Big Gigantic plays “Beginning of the End” at a New Year’s Eve show. Speaking of beginning, the band will be opening the Arkansas Music Pavilion season in April.

A few days ago, we told you that the Arkansas Music Pavilion is moving to the Washington County Fairgrounds from its many-year home at the Northwest Arkansas Mall.

At the same time, we announced one of the bands who will perform at the AMP — Big Gigantic on April 21.

Venue owner Walton Arts Center announced late yesterday more details about the show, including ticket prices. Tickets for the show will be $22 in advance or $27 on the day of the show and are available through the WAC’s box office at 443-5600 or online. Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. Friday (Feb. 10).

Doors open at 7 p.m. Music will start about 9 p.m.

Ray Wylie Hubbard photo by Todd Wolfson

Ray Wylie Hubbard speaks in story form.

That’s the type of talent one (especially with Hubbard’s keen observational skills) develops after 40 plus years on the road.

He shares those stories in many ways, such as on the new tracks that will be released on “The Grifter’s Hymnal,” an album that will be released March 27.

He’s also working on a memoir that’s 70-80 percent complete, he says.

Hubbard chatted with me recently to share a few other stories from the road, like one about former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and one about a guitar he found stuffed in a planter. Read more in a story I wrote for Northwest Arkansas Newspapers [Note: Subscriber content].

Hubbard visits Northwest Arkansas for two shows. He plays at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (2/8) at Second Street Live in Fort Smith and at 9 p.m. Thursday (2/9) at George’s Majestic Lounge.

Tickets are $20 for the Fort Smith show or $15 for the Fayetteville event. Get tickets through the venue’s respective websites.

Americana/folk/jam act Railroad Earth, whose frontman, Todd Sheaffer, left, is pictured live last October at the nearby Yonder Mountain String Band’s Harvest Music Festival, return to the area this week for a more intimate gig. The sextet from New Jersey, which released their sixth studio album in 2010, will perform during a rare Monday-night show at George’s Majestic Lounge. The show starts at 9 p.m.; tickets are $20 and available at the club or through the club’s website.

Joey DeFrancesco

Punxsutawney Phil may have spotted his shadow yesterday, but if it means more 60-plus-degree days, we’ll take it.

And as the winter blazes on (with the threat of heavy storms today, even!), things will be hot inside Legacy Blues tonight, too.

Considered by many to be the best jazz organist in the world, Joey DeFrancesco and his Hammond B3 organ will roll into Fayetteville for a show tonight (Feb. 3) at the blues club. The longtime frontman and one-time member of Miles Davis’ band has released more than 25 studio recordings. The concert takes place from 7-9 p.m. Admission is $30 or $25 for North Arkansas Jazz Society members. The show is sold out, but you can call 587-8981 to be placed on a waiting list.

What else?

The husband-and-wife songwriting team of Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart will return to GoodFolk Productions tonight. Admission to that show is $15 and it begins at 7:30. Reservations should be made by calling 521-1812.

Saturday (2/4) brings another installment of the Mudstomp Records festival, which includes artists such as Mountain Sprout, Ben Miller Band and more. That event takes place at George’s Majestic Lounge.

And on Sunday (2/5), pre-Super Bowl, of course, Emily Kaitz performs at Terra Studios in Durham. That show takes place from 1-4 p.m.

What’s on your agenda?

Perpetual Groove plays a “Sweet Oblivious Antidote.” What kind of poison/malady they are saving people from, I’m not sure.

If you’re looking to preview one of the artists performing at this summer’s Wakarusa festival, tonight (Feb. 2) is a good opportunity. Georgia jam act/electronica group Perpetual Groove will perform at George’s Majestic Lounge.

The group has released several studio albums and hosts their own summer music festival, Amberland, each Memorial Day weekend.

Admission to the 10 p.m. show is $15. Tickets can be reserved online.

