THE OFFICIAL STONE PONY CALENDAR

The Cadillac Three

Doors at 7 pm
Tickets: $18 + fees in advance
(plus applicable surcharges)

THE CADILLAC THREE
Long Hair Don’t Care Tour

It may be a gutsy move for The Cadillac Three to name their latest album LEGACY, but if any country band has the shared history to lay claim to such a weighty title, it’s the longhaired trio of Nashville natives.

Singer-guitarist Jaren Johnston, drummer Neil Mason and lap-steel player Kelby Ray have known one another since they were teens and have been sharing stages together for nearly 15 years. This summer, they’ll headline their hometown’s most famous venue, the Ryman Auditorium, just a few blocks from where Johnston and Ray sat in high-school math class daydreaming about one day playing the legendary hall. Johnston’s connection to the Ryman goes back even further: his father has been a drummer at the Grand Ole Opry since Jaren was a child. And now he has a son of his own, who, like his old man, will be well-versed in all the sounds that make up both Music City and The Cadillac Three, from country and blues to rock & roll.

So, yeah, “legacy” looks good on this band.

“We’re trying to build something and do it our way, which is always harder,” says Johnston. “If you’re going to leave something that people are actually going to remember, you can’t take the easy way. So we took all of our history, mixed it with the energy of The Cadillac Three and put it into a record that makes sense of where we’ve been and where we’re going.”

After nearly a full year on the road in support of 2016’s BURY ME IN MY BOOTS, their first full-length album recorded for Big Machine Records, the group returns with a more mature perspective. Johnston, Mason and Ray have experienced a lot on tour, whether opening arenas across the country on Florida Georgia Line’s Dig Your Roots Tour or headlining their own consistently sold-out string of sweaty club and theater shows in the U.K. and Europe. As they prepare to head back in November for another big run, for The Cadillac Three, the old saying really is true: this band is huge overseas.

“Europe showed us that we should bet on ourselves. It was a big gamble the first time we went over there,” says Mason, “but the shows and the fans have continued to grow.”

“And going overseas reinforced that we wanted to get more music out more quickly,” adds Ray. “They go through singles really quickly over there. They want more, more, more and that encouraged us to go into the studio, knock this album out and keep going.”

All that travel, from city to state, country to continent, could decimate a lesser band, but it only served to creatively inspire the mighty TC3. They wrote many of the 11 songs that make up LEGACY on the road, cut the tracks on rare days off in Nashville and then recorded all of Johnston’s vocals – one of the most “country” voices in the genre – in the back lounge of their bus in between shows, adding a crackling sense of vitality to LEGACY. They also produced the album themselves.

“We knew what we wanted to do with this record. Instead of putting it together in bits and pieces, we started with a batch of songs and then picked a single,” Johnston says. “That’s how this shit should be done.”

That back-to-basics approach to making music yielded the band’s most infectious single to date: the woozy sing-along “Dang If We Didn’t.” Written, as is most of the album, by Johnston and Mason (here, with Jonathan Singleton; other times with songwriters like Laura Veltz and Angelo Petraglia), “Dang If We Didn’t” teases fans with its ambiguous title, before revealing what the guys actually did in the chorus: get drunk last night.

“When you’re a songwriter, you can be critical of song titles,” says Johnston. “But with ‘Dang If We Didn’t,’ I thought it was a little bit mysterious. It makes you wonder, ‘Dang if we didn’t do what?’”

“Eat pizza last night,” quips Mason. “It could be anything.”

“American Slang” rivals “Dang If We Didn’t” in its grandeur. It’s a huge song, akin to Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” or The Cadillac Three’s own “Graffiti,” off BURY ME IN MY BOOTS. Lori McKenna (Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush”) began writing the tune with the intention of having The Cadillac Three finish it. “We are vampires on Hollywood Boulevard / angels and sinners of our hometown streets,” go the lyrics, painting a picture of life’s rebels, before a massive country-radio chorus kicks in: “We are the back roads, dirty water shore banks…we are born and raised on American slang.”

