They’re even better live and Nightfall’s got ’em

The Whigs aren’t your average Athens, GA three-piece band. They’ve been praised by Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Maxim, People, Elle and the New York Daily News (among countless others) for their fierce intensity and explosive punk-rock energy. Spin Magazine called their new album Mission Control “a collection of rousing rock n roll fundamentals ... tightly constructed tunes, wiry guitar shards and ecstatic, beer-soaked choruses.” Entertainment Weekly said, “They deliver on the hype…unabashedly hook-filled, the album will leave you aching to see this group live.” Newhouse News Service added that Mission Control “blasts off with a sound that’s reminiscent of earlier acts ranging from The Replacements to The Clash, with traces of Foo Fighters and even the rhythm section torrent of the early Who…there’s a raw-edged urgency and energy that flows through…consider this the first great rock album of 2008.”

Michelle Shocked electrifies Nightfall Stage this Friday Night

Thumb through the scrapbook of ’80s female singer-songwriters and one that surely will jump off page is Michelle Shocked. Her thought-inspiring lyrics, velvety voice and contemporary folk sound was a beacon during the days when institutions like the Indigo Girls and Lilith Fair were in full swing.

However, her brand of music has carried over past the fad into familiarity among fans of the genre. In fact, with the release of last year’s ToHeavenURide, a performance recorded during the 2003 Telluride Music Festival, she’s just as relevant today as she was 20 years ago. But it’s her story that translates into song.

Born Michelle Johnston in Dallas, TX in 1962, she ran away from her Mormon fundamentalist mother in 1977 to live with her father. He introduced her to legendary bluesmen such as Leadbelly, as well as contemporary songwriters like Guy Clark and Randy Newman.

She spent the early ’80s in Austin, where she studied the folk underground and began honing her own songwriting skills. After dropping out of college, she moved to . . .

Nightfall this Friday is a fer-sure don't miss

You just gotta be in Miller Plaza this Friday for Nightfall. I promise you, if you miss this show, you're gonna kick yourself.

Not only is the headliner a band you'll be hearing a LOT more about, but the opening act kicks some serious musical butt as well.

Dylan Kussman, who with his band starts off the evening, is a recent transplant to Chattanooga. A double threat, he's not only a guitarist/singer/songwriter, but a professional actor (he's appearing as Macbeth in the upcoming production later this summer). The band has a recent CD release, Unemployed on This Asteroid. Kussman's list of influences ranges from ...

Scissormen juke it up at the Market Street Tavern

If you like great slide guitar, then the place to be this Friday night will be the Market Street Tavern as “Mississippi hill country-inspired juke-blues band” Scissormen hits town.

Led by slide guitarist Ted Drozdowski, the band comes in straight from Bonnaroo. Says Drozdowski, “I came up in punk and psychedelic rock bands, but playing blues the way we play it means everything to me. This is music with teeth and guts and heart, and it rocks like hell when it’s done right. And we do it right! I caught the fever from musicians like R. L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Jessie Mae Hemphill, who taught me to put every bit of my heart and soul into this music, so that’s what I do.”