For years, Patty Larkin has been one of the class singer-songwriters on the circuit, truly committed, highly creative and willing to go down the less-traveled path, especially when it comes to orchestration.
Larkin performs Saturday in Seattle, bringing music from her latest, “Watch the Sky,” which includes contemplative songs on solitude and being together as well as a couple of radio-ready tracks with a kaleidoscope of sounds.
“I’ve always been a writer who enjoyed the solitude of the creative process. Learning the technology to be able to record myself and edit it down was something I’ve been working toward for quite some time,” Larkin said.
“Some of the songs were written in a stream of words as the tracks rolled by, most all of them were record immediately after having written them. I feel that I’m stretching myself as an artist on this one, reinventing how I create. It was a thrilling, at times harrowing experience.”
Real Folk: The local band is playing a benefit concert for Project Ethiopia. Real Folk delivers original music in the folk-blues, rock and bluegrass traditions with a message. Opening musician is Neal Brown, coffee roaster for Brown &Company, who has recorded in Paris, and been heard on appeared on CBC and NPR, where his song “Midlife Chrysler” appeared on Car Talk.
B-52s: Billed as the “world’s best party band,” the pop quartet is keeping the party going with a CD released in March, “Funplex: The B-52s.” The heart of the group is still Fred Schneider, Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson.
Flight to Mars: The band, formed in 2003 as a tribute to the 1980s rock band UFO and featuring Pearl Jam’s guitarist Mike McCready, performs a concert that benefits the Northwest Chapter of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. Local indie-rockers Feral Children and singer-songwriter Kristen Ward also perform. And McCready will perform a tribute to Jimi Hendrix during the opening set. McCready has the two diseases.
The Rippingtons: The contemporary jazz group has helped redefine a musical genre for 20 years, starting with the ground-breaking recording “Moonlighting,” Jazziz magazine’s No. 1 most-influential contemporary jazz album of all time. The Rippingtons have gone on to produce several top-of-the-chart albums, including the latest, “20th Anniversary,” and win more awards.
Wanda Jackson: The rockabilly legend and groundbreaking woman first appeared in the 1950s but has kept her fire and free-thinking without falling into the nostalgia-without-aim camp. The Queen of Rockabilly can still growl with the best of them when she sends out her old-time rock ‘n’ roll. Back in the day, she was sexy but still a lady; today she can still bring the woman-not-a-doormat approach to her vocals. For a long time she was performing gospel music but the rockabilly hat fits just fine, whether it’s “Mean Mean Man” or “Hard Headed Woman.” Not that she won’t do a gospel song or three along the way.
“Roots and Branches: American Music on Screen”: For something different, consider seeing the Northwest Film Forum presentation that features motion picture and newsreel footage from the 1920s and 1930s of country, blues and jazz performers. Clips range from the iconic Jimmie Rodgers to jug bands and field hands, barn dances and fiddler conventions and other Americana music, narrated by three long-time Northwest performers and the Kings of Mongrel Folk (Mark Graham, Orville Johnson) and Tom Sauber.
Joe Jackson: He’s bringing new music from the piano-based sound of his album “Rain,” appreciated by some critics but often dissed by his punk/ska/hybrid following for being way too mellow. All Jackson can do is shrug and point to his diversity and a career that included jump-blues and Latin rhythms, not to mention film scores. He’s won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Recording for “Symphony No. 1” that switched much of the orchestra out for rock and jazz players.
Hank Williams Choir: The choir, featuring Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard, celebrates Arts Corps with a fundraising cover of Williams’ hits. Those joining Gossard include Brad Sinsel (TKO, War Babies), Jeff Fielder (JF &the Dinosaurs), Michael Miusburger (Fastbacks) and Dejha Colantuono (Rotten Apples). The Arts Corps is formed from teaching artists who foster creative habits of young people in Seattle.
Out and about: Wired and Unplugged in Snohomish closes out its spring season tonight with singer-songwriters Nancy K. Dillon and Michael McGarrah. Seattle-based Dillon weaves together the rhythms of American folk and country music into her lyrics about the American West. McGarrah has been a finalist in several top-level songwriting contests, and “Iowa” won the prestigious American Songwriter Magazine lyric competition …
An Americana-country rock band fronted by Michael Dean Damron is touring with music from “Bad Days Ahead” (Wednesday, Tractor Tavern) … UFO, led by Phil Mogg, has contributed a few classics (“Phenomenon,” “Force It”) to musical history and continue to deliver dynamic, melodic rock (Wednesday, Crocodile Café) … Jazz vocalist Rachel Price is touring in support of her debut CD, “Dedicated to You.”
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