Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox brings its Life in the Past Lane Tour to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight at 8. The group specializes in taking modern and contemporary pop songs and rendering them in pre-rock musical styles of the early twentieth century. Imagine “Sweet Child o’ Mine” by Guns n’ Roses delivered as a Fats Waller-style barrelhouse jazz tune and you get the picture. (Fri, Mar 17)
Jeremiah Johnson brings his country-tinged blues-rock to the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., tonight at 7. The singer-guitarist’s soulful, rootsy 2022 album, Unemployed Highly Annoyed, garnered a Blues Music Award nomination for the best blues-rock album. (Fri, Mar 17)
John McEuen, a cofounder of the seminal roots-rock outfit the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the man who taught Steve Martin how to play banjo, brings his guitar, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin, his Circle Band, and his command of all aspects of American roots music to The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, in Albany, N.Y., tonight at 8. (Fri, Mar 17)
Comedian, actor, and broadcaster John Fugelsang headlines an evening of comedy at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., on Saturday at 7 p.m. Fugelsang currently hosts Tell Me Everything on weekdays on SiriusXM and is known for his interviews with the likes of Paul McCartney, David Crosby, Rita Moreno, and George Harrison. Fugelsang appears as part of Kevin Bartini & Friends, an evening of comedy featuring Bartini as MC. (Sat, Mar 18) A new exhibition featuring the work of German-American author and illustrator Nora Krug opens at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., on Saturday. Krug’s powerful graphic memoir, Belonging: A German Reckons With History and Home, traces the artist’s investigation into the hidden truths of her family’s wartime history in Nazi Germany. Belonging and Krug’s most recent book publication, an illustrated edition of Yale historian Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, will be the focus of the exhibition. Krug will be on hand for Saturday’s opening and for a conversation and book-signing at 4:30pm. (Sat, Mar 18)
Scottish group Cantrip brings its progressive world-fusion sounds to the Foundry in West Stockbridge, Mass., on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Cantrip builds its sound from a foundation of swirling border pipes, fiddle, guitar and three rich voices blended with such diverse influences as funk, metal, bluegrass, swing, jam-rock, and free jazz. (Sat, Mar 18)
Trio Raconteur performs works by Beethoven and Dvorak in a free concert at the Saugerties United Methodist Church in Saugerties, N.Y., on Sunday at 3 p.m. (Sun, Mar 19)
And world-renowned pianist Paul Lewis will present a two-part survey of Schubert’s piano sonatas at Union College’s Memorial Chapel in Schenectady, N.Y., this Sunday at 3 p.m., and again on Sunday, March 26, as part of the Capital Region Classical series. (Sun, Mar 19/Sun, Mar 26)
And finally, singer-songwriter and pianist Bruce Hornsby returns to Troy (N.Y.) Savings Bank Music Hall for a solo performance next Thursday, March 23, at 7:30 p.m. Best known for his huge debut hit, “The Way It Is,” Hornsby was a part-time member of the Grateful Dead from 1990 to 1992, and he has appeared on albums by Bob Dylan, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Bob Seger, Chaka Khan, Bon Iver, Sting, Mavis Staples, and Willie Nelson. (Thu, Mar 23)
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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