Just before the old Southgate House music venue in Newport closed down at the end of last year, Cincinnati Folk/Americana favorites The Tillers
decided to record their final show at the historic mansion. The trio planned to release the recording at a future date and announced a tentative release party at a “TBA” venue. Now, just weeks after the grand opening of the Southgate House Revival (the Newport club run by the former SGH owners/operators), The Tillers present the release shindig for those recordings, The Tillers LIVE: Farewell to the Historic Southgate House , Saturday in the venue’s Sanctuary room.
Farewell is actually an excellent re-introduction to The Tillers’ authentic, soulful take on “old-timey” music, as the trio rambles through lively versions of vintage songs as well as a handful of their own. The bulk of the tracks — nicely annotated in the liner notes — date as far back as the 1920s, so you get to hear the band run through magical arrangements of songs written or popularized by The Carter Family, John Hartford, Frank Hutchinson, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Mississippi John Hurt, among others.
Saturday’s release show starts at 9 p.m., with opening act Whiskey Bent Valley Boys
. ( the-tillers.com )
Striving For Greater Heights
The Heights Music Festival
returns this weekend for another wide-ranging sampling of Cincinnati’s original music scene. Music will run Friday and Saturday night from 7 p.m. until about closing time at four venues in Clifton Heights — Baba Budan’s, Mac’s Pizza Pub, Christy’s Biergarten and Rohs Street Café (the only location open to music lovers of all ages).
Once again, organizers Far-I-Rome Productions have put together a solid collection of local acts both new and established, playing everything from Punk and Americana to Hip Hop, Indie and Hard Rock. The Heights is always a great way to take the pulse of the Cincinnati music. Here are the lineups for each venue.
Rohs Street Cafe (rohsstreetcafe.com) has Wendy’s Yellow Poncho
, MC Forty and Wonder Brown , Cowgirl and The Yugos on Friday, while Saturday kicks off with a showcase presented by the Elementz Hip Hop Youth Center, followed by Alex Evans , For Algernon , Young Heirlooms and Oui Si Yes .
Friday’s lineup at Baba Budan’s (facebook.com/baba4java) includes Sulla
, Second Chance At Eden , Damn It To Hell , Buenos Crotches and Grey Host . Saturday night, Baba’s hosts Pursuing Hounds , Sweet Ray Laurel , Jamwave and The Natives , plus Columbus, Ohio’s The Regrettes .
At Mac’s Pizza Pub (macspizzapub.com) Friday, the fest welcomes Somebody’s Something
, Majestic Man , The MJ’s Blues , Hickory Robot , Jeremy Pinnell & The 55’s and The Founding Fathers ; Saturday, Mac’s will have Tangerine Sound Machine, The Celestials , Big Rock Club , Valley High and Junya Be & Wazali .
Christy’s Biergarten’s (christysandlenhardts.com) lineup Friday features The Marmalade Brigade
, Heavy Hinges , The Perfect Children , The Guitars and Columbus Hip Hop/Reggae crew Shrub . Christy’s Saturday night will have music from Killer Looks & Noise , Horsecop , Loudmouth , Black Signal , DAAP Girls and The Frankl Project .
Tickets are $5 per night if purchased in advance through cincyticket.com. Admission is $8 for one night or $12 for both if purchased at the fest. Complete info can be found at theheightsmusicfestival.com.
More Local Notes
• Scott Preston and his excellent local music web mag Cincy Groove are presenting a benefit concert at Southgate House Revival Friday in an effort to help keep a spotlight on our city’s outrageously rich musical history and influence. The 9 p.m. show is raising funds for the Cincinnati USA Music Heritage Foundation
, a non-profit that has done great work drawing attention to Cincinnati’s impact on popular music by promoting and hosting numerous events to honor historical moments like Hank Williams’ Cincy recording sessions and the immeasurable impact of King Records. Friday’s concert features The Cliftones , Shoot Out The Lights , The Stories , Kelly Thomas with Arlo McKinley & Lonesome Sound (performing all Hank Williams tunes), The Cincy Brass , The Syd Natanists , Terminal Union , Sassy Molasses and many others. ( takingyoutothebridge.org )
• Cracked, crack-like-addictive Art Pop quartet Culture Queer
recently had its incredibly entertaining new music video for “U Bummin’ Mr. Drummond” debut on the hugely popular music website Consequence of Sound , which should help bring the group’s recent album, Nightmare Band , more of the widespread attention it so richly deserves. (Check it below). CQ presents a free, all-ages release party for the amazing new full-length at 8 p.m. Saturday at Hoffner Lodge (4122 Hamilton Ave., Northside). The multimedia event will feature lots of surprises (from video art to photo displays to cake!), as well as openers April Combs and Fists of Love . Read CityBeat 's recent profile of CQ here .
CONTACT MIKE BREEN : [email protected] , @CityBeatMusic or on Facebook here .
