ALL SHOWS

June 14

Real Vocal String Quartet (RVSQ) + Nice Guy Trio

A night of Innovative, Virtuosic, World, Roots, Chamber music!

RVSQ
String quartet, string band, woman’s vocal quartet, jaw-dropping improvising world-music collective….pick a box and Real Vocal String Quartet will think outside it, with style. RVSQ plays original songs and unique arrangements that pay tribute to music from Appalachia to Kenya to Brazil, with sparkling improvisation that impresses and moves. RVSQ recently recorded and toured with Feist and played last year's Redwood Grove series with Mirah.

NICE GUY TRIO
Steeped in jazz, the Nice Guy trio embraces a wide array of styles, drawing from klezmer, blues, funk, calypso, country, Balkan, and Hindustani music. Founded in early 2008 by trumpeter Darren Johnston, the group features accordion ace Rob Reich and bassist Daniel Fabricant playfully exploring a heady mix of original compositions and modern classics by the likes of
Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman.

UCBG is excited to welcome these two extremely
talented bands back to the Redwood Grove!

June 21

Earl Brothers + Walking in Sunlight

Outlaw & Traditional: Two takes on Bluegrass

THE EARL BROTHERS
It's been twelve years since The Earl Brothers started working on a style that has become their unique trademark, “Outlaw Hillbilly Music”. The Earl Brothers have received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response from music-lovers far and wide. Their gritty, mournful songs recall ancient honky-tonks, and Southern back roads with a unique edgy directness. Their music forgoes the softer contemporary acoustic sound of many modern day Bluegrass bands. The band’s “less is more” approach to songwriting, singing, and musicianship is, direct, simple, and yet somehow different from everything else.

WALKING IN SUNLIGHT
Three beautiful voices, a banjo, and timeless folk songs — Walking in Sunlight began when Nathan, Greg and Eva convened to share the pleasure of singing Carter Family songs together, but their three-part harmonies brought them to explore a wider realm of old-time songs and on to composing some originals. The trio’s first, ten-song album surveys traditional songs, covers of Will Oldham and Doc Watson, and revisits songs from their previous projects, including Last of the Blacksmiths and Dame Satan/Sand.

June 28

Shake Your Peace! + LoCura

Exuberant, multicultural, dance!

SHAKE YOUR PEACE!
Shake Your Peace! is a San Francisco-based band known for their ebullient live performances, ecological & social justice politics, and bicycle-based music tours. Their music, dubbed “Whup” by lead singer Gabe Dominguez, is a unique combination of Afro-Latin rhythm, bluegrass fiddle, gospel choir-style: harmony, call & response, and spirit invocation, and Dominguez’ own take on the American folk and pop/rock music traditions.

LOCURA
Direct from San Francisco’s fertile music scene, LoCura taps into the diverse sounds that have a rich history in the Bay Area, weaving them together in an uncanny way to reveal their common roots.  Mixing Flamenco with Reggae and Cumbia with Ska through contagious rhythms and multiple languages, their music takes you on a ride through a day in the emerging globalized experience where the movement of people and ideas are in constant flux.  Reflecting lead vocalist Kata’s own experience of growing up Spanish American in Spain, Italy, and the U.S., LoCura’s music rides the borders of identity and migration piecing together a mosaic of our myriad cultures and experience.

July 5

Boy in the Bubble + The Blank Tapes

Indie, Folk, Glam Rock

BOY IN THE BUBBLE
“Boy in the Bubble play an arresting game of musical hopscotch…Alternating between soft and sighing, loud and sloppy, [singer Josh Seidenfeld] knows exactly where he's going—and he's intent on taking us with him. Call Songs From the City on the Sun indie-rock at a burlesque show. Call it David Bowie on the verge of a meltdown. Call it what you like, but don't miss this Sun set.” -- Performing Songwriter

Oakland's Boy in the Bubble started in 2004 when singer-songwriter Josh Seidenfeld moved here from Austin. Since then, the band has shared stages with the likes of Ben Harper and played for thousands of fans in the Bay Area and beyond. Josh is about to hit the road again, so this will be the band's last show -- don't miss it! 

THE BLANK TAPES
The Blank Tapes is the moniker of LA/SF based multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter Matt Adams, who has produced 7 albums of “winsome pop tunes” & “Kinks-plus-Creedence roots-rock & roll” recorded almost entirely by himself on an 8 track cassette tape recorder in garages, basements & sheds across the coast.

SOLD OUT! July 12

Pre-Bastille Day French Show

BAGUETTE QUARTETTE
The Baguette Quartette is a San Francisco Bay Area group that plays music that was heard in Paris between 1920 and 1940 on street corners, in cafes, and in popular dance halls. Led by accordionist Odile Lavault, its repertoire consists of valses musettes, tangos, pasos dobles, fox trots, marches and realistic songs.

GAUCHO
Gaucho, a gypsy jazz sextet, was formed in 2002. The lineup consists of Dave Ricketts & Michael Groh on guitars, Ari Munkres on standup bass, Rob Reich on accordion, Ralph Carney on horns, and Beth Goodfellow on drums & percussion. Their music is based primarily on the music of Django Reinhart and the gypsy jazz of 1930's Europe with inspiration from the rhythmic drive and collective improvisation of New Orleans swing music and the “gut bucket” sound. Gaucho is a first-rate ensemble, bringing boundless energy, passion, and humor to the music they love.

