Martha Redbone brings her blend of soul, funk, pop, and Native American sounds to the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., on Saturday at 8pm. Redbone won a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Music in a Play for the original score of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuff, and in 2012, her album The Garden of Love – Songs of William Blake, set Blake’s poem of the same name to music that draws from rural influences of Appalachia: English folk, African American, and Native American traditions. (Sat, Jun 21)
Rock band Los Lobos brings their unique style of Mexican-influenced roots-rock to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight, and Shawn Colvin brings her signature brand of folk-pop to the Mahaiwe on Saturday. Colvin will be joined by country singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell. Everyone on stage at those concerts are multiple Grammy Award-winners, each having carved out an original sound and approach to their own roots-based music. (Fri, Jun 20; Sat, Jun 21)
Liam Purcell and Cane Mill Road bring their modern update of old-time Appalachian string-band music to Adams Theater in Adams, Mass., tonight at 7:30pm. Growing up less than a mile away from the legendary guitarist Doc Watson, the 22-year-old Purcell was steeped in Appalachian old-time and bluegrass traditions from an early age. (Fri, Jun 20)
Port(al), an epic new choral theater experience charting the Brooklyn Navy Yard and a history of women’s work in New York, will be staged at PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm. The piece is co-created by the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Paola Prestini, Jessica Grindstaff, and others. The work delves into the rich history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard from its bustling port days to its ongoing evolution. Through a confluence of song, movement, and immersive storytelling, Port(al) guides audiences through time, where echoes of the past, the realities of the present, and the dreams of the future converge. (Sat, Jun 21)
Guitarist-composer Molly Miller brings her trio performing Americana jazz songs tinged with folk and surf-rock vibes to the Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., on Sunday at 7:30pm. Miller plays original compositions and improvisations along with jazzy, dreamy versions of such rock classics as Cat Stevens’s “Wild World,” Paul Simon’s “Mrs. Robinson,” and The Band’s “The Weight.” (Sun, Jun 22)
Also of note:
Mt. Joy, Courtney Barnett, Waxahatchee, and MJ Lendermen and the Wind headline the Green River Musical Festival at Franklin County Fairgrounds in Greenfield, Mass., today through Sunday.
Mountain Jam, the Northeast’s iconic rock and camping music festival, makes its long-awaited return at a new location at the Belleayre Ski Mountain in Highmount, N.Y., today through Sunday, June 22. Performers include Khruangbin, Mt. Joy, Goose, upstate jam-band moe., modern rock/bluegrass outfit Trampled by Turtles, and Michael Franti & Spearhead.
Singer-songwriter Jenna Nicholls brings her rootsy original pop compositions to Dream Away Lodge in Becket, Mass., tonight at 8pm.
Berkshire country-rock outfit Whiskey City celebrates its 15th anniversary in concert at the Stationery Factory in Dalton, Mass., on Saturday at 7:30pm.
Folk-rock singer-songwriter Joe Crookston brings his original folk-rock compositions to the Guthrie Center in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday at 8pm.
The Victim, a new play by Lawrence Goodman starring Annette Miller, has its world premiere at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., today through Sunday, July 20. In the play, a successful New York doctor’s racial diversity training has gone horribly wrong. A health aide grapples with racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. And a Holocaust survivor faces her own horror, finding her way back to love and healing.
Cosby Gibson and Tom Staudle present a program of historic songs of the American Revolution at Arrowhead in Pittsfield, Mass., next Wednesday, June 25, at 5:30 pm.
In This Moment, an exciting new trio consisting of jazz artists Shiri Zorn, Mark Kleinhaut, and Ed Green makes its debut Spring Street Gallery in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., next Wednesday, June 25, at 7:30pm.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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