Sean Michel, with opening act Balla Dear, will perform at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Stickyz Rock 'n' Roll Chicken Shack, 107 River Market Ave., Little Rock. Admission is $10 in advance, sold as table reservations. If any tickets remain on the day of the show, they will be $12.
Michel, who is returning to Stickyz, describes himself as "a black soul singer in a long-bearded white man's body." He was a contestant on Season 6 of TV's "American Idol" and was born in New Orleans but raised in Bryant. Balla Dear, also from Bryant, tours the country making music. Both musicians can be heard on YouTube, Spotify and other music services.
◼️ Mallory Everett will perform from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday at The Library Kitchen & Lounge, 313 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. Admission is free.
◼️ Josh Stewart will perform from 8 to 11:30 p.m. Friday, and Bree Ogden & Darren Barry will perform from 8 to 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Cannibal and Craft, 307 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock.
Stewart, a singer-songwriter from Conway, cites as his influences Mutemath, Coldplay, Radiohead and Queen. Ogden, a red-haired country singer-songwriter, was the 2019 Arkansas CMA Young Artist of the Year. DJ Bbox will be spinning tunes between sets Friday and Saturday and then performing a late set until 2 a.m.
◼️ Singer-songwriter Townsend will perform a virtual show at 7 p.m. Saturday for the "Riffs at Stifft" at the Stones Throw Brewery, 3015 West Markham St., Little Rock.
◼️ Percussionists of all levels and skills are invited to a Drum Circle that continues Saturdays through Nov. 21, at Bernice Garden, 1401 Main St., in Little Rock. Searcy Ewell will facilitate. Donations are encouraged, masks are required and physical distancing will be practiced. Drums, chairs and hand sanitizer will be supplied. No musical experience is needed.
HOT SPRINGS
The Spa City Stompers will perform a night of jazz at 6 p.m. Friday at the Bathhouse Dinner Theater, 701 Central Ave., Hot Springs. The dinner buffet seating begins at 5:30 p.m. For advance tickets, see hotspringsbathhousedinnertheater.com.
The Stompers are George "Doc" Ryan on trumpet, Earl Hesse on clarinet, John Leisenring on trombone, Clyde Pound on keyboards, David Higginbotham on bass and Paul Stivitts on drums.
◼️ Private Practice will perform at 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at The Big Chill, 910 Higdon Ferry Road, Hot Springs. Admission is $5.
◼️ The All American Jam will be held at 7 p.m. today and the Stone Rangers will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Trough Bar and Grill, 833 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Admission is free.
◼️ Cliff & Susan will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday for a dinner and sightseeing cruise on Lake Hamilton on the Belle of Hot Springs, 5200 Central Ave., Hot Springs. Cost is $55 plus tax for adults, $30 plus tax for children ages 3-10 and free for children under age 3. To book a cruise, see belleriverboat.com.
◼️ The Tone Chasers will perform at 6 p.m. Friday as part of the monthly Gallery Walk at the Whittington Gallery/Studio, 307 Whittington Ave., Hot Springs.
◼️ Singer-songwriter Dean Agus will perform from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday as part of the monthly Gallery Walk at The Warehouse, 301 Broadway, Hot Springs.
HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE
Mike Bearden will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, and Bad Habit will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, at The Beehive Neighborhood Bar & Grill, 220 Minorca Road, Hot Springs Village. Admission is free.
CONWAY
Randall Shreve will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at Kings Live Music, 1020 Front St., Conway. Admission is free.
STAY TUNED
Singer-songwriter Amy Helm will perform a virtual show on Facebook at 2 p.m. Sunday as part of a collaboration with The Fallout Shelter, a nonprofit video recording studio.
Incidentally, Helm, according to Karen Michel of NPR on June 25, was offering "curbside delivery" of songs, accompanied by two acoustic guitarists and her son, Lee, in the Hudson Valley area near Woodstock, N.Y.
◼️ Patty Griffin will perform "Live from the Continental Club" at 7 p.m. Saturday, in the first of three unique shows (also on Nov. 21 and Dec. 5). Tickets are $25 for one show or $60 for all three. The shows will be at boxoffice.mandolin.com.
