Live music on tap for Johnnyk and friends....

Sunday finds us busy lining up music dates for the coming months. Already in place:

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals on 9/15 at Radio City Music Hall in NYC with JFK and G-Man. Huge fan of Ben's album with the Blind Boys of Alabama, There Will Be a Light, which won a Grammy in 2004 for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album .

Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles on 9/22 at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton with Keith & Sharie. I may sneak down to Cafe Nine the night before to catch the show, but the others opt out of post-11pm show times. The new album, Diamonds in the Dark, is a great followup to their initial Silver City release. Buy it. Hear an interview on NPR's World Cafe Live here.

Lucinda Williams at the Town Hall in NYC with Keith/Sharie to hear Lucinda perform her self-titled album in its entirety as part of her unique LA/NYC gig of playing five different albums on consecutive nights on each coast. Williams will be performing the albums in reverse chronological order, beginning with 2003's WORLD WITHOUT TEARS on the first night, followed by 2001's ESSENCE, 1998's CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD, 1992's SWEET OLD WORLD, and ending with 1988's LUCINDA WILLIAMS on the final evening on each coast. Following each album performance, Williams and her band (guitarist Doug Pettibone, bassist David Sutton and drummer Butch Norton) will play a second set of material from her 2007 album WEST along with songs from throughout her career, plus some special surprises.