If you’re a fan of rich harmonies and original songwriting, it’s a sure bet that acoustic musicians Robin and Linda Williams will deliver the goods.
They perform Saturday at Town Hall in Seattle, a concert that will reflect music from their latest, “Buena Vista,” as well as their traditional blend of bluegrass, folk, old-time and country.
The duo, playing within a quartet that includes bassist Jim Watson, a founding member of the Red Clay Ramblers, has won an International Bluegrass Music Association nomination, Crossroads’ Music “Gold Star” Award for the best Contemporary Folk CD of 1998; and appeared on The Grand Ole Opry, “Austin City Limits,” American “Mountain Stage,” “Music City Tonight,” and have enjoyed the rejuvenation of The Hopeful Gospel Quartet on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
They will share some of the characters in “Buena Vista,” including their exploration of the music of Maybelle Carter and Bill Monroe in “Maybelle’s Guitar and Monroe’s Mandolin.”
Hot Club of Cowtown: An advertisement brought violinist and vocalist Elana James and guitarist and vocalist Whit Smith together in the mid-’90s. Since then, they’ve grown into a hard-swinging trio playing modern Western swing, and have opened tours for Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.
Hot Club of Cowtown also has performed on “A Prairie Home Companion,” “All Things Considered” and at The Grand Ole Opry. James and Smith are among the youngest to be inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame.
Tamara Lewis: The singer and songwriter didn’t start playing a guitar until age 45, or performing for another two years. At 58, Lewis released her first CD, and last fall her second, “Living Down River.” Even more remarkable, this creative output came after a decade of being homebound with an immune disease. Lewis will perform country, folk, blues and jazz music.
Ray Manzarek &Roy Rogers: Manzarek, keyboardist and co-founder of The Doors, and top-notch slide-blues guitarist and two-time Grammy nominee Rogers have a debut album, the blues-jazz-classical all-instrumental “Ballads Before the Rain,” including their interpretation of the classics “The Crystal Ship” and “Riders on the Storm.”
Christo Govetas and Pasatempo: It’s time for Greek soul music in the form of Greek rebetika, which began as music of the underworld around the turn of the 20th century and is now called Greek blues. It focuses on timeless issues yet with a passion.
Carrie Rodriguez: The classically trained singer-songwriter has many levels to her career, perhaps reflected in the title of her latest CD, “She Ain’t Me.” She loves collaboration and has duet records and many tour dates, including Europe, with Chip Taylor; she plays the fiddle and can deliver Americana music.
Fountains of Wayne: The acoustic pop-rock quartet will perform music from an album-in-progress as well as ones from the past. FOW’s 2007 “Traffic and Weather” is a time-warp selection of late ’60s psychedelic, ’70s classic rock, and then moving through ’80s New Wave, ’90s alt-rock and, always, contemporary pop.
Out and about: Lenka, an Australian TV actress-turned-singer-songwriter, combines catchy pop with layers of world music. Her debut CD hit the third spot in Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart (Monday, Chop Suey) … Multiple Grammy nominee and saxman Kenny Garrett’s latest is “Sketches of MD,” full of open-ended melodies over grooves (Tuesday and Wednesday, Jazz Alley) …
Mandolinist David Grisman delivers “dawg” music, a blend of swing, bluegrass, Latin, jazz and gypsy (Thursday through Jan. 18, Jazz Alley) … Jazz guitarist Peter White has 11 No. 1 singles that confirm his songwriting gifts (Saturday and Sunday, Jazz Alley) …
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