Prairie Moon’s Live at the Crib Summer Series Highlights
The local winery and vineyard Prairie Moon – which shares a large countryside property with the similarly music-friendly Alluvial Brewery – has announced artists for its weekly Summer-long series Live at the Crib on Sundays from mid-June through early September.
The series has a nice variety under the broad heading of Americana, with a particular emphasis on folk and. A few dates to mark in your calendar for sure: the Duluth-based finger-style guitar master Charlie Parr on June 26; the sharp-witted Ames country-rock quartet The Colt Walkers on July 24; the beloved former Ames resident and Southern Blues singer BeJae Fleming on July 31; and the charming Illinois bluegrass quartet Way Down Wanderers on July 11.
There will also be a series headliner on September 4th that will fbe announced later this Summer so keep your ears peeled for that.
Ames Music Legend Happy Jack Celebrates His Birthday with a Night of Songwriters
“Happy” Jack Dalton has been writing songs and performing in Ames since the late sixties and has seen many phases of the local scene’s development. His catalog has grown slowly – he’s not particularly prolific – but when he writes a song you can bet that it’s excellent. A few of his tunes are certified Ames classics. “Away with the Carnival Show” has the timeless, inevitable quality of “Harvest”-era Neil Young; his jarring a’cappella masterpiece “There Is No Man” envisions a selfless, conscious cosmos; and the lyrics of his light-hearted “When Christmas Comes Around” takes a jaunty holiday tour around the globe.
Happy Jack occasionally celebrates his birthdays with musical events, as he did for his 60th with a massive day-long extravaganza at The Space a few years ago. This year he’ll be celebrating with a performance at DG’s Tap House on May 27 that will feature performances by the similarly big-hearted and lyrically-advanced local songwriters Ben Schrag and Sean Huston.
Drake and Future Announce Des Moines Tour Stop
In a major coup, Wells Fargo Arena announced today that one of the year’s biggest tours will be making a stop in Des Moines. Drake and Future co-headline a monstrous hip-hop bill that will inevitably feature both stars as guests in one another’s sets and, just as inevitably, bass loud enough to stop your heart. The tour comes on the heels of Drake’s latest chart-topping album “Views” which continues a string of big wins for Toronto’s favorite son. Tickets go on sale on May 26 and can be expected to sell out quickly. Highly recommended.
