AMP Concerts - Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Upcoming Events

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Mark Olson
Boris McCutcheon
The Cooperage
7220 Lomas Blvd NE
(Just east of Louisiana)
7:30 PM
21 and over

Mark Olson was a founding member of The Jayhawks, the most acclaimed band to emerge out of the alt-country scene. He left the Jayhawks in 1996, after the release of the band's biggest-selling album, Tomorrow The Green Grass, but continued to record music with his new band, The Creekdippers, at his new home in the California desert. Mark recently finished recording his first true solo album, The Salvation Blues, with producer Ben Vaughn. A deeply personal album, Mark's voice and poetic lyrics are complemented by Vaughn's gorgeous musical backdrops featuring the work of some of LA's best studio musicians. The album also features the long-awaited reunion with his former Jayhawks bandmate and writing partner, Gary Louris, on three songs.

Sunday, May 25, 2008
Blue Rodeo
Luke Doucet and the White Falcon
Santa Fe Brewing Company
27 Fire Place (South at Cerillos exit on NM14)
6 PM

bluerodeo By today's standards, it can be called a miracle if a band stays together for five years and records two albums, but what would you call it when a band has been recording best selling albums for twenty years? Blue Rodeo recently released Small Miracles, the band's 11th studio recording. The thirteen track album once again features the storied songwriting talents of Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor. Opening the show is Nova Scotia-born Luke Doucet, who has released several well regarded solo albums and also performed with artists such as Sarah McLachlan and Chantal Kreviazuk.

Monday, June 2, 2008
Beirut
The Brunettes
Santa Fe Brewing Company
27 Fire Place (South at Cerillos exit on NM14)
6:30 PM

beirut Beirut is the name of Santa Fe native Zach Condon's one-man band. Though young, Condon has already released a few albums. He recorded under the name Real People when he was 15, which was an electronic record admittedly fashioned after his love of the Magnetic Fields. At 16, he recorded an entire doo-wop album that was inspired by Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. Condon attended Santa Fe High School, where he was a student until he dropped out at the age of 16 to travel Europe, where he was first exposed to Balkan gypsy music. Beirut's latest album, The Flying Club Cup, is an homage to France's culture, fashion, history and music. In fact, each song intends to evoke a different French city. Opening the show is Auckland, New Zealand pop band The Brunettes.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Cowboy Junkies
KiMo Theatre
423 Central Ave. NW
7:30 PM

Show sponsor: OGB Architectural Millwork

Cowboy Junkies formed in 1985 in Toronto, and the band is still comprised of its four original members: Margo Timmins (vocals), Michael Timmins (guitar), Peter Timmins (drums) and Alan Anton (bass)—all siblings except for life-long-family-friend Alan. Few bands have lasted nearly as long with their original line-up intact, and fewer still have created as consistently satisfying a body of work. Cowboy Junkies' latest studio album is At the End of Paths Taken. Despite its title, the album is as much about new beginnings as it is about endings. It is also about human connections, the struggle to sustain those connections over time, and the complexities that can arise even when those connections are maintained. It is, in other words, a classic Cowboy Junkies album—a suite of smart, richly textured songs. The band also recently released a CD/DVD set called Trinity Revisited, a 20th anniversary celebration of its classic 1987 album The Trinity Session.

Friday, June 6, 2008
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Detroit Cobras
Santa Fe Brewing Company
27 Fire Place (South at Cerillos exit on NM14)
7:30 PM

Formed in 1977 when Billy Zoom and John Doe placed virtually identically worded ads in the same paper on the same day looking to start a band, Exene soon followed, and once DJ Bonebrake was found, the band X was complete. Discovered by ex-Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek, the band went on to record such landmark albums as Los Angeles in 1980, the similarly punked-up Wild Gift in 1981, while their 1982 album, Under The Big Black Sun, began what would be a long career in merging hard rock, country, Americana, and folk into their fiery mix. Now, the original lineup has reunited for a series of club shows in 2008. Opening the show is one of the earliest groups to emerge from the Detroit garage rock scene, the Detroit Cobras.

Monday, June 9, 2008
The Waybacks
The Cooperage
7220 Lomas Blvd NE
(Just east of Louisiana)
7:30 PM
21 and over

They draw freely from the old school and the old world, but The Waybacks are no throwback. They've been erroneously pigeonholed as a bluegrass band and celebrated as purveyors of "acoustic mayhem." They are as uninhibited and unpredictable as the eclectic San Francisco Bay area that claims them, and for nearly a decade, their experiments have always proven sharp-witted and musically dazzling. They're living proof that in music anyway, evolution and intelligent design are entirely compatible. The Waybacks are enjoying a refreshed repertoire—one that's touched by Memphis soul, honky-tonk, Parisian swing, classical music, vintage blue pop and much more besides.

