We have another great week ahead as we plunge into the month of May on Monday, so stop binging your latest show, get off the couch, and go see some live music in the Berkshires!
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A Quick Reflection on This Past Week
Before we give this week’s rundown, we need to comment on the breadth and quality of this past week’s shows – there were just so many (over 40!) to choose from. We went to two shows: On Friday, we saw Will Evans at The Stationery Factory. We had enjoyed listening to Will’s music, both as a solo artist and during his time with Barefoot Truth, but seeing him in person was an incredibly memorable experience. He performed solo most of the night, singing, playing acoustic guitar, the didgeridoo, steel drums, and percussive beatboxing. He’s also a master of live-looping, so you felt he had a five-member band on stage. Opening for Will were two Berkshire-based artists: Evan Lanoue and his band, and Glori Wilder, performing a solo set. The crowd thoroughly enjoyed both opening sets.
On Saturday, we saw Clare Maloney and the Great Adventure at the Ostrich Room. Clare has been playing in The Berkshires lately, so we really wanted to check her out, and she and her four-piece band did not disappoint! We think she may have several hits on her new album Daybreaker, including Dorado and Dream Within a Dream. In addition to her original songs, she belted out great covers of John Prine, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Starship, and others using her incredible classically-trained opera voice. Clare mentioned spending several summers at Tanglewood as part of her classical training. She’ll be back at the Ostrich Room on May 27, so she is a must-see if your Memorial Day plans allow it.
Now onto this week’s Rundown!
Looking Ahead – The Week of May 1
There are over 30 performances to choose from this week, and we will focus on a few. For those wanting to get out in the first half of the week, consider spending An Evening with Lisa O’Neill at The Foundry on Tuesday night. She’s an Irish singer-songwriter with a unique sound. You can listen to her here.
Also, on Tuesday is a free show at the Berkshire Athenaeum called Whisper Not: A StarCats Concert, featuring Jazz group Sarah Clay & the StarCats. You can listen to them here.
Wednesday features a special show at Egremont Barn: Jordan Weller and The Feathers, a funk, rock, and reggae band. You can listen to them here.
Things start to heat up on Thursday, with five diverse performances, including a Spring Concert featuring the Chamber Orchestra at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, a Middle Eastern Music Ensemble at Williams College, Stomb Box Trio, a Western MA-based blues, rock, and soul band at Dream Away Lodge in Becket, and Indie Night with Saints & Liars at The Stationery Factory. Saints and Liars is a Vermont-based Americana band – you can read more about them and listen to them here.
The Weekend
There are nine options to choose from on Friday, May 5 (aka Cinco de Mayo), and we’ll touch on a few. Local blues favorite Misty Blues is at Firefly Gastropub in Lenox, and also in Lenox at Gateways Inn is Wanda Houston. Surf and garage rock band The Wild Weeds will be at the Egremont Barn. Local favorite Billy Keane will perform at Dream Away Lodge, and Lara Tupper and Bobby Sweet, with their jazz-folk blend, will be at the Ostrich Room at the Apple Tree Inn. The Berkshire guitar quartet Vaguely Pagan will be playing at Berkshire Palate in Pittsfield. This band features Wes Buckley, Brian Kantor, Sam McGarrity, and Miles Lally, who we mentioned in our interview with Steve Ide this past week. You can read more about Vaguely Pagan here.
For Saturday, we list eight performances on our calendar. The BTUs, featuring Steve Ide and bandmates, will be at Firefly Gastropub, while The National Reserve, pictured above, will make a stop on their extensive east coast tour to perform at Egremont Barn. You can learn more about this rock-blues-funk-soul band and listen to them here.
Texas-based blues-rocker prodigy Clay Melton will headline at The Stationery Factory Dalton. You can learn more about Clay and listen to him here. Five Pound Horse will be up at Dream Away Lodge, and the Brother Sal Blues Band will be in Lenox at the Ostrich Room.
If you love 80’s music, you might enjoy a trip back in time by seeing Workin’ For a Livin’: The Huey Lewis and the News Tribute Show playing at Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield.
Moving to Sunday, if a jazz brunch sounds delectable, then you have two options: Domingo Brunch with Jazz Duo David Bartley and Pete Toigo at Dottie’s Coffee Lounge in Pittsfield at 10:00 am and a Jazz Brunch with Natalia Bernal and Jason Ennis at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield at noon.
If you’d like to close out the weekend with a mix of roots, rock, bluegrass, jazz, and classical, then go see The Clements Brothers up at Dream Away Lodge from 3:00 to 6:00 pm. You can learn more about them here. We are betting that The Lion’s Den in Stockbridge will be featuring Jazz this coming Sunday, too, but as of this time, they have not posted their May calendar.
With so many options this coming week, we hope you’ll get out and enjoy great live music in The Berkshires. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a rich live music scene.
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