Backseat Sandbar

We are giving away 5 PAIRS OF TICKETS to see Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights w/ Screen Porch Door at Buster’s this Wednesday, 11/4.  FIRST FIVE PEOPLE TO COMMENT WIN THE TICKETS. Here are the details for the show…

Billiards open at 7pm
Doors open at 7pm, Show at 8pm
Show is 18+
Tickets $10

Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights

Jonathan Tyler and The Northern Lights

Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Jonathan Tyler & The Northern Lights first began to take shape when childhood friends Jonathan and Kansas began playing guitar in their teens. With shared common influences ranging from the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix to Bob Dylan, The Band and Muddy Waters, the two were compelled to write and play together. From the start it was JT on vocals, playing a mean, bluesy lead guitar, with Kansas on rhythm adding a harder rock edge, a combo that was instantly right. Several years and incarnations later, they were joined by musical prodigy Nick Jay on bass and a hard-hitting drummer from Oklahoma named Jordan Cain. The core of the band was at last in place and the sound began to gel. Tha band is playing over 200 shows a year and have opened for the likes of Heart, The Black Crowes, Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Erykah Badu, The Arc Angels, Deep Purple, Leon Russell, Kool and the Gang, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Stoney LaRue, and O.A.R. That is a hefty list considering the band has only been playing live shows together since January of 2007.

MySpace Link

Screen Door Porch

Rooted in indie-folk and Americana, Screen Door Porch has been described as “an electrified Gillian Welch/David Rawlings with ambient textures and a sound that is country-sweet and a little dirty.” Colored with slide guitar, mandolin, harmonica, foot percussion, and strong vocal harmony, SDP has an uncommon sound strengthened by way of intricate songwriting and acoustic-electric airiness.

When they’re not touring the country, Screen Door Porch splits time between the Teton Mountains of Jackson Hole and the Live Music Capital—Austin, Texas. The nomadic duo has been fortunate to share concert bills with Willie Nelson, Wilco, Bryan Wilson, Yonder Mountain String Band, James McMurtry, Grace Potter, and Kaki King. They have played festival bills for over 8,000 concertgoers in addition to small coffeehouses, clubs and house concerts.

To understand SDP’s appeal is get a glimpse into the individual.

If back in the early eighties Gillian Welch and Bonnie Raitt cornered Townes Van Zandt at a party, engaged in a massive love-in, and produced a female musical offspring, she might sound a little something like Seadar Rose. Grammy-nominated songwriter Darrell Scott recognized Rose as having “a cool sound.” And yes, that’s her real name.

Aaron Davis’s uncanny guitar prowess ranges from finger-style to gritty slide playing, adding rootsy mandolin chops, harp licks, and percussion toys to the mix. He won runner-up honors at the 2008 Dreams Acres Songwriting Competition and among his contemporaries Ryan Adams and Lucinda Williams, his new release Rear View Mirror was called “One of the Best Americana Releases” by Rootstime. The album also charted at #16 on the Freeform American Roots Chart alongside Bob Dylan and Old Crow Medicine Show.

Artist Website Link
MySpace Link

One of the more exciting shows coming up is the Hold Steady with the Drive-By Truckers on Oct. 30th (8pm) at CityBlock. The Hold Steady recently released Stay Positive, which garnered an 8.4 on Pitchfork as well as countless favorable reviews through the blogosphere, entering at #30 on the Billboard Charts. Let’s hope the slew of instruments used on the album can fit on the tour bus. Also along for the ride are the ever popular Drive-By Truckers who seem to spend a lot of time in our fair city these days. While DBT was here not so long ago, this is the first trip for the Hold Steady back to Louisville since their December show in 2006. While important then, they’ve escalated to rock star status since then and this show is going to be an incredible one to catch.

Lucky for you, we’ve got a pair of tickets to give away to the show. At $25 per ticket, that’s a $50 value, and that’s not including if you get it through Ticketmaster rather than at the door because there is a decent chance this one could sell out with two headliners on the bill like these two…

ENTER THE CONTEST: To enter the contest, send us an email to BackseatSandbar@gmail.com with Hold Steady and DBT as the subject line. The show is on Oct. 30th, so all entries must be received by 11:59pm EST on Oct. 17th to enter. One entry per person only.

