The year is starting out strong for music as we head into what feels like the first real week of winter, at least temperature-wise. More venues are coming online, with more waiting in the wings. Bookers and promoters are busy lining up dates for later in the year. It’s a great time to be a local, with venues generally less crowded and hectic than they will be when spring and summer hit. Make sure to support the performers that come out to entertain even in the slowest part of the music season.
Wed. Jan. 11
Blue Moon
Colony (Woodstock) • 8pm
Harvey Citron and Jimmy Eppard are legends of the local music scene, and it seems like nothing will stop them from conjuring tasty jams for lucky listeners.
Stephen Clair & Tom Rigney
Dogwood (Beacon) • 8pm
This duo dispenses music of deep beauty, a rustic organicness, and a strident yet subdued tongue-in-cheek tone. They’re hard to describe and somehow familiar all at once.
Thu. Jan. 12
Josh Hines & Spero
Rough Draft Bar & Books (Kingston) • 6pm
Soulful and smooth, this dynamic duo features beautiful vocal melodies and laid-back acoustic grooves.
Skip Owens
Keegan Ales (Kingston) • 6pm
Owens is a historian, so he approaches rock and blues with a deep appreciation of its cultural evolution over time, sporting a wide range of influences.
Esthesis Quartet
Senate Garage (Kingston) • 7pm
The Senate Garage will kick off its 2023 concert series with four formally-trained jazz mavericks joined into one supergroup. This all-woman jazz collective assembles musical talent from around the country to create original music that pushes the boundaries of what’s expected from each instrument. The group has no shortage of skill or experience. Each member is a performer, composer and educator. With this impressive aggregate level of musical mastery, it’s little surprise their spirited debut record was met last year with rave reviews.
Corey Mastrangelo / Midnight Dental / Will + Maeve
Avalon Lounge (Catskill) • 7pm
Mastrangelo creates lush, dancey instrumental soundscapes that flutter and flux between genres, with an ear for attention-grabbing, in-your-face production values. Midnight Dental is true to their name, sounding like a dentist’s drill in a k-hole.
Wolfman Jack
Colony (Woodstock) • 8pm
Follow the dancing rainbow bears to a Grateful Dead cover band that recreates vintage Dead tunes from the days of The Fillmore West, Coursell Ballroom and Avalon Ballroom.
Open Mic
Snug Harbor (New Paltz) • 9:30pm
Take the legendary late-night dive bar’s stage and show the locals what you got.
Fri. Jan. 13
Rock Academy Presents: Arena Rock!
Woodstock Playhouse • 7pm
Put your lighters in the air as our local rock school troubadors pay tribute to the long-haired, pyrotechnical era of leather-clad arena rock.
Painted Blue Sky
Keegan Ales (Kingston) • 7pm
Knock back some southern classic rock with this tight cover band and sing along to Allman Brothers, Credence Clearwater Revival, Rolling Stones and more.
Hororteria: Xentrifuge / DJ Tommy Grenas / DJ Scott Harris
Avalon Lounge (Catskill) • 8pm
The Lounge will transform into a goth-punk/early industrial dance club, so get your leather ready – it’s going to be a long, loud night. Silent horror movie projections and a constant stream of aggressive-yet-danceable tunes will climax in the brutal sonic assault of Xentrifuge, a dark electro-industrial powerhouse.
The Classics
Tinker Street Tavern (Woodstock) • 8pm
This local power trio plays your favorite funk, soul and reggae jams with gusto. Get on the dance floor – the rhythm section is hard-hitting and the guitarist is a beast on the fretboard.
Marco Benevento
Levon Helm Studios (Woodstock) • 8pm
“This record really acts as a psychedelic window into my studio and my brain,” says Benevento of his new self-titled album, recorded entirely in his Woodstock home studio. It’s no surprise his wife and kids show up as guest performers like family wandering into the background of a pandemic-era Zoom call. The new record has been described as “mellow” and “smoked-out” vibe-wise, yet not without a few funky, stanky, danceable bangers interspersed to get people moving. The influences are diverse, from Afro-Carribean melodies and rhythms to repetitive, wall-of-sound grooves. You can expect at least one keyboard solo per track, but other than that, expect the unexpected. Scott Metzger, a world-class, world-touring guitarist, will open both nights… but tickets won’t last long.
Justin Adams & Mauro Durante
Colony (Woodstock) • 8pm
Two eclectic artists with star-studded, globe-spanning resumes are joined as a string-driven duo traversing vast, exotic musical territory.
Bowie Birthday Ball
Pearl Moon (Woodstock) • 9:30pm
Go-go dancing and live visuals will accompany spins of the greatest Bowie hits by DJ Tryst, paying tribute to one of the town’s most famous part-time residents.
V.erS.es Competition – Barz at the Bar
Snug Harbor (New Paltz) • 10pm
Hip hop fans and MCs – can you flow faster than the beer at New Paltz’s legendary dive bar?
Sat. Jan. 14
Met HD: Fedora (Giordano)
Bardavon (Poughkeepsie) • 1pm
This unique opera event will be a live satellite broadcast direct from the Metropolitain Opera House, with an in-person, pre-show talk with classical music critic Leslie Gerber prior to curtain time.
Garcia Peoples / Sleepy Doug Shaw
Tubby’s (Kingston) • 7pm
When is a jam band not a jam band? Garcia Peoples is more sonically ambitious than your average jammers, with touches of dub, jazz-rock and post-punk.
