Top Tix: Upcoming music events in the NRV

Posted August 9, 2012

Moreland & Arbuckle. Photo by Gavin Peters

Tad Dickens, The Roanoke Times’ music reporter, shares his top picks for weekend music events.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY

I Got Brains Fest
With Planes Mistaken For Stars, The Bastards of Fate, The Saddest Landscape, Laura Stevenson and the Cans, The Menzingers, Heevahava, and more
Read more about this event on the cover of this week’s Inside Out.
Details: 4:30 p.m. Friday. 2 p.m. Saturday. 130 Jackson St., Champs Sports Bar & Cafe, YMCA, Blacksburg. $25 day pass; $40 two-day pass. igotbrainsfest.tumblr.com

FRIDAY

Johnson’s Crossroad
Check out an acclaimed roots band from West Virginia.
Details: 8 p.m. Dogtown Roadhouse/Sun Music Hall, Floyd. $5. 745-6836, sunmusichall.com, johnsonscrossroad.com

SATURDAY

Sol Driven Train
Horn-punctuated, groove-centered, musically interesting Sol Driven Train returns to the valleys with this show at Sun Music Hall. Sol Driven Train’s recent EP, “Watermelon,” features a title track that is indeed an ode to that seasonal delight, though there might be a hint of double-entendre. The Charleston, S.C., act has a full-length album in the works, too, so expect some new music.
Details: 8 p.m. Dogtown Roadhouse/Sun Music Hall, Floyd. $7. 745-6836, sunmusichall.com, soldriventrain.com

Black Dog Wine & Music Festival
With Moreland & Arbuckle, Carbon Leaf
Chateau Morrisette once again brings top acts and fermented grape. Kansas players Moreland & Arbuckle started out as straight Delta-style blues cats, but have updated the sound in a way reminiscent of the Black Keys. Ever-popular Carbon Leaf played a nice set at Kirk Fest last June.
Details: 11 a.m. Chateau Morrisette, Milepost 171.5, Blue Ridge Parkway, Floyd. $25. 592-2865, thedogs.com, morelandarbuckle.com, carbonleaf.com

Indian Run String Band
Hear some old-school mountain music from this Blacksburg act.
Details: 7 p.m. Gillie’s Vegetarian Cuisine, Blacksburg. Free (venue encourages donations to performers). 961-2753, myspace.com/gilliesmusic

Aug. 18

Country Bluesmen: Dom Flemons / Boo Hanks / Lightnin’ Wells
Details: Blue Ridge Music Center, Galax. $10/$8 students and seniors. (276) 236-5309 ext. 112, BlueRidgeMusicCenter.org.

Newport Jamboree
Windfall and Rosco P and Coaltrain
Details: 7 p.m. Ruritan Park, Newport. $5 donation for adults, children admitted free. Refreshments available.