headline booking

Widespread Panic and The Black Crowes top the second batch of acts named for the 20th anniversary High Sierra Music Festival, joining The Avett Brothers as a powerful headlining threesome. Other notable new names are The Radiators, The Mother Hips, Lotus, and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros. Among lesser known new acts, jazz-funk fans will have a chance to catch the Coryell, Auger, Sample Trio, a configuration of second-generation musicians (yes, that Coryell) making a name for themselves.

See our High Sierra Music Festival page for interactive links to all the acts, or visit the festival website for ticket information and details.

The hitmakers keep on coming for the CMA Music Festival. Tim McGraw is returning to the festival for the first time in a decade, while Alan Jackson, Billy Currington and Kellie Picker all add luster to the event. The additions bring the number of announced acts to 14, with dozens more yet to come.

The biggest name acts play during the four nights of the festival (June 10-13) at LP Field in Nashville, with more than 30 other performers play daytime sets at Riverfront Park.

Visit FP's CMA Music Festival page for links to interactive artist pages. Go to the festival website for complete information.

Among the most prominent city festivals—which we define as supersized, cross-genre affairs that celebrate the cultural experience of the locality in which they are based—New Orleans has Jazzfest, Seattle has Bumbershoot and Milwaukee has Summerfest.

Coming up in the ranks in this category in recent years, Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis TN (which is part of the bigger Memphis In May celebration) now makes its claim to counted among the biggest and best city fests in the country. And more than many of those cities (New Orleans excepted), Memphis boasts a proud history as a music city that was a birthplace of "the blues."

After a fair amount of rumor-mongering, the lineup for the April 30-May 2 event, which takes place in the city's Mississippi riverfront Tom Lee Park, was announced yesterday, and it would be hard to say anyone could be disappointed by the caliber and mix of artists.

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Telluride Bluegrass finished off its 2010 lineup with a bang, adding four-time Grammy winner Lyle Lovett in a relatively rare festival booking and posting the first festival gig (outside of a SXSW showcase) for Court Yard Hounds, the new project by Dixie Chick sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire.

Also joining the fine mix of newgrass, bluegrass and jamgrass and the storied festival are folk-rock singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile, Keller & The Keels (a collaboration between jambanders Keller Williams and Larry and Jennie Keel), and upcoming  artist Ben Sollee, now making the rounds as a solo singer-songwriter after making his name as the cello instrumentalist in Abigail Washburn's Sparrow Quartet.

The five acts join a lineup that already included Alison Krauss and Union Station, Sam Bush Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, Telluride House Band (with Bush, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer and others), Del McCoury Band, Hot Rize, Leftover Salmon, Dave Rawlings Machine (with Gillian Welch), Tim O'Brien Band and lots more.

When Nateva Music & Camping Festival revealed its plans last month to produce "New England's premiere Jam-based music festival," observers were not quite sure what to expect. Now that the first round of the lineup has been revealed--with Further featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, The Flaming Lips and moe. heading the list--that description appears to be reasonably accurate.

The other acts named in the first round are Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band, Keller Williams, Lotus, Moonalice and Zappa Plays Zappa--all name bands and strong draws for the new festival.

Of course, the lineup is just one ingredient for a successful new festival, but this one now has instant credibility. With the festival's jam credentials established, we'll be watching to see how the rest of its declared genre mix--including country, folk, reggae, classic rock and indie--comes together.

The spring tour by Grateful Dead cohorts Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will be extended for at least on summer festival date when Further featuring Lesh and Weir play the All Good Music Festival. All Good revealed its preliminary lineup yesterday, rolling out a strong list of jam band favorites.

In addition to the Dead alumni, popular jammers Widespread Panic, Umphrey's McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band and Dark Star Orchestra top the card. Also announced were George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Lotus, Railroad Earth, The New Deal, Rebelution, Perpetual Groove, Cornmeal, Fort Knox Five, and The Macpodz.

Of all the post-Dead configurations (except perhaps The Dead itself), Further may be most Grateful Dead like. In addition to the two stars the band includes keyboardist Jeff Chimenti and percussionist Jay Lane (RatDog), drummer Joe Russo (Benevento - Russo Duo, Trey Anastasio), and guitarist John Kadlecik (Dark Star Orchestra).

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Legendary folk-rockers Crosby, Stills & Nash will play a rare music festival date when it headlines at Doheny Blues Festival, which runs May 22-23 at Doheny State Beach in Dana Point CA. The festival's second headline act will be blues-rock favorites The Black Crowes.

Joining them on the bill will be Taj Mahal & the Phantom Blues Band, Bettye LaVette and Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.

That's a pretty nifty start for the 13th annual Doheny lineup, which runs continuously on three stages at the beachfront state park facility. CS&N is a great get for the festival, and should prove a strong draw for the Southern California audience. During last year's 40th anniversary year of the Woodstock festival at which they starred Crosby Stills & Nash played just one festival date at Gathering of the Vibes 2009. 

Doheny's full lineup will be announced on March 15. Visit the festival website for tickets and complete information.