When God decided humanity deserved an even gayer Simon & Garfunkel, She gave us the Indigo Girls. Three decades and fifteen studio albums later, Amy Ray and Emily Sailers are icons of LGBT music history. Last year’s release Look Long had the folk-rock royals invoking Americana imagery for a tense and troubled gaze at today’s U.S. of A., grounded by a deep and nostalgic love: “I’m just a gay kid in a small town who loves country radio,” Ray and Sailers harmonize. Supported on this leg of the tour by husband-and-wife gospel duo The War and Treaty, hearts will swell on this soulful evening.

Indigo Girls
Thu, 7:30pm, $39
Mountain Winery, Saratoga

From selling out the Sydney Opera House to breaking records in London’s O2 Arena, Russell Peters’ nearly 30-years on stage has made him one of the highest-earning comedians in stand-up. Peters, who is known for his sassy jabs at racial and cultural stereotypes, caught his first big break after his 2004 performance on the Canadian comedy show Comedy Now! went viral. He signed to do a comedy special with Netflix based on his Notorious tour, and a four-part documentary series following him on that tour. Peters is currently starring in the Netflix original series, The Indian Detective.

Russell Peters
Fri, 7.30pm, $49.50+
The Mountain Winery, Saratoga

As a 30-year veteran of the standup circuit, Brian Regan as paid his dues… and lodged plenty of absurdist complaints along the way—like, if they could put a man on the moon, why can’t they make a telephone cord that won’t bunch up? Known for his wry sarcasm and hilariously hare-brained solutions to real-world problems, Regan has found success by staying away from politics and hitting the road; he regularly hits 100 dates in a single year. Regan recently taped his first Netflix special, Brian Regan: Nunchucks and Flamethrowers and has inked a deal for a second taping with the streaming network. (WR)

Brian Regan
Fri, 8pm, $39.50+
The Mountain Winery, Saratoga

The “Little Deuce Coupe” just won’t quit. The Beach Boys have been cruising into the sunset for more than half a century—riding an armada of timeless pop hits that channel the wanderlust of 1960s surf culture and an evolving lineup anchored by 76-year-old founding member Mike Love. You won’t find Brian Wilson, the mastermind behind the band’s paradigm-shifting Pet Sounds album, but the current configuration is sure to revive singalong-ready classics like “Surfin’ U.S.A.” and “Good Vibrations.”

The Beach Boys
Fri, 7:30pm, $50+
Mountain Winery, Saratoga

Rumba flamenco heavyweights Gipsy Kings have been at this a while. Over the course of their storied career, their music has spread its tendrils throughout popular culture in a way few world music bands have been able to achieve. The group collected its first Grammy back in 2013 with their last album, Savor Flamenco. They’ve also found success covering well-known songs. Fans of The Big Lebowski and Toy Story 3 might remember their flamenco infused versions of “Hotel California” and “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” respectively. They’re bound to play these and other favorites like “Bamboleo” when they hit the stage this Sunday.

Gipsy Kings
Sun, 7:30pm, $60+
The Mountain Winery, Saratoga

One way or another, it’s clear that Blondie still aren’t done reinventing themselves. They return to Mountain Winery for the first time since the release of their forward-thinking 11th studio album, Pollinator. Among the new songs in their collection are collaborations with contemporary pop artists like Sia and Charli XCX, along with avant garde tastemaker Dev Hynes of Blood Orange. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees will be performing alongside ’90s alt-rockers Garbage, who will perform their debut album—featuring the hits “Only Happy When It Rains” and “Stupid Girl”—in its entirety.

Blondie
Wed, 6:30, $59.50+
Mountain Winery, Saratoga

Although he is classically trained, virtuosic violinist and expert whistler Andrew Bird has never had much use for musical notation. “I just always saw the written note as an unnecessary middleman between me and the song,” says Bird.

It makes sense. Bird was raised as a student of the Suzuki Method of musical instruction. The system, designed by Japanese violinist Shinichi Suzuki, was inspired by the ability many young children have to learn not only their native tongue, but additional languages as well. Instead of focusing on the reading of notation and the understanding of theory, the Suzuki Method seeks to fostering a more intuitive connection to music. And it worked for Bird.

“It was like learning another language or picking up an accent,” he says of his early years playing violin.

