Wednesday, July 18, down in the city, the great slide guitar virtuoso, CAROLYN WONDERLAND, swings over to Joe’s Pub from her home in Austin. Carolyn’s a Ramble veteran and wails on her guitar! You won’t mind too much if you go to this!
Thursday, July 19 – As I mentioned last week, the quirky and eccentric guitarist, RICHARD THOMPSON makes a rare appearance at The Bearsville Theater tonight, and MARIA MALDAUR AND THE BLUESIANA BAND is at The Falcon in Marlborough, with opening act, ELECTRIC RUBYFISH. Again, ya gotta love a band called Electric Rubyfish!

In the city, mandolin virtuoso, DAVID GRISMAN, is at City Winery, and the great and influential country-rock band, DESERT ROSE will be performing an acoustic set at The Iridium. Desert Rose was Chris Hillman’s band (Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Manassas).

Tonight also kicks off the festivities at two of the biggest festivals in the country, THE GREY FOX BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL, in Greene County, and GATHERING OF THE VIBES in Connecticut. Both will run through Sunday. Check their websites for schedules and information.

It looks like nobody was willing to take on both of these behemoths on the same weekend, because there is NOTHING going on over the weekend, except of course, THE ROSENDALE STREET FESTIVAL! Always a great event, this year promises to be better than ever! It’s a local musician lovefest, with 74 bands booked for the course of the weekend! See their website for complete schedule.
Monday, July 23 – PATTERSON HOOD, he of The Drive By Truckers, rumbles into The Bell House in Brooklyn with his side project THE DOWNTOWN RUMBLERS.
Tuesday, July 24 – If you missed AEROSMITH and CHEAP TRICK in Albany or Long Island last week, here’s another chance to catch this great double bill at The IZOD Center at The Meadowlands in New Jersey.
THE WALLFLOWERS reunite for a gig at The Bowery Ballroom, and the great blues guitarist, ANAPOPOVIC makes a very rare appearance at The Iridium. She’s a huge star in Europe.

The last three events are my Picks of the week!
Wednesday, July 25 – The legendary acoustic finger picker, TOMMY EMMANUEL makes a rare NYC appearance at Town Hall. If you like this kind of stuff, this is a must see! And wrapping up the week is WILCO at terminal 5. These Alt-Country demi-gods never did much for me, but I know they’re pretty good, and I’d be interested to check them out live.

Have a great week!

Fred Perry is the owner of Reservoir Music Center on Route 28 in Kingston, and founding member of Alt-Country supergroup, The Brooklyn Cowboys, is from a 3rd generation musical family and lives in the Hudson Valley, where he does what he can to promote live music.