Good Music New York

Wednesday, August 31st
7:00 pm
Band Oval in Stuyvesant Town,
14th St. and 1st Ave.
Manhattah
FREE

Somewhere on a lonely desert road between New Orleans and Bakersfield, there’s a dusty pickup truck with New York plates, a stack of guitars and accordions and rubboards in the back, and a hazy AM station that keeps slipping between slick Buck Owens heartache and some raucous back-bayou Cajun jam. Such is the effect of the Doc Marshalls, a Brooklyn-based five-piece who, depending on the track, belt out smooth ballads or bar-stomping Louisiana-style free-for-alls. At the forefront, particularly on the latter, are the sizzling fiddle work of Mat Kane and the hyperactive Cajun accordion of Nick Beaudoing, who also sings. On the less frantic tunes, lead guitarist Will Solomon steps in, lacing the poppy vocals with echoing retro-Nashville runs.

Sunday, August 28th
3:00pm - 6:00 pm
Thompkins Square Park
Avenue B and 10th Street
East Village
Manhattan
FREE and outdoors
Check the festival's site for more information

It's time for the annual Howl Festival in the East Village. This year, on Sunday, there will be a bluegrass ball with some of New York's best traditional bluegrass bands playing for free in Thompkins Square Park. The lineup is:

Saturday, August 27th
10:00 pm
Hanks Saloon
46 3rd Ave.
Corner of Atlantic Ave.
Brooklyn
FREE

Once in a while an act comes along that is so unsavory in its content, so Neanderthal in its execution, so basely moronic in its very existence that, like a grisly collision between a circus train and a prison bus, it becomes an unintentional freak show, at once alluring and horrific, hilarious for all the wrong reasons. Such is the case with Uncle Leon, a bald, creepy-crooning never-was who obviously took his Mojo Nixon albums a little too seriously. His backing band is pretty good, but unless you’re the sort of dive-bar creep who enjoys gutter-quality, brick-handed meditations on the alleged joys of big butts, monster trucks, or drinking booze, avoid this degenerate at all costs.

Firday, September 2nd
10:00 pm
Lillie's
46 Beard Street
Corner of Dwight St.
Red Hook, Brooklyn
FREE

The Jimmy Nations Combo is one of those rare New York bands who knows their strengths and plays them up. They call themselves Jazz-a-billy. If you're like me and have a hard time decyphering that then just imagine an upright bass being straddled by the bassist, songs performed in a vintage style and material which is influenced by the sounds of the South: Blues, Country, Western Swing, & Rockabilly.

These guys know how to swing and make their audience dance. The love of the music they play pervades their performances and their energy is contagious. 'Nough said.

Saturday, August 27th
Doors: 8:30pm
Romashka will be done playing at 10:30 - sharp!

Mehanata (The Bulgarian Bar)
416 Broadway
(corner of Canal & Broadway)
$10 Admission

Gypsy music fans of New York unite! Get out of your tiny one bedroom share and go hear these intrepid explorers of gypsy music play their renditions of your favorite songs such as Loli Phabay and Manea Cu Voca. What, you can't hum them by heart? Well, you obviously haven't heard Romashka play recently.

Romashka is a fantastic troupe of local musicians who keep the melodies and songs of traditional gypsy music alive. Clarinet, accordion, saxophone, trumpet, sultry vocals and grooving rythms in 9/8 prevail as these folks rock the night.

Friday, August 26th
10:30 pm
Freddy's Back Room
485 Dean St. at 6th Ave.
Brooklyn
Free

Robin Aigner is one of New York's finest singer-songwriters who can, armed only with her wry wit, poetic lyrics and melancholy guitar, captivate a crowd of rowdy frat kids and quiet them down to listen to her sing.

She has just started a new band called Royal Pine which is the name for her collaboration with great percussionist Brook Martinez who adds vocals, tabla, xylophone, harmonica, guitar and the occassional soft-shoe.

Thursday, August 11th
Barbes
376 9th St.
(at 6th Ave.)
Brooklyn

It’s a rare person who can actually make a living playing any kind of music in New York City, let alone country. But Brooklyn-born Jack Grace seems to be doing a good job of cornering the market--whether it's in the back room of Howard Johnson's, or warming up ballrooms for Merle Haggard.

With a warmly understated vintage-hollowbody sound, a crack team of backup folks (including, on various occasions, lap steel, organ, and accordion), and a booming set of pipes that sound like some long-lost Texas crooner remastered, Jack and the gang can be found on some back-corner stage most nights of the week, belting out future country-rock classics, and busting their asses to make it sound easy.