Concerts on the Commons
Teton Village Association with support from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and all TVA business partners, is proud to present its 7th year of Concerts on the Commons.
Food and drink will be provided by the Four Seasons; featuring beer, wine, specialty cocktail, non-alcoholic drinks, and a plethora of food options. Teton Village shops will be open to buy food and drink to bring to the concert as well. All events will be rain or shine, summer Teton Village storms pass though quickly, Concert on the Commons has only been stopped due to weather once in 6 years. Please leave dogs at home. Bring a light jacket, your smiles and your friends, and get ready for a great evening!
The event is produced by Jackson Hole production company, Poppa Presents.
Summer 2016 Concert on the Commons Lineup
July 3 – Head for the Hills
July 4 – Calle Mambo and The Jazz Foundation of Jackson Hole
July 17 – The Wailers
July 24 – Tauk & New Madrid
July 31 – The Oh Hellos & Steel Toed Slippers
August 7 – Analog Son and Sonny Knight and the Lakers
August 14 – Pinky and the Floyd with The Tiny Band
August 21 – Fruit Bats with Stormy Georjan and The Watters
August 28 – Out West Fest featuring: Canyon Kids, Screen Door Porch, Patrick Chadwick, and Birdhunter
Sunday July 3rd, 8:00 PM
Head for the Hills has a simple but continuing dilemma they can’t seem to resolve. Specialists have been hired to no avail and the predicament persists: how does one describe the multifarious music of Head for the Hills? Among the top contenders are catchy turns of phrase like post-bluegrass, progressive string music, modern acoustic noir, and bluegrass bricolage. “On top of modern string music,” (Bluegrass Today), “Cutting edge” (Drew Emmitt) or “Best in Colorado Bluegrass” (Westword Magazine Readers Poll)—those are up there too. Strip away the artful descriptors and you have a forward thinking group of {mostly} acoustic musicians drawing on eclectic influences, tastes and styles. They didn’t grow up immersed in bluegrass music but came to it later in life, with each other. The result is a sound based in bluegrass that reaches into indie rock, jazz, hip hop, world and folk to stitch together fresh songs that bridge the divide between past and future acoustic music.
Head for the Hills—Adam Kinghorn on Guitar and vocals, Joe Lessard on violin and vocals, Matt Loewen on upright bass and vocals and Sam Parks on mandolin — have been bringing their music, whatever you’d like to call it, to audiences from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival to South by Southwest and a multitude of stages in between since 2004. The band has independently issued three studio records and one live, been featured on NPR Ideastream and eTown, co-released a beer with Odell Brewing Company and charted on the CMJ Top 200 (Blue Ruin, 2013 and Head for the Hills, 2010).
Monday July 4th, 4:00pm
Hard work, dedication to the craft and respect for Latin roots and traditions distinguishes Calle Mambo in the American Latin music scene; explaining why this ensemble of talented musicians has rapidly become one of the most sought after musical groups in the region.
Playing fundamentally Cuban styles, Calle Mambo is heavily influenced by the West Coast Latin Jazz and Salsa scene with updated arrangements of classic Cuban and Latin Jazz standards mixed in. Shows feature music by Pete Escovedo, Wayne Wallace, Rebeca Mauleon and Tito Puente, as well as contemporary Latin Pop Stars like Marc Anthony and Gloria Estefan. With unique Latin renditions of classic R&B and pop tunes thrown in, Calle Mambo is sure to please every crowd.
Delivering tight grooves from the rhythm section and intricate harmonies from the horns, this dynamic band appeals to audience ages from 5 to 95, inspiring all to move to their exhilarating rhythms! With their well-planned repertoire, Calle Mambo can play any gig from mellow corporate parties to high-energy dance clubs.
The music starts up with the Jazz Foundation of JH at 4:00 PM in the Village Commons. Grand Teton Music Festivals Music in the Hole audio feed from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, followed by Calle Mambo, bringing a high-energy, Latin and Salsa music to the stage. Another round of fireworks follow, starting at 10:00 PM. Food & Beverage Vendors will be on site and picnics are welcome. Please leave your pets at home.
