The Avett Brothers, Band of Horses, Citizen Cope and Robert Randolph & the Family Band have been added to the Savannah Music Festival lineup.
Routing issues usually mean that pop shows get booked late in the music festival game; tickets are on sale now for all four performances.
Band of Horses is the South Carolina by–way–of–Seattle indie rock band that features singer/songwriter Ben Bridwell.
The band’s rootsy rock brought them a 2011 Grammy nomination, for their third album Infinite Arms.
When the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album is handed out during the Feb. 13 broadcast, Bridwell and company will be competing with the Black Keys, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire and Broken Bells.
The band performs April 4 in the Johnny Mercer Theatre; tickets are $25, $30, $35 and $40.
Poet, folksinger, rapper and social commentator Citizen Cope (Clarence Greenwood) will make his second local appearance in two years April 5 at the Trustees Theatre. It’s a solo performance, and tickets are $18, $22 and $28.
Onstage at the Trustees April 1 will be Robert Randolph and the Family Band, a favorite of the jam–festival circuit. Randolph is a “Sacred Steel” player – he makes creative use of the pedal steel guitar, in a soaring, soulful manner inspired by the Pentecostal church – and the band is soulful, funky and hard–edged. Tickets are $18–$40.
The Avett Brothers – one of the most popular indie Americana bands in the country – sold out the Johnny Mercer Theatre when they came to Savannah last June.
As we announced last week here in Connect, the group’s Savannah Music Festival date (at the Mercer) is March 30; ticket prices are $30, $38, $46 and $75.
Tickets for all shows are available at savannahmusicfestival.org, or by phone at (912) 525–5050.
Family Rite
Anthony Hopkins’ top–billed co–star in The Rite has a Savannah connection.
He’s Colin O’Donoghue, who plays American seminary student Michael Kovak, who travels to Rome to take a Vatican course in exorcism. His name is just under Hopkins’ in the credits.
Colin’s father is first cousin to none other than singer/songwriter Harry O’Donoghue, a mainstay at Kevin Barry’s Irish Pub, and one of our city’s premiere musicians.
“We’re fairly close, and Colin was here in Savannah a few years ago,” Harry tells us. “He stayed with me for a week around Paddy’s Day and worked a few shifts in Kevin Barry’s. He plays lead guitar and gave a couple of numbers onstage with me.”
The entire O’Donoghue clan was in Los Angeles earlier this week for the red–carpet premiere of The Rite, says Harry (who didn’t attend, but reports that everyone was nervous and excited for Colin, who’s just turned 30).
“Anthony Hopkins has been very kind to Colin,” Harry reports, “and is of the opinion that he is a fine young actor and will do well.”