August 2

Emily Jane White + Foxtails Brigade

Dark & Pretty, Victorian neo-folk

EMILY JANE WHITE
Emily Jane White is a San Francisco based singer/songwriter who released her debut album in 2007. Influenced by American blues and folk music tradition. Her work shares some elements with folk music, but the term does not do justice to her ambitious songwriting and robust arrangements. White possesses a singular voice inspired by the raveled threads of the uncanny in American culture.

FOXTAILS BRIGADE

Foxtails Brigade is a San Francisco music collective headed by front-woman Laura Weinbach. They specialize in quiet, finger-picked guitar, ethereal vocals and simple violin and cello melodies. Their pretty melodies and flower-strewn stories are undercut with a sharp lyrical edge. As Laura switches from pitch-perfect vocals to turbulent rants and complex classical guitar riffs the promise of a darker side to the neo-Victorian image is exposed. Their haunting vocal sound, violin harmonies, fairy-tale lyrics and classical technique make Foxtails Brigade the perfect accompaniment for an evening in the Redwood Grove.Register ONLINE
$12/ $10 for members; Youth $5; Under 5 free

SOLD OUT! August 9

Rupa & the April Fishes + Quinn DeVeaux

Nomadic roots rock and early blues dance rhythm

RUPA & THE APRIL FISHES
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Rupa & the April Fishes create music that defies easy categorization with influences of French chanson, Argentinean tango, Gypsy swing, American folk, Latin cumbias, and even Indian ragas. Their raucous and inviting performances have made them internationally renown, with strong followings throughout the world. 

QUINN DEVEAUX
Quinn DeVeaux and The Blue Beat Review is the dance floor between the sweet old times and new hard times. Quinn has packed houses and astounded audiences in the bay area for years with his smooth, saucy voice and cool melodic songwriting. First he started an early Chicago Blues band and then a New Orleans soul and gospel band. Now he has combined it all in the Blue Beat Review, a self-styled crossroads of his many musical roots. Quinn harnesses the likes of Ray Charles, John Hurt, Fats Domino and Bo Diddley. His songwriting is the classic influence made fresh. With all the style and subtlety of the great soul/blues singers of the earth bound golden days, his band keeps audiences in a state of joy.

August 16

The Soft White Sixties + Mahgeetah

Rock & Roll, Soul and Blues

THE SOFT WHITE SIXTIES
San Francisco’s The Soft White Sixties are a hard-driving, original rock & roll band that delivers R&B grooves and pop hooks with the transformative power of raw soul.

MAHGEETAH
Stripped down at heart, Mahgeetah finds common ground with the attitude and conviction of rock and roll music. Distorted riffs, three part harmonies, and heavy piano lay an alternative foundation for any particular confined rock genre and stretch further than any blues or Americana stereotype. Their songs are pleasingly pop, but then drive into heavy melodic climaxes.

August 19 (Sunday show)

Daniel Paige + Aaron Calvert

Americana Singer-Songwriters

DANIEL PAIGE will be making a highly anticipated return to the Bay Area music scene after following a rather crooked path that included facing down cancer and then becoming a Bay Area acupuncturist. It’s been over 10 years since Daniel and his band, The Beggars Trail, played their last show at the Freight and Salvage, but always in the background he continued to write and record his music - devastatingly original songs that are both personal and timeless. His songs paint poetic and impressionistic pictures saturated with the American West.  With guitar and voice that deftly ranges from the darkly sublime to back-porch playfulness, Daniel stakes a unique place in the crowded world of singer songwriters. This is a rare opportunity to hear his new collection of songs, along with old favorites.

AARON CALVERT is an Oakland, CA musician who has been writing and recording music for 20 years. His band Winfred E. Eye. has a large local following, and has released 5 recordings and toured the U.S.A. This will be Aaron’s first time exploring his work in a solo show fashion (he dreams of someday having a residency in a hotel once a month). His songwriting, guitar playing, and singing can be heard in full band form by visiting the Winfred E. Eye website.  This will be a special intimate chance to hear his work played solo.  Daniel and Aaron with close this show with songs played together.

August 30

Will Sprott of the Mumlers + Paula Frazer

60’s R&B tinged folk rock and alternative country

WILL SPROTT
Will Sprott, also known by his band name The Mumlers, has a penchant for conjuring the specters of haunting ‘60s folk. He wears his influences on his sleeve, borrowing from heyday rock ‘n’ roll just enough to leave room for his own embellishments, of which his soulful voice stands as a distinct highlight. In Sprott’s solo work you’ll find that even more exposed, his talents are given wiggle-room to burst and bloom.

PAULA FRAZER
Paula Frazer music is frequently described as melancholic alternative country, but with an eclectic mix of folk, blues and pop, among other genres, and always emphasizing her extraordinary voice.  She first came to notice by fronting the band Tarnation in the 1990s, which became a cornerstone of the nascent Americana music scene (the album I'll Give You Something To Cry About was touted by Rolling Stone as one of the 25 best Americana records ever).  Frazer has appeared on recordings and in concert with many bands and solo artists including Sean Lennon, Handsome Boy Modeling School, and Nick Cave. Said Spin Magazine: "Frazer's voice has the grande-dame grandeur of Oum Kalthoum, the Southern-belle chime of Patsy Cline, and the rococo phrasing of Joan Baez."

Register ONLINE
$12/ $10 for members; Youth $5; Under 5 free