This Week in MKE Music: March 21-27, 2024

Here are the Milwaukee shows we are looking forward to coming up this week.

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JJ Grey and Mofro return, Huff/Peplin take over The Estate, Tallan rocks on, House of Rad celebrates and more —This -Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, March 21

JJ Grey & Mofro: Olustee Tour w/ Judith Hill @ Riverside Theater, 7:30 p.m.

Fourteen years ago, JJ Grey and Mofro live in Milwaukee was described like this: “Grey’s strength is storytelling, and his songs are ripe with regional references to fireflies, cornbread and orange blossoms. His tangible details and the charged band create an authentic Southern vibe. The organ sounds like the keys are stuck with molasses, while the two-piece horn section punch, swell and wail as Grey’s wah-wah pedal gets a well-greased bluesy workout.” (shepherdexpress.com/music/concert-reviews/jj-grey-mofro-shank-hall)

With Olustee—his 10th album and first in eight years, and the first he has self-produced—JJ Grey is back, singing his personal stories with universal themes of redemption, rebirth, hard luck, and inner peace. With his music, Grey also celebrates good times with friends, oftentimes mixing the carnal with the cerebral in the very same song. Fueled by his vividly detailed, timeless original songs spun from his life experiences, Grey’s gritty baritone drips with honest passion and testifies with a preacher’s foot-pounding fervor.

Friday, March 22

The Lighthouse Big Band @ Schauer Arts Center (147 North Rural St., Hartford), 7:30 p.m.

The Lighthouse Big Band, a 20-plus year mainstay in the music scene, and a WAMI nominee for Best Big Band, plays a variety of genres in the big band style. The Lighthouse performs music including traditional big bands/dance bands of the ‘30s and ‘40s, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, Latin jazz, contemporary big bands like Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, as well as big band versions of rock/fusion music.

Huff/Peplin @ The Estate, 7:30 and 10 p.m. (also Saturday)

Live music returns to The Estate with Amanda Huff and Steve Peplin. The duo will perform a pair of concerts on each of two nights. Expect free range set lists to sample their own compositions as well as their group Strangelander with detours to Ellington, Bjork and Nirvana.

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Saturday, March 23

Anni-Party IV @ House of Rad (900 E. Keefe Ave.), 5 p.m.

House of Rad, the creative collective with the mission of uniting the most progressive innovators in art and design, tech and making, celebrates another year of keeping Riverwest weird. Live music from Astral Hand.

Jonah Parzen-Johnson w/Rick Ollman and Eli Smith @ Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts, 7 p.m.

Jonah Parzen-Johnson makes music for baritone saxophone and flute that challenges listeners with experimental textures and forms while embracing them with warm approachable melodies. His solo performances are a deeply intimate experience, as he endeavors to share who he is, how he sees our world.

Milwaukee improvisors and multi-instrumentalists Rick Ollman and Eli Smith have no problem coloring outside the lines musically speaking. It’s a good bet they may not even notice the lines.

The Guitar Titans Tribute featuring Tallan, Dean Arndt and Mitch Mitchell @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

In 2008, 9-year old Tallan Noble Latz joined Les Paul onstage at the Pabst Theater. For this event, Tallan will be joined by guitarists Dean Arndt (The Metal Men, formally of High Treason, Firing Squad and Damien) and Mitch Mitchell (The BlackTop Kings and The Hucksters and also formally of Boneyard). This concert will focus on paying tribute to some of their favorite guitar players who they put up on their Mt. Rushmore of Guitar Titans.

Sam Grow and Friends: Cigars & Bars Tour @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.

Country artist Sam Grow recorded his recent album at legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “There is so much history that has taken place at FAME Studios thanks to music legends like Etta James, The Allman Brothers and many more,” shares Grow. “I was inspired by them to have each song on this record either written or recorded within these walls, and the journey of crafting his album has made Muscle Shoals feel like a second home to me when it comes to recording my music.”

pat mAcdonald - A benefit for Steel Bridge Creative Foundation @ The Tambourine Lounge (59 N. Second Ave, Sturgeon Bay), 8 p.m.

Here’s a great reason for a road trip. An intimate concert by master songwriter pat mAcdonald: shepherdexpress.com/music/album-reviews/the-ragged-jagged-way-back-home-chronological-records-by. This show is a benefit for Steel Bridge Creative Foundation, the organization familiar for the yearly songwriting workshops that took over downtown Sturgeon Bay each summer. Local trivia? mAcdonald’s band Timbuk 3 was named by Milwaukee legend Jim Spencer, and Tambourine Lounge boss melaniejane was regular at stages around town with her guitar and cello. Ticket info here: facebook.com/events/401322122446660.

Lost Orange Cat @ Ope! Brewing Co., 7:30 p.m.

Lost Orange Cat burst onto the Milwaukee music scene in 2018 featuring original songs inspired by a broad variety of styles and genres. They are always pushing the boundaries of their creativity to find new sounds that feel familiar with elements of classic rock, outlaw country, psychedelic blues and a hint of bluegrass.

Sunday, March 24

School of Rock Shorewood @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 1:30 p.m.

See tomorrow’s stars today. School of Rock takes students from the lesson room to the stage, developing both their confidence and musicianship with programs designed for all skill levels.

The Exotics w/Paranormal @ Kochanski’ s Concertina Beer Hall, 2 p.m.

Here is a matinee that just makes sense. Since 1958 The Exotics have been performing their blend of surf, spy, hot rod and spaghetti western instrumentals. Dang it, 1958 was The Ventures debut. The Exotics have only been around since 1994. Easy mistake.

Cloudbelly w/Wandering Nerve and Shell Bells @ Anodyne, 6 p.m.

Cloudbelly, the award-winning indie folk band from Massachusetts, has a sound at once intimate and cinematic. An amalgamation of indie folk, sunshine rock, neo soul and sound-healing psychedelia, Milwaukee’s Shell Bells uses guitar effects and vocals in cultivating a transcendental space ripe with playfulness. Wandering Nerve is the solo project of John Larkin. His compositions are created primarily using trumpet, tape loops, voice, and synths, and can sound anywhere from minimalist and neat to blurry and chaotic.

Tuesday, March 26

Traditional Tuesdays @ Falcon Bowl, 7 p.m.

Midweek music and dancing with live jazz and blues every Tuesday. Originally opened in 1915, if these walls could talk …

Wednesday, March 27

Milwaukee Jazz Institute Presents: Goldings/Bernstei /Stewart Organ Trio @ Arc Theatre – Saint Kate, 7:30 p.m.

The trio of organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein, and drummer Bill Stewart, with 18 albums to their credit, celebrate a fruitful musical cooperation that has lasted for more than 30 years. Join them for this special MJI fundraiser performance.

“We all really dig each other, and that's probably the most important thing,” Goldings says in an attempt to explain the trio’s indefinable chemistry. There’s a lot of crossover in what we like to play and listen to, and our individual visions of jazz tend to align.”