Sacramento-area June concert picks: Davis Music Fest, Lemon Twigs, Emerson Woolf and more
It’s year 14 and counting for the revelrous Davis Music Festival, and its preciously rare approach of taking over multiple venues and turning the city’s central core into an almost South by Southwest-styled weekend of sonic merriment, courtesy of more than 30 different acts.
The bulk of the festival takes place Saturday, June 20, throughout downtown Davis, with a central stage on C Street flanked by gigs at Delta of Venus, Sophia’s Thai Kitchen, Armadillo Music and Odd Fellows Hall, with sets courtesy of the likes of quirky Bay Area brass battalion Mission Delirium (who will lead a march through the streets), pop punk mainstay Dog Party, gruff alt-folk rock conquistador the Sam Chase & the Untraditional, funked up troupes Gold Souls, Boot Juice, Orchestra Gold, Royal Jelly Jive and Big Blu Soul Revue and grasping electro-indie act Rituals of Mine, among others. Do not ignore the bookending single-venue slates: Friday at Sudwerk Brewing has veteran Americana rock acts Dead Winter Carpenters and Golden Cadillacs, with the ethereally stirring Marty O’Reilly Trio, Megan Slankard and others, with a LabRats-heavy Sunday finale at Delta of Venus, where the local soul/jazz/hip-hop monarchs helm their own tunes and also back a pair of sets from standout emcee Jakhari Smith and jazz/soul songstress Alicia Huff, along with Westones, Sol Peligro and more.
A single ticket gets you access to all the weekend venues and sets (June 19-21. $43.19. davismusicfest.com).
A dive into some of the earliest EPs and demos from New Jersey spitfire Emerson Woolf & the Wishbones yields quite the voyage — like a perfectly sedate and richly contemplative psychedelics trip from Sierra Ferrell crashed mercilessly by a vibe-busting and especially feisty Moldy Peaches. Her new 2026 release, “The World Is Your Oyster,” seems as though Waxahatchee showed up just in the nick of time to properly mediate the situation, but still with an ax of two of her own to grind. Laden with contemplative folk, tinglingly gothic alt-country and pearls of feisty, hospitable pop, “Oyster” feels like a moment of arrival - as refined and meticulously crafted as the wanderlust songwriter may ever allow a record to be, erecting no barrier that could not be easily razed with a firm kick if the spirited tunes get a little restless and yearn for destinations not mapped out on the original manifest (with Sydney Sprague. 7 p.m. Friday, June 12, at Folsom Hotel. $27.47. folsomhotelsaloon.com)
A new player on the music festival field, Gander Tap House is running out their inaugural Dust on the Tracks Fest, headlined by endlessly enchanting folk/roots act Two Runner. Helmed by Paige Anderson, their newest bluegrass-tinged track “Burnout” glides seamlessly into their rich catalog, serving as the sort of billowing summer breeze kissed anthem we could all use to navigate these maddening times. Two Runner is buttressed by a cavalcade of boisterously rootsy country acts all deeply versed in their genre’s bloodlines, who freely celebrate them with aplomb. You’ve got Bar Jay Bar — “Too Late to Call it a Night” indeed as long as the beers are still flowing and that throwback barroom twang is pulsing — with that the sultry “High Desert Daydream” from the vivacious Noelle & the Deserters, and crooning gin joint roots rockers Jail Preacher. Americana/folk standouts Manzanita and feisty troubadour Tommy Luke round out a formidable maiden voyage festival for the already lively Loomis suds parlor, in what stylistically feels like the makings of one massively elongated golden hour (3 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 13, 3550 Taylor Road. $55.20. gandertaphouse.com).
A three-peat for the vivacious Capital City Surf Clash, with its third annual installment bringing a combustive quartet of surf-seared hellcats topped by Garden Grove’s 3LH. Bask in the quartet’s newest single, “Cadillac,” a tumbling, sun-splashed joyride through the best of all Southern California worlds — careering toward the beach but happy to peel the tires at the first glimpse of any alley, patio or dingy club where spontaneous rock ‘n’ roll revelry lies in wait (cold beer required for warm riffs). Sacramento standout instrumental surf rock ambassadors the Me Gustas, also the hosts and curators of this shimmering shindig, perform along with Oakland “high octwang” instrumental rock outfit Greasy Gills — and all have the unenviable duty of following rambunctious rebel rousers Dangerforce 5 (7 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at Cafe Colonial. $15. colonialpresents.com).
No one would have ever accused retro-rock ragamuffins the Lemon Twigs of shying away from sweat-beading reverence to the Beatles - the hivemind of New York brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario has seemed plugged into those channels since the onset of their workmanlike project a decade ago. Their freshly released “Look For Your Mind,” however, may be their most cosmically Fab Four mind-melded release to date; their sixth release is about as close as you’ll ever come to summoning the ghost of George Harrison without an Ouija board, a weathered Rickenbacker and a few hits of ... well, you know. No tracks would seem out of place strewn across the Abbey Road Studios cutting room floor — like if that fabled rooftop concert had been a lightning rod for entry into the powerpop mayhem of the ’70s rather than ultimately the final page of the storybook. Similarly flower powered Detroit pop rock troupe Mod Lang supports (8 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, at Harlow’s. $38.90. harlows.com).
This one’s been around a couple of years now, but with two stages and eight artists, the rapidly expanding country-centric Fellow Fest is boasting its biggest lineup to date down in Clarksburg. They’re welcoming country veteran Craig Campbell atop the lineup, flanked by Plumas County-raised Nashville baritone crooner (and former competitive trampoliner) Jake Jacobson. They also boast staple Northern California Americana/country duo Amador Sons, former “The Voice” competitor and Sacramento mainstay Shane Q and Wilton-hailing upstart Ava Lynn on the main stage, with harmony-drenched trio the Sugarpines, whimsical Tahoe duo the Imposters and Scottish-born folk rocker and pedalboard mad scientist John Mason rounding out the hootenanny on the Garden Stage (2 p.m. Saturday, June 13, at Fellow Wines, 32555 Jefferson Blvd. $49. fellowfest.com).
The indestructible Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival offers another of its predictably jubilant lineups, with roots music royalty Sam Grisman Project, flanked by roaringly popular jamgrass wunderkinds Broken Compass Bluegrass, with Po’ Ramblin Boys, Bluegrass Cardinals, prodigious fiddler and emerging frontwoman Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and tons more (June 18-21 at Nevada County Fairgrounds. californiabluegrass.org).