Thursday, June 12, 2008
Anaïs Mitchell & Antje Duvekot
Windchime Champagne Gallery
518 Central Avenue SW
7:30 PM

Vermont native Anaïs Mitchell entered the underground folk scene in 2002. Mitchell, who grew up on a sheep farm, makes small-sounding, big-thinking folk albums that play like a front-porch serenade. Her 2004 release, Hymns For The Exiled, reached the ears of Ani DiFranco, a songwriter whose fusion of personal and political themes was a formative influence on a teenaged Mitchell. After seeing a few of Anaïs' captivating concerts, DiFranco signed the artist to her label, Righteous Babe Records; Mitchell's Righteous Babe debut, The Brightness, was released in February 2007.

Antje Duvekot (pronounced Aunt-ya Doo-va-kot) first gained prominence when a song she wrote was covered by Irish supergroup Solas on their The Edge of Silence CD. Solas founder Seamus Egan returned the favor by producing Duvekot's first major studio CD, Big Dream Boulevard. Duvekot, who was born in Heidelberg, Germany and moved to the U.S. as a teenager, believes that her bicultural upbringing, and her relative newness to English, helped shape her unique way with a song, giving her a startlingly original poetic palette.

Saturday, June 14, 2008
Moira Smiley & VOCO
Robertson and Sons Violin Center
3201 Carlisle NE
8 PM

Show sponsor: Zoukfest

Moira Smiley and VOCO dig deep into the amazing spectrum of human voice as they sing post-folk, improvised-built ditties, ballads, vocal symphonies and dance songs. VOCO, founded in 2004 in Los Angeles, sings with the energy of street singing, the risks of improvisation and the wild side of harmony and rhythm. The unusual, rich and percussive combination of cello and banjo weave the funk and low end into the vocals. The members of VOCO (who have played with artists from Rufus Wainwright to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Peter, Paul & Mary to Pauline Oliveros) bring their joyous energy to the stage with original song, body percussion, a cappella shape-note sets and even Bartok.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Drive-By Truckers
Santa Fe Brewing Company
27 Fire Place (South at Cerillos exit on NM14)
7 PM

dbt Equal parts back porch historians, runaway drunken firecrackers, and poets of the hard life and how to live it, the Drive-By Truckers are the self-proclaimed kings of whiskey-soaked, redneck rock 'n' roll. Their latest album, Brighter Than Creation's Dark, is a 19-song set that runs the gamut from old-timey sounding country to a heavy R&B influence. The Truckers are pushing beyond singing about the South to universal themes of love and pain and determination with more drive and more passion than they have ever displayed before. PopMatters.com raves, "The Drive-By Truckers are one of the best live bands operating today... They give the impression every time they play an old song that they're playing it for the first time."

Santa Fe International Folk Art Market weekend

The largest international folk art market in the world and well worth a trip to Santa Fe on July 12 or 13. We are bringing some of the musical entertainment to Albuquerque with a pair of excellent concerts outside in the charming Fountain Courtyard at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, but you'll have to visit Santa Fe to experience the market proper which features over 140 artists from 40 different countries. It's an unbelievable cultural experience that is not to be missed.

Buy a 2-day pass and save!

Friday, July 11, 2008
Hassan Hakmoun
National Hispanic Cultural Center
Fountain Courtyard (outside!)
1701 4th St SW
8 PM

Revisit ¡Globalquerque! 2007 by returning to the outdoor Fountain Courtyard for a night of Gnawan Moroccan trance music featuring the Hassan Hakmoun trio. Hakmoun, originally from Morocco, is currently a New York-based musician who will take you into the mysterious world of the Gnawa. Former slaves originally from the Sudan who travelled to Morocco and converted to Islam, the Gnawa people of Morocco serve as intermediaries in the spirit world and also as entertainers. Hassan was raised in Marrakech and began to study the healing rituals of tagnawit, the Gnawa-related arts and lore, at a young age; by age four, he performed alongside snake charmers and fire-breathers on the streets of Marrakech. His travels led him to Europe and the U.S., where he has absorbed elements from a variety of popular styles including jazz, rock, funk, and hip-hop, and eventually to participate in several WOMAD tours, recordings with his fusion group Zahar and work with Peter Gabriel.

Sunday, July 13, 2008
Quetzal
Concepto Tambor
National Hispanic Cultural Center
Fountain Courtyard (outside!)
1701 4th St SW
7 PM

In the early nineties, in a tiny cafe on the outskirts of Little Tokyo Los Angeles, Quetzal Flores, a son of two community organizers, formed Quetzal - a new experience in Chicano Music. His goal was to push the boundaries of Chicano Music as we knew it. Twelve years later Quetzal has become one of Los Angeles' most important and successful groups. Proclaimed by no less an authority than Los Lobos as "ready to carry the torch for Los Angeles's Chicano community," Quetzal embodies the soul and the struggle at the heart of the Mexican-American legacy. Their mix of Mexican and Afro-Cuban rhythms, Jazz, R&B, and Rock is supercharged by the dynamic vocals of Martha Gonzalez. Their commitment to using art as a tool for social change is informed and inspired by global grassroots movements. Aside from touring, the band frequently engages in organizing and participating in opening spaces for transnational dialogue. For the past five years they have been instrumental in developing Fandango Sin Fronteras, a dialogue between Chicanos from California and Jarochos (musicians from Veracruz, Mexico). Opening the show will be Afro-Latino percussion ensemble Concepto Tambor.

