Rickie Lee Jones has teamed with (longtime fan) Ben Harper for her upcoming album The Devil You Know.  Produced by Harper, Jones calls the project a "simple, surprising" album of covers.  The release date is August 28, 2012 on Concord Records.

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“One Lovely Day", the title track from Citizen Cope’s new album, is premiering today on Rolling Stone.com.  The song has been a staple in Cope’s live set, and originally written for fellow DC musician and friend Chuck Brown, who planned to record the song in his trademark Go-go style before he died.

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Nov 21 & 23 - Washington, DC / 9:30 Club       

On August 1st at the Beekman Beer Garden, Jerry Garcia’s birthday will be celebrated with sets by two artists connected to the Grateful Dead legacy:  7 Walkers, featuring Bill Kreutzmann of the Dead, and guitarist Steve Kimock, who has performed with the Other Ones, Phil Lesh & Friends and RatDog.  Hard-touring Brooklyn-based roots collective Yarn will open the show.  Located within the South Street Seaport, Beekman has an open-air tent for more than 800 people and a 200-ton sand beach for hundreds more, all with a backdrop of the East River, the Brooklyn Skyline, and the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges.Coming off a wildly successful year of touring, 7 Walkers are a revered combo founded by legendary drummer Bill Kreutzmann that includes guitarist Papa Mali, The Meters’ bassist George Porter, Jr., and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard, known for his work with Willie Nelson.  With nearly all of its songs co-penned by Papa Mali and longtime Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, 7 Walkers is an electrifying hybrid of classic Bay Area rock and New Orleans funk. Kreutzmann calls it “swampadelic.”  “I can’t believe how much fun I’m having playing with these guys!” adds Kreutzmann, who never missed a gig in the Dead’s 30 years together. “We’re making art together and having the best time.”Steve Kimock is on his first major tour in two years and will be joined by his new band featuring P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell, bassist Andy Hess of Gov’t Mule and the Black Crowes and drummer John Michael Kimock.  The acclaimed bandleader and Dead-family sideman - he is also a member of the Rhythm Devils super group with Kreutzmann - has released a free live EP (available through kimock.com), featuring highlights from his band’s 2012 spring tour, spanning music from his 30-year career.Ticket information: CEG Presents 7 Walkers featuring Bill Kreutzmann of the Grateful Dead, George Porter, Jr. Of the Meters, Papa Mali and Matt HubbardSteve Kimock with Bernie Worrell, Andy Hess and John Morgan KimockWednesday, August 1 7:30 PM EDT (6:30 PM Doors)
 Beekman Beer Garden Beach Club, New York, NY
18 years and over.  The Beekman Beer Barden Beach Club is located at the South Street Seaport.  Early Bird General Admission tickets are $25 advance.  VIP:  $175.  Only 60 VIP tickets available - Very Exclusive.  You MUST be 21+ for access into the VIP area, and valid for 21+ fans.  VIP ticket includes:  Exclusive backstage party area with food & beer all night, premium VIP viewing area for show (next to stage).   Experience will feature an exclusive party area with dinner, beer and private viewing area for show.

The inaugural Freetown Produce Festival has been confirmed for the weekend of March 22 - 24 at Jalopy in Brooklyn, New York.  Founded by Freetown Produce, a collective of musicians, dancers and cooks from Cajun country (Lafayette, LA and its surrounding prairie), the festival has a simple mission:  to share an authentic, interactive experience that seamlessly blends the music, dancing and cooking ingrained in the southwest Louisiana culture.Much in the spirit of a cookout in the prairie, the Freetown Produce will feature simultaneous music, dancing, cooking, classes and workshops throughout Jalopy and the venue’s outdoor space.  The festival is not exclusively Cajun and will highlight other influences important to the region, like honky tonk, swing, zydeco, old time, southern ballads, jazz and country.   (Tickets are reasonable:  a 3-day pass is $75, daily passes range from $15 - 37.50, and all include a blackpot dinner.)In Cajun country, no one really cooks professionally, but everyone has a specialty. Beaux Bridge, Louisiana’s Toby Rodriguez will be hosting daily, interactive culinary workshops in authentic Cajun cuisine.   Rodriguez is “an advocate of preserving and celebrating what’s uniquely Cajun,” says Anthony Bourdain, who featured the cook throughout the ‘No Reservations’ episode “Cajun Country.”The festival’s main curators are the Revelers from Lafayette, LA, founding members of the Red Stick Ramblers and Pine Leaf Boys and featured on most seasons of Tremé.   The band will be leading workshops in Cajun traditions, Cajun guitar, swing and Cajun jams, and will be hosting a dance on Saturday night. “Bringing together our favorite things in this ideal context makes for one of the most fun weekends we could imagine,” says Chas Justus of the Revelers.   The initial lineup of musicians and instructors include members of The Revelers, Red Stick Ramblers (both featured in most seasons of Tremé and are organizers of the popular Blackpot Festival in Lafayette, LA), Pine Leaf Boys, the Stuart Brothers, Brain Cloud, Rosie Newton, Chris Eldridge of the Punch Brothers, Eamon O’Leary, dancers Kristin Andreassen and Rennie Elliot, with more to be announced soon.

