on sale now. The full lineup of summer shows will be released by mid-April. 

Who: Trampled By Turtles
What: Red Butte Garden Outdoor Concert Series
Where: Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre
When: May 29, 2025
Info and tickets: https://redbuttegarden.org/concerts/

---

Find reviews from last year’s Red Butte Concert Series, here!

Travis performed at The Depot last Tuesday (Feb. 4, 2025), scaring a lot of fans out of their houses on a school night. They didn’t show up in droves or anything, but there may be a reason for that. It has been over a decade since Travis has toured very fast and furiously through our fair country, after all. Still, those who fell for the band early on might like them more this many years later. Flavors tend to deepen over time. Why should good bands be any different?

If there was ever any inkling, this foursome of Glasgow natives is simply resting on its substantial past successes; this performance helped quash those preposterous ideas. They sounded as good as everyone hoped they might, easily sharing songs from their latest (2024’s L.A. Times) with professionalism and ease. Nothing felt forced. They have new layers to offer. While the band played a lot of the songs that made them so familiar in the first place (“Sing,” “Closer,” and, good lord, so many more), the newer songs were also on display, the ones we aren’t close friends with yet. (We’ll get there, promise.) It was terribly fun and uncommonly friendly, as casual as being invited to your buddy’s house to watch them jam in a garage for a while.

Lead singer Fran Healy sprained his ankle at their show the night before (uneven stairs will get you when you least expect it). That hardly stopped him and his band of near-lifelong mates from giving us the best versions of themselves they could muster. The beloved show must go on, and these guys are solid. They’re workhorses. Wearing what he called his “Frankenstein boot” on one foot, Fran still mostly stood for his songs and could mostly get around, just with lots more hopping. At the tail end of one of their best tunes, “Writing to Reach You,” he noticed someone starting to faint near the stage, stopped the song abruptly, and clambered toward her to assist as the paramedics rushed in to help. It was a touch of unexpected drama that had us all collectively holding our breath.

So, besides being a revered singer for all the best reasons, Fran was someone’s hero that night. Being saved by a band you adore is an easy forever memory—something to share with the grandkids one day. 

Photos by Nathan Christianson (Instagram: @npcplus)

no images were found

1. Feb. 7, Friday

Who: Mindy Gledhill
Where: Orem Public Library
When: 7:30 p.m.  
Why: Local songstress Mindy Gledhill doesn’t need an introduction around these parts, does she? This is, after all, someone who’s collaborated with Kaskade. For the uninitiated: if you ever happened across a winged fairy singing and floating her way through an enchanted forest, chances are very good she’d sound like Mindy does. (Yes, that’s a good thing, even a magical one.) In addition to performing songs from her album, The Phone Booth Sessions, Vol. 1, she will also bring a reassembled recording studio to share with the curious, a recreation of the old phone booth she once turned into a recording studio.
Tickets

2. Feb. 8, Saturday

Who: The Motet
Where: The Commonwealth Room, 
When: 8 p.m.
Why: Not to be bossy, but do this right now: command Alexa to play all the songs she can scare up by The Motet and proceed to get lost for a long while. It may lift your spirits, but here’s a promise: it will do a world of good for your soul. The six-piece American funk, soul, and jazz group from Denver is no stranger to these parts, and we’re lucky they like to wear out our WELCOME mat. Do you like jams? Or dancing? ‘Course you do (to both). Grab your ticket already.
Tickets

3. Feb. 11, Tuesday

Who: Benjamin Booker
Where: Urban Lounge
When: 7 p.m.
Why: At least a decade ago, 20+ close friends and I crowded into a downtown Orlando bar to see a singer we hardly knew. This was the guy. It wasn’t packed, and it felt like we’d booked our private party. Benjamin was a dynamic performer, too, commanding the small stage, interacting with us, getting lost in eyes-closed songs and extended guitar solos, and sitting out a long stretch of reverb by smoking half a cigarette. That surprise of a night hangs around as a highlight of all the shows I’ve ever seen. I’ve every reason to believe this time around will be even better.
Tickets

