In my teenage days, I flipped through Rolling Stone, Spin and other magazines in search of promising new bands. One of 1990s discoveries was UK artist John Wesley Harding, hailed as a tuneful new singer/songwriter of the Elvis Costello persuasion, firing on all cylinders with a sense of humor and a way with words.
“Here Comes the Groom” was his U.S. debut, full of winning melodies and lines (“Bob Dylan is my father / Joan Baez is my mother / and I’m their bastard son.”)
His career has had ups and downs, and he tells the story with typical wit in his jaunty song “Top of the Bottom” (“I did some gigs / No one booed / I got free beer and I drank it with gratitude.”) He’s never stopped making music, but in 2005 he also started writing novels under his birth name, Wesley Stace — four so far, all critically acclaimed. A decade ago he launched his “Cabinet of Wonders” concerts, a traveling variety night featuring an ever-changing lineup of musical acts, authors and comedians.
Now Stace is embarking on a tour that focuses on his Harding output, a show entitled Wesley Stace: A Tribute to John Wesley Harding (featuring his early musical pal Robert Lloyd on keyboards, accordion and mandolin). See it at The Parlor Room in Northampton on Thursday, May 9, at 7 p.m.
Advance press promises that Stace will play numerous old JWH faves, including video hit “The Devil In Me,” “The Person You Are,” “Scared of Guns,” “The Truth” and others.
Philip Price, leader of Valley bands The Maggies and Winterpills, has covered Stace’s song “Love’s Reign of Terror,” toured with him circa 2002, and has taken part in a number of the Cabinet of Wonders nights. Price described Stace as “a complex and charismatic guy. There is no matching his live shows — there’s an inclusiveness and openness to his banter and rapport with his audience that is unmatched and inspiring.”
American traditional musicians Allison de Groot (banjo player with Molsky’s Mountain Drifters) and Tatiana Hargreaves (fiddler who’s toured with Gillian Welch and Laurie Lewis) team up for a show at The Parlor Room in Northampton on Sunday, May 5, at 7 p.m. Opening the show is guitarist Hiroya Tsukamoto, fingerstyle guitarist, born and raised in Kyoto, Japan. He came to the states in 2000 through a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and sometimes uses a loop pedal to build up cascades of notes and rich harmonies.
Home Body, the local duo of vocalist Haley Morgan and electronics artist Eric Hnatow, celebrate their new self-produced album “Spiritus” (jointly released by Feeding Tube Records and Peace & Rhythm) with a show at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls on Friday, May 3, at 8 p.m. Also on the bill is Sister Jawbone, plus Peace & Rhythm DJs.
Hamilton, Ontario punk-pop rocker Billy Moon headlines a bill that also features local bands Walking Ghosts and Les Dérailleurs at Flywheel in Easthampton on Friday, May 3, at 8 p.m.
Old friends Lou Barlow and Steve Westfield collaborated with some overseas friends on a one-off, one tour, one LP band called The 4 10’ers (their live recording “10 Way Street” came out last month, a mix of acoustic original songs, nonsense, drum loops and “drunken rambling”). Barlow and Westfield will perform as The 2 10’ers, with an honorary 3rd member, bassist Jim-Joe Greedy (8th Route Army, Pajama Slave Dancers, Angry Johnny and the Killbillies, the Slow Band, 69 Ramblers). They’ll be at Hutghi’s in Westfield on Saturday, May 4, at 8 p.m. Ray Mason — “The Godfather of Valley Original Rock” — starts off the night. Westfield says, “Come support a nifty, cozy, vintage 1930s music room and bar, enjoy some non-loud tunes, and mingle. It’s over pretty early.”
The frost heaves and hales. (in their power trio formation), Les Dérailleurs, and singer-songwriter/activist/multi-instrumentalist Zoe Lemos (from the band ZoKi) appear at the Ashfield Lake House on Saturday, May 4, at 8 p.m.
Keyboard wizard Marco Benevento (at right) will be at the Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield on Saturday, May 4, at 9 p.m. Lush Honey is the opening act.
Guerilla Toss, Carinae, and Sunwatchers play the “Psycho de Mayo Celebration” at Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center on Sunday, May 5, at 8 p.m.
NYC alto saxophonist Erena Terakubo makes her fourth appearance with the Green Street Trio at the Northampton Jazz Workshop at City Sports Grille (inside Spare Time Northampton) on Tuesday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m. The open jazz jam follows at 8:30 p.m.
Canadian singer-songwriter Rose Cousins (shown at right) takes the stage at The Parlor Room on Wednesday, May 8, at 7 p.m.
Hammond organ champ Joey DeFrancesco brings his jazz trio to the Iron Horse in Northampton on Thursday, May 9, at 7 p.m.
Ken Maiuri can be reached at tunedincolumn@gmail.com.