by CORY WALSH

On the evening of Thursday, Nov. 15, Missoula music fans face a defining question: What kind of roots fan are you?
If by “roots” you mean Americana, then you’ll want to head to the Wilma Theatre, where twisted country/folk band Devil Makes Three is performing. But if “roots” means reggae, then there’s the legendary Toots and the Maytals at the Dennison Theatre.

The Devil Makes Three is a drummer-less trio that takes a punk attitude toward American blues, country, rockabilly and other variants of roots music in the United States. The band is made up of guitarist/frontman Pete Bernhard, bassist Lucia Turino and guitarist Cooper McBean.
Opening for the trio is Jonny Fritz, a Missoula-born, Virginia-raised singer-songwriter. He keeps his country irreverent – he used to go by Jonny Corndawg, and his most recent album is called “Down on the Bikini Line.”
That 2011 album includes songs such as “Life of a Bear,” which takes a straight face while mixing bruin facts (“Bears all got bear claws”) with plain absurdities (“Bears live under bear laws”).

DEVIL MAKES THREE // Thursday, Nov. 15
Show opens at 7:30 p.m., and the music starts at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $16 in advance and $20 the day of the show. They are available at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling 1-877-4FLY-TIX and online at ticketfly.com.

Toots Hibbert is a reggae legend known for a deeply raspy singing voice that could compete with the American R&B singers of the late ’60s and ’70s. He knew it, too, and recorded a song called “Reggae Got Soul,” in addition to classics such as “54-46 Was My Number,” and “Pressure Drop.” The best demonstration of his talents may be his ability to transfigure John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” into reggae.
For his latest tour, Toots is performing unplugged and acoustic with the Maytals. They go on at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Dennison Theatre. Tickets cost $28 for the general public and $20 for students. They are available for purchase online at griztix.com and at all GrizTix locations.

TOOTS // Thursday, Nov. 15
at the Dennison Theatre. Tickets cost $28 for the general public and $20 for students. They are available for purchase online at griztix.com and at all GrizTix locations.

In November, the Wilma Theatre continues its string of electronic dance music concerts. This month, it’s British Columbian dubstep producer Datsik who will be testing the historic structure’s ability to withstand repeated bass drops. Despite his youth, the musician has remixed and collaborated with his elders of many genres, including Wu-Tang Clan, Crystal Method, Jonathan Davis of Korn and DJ Z-Trip.
He’s performing Terravita, Xkore and Getter on Tuesday, Nov, 13. Doors open at 8 p.m., and music starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $19 in advance and $22 the day of the show. Tickets available at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling 1-877-4-FLY-TIX and online at ticketfly.com.

DATSIK // Tuesday, Nov. 13
Doors open at 8 p.m., and music starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $19 in advance and $22 the day of the show. Tickets available at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling 1-877-4-FLY-TIX and online at ticketfly.com.

Omaha, Neb., post-emo band Cursive are touring behind its latest album, “I Am Gemini,” released on Saddle Creek Records earlier this year.  They’ll bring the angsty rock and emo ecstacy on Monday, Nov. 19, at the Palace, 147 W. Broadway. Tickets are $XX in advance.
– Talkdemonic will perform on Saturday, Nov. 3, with openers Dignan Porch of the United Kingdom, at the Palace, 147 W. Broadway. Tickets are $12 in advance at Ear Candy and Rockin Rudy’s.

TALKDEMONIC // Saturday, Nov. 3
Doors open at 8 p.m., and music starts at 9 p.m. Tickets are $19 in advance and $22 the day of the show. Tickets available at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling 1-877-4-FLY-TIX and online at ticketfly.com.

Frank Zappa’s son, Dweezil, a guitar virtuoso in his own right, will perform a set of his father’s music on Thursday, Dec. 20, at the Wilma Theatre.
Having watched his father perform concerts from the side of the stage since he was in diapers, it was no surprise that Dweezil Zappa began to show an interest in music early on. At 6 years old, he received his first guitar, a Fender Music Master, from his dad.
Since then, Zappa has remained an advocate for his father’s music while pursuing a career of his own.
In spring 2006, Dweezil debuted the live band Zappa Plays Zappa, playing long, ambitious sets of Frank Zappa favorites and obscure gems to big audiences of crazed Zappa fans.
“I think that my father’s music is quite powerful live,” Dweezil said in a recent interview. “We do our best to present it in a way that emphasizes what makes it unique in the world of music as well. I’ve said many times before that learning to perform Frank Zappa’s music is like training for the Olympics. You have to be prepared to pull it off at your best when the audience is there to witness it.”
Dweezil recently released “F.O.H.” – a live double CD featuring Zappa Plays Zappa performances of Frank Zappa songs.

