A match made in heaven and an interesting intersection of talent together form the “Across the Great Divide” tour coming to Carmel’s Sunset Center on Sunday. In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of The Band’s groundbreaking first two albums “Music From Big Pink” (1968) and “The Band” (1969), the Hot Club of Cowtown and Dustbowl Revival collaborate to perform select songs from the albums as well as perform music from their own catalogues. This is one of those brilliant cross promotion combinations that will truly be a unique musical experience for lovers of American roots music.
To make it clear, this is not your run-of-the-mill tribute concert. Although it would seem impossible for anyone to perform a lackluster tribute to The Band, the beloved Canadian group that fell in with Bob Dylan at an opportune time before gelling into their own special sauce, fitting into the 1960s psychedelic scene in addition to finding fans in the American heartland. You just can’t go wrong with performing songs like “The Weight,” “Rag Mama Rag,” “This Wheel’s On Fire,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and so on. And when you have the special brew that makes the two featured bands so popular in their own right, then hang on to your hats.
“It’s not a purely ‘tribute’ show,” said Hot Club of Cowtown’s Elana James, a Bob Dylan band veteran similar to The Band. “It’s more a testament to the timelessness and influence of these Band songs, to weave our own material through them and let that resonate.”
And from Dustbowl Revival’s founder, Z. Lupetin, came the expression that their own songs will be linked rhythmically or spiritually with the Band tunes that they’ll cover. Each group will perform individually and together, and, as a result, the concerts wind up being a different and distinct performance each night.
This free-flowing intermingling of music at these concerts are a perfect way to honor the Band’s musical gumbo of roots styles, but it also wonderfully reflects the Hot Club of Cowtown and Dustbowl Revival’s own approaches of drawing from various heritage musical styles in constructing their unique sounds. Hot Club’s deft melding of gypsy-jazz and Western swing demonstrates how Texas dance halls and Parisian cafés may be far apart geographically but not musically. Dustbowl Revival, meanwhile, mines Dixieland jazz, pre-war blues, old-timey bluegrass, and Memphis soul to construct their genre-hopping, time-bending party music.
The three-member Hot Club of Cowtown celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, a marking of time that honored their first album release “Swingin’ Stampede.” Eight albums later, with accolades amassed to include being named as the youngest members inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame, the Austin-based Cowtown is a force to be reckoned with. The group actually served as a big inspiration for Dustbowl Revival’s Lupetin, who acknowledged that after hearing Cowtown’s music, it made him want to play roots music and swing. Last year was also a milestone for the eight-member Dustbowl Revival; their first album, “The Atomic Mushroom Cloud of Love,” was released 10 years earlier.
Currently, Hot Club has a seven-track EP of Band songs out with the name “Crossing The Great Divide,” echoing the tour’s name. Later this year they’ll have a full length version ready for release. The Venice, California-based Dustbowl also has a new album in the works, with no announced release date as of yet.
The Sunday’s 7 p.m. concert at the Sunset Center has tickets available in all price levels, $39, $49 and $59, available online in advance at www.sunsetcenter.org or at the venue’s Box Office in person or by calling 831-620-2048.
A benefit concert for the Big Sur Fiddle Camp Scholarship Fund titled “Travel on a Musical Journey,” is Thursday at Hidden Valley Music Seminars in the Carmel Valley Village. Directed by Edwin Huizinga, it brings together various genres of youth music programs on the Monterey Peninsula, to include students and teachers from Big Sur Fiddle Camp, Celtoid Fiddlers and Youth Music Monterey. Huizinga is joined by guitarist William Coulter, pianist Ian Scarfe, violinist John Weed, conductor Farkhad Khudyev and cellist Georgy Gusev and their students to present a night of adventure through sound. They will take the audience on a trip through the British Isles, the Balkan States, Russia, Old Time America and back in time to the European classical era with Bach selections.
Canadian-born violinist Huizinga is one of North America’s most versatile violinists. He is a member of numerous ensembles; Tafelmusik, The Knights NYC, A Far Cry, Brandywine Baroque among them. And this coming season marks his 10th year as a soloist at the Carmel Bach Festival. He is in his third season as the Artistic Director of the Big Sur Land Trust music camp for young teenagers, and he also serves as Artistic Director of a ground-breaking mixed-genre series featuring some of Toronto’s biggest names in classical, indie rock, bluegrass and theater called Stereo Live. His New York City-based baroque band Acronym is about to release their fourth album, featuring previously unrecorded sonatas from around the world. And not to sit still for one second, this year he’s recording his first solo album, an album with his folk-rock band the Wooden Sky, and one with Liquid Gold, a duo with Grammy Award-winning guitarist William Coulter, another of the participants set to perform at this start-studded event.