4. Feb. 12, Wednesday, 8 p.m.

Who: Crash Test Dummies
Where: The State Room
When: 8 p.m.
Why: If you’re of a certain age, there was a time not so long ago when songs like “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” and “Superman’s Song” were damn near ubiquitous on the radio waves. When you have a voice like lead singer Brad Roberts, you tend to stick out because nobody sounds anything like you. The intrigue factor is high on this one. It’ll be nice to catch up with the Canadian folk rockers and see what they’ve been up to since they had their moment and fell into sudden obscurity. This show’s been sold out for a long minute, but fret not: resale tickets are still available.
Tickets

5. Feb. 13, Thursday, Doors 7 p.m., Show at 8 p.m.

Who: Madeline Hawthorne
Where: The State Room
When: 8 p.m.
Why: Every list has to have its wildcard, and this one counts as ours. This Bozeman, Montana, singer/songwriter released a new one not long ago (Tales From Late Nights & Long Drives) and is excited to share it. Of the new album, Madeline said, “Sip your favorite beverage and spin the vinyl in your listening room—or turn it up to 11 and dance wildly around your kitchen. Wherever you are, I hope it gives you what you need. This is an album for the lovers, the wild children, and the ones who refuse to grow up too much. Adventure is always out there. Go on and take the leap.”
Tickets

6. Feb. 19, Wednesday

Who: Phantogram
Where: The Union Events Center
When: 7:30 p.m.
Why: Riding high on the album they released a few short months ago (2024’s Memory of a Day), the band out of Greenwich, New York, is as good live as you’d hope they would be (and then some). Their performances are incredibly sexy, addictive, engaging, and impossible to turn away from for longer than a well-timed bathroom break. Believe it. If we’re lucky, they’ll bring all the frickin’ lasers along with them (cue the always-bad Dr. Evil impression, complete with extended pinky finger). Like a light show to the planetarium, only with 100% less Pink Floyd music, floating piggies, and neck kinks.
Tickets

7. Feb. 23, Sunday

Who: Christian McBride & Ursa Major
Where: Kingsbury Hall
When: 7:30 p.m.
Why: We don’t get enough straight-ahead jazz in these parts. Thanks to Gordon and Connie Hanks, though, that torch remains lit, and the state still manages to get its share of heavy hitters. Eight-time Grammy Award-winning bassist, composer, and bandleader Christian McBride is bringing his quintet here (Ursa Major), a special treat for everyone already planning to witness the talent they have in spades. Tickets are fast disappearing, but there’s still time to snag yours. Fast fact: Ursa Major is also the name given to the third-largest constellation in the sky and the very largest one in the Northern Hemisphere.
Tickets

8. Feb. 28, Friday

Who: Justin Townes Earle Tribute Show
Where: The State Room
When: 8 p.m.
Why: Justin left a legacy and a lot of fans when he passed. And we totally get it — we’re never more than a week or two away from tributes in these parts — but this one’s set to be something special. This nod to the late singer-songwriter will include a lot of recreated tunes from Justin Townes Earle’s catalog from local talent you already know and adore (including diehard favorites like Daniel Young, Michelle Moonshine, J-Rad Cooley, and a laundry list of others). As an added treat, Sammy Brue will perform new songs created using Justin’s journals, which were gifted to him by Justin’s wife, Jenn.
Tickets

---

When we caught up with Fran Healy, Travis’s lead singer, he was in the best mood.

The Travis: Raze The Bar Tour lands at The Depot in Salt Lake City on Tuesday (February 4, 2025).

It was midday on a Friday when we connected. Fran had been awake for 45 minutes and was in Portland, where the band had a show the night before. He was still in bed, which helped account for his half-dreamy state. He’d dawdled his way through town the previous night, he says, and probably solely because it was rainy and cold. The crisp air reminded him of his native Glasgow, where he grew up accustomed to the 200 days of rainfall the city receives every year.

The band’s already halfway through its 22-date tour, and it’s the first time the foursome has headlined through this country in a dozen years. While Fran freely admits that’s far too long to have stayed away, he hardly feels forgotten by Travis’ diehard fan base. And this stint is a far cry from the amount of touring they did in their earliest days when a staggering 240 shows a year was somehow typical. The pace they’ve adapted to is far more sustainable.

Now Travis has a new album (2024’s L.A. Times, their 10th), and diehard fans are reconnecting with it. It probably helps that Coldplay’s Chris Martin and The Killers’ Brandon Flowers lend their chops to “Raze The Bar.” But there’s more to it than that. Nearly three decades in, the band comprises Fran and a few seemingly lifelong mates: Dougie Payne, Neil Primrose, and Andy Dunlop. That longevity makes a palpable difference.