Sunday July 17th , 5:00 PM
The world’s premier reggae group performing Bob Marley’s music The Wailers have played to an estimated 24 million people across the globe performing an average of 200 dates a year. Today’s line-up combines old school know-how with lead vocals from some of Jamaica’s most exciting new singers. The Wailers are undoubtedly the world’s premier reggae and world music group who bring high energy shows to fans across the globe. The band has consistently toured for the past several decades to North and South America, Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
The band performs varied sets from the extensive Wailers discography including those from Legend. Legend is #46 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. Legend is also the best-selling reggae album of all-time, with over 30 million copies sold worldwide and a 2014 re-release topped Billboard’s Top 5 – proving the timeless appeal of their music spans generations.
Sunday July 24th , 5:00 PM
“In short, TAUK is unstoppable. If you haven’t see them, dear God, go,” says Live for Live Music. Hailing from Oyster Bay, NY, heavy instrumental rock-fusion onslaught TAUK has created a unique musical identity that is quickly separating them from the pack. Featuring Matt Jalbert (guitar), Charlie Dolan (bass), Alric “A.C.” Carter (keyboard-organ), and Isaac Teel (drums), the band seamlessly brings together a mélange of genres as diverse as gritty funk, fusion, hip hop, progressive rock, ambient, classic rock, and jazz.
Sunday July 31st, 5:00 PM
The Oh Hellos began in a cluttered bedroom, where siblings Maggie and Tyler Heath (born and raised in southern Texas) recorded their self-titled EP in 2011. In the fall of 2012, the sibling duo released their debut full-length record Through the Deep, Dark Valley, an album full of regret and redemption, which they wrote, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered themselves.
When the time came in early 2013 to bring the music to the stage, the Heaths reached out to friends both new and old and gathered together an ensemble of touring musicians the size of a circus, tumblers and all.
Their second full-length album, Dear Wormwood, is a collection of songs inspired in part by C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters and Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind, mythology and folklore, and apocalyptic literature. The album tells the story of a protagonist trapped in an abusive relationship, by way of letters written to the antagonist. It was recorded, piece by piece, in the house where Maggie and Tyler live in San Marcos, TX, and much like The Oh Hellos' live performance, the album presents two alternating faces: at times delicate, intimate, affectionate; and at others, soaring and towering and joyfully explosive.
Their influences range from Fleet Foxes and Sufjan Stevens to The Middle East and the Muppets, bending and blending styles and genres into a unique mixture of eclectic folk rock.
Sunday August 7th, 5:00 PM
About Sonny Knight and the Lakers
Mid-last year Minneapolis based Sonny Knight, a 68 year old retired truck driver, and his band of twenty-something to thirty-something year old musicians released a live double album entitled, Sonny Knight And The Lakers Do It Live. The record is a loving return to the height of live Rhythm and Blues with Knight and his band perfectly capturing the uproarious energy and rebellious musicianship of an era long gone. Leading up to recording Do It Live, a year of steady touring through the US and Europe allowed the group to create a seamless set, mixing songs from their critically-acclaimed debut studio album, I’m Still Here, with a couple covers of classic soul songs from their native Minneapolis. Hoping to add to the rich history of live albums rather than producing something merely derivative, they set out to reconstruct the ephemeral experience of a live concert and earn a permanent place on your record shelf.
About Analog Sun
Analog Son calls upon funkiest friends on the new album "Stomp and Shout", featuring the Shady Horns, Joe Tatton and more. After 17 years of musical camaraderie, Jordan Linit and Josh Fairman have created Analog Son. Based around a studio project involving The Shady Horns (Lettuce, Soulive), Joe Tatton (The New Mastersounds), Ivan Neville (Dumpstaphunk) and Joey Porter (The Motet/Juno What?!) as well as some of Denver's finest local talent (members of Motet, Fox Street All Stars, Kinetix, Rebel Tounge, Devon Parker, Convergence) Analog Son released "Stomp and Shout" Last March to a sold out Bluebird Theater. This funky brainchild was born at Scanhope Sound in fall 2013. While Josh and Jordan had conceptualized this project for years, much of the composition was impromptu as each guest musician brought their own unique brand of artistry to the table stirring up a sizzling musical melting pot.
Sunday August 14th, 5:00 PM
About Pinky and the Floyd
Pinky and the Floyd calls Montana home, but has recently been called the Northwest’s Hottest Pink Floyd Tribute Band! Pinky was founded in 2007, and has seen very few personnel changes over the years. Instead, this grass-roots effort has exploded in popularity, selling out shows across the state. They put on an amazing live show that’s both note-for-note and improvisational, but it’s their superb musicianship that sets them apart from other Tribute Bands. The energy and stage presence is unprecedented!
