Southern California-based blues band Crooked Eyed Tommy has been making quite the name for themselves since the release of their well-received 2016 album Butterflies & Snakes, which reached number fifteen on the National Roots Music charts for blues releases. They have participated in the International Blues Challenge, and Ventura County Music Awards declared CET the best blues band in 2015. Led by songwriting guitarist Tommy Marsh, the band continues to thrill audiences not only up and down the West Coast, but across the country too. Tommy’s slide guitar work is fascinating, and he’s joined by brother Paddy on second guitar filling in all the right riffs to offer their audiences a full package of great blues.

Crooked Eyed Tommy will be heading to The Birk, 11139 Hwy 202, in Birkenfeld, Saturday, July 1 for a 7:00 pm show. Joining the band for this night will be special guest Rae Gordon. Admission is $10.00 at the door.

Jim Kweskin is probably best known as a singer and bandleader. He also created one of the bedrock guitar styles of the folk revival, adapting the ragtime-blues fingerpicking of artists like Blind Boy Fuller to the more complex chords of pop and jazz. Since his jug-band days, Kweskin has maintained a remarkably consistent musical vision and continues to explore traditional folk and blues with the sophisticated sensibility of a jazz musician combined with the communal simplicity of a folk artist.

Delightfully engaging and unassumingly comic, Meredith Axelrod envisions the limitless potential of early twentieth century music, whether Ragtime, Music Hall, Pop Standard, Boogie Woogie, Tin Pan Alley, String band, Jazz, Country, Blues, or even Jug Band music, and embodies the spirit that brought the music into existence in the first place.  Her vocal style is unusual, probably because she learned to sing by listening to how folks did it a century ago – through the medium of wax cylinders and 78-rpm records.

Both Jim Kweskin and Meredith Axelrod will be performing together at McMenamins White Eagle Saloon on Wednesday, July 12. This rare twin performance in Portland starts at 8:00 pm and is a 21 & over only show. Tickets are $20.00 in advance through CascadeTickets.com or $22.00 at the door. The White Eagle is located at 836 N Russell Street.

ZZ Ward didn’t have to look far for inspiration on her second full-length album, 2017’s The Storm. Equally evocative of blues grit and hip-hop bounce, the Los Angeles-based vocal powerhouse and multi-instrumentalist leapt forward by taking a deeper look at some of her earliest inspirations—including Howlin’ Wolf, Robert Johnson, Vera Ward Hall, and Big Mama Thornton.

“For me, this album wasn’t really about experimenting,” she admits. “It was more about simplicity, honing in on what I love about music and what makes me who I am as an artist. Growing up, I listened to a lot of hip-hop and blues, and I love those two genres so much. Sometimes, to evolve you don’t need to go outside of yourself; you can reach further inside of yourself instead.”

It’s a realization earned over a whirlwind five years. The Fedora-rocking, guitar-shredding, harmonica-wielding blues siren peppered an old back-porch musical recipe with hip-hop urgency. The young artist has been featured in Rolling Stone, Guitar World, and Elle magazines, appeared on NPR, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan, The Tonight Show, and Good Morning America, and has taken the world by storm as she toured with major acts like Eric Clapton and Gary Clark Jr.

ZZ Ward, returns to Portland for a performance at Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark Street, on Thursday, July 13. This is an all ages show starting at 8:00. General admission tickets are $25.00 both in advance through TicketFly.com and at the door day of show.

Mato Nanji’s always provided the heartbeat of the band Indigenous with his warm dusty voice and soaring, spirited guitar fireworks that have earned the group a place among roots rock’s elite. The band, from South Dakota’s Nakota Nation, will soon release its ninth recording featuring its current line-up of American Horse, Bronson Begay, and Doug Platero alongside Nanji. Their sound can be a tapestry of sounds from blues, rock, soul, R&B, and even country. Nanji’s guitar work was heavily influenced by Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and BB King, and he has evolved over time to become considered one of the modern masters of blues-rock playing. He recently toured as part of the 2017 Experience Hendrix concert tour with fellow guitar aces Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Jonny Lang among several others.

Mato Nanji and Indigenous will be returning to Portland following a memorable electric set at last year’s Waterfront Blues Festival on Saturday, July 15 at The Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta Street. Tickets are $22.00 in dvance at TicketBiscuit.com or $28.00 at the door day of show. Show time begins at 8:00 pm and minors are welcome when accompanied by a parent or guardian.