Thursday, Dec. 20
doors open at 7 pm music starts at 8 pm
The reserved tickets are $62.50, and provide access to sound check access and an event poster. Other all-ages tickets are $35. Additional fees may apply.
Tickets are available at jadepresents.com, at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling (866) 300-8300, or at tickets300.com.

by CORY WALSH

October brings a packed calendar of music to the Garden City, starting with the spiritually tinged reggae and hip-hop of Matisyahu.
The freshly shaven Hasidic vocalist is touring behind a new album, “Spark Seeker,” his first release on an independent label of his own creation. Paste Magazine wrote that it’s “a collaboration that delivers through angles, improvisation and Judaic philosophy. By these rituals and spiritual deliveries, Matisyahu has created an album for the ears and for the hearts.”
Matisyahu with the Constellations will perform Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Wilma Theatre. The doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the music starts at 8:30. Tickets are $25, available at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling 1-877-4FLY-TIX and online at ticketfly.com.
Rusted Root are no strangers to blending genres either, having pioneered a mix of folk, rock and world music for years now. The group is touring behind a new studio album set for release at the end of the month, “Movement.” Vocalist and guitarist Michael Glabicki has said, “This album is a culmination of everything we have learned, or have tried to learn, over our entire career. It truly is a career record for us.”
Rusted Root will perform on Friday, Oct. 19, at the Top Hat, 134 W. Front St. Tickets are $18 in advance, $22 the day of the show. They are available at Rockin Rudy’s, Ear Candy and Tophatmissoula.com.
– For transfigured roots music of less folksy vein, you couldn’t do better than Oklahoma group Other Lives. The vocals and guitar of Jesse Tabish are backed by unusual instrumentation including oboe, violin, cello and the occasional harp. Their dour, orchestral approach to acoustic music earned the ultimate stamp of approval earlier this summer when Thom Yorke, the reigning champion of mournful vocals, released a remix of “Tamer Animals,” the title track of its latest album.
Other Lives will perform with Indians at 9 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 23, at the Top Hat, 134 W. Front St. Admission is $10 plus fees, 21 and older only.
Greensky Bluegrass has earned its accolades through a daunting tour schedule, having played 160 shows a year across the country each of the past six years. The quintet, made up of Anders Beck on dobro, Michael Arlen Bent on banjo, Dave Bruzza on guitar, Mike Devol on upright bass, and Paul Hoffman on mandolin, booked high-profile festivals such as Bonnaroo, Bumbershoot and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Their performance at the latter led Rolling Stone to proclaim, “Greensky are hardly strictly bluegrass, and yet, they’re representing genre for a whole new generation.”
Greensky Bluegrass will perform Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the Top Hat, 134 W. Front St. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. The music begins at 9 p.m., and the band will perform two sets.
Reel Big Fish – All things from the early ’90s are back again, so it’s inevitable that there would a revival of that decade’s ska revival. One of the most successful bands from that wave of ska/punk was Reel Big Fish, who hit it big with a catchy single about not “Selling Out.”
The band has soldiered on since with its blend of punk, ska and funny, bratty lyrics, and is currently touring behind its seventh studio album, “Candy Coated Fury.” It’s a set of “bad-relationship songs that everybody can relate to,” Aaron Barrett, founding vocalist, guitarist, and principal songwriter, said in a news release.
Reel Big Fish will perform Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the Wilma Theatre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and music starts at 7:30.  Tickets are $19 in advance, and $21 day of show. Tickets available at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling 1-877-4FLY-TIX or online at ticketfly.com.
Loretta Lynn – Capping off a month that features many artists seeking revivals or reinventions is country legend Loretta Lynn, who revitalized her career in 2004 with “Van Lear Rose.” That record comfortably paired the original “Coal Miner’s Daughter” with production and some songwriting from Jack White of the White Stripes. The unlikely collaboration won over fans from both the country music establishment and the indie-rock underground that White sprang up from.
Loretta Lynn will perform Monday, Oct. 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Dennison Theatre at the University of Montana. Tickets are $55 to $75, available at griztix.com.

