Shout Bamalama! Soul Dance Party
Saturn | Saturday, June 27 | 9 p.m.
Shout Bamalama! parties were a staple of the Bottletree Café, but now they’ve found a new home at Saturn. The high-energy party will feature local disc jockeys such as DJ Jezebelle, DJ Bryant Saxon, The Lost Child’s Burgin Mathews, and Dr. Ace and Fontana, spinning soul classics that will almost certainly get the crowd moving.
Zydeco | Saturday, June 27 | 10 p.m.
There are few genres that have changed as dramatically as country music has over the past twenty years. 1990s country music remains a fascinating time capsule of extravagant mullets and mustaches, which is exactly what Mustache the Band is counting on you to remember. The band embraces wholesale the easily parodied elements of that time period, but it also plays covers of songs you might have forgotten were so ubiquitous. Remember Travis Tritt’s “Here’s a Quarter,” or Alan Jackson’s “Don’t Rock the Jukebox”? Mustache the Band are counting on the fact that you do — but if you don’t, they’ll remind you.
Saturn | Tuesday, June 30 | 8 p.m.
Mipso describe themselves as a string band “in the tradition of reverent non-traditionalism, which is to say that we love old-time but we also love George Michael.” Their latest album, Dark Holler Pop, sticks primarily with the former, but is a solid collection of bluegrass-tinged folk tunes (think a more introspective version of local group Act of Congress). They’ll be joined by Birmingham-based old-time group the Steel City Jug Slammers for what promises to be a night of rootsy nostalgia.
Esperanza Spalding Presents: Emily’s D+Evolution
Iron City | Wednesday, July 1 | 8 p.m.
Update: An exclusive interview with Esperanza Spalding will be featured in next week’s issue of Weld. Esperanza Spalding is one of the preeminent figures in contemporary jazz, but she isn’t resting on her laurels. Her latest tour is a high-concept musical theatre project that combines Spalding’s jazz prowess with acting, poetry and video to delve into Spalding’s alter ego “Emily.” While this show won’t feature music from records such as Chamber Music Society and Radio Music Society, it promises to be an innovative and engrossing live experience.