Tons of music in Salt Lake City and beyond Thursday night. Soon enough, the hills will be filled with the sound of Hollywood dealmakers, movers and shakers, so let's enjoy the tunes while we can.---
Let's start with rising alt-country stars The Civil Wars, who headline a show tonight at The State Room in Salt Lake City, then play a couple of gigs at the Sundance Music Cafe next week. The boy-girl duo met in Nashville and struck up a songwriting relationship that has made them one of the most buzzed-about bands in quite a while. It helped that one of the first songs they penned together landed on an episode of Grey's Anatomy. It helpe more that they made a great album, Barton Hollow, which will be released Feb. 1. I've heard it, and can't wait to check out this show. Read my interview with The Civil Wars right here, and consider a trip to The State Room Thursday night. Parlor Hawk opens the show at 8 p.m.
Elsewhere in SLC, SLAJO is hosting a CD release party at Bar Deluxe, Afro Omega and Puddle Mountain Ramblers play a show celebrating the opening of the Outdoor Retailers convention at The Urban Lounge, The Piper Down hosts a Justin Timberlake-promoted R&B band called FreeSol in an odd pairing of venue and artist, and Shwayze and Cisco Adler are doing that slacker-rapper thing they do at The Complex.
If you are in Park City, prepping attending opening night of Sundance or just hanging around, Harry O's is the spot Thursday, thanks to the incomparable Snoop Dogg, who is reportedly bringing a full band for his show. That's always a good sign for a Snoop gig, trust me. Just be ready to wait a while for Mr. Dogg to actually get on stage.