Release Date: Tuesday, April 26th 2011

Post-Gazette: 2011 Arts Festival lineup spans the music landscape

The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival will cover most of the musical bases -- rock, rap, pop, gospel, country and zydeco, among them -- when it sets up shop in Point State Park for 10 days in June.

Produced by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the 52nd festival will open June 3 with The Blind Boys of Alabama and include such headliners as the Tom Tom Club, Buckwheat Zydeco, Ricky Skaggs and Brandi Carlile.

The concerts are free to the public and will begin at 7:30 p.m., with the exception of the Sunday performances which begin at 6 p.m.

Details about the artists market, visual arts, family events, performing arts and local music programming will be announced in May.

Here is the lineup:

• Blind Boys of Alabama (June 3): This gospel institution, which dates back to 1939, has won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and sung for two presidents at the White House. The Boys' latest project, due May 4, is its first country gospel record, featuring contributions from Jamey Johnson, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr. and more.

• Tom Tom Club (June 4): It's the 30th anniversary of this funky new wave group that split off as a side project from Talking Heads and scored such hits as "Genius of Love" and "Wordy Rappinghood." It will be a homecoming for Pittsburgh native/drummer Chris Frantz, who leads the Club with his wife, singer-bassist Tina Weymouth.

• James McMurtry with Jonny Burke (June 6): The Austin singer-songwriter is a literate storyteller in the tradition of his father, author Larry McMurtry. He adds an element of political protest, exemplified by the anti-war song "We Can't Make It Here." The opener is a twangy rocker, also from Austin, who released his debut, "Distance and Fortune," last year.

• The Baseball Project with J. Roddy Walston & The Business (June 7): Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M.) and Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate) front this indie-rock "supergroup" which has released two albums of baseball-themed songs, touching on the legacies of Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, Ted Williams and Pittsburgh's own Harvey Haddix. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck and drummer Linda Pitmon (Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3) round out the roster. Don't miss the white-hot J. Roddy Walston & The Business, led by a piano-pounding wildman from Tennessee.

• Tea Leaf Green (June 8): Formed in the late '90s, this San Francisco jam band takes its cues from -- surprise! -- the Grateful Dead.

• Formula 412 (June 9): This live Pittsburgh rap-rock band, featuring former members of Strict Flow, recently released "Reality Show" and won "Best Group" at the Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards.

• Brandi Carlile (June 10): The folk-rocker from Seattle, one of Rolling Stone's "10 Artists to Watch in 2005," has released three albums, including the T-Bone Burnett-produced "The Story." Her songs should be familiar to fans of "Grey's Anatomy."

• Ricky Skaggs (June 11): The country-bluegrass musician has been in the music business for more than 50 years, having launched his career when he was a mere 5. A veteran of Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys and Emmylou Harris' Hot Band, he's won 14 Grammys.

• Buckwheat Zydeco (June 12): Singer-accordion player Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr., a festival favorite here since the mid-'90s, closes TRAF with one of his raucous Cajun dance parties.

For information, visit 3riversartsfest.org or call 412-456-6666.

Read Scott Mervis' blog post and comment at post-gazette.com/popnoise.

Scott Mervis: smervis@post-gazette.com; 412-263-2576; Twitter: @scottmervis_pg; Blog: www.post-gazette.com/popnoise.

First published on April 25, 2011 at 3:00 pm

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