About The Tiny Band
With a lineup of local luminaries, The Tiny Band repertoire is a blend of Motown, rock, soul and pop standards that keeps the dance floor pulsing. Since July 2010 they've entertained guests at weddings, parties and special events to rave reviews. With hits ranging from Stevie Wonder to The Beatles, Michael Jackson to Adele, they'll get you out of your seat and onto the dance floor. The Tiny Band brings big vocals, high energy and anything but a tiny sound.
Sunday August 21, 5:00 PM
Eric D. Johnson was ready to drive the car off the cliff. He bristles at the memory and the metaphor. Instead, he recalls, he and his wife drove their Toyota Echo—so old it lacked power locks—through the Redwood forest the day they got the bad news. Their baby, due on his wife’s 40th birthday, didn’t make it past the first trimester.
“I was so grief-stricken,” recalls Johnson. “I wanted to blow up my life.” And so he started over. He abandoned the Fruit Bats band name that carried him for 16 years and five successful studio albums. He ditched the moniker that connected him to stints playing with The Shins and Vetiver and Califone. Instead, Johnson continued pursuing other musical passions. He focused more on scoring films (having already contributed to works like Smashed and Our Idiot Brother). He produced Breathe Owl Breathe’s 2013 album Passage of Pegasus and grew his Huichica Music Festival in Sonoma, California.
Then, in 2014, Johnson released a solo album. That record, released under his own name and simply titled EDJ, “was the outpouring of grief” resulting from those experiences.
“The EDJ record was about how making something—like a person—is really easy for some people and really not for some people,” he says. “I was so sad about that, but also fearful to discuss it.”
In the process of grieving, reflecting, and resigning himself to his new realities, Johnson realized how much weight a name can carry and how much of his sense of self was contained in just two small words.
Eric D. Johnson is Fruit Bats. And Fruit Bats is back.
“I’m finding my identity again,” he begins, “which is somehow, weirdly this dumb fake punk rock name that I put on a four-track tape.”
Fruit Bats’ sixth album Absolute Loser represents a triumphant return to name, form, and self. Despite implications, its title refers to the furthest depths of loss itself, rather than the state of those who have lost something. It’s the most honest, most confessional album of Fruit Bats’ career.
Sunday August 28th, 5:00 PM
About Canyon Kids
"Legend has it that the Canyon Kids were born by the river. The shady groves along the Snake River canyon's steep banks would be the perfect sanctuary for just about any singer songwriter with a beat up old guitar---and so it was with friends Bo Elledge and Dusty Nichols. Confined to the river, the job was to kill time with music. They would write folky strums and rich harmony, coming up with several songs that summer. With the help of drummer John Harris and bassist Adam Woolley, Canyon Kids would now have a driving rhythm underneath their arrangements. But they needed more: enlisting fiddler extraordinaire Matt Herron to the ranks, and soul specialist.
About Screen Door Porch
Screen Door Porch delivers a Wyoming-grown fusion of Roots-Rock, Country-Blues and soulful Americana akin to "Stevie Nicks meets The Band, with Ryan Adams and Bonnie Raitt hanging out backstage" (605 Magazine). It's grooving, electrified porch music adorned with the soulful pipes of Seadar Rose and propped-up by Aaron Davis's gritty slide guitar, quirky banjo pickin' and an infectious Venus meets Mars magnetism. The core songwriting/multi-instrumentalist pair evoke a downhome vibe with rustic harmonies and "a sort of Lennon/McCartney arrangement and get it right every time" (Americana UK), yet the rawness of their vintage country-blues heroes and the spirit of late 60s/early 70s rock and roll shine through.
About Patrick Chadwick
When singer-songwriter Patrick Chadwick moved from Boston to Jackson, Wyoming six years ago, his only major reservation was leaving a bustling music scene behind as he traded a cultural hub for a somewhat sheltered mountain town. To his surprise though, Jackson Hole was actually brimming with talented musicians who were deeply supported by the community and uniquely influenced by the area's natural beauty. Before long, Chadwick had new songs and a folk/bluegrass group called The Flannel Attractions, which attracted a passionate following, national airplay and a spot on Paste Magazine's "Nine Wyoming Bands You Should Listen to Now."
