To make his debut album, In Times Like These, noted activist, author, documentary filmmaker and theologian Rev. Osagyefo Sekou went back to his Southern home searching for his family’s musical roots in the deep Arkansas blues and gospel traditions. Produced by six-time Grammy nominated Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars, featuring Luther’s brother Cody Dickinson, and supported by Thirty Tigers, Rev.

The legendary Hank Williams Jr. has kicked 2017 into high gear with a handful of rollicking performances thus far. Never one to slow down, the country music icon has added additional shows to his summer concert calendar. Included in his run are a handful of co-headlining shows with Lynyrd Skynyrd and special guest Aaron Lewis.

Northeast jam quartet Dopapod have announced the March 31 release of II Saw Live Dopapod Evil Was II. Available digitally through all online outlets, the record features choice cuts selected from live recordings over the course of their 2016 Fall Tour and their short Colorado run from earlier this year.  Though the band is regularly releasing high quality soundboard recordings of most performances, the succeeding live installment follows up on the aptly titled I Saw Live Dopapod Evil Was I released in 2011.

The Mimi Fishman Foundation has added to the current charity auction signed posters from Phish’s New Years Eve run at Madison Square Garden. The posters are signed by all band members.

The initial auction announcement is below.

Blackbird Presents is proud to announce its annual “Second Weekend at the Saenger” concert series with “New Orleans Is Waiting For Columbus,” set to take place Saturday, May 6^th at New Orleans’ historic Saenger Theatre. The all-star event celebrates Little Feat’s most beloved album in their expansive catalog with never-before-heard performances from a unique lineup of artists including musical director Warren Haynes, Jamey Johnson, Dave Malone, John Medeski, Don Was, Terence Higgins, Mark Mullins and many more special guests to be announced.

Ryan Montbleau’s latest album, I Was Just Leaving, is a stripped-down journey into the nature of loneliness. Directly off the heels of the astronomical success of his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which has clocked in over 15 million plays on Spotify as of the writing of this review, I Was Just Leaving operates in the same vein of profound simplicity. This solo offering marks a departure from some of Montbleau’s funkier work, providing listeners with a clear lens through which to experience his inspired songwriting.

Danny Barnes is already known as an iconic American musician, a banjo playing innovator who’s earned high praise from everybody from Bill Frisell and Dave Matthews to Steve Martin, who presented Danny with the Prize for Excellence in Banjo in 2015. From the days with his groundbreaking Austin band, the Bad Livers, to his two decade solo career experimenting with electronic music, jazz, old time string band music and more, he’s a genre bending, rule breaking original who prefers to color outside the lines.

Internationally acclaimed Mexican acoustic rock guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela are back on the road again, celebrating their 10th anniversary and bringing their unique instrumental blend of metal, jazz and world music to audiences all over the US. Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero have been playing together for more than fifteen years.