Blues piano legend Pinetop Perkins will be accompanied by the Willie “Big-Eyes” Smith Band, with Smith on the harmonica, during an engagement at Seattle’s Jazz Alley.
Perkins, one of the last great Mississippi bluesmen still performing, has a Grammy for his traditional blues music (2008) and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award (2005). He’s played the blues for a living since 1926.
Smith is a seven-time W.C. Handy Award-winner and earned the 2007 Blues Music Award for best drummer. Remember those solid harp tones on Bo Diddley’s 1955 classic “Diddy Wah Diddy”? That was Smith.
Asylum Street Spankers: The anything-goes spirit continues with this neo-traditional folk band. But what is a spanker? Apparently it is someone who can play an instrument vigorously as well as excellently. They conquered Austin first and then went on to conquer audiences far and wide as they evolved from a country-blues beginning to a more sophisticated band.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: His 23rd recording, “Magic,” was released last October and debuted at the top of Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart. Since then, the first leg of his 2007-08 tour has drawn rave reviews.
Jose Gonzalez: The environmentally conscious indie-pop guitarist is on his Green Tour of North America with Reverb Rock, a company set up to help artists limit their tours’ carbon emissions. He draws the max out of nylon strings with his percussive style in “In Our Nature.” He’s had “Heartbeats” featured in a Sony Bravia commercial.
Bob Schneider: Talk about covering all the bases. Schneider wrote, played all the instruments (at least a dozen), recorded, mixed, mastered and painted the cover art of his new album, “When the Sun Breaks Down on the Moon.”
Out and about: LoveLikeFire spent the winter writing alt-pop songs, and now it’s delivery time (Saturday, High Dive) … Something new is coming your way — an Everett Library summer concert series that starts May 4. Stay tuned for more information … Cursive Memory co-headlines with The Medic Droid (tonight, Neumo’s) after its “Everything” was added at MTV Hits and Disney Radio …
Six-time Grammy-winning alto-saxophonist David Sanborn is making a six-show stand (Thursday through April 6, Jazz Alley) … Ten-piece Afrobeat ensemble Albino brings an explosive stage show (Saturday, Studio Seven) … Southern gothic singer-songwriter Jim White shares the stage with Kathleen Haskard (Sunday, Tractor Tavern) … Tech N9ne was one of the few hard-core rappers from the Midwest to succeed in the late ’90s (Thursday, Moore) …
Six-piece Eastern-European folk-punk band Golem (Saturday, Nectar Lounge, Seattle) is fronted by accordionist Annette Ezekial … Jovino Santos Neto and Friends bring jazz-infused vocal music from Latin America (Thursday, Triple Door) … Also in the wings: Jazz in the City (tonight, Benaroya), Ministry (Saturday, Showbox SoDo), and 311 with Slightly Stoopid (Thursday, Paramount).
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