Students under 18 are invited to attend free of charge and are encouraged to bring their friends. Adults are asked to donate as much as they are able toward the Scholarship Fund, with a suggested donation of $30. The 6:30 p.m. event will also have complimentary food for all and a no host Wine Tasting led by Big Sur Food and Wine during intermission for those over 21. Advance tickets are available on eventbrite.com
BEST BETS
Kiki and the Wowettes: Thursday, 4:30-7:30 p.m. at Folktale Winery & Vineyards, 8940 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel, no cover. Harmony vocalists Amber Guzman and Nicole Dillenberg have joined together with multi-instrumentalist/songwriter, Kiki Wow, to present her original songs in full living color. Previous gigs include Cibo Italian Ristorante, Jansen’s Music in Aptos and live on KPIG and KWAV radio. Wow is also a member of the classic rock cover band Fields of Eden, and has invited the Wowettes to appear with her at times, most recently at the 2018 Sand City West End Celebration, and this last year’s First Night Monterey New Years Eve celebration.
Jazz at Lincoln Center Live Webcast with Marcus Miller – Electric Miles: Friday, 5 p.m., Sunset Center, San Carlos at Ninth, Carmel, presented by Studio 105 Presents, free although you have to reserve a seat through www.sunsetcenter.org. Miles Davis’ “electric period” (1969-1992) is one of the most influential and passionately debated eras in all of modern music. In this exclusive new program, one of Davis’ crucial collaborators, bassist Marcus Miller, will take audiences through an eclectic body of work, starting with the moment Davis first discovered electric piano in 1969. Much like Gil Evans and Wayne Shorter before him, Miller played an essential role in shaping Davis’ musical visions. Not only did he play bass on six of Davis’ studio albums, Miller also produced and composed almost every song on three of them, including the Grammy Award–winning “Tutu.” To this day, Miller is still the premier electric bassist, having recorded more than 500 albums as a leader and with legends such as Michael Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Frank Sinatra, George Benson, McCoy Tyner, Aretha Franklin, and LL Cool J.
Hét Hat Club: Friday, 7 p.m. at St. James Episcopal Church, 381 High St., Monterey, $20 adv./$25 door. The Hét Hat Club is an international traveling Balkan folk ensemble based out of Budapest, Hungary. The band plays traditional and traditionally inspired original vocal and instrumental folk music from Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey. This is their third USA tour and they will be collaborating with Kjartan Code of the Szkojani Charlatans. The band was formed a little over three years ago by individual traveling street musicians who met in Budapest and decided to pursue this project due to their common passion and appreciation for Balkan and Carpathian folk music. Since then, the band has played various concerts, dances, weddings, festivals and has toured in the U.S. and Europe. Additionally, they have traveled extensively through the Balkans and Caucasus studying music and dance from local village musicians.
Jazz and New Horizons: Thursday, April 4, 8 p.m. at CSU Monterey Bay, a special collaboration between the Monterey Jazz Festival and CSUMB. Tickets are free for students with valid ID and $25 for GA. Advance available through this link https://bit.ly/2OjVXNU, or by calling the World Theater Box Office at 831-582-4580. In 2018, a new partnership was established between the Monterey Jazz Festival and CSU Monterey Bay thanks to the generous support of Robert Danziger and Martha Drexler Lynn. This year, the program will feature 2019 Monterey Jazz Festival Artists-in-Residence Allison Miller and Derrick Hodge and will focus on the creation of provocative musical collaborations and blurring lines between musical genres. Implicit also is respecting cultural and historical legacies. This title also ties in the importance of reaching out beyond the traditional jazz listening audience to widen and diversify our jazz community.
An Evening with James McMurtry, solo: Thursday, April 4, gates 7 p.m., show 8 p.m., Henry Miller Memorial Library presented by (((folkYEAH!))) Presents, 48603 Highway 1, Big Sur, outdoor show, $70 plus $8.61 HMML Facility Fee. Fort Worth, Texas born McMurtry is a 57-year-old American rock and folk rock/Americana singer, songwriter, guitarist, bandleader, and occasional actor. His father, novelist Larry McMurtry, gave him his first guitar at age 7. His mother, an English professor, taught him how to play it. “My mother taught me three chords and the rest I just stole as I went along,” he said. “I learned everything by ear or by watching people.” His keen eye and cutting wit have earned him a large and devoted following, despite his sarcastic and challenging manner on stage. “James writes like he’s lived a lifetime,” said John Mellencamp, co-producer on McMurtry’s 1989 debut album, “Too Long in the Wasteland.” “McMurtry is a true Americana poet – actually he is a poet regardless of genre,” said locally based singer/songwriter/video and film producer Michael Nesmith. You also might recognize his name from his historical turn as one of The Monkees.