New Orleans, a unique and diverse city, celebrates its 300th anniversary in 2018. To celebrate his hometown’s tricentennial, its rich cultural heritage, and the bright future of its music, Trombone Shorty has handpicked an all-star line-up of Crescent City musicians to tour the nation as “Trombone Shorty’s Voodoo Threauxdown.” Headlined by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, the touring street party also features Galactic, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and New Breed Brass Band, plus special guest appearances by Big Easy legends Cyril Neville, Ivan Neville, Kermit Ruffins, Walter “Wolfman” Washington, and more.

The revue will bring the spirit and the sound of New Orleans to the Portland area with a stop at Mcmenamins Edgefield Amphitheater for their Concerts on the Lawn series on Saturday, September 8 at 6:00 pm. Tickets are $49.50 through Cascadetickets.com. Mcmenamins Edgefield is located at 2126 SW Halsey Street in Troutdale.

Roots music legends Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore have been friends for 30 years, but only recently realized they had never played music together. So in 2017, Grammy winner Alvin and Grammy nominee Gilmore, decided to hit the highway to swap songs, tell stories, and share their life experiences.  Though Texas born Gilmore was twice named Country Artist of the Year by Rolling Stone, and California native Alvin first came to fame in the hard rocking rhythm and blues band The Blasters, they discovered that their musical roots shared the same soil — vintage blues and folk music. In these spontaneous shows, audiences enjoyed classic original compositions from the two, and also songs from a wide spectrum of songwriters and styles – from Merle Haggard to Sam Cooke to the Young Bloods. Mutually energized and inspired by these performances, Dave and Jimmie agreed to hit the road again in 2018… this time backed by The Guilty Ones, a new album, Downey to Lubbock, and some new stories to share.

The pair will be playing in Portland on Thursday, September 27 at the Aladdin Theater,3017 SE Milwaukie Avenue, at 8:00 pm. This is an all ages event. Tickets are $29.50 in advance through Ticketfly.com and $32.00 at the door day of show. John Langford opens the show.

Madeleine Peyroux [pronounced “Peru”] was born in Athens, Georgia, and grew up in Brooklyn, Southern California, and Paris, though it was in the City of Lights where she found her voice. As a teen she was drawn to street music, and in 1989 she started to perform with a group of buskers. She then joined the Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band, becoming the only female in the group, which toured around Europe for several years.  Madeleine burst onto the recording scene in 1996, with her stunning debut album Dreamland, which earned a veritable torrent of gushing reviews raving about her smoke-and-whiskey vocals, often comparing her to the immortal Billie Holiday. Others wondered how someone so young could perform classic songs by Holiday, Bessie Smith, and Patsy Cline so convincingly as to make them sound like her own. Eight albums and 22 years later Peyroux continues to challenge the confines of jazz, venturing into the fertile fields of contemporary music with unfading curiosity.

Madeleine Peyroux will be playing Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark Street, on Sunday, September 16 at 8:00 pm. Tickets are $45.00 through Ticketfly and at the door. This is a 21 & over show.

Stacy Jones’ music has been described as a whiskey and water baptism that lace blues and rock edges, paying pays homage to the blues but experimenting by mixing in some mild-Americana and subtle country licks. One of the Puget Sound area’s most beloved bands, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Stacy Jones leads a strong award-winning act featuring Jeff Menteer on guitar, Rick Bowen on drums and her father Tom Jones on bass. Not only have they been perennially been nominated and win awards through the Washington Blues Society and South Sound Blues Association, they have been finalists in The Blues Foundation’s Best Self Produced CD competition and have played cross country, toured Europe and shared stages with the likes of Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, Lee Oskar and many other legends.

The Stacy Jones Band will be heading to Catfish Lou’s, 2460 NW 24^th, on Friday, August 31 for a 9:00 pm show. Admission is $5.00.

Join blues masters Mitch Kashmar and Jr. Watson for one of the hottest shows of the summer celebrating Kashmar’s most recent recording, West Coast Toast, at one of Portland’s newest music venues, Mekong Bistro.

Mitch Kashmar’s blues harp playing is second to none for creativity, drive and excitement. Moving on to a solo career and recording “Crazy Mixed-Up World” in ’99, Kashmar started making a name for himself and touring with his own band but it wasn’t until his 2005 effort “Nickels & Dimes”, featuring guitar great Junior Watson on Delta Groove Music’s label, that his stock really began to rise. Kashmar was recognized two consecutive years in a row by the Blues Music Awards with nominations in 2006 as Best New Artist Debut and followed in 2007 as Best Instrumentalist – Harmonica. Adding to his resume was his stint in the Lonnie Jordan/Jerry Goldstein version of War from  2006-2011, where he recreated  the soulful licks of War’s original harp player, the great Lee Oskar.

With nearly thirty years of experience, Junior Watson has reached cult status. Junior has done what all great artists have done: melting diverse styles to create a style all his own. With influences as diverse as Tiny Grimes, Oscar Moore, Bill Jennings, Rene Hall, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Guitar Slim, Earl Hooker and others he has truly created one of the most unique and original guitar voices to come along in years. Besides his mastery of blues and swing he often adds his own cartoon-like twist to everything he plays. You’ll never know what he will do and when asked he doesn’t know himself. His energy and playing gives you a feeling of reckless abandonment.

The pair will be performing at Mekong Bistro, 8200 NE Siskiyou Street Suite 107 on Wednesday, August 29. Tickets for this all ages event are $20.00 advance through Tickettomato.com or $25.00 at the door. Show time is 8:30 pm.