Kentucky Knife Fight

Kentucky Knife Fight — a quintet from St. Louis, and not Kentucky — make a sound combining elements of punk, blues and rockabilly. The band, according to its website, “create(s) songs about desperate people doing desperate things in places they shouldn’t be.” The group returns to Fayetteville for a 9 p.m. show at the Smoke & Barrel Tavern on Thursday (Feb. 2) evening. Admission is free.

In addition to being a really good percussionist, Mickey Hart is a drum scholar who has studied rhythms all over the world. Above is one of those stories.

Wakarusa created a little bit of a buzz when it announced that Bob Weir, formerly of the band The Grateful Dead, was among the many performers playing at the early summer festival.

That gig will take place sometime between May 31 and June 3.

So, what if I told you there’s no need to wait that long to see a Dead member live in concert?

George’s Majestic Lounge announce late last week that Mickey Hart, percussionist for the Dead, will come to the venue on April 23, a Monday evening. He will be joined by Dave Schools, a Widespread Panic member.

Tickets (no price announced) will go on sale on Feb. 7.

Art for "The Hills Have Amps," a metal compilation being released tonight at Smoke & Barrel.

Art Amiss has released several compilation albums that chronicle the various genres in Northwest Arkansas. This one stands to be the heaviest of them all, and for several reasons.

The newest compilation “The Hills Have Amps” will be released tonight (Jan. 27) at Smoke & Barrel Tavern. The new recording will first be available as a 12-inch vinyl album, meaning it will physically be heavier than the CDs the group normally hands out.

But it will be heavy musically, too. The album features songs from several Northwest Arkansas metal bands. One of the bands featured on the recording is VORE, who have been performing for nearly 20 years. Page Townsley, vocalist and guitarist for VORE, chatted with me about the state of metal in Northwest Arkansas, his band’s contribution to the compilation album and more.

Vore

Read the story here [Note: Subscriber content] or see the band live tonight at Smoke & Barrel Tavern, where the group will perform during a launch party for the new record.

Admission to tonight’s show is $10, but that price includes a vinyl copy of the album (which further includes a download card for electronic copies of the songs, too). Speaking of electronic copies, we understand the album will make its way to the Art Amiss Bandcamp page.

The show begins at 9 p.m. Also performing are Potions and Lightbulb Detective Agency.

Take a whiff. A good deep one… What’s that wafting in? Hopefully, breakfast, with coffee… but there’s something else, too…. it’s…. the weekend.

Which means you should enjoy it, which further means you should watch some live music. Where, you ask?

One of the top-selling electronic acts of all time, the Las Vegas duo The Crystal Method will visit George’s Majestic Lounge for a show tonight (Jan. 27). The Crystal Method’s music has been featured on the radio, in television and in many films. Admission to the 10 p.m. show is $20. Tickets are available at the club or through its ticketing website.

George’s has another show worth checking out this weekend, too.

The only constant of The Lemonheads, which formed in the early 1990s, is one man, Evan Dando, once named one of People magazine’s most beautiful people. After a self-imposed musical exile, Dando and The Lemonheads have returned with new members and a new album “Varshons,” a collection of mostly obscure cover tunes. Currently on tour, the group will perform Sunday (Jan. 29) evening at George’s. Admission is $15; the show begins at 9 p.m.

Elsewhere this weekend, Glory Bones have a show tonight at The Lightbulb Club. Well, Well, Well will join them.

Also, Art Amiss will release a new compilation of Arkansas-made metal tonight at Smoke & Barrel Tavern. Our suggestion is to visit back later today for more about that vinyl album. (That’s a hint: We’ll be posting about it later this afternoon.)

Something we’re missing? Let us know.

The Kansas outfit Carrie Nation & The Speakeasy, named after the famous temperance crusader, will return to Fayetteville for a show Thursday (Jan. 26) at Smoke & Barrel Tavern. The group mixes bluegrass and brass instruments for a sound the band says blends punk, bluegrass, Dixieland and circus tunes. The show begins at 10 p.m. Admission is free.