“If James Brown and Otis Redding had a love child, it would be Josh Hoyer. The Lincoln, Nebraska soul shouter and his band of merry soulsters, Soul Colossal, deliver a sound so big, so funky, so wring-the-sweat-out-of-you energetic that it reaches through the speakers and shakes you until you start moving to its groove.” – No Depression

Hoyer formed Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal in 2012 in famed blues town Lincoln Nebraska. The award-winning, six-piece band includes some of the area’s most revered and accomplished musicians. Inspired by Stax and Motown, and echoing the styles of New Orleans, Philly, and San Francisco, the band continuously crosses musical boundaries both in style and era, and joins forces each show with a common goal – to have the crowd dancing so much they forget even their smallest troubles. Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal’s combination of soul, funk and R&B is in a word, electric. Best displayed in their high-energy live show, the blend of Hoyer’s honest lyrics and his soulful (sometimes in-your-face) vocals merge with his top-notch band to create an undeniable chemistry.

Following what will surely be a couple of dynamic appearances at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival  over the July 4 weekend, you’re going to be begging for more from this hot rising band. Well, you’ll be able to catch them one more time in Portland at the Alberta Street Pub, 1036 NE Alberta Street, on Tuesday, July 5. Contact the venue for show time and tickets. Opening the night will be Portland’s own psych-folk-rock band, The Pining Hearts.

Born and raised in the swamplands of Louisiana, Brother Dege is the best kept secret in the Deep South. If you like your music real, then you’re in the right place. This is pure channeled soul minus the big money record label and promotional budgets. Like the possessed love child of Son House and Blind Willie Johnson, he plays a post-Americana style of Delta blues filtered through roots music, rock & roll, and a bunch of other stuff. No tradition can live on without the growing pains of its innovators. Well, here it is: Delta Blues for the twenty-first century in a form that Brother Dege has coined “psyouthern.”

Brother Dege & The Brethren will be bringing their Psyouthern Invasion tour through Oregon in July, with shows in Grants Pass on Saturday, July 9 at G Street Bar & Grill, Eugene at Sam Bond’s Garage on Sunday, July 10, the Trillium Café in Hood River on Monday, July 11, and in Portland at Duff’s Garage on Tuesday, July 12. Contact venues for information on admission and show times.

If Mark Twain had envisioned a twenty-first century roots musician, he might have created a character like Randy McAllister with his easy-going persona and wry, observant wit.

Randy McAllister is one of the premier singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist to emerge from Texas. His songwriting is filled with heartbreak, humor, high hair, and tall Texas tales this is some of the most original and innovative being written today. While comparisons are not easy, McAllister music suggests a blend of Doug Sahm, John Hiatt, and Delbert McClinton, combined with a blues man’s background and sensibilities. He is one of those rare artists who is able to seamlessly weave together genres such as gospel, blues, country, Tex-Mex, rock, and zydeco and come away with something that is uniquely his. Witnessing McAllister perform will also amaze — it is not often that you see a musician behind a set of drums working a perfect shuffle with one hand, playing a harmonica in the other and singing, sometimes all in the same song!

Touring in support of his latest recording, Gristle To Gold, the four-piece Randy McAllister Band will be playing at The Birk, 11139 Hwy 202, Birkenfeld, on Friday, July 15, for a 7:00 pm show. Then on Saturday, July 16 the band will be at the coast playing the Lincoln City Cultural Center, 540 NW US 101, in Lincoln City. Show time is 7:00 pm with tickets $28.00 advance, $30.00 at the door.

From his debut as a jazz-influenced, blues-based artist to his evolution into a pop music iconoclast, singer-songwriter A.J. Croce has traveled a circuitous musical road. The son of legendary singer-songwriter Jim Croce, A.J.’s career began with his first tour at age eighteen opening up for B.B. King. In the span of a twenty-plus-year career, A.J. has headlined festivals, concerts, and major listening venues worldwide. He has performed on shows including Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Austin City Limits, Good Morning America, E!, and CNN, and he has shared the stage with an innumerable list of eclectic artists from Willie Nelson to Ray Charles, Bela Fleck to James Brown, Lyle Lovett to Morphine, and Rod Stewart to Ben Harper. An ivory-searing New Orleans piano style established an essential juju, but his exploratory pop gems revealed a spectrum of influences from art rock to Americana and beyond. As the late Allen Toussaint described Croce, “It is a pleasure to witness triple uniqueness: pianist, songwriter, singer and at such a level. Who does he sound like? The answer is himself: A.J. Croce.”

A.J. Croce will be making a pair of stops in Oregon on his current tour. On Saturday, July 30, Croce will appear at The Birk, 11139 Hwy 202 in Birkenfeld, for a 7:00 pm show. Tickets may be purchased in advance through Ticketomato.com for $20.00 advance. Admission at the door will be $25.00.

Then on Monday, August 1, the tour will stop at The Lake Theater & Café, 106 N State Street in Lake Oswego. Tickets for this 7:00 pm show are $20.00 and are available in advance through the venue’s website, Laketheatercafe.com.