Country legend Loretta Lynn is coming to the University of Montana campus on Monday, Oct. 29.
For 50 years, the country music icon has fashioned a body of work as artistically and commercially successful – and as culturally significant – as any female performer you’d care to name.
Her music has confronted many of the major social issues of her time, and her life story is a rags-to-riches tale familiar to pop, rock and country fans alike. The Coal Miner’s Daughter – the tag refers to a hit single, an album, a best-selling autobiography, an Oscar-winning film, and to Lynn herself – has journeyed from the poverty of the Kentucky hills to Nashville superstardom to her current status as an honest-to-goodness American icon.
Her latest album, the Jack White-produced “Van Lear Rose,” is poised now to remind the world yet again of Lynn’s power as a vocalist and her skill as a songwriter. As she puts it on “Story of My Life,” the new album’s closing track: “Not half bad for this ol’ Kentucky girl, I guess… Here’s the story of my life. Listen close, I’ll tell it twice.“

Monday, October 29

Doors open 6 p.m.
Montana Theater at The University of Montana

Tickets on sale now
Order By Phone: (888-666-8262) or (406) 243-4051
Order In Person At: Griz Box office
Online: griztix.com

by CORY WALSH

With the return of University of Montana students comes a slew of musical acts, and this month features musicians of all sorts: veteran sludge metal rockers, up-and-coming electronic dance music producers, an indie-folk act with just one album under its belts, and a road-tested alternative country group.

On Sunday, Sept. 9, sludge metal veterans the Melvins roll into town for a Top Hat show and a mission. The Seattle band, a precursor and inspiration to Nirvana, is trying to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by playing all 50 states plus the District of Columbia in a mere 51 days. (Their Garden City appearance is only day five of this venture.)
“We figured it was time for us to something really crazy,” said Buzz Osbourne in a news release. “Fifty-one shows in 50 states plus one in D.C. and all in 51 days? Geez. I wonder if we can do it.”
The tour features the band’s “lite” formation: Osbourne on guitar and vocals and Dale Crover on drums, with the addition of bassist Trevor Dunn, who’s performed with Mr. Bungle and John Zorn among many others.
“We had seen Trevor playing upright bass in a jazz setting and thought that we could utilitze that for a recording project,” Crover said in a news release. “This is something different from the two drummer/big hair line-up, which we plan on continuing with as well.”
Dunn joined the group in the studio for its latest, “Freak Puke,” which frequently incorporates some odd jazz flourishes into the group’s signature Sabbath-on-sedatives drones and riffs.

The Head and the Heart, another Seattle group, couldn’t be further from the Melvins in sound or demeanor. The band is touring behind its self-titled debut, a collection of songs that sound folk-ish even though they are not traditional in any sense. The group, which went from its formation two years ago to Lollapalooza stages, has mastered a rousing, singalong brand of Americana complete with shimmering piano and violin arrangements.
They play the Wilma Theatre on Wednesday, Sept. 19, with Bryan John Appleby, a fellow Seattle folk traveler, and Blitzen Trapper, who’ve brought their catchall brand of folk and ’70s rock to Missoula before, most recently to open for Wilco at Big Sky Brewery.
Doors open at 7 p.m., music starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22 in advance, $24 day of show, available at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling 1-877-4FLY-TIX and online at ticketfly.com.

Another group that’s made Missoula a regular pit-stop is Minneapolis rap legends Atmosphere. Emcee Slug and producer Ant pioneered a heart-on-sleeve brand of hip-hop that helped spawn an entire scene in what was once flyover country for hip-hop.
The group’s most recent album is 2011’s “The Family Sign,” released on their own Rhymesayers Entertainment label. In addition to the core duo, it featured Nate Collis on guitar and Erick Anderson on keys.
Opening acts are I Self Devine, a heavy-hitting “charismatic yet antisocial” labelmate, and Carnage, a virtuoso battle rapper and beat boxer, and DJ Just Nine.
Doors for the Tuesday, Sept. 11, show open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8. Tickets are $28, available at Rockin Rudy’s, by calling 1-877-4FLY-TIX or ticketfly.com.

The Gourds, out of Austin, Texas, have an expanding back catalog of alternative country and bluegrass, but they still might be best known as “that band that did the bluegrass cover of ‘Gin and Juice.’ ”
For their latest appearance in Missoula, the group is touring with  a rock/country singer-songwriter who has a more serious persona: James McMurtry, son of that Larry McMurtry, who wrote “Lonesome Dove.”
Like his father, James has gained notice for the strength of his words. The Village Voice dubbed his music “Texastentialist,” while the Nation named his song “We Can’t Make It Here,” among the best protest songs ever.
Expect barbed lyrics from McMurtry and sharp picking from all involved when they play the Wilma on Thursday, Sept. 20. The doors open at 7 p.m., the music starts at 8 p.m. The $25 general admission tickets are available at Rockin Rudy’s and online at brownpapertickets.com.

Cory Walsh is editor of the Missoulian Entertainer. He can be reached at (406) 523-5261 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The Melvins

The Head and The Heart

The Gourds