Today at Summerfest: Sunday, June 30

Welcome to our daily digest of Summerfest picks, previews, promotions and opinions. Here's what's happening at the Big Gig on Sunday, June 30. Land here looking for our latest Summerfest coverage? Click here for the newest Summerfest previews and reviews.

Singer Zac Brown has brought new meaning to country music and will headline the day’s Amphitheater show. If your tastes run toward alternative rock, the Miller Lite Oasis is the place to be for Guided by Voices and The National.

Zac Brown Band @ American Family Insurance Amphitheater, 7:30 p.m.

Zac Brown may have made the deal of a lifetime when he and his dad sold the nightclub they founded. The son’s take from that sale allowed him to invest in a tour bus for his Zac Brown Band, which had already developed a Southern following. It also allowed the expansion of the band from a trio to their current octet. It was under that expanded lineup that they became a draw versatile enough to draw booking from rock and country venues along with jam band and folk festivals. Their sound beckoned major labels’ attention.

By late 2008, the ensemble hooked up with Atlantic Records, which introduced Brown’s “Chicken Fried” to positive reception among country-radio programmers, becoming the band’s first of eight #1 singles in that format. Diverse as the elements from which the group had been drawing their style, Brown had been able to speak out with considerable authority a few years ago on the lyrical debasements and pop pandering of fellow country stars. Brown took some heat for expressing his opinions publicly, but standing on principle didn't really affect ZBB’s commercial reception.

The 2016 album Jekyll + Hyde signaled a stylistic expansion for the act beyond their already broad palette. “Heavy is the Head,” a collaboration with late Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell, topped the mainstream rock radio chart, while “Homegrown” continued their fortune among country fans.

Things have since become weirder for Brown. He promised to relegate electronic experimentation to his side project, Sir Roosevelt, but current Zac Brown Band radio salvo “Someone I Used To Know” sounds like a splitting of the difference between the front man’s organic and synthetic affections. Relatively rootsy country singer-songwriter Drake White opens for what should be the sort of familial, celebratory show from which ZBB built its reputation. (Jamie Lee Rake)

Guided by Voices @ Miller Lite Oasis, 4 p.m.

At 61, Guided by Voices frontman (and sole constant member) Robert Pollard isn’t the grandfatherly, curmudgeonly rock ’n’ roll figure that Keith Richards or Neil Young is. Instead, he’s a loquacious uncle who challenges younger rockers (indie or otherwise) with his infamously prodigious output: two GbV albums so far this year, with a third set for July release.

Those albums sit atop a precariously high stack of other LPs, EPs, singles and “Suitcase” collections of previously unreleased material, going back to the mid-1980s and captured on everything from a Dayton, Ohio basement-based four-track recorder to a fully professional, Ric Ocasek-supervised studio. (There are also stacks for Pollard’s solo career and side projects.)

The most recent GbV LPs, Zeppelin Over China and Warp and Woof, carry on Pollard and his band’s odd consistency, with the former a 32-song, 74-minute overview of rock grandeur and the latter a 24-song, 37-minute ramshackle speed-run.  

One of two key things the albums share is strong personnel. After a “classic” lineup reunited in 2010 and disbanded again in 2014 (having released six albums), Pollard recruited two new members (guitarist Bobby Bare Jr. and bassist Mark Shue) and re-recruited two alumni (guitarist Doug Gillard and drummer Kevin March).

That combination of familiar and fresher hands (and voices) has buttressed and enhanced the other key thing, which is Pollard’s songwriting. Still enamored of brevity, mysticism, the best influences in rock (The Beatles, The Who, obscure prog and folk), and baffling song titles (“Windshield Wiper Rex,” “More Reduction Linda”), the man cranks out material like a Dexedrine-wired Beat Generation novelist lashed to his typewriter.

Plenty of the recent material has been excellent, as well, and will add a few more possibilities to the Summerfest set list. Although the show will definitely not reach the length of GbV’s planned 100-song gig in L.A. on Dec. 31, the band should deliver a rousing afternoon bash, and Pollard will not be a sedentary or tight-lipped frontman. (Jon M. Gilbertson)

The National @ Miller Lite Oasis, 10 p.m.

Twenty years into a career that has produced eight critically acclaimed albums and countless mind-blowing live shows, there is only one way to described Brooklyn-based The National: indie rock royalty. The band’s run throughout the 21st century has been nothing short of extraordinary, starting with their self-titled debut album (2001) and running to 2019’s I Am Easy to Find. At their best—and who can argue with the one-two punch of Boxer (2007) and High Violet (2010)?—the evocative baritone of lead vocalist Matt Berninger blends seamlessly with the understated guitar playing of brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner and the innovative drumming of Bryan Devendorf.

Listen to these sounds come together on such songs as High Violet’s “Bloodbuzz Ohio” and hear how indie rock can be both cerebral and visceral—at the same time. It’s an exhilarating feeling that The National, more so than many of their peers, has managed to recreate countless times.

The National may know what they’re doing, but that doesn’t mean that they’ve become anything close to formulaic. Wanting to challenge the male-dominated perspective that often informs Berninger’s introspective lyrics, I Am Easy to Find finds the band inviting such noted female vocalists as Gail Ann Dorsey, Mina Tindle, and Sharon Van Etten to add their voices to the band’s collective sound.

Of such guests most revelatory is Dorsey, who served as bassist and backing vocalist for David Bowie throughout his long career. Her turn on album opener “You Had Your Soul With You” elevates a standard (read: excellent) Berninger tale of heartbreak into something transcendent. “I have ordered to my heart every word I’ve said,” Dorsey beautifully sings as she enters the track. “You have no idea how hard I died when you left.” What was previously a vivid description of lost love quickly becomes something akin to a haunting eulogy. It’s a remarkable moment for a band that continues to surprise. (Michael Carriere)

Michael Henszey @ Uline Warehouse, 6:30 p.m.

Milwaukee’s Michael Henszey isn’t a household name in his hometown but he’s played with some of the most famous musicians the city has produced, including Daryl Stuermer and Jerry Harrison. Henszey is a remarkable sonic craftsman who proves his talent as a songwriter on a recording released earlier this year.

The opening track on the EP Play On, “Fallen From Grace,” soars on moody harmonies above its despondent lyric. “Fallen From Grace” is like a great lost album track from the ’70s. Although it contains only a handful of songs, Play On covers a lot of range musically. “I Wanna Go Home” bounds along on a melody as sunny and easy as a mid-’60s pop tune. The title track is an amusing take on the travails of making a go in an era when YouTube videos are a measure of success. (David Luhrssen)

Local Picks

De La Buena @ Johnson Controls World Stage, 8 p.m.

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