The constant throughout LEGACY, however, lies in the players: as on all three of The Cadillac Three’s albums, only Johnston, Mason and Ray are the musicians. There’s no guest keyboard player, no second percussionist and certainly no bassist. Ray holds down the low end on his lap steel.

Especially on the standout LEGACY track “Take Me to the Bottom,” which features Johnston reaching high for a breathtaking falsetto. “‘Take Me to the Bottom’ has the best bass sound of anything I’ve ever done,” says Ray, who also keeps things greasy on the intense “Tennessee.” A thrashing love song, it evokes the stomp of ZZ Top – a favorite of TC3 – and features a lyrical shout-out to progressive country hero Sturgill Simpson, a kindred spirit of the band.

No matter the influence, though, the trio stays faithful to their own unique sound throughout LEGACY. “Hank & Jesus” glides along with Tennessee twang; “Demolition Man” is distinguished by the space between the notes; and the swaggering “Cadillacin’” is a band anthem. “We don’t put anything on our albums that we can’t re-create live,” says Mason. “If there is a TC3 rule, it’s that: keep it honest.”

Honesty, or authenticity, is a favorite buzzword around Nashville. But few artists come to it as naturally as The Cadillac Three. These guys couldn’t fake it if they tried. In the album’s title track, they offer a heart-on-the-sleeve testimony to what’s really important at the end of one’s days: love and a family tree.

When Mason and Ray heard “Legacy,” co-written by Johnston, they flipped, and pushed for it to be the title of the record. “We’re far enough along in our careers where doing an album called LEGACY doesn’t feel presumptuous to me,” says Mason.

Not when you run through The Cadillac Three’s milestones. It’s all there, from boundary-pushing albums, Grammy-nominated No. 1 songwriting across genres and fan-favorite singles to sold-out club shows and massive festival gigs alongside Aerosmith.

“With this album, we’re continuing to build this thing we’ve created. We’re touring nonstop, headlining shows in the U.K., playing the Ryman, and putting out a new record,” says Johnston. “Shit, that’s a pretty good legacy so far.”

Dirty Heads

along with Iration, The Movement, and Pacific Dub

on The Stone Pony Summer Stage
Tickets: $37.50 and up in advance, $46 at the gate
(plus applicable surcharges)

General Admission Only

Rain or Shine Event
All Age Show
21 and over only in bar area
Doors 5:00 PM
No Re entry

VIP packages available

Dirty Heads are partnering with PLUS1 so that $1 from every ticket sold on their upcoming tour will go to support NRDC and their work to safeguard the earth – its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. http://www.nrdc.org/

After two decades spent chiseling their unique, multi-genre infused sound, Dirty Heads have finally come into their own. Since the release of their 2008 debut Any Port in a Storm, the five-piece band—Jared Watson (vocals), Dustin “Duddy B” Bushnell (vocals/guitar), Jon Olazabal (percussion), Matt Ochoa (drums) and David Foral (bass)—has consistently experimented with their sunny style, leaning heavily on reggae fused with hip-hop cornerstones and scaling back for more acoustic fare, darting between extremes. But it’s with their fifth and self-titled album that the group has felt fully confident in a body of work, ready to bring their unique style to the masses.

“It’s the most core Dirty Heads album we’ve done,” explains Watson, who formed the collective with Bushnell in 1996. “One of the most important things about this album is the reason we self-titled it. This album has all of the elements that we’ve tried to play around with. We had to go through those other albums to really find out exactly who we are, where it was natural. Now, I just think our sound is better and more confident.”

Recorded in Los Angeles over a period of four months, Dirty Heads marks a stylistic heel-turn for the Huntington Beach, Calif. natives, who enlisted a diverse team of hit-makers including: Da Internz (Rihanna, Nicki Minaj), Drew Pearson (Katy Perry, Zac Brown Band), David Kahne (Lana Del Rey, The Strokes), Jimmy Harry (Madonna, Diplo), Jonas Jeberg (Demi Lovato, Fifth Harmony), and a handful of others. The record spans lively tracks like reggae-bounced “Oxygen” to the instantly catchy sing-along “Too Cruel” and horn-blasted lead single “That’s All I Need,” the latter of which captures the nostalgia of carefree adolescence.