Sunday, July 27, 2008
Yonder Mountain String Band
Santa Fe Brewing Company
27 Fire Place (South at Cerillos exit on NM14)
6 PM

ymsb Although the Yonder Mountain String Band was formed in Nederland, CO, its origins go back to Urbana, IL, where college student and banjo player Dave Johnston met mandolin player Jeff Austin. Austin moved west and settled in Nederland. Johnston joined him there, and the two met bass player Ben Kaufmann and guitarist Adam Aijala at a club called the Verve. In December 1998, they formed the Yonder Mountain String Band to open for a band at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. They developed a following among bluegrass fans and also among jam band fans as they played extensively and worked their way up the bar and club circuit in the West to large venues like Red Rocks and the Fillmore. Using bluegrass as its bedrock, the band has grown like few rock bands even do these days.

Saturday, August 9, 2008
Lyle Lovett
Paolo Soleri Amphitheater
1501 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe
7:30 PM

Lyle Lovett is one of the all-time great American singer/songwriters. His voice is unique, but his antecedents are recognizable. In his work two roads come together—the trail blazed by the great Texas storytellers of whom Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark are the best known, and the crooked highway navigated by sophisticated wise-asses such as Randy Newman and Tom Waits. Lovett's first gift was to combine these two potent strands of musical DNA into a new genome able to generate songs as brilliant and double-sided as "If I Had A Boat," "God Will," "If I Were the Man You Wanted," "Family Reserve" and "Her First Mistake." That would be plenty for any composer to base a career on, but Lovett was also capable of both flat-out humor ("That's Right (You're Not From Texas"), "Here I Am," "Church") and heartbreakers that were poignant without ever descending into sentimentality ("She's Already Made Up Her Mind," "Nobody Knows Me," "The Road To Ensenada"). What emerged was a picture of a smart and complicated man, whose good humor and generosity of spirit were holding back a darker character.

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Tim Finn
Lobo Theater
3013 Central Ave NE
8 PM

It has been an eclectic 30 years since Tim Finn's first band Split Enz took his native New Zealand and Australia by storm, scoring hits such as "I See Red," "I Hope I Never" and "Six Months In A Leaky Boat," while thrilling audiences with their transcendent live shows. Finn has since recorded several acclaimed solo albums, including his most recent, Imaginary Kingdom, which has been called "an atmospheric and joyous collection of beautifully written songs," and collaborated with his brother Neil in both Crowded House and Split Enz.

Globalquerque! September 19-20, 2008
¡Globalquerque!
National Hispanic Cultural Center
1701 4th St SW

New Mexico's Annual Celebration of World Music and Culture will return to the NHCC in September! Our fourth annual show, produced in partnership with Avokado Artists, will feature a brand-new lineup of great artists from all over the world! Don't miss it!

Saturday, October 11, 2008
Fiamma Fumana
The Cooperage
7220 Lomas Blvd NE
(Just east of Louisiana)
7:30 PM
21 and over

The big hit of ¡Globalquerque! 2007! Fiamma Fumana began as a studio project in 1999—a tribute to the female vocal tradition of Northern Italy (like the choirs of mondine, the rice gatherers who were all young girls) revitalized by a new generation and electronic dance music culture. The result is an intriguing blend of old Italian dance tunes played to new Italian dance grooves, traditional ballads and state-of-the art electronica. To these young urbanite Europeans, electronic beats make a natural bedrock for re-interpreting the songs of previous generations. Female vocals connect past to future with unforgettable pathos. One other key ingredient, a rare regional bagpipe called the piva Emiliana, adds an unexpected Celtic-sounding flavor to the mix. The result is clearly Italian yet broadly international in its appeal.

Greg Brown Friday, November 7, 2008
Greg Brown
KiMo Theatre
423 Central Ave NW
8 PM

Greg Brown's mother played electric guitar, his grandfather played banjo, and his father was a Holy Roller preacher in the Hacklebarney section of Iowa, where the Gospel and music are a way of life. Brown's first professional singing job came at age 18 in New York City, running hootenannies (folksinger get-togethers) at the legendary Gerdes Folk City. After a year, Brown moved west to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where he was a ghostwriter for Buck Ram, founder of the Platters. Tired of the fast-paced life, Brown traveled with a band for a few years, and even quit playing for a while before he moved back to Iowa and began writing songs and playing in midwestern clubs and coffeehouses. Brown's songwriting has been lauded by many, and his songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana, Michael Johnson, Shawn Colvin, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. He has also recorded more than a dozen albums, including his latest release, Live from the Big Top, which documents one of Greg's live performances at the Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Thanks To Our Sponsors!

There is a lot involved in putting on these events. We couldn't do it without our sponsors, McCune Charitable Foundation, Southwest Roots Music, 999dine.com,New Mexico Tourism, Holiday Inn Select-Albuquerque Airport, and WESTAF. We are happy to have sound support from Audio Excellence. Endless gratitude to these folks for providing exceptional goods and services. Contact neal@abqmusic.com if you'd like to discuss sponsorship options or discounted rates at our sponsor hotels.

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