◼️ Singer-songwriter Hayes Carll will do his "Alone Together Tuesdays" at 6 p.m. Tuesday on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and Twitter.
◼️ Singer-songwriter Matt Stell, a native of Center Ridge, has scored his second consecutive No. 1 country single, "Everywhere But On." Stell celebrated his feat with a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. To hear the song, see Stell's YouTube channel.
◼️ A virtual Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Beacon Lighting ceremony will be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday on Facebook. The Edmund Fitzgerald was made famous in a Gordon Lightfoot song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," about the fate of a bulk carrier ship that sank in Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975. (On Facebook, search for Virtual Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial.)
◼️ Oxford American magazine will present a livestream panel discussion at 7 p.m. today of the "No Tears Suite: Live from New Orleans," a collaboration with the National Park Service. The discussion will focus on the deeply rooted, sometimes subtle ways in which jazz has affected the civil rights movement in the United States. The moderator of the event is journalist and public radio veteran Gwen Thompkins. Panelists include "No Tears Suite" composers Christopher Parker and Kelley Hurt, as well as saxophonist Bobby LaVell.
Register for the event here : https://tinyurl.com/yy8b68qc. A recording of the panel will be released at a later date.
On Friday, the musicians will engage in local outreach by teaching a virtual jazz masterclass that is private and limited to participating schools but will simultaneously engage high school and university students in New Orleans and Little Rock, including band students at Little Rock Central High School and Little Rock Episcopal Collegiate School.
The full concert video will be available at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 3 on the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site's Facebook page.
◼️ Pianist Fred Hersch will perform solo at 8 p.m. Friday and as part of a duo with saxophonist Miguel Zenon at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10; for information, see villagevanguard.com.
Hersch fans can stream "When I'm 64" via Soundcloud here: https://tinyurl.com/y3eka2cb.
◼️ We note that the Opal Agafia and the Sweet Nothings show, which was to have been held last Thursday night, was canceled that day by the sponsoring organizations, the Acansa Arts Festival, the Argenta Arts District and three others. The Acansa Facebook notice read "... the weather is just not cooperating!" The festival was to have been held outdoors in the Argenta Arts District of North Little Rock. Refunds will be made.
◼️ Country music fans should not miss the chance to watch a snazzy new idea for a fundraiser: Big Night (At The Museum), the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum, that is, held on Oct. 28 and still available for viewing on YouTube. This was a triple-threat musical treat: Some classic songs sung by contemporary artists who played or were accompanied by others, on instruments that are part of the museum's treasured on display exhibits. Of course, stories were told, serving as icing on the musical cake.
For instance, Lucinda Williams sang Johnny Cash's hit, "I Still Miss Someone," as she played Cash's Martin guitar. Kane Brown sang Randy Travis' moving "3 Wooden Crosses" and played Travis' guitar. Rodney Crowell played a guitar made for him by his old friend, the late Guy Clark, as he sang Clark's "She Ain't Goin' Nowhere."
One of the most interesting collaborations featured a Bill Monroe song, "Heavy Traffic Ahead," with Marty Stuart playing Lester Flatt's guitar, Ricky Skaggs playing Bill Monroe's mandolin and Alison Brown playing Earl Scruggs' banjo.
Arkansas native Ashley McBryde sang Loretta Lynn's "You're Lookin' at Country" as she played Lynn's Gibson guitar. Another outstanding collaboration had The War and Treaty singing Don Gibson's "I Can't Stop Loving You" (in the style of the Ray Charles version of the song), as The War and Treaty's Michael Trotter played a Baldwin piano once owned by Dr. John and Ronnie Millsap.
Carlene Carter, in one of the more emotional segments, sang "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" on her grandmother, Maybelle Carter's 1928 Gibson guitar, accompanied by Marty Stuart on Bill Monroe's mandolin.
To offer a live music or livestreaming show for this column, or to share music news, email jackwaynehill@gmail.com