Highlights

The music festival is surrounded by other events that will be bringing folks to Fayetteville’s entertainment district for a super fun spring festival. On April 24, the 13th annual Northwest Arkansas Music Awards (NAMA) the event that honors local musicians in a Grammy-style awards ceremony will take place at the Dickson Theater. Fayetteville’s annual spring street fair, SpringFest will expand to two-days, April 25-26, with vendors and entertainment.

Here’s the music fest lineup.
Friday, April 25: Charlie Daniels Band, 38 Special, Shooter Jennings.
Saturday, April 26: Sonic Youth, Little Feat, Michael Franti & Spearhead

According to music festival organizers, Majestic Concerts, which is made up of local impresarios Brian Crowne and Harold Wieties of George’s Majestic Lounge and Dan Allen of GMS.Group and Capital C: Concerts, Dickson Street clubs will also be bringing in some big names during the festival. George’s has already lined up Blind Melon and Patrice Pike.

Tickets to the Dickson Street Music Festival are $30 for one night or $50 for both