The music-as-a-second-language metaphor seems even more appropriate when considering Bird’s whistling. Bird is recognized for his ability to produce pitch-perfect melodies using nothing but his pursed lips and a little bit of air. It is a pure, direct and highly intimate connection to music.

“That’s why I’ve always responded more to oral traditions,” Bird says, by way of explanation.

Even when he comes close to producing classical music, he demonstrates an affinity for breaking from convention. On his instrumental album Echolocations: Canyon, he strums and scratches at the strings of his violin, deploys effects pedals and sampling, and whistles to mimic birds and other natural sounds. He intentionally seeks out the atonal and off-kilter tones so often shunned by the academy as imprecise, but embraced by folk, indie and punk musicians as emotive and true.

Even as Bird pursued his musical career into the conservatory—studying violin at Northwestern University—he would spend his nights sitting in with Irish folk bands, playing for boisterous pub crowds in Chicago. “I was doing all this music where you show someone your idea by just playing it for them,” Bird says, explaining that he’s always been more comfortable playing by ear. “My ear was so attuned to that from an early age that there’s a part of my brain that focuses on the ear.”

Over the course of 13 full-length albums—the latest being 2016’s Are You Serious—and plenty of touring, Bird has made his fair share of celebrity connections. He began leveraging those relationships last year, in the wake of Are You Serious, by launching a new Facebook-broadcast video series, Live From The Great Room.

So far the show has featured the likes of My Morning Jacket frontman and solo artist Jim James; Chris Thile of The Punch Brothers and the newly instated host of A Prairie Home Companion; and The Lumineers.

Most recently, Bird brought comedian, actor and pianist Zach Galifianakis onto the show. The revealing conversation finds the two men covering a wide range of topics—from jokes to serious ruminations. “Your music has always made me cry,” Galifianakis says.

Though the comedian follows the admission with a nervous laugh, it is clearly a moment of sincerity. Indeed, the free-flowing conversation ultimately hits upon topics and revelations that are often impossible to pull out in the brief 20-minute phone interviews that artists like Bird regularly grant press outlets. And that’s intentional.

“I wasn’t really satisfied with how the promotional campaign was going,” Bird says, referring to his press junkets in wake of Are You Serious’ release—a highly personal album, which was difficult to open up about with perfect strangers. “I wanted to set up a situation where musicians ask the questions they don’t get asked by journalists.”

Then he hit upon the idea of chatting one-on-one with fellow creatives, in a comfortable setting and with more time to “kinda geek out on some stuff.” The results speak for themselves.

In the Galifianakis interview alone, the pair discuss the synergy and creative tensions that arise when comedians and musicians work together; how comedians are “the new folk singers,” the inspiration behind the title of Bird’s Are You Serious; and the creeping corperatization of artistic expression.

Andrew Bird
Jun 30, 7pm, $36+
Mountain Winery, Saratoga
Tickets

Fifty years is a long time for any relationship. When a marriage hits the half-century mark, the celebration is called a “golden anniversary.” But when a band makes it through five decades—of living on the road, continuing to release relevant material, keeping up a unified public image and maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships—it’s a small miracle.

As such, Jeff Hanna, singer, guitarist and co-founder of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, doesn’t resist too forcefully when music writers call his L.A.-bred, folk-rock group “legendary.”

“We’re happy to embrace that when anybody wants to tag us with that moniker,” Hanna says with a laugh. Speaking over the phone from his home in Tennessee, the 68-year-old Hanna figures his band may actually have earned the title. And, at any rate, he is “thrilled and proud” to have made it this far. “It is a significant milestone for anything—especially in this business. The highways are littered with debris of bands that didn’t last.”

Hanna started the group with singer-songwriter and guitarist Bruce Kunkel in 1966 in Long Beach. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band began as a very “primitive” acoustic-only folk outfit, Hanna says, recalling how he and his fellow band mates bonded over the work of Americana legends, like Earl Scruggs and Maybelle Carter, as well as surfing. “We were a surfing jug band,” Hanna says. “All of us were surfers.”

And when he says “all of us,” Hanna has a lot of names in mind. Bernie Leadon, a founding member of The Eagles, played with Hanna for a time. And Jackson Browne was even in the band for a couple of months.