We are excited to announce Abigail Washburn will debut her first theatrical work, Post-American Girl, at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater March 28 – 30 as part of New York Voices, the venue’s popular commission series designed to help musicians make the leap from songwriting and performance to theatrical production. Washburn’s new stage piece is about an American girl coming-of-age in a swiftly changing global order. It features folk arts of China and Appalachia in shadow puppetry, sacred harp song, traditional music as well as new compositions.Post-American Girl, written by and starring Washburn, draws from her 17-year relationship with China and addresses themes of expanding identity, cultural relativism, pilgrimage, today’s shifting world order, the universal appeal of music and opening the heart big enough to fold it all in. The piece explores how a contemporary young American woman brings her conflicted feelings and simultaneous love of a changing China together with similar conflicted feelings and love of her own country’s culture. The production will include Chinese Theatre Works’ Kuang Yu Fong (founder and Master Vocalist); Stephen Kaplin (Puppeteer & Set Design); composer, violinist and violist Jeremy Kittel; Chinese percussion master Tian Gang; cellist Tristen Claridge and Guzheng master Wang Jungling. Post-Amerian Girl will be directed by Meiyin Wang, Associate Artistic Producer of The Public’s Under The Radar.“I started going back and forth between China and America in 1996 and have hoped for a chance to dive headlong into a fuller expression of this journey and the lessons learned,” said Washburn. “My artistry is expanding inexplicably because of New York Voices. Joe’s Pub and The Public have created an opportunity to expand my artistic vision by freeing me up to think unabashedly about ways to merge my musical and personal journey with theatrical performance.”MORE ABOUT NEW YORK VOICESThe New York Voices series at Joe’s Pub at The Public presents new works from critically-acclaimed performers commissioned by Joe’s Pub and supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. With New York Voices, Joe’s Pub provides greater support for musicians and performers, allowing them the space, time and financial support needed to create new theatrical works that not only connect them to their fans, but to their contemporaries both locally and internationally. For the 2013 season, Joe’s Pub has expanded the program through the addition of a development workshop with The Public Theater’s artistic staff. Artists commissioned by New York Voices include Abigail Washburn, Bridget Everett, Noche Flamenca, Toshi Reagon, Lady Rizo, Allen Toussaint, Angelique Kidjo and Ethan Lipton who won an Obie for his New York Voices premiere No Place To Go.www.post-americangirl.comTicket information:Online:  joespub.comPhone:  212-967-7555Box office:  The Public Theater, 1pm to 6pm, located at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC

Black Prairie will continue touring this summer in support of their acclaimed second album, ‘A Tear in the Eye is a Wound in the Heart’ (Sugar Hill) and are proud to announce their debut at Bonnaroo, handpicked by Ed Helms to appear on his Bluegrass Situation Stage on Sunday, June 16, then play for the first time at the historic Newport Folk Festival on July 28.You can catch their network television debut on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno here, and stream their recent appearance on NPR Mountain Stage.Black Prairie is Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query & John Moen of The Decemberists, with Annalisa Tornfelt and Jon Neufeld.We invite you to watch Black Prairie’s final field recording,  ‘Up in the Branches’Upcoming shows:May 1 - Portland, OR  Alhambra TheatreMay 3 - Portland, OR  May Day Music FestJune 16 - Bonnaroo (Ed Helms’ Bluegrass Situation Stage)July 19 - North Plains, OR  String Summit FestivalJuly 28 - Newport, RI Newport Folk FestivalAug 2 - Hood River, OR  Springhouse Cellar WineryOct 19 - Portland, OR  ‘Portland’s Indies’ with the Oregon Symphony @ Oregon Symphony - Tickets“Take the musical spirit that emanated from Big Pink in the late ’60s, plant it in European soil, and you’ll have some idea of the magical cocktail that Black Prairie is serving.” - Washington Post“I'd like to think of this band as a living room string band. Not to say they couldn't or should be on the big stage, but the music here is so homey, I want to be on a couch, a backyard or a porch. The songs tell tales…”  - NPR All Songs Considered