“We’re still in this band. We’re like a couple who celebrate their 60th anniversary and they’re still in love,” Fran told Concord. “It’s all about the relationship. This is the marriage of four men—and it’s hard enough to keep two people interested, never mind four.”

He tells a story about how they released their sophomore release, 1999’s The Man Who, only to be told by one critic that it was commercial suicide. And that was alarming. The brand briefly took it to heart. By the time it sold 3.5 million copies, Travis had more than proved that critic wrong. It taught Fran a lesson: predictions were preposterous and silly in his line of work.

“You’ve got no control, dead or alive, of what your songs are going to do,” he says. “A band only has to go out and deliver these magic bookmarks to people and stir their memories and emotions. You have to let the songs do the rest.”

For a time, Travis became so pervasive on the radio (“Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” and “Sing” were practically ubiquitous) that some critics lashed out at them unnecessarily. But Travis shouldn’t be underestimated, Fran says.

“When we first came through America, all the country had was fucking Britney Spears and Limp Bizkit. Nirvana was big, but then it descended into pop music chaos. The Man Who and The Invisible Band were these islands that teenagers climbed on and discovered. There was no internet; they just found the albums. Our band ended up being the gateway drug to many other great bands coming out of our country then.”

When Fran is asked what he gets out of still being able to perform and pull massive audiences wherever Travis plays, he’s momentarily stumped. When it hits him, he flashes a grin.

“I get to scream at the top of my voice on songs like “Selfish Gene,” and it’s like primal therapy. That’s quite therapeutic.”

Screaming. Touring. Hanging out with his buddies. No wonder Fran’s in such a great mood.

• Who: Travis
• Where: The Depot
• When: February 4, 2025
• Tickets and Info: Travis: Raze The Bar Tour

When Hot House West Swing Orchestra performed at Kingsbury Hall last Thursday (January 23, 2025), one thought hit early and often: this band has done its homework.

And that’s a calming notion, a reassuring one. It makes sense, too, when someone in the band shares that there are at least a handful of horn-playing and upright bass-slapping professors in the band. Or when they share a list of musicians’ names and inspirations from the 1930s that they hold fast to (a little homework for everyone gathered to study later).

Seeing 15-16 talented musicians gather together and look a lot like a photo of an old-time radio program from the 1930s brought to life was enough of a spectacle all by itself. But the songs and arrangements they shared were a rare delight, as they dipped their toes in big band and Gypsy jazz and western swing. Playing together sounded like hours and hours of devoted practice (or, you know, homework).

The show was full of unbounded enthusiasm. Perfectly executed saxophone and drum solos. Violins. Poignantly beautiful solos (Melissa Chillinski’s “Cowpoke” was a long chance to hold breaths, and choose not to fight back happy tears). There was improvisation, syncopation, multiple sets of maracas being shaken, and a lot of blessed variety to accompany their joy.

As the concert neared its tail end, the band invited a university dance group to surround them and show off all their dance moves for a few songs in a row. In a more perfect world, the audience would have been able to join in and move as well. The sounds that The Hot House Swing Orchestra creates come together in an unbounded, energetic way that makes you move, and forces it, even. Good news, though: future performances now on their performing schedule will allow for lots of dancing, which is precisely how it should be.

Photos by Nathan Christianson (IG: @npcplus)

no images were found

California’s Thee Sacred Souls boldly answers the question, “What if our lead vocalist was a dead ringer for Bob Marley but sang as beautifully as Marvin Gaye?”

When the band visited Salt Lake City’s Union Events Center on Wednesday evening (Jan. 22, 2025) to perform as many gorgeous songs as possible in a short hour and a half, they brought a whole vibe. And that’s vague enough to mean a lot of things. Yes, there were very tall bongo drums being pounded on. There were a couple of easy-to-smile-at backup singer types whose arms danced perfectly in sync. Occasional sax and trombone and trumpet? Yes, yes, and yes. The vibe was all of that, but a lot more, too.