The band would go through multiple style changes through the years—picking up more electric instruments, taking a run at commercial country radio and then settling into a more straightforward rock & roll sound. However, many know them for their sprawling, generation-spanning 1971 record, May the Circle Be Unbroken, which found Hanna and his cohorts—most of them under the age of 25—playing with their heroes, including Scruggs, Carter, Doc Watson, Merle Travis and more.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band play The Mountain Winery in Saratoga next Wednesday. Those who can’t make it out to the show—which Hanna promises will include songs the band hasn’t played live in more than 30 years—may be able to catch an upcoming broadcast of the PBS special the group recorded late last year. “Check your local listings,” he says.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Jun 22, 7:30pm, $40-$70
The Mountain Winery, Saratoga

Being Steve Harwell can’t be easy. Sure, his band Smash Mouth has enjoyed a long and successful career—scoring major radio hits with two original tunes and a string of catchy covers. But the locally-bred singer has also had to defend his band at nearly every turn.

First, the hate came from fellow musicians in his hometown—“We weren’t so well liked in San Jose,” the band’s bassist and founding member Paul DeLisle says. “I don’t know what it was. People thought that we were fake punk or something. Maybe they weren’t sure about Steve or something.”

In the early days of Smash Mouth, the band rehearsed in a studio downtown and “played the Cactus Club a lot,” DeLisle says. Still, they also regularly booked gigs in Hollywood, where they found crowds were much more receptive to their sunny, carefree sound. “It doesn’t seem that long ago; 20 years went by fast.”

Once the band took off, Smash Mouth were regularly skewered by critics. Many bloggers have taken to identifying Harwell with the dripping-in-derision moniker, “the guy from Smash Mouth”—the not-so-subtle suggestion being that he and his group have always been forgettable.

Harwell was even coerced into eating a shit-ton of eggs in front of a large crowd of people by a smart-ass who goes by the name @fart on Twitter.

Still, the band has persisted. Their pair of original singles, “All Star” and “Walking On The Sun,” continue to get airplay to this day—and according to DeLisle, no one in the group has had to work a day job in well over a decade.

Speaking on the phone from Hawaii on June 3, DeLisle is clearly upbeat about being in the band, and he is genuinely stoked about the upcoming tour, which features two other late-’90s alternative acts, Toad The Wet Sprocket and Tonic.

“It’s unreal,” he says. “Steve and I talk about this, and we say, ‘Wow it’s been 20 years.’” DeLisle goes on to say that he has “no problem” with the idea of becoming an “oldies act.”

“It’s an honor,” he says. “If you make it that far, to be an oldies act, you should be proud of that.”

One has to wonder then—if things are so peachy keen in the Smash Mouth camp—if the group is so blissed-out and high on the crest of their 20-year career wave, what the hell happened in Fort Collins, Colo., this past weekend?

I mean, it’s clear enough what happened. A crowd of concertgoers at the Taste of Fort Collins festival—which was billed as a “family-friendly celebration perfect for Northern Coloradoans’ active lifestyle”—were hammered with a decidedly un-family-friendly barrage of profanity and threats of violence, courtesy of Harwell.

The singer became upset after at least one member of the audience, and maybe more, began throwing slices of bread at the band. (According to USA Today, one of the festival’s booths had been giving away loaves of bread to attendees.)

“You throw one more piece of shit on the fucking stage, I’m gonna come find your ass,” Harwell can be heard saying to the crowd. “I’m gonna beat your ass, whoever the fuck you are out there.”

From there, Harwell continues his foul-mouthed rant—challenging the bread-hurler to a fight on stage. He even goes so far as to enter the crowd with the apparent intent of throwing down.

DeLisle did not immediately return a call seeking comment and the band’s publicist kept things brief, saying “I only know what’s on the video,” and refusing to answer any specific questions.

As of press time, Smash Mouth have not made any official announcements about the incident and are still scheduled to play all their forthcoming dates—including a concert at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga.

The group is currently putting the finishing touches on an as-yet-untitled live album and DeLisle says an official band biography, which he wrote, is coming soon. It will be titled, Walking On The Sun: The Official Bio of Smash Mouth.

DeLisle says he is excited and “nervous” about the book’s release and also says he thinks people will really enjoy Smash Mouth’s live album. “We’re more of a hard-rocking band than people think,” he says.

Here is a much more friendly video of Harwell and Co.

Smash Mouth are slated to play The Mountain Winery on Jun. 24 at 5:30 pm.