For her third album Aquarius (June 18 / Creek Valley Records), Sasha Dobson, a standout vocalist on the American jazz scene, has created her first album as a songwriter; a raw, honest collection of elegant garage rock, produced by friend and collaborator Joel Hamilton (Sparklehorse, Black Keys, Tom Waits).The daughter of well-known jazz singer Gail Dobson and Smith Dobson, one of the Bay Area’s most influential pianists, Sasha’s reinvention was sparked by the death of her father in a tragic car accident.   “I realized I didn’t want to go down the traditional jazz road without him, and the guitar was something I could channel my grief through, rather than playing music that would trigger it,” reflects Sasha, who started learning guitar at the same time with her friend, Norah Jones.  The two booked shows in dive bars and pool halls, dressed in classic country regalia (the beginnings of their current country trio, Puss n Boots).  “Yeah, I could barely hold a chord at the time,” says Dobson, who went on to become a part of Norah’s band. "[She’s] truly one of my favorite NYC singers and songwriters,” adds Jones.  “Sasha has completely and beautifully come into her own.”Dobson began channeling her jazz roots into stranger, grittier sounds and song structures. Feeling protective of the music she’d written for Aquarius, Sasha went through many rounds of producers and musicians before finding Joel Hamilton.  “He was the first person who understood what I wanted to say,” says Sasha, who fought against turning Aquarius into a jazz or country-leaning record.   “I knew this collaboration was right, in the same way you know you’re in love, or in trouble…”“Sasha has the depth of character and experience to charge her music with something that makes your soul ache,” says Joel, who became part of the album’s misfit family, along with Sasha’s longtime friends, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, the latter borne of her father’s far-reaching influence.   “This record finally allows her to put her own experiences as a lifelong musician to work.”Sasha Dobson will be touring with her band this summer and fall, including June 27 @ the Bell House (Puss n Boots will be opening).Sasha and the band playing "Answer Me".

Legendary desert punks the Meat Puppets have announced a 10-day, 10-city headlining tour of the Midwest in support of their critically acclaimed album, Rat Farm, streaming now at RollingStone.com.  The Midwest run follows a 10-state, 14-date sold out tour of the US, a sold out European tour and the Primavera Festival in Spain.  Catch the band on an upcoming podcast of WTF with Marc Maron.“Rat Farm is real blown-up folk music,” describes singer and guitarist Curt Kirkwood.  For 40 years, the Meat Puppets have been crafting their sun-drenched, cosmic country and punk rock.  With classic albums like Meat Puppets II, Up on the Sun, and Too High to Die, the band has acquired a diehard group of admirers including some of rock's most renowned artists (Nirvana, Pavement, Soundgarden).   With brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood reunited, and the 2012 release of the band's biography Too High to Die:  Meet the Meat Puppets, the band’s iconic status seems assured.The Meat Puppets are Curt Kirkwood and bassist Cris Kirkwood with drummer Shandon Sahm (son of Doug Sahm) and new addition on second guitar, Elmo Kirkwood (Curt's son).Meat Puppets Tour Dates(ticket info here)June 29 - Milwaukee, WI // SummerfestJuly 10 - Rock Island, IL // Rock Island Brewing CompanyJuly 11 - Iowa City, IA // The MillJuly 12 - Waterloo, IA // Spicolis Bar & GrillJuly 13 - Rochester, MN// St. John’s Block PartyJuly 13 - Minneapolis, MN // Twin Cities Roots, Rock & Deep Blues FestivalJuly 14 - Duluth, MN // Tycoon’s Alehouse & EateryJuly 16 - Fargo, ND // The AquariumJuly 17 - Mandan, ND// O.N.E.July 18 - Sioux Falls, SD (tba)July 19 - Mankato, MN // What’s Up Lounge