The Four Horsemen / Mainline
The Chance Theater (Poughkeepsie) • 7pm
This Metallica tribute band is a local crowd-pleaser for metalheads looking to throw some horns. Don’t miss the opener Mainline, a NY-based hard rock freight train of sound.
T. McCann Band
Keegan Ales (Kingston) • 7pm
These “gentlemen musicians” are known for their fresh take on traditional Irish music.
Robert Burke Warren’s Bowie Bash ‘23
Colony (Woodstock) • 8pm
Locals know David Bowie’s part-time residential roots in Woodstock ran deep, and many of us have stories of brief but magical encounters with the kind-hearted musical genius. For the fourth year in a row, Warren has assembled a dream time of musicians to pay loving tribute to the Thin White Duke – and they’ll be playing his hits all the way up to the final album, 2016’s masterpiece Blackstar. The band will include members of Life in a Blender, The Trapps, Surmiser and Rosine, with special appearances from Rhett Miller (Old 97’s) and Frank McGinnis (Frankie & His Fingers).
Marco Benevento
Levon Helm Studios (Woodstock) • 8pm
“This record really acts as a psychedelic window into my studio and my brain,” says Benevento of his new self-titled album, recorded entirely in his Woodstock home studio. It’s no surprise his wife and kids show up as guest performers like family wandering into the background of a pandemic-era Zoom call. The new record has been described as “mellow” and “smoked-out” vibe-wise, yet not without a few funky, stanky, danceable bangers interspersed to get people moving. The influences are diverse, from Afro-Carribean melodies and rhythms to repetitive, wall-of-sound grooves. You can expect at least one keyboard solo per track, but other than that, expect the unexpected. Scott Metzger, a world-class, world-touring guitarist, will open both nights… but tickets won’t last long.
Jordan Shapiro
Quinn’s (Beacon) • 8:30pm
After starting music at a young age and studying jazz and composition in college, this multi-instrumentalist worked with other world-class musicians on everything from psychedelic jazz-fusion Balkan folk to bluegrass.
Loosey Goosey w/the Haus of Peculiar
Avalon Lounge (Catskill) • 9pm
This New Paltz-based drag collective hosts this wild and wonderful explosion of expression each month.
DJ Majic Juan
Tinker Street Tavern (Woodstock) • 9pm
The popular New York DJ can frequently be found spinning reggae, hip hop, R&B and other soulful sounds throughout the Hudson Valley.
The Field Service / Lovestone
Snug Harbor (New Paltz) • 10pm
Laid-back, good-times smooth-and-rootsy jammers The Field Service are more than just a vibe. The fleet-of-fret quartet has a country/blues-tinged 70s groove with funky rhythms, jazzy riffs and super-tight performances. The songwriting is sophisticated, the guitar playing and tones are sublime. Like any decent jam band, each show is a new musical journey unlike any that came before it. But unlike your average jam band, The Field Service keeps their improvisational sonic flow interesting and danceable, dynamic and downright captivating.
Sun. Jan. 15
Jazz Brunch w/Patrick Stokes
Pearl Moon (Woodstock) • 11am
Who doesn’t love a good jazz brunch, particularly one with no cover? Patrick Stokes knows his way around a piano, and will provide the perfect pairing of sonic ambience for your meal.
Daniel Marc w/Zach Nugent
Tinker Street Tavern (Woodstock) • 4pm
Local fans of virtuosic guitar and nasty, out-there jams have had Daniel Marc and Zach Nugent on their radars for quite some time. We’re spoiled with top-shelf guitarists in Woodstock, and these guys are no exception. They’ll be playing an acoustic matinee of “classic tunes from the Hudson Valley Songbook” as well as some brand new originals. The vibe will be intimate, energetic and friendly, as these performers have been known to smile ear-to-ear as they conjure new and nostalgic sounds. Get a lift and join the hang.
Tulula w/Setting Sun
Colony (Woodstock) • 8pm
Sometimes an artist’s bio is hard to top when it comes to describing their music, so you just have to quote it: “The acid-cowboy quintet… come off like a mosh pit at a gypsy carnival followed by a seance with the 27 club.” If that doesn’t get your attention, check your pulse.
Grahame Lesh & Friends
Levon Helm Studios (Woodstock) • 8pm
Lesh is a guiding, guitar-wielding force behind bands like Midnight North, Phil Lesh & Friends, and the Terrapin Family Band. Woodstock has one of the highest ratios of Grateful Dead fans per capita, so we expect they’ll sell this show out quick.
Open Head / Dari Bay
Avalon Lounge (Catskill) • 8pm
One of the most exciting bands to come out of Kingston, NY in the past decade, Open Head blend mind-spinning technical chops, out-there musical acuity, and dancefloor-riling rhythms. If you like bands that are loud, smart, fun and experimental, you’ll be a fan soon enough.
Mon. Jan. 16
Open Mic w/Brendan O’Shea
Colony (Woodstock) • 7pm
Woodstock’s premiere open mic night features a house guitar and piano so there’s no “I forgot my instrument” excuses… get up there!
Ray Blue
Quinn’s (Beacon) • 8:30pm
Ray is a jazz veteran, a smooth operator on the saxophone with the chops to fly and float above complex chord patterns and rhythms.
Join the family! 
