- German Luis Nunura Villanueva
Eva Ayllón at Soundwell
It's not every day that a Peruvian folk-music legend comes to SLC, but that's the case this Thursday, Nov. 4. Eva Ayllón is celebrating 50 years of making the music that made her famous, and she's spreading the joy of that auspicious anniversary to Soundwell, and any Salt Lake residents who want to be there to hear it. The Afro-Peruvian singer/composer has been a major contributor to the genres of música criolla and its more obscure cousin, landó, both types of Peruvian folk music that blend Spanish, African and indigenous Andean music traditions into a distinctly regional sound. Ayllón has spent her long career touring the world, playing at folk festivals and earning Latin Grammy nomination after nomination—and after never winning any of her 10 nominations, despite her fame and accomplishments, she was finally awarded the Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. With all this success, she hasn't stopped creating, releasing a new album in 2021 called Quédate en Casa ("stay at home"). But for fans of Latin American folk music, or for anyone who just grew up listening to her, this is a night not to stay at home. Doors are at 7 p.m., the show is 21+ and tickets are $69 - $89 at soundwellslc.com.
Dr. Dog's Last Tour at The Union
At the beginning of summer 2021, the popular indie band Dr. Dog announced that they were taking a break from touring—for good. It doesn't come as a huge surprise, after some marooned musicians, stuck in an un-tourable pandemic, admitted that they didn't miss touring, actually, citing reasons like the grueling schedule, not making enough money, not getting enough sleep and the generally unhealthy, stressful lifestyle. That noted, it's not a shock that even a successful band like Dr. Dog—who've been on many tours since the early 2000s, and who've released 10 albums in that same time—are ready to put the whole thing to rest. They aren't breaking up, a fact that's evidenced by their recently-released cover of "Here Comes the Hotstepper," and by their explicitly saying so upon dropping the news that this 2021 jaunt would be their "graceful exit from touring." So, until some label cajoles them into performing a reunion show a decade from now at some venue in New York, this is fans' last chance to see the band. They'll be playing with opener TOTH at The Union Event Center on Saturday, Nov. 6. The show is all-ages, doors are at 7 p.m. and the show is $26 at theunioneventcenter.com.
Hamilton Leithauser and Kevin Morby at Metro Music Hall
Both contenders for the title of the 21st century's Bob Dylan (no offense to the Dylan who's still very much alive this century), Hamilton Leithauser and Kevin Morby have each built reputations for themselves within the indie-folk-Americana bunch. Leithauser first made his name as part of The Walkmen, and just kept going when his time with that band went on hiatus (you may have heard his 2016 track "A 1000 Times" a thousand times). In 2020, Leithauser released the album The Loves Of Your Life, a self-admitted hodgepodge of stories woven and matched together, before releasing a song in 2021 written alongside Morby. Morby is just as rich a storyteller as Leithauser, and has in recent years, and through several albums, created a tapestry of his own folk-leaning music. He, too, released a 2020 album (Sundowner), and in 2021 released a warm four-track demo version of the album. The single track between the two, "Virginia Beach," is an attempt to shake off the shadow of nearly two years of musical standstill, and one can hear the ode to unbeaten paths—and much more surely—when they stop into SLC together at Metro Music Hall on Saturday, Nov. 6. Jess Williamson—who put out a real break-out of an album in Sorceress last year—will open for the pair. Doors are at 7 p.m., the show is 21+ and tickets are $32 at metromusichall.com
- Steven Rueda
OhGeesy at The Complex
In 2018, the rap group Shoreline Mafia gave us bounce-fueled, sexy bops like "Bands," and even recently released an album in 2020, Mafia Bidness. And though the group now seems to be defunct, one of their members is still worth watching, it seems. This year, 28-year-old Shoreline Mafia member OhGeesy released his own solo album GEEZYWORLD, a contemporary rap album for the young and hot masses to hear turned up loud at the club. Filled with the typical hallmarks of modern pop rap—braggadocio about sex, guns and drugs—the album impresses with slick, drippy, dark production that is for the most part pretty damn catchy, even if you're not super savvy to the ins and outs of California rap's specificity. Standouts on the album include the soft and intimate "Keeper," the YG-featured "Big Bad Wolf," and those who show out to OhGeesy's stop at The Complex on his Geezyworld Tour will be treated to the live treatment of the rest of what the debut has to offer. DJ Vision, Lul Bob and Hawaii Slim will open. The show is all-ages, opens at 7 p.m. and tickets are $24.50 at thecomplexslc.com.
- Prince Williams
Jack Harlow at The Depot
One of rap's new darlings is Jack Harlow, the young superstar who found himself in a dreamlike rise to fame early on in his life, going from playing around his hometown in Louisville, Ky. to festivals like Bonnaroo and South by Southwest pretty much right out of the gate after he graduated high school. It's not surprising that that's when he started gaining popularity, though; his first release in 2016 was the album 18, but Harlow had been developing his rap craft since he was 12. In 2017, he released another album, Gazebo, finding more fame with the viral track and video "Dark Knight," which led to his signing to the Atlantic Records imprint GenerationNOW and releasing a 2018 mixtape with them, Loose. Since that win, he's kept up on the back-to-back yearly releases, with Confetti in 2019 and with the seven-track Sweet Action in 2020 and another that year in That's What They All Say. Leaning into trap themes, R&B and, as time goes on, more and more melody, songs like the viral "WHATS POPPIN" from Sweet Action sum up Harlow's approach to rap well: "got a career and I'm very invested / some people call it a scary obsession / I like to call it a passion." See him at The Depot on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. with openers Babyface Ray and MAVI. The show is all-ages and tickets are $132 - $481 at thedepotslc.com.