For those of you who don’t get lucky, you can get your tickets for $23 in advance at the CityBlock Box Office, ticketmaster.com, or by calling (502) 361-3100, or for $25 day of the show at thet door. Headliners wasn’t big enough for this show, and who knows if CityBlock will be, so I suggest buying your ticket soon if you don’t want to risk missing this one…

The Hold Steady – Constructive Summer
Drive By Truckers – Daddy Needs a Drink (Live)

Here is you chance to win TWO FULL PASSES ($170 value) to Terrastock 7 (June 19-22)! That is four days of music absolutely free. If that isn’t enough, we are also giving away TWO 1-DAY PASSES ($50 value)!

Terrastock is a traveling festival having made stops in Providence, RI (twice), London, England, San Franscico, CA, Seattle, WA, Boston, MA…and now LOUISVILLE!! You may not have heard of all the bands on the bill, but have no worries…either you already are a fan, or you will be. With Louisvillians such as The Photographic, Parlour, Tara Jane O’Neil, and Sapat, combined with the likes of Oneida, Makoto Kawabata, Antietam, Wooden Shjips, Mono, Motorpsycho, Marissa Nadler, Bardo Pond, Jack Rose, and a Yo Lo Tengo side project (did I just list the entire bill?), this fest is jam packed with talent.

TO ENTER…send us an email at BackseatSandbar.com with the subject line “Terrastock Giveaway” and the pass you’re entering for (you can say both). Winners will be selected on Wednesday, June 11th at 10 o’clock p.m. (one entry per contestant), so all submissions must be received by then.  One person will win two full passes and one person will win two day passes.  Good Luck!

More Terrastock 7 Info…
Complete Guide to Terrastock 7
Interview with Festival Directors Erica Rucker and Rob Codey

For ticket information, the lineup, and sample tracks… (more…)

The Forecastle Festival is fast approaching (July 25-27), and the lineup has continued to grow, with the addition of the Ocean Stages, located above the Galt House pool, featuring incredibly talented DJs from all over, not to mention all of the artists that have been announced since the “finalized list”.  Forecastle is among the most important of the music festivals in the country according to Paste Magazine, and this year is going to be bigger than ever…around twice the size of last years event which featured Girl Talk and De La Soul. 

 You can read all about the planning process in this interview we did with JK back in February.  But now, the lineup has been confirmed and the schedule locked in, and the kick-off and post parties have been planned…all that is left is getting yourself ready, familiarizing yourself with the bands you don’t already know, and getting your tickets.  We are going to do a fairly comprehensive breakdown of each of the bands performing at this year’s Forecastle on our Forecastle 2008 page, available as a tab above and we cannot say enough about each of the bands playing this year’s show.

With that in mind, let’s get to the good stuff…the contest.  We have a pair of 3-Day passes we’re going to giving away to one lucky winner (a value of $100). 

To enter the contest, just send us an email at BackseatSandbar.com with the subject line “Forecastle Giveaway”.  Winners will be selected on Wednesday, June 25th at 10 o’clock (one entry per contestant), so all submissions must be received by then. 

Ingrid Michaelson (along with Greg Laswell) is coming to Louisville’s Headliners Music Hall this Wednesday & we’re giving away 2 tickets and her critically acclaimed album Girls and Boys.  Ingrid has been to Louisville twice in the last year already, playing 2007’s Non-Comm with an additional in-store appearance at Ear X-tacy.  Earlier this year she braved the snowstorm to perform at the 930 Listening Room (Review), and put on an incredible performance, where she played virtually the entire most-recent album and threw in some wonderful impromptu songs and covers such as “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”.  I met Ingrid briefly after her Ear X-tacy performance and she was the coolest, most casual person…really just a wonderful person.  In Cincinnati, a friend of mine met her and when someone asked to take her picture, she grabbed my friend and hugged her and said “let’s pretend we’re best friends”. 

The show at 930 sold out back in February so you can expect the better weather to result in a lot of people at this show.    Tickets are $15, but lucky for you we have two we’re going to be giving away along with a copy of the album, Girls and Boys.  Unfortunately not everyone can win, so if you don’t have a copy of the album, you can pick it up at any record shop, including Ear X-tacy, at her concert, or via her Online Store. 

To enter the contest, just send us an email at BackseatSandbar.com with the subject line “Ingrid Giveaway”.  Winners will be selected on Tuesday evening at 10 o’clock (one entry per contestant), so all submissions must be received by then.  If last time was any indication, this show should be incredible…

UPDATE: For a second chance to win a copy of the album only, visit Consuming Louisville.

Ingrid Michaelson – The Way I Am
Ingrid Michaelson – Keep Breathing