OK, boomers. Here’s your chance to show the kids why old school rules! At least when it comes to music. This weekend is stacked with good stuff.
The Indigo Girls perform tonight at the Tennessee Theatre.
Tonight at the Tennessee Theatre, Amy Ray and Emily Saliers, aka the Indigo Girls, will take fans on a 30-plus-year journey with their transcendent harmonies and updated arrangements.
The show starts at 7:30, and ticket prices range from $34.50 to $64.50, plus fees.
Need more of a touch of gray? Bob Weir of Grateful Dead/Dead & Company fame will perform Friday night at the Tennessee as Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. The “Bros.” in this scenario are famed bassist and music producer Don Was and Weir’s RatDog drummer Jay Lane, also a veteran of Primus.
As befits such legends – and boomer wallets, ticket prices are $59.50 to $125, plus fees. The show starts at 7:30 p.m.
Upcoming shows at the Tennessee include Tommy Emmanuel, Amy Grant, America and comedian Brian Regan. And be sure to check the Tennessee website for Big Ears Festival performances March 26-29.
Come to the Cabaret
Meanwhile, at the Bijou Theatre, members of the Akima Club of Knoxville will brave the footlights Friday and Saturday to present the 40th iteration of the Akima Cabaret. This year, Akima will tell it like it is – and was – with #HerStory with Sunny Sphere.
A comical and musical trip through time from the perspective of women, the professionally scripted show will feature prominent personalities from the national and local scenes along with women from all walks of life. Akima members and associates do the performing.
The cabaret is a fundraiser for the Akima Grants program, which supports a number of charitable causes. Shows are at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday, with dinner and dancing options at the Holiday Inn Downtown World’s Fair Park after the evening shows.
Wynonna & Cactus are due at the Bijou Theatre on Sunday.
Fall in love with Wynonna & Cactus
On Sunday, Wynonna and Cactus: Party of Two will take over the Bijou stage at 8 p.m.
Five-time Grammy winner Wynonna Judd, the younger half of the legendary mother-daughter duo the Judds, and husband Michael “Cactus” Moser, formerly of Highway 101, will share songs and stories.
The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $39.50 and $65, plus fees.
First Friday: March edition
Looks like downtown Knoxville will be crazy busy for March’s First Friday festivities. In addition to the major music events, there’s the traditional 5-9 p.m. opening reception for several new exhibits at The Emporium Center, 100 S. Gay St.
Opening at the Emporium Friday are Victoria Phillips: A Place Within; Gary Monroe and Denise Stewart-Sanabria: Tableau Vivant; Smoky Mountain Maritime Modelers; Jess Maples: Nurture Aperture; and Bradley A. Wilder: Synchronicity.
Find more First Friday events here.
Not all the First Friday action is in downtown proper, or even near downtown. Jubal, with Bear Medicine, will perform at 9 p.m. at the Pilot Light, 106 E. Jackson Ave., in the Old City.
“I and You” opens tonight at the Flying Anvil Theatre, 1300 Rocky Hill Road, and runs through March 22. It’s billed as “a moving and mysterious ode to youth, life, love and the strange beauty of human connectedness.”
Organist Joby Bell will perform in recital Friday at Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Musica Organi concert organist Joby Bell will perform in recital at 8 p.m. Friday at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 6500 Northshore Drive, in a program cosponsored by the Knoxville Chapter, American Guild of Organists. Bell is university organist and professor of music at the Hayes School of Music at Appalachian State University. Info: 865-584-3957 or westminsterpres@comcast.net.
Betsy Pickle is a veteran entertainment, features and news reporter.