Other highlights include Dosh and Margaret Glaspy.
Ryley Walker. Photo by Tom Sheehan.
Spring Green venue the Shitty Barn, which has become a live-music staple for Madisonians in the summer and fall, rolled out its 2017 schedule on Friday night. For the last couple years the Barn has been holding annual season-announcement shows in Madison, but this time around the event took place in Dubuque, perhaps to highlight that not all Shitty Barn-goers come from Spring Green or points east.
The Barn has a pretty well-established formula for each season by now: lots of folk and mild-mannered-ish rock, with a few eccentric departures here and there. (Past shows of the latter kind have included Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld, Death Blues, DJ Abilities, and bonkers Madison math-rock outfit Czarbles.) This year the highlights include a return performance from loop-wrangling multi-instrumentalist Dosh. with support from Madison-formed avant-jazz ensemble Lovely Socialite (Sept. 20); Freakons, a band combining members of punk legends Mekons and country outfit Freakwater (Sept.14); the Barn debut of brilliantly meandering guitarist Ryley Walker (Oct. 4); smartly barbed singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy (May 17); and the ever-woolly and great Califone (Sept. 27). One of the weird little surprises in the schedule is jazz saxophonist Frank Catalano, who will be playing with former Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin (Aug. 23).
If you’d like to catch some Madison acts at the Barn this season, I’d especially recommend singer-songwriter Nick Brown, opening for Esme Patterson (June 30); Dash Hounds, opening for Twin Brother (July 12); Tippy, opening for Ne-Hi (July 19); and a full night of New Orleans-style jazz outfit Mama Digdown’s Brass Band (July 26).
The full schedule is below. It’s generally worth buying tickets ahead of time on the Barn’s website, as shows do tend to sell out early. There is a 20 percent discount for tickets purchased before April 30.
May 3: The Suitcase Junket
May 6: Legendary Shack Shakers, Jesse Dayton
May 10: Gaelynn Lea
May 17: Margaret Glaspy, Cuddle Magic
May 24: Bad Bad Hats, Disq
June 7: The Harmaleighs, Roanoke
May 14: The Sea The Sea, Hannah Busse
June 21: Dead Horses
June 28: Buffalo Gospel
June 30: Esme Patterson, Nick Brown
July 12: Twin Brother, Dash Hounds
July 19: Ne-Hi, Tippy
July 21: Pieta Brown
July 26: Mama Digdown’s Brass Band
August 2: San Fermin
August 9: Lost Lakes, Anna Vogelzang
August 16: Carrie Rodriguez, Crane Wives
August 23: Frank Catalano & Jimmy Chamberlin
August 30: Mutts, Christopher Gold & The New Old Things
September 13: Boom Forest, Frankie Lee
September 14: Freakons
September 20: Dosh, Lovely Socialite
September 22: The Pines
September 27: Califone
October 4: Ryley Walker, Mike Mangione & The Kin
October 10 & 11: Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons
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