Tomorrow night, Zoo Bar hosts the Nebraska debut of the highly decorated blues band, Milwaukee-based sextet Tweed Funk, fronted by a veteran soul singer.
Its vocalist, Joseph “Smokey” Holman, boasts a resumé that extends back to the ‘70s, recording with influential soul artist Curtis Mayfield and the band Love’s Children.
Formed in 2010, Tweed Funk’s horn-fueled Memphis blues and soul has netted numerous accolades, including five Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) awards in four years, spots on the Living Blues Chart (#11) and Roots Music Report Top 50 Blues Album Chart (#10). The band was also nominated for a Blues Blast “Best Soul Album” in 2014 for their third LP First Name Lucky.
Tweed Funk’s players have received numerous individual accolades as well. Trumpet player Kevin Klemme won best brass player in 2014. In 2013, two members took home WAMIs, including Holman for best vocalist and Eric Madunic for best bass player.
Entry to Tweed Funk’s Lincoln debut is $6. RSVP to the 9 p.m. show here. By the sound of it, they should feel right at home in Lincoln’s blues sanctuary.
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Longstanding Omaha rock band Rock Paper Dynamite has announced it will release a new LP, Teeth, on Aug. 8.
This will be the foursome’s sixth total record since its formation in 2007, developing a southern-flavored rock style that plays like a Black Crowes-Lynyrd Skynyrd hybrid. It’s all the more pronounced on tracks like “Crush,” which cruises through a sun-baked, guitar-fuzzed tale about moving on down the road.
Rock Paper Dynamite will release Teeth Saturday, Aug. 8 at The Waiting Room. Matt Cox, Those Far Out Arrows and Rothsteen will support. RSVP here.
Before that, catch the band Thursday, July 23 at the West Point stop on HN’s Good Living Tour. John Klemmensen and the Party and West Point native singer-songwriter Dustin Prinz also play the free, all-ages concert (RSVP here).
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The Good Life just put out another new single on the run-up to the band’s first LP in eight years.
“Forever Coming Down,” the third release from forthcoming album Everybody’s Coming Down. premiered yesterday on Consequence of Sound. Frontman Tim Kasher’s lyrics depict the scene from the (stellar) cover art by Dan Black: a pyrotechnic-lit carnival and a brigade of low-hanging hot air balloons. Kasher toasts “to love grown cold” like the ashen remnants of fireworks.
Musically, the song basks in a schism-like turmoil, a bit more at odds with itself than the anthemic prior release “Everybody.” Kasher sings a pop-punk style vocal line, flanked by Stefanie Drootin-Senseney’s melodic bass line and Roger Lewis’s head-bob drumming. The guitars, in contrast, shoot and spiral like wayward lightning bolts, dropping into chord progressions before taking off again.
Everybody’s Coming Down is out August 14 on Saddle Creek Records. The next day, The Good Life plays Maha Music Festival (RSVP here) before heading out on a U.S. tour.
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Brad Hoshaw and The Seven Deadlies play Hear Omaha today at noon. The weather’s looking just fine for the free, noontime roots rock set. RSVP here. Earlier this week, we caught up with Hoshaw to discuss his new film-scoring plans, calling an audible on his annual songwriting retreat and how he wrote the song “Talking To God.”
And speaking of, the man who plays the rip-roaring mini-solos in that song, Matt Whipkey, is opening tonight for country legend Dwight Yoakam at The District in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Whipkey will perform as a duo tonight with Omaha singer-songwriter Tara Vaughan. This is Whipkey’s second stint opening for Yoakam this summer, after a late May show at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.
Yoakam’s 2015 release, Second Hand Heart, has been received by critics as a comeback album of sorts. Listen here.
Also tonight, acclaimed emcee Freddie Gibbs is at Slowdown with Mars Black and Marcey Yates. Plus, Urban Outfitters continues its unlikely, but terrific Burger Records affiliation. San Francisco songwriter Sarah Bethe Nelson plays a free 6 p.m. show with Mark Johnson before heading over to play Sweatshop with Sean Pratt & The Sweats and All Young Girls Are Machine Guns.
As always, please visit hearnebraska.org/events for a fuller listing of the day’s shows.