Shake off summer heat with some cool tunes in August
Relief from the summer heat has arrived right during the traditional dog days of summer, but that doesn’t mean the live music scene has cooled off.
There’s plenty of music for August, and here’s a look at a few shows of note coming up soon:
1) Clint Black at Hempstead Hall tonight. Black may not be at the superstar level right now, but he’s still a beloved country singer who has seen dozens of singles hit the charts and reach the Top 10 during his long and storied career, in addition to landing nearly two dozen No. 1 hits.
Black’s the man who brought us “A Better Man” and sang about “Killin’ Time.” Black believes he’s at the top of his game and expressed this sentiment to the Gazette last week during a Q&A interview, saying to us, “I feel I’m at my best right now and that makes
playing music more exciting.” Black’s most recent album is “On Purpose.”
2) Styrofoam Submarines at On the Border tonight and Fat Jack’s Oyster and Sports Bar
on Friday, Aug. 11. Texarkana based jam band Styrofoam Submarines are relatively new on the scene as a band, and this trio of Matt Boyd, Blake Powell and Brandon Lewis are soon adding a fourth member to become a quartet when Michael Howard joins them.
This is their third time at On the Border for a party on the patio, and Fat Jack’s has become a home base for the crew since they started up in February. They perform blues, country rock and a bit of everything. Says Boyd about their approach, “Just kind of an all-around jam band.”
When you see the Styrofoam Submarines perform, it will be a mixture of both covers and originals they have for you. And when it comes to covers they do, you might be hearing some Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix or John Mayer. Boyd says they’ve enjoyed being a trio but adding another guitarist to the mix gives them more freedom and fills in the sound some.
Boyd says they’ve all mixed and matched playing music together in various combinations in recent years, building up chemistry. “We kind of all jam together,” he said, so coalescing as a band sounds like a natural move. The Fat Jack’s gig will be something of a welcoming party for Howard.
And the name? Boyd’s not exactly sure where it came from but it seems to have been from a TV show one of them saw. People said it’s kind of ridiculous, that name, so that means it’s going to stick, Boyd admits.
3) It’s gonna get heavy and loud at The Arrow Bar on Saturday night when hometown metal heroes Sylo have a show. They’re playing with Wormrider (described as “instrumental space sludge,” according to promoters DMO Society) from Shreveport, La., and Sychosys (metal/hard rock) from Little Rock, Ark. The Arrow Bar may be the oldest in town, but you’ll find a youthful, rocking crowd there, among others, on nights like these.
4) The finger-pickin’ good sounds of delicious bluegrass music permeate the Linden, Texas, venue known as Music City Texas Theater for an annual August show presented by Hickory Hill, longtime purveyors of this true American roots music. You can catch Hickory Hill at MCT on Saturday, Aug. 19. Get your tickets at the box office.
5) It’s become an annual rite of August at the Perot Theatre:a Jawbone concert to close out the Perot Theatre Series season. With special guest Josh Lawrence and more for this rendition, Jawbone returns for a Saturday, Aug. 26, show. It’s a “back to school” concert, but also a chance to benefit TRAHC, St. Jude Children’s Hospital and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Good times and good causes coming together.