As we wrap up June and enter the first two days of July, we have an incredible 61(!!) live music shows in Berkshire County – a new record in our young life at Music in the Berkshires. There is something for everyone, with classical, jazz, rock, and folk – plus some very unique performances.
The Tanglewood classical season gets underway on Wednesday, with multiple performances through the weekend. Tanglewood’s popular series kicks into high gear with Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe on Saturday, followed by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on Sunday. And we have our usual batch of great jazz performances, topped off with Oscar Jerome, who brings his unique jazz-soul fusion to MASS MoCA. The Berkshire Busk season also commences with weekend outdoor performances in Great Barrington. And you can catch local musicians of the future at The Calliope Cafe Season Finale, with students from around Berkshire County showing us their incredible talent.
You can jump right to our Calendar to see all events rather than read our performance rundown. For those new to our website, note that you can search for a specific artist, filter the performances based on genre, venue, or location, and view events in both a calendar and map view in addition to the default list view. Use the subscribe button below to receive this weekly rundown of upcoming performances in your inbox.
Monday
We start this incredible week off on Monday with three shows: Chantell McFarland performs soulful classics from 5:00 – 8:00 pm at The Barn Kitchen & Bar in Williamstown, while Rosie Porter & Greg Hall perform in North Adams as part of Greylock Works’ Moxie Monday Nights series. Down in Pittsfield, the Daryl Lowery Trio performs jazz from 7:00 – 10:00 pm at Methuselah Bar & Lounge.
Tuesday
Tuesday offers just one live music show: Journey Blue Heaven brings her blend of folk, classic rock, and blues to Methuselah Bar & Lounge in Pittsfield, playing from 7:00 – 10:00 pm. You can learn more about and listen to her here.
Wednesday
Wednesday offers 6 live music shows:
From 5:30 pm – 7:15 pm, David Reed Duo will perform at the Gazebo behind the Great Barrington Town Hall as part of the outdoor Town of Great Barrington Concert Series.
Also at 5:30 pm, the Chad McLaughlin Trio will perform as part of the June Jazz Series at The Lion’s Den in Stockbridge. Another jazz artist, Mary Ann Palermo, performs at 6:00 pm as part of her June Jazz Residency at portaVia restaurant in Dalton.
In North Adams, Pandemic Relief will perform at 6:30 pm as part of the Windsor Lake summer concert series, which we just added to our calendar this week.
Katherine Winston wraps up her June residency at The Ostrich Room at Apple Tree Inn in Lenox. She’ll perform from 7:00 pm. Katherine is a Massachusetts-based singer/songwriter and American Idol alum who blends country and pop influences. You can learn more about and listen to her music here.
The Tanglewood summer classical music series gets underway with Emerson String Quartet and Emanuel Ax at 8:00 pm in Ozawa Hall. They will perform Purcell Chacony in G minor, Sarah Kirkland Snider Drink the Wild Ayre (BSO co-commission), Shostakovich String Quartet No. 12 in D-flat, Op. 133, and Dvorak Piano Quintet in A, Op. 81
Thursday
We have eight performances to choose from on Thursday.
The Late Risers will perform from 6:00 – 8:00 pm as part of the Naumkeag at Night Series, outdoors at beautiful Naumkeag in Stockbridge. The Boston-based band performs jazz music of the 1920s-40s, covers of popular modern tunes, and original compositions.
Michael Junkins Duo will perform jazz from 6:00 – 9:00 pm at Gateways Inn in Lenox, while in Stockbridge at The Lion’s Den, you can see Indie folk minimalist vocal trio The Hold on Honey’s perform starting at 7:00 pm.
In Dalton, you won’t want to miss Calliope Cafe Season Finale feat. Katie Henry Band at 7:00 pm at The Stationery Factory. Berkshire County’s young performers will graduate to the main stage at The Stationery Factory to close out the season of Calliope Café, followed by a full set of music by the Katie Henry Band. See our story about this transformative youth music program, and read our past interview with Katie Henry.
Down in Sheffield, at Race Brook Lodge, Vieux Farka Touré & Trio Xalam will take the stage at 7:00 pm. The Mali-born guitarist has been referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara.”
