Weekend shows

We're coming up on a hell of a week of great live music, with both really top-notch local and national bands booked every night from Friday through Thursday (at least).

Don't pay any attention to the fact that this isn't the type of thing that's supposed to be happening in July in Tucson... embrace it. Maybe the heat has lost its edge as the sort of cretinous deterrent that robs us of summer visitors.

We'll start with Friday: It's too bad I can't find any promo downloads for Tongue Dried Sun, because from the sound of things on their MySpace, this new record is a tight bunch of hard and melodic 1990s-type rock tunes. And no wonder, because this Tucson quintet settled in with Alice In Chains producer Dave Jerden with a fairly lengthy stint of recording sessions in LA. I've seen the band a couple times, but these tunes are at least a few steps better than what I remember.

Check out "Holiday," which sounds like the super-mad-mega-hit that any grunge/alternative/metal band had when they turned in a simmering champion of a ballad that starts with an acoustic guitar and ends with you wanting to marry Stephanie Seymour.

Opening the record release show at Congress is Pretty Bird. Smash, the new project from intriguing Tucson singer-songwriter Brian Field, who puts this round in the "hardcore anti-folk" realm, saying the sound is rooted in a 12-string guitar with heavy distortion combined with gigantic drums. Damn.

Saturday brings us a narrowly averted dilemma, saved by an early show at Club Congress. Tracy Shedd takes stage there for a teaser performance in advance of her new record, the triumphant Cigarettes & Smoke Machines, her fourth full-length (but first recorded in Tucson) that comes out in September.

Later Saturday, don't miss Greyhound Soul at Che's Lounge. Tucson's most venerable Americana band never plays better than when they're prepping for a European tour, and the band has no less than 16 dates booked in Germany alone this fall. A band of this caliber at a club as intimate as Che's is an undeniable treat. Few bands in the world can sit so confidently at the intersection of folk, blues, classic rock and alt.country

More later on a Sunday show from storytelling troubadour/rocker James McMurtry and Canadian indie heroes Wolf Parade, who hit the Rialto on Monday. And f'ing Steely Dan (who I'll have to miss) on Tuesday! It hardly seems like late July in the forgotten pueblo...

DOWNLOAD:
Brian Field - And She Moved On (demo)
Tracy Shedd - Blue (Blues Explosion version)
Tracy Shedd - Louder Than You Can Hear album download
Greyhound Soul - Rainer (live)
Greyhound Soul - Angelina