Produced by Justin Gray (Mariah Carey, Joss Stone), ‘That’s All I Need’ “just has a good feel to it, kind of hanging out with your friends in the neighborhood on a Sunday in the summer back when you were growing up,” says Duddy. “Everyone’s got that good memory, so that’s where we started aiming for. Let’s make this feel-good summer song that people can put on in the backyard with their friends and family.”

Dirty Heads comes in the wake of their most successful release to date, 2014’s Sound of Change, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Alternative Albums chart. This album is marked differently than its predecessors—2008’s Any Port in a Storm, 2012’s Cabin by the Sea and 2013’s acoustic offering Home – Phantoms of Summer, the former of which spawned the smash single “Lay Me Down” featuring Rome of Sublime with Rome that topped the Alternative Songs chart for 11 weeks.

The band’s prior releases set the groundwork for their latest, proving a clear indication of their artistic growth, and an ambitious one at that. For the LP, they decided to toy with sequencing, splitting the album into two parts—Day and Night—guiding listeners through their day from start to finish. Duddy explains that it was done in response to the listening public’s reliance on playlists, and artistically executed by color-coding each ‘Day’ song (red, orange, yellow) and ‘Night’ song (purple, green, black) to reflect the vibes of feeling positive, exuberant versus chilled out and low key.

“Nowadays, it’s so easy to just listen to one song,” he says. “Have a song on your iTunes playlist, you probably don’t even know who the artist is because it doesn’t matter, you just like that track. So we were trying to provide the order we think you should listen to these in and get people in front of what we think.” Watson adds, “When you do that and you’re doing it in our original way, I feel like it makes it timeless.”

With a solid fan-base already in place, Dirty Heads are focusing their sights on something they’ve been edging towards for years: breaking the mainstream. “We want our fans to love it, because we love what we do and we want to keep doing it,” says Watson. “But this album for me, I cannot poke a hole in any of it. From front to back, it’s really so phenomenal. I’m so confident in it that I want it to take Dirty Heads from the band that we are in America, worldwide.”

Too Many Zooz come to The Stone Pony on June 10th! Get tickets when they go on sale this Friday 3/23 @ 10 AM.

At the 2016 CMA Awards one sound burst from the stage like a thunderquake. As Beyoncé performed “Daddy Lessons” accompanied by Dixie Chicks and Too Many Zooz — the New York City trio which originally recorded the song on the star’s Lemonade album — TMZ brought the sound of the street to Beyoncé’s glittering musical declaration. Glued to their smart phones, tablets, and TVs, America beheld Too Many Zooz’ innovative polyglot style.

Beyoncé and Dixie Chicks sashayed the song’s verses in a rollicking country vibe, but as the performance neared midpoint, a tall, burly baritone saxophonist with a luminous white pompadour took the stage like a bar-walking gladiator. TMZ’s Leo P danced, shimmied, and shaked, matching Beyoncé move for move, while blowing growling saxophone notes that infused urban funk to “Daddy Lessons”‘ two-beat country jig. TMZ trumpeter Matt Doe and drummer King of Sludge performed on the stage’s backline as a blaring brass line raised “Daddy Lessons”‘ intensity, followed by Beyoncé and Dixie Chicks slamming song’s political theme home.

Too Many Zooz’s saxophonist Pellegrino, trumpeter Matt Doe, and drummer King of Sludge held Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena stage for mere minutes, but the same talent that moved Beyoncé to have the group record both “Daddy Lessons” and “Formation” on Lemonade has seen TMZ sell thousands of CDs and downloads, and inspired viral videos.

