Tucson music fans may still be broke, and maybe a little tired, from year-end doings, but after a couple weeks and a first 2015 paycheck, we're guessing the booty wants some shaking, some friends' gathering instincts need renewing or it's time to start making good on that resolution to meet new folks who share your passion for music. You did resolve to see more live music in 2015, right?
This is the week to get out of the house; pick your genre.
SONG BIRDS, SONG FESTIVAL
Fans of The Voice, both the show and the instrument, may have the toughest choices this week. The inaugural Tucson Jazz Festival is explored and explained in this week's cover story, and the Tucson Desert Song Festival opens Thursday, Jan. 15, and continues in multiple venues through Sunday, Feb. 1.
Our don't-miss pick would be the thrilling, soaring harmonies of the final trio of Der Rosenkavalier, performed by sopranos Heidi Grant Murphy and Katie van Kooten and mezzo-soprano Angela Brower with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and the TSO chorus.
That program also includes landmark solos from Poulenc's Gloria and Strauss' Don Juan, Friday, Jan. 16, 8 p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 18, 2 p.m. Tickets are $58 to $84. For comprehensive info on the two-week festival, including free events, a songwriting competition and a performance of the perennially popular Carmina Burana, visit tucsondesertsongfestival.org.
REDNECK SANITY
Nashville's well-oiled star-making machine seems to regularly turn out wonderful singers, songwriters and touring players reaching for the brass ring on the road. The ring? It's fickle country fans nationwide who regularly embrace a hit single then move onto the next great songs. Will Tyler Farr be bigger than his chart-crashing 2013 debut hit, "Redneck Crazy," and his top-five album of the same name? Tucson will help decide at the Rialto Theatre on Sunday, Jan. 18, promptly at 8 p.m., as always. (Thank you for being so reliable, Rialto.) Tickets are $25 to $28. For more on Farr and to get tickets, visit rialtotheatre.com.
OTHER NEWS
Fans of Jenny Lewis-like pop (with a soupcon of Rebecca Gates' or Scout Niblett's grit) get a treat for free from former Tucsonan, now Portlander, Celeste Amadee. She's celebrating a CD release at Borderlands, 119 E. Toole Ave., Thursday, Jan. 22, 8 p.m.
In other news, check out Pablo Noestra's bright new video, "Misunderstood," free at wearebugginout.com/blog/14106680. Man's got rhymes but also a message for and about our town and its culture. Beatles fans can look forward to one of Tucson's fairly regular visits from The Fab Four (The Ultimate Beatles Tribute) at the Fox Tucson Theatre, Saturday, Jan. 17, $29.50 to $49.50 at foxtucson.org. Join a whole lot of Tucson guitar players at Eclectic Guitars, featuring Eric Johnson and Mike Stern at the Rialto, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 8 p.m., $19 to $27. Gamblers and west-siders can love on a tribute to the great Reverend Al Green at the Paradiso Bar and Lounge (AKA Home of the Tribute Band), Thursday, January 22, 8 p.m., free.
We're looking forward to seeing Of Montreal at the Rialto Theatre on Saturday, March 21, precisely at 8 p.m., because, Rialto. The show was announced last week, and tickets won't last more than a minute at $8 and $15.
COACHELLA ... HMMM
Also announced last week was the lineup for this year's Coachella Music Festival. Recent experiences at Riot Fest and the Pitchfork music festival reinforced this scrivener's commitment to avoid music festivals altogether, reservations for this year's Solid Sound Festival notwithstanding. We can make that mostly about friends at art. If we could assemble the outfits for, avoid the campers in and somehow find a way to actually listen to the music at Coachella, we would be looking forward to Alabama Shakes, Belle and Sebastian, Built to Spill, Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires, Chicano Batman, Florence and the Machine, Interpol, Parquet Courts, Ryan Adams (because his Tempe show was our 2014 #1 music experience), Sloan, St. Vincent, Steely Dan (maybe), The War on Drugs–and that's just the first weekend. See Coachella.com for the whole lineup, to buy passes and to download the app.
Next week: More on the local scene. Send show announcements two weeks ahead or as soon as you book them to tucsonweekly@tucsonlocalmedia. Send tunes, but don't count on us to use our imaginations about production values, please.
