Sacramento-area May music guide: A month of mashups, makeovers and mayhem

Music festival season is coming in hot for the month of May, friends, and we’ve got several locally-sourced shindigs to get to — Honey Hills, Pink Bandit, Reggae on the Creek, Old Sugar Mill and Golden Road are all on deck.

But first, we play dressup.

Costumes aren’t necessarily mandatory for the performers at the Sac Halloween Show, but a heavy dose of creativity is required for this swarm of sonic cosplay. It’s a full-day feast of tribute performances and homages, with a twist. Let us explain: Culling through multiple fan submissions for ideas, event organizers landed on a theme of “occupations” for this year’s shindig (previous themes included “royalty” and the slightly blushing “body parts”).

From there, the gates open for throngs of local musicians to lay claim to performing in tribute to a specific musical act of their choosing, fitting within that theme. Just some of the fabled “occupational” acts receiving tributes this year include the Police, the Smiths, MGMT, Big Thief, Judas Priest, Stone Temple Pilots, the Stooges, Kraftwerk, the Carpenters, Men at Work, the Breeders and Presidents of the United States of America ... get the idea?

I’m clamoring for Dr. Teeth & the Electric Mayhem, but beggars can’t be choosers.

But there’s another twist in the rules that participating artists must follow: individual local musicians have signed up to serve as forerunners for each tribute, but they are also tasked with assembling a completely unique band for the show. So, we can’t tell you which local bands are going to be there, because they don’t currently exist — and may never exist again. The entire thing is a beautifully chaotic blank canvas for Sacramento’s music community to collaborate and mishmash within itself, to forge a platoon of one-off troupes and ramshackle supergroups — check out some prior videos on the event’s Instagram. (3 p.m. Saturday, May 23, The Red Museum, 212 15th St. instagram.com/sachalloweenshow).

The women-led Honey Hills Fest, founded by Rahlene Weeden and Amanda Chavez, is celebrating its third year by spreading out over five days and five different venues in Nevada City and Grass Valley. The ever-expanding lineup finds a trio of scintillating headliners and a number of intriguing undercards to headline a festival with a mission of promoting gender equality in the music industry, and showcasing local and regional women and fem-presenting musicians and artists. Atop the bill is powerhouse singer-songwriter/indie artist Thao, the eponymous title of Thao Nguyen, centerpiece of indie darlings Thao & the Get Down Stay Down. She’ll be joined by fantasyscape experimental pop artist Hectorine for the festival’s closing night at Nevada City’s The Fern (May 24). The penultimate gig, produced alongside Bright Futures For Youth and held at Grass Valley’s NEO Youth Center (May 23), is punk night and features legendary Bay Area punk troupe The Avengers, still helmed by fireballing founding frontwoman Penelope Houston, flanked by Oakland horror-themed punk act Creepy Crawlies and Sacramento oi rumblers Aggressive Manner.

On the wind of her newly released gem “Hard Hearted Woman,” stirring upstart Ora Cogan flashes an intense and searingly captive array of psych-crafted ballads, fused with gothic country and smoky, hazy indie folk. Cogan is joined by dreamily pastoral artist Angelica Rockne (with shades of Weyes Blood running thick) at Stardust Station on May 16. New in the venue rotation this year is Nevada City’s beloved dive, the Mine Shaft, hosting a four-band local artist showcase led by the “blackened ethereal fairyfolk metal” of Queen Mage, with quirked-up folk jazz hooligans Awkward Pocket, Oliah Fall and Marina Sanford (May 22). An all-lady DJ lineup of Arllenes, DJ Stone Fruit and DJ Angelfish serves as the opening night kickoff dance party at Sans Backup Plan Records on May 15 (eventbrite.com; instagram.com/thehoneyhillsfest).

Bookending the month is the doubled-up ultra-local Pink Bandit Music Fest — held last year as a one-day event in Auburn but this year hosting two brimming lineups in Sacramento and Davis. Topping the first lineup is local rap duo The New Era and mind-twisting madcap experimental pop mixologist Pregnant, joined by San Francisco electronic alt-rock project Dear Banshee, alt-rap/dance act Xai-Tek, Alabama art-folk peddler Graven Tyler, Portland alt-folk/indie artist Parking Tickets, L.A. indie rapper Frankie Linstrom and locals Isaac Morris, Aiko Shimada, Rated R and Rumi Shimada (1 p.m. Saturday, May 2 at Musiclandria, 808 O St. $15/$20). The second act goes down in Davis at the Baggin’s End Domes housing co-op on the outer rings of the UC Davis campus, welcoming zigzagging psych rock act Tashow, experimental indie act Yo!, Nineteenth Operator, Alex Makeev Trio, Brandon Pigeon, Brendan Speights and Jazmine Monterrosa (6 p.m. Saturday, May 30. $15. instagram.com/pinkbanditmusicfest).

Get those island vibes for a day out in Winters for the ’26 iteration of Reggae on the Creek, at the cozy creekside Green River Taproom. This year’s bill is topped by south state reggae jam rock-rousers Fortunate Youth and a return from 2025 headliner Marlon Asher, the Trinidadian roots/dancehall reggae pioneer perhaps best known for his ubiquitous hit “Ganja Farmer.” Soul-tinged songstress Anora, reggae rock acts Pipe Down and One Sharp Mind and beat merchants Squarefield Massive and JayTwo join the party, with Ras Rebel emceeing (12 p.m. Saturday, May 9, 4513 Putah Creek Road, Winters. $60.54. reggaeonthecreek.com).