Niall Connolly will perform starting at 7:30 pm at Dream Away Lodge in Becket. Niall, born in Cork, Ireland but now living in NY City, brings his indie-folk-pop blend of music to Dream Away’s music room. You can read more about and listen to him here.
At the same time, The Beatles tribute band The Eggmen perform at Egremont Barn.
The Knights with Chris Thile, with Eric Jacobsen, conductor, Chris Thile, mandolin and vocals, perform at Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood at 8:00 pm.
Friday
On Friday, we bounce up to 13 performances across Berkshire County.
You can start the evening off with Jack Waldheim playing at 5:00 pm at Balderdash Cellars in Richmond. Jack is an alum of the aforementioned Calliope Cafe and plays regularly in Berkshire County and beyond.
Elizabeth Berliner & Friends perform from 5:30 – 7:15 at the Great Barrington Town Hall as part of the town’s concert series. Up in Lenox, Robin Gerson Wong will perform Jazz at The Gateways Inn from 6:00 – 9:00 pm.
Tim Gallagher plays at The Lift Bistropub at Bousquet in Pittsfield from 6:00 – 9:00 pm, while over in East Otis at the Knox Trail Inn, Brad & Steve’s Two Man Acoustic Jam perform, also from 6:00 – 9:00 pm.
We kick off the Berkshire Busk season in downtown Great Barrington at 6:30 pm. Music performances include Eli Elkus, Kevin James Healey, Robin Oherin Blues & Gospel, and Berkshire Resilience Brass Band.
The Americana-folk band Eavesdrop performs at the Ostrich Room at Apple Tree Inn in Lenox starting at 7:00 pm, while just down the road in Stockbridge at the Lion’s Den, Berkshire regular Sam Brown travels up from NY City to perform at 7:00 pm.
TMC String Quartet Class with the Pacifica Quartet performs at 7:30 pm at the Tanglewood Linde Center for Music and Learning.
Chris Merenda and The Wheel is at Egremont Barn, playing from 7:30 – 10:30 pm, while just down the road in Sheffield, Race Brook Lodge in hosting an Eid al-Adha Concert to celebrate the Muslim Holiday of Eid-al-Adha, or Bakra Eid, with a musical program featuring Middle-eastern and Turkish inspired music.
Brooklyn-based indie-folk-pop-americana group Bandits on the Run take over the music room at Dream Away Lodge in Becket, performing from 8:00 – 9:30 pm, while back down the mountain at Antimony Brewing in Lenox, dB & The Hertz play from 8:00 – 11:00 pm.
Saturday
Saturday has a staggering 18 shows, a record during our relatively short life at Music in The Berkshires.
You can see performances all day long, starting at 10:00 am with the TMC String Quartet Marathon at Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood. If you can’t make that performance, they also have one at 2:30 pm and another on Sunday.
Over at Balderdash Cellars in Richmond, Wendy Waltz duo performs from 1:00 – 4:00 pm, followed by Dan Hamilton from 5:00 – 8:00 pm.
We have the second installment of Berkshire Busk from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm in Great Barrington. You will find performances by Abby Lappen at Berkshire Mountain Distillers and Raeah Rama at Robin’s Candy.
Also in Great Barrington from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm, Aston Magna: Robert Levin’s Mozart will perform at St. James Place. The program includes solo- and duo-sonatas and fantasies, including completions of Mozart fragments, with Robert Levin, fortepiano, and Daniel Stepner, violin.
Dave Brown performs from 6:00 – 9:00 at The Lift Bistropub at Bousquet in Pittsfield.
Berkshire Busk ramps up with Mainstage performances featuring Noah Robertson and Paper Anniversary from 6:30 – 10:00 pm and Downtown performances from 6:30 – 8:30 pm featuring Natalie Lewis, Monument High School Orchestra and Jazz, Madison and friends, and Genevieve Collins.
Massachussets-based singer-songwriter Jake Manzi takes the stage at The Lion’s Den in Stockbridge at 7:00 pm. Jake has a new album titled Here She Comes dropping on August 1st. You can listen to a cut off that album and learn more about Jake here.
