Here’s a list of what to do this weekend: Rock! Jazz! Ceramics! History and Civil War-era base ball! Visit the Knoxville Mercury online calendar or pick up this week’s issue for a full list of the weekend’s offerings.
FRIDAY, AUG. 19
Umphrey’s McGhee
Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $30-$35
The Indiana prog/funk/jam band takes over the Tennessee Theatre, most likely to play fan favorites from their 19-year career and songs from their 2014 album Similar Skin.
Terra Madre: Women in Clay Opening Reception
The District Gallery • 5-8 p.m. • Free
This annual show featuring work by local and regional ceramic artists opens with tonight’s reception and runs through Sept. 10.
Knoxville Children’s Theatre: The Three Musketeers
Knoxville Children’s Theatre • 7 p.m. • $12
Alexandre Dumas’ swashbuckling tale of derring-do gets an all-kids adaptation by the premier providers of local children’s theater. The show opens tonight and runs through Sept. 4.
Mike Baggetta
The Bistro at the Bijou • 9 p.m. • Free
Mike Baggetta
Jazz guitarist Mike Baggetta will bring a little bit of New York downtown improv to a cozy corner of downtown this weekend. He’s got an impressive new album, Spectre, with contemporary jazz all-stars Jerome Harris (bass) and Billy Mintz (drums).
TEKNOX v. 28
The Birdhouse • 10 p.m. • Free
Get down and dirty with the progenitors of Detroit sludge, a low-and-slow dystopian form of dance music that warps the city’s heritage as the birthplace of techno—in a good (but woozy, boozy, delirious) way. Marshall Applewhite, Shady P, and the Friend are expected to represent the Motor City label How to Kill. 21 and up.
SATURDAY, AUG. 20
East Tennessee History Fair
Downtown • 10 a.m.-5 p.m. • Free
Take a bus tour of historic homes, visit with historical re-enactors from Civil War-era baseball players to suffragettes, learn to spin wool or make raku pottery, and listen to old-time and bluegrass music at the East Tennessee History Festival, which runs all day at a variety of venues downtown. Among the highlights: the History Hound Dog Costume Contest and a program of silent films, including a rare screening of Clarence Brown’s 1925 melodrama Smouldering Fires, hosted by the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound.
Emory Place Block Party
Emory Place • 2-9 p.m. • Free
Get to know the latest revitalized section of Knoxville’s center city with music, crafts, food trucks, and art at five venues (including two outdoors). It’s a chance for residents to get to know each other and check out the businesses that have made Emory Place home. Quaff a draft at Crafty Bastard Brewery or check out the Intersection art exhibition, put together just for the party by A1 Lab Arts. Jam with more than a dozen music performers, including Jubal, Paperwork, Adeem, Kukuly and the Gypsy Fuego, and Sunshine Station.
Smokin’ Day Festival
Sweet P’s Barbeque and Soul House • 2-8 p.m. • Free
Cedric Burnside
Celebrate summer, barbecue, and whatever else you can think of at this lakeside music fest featuring Mississippi Hill country badass Cedric Burnside, local guitar hotshot Kevin Abernathy, Beth McKee, and Laura Blackley.
Lily Afshar
Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan • 7 p.m. • $20
Lily Afshar
The Knoxville Guitar Society kicks off its 2016-17 season off with a recital by the acclaimed Iranian-American guitarist Lily Afshar, who has been credited with “a splendid command of a broad palette of tone colors, a lovely sense of line, a good ear for balance and, in her remarks, a scholarly bent” by The Washington Post.
The SteelDrivers
Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $27
The SteelDrivers
The Nashville contemporary bluegrass champs suffered a blow when founding new trad-country icon Chris Stapleton left the band for a solo career in 2010. The SteelDrivers have done okay since then, though—with new singer Gary Nichols, the band won a Grammy in 2015.
***Birdcloud
Pilot Light • 10 p.m. • $8
Birdcloud
The ferociously irreverent duo of Jasmin Kaset and Makenzie Green has been waging a war on good taste since 2011; over the course of four albums of charmingly profane folk pop, the pair has told dozens of boozy stories about bad sex, bad drugs, and bad people that would make David Allan Coe blush.
Tommy Infante
Cocoa Moon • 10 p.m. • $10
Vintage salsa music from a 94-year-old master of the form. Get there early for dance lessons, which run from 9-10 p.m.
SUNDAY, AUG. 21
Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball
Historic Ramsey House • Noon • Free
The Knoxville Holstons and the Emmett Machinists of Knoxville are reaching the end of their season of Civil War-era vintage base ball—no gloves, no subs, no infield fly rule. They face off against Chattanooga’s old-style teams at Historic Ramsey House Sunday afternoon.
The Hard Working Americans
Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $27-$30
Stacie Huckeba Hard Working Americans by Stacie Huckeba
This blue collar-rock supergroup features Todd Snider and members of Widespread Panic and the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. Their new album, Rest in Chaos, features contributions from Elizabeth Cook and the late Guy Clark. With openers the Congress. Read our preview of the show here.
Senior Editor Matthew Everett manages the Knoxville Mercury's arts & entertainment section, including the comprehensive calendar section—Knoxville’s go-to guide for everything worth doing in the area. You can reach Matthew at matthew@knoxmercury.com.
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