We’re already into Year 4 of Placerville’s affable three-day Golden Road Gathering, and their bursting manifest, as we’ve already come to annually expect, is a heater. We get a promised two-hour marathon from funk/soul machine Lettuce and two sets apiece from mainstage jam heroes STS9 and Leftover Salmon. Joining the party are bluegrass mensches and noted IPA haters the Brothers Comatose, Hip Abduction, Polish Ambassador, Chali 2Na & Cut Chemist, Boot Juice, the Sam Chase & the Untraditional, recently revived dirtroad blues/roots rock darling Little Hurricane and tons more (May 15-17, El Dorado County Fairgrounds. goldenroadgathering.com).

We’re not saying it’s not relevant today, but there remains an innately nostalgic quality to Grandaddy’s 2000 gem “The Sophtware Slump” — whether the CD once nestled cozily in your CaseLogic binder or you spent three days trying to download it via dial-up on Napster. Revisiting it feels like you were shrunk down to an angstrom and zipped straight into your 3.5-inch floppy drive for a drug-addled microscopic spirit quest through the landscapes of circuit boards powering your Windows 98 ... apologies readers under 40. Real talk: There is no anthology of indie rock in the Central Valley — or anywhere else — that wouldn’t include due citations of the Jason Lytle-led, Modesto-bred maestros. The prodigious and deviously inventive project revived in 2024 for the release of the torturously bittersweet, emotionally bludgeoning cosmic country-flecked delicacy “Blu Wav.” With their current tour celebrating the quarter-century anniversary of “Slump,” the premise of songs from those two records in the same set feels like a bloodily beautiful coup d’etat between the analog and digital realms (With The Cle Elum. 7 p.m. Friday, May 22 at Ace of Spades. $45.50. aceofspadessac.com).

Hard to believe we’re already encroaching on a full year since the passing of irreplaceable Sacramento blues fixture Mick Martin, who tragically passed away last July at the age of 76. Even when the next 76 years have passed us by, it’s unlikely that this town’s blues community will have forgotten him or ceased celebrating his legacy. The Mick Martin Celestial Birthday Celebration doubles as a fundraiser for Sacramento Blues Society’s Blues in the Schools and features the newest iteration of Mick Martin Big Blues Band featuring Marcel Smith, joined by local torchbearers Dana Moret and Katie Knipp. The Becketts, a Blues in the Schools family band honoring some of Martin’s favorite ‘60s British blues songs, opens the festivities (7 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at The Sofia. $40. bstreettheatre.org).

A fixture of the local music scene, folk/rock/punk/reggae mishmasher Lizz Shine is dishing up her hook-rich and ever-personable sophomore album, “The Reckoning,” backed by her ebullient band of co-conspirators, the HRT — consisting of Tree Pearson, Eudora Star and Anacrusis. This release show is overflowing with local talent including Eli Conley Quartet and KC Shane & the Belonging, with collabs and appearances from the seemingly omnipresent Jakhari Smith, Cameron Love, Mercy Rei Tanq and Jake Traugott (8 p.m. Saturday, May 16, at Starlet Room. $20.40. harlows.com; instagram.com/lizz_shine).

Also at Starlet this month is the first crack at a live show as a solo act for indie rock upstart brendon b (frontman of the presently on-hiatus indie outfit Mom Cars). We’re intrigued after hearing this Backyard Session recording of tracks such as the frolicking “Darts” and “My Roommates Are Playing D&D” (been there, my dude). He’s joined by a duo set from standout Davis singer-songwriter Nat Lefkoff, along with janglepop outfit Illbie (8 p.m. Wednesday, May 6. $20.40. harlows.com; instagram.com/b.rendonb).

A bit more heat (measured in decibels) than perhaps is the norm down in Clarksburg? The Old Sugar Mill R&B Music Festival brings a troupe of funk, soul and R&B acts topped by Cameo (known for “Word Up” and “Candy”), Vallejo natives Con Funk Shun and Club Nouveau, with Shawn Raiford, Joe Leavy, Sugar High Band, and Lucky Witherspoon joining the party (1 p.m. Saturday, May 30, at the Old Sugar Mill, 35265 Willow Ave, Clarksburg. $55.20. eventbrite.com).

Concert season is in swing at Rocklin’s alluringly intimate Quarry Park Amphitheater, which has been building increasingly robust summer lineups over the last several years. A pair of reggae-rooted performers in J Boog (May 3) and Collie Buddz (May 21) are getting the season cooking this month. Coming weeks bring us the likes of venerable post-punk rockers Psychedelic Furs (June 14), country vet Joe Nichols (June 18), a Portland royal court co-headline from Blind Pilot and John Craigie (June 19), present day blues guitar bodhisattva Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (Aug. 1), a pair of reggae rock titans in The Movement and Pepper (Aug. 13), Delta blues ace Tab Benoit’s “Soul of the Swamp” tour (Sept. 4), country mainstay Rodney Atkins (Sept. 17), with Eli Young Band and ’90’s staple Wallflowers closing the season on Oct. 1 and 17, respectively (quarryparkconcerts.com).

Not a “concert” per se, but we’d be remiss not to bid adieu to Lipstick, the beloved dance floor blowout that’s been a staple of midtown nightlife since 2000. The venerable soiree has changed frequencies and days over the years (Tuesday nights, anyone?), but the “indie sleaze” has stayed firmly intact in the hands of DJs Shaun Slaughter and Adam Jay — think needle drops from the likes of Tame Impala, LCD Soundsystem, the xx, Strokes, Phoenix, Arcade Fire and their ilk. The pair give Lipstick one more sweat-drenched go (8 p.m. Saturday at Old Ironsides, 1901 10th St. theoldironsides.com) before hanging up the 26 year-long series for good (perhaps...).