The Sacramento Beat: WinterWonderGrass, Kith & Kin festivals highlight March concert calendar

We’re giddy over the lineups for a pair of festivals in Rancho Cordova and Tahoe coming up during the final week of March — but there’s plenty to whet the palate before those shindigs roll around!

Local artists, message me on Instagram if you have upcoming shows, @adavis_threetosee.

Your literal first concert of the month is Sac State’s “Nooner” with flamethrowing local troupe Ideateam, ‘cause what better way to beat back the midweek funk than with some midweek funk (noon Wednesday, March 1, University Union Redwood Room at Sacramento State. Free. theuniversityunion.com). This long-running series, put on by the campus’ “UNIQUE” volunteer programs group, also has pop-punk act 5000 Revolutions Per Minute (March 8) and salsa dancing lessons with Romi Sunga (March 15).

Be forewarned: John Craigie is a dangerous man, as measured by how perilously easy it is to swoon hopelessly over his weighted-and-heated blanket of earnest folk and the endlessly affable wit and humor zigzagging through his cheeky-sweet catalog. With his throwback ballads and interwoven storytelling, this modern troubadour offers himself up as your new best friend with each set he plays, if only for that precious short while. Tickets are in short supply (8 p.m. Friday, March 3 at the Sofia, with Ballroom Thieves. $28-$38. bstreettheatre.org).

A newcomer on the K Street bar and restaurant scene (and current finalist in the Downtown Partnership’s annual “Calling All Dreamers” program), the DOCO-adjacent Teetotalist popped open in January, offering up a menu composed entirely of alcohol-free drinks. They’re also hosting assorted live music events, including an upcoming gig on the “hidden rooftop” of their building — and we are here for it! Local soul-funk groove machine The Gold Souls — playing as a seven-piece and boasting an all-female horn section — hold court on the roof at “golden hour,” with a full array of zero-proof mixed drinks and N/A brews available for purchase (4 p.m. Saturday, March 4, 830 K St. $20. www.eventbrite.com).

Renaissance man Pokey LaFarge seems to have had the misfortune of being born five decades too late. A vintage crooner and hot jazz/blues merchant of his ilk ought to be hawking his sonic wares some time in the late ’40s. Fortunately for us, he’s here now to remind us of the joys of days gone by. His newest record, 2021’s “In The Blossom Of Their Shade” pumps a few gusts of island vibes into his pre-existing swinging grooves — as though he spilled a tiki drink into the wax while cutting the record under a grove of swaying palms. Don’t miss the opening set from Cicada Rhythm (8 p.m. Tuesday, March 7 at Harlow’s. $25. www.harlow’s.com).

Our pals at Old Ironsides started hosting music again a few months ago, but, could they really claim to be officially “back” without their classic stage being re-christened by The Brodys? They’ve held court there ... well, we’re not sure of the official count, but if it’s not in triple digits yet, it’s gotta be close. It was north of sixty long before this reporter sprouted the first of what is now a spring bloom of grays. The venerably jubilant local pop-rock act is back to smash a bottle of champagne (and probably a few Bud Lights) against the ol’ gal’s hull, with support from Love Dogs and Jet Black Popes (7:30 p.m. Friday, March 10. $10. theoldironsides.com). No official word yet, but social media posts hint that the Brodys are working up a few new tunes this spring. We’re all in on that, however even after more than two decades, we’re still not sick of hearing “Beer Truck Driver” played live. Now you’re back, Old I’s. Now you’re back.

Later in the month, Old Ironsides also hosts sonic mixologist and one-man-act That 1 Guy (a.k.a. Mike Silverman), who moons ago must have had some kind of madman’s vision of how he wanted his own speciality instrument to perform. Since such an instrument didn’t exist, he built it himself. Known as “the Magic Pipe,” his self-made sonic jungle gym is a snaking tower of pipe, metal and string — like an upright bass got sucked into a game of Super Mario Bros. and gulped down a platter of mushrooms and fire flowers before it found the warp zone — through which he deploys a series of bangs, strums and loops that form the backbone of his wizard-like songs and compositions (7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 28. $15. www.theoldironsides.com).

Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, joined by blues vets Anson Funderburgh and Rusty Zinn, are performing what is now slated as an annual fundraiser for Sacramento Blues Society’s newly created Little Charlie Baty Memorial Music Scholarship. This gig is also, of course, a celebration of the dearly departed former Nightcats bandleader (7 p.m. Thursday, March 23 at Harlow’s. $40/$45. www.harlow’s.com).

You can pretty much feel the excitement pouring out of Claimstake Brewing head honcho Brian Palmer over the fact that Ben Nichols — who fronts country rock titans Lucero — is headlining Claimstake’s third installment of the Kith & Kin Music Festival. This hootenanny doubles as the seventh-anniversary party for Claimstake, which has become something of a regional haven for alt-country/folk/country-punk gigs (acoustic or otherwise), be that local or touring talent. To wit, Sacramento legend Kevin Seconds is part of a stacked Sunday afternoon lineup that also features the rowdy Michael Dean Dameron, Chad Price (of ALL, Drag the River, and A Vulture Wake), Sammy Kay and the Seasonal Depression, Cole Hinkle & the Debauchery and Kitkit Dizzy. Oh yeah, and they make pretty darn good beer there, too! (11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, March 26, 11366 Monier Park Place, Rancho Cordova. $55. www.eventbrite.com).

Bluegrass aficionados know that the annual WinterWonderGrass Festival lineup is always a gem. But, come on ... in any music festival there’s got to be a reasonable spot to step away from the stages and take a rest, right? No such opportunities exist in this year’s slate — there are no artists one could genuinely feel OK about missing. Fortunately, many of them play multiple sets in one of three heated and covered side-stage tents (flanked by an array of beer-tasting stations), making this one of the more indescribably fantastic festival setups you’re ever going to find. Main stage lineup toppers include Trampled by Turtles, Greensky Bluegrass, the Lone Bellow, the Main Squeeze, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, the Brothers Comatose and a couple of electric-forward party crashers in prodigious bluesman Marcus King and indie-soul breakout Neal Francis. You’ve also got Cris Jacobs Band, Mapache, local mainstay Dead Winter Carpenters, psych-ramblers Daniel Donato’s Cosmic County, and the unceasingly delightful AJ Lee & Blue Summit, with the latter playing all three days (Friday, March 31 through Sunday, April 2 at Palisades Tahoe. winterwondergrass.com/tahoe).

Grab bag: Ramshackle Sacramento indie-Americana veterans Golden Shoulders team up with Aaron Ross for a cozy gig at the Side Door (7 p.m. Sat. March 4, 2900 Franklin Blvd. $20. www.thesidedoor.net); Iconic gospel-soul veteran Tye Tribbett brings his “All Things New” tour to the Crest Theatre (8 p.m. Thursday, March 9. $45-$65. www.crestsacramento.com); Local rock staple Drop Dead Red gets after it at Harlow’s with the Vobes, North by North and Longboy (7 p.m. Sun. March 12. $12/$15. www.harlows.com); Indie rock forerunners Built to Spill continue what feels like a lengthy unbroken streak of keeping Harlow’s gigs on their itinerary (with Oruã and Disco Doom. 8 p.m. Wed. March 29. $32.50/$35. www.harlows.com); master trumpeter and modern jazz-pop fixture Chris Botti visits the Crest (8 p.m. Thurs. March 30. $59-$99. www.crestsacramento.com).

This story was originally published February 26, 2023 at 5:00 AM.