Too Many Zooz’s manic music, dubbed “BrassHouse” by drummer King of Sludge, is an irresistible rocket that combines styles more diverse and far-flung than any international space station. As heard on the group’s EPs — F NOTE, Fanimals, Brasshouse Volume 1: Survival of the Flyest, The Internet, and the LP, Subway Gawdz — Too Many Zooz creates a visceral smack-to-the-senses. TMZ’s BrassHouse summons EDM, house, techno, and glitch, paired to the indigenous punch of Cuban, Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, and Brazilian Carnival rhythms. TMZ’s music is further heightened by the dancing and saxophone soloing prowess of Pellegrino, virtually a bionic Pepper Adams. Like Nortec Collective mashed with Daft Punk by way of a mad sonic scientist, Too Many Zooz has conquered New York City — your headset’s resistance is futile.

“We pride ourselves that nearly every person of every color, creed and background and upbringing can find something in our music to relate to,” Matt Doe says. “Someone from Cuba can say ‘I hear Cuban music in the cowbells.’ Someone into death metal will enjoy it next to a grandmother who hears it as old swing music. Others hear Klezmer. Whatever people want to hear in our music they can seemingly find it.”

Many New Yorkers discovered Too Many Zooz at the Union Square subway station, where the trio began busking in 2014. After one of TMZ’s videos went viral on Reddit, creating almost a million fans, sales of the band’s digital downloads and CD sales skyrocketed.

If TMZ’s music wasn’t already electrifying, Leo Pellegrino’s dance moves, which spin like a Zoot-suit wearing swinger, add visual thrills to the band’s musical mastery. A classically trained musician, Pellegrino began dancing as both expression and rebellion. What Beyoncé loved is now available to all.

“Horn players, especially baritone saxophone players, look so lame on stage!” Pellegrino notes. “I just watched an NBA half-time show and this band’s horn players were killing my eyes. I wondered ‘why does the horn have to be such a lame instrument visually?’ I began dancing in the subway and people loved it. I realized that I had been brainwashed, all my teachers telling me not to move. I’d been told that was improper technique, but that became my key to success.”

Too Many Zooz’s songs are marvels of simplicity born of musical complexity. Pellegrino, Doe, and King of Sludge condense multiple — what might be considered clashing styles — into a riveting jackhammer brew. King of Sludge’s staccato eighth-note rhythms performed on a unique bass drum/cowbell/jamblock/cymbal setup forms the music’s gritty rhythmic bed. Matt Doe’s trumpet provides melody and harmony, while Leo Pelligrino’s saxophone follows rhythm directions and solo revelry.

“I don’t like using standardized terms when describing our music,” Matt explains. “We’re all doing things that are out of the ordinary. I provide the synth sound you would hear in a dance track. Leo plays saxophone but he’s also providing the bass sound you would hear in electronic music. When Leo solos, it’s like a breakdown when the bass is the featured element of the band. I don’t solo per se, but I am playing nearly the entire show. It doesn’t make sense for me to play more!”

TMZ’s seeds were formed when Indiana native King of Sludge, and Boston-born Pellegrino played in subway busking band, Drumadics. Fellow Manhattan School of Music classmate and Pittsburgh native Doe played in various ensembles with Pellegrino, the threesome eventually busking together by chance — their chemistry sparking an instant bond.

“From the start, we were all bouncing off each other, listening to each other and not thinking too much,” Doe says.

TMZ have collaborated with Galatic, Kreayshawn, Jerry “Wonda” Duplessis, and, of course, Beyoncé.

“Knowing that Beyoncé enjoys our music on her own time?” ponders King of Sludge. “That’s a great thing.”

What’s next for TMZ? The trio’s upcoming EP will feature a rawer sound, the group returning to their original roots, and most likely, their original 14th Street subway station.

“When we began, it was just trumpet, saxophone and drums,” Leo says. “Our first EP was pretty straight up, then we added production and guests and vocalists on Subway Gawdz. This next EP is back to our roots.”

Does TMZ recommend the subway path to stardom?

“The subway, then videos and Beyoncé helped propel our popularity,” Matt says. “The subway is a great promotional vehicle. There’s nowhere else that you can reach such a wide demographic. If you want to get out and be seen and up your numbers, go to the subway. That’s always part of our business plan.”

