After a pandemic-induced sabbatical from hosting live music, Downtown Bozeman’s Rialto has returned to its former glory. The black box stage is set to host an excellent slate of musicians in April and the coming months. Here’s a look at just a few of the upcoming happenings.
The Benn & Abel Band perform Saturday, April 8th, at 8pm. Advance tickets to this 18+ show are $15. Doors at 7pm.
The duo lives in the space between bluegrass, Americana and the blues. Influences vary from guitar players like Chet Atkins, to songwriters such as Doc Watson and duos like the Milk Carton Kids. They play a mixture of originals and covers, with a new album in the works.
Lucero brings his “Should’ve Learned by Now Tour” to Bozeman at 8pm on Friday, April 14th. Advance tickets to this 21+ show are $30. Doors at 7pm.
Since forming in Memphis in the late ‘90s, Lucero’s base musical hallmarks have remained similar to the band’s initial sound established with their first record, The Attic Tapes. In the history of their expansive discography, the group has evolved and embraced everything from southern rock to Stax-inspired Memphis soul, whilst simultaneously maintaining their distinctive sonic foundations. Over 20 years later, dedicated fans of the group still flock to hear the band’s punchy driving rhythms, punk-rooted guitar licks, and lyrics that evoke the whiskey drenched sentimentality of Americana singer-songwriters.
Delivering their “Better Western Tour” to Gallatin Valley audiences, Nick Shoulders & the Okay Crawdad Band are set to perform on Monday, April 17th. The show will feature special guest Dylan Earl with music set to begin at 8pm. Advance tickets to this 21+ show are $20. Doors at 7pm.
Wielding an ethereal croon and masterful whistle crafted from a lifetime chasing lizards through the Ozark hills, Nick Shoulders is a living link to roots of country music with a penchant for the absurd. Combining his family’s deep ties to regional traditional singing with his years of playing to crowded street corners, Nick has sought to forge a hybridized form of raucously clever country music; born of forgotten rocky hollers and bred to confront the tensions of the 21st century South. As evidenced by his surreal album art and anachronistic songwriting, Nick’s creative output is steeped in the complicated history of his beloved home of rural Arkansas, but crafted as a conscious rebuke of country music’s blind allegiance to historical seats of power and repression.
Celebrating the release of her album of the same name, renegade songstress Nikki Lane fronts the “Denim & Diamonds Tour” on Wednesday, April 19th. Leroy from the South open the 8pm show. Advance tickets to this 18+ show are $20. Doors at 7pm.
Produced by Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Denim & Diamonds has the Highway Queen embracing a more rock-oriented sound while still maintaining the heartfelt outlaw country sound she has developed across her previous three releases. Denim & Diamonds still has the fuck-off flare of which Nikki has come to be known. Her stylized, story-telling lyrics are all there as well as her catchy country hooks. The outlaw country sound is now balanced out with a gritty guitar and a machine gun snare that echoes the sound of ‘70s rock.
Late this month, experimental artist Arswain performs for Rialto-goers on Friday, April 28th, at 8pm. Advance tickets to this 18+ show are $15. Doors at 7pm.
It’s fitting that Arswain, the electronic alter ego of LA-based film composer Freddy Avis, shares the same birthplace as computer-generated music itself: Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. As an undergraduate, disillusioned with Stanford’s tech-fanatic culture, Avis sought creative refuge at CCRMA, soaking up the sounds of Nicolas Jaar, Holly Herndon, Apparat, and Nine Inch Nails. The result? A moody blend of tectonic beats, textural sound design, aching vocals, and a songwriting pathos reminiscent of Radiohead’s Kid A. Arswain released his debut full-length Partitioning in 2020.
The Rialto is located at 10 W Main St. in Downtown Bozeman. Peruse current happenings and buy advance tickets at www.rialtobozeman.com. Follow the Rialto on Facebook and Instagram for the most up to date event announcements. •