The vibe also came with faded flowing blue jeans and dimmed lights. It sounded like an old slightly staticky late-night radio or a lightly scratched soul record. It had falsettos that made girls scream (and always right on cue). It felt like a lot of love, and some couples acted on that, exploring the ample open floor spaces by dancing together. It felt like kindness and courage, too, as singer Josh Lane often took it upon himself to leave the stage and join the thrilled masses, clambering over barricades, everyone singing and swaying and pointing their phones towards him together. Why sing “Lucid Girl” from afar if you don’t have to, anyway?

As far as moments to remember go, the kind that comes in the magic of an encore, the one you are grateful you didn’t miss by sticking around to the tail end, “Can I Call You Rose?” was a perfectly orchestrated cherry on top of all else. Everyone agreed as they helped the band sing it. They understood. This was nobody’s first rodeo. Go, team!

When the Daptone label sadly lost Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley the following year (RIP to both late greats), it was like a ship losing both anchors. Both were quickly familiar voices in that world and likely its two most bankable rising stars. Their large shoes were left behind several years ago to be filled, but they fit Thee Sacred Souls pretty perfectly. The band’s only two albums into their brief journey (and one is as deeply likable as the next), but Wednesday’s display solidifies this now-formed truth: the people don’t just like all Thee Sacred Souls are doing; they’re hungry for it. They can’t get enough. And that’s part of that overall vibe, too.

Photos by: Nathan Christianson (IG: @npcplus)

no images were found

When nobody was looking, Collective Soul’s Ed Roland casually slipped into the Big Lebowski portion of his long career and it’s a beautiful thing to witness.

When the band came back for another round of all it does best in Salt Lake City at The Union Events Center on Monday (January 20, 2025), their lead singer did so while wearing a white suit that looked comfortable enough to double as pajamas. (There were no slippers to complete the ensemble, but they were checked for.) Having grown an impressively white beard to go with now long, primarily gray hair, he felt more familiar than he ever has, and I discovered why: Ed honest-to-god both looked and sounded not unlike my own uncle, the one whose voice sounds like he replaced meals with gravel decades ago.

All of that’s to say that he’s more comfortable than ever. He’s still doing every part as engagingly as the rest of the band can. While he may be less of an energetic showman than when he was 20+ years ago, he’s earned every right to switch gears in his approach this far into things. The band can offer a massive hit like “Shine,” a song with the power to unite a crowd, then drop a couple of songs that’ll be released later in 2025 (part of an already-recorded double album). If he wants to pause all else to talk about how those tunes were birthed inside Elvis Presley’s house, that’s his prerogative. So is doing covers of favorites from bands like AC/DC and Aerosmith, just because. Making the performance feel as warm and fun as the early ’90s hits like “The World I Know” and “Where the River Flows” still sound is another glorious part of Ed embodying the relaxed grandeur of becoming The Dude.

Maybe that’s somehow part of what keeps the band fresh. Collective Soul is this living thing with a still beating heart at its center, so change can and does often happen. If they want to throw a guitar solo in where there was never one before, it happens. Paring down a tune to guitar and vocals and getting real quiet? Sure, why not? But they’re having too much fun to be labeled a paint-by-numbers nostalgia act.

Then again, that could all be my, like, opinion, man.
Photos by Kevin Rolfe of @utahconcertreview

no images were found

---

Houndmouth fans don’t much believe in the Sunday scaries. They packed the whole damn 1,200-person capacity venue at The Depot last Sunday night as proof. Less-than-twenty-degree temperatures stood in the way for no one (January 19, 2025) as the band promptly sold out of every available ticket. Not bad for a little feels-so-good four-piece from Indiana that hasn’t released a new album in more than four years (2021’s Good For You).

Not that having newly recorded material mattered to anyone. Familiarity reigned supreme as they offered up a lot of the tried-and-true from their discography (songs like “Sedona,” “My Cousin Greg,” and “Cool Jam”) along with unveiling at least a couple of brand new ones. Maybe a new album’s on the way after all? Either way, all they’ve crafted thus far has not dimmed with time. When ¾ of your band doesn’t just sing but does so remarkably well—and when your keyboardist (Caleb Hickman) strongly resembles Michael McDonald as a far younger man—it bodes well for your fans. The whole night was as easy on the ears as the better stations on AM radio.

When all the pieces tend to magically fall into place as they did, prioritizing good music on a cold night becomes that much easier.

Photos by Natalie Simpson – Beehive Photography – @beehivephotovideo

no images were found

---