Tickets: $16 in advance, $18 at the door (plus applicable surcharges)

Trevor Hall realized at a very young age that music was more than just a passion. As an eleven year old, playing harmonica beside his father in the cradle of the weeping willows of South Carolina, music quickly became his most intimate companion, guide and creative outlet. In his elementary years, he began to write his own songs and perform them locally.

At sixteen he recorded his first record, and the following year he left South Carolina to study classical guitar at Idyllwild Arts Academy, an international boarding school east of Los Angeles. There, Trevor was introduced to yoga and certain spiritual practices found in India, which greatly influenced his music and his life journey. During his senior year, Trevor signed a record deal with Geffen Records and his career as a musician formally began.

Trevor quickly broke through the music scene, with such early accomplishments in his career as having a song recorded on the Shrek the Third soundtrack, as well as joining a series of sold-out tours with artists such as Steel Pulse, The Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, Matisyahu, Michael Franti and Colbie Calliat. Trevor’s quick rise on the scene, however, was ripe with challenges that conflicted with his spiritual life and devotional practice. In order to parallel his life’s path with the messages in his music, Trevor moved into a traditional Hindu ashram in Southern California in 2008. When not on tour, he lived as a monk and devoted his days to spiritual practice and service. His involvement with the temple affected his music and his music quickly became his practice.

Trevor Hall’s music – an eclectic mix of acoustic rock, reggae and Sanskrit chanting – echo with the names and teachings of divinities, while maintaining an incredibly and refreshingly universal message. While on the road, Trevor sees the stage as his moving temple, a place where he can share in the experience of his spiritual journey with his audience. Trevor’s annual trips to India also continue to serve as a source of creativity and motivation for his music. The precious lessons and experiences that he has harvested from his journeys East have moved Trevor to return a service to those whom have colored his music and his life so beautifully. Trevor uses donations collected at his live shows to help support an ashram in Allahabad, India, the home of his Guru, where underprivileged and orphaned boys and girls are given the chance at a better life and a traditional Vedic education.

Trevor’s self-titled debut album debuted on Billboard’s Heatseeker chart at #7 in 2009. It featured the single “Unity,” written and performed with his longtime friend, Matisyahu. Trevor was named one of the Top 20 New Artists by Music Connection magazine and in 2010 MTV named him one of the twenty emerging artists.

His follow up album, Everything, Everytime, Everywhere, was released in 2011 and debuted on the iTunes Rock Chart at #3, iTunes Top Albums at #12 and #8 on Amazon Movers & Shakers. The featured single, “Brand New Day” was used as the music bed for the CBS This Morning Show.

In 2013 at the age of 26, after touring consistently for ten years, Trevor decided to take a break from the stage and go on an extended pilgrimage to India. There he spent many weeks studying under a classical Baul musician born and trained in the villages of Bengal. Trevor returned from his trip and retreated deep into the green mountains of Vermont and Maine where he spilled all that he had learnt onto the page and into song, resulting in the release of Chapter of the Forest in 2014. It debuted at #3 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter Chart and #17 on the iTunes Top Albums Chart.

BAND OF HORSES

with special guests BONNY DOON

on The Stone Pony  Summer Stage

Beginning with their first LP “Everything All The Time, Band of Horses have been a mainstay of indie rock for a decade with four studio albums in total, including 2010’s Grammy-nominated “Infinite Arms” and “Mirage Rock”, produced by the legendary Glyn Johns. Formed and led by singer and songwriter Ben Bridwell, the South Carolina-based band have given us many much-loved singles, including “The Funeral” and “No One’s Gonna Love You,” and have played globe-spanning headline tours  as well as dates with greats like Pearl Jam and Neil Young. Next on the horizon this June, Band of Horses are releasing their highly-anticipated fifth studio album, “Why Are You OK,” co-produced by the band and Jason Lytle and executive produced by Rick Rubin.