At Methuselah Bar & Lounge in Pittsfield, the award-winning Celtic jam band Kilashandra performs from 7:00 – 10:00 pm. You can listen to and learn more about this band here.
I know where I’ll be Saturday Night – up at Tanglewood for the second installment of their popular series listening to Elvis Costello & The Imposters with Very Special Guests Nick Lowe & Los Straightjackets at 7:00 pm. Elvis Costello has been one of my favorite musicians since college, and, incredibly, he’ll be joined by another of my rock heroes, Nick Lowe.
Also at Tanglewood on Saturday, but over at the Linde Center for Music and Learning, you can listen to TMC Vocal Music, performing at 8:00 pm.
If the music of Oscar Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim is more your thing, then you won’t want to miss An Evening with Oscar and Steve at The Stationery Factory in Dalton at 7:30 pm. If you can’t make it, the show will also be performed on Sunday afternoon.
The AlgoRhythmics make their way to Egremont Barn for a 7:30 performance. They cover music ranging from The Beatles and D’Angelo to Frank Zappa and Steely Dan.
Making a stop on his world tour that includes NY City, Montreal, Romania, Spain, and Italy, Oscar Jerome performs at 8:00 pm right here in Berkshire County at MASS MoCA in North Adams. He’s out of the London jazz-soul-fusion scene, and you can listen to him here, and learn more about him here.
Back down in Great Barrington, acclaimed singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky performs at 8:00 pm as part of the Guthrie Center’s Troubadour Series. Lucy is a folk artist from NY City who frequently sings with Shawn Colvin. You can learn more about and listen to her here.
The Country Party Band comes to the music room at Dream Away Lodge in Becket from 8:00 – 9:30 pm.
Finally (whew!), The Decoys perform at Antimony Brewing in Lenox from 8:00 – 11:00 pm.
Sunday
Sunday offers 11 performances, an unusually large number for this day of the week.
From 10:00 am to noon, Dottie’s Coffee Lounge in Pittsfield hosts their Domingo Brunch w/Jazz duo David Bartley and Pete Toigo.
At 10:00 am, you can listen to TMC Music for Brass and Percussion at Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall in Lenox, followed by the third and final installment of the TMC String Quartet Marathon at 2:30 pm, also in Ozawa Hall.
From 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, troubadour Michael Aaron will perform at the Starving Artist Cafe & Creperie in Lee, while over in Richmond at Balderdash Cellars, Paul Zarvis will perform from 2:00 – 5:00 pm.
If you couldn’t make Saturday night’s show, you can catch the matinee performance of An Afternoon with Oscar and Steve at 3:00 pm at The Stationery Factory in Dalton.
For a unique mix of music and story-telling, you can see Words and Words and Music: An Evening of Old friends and New Work at The Foundry in West Stockbridge from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. Summer residency writers from the Berkshire-based The Mastheads will be joined by Benjamin Jaffe, an international touring and recording artist whose songs have garnered over 10 million streams. Ben also is a member of pop and country singer Kacey Musgraves’ band.
Jazz lovers can put a wrap on their weekend by listening to Micheal Junkins & Friends perform from 6:30 – 9:30 pm at The Lion’s Den in Stockbridge. Michael is there every Sunday through July.
Another unique show is the Fanna-Fi-Allah Sufi Qawwali Party at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield from 7:00 – 11:00 pm. Qawwali is a passionate devotional practice in which the fire of divine love (ishq) is ecstatically expressed through the mystical verses of Sufi poets, sung in Urdu, Farsi, Hindi, and Punjabi.
The next event in the Tanglewood popular music series is Robert Plant and Alison Krauss with Special Guest JD McPherson. They perform starting at 7:30 pm.
Also at 7:30 at Tanglewood Learning Institute at Linde Center, you can listen to TLI Presents: Pacifica Quartet and Karen Slack, soprano. They will perform Shostakovich String Quartet No. 2 in A, Op. 68, James Lee III A Double Standard, and Dvorak String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat, Op. 105.
Whew! That’s the rundown for the week of June 26. Every music lover should be able to find at least one show that will inspire them to get out of the house and support the amazing live music scene on full display in The Berkshires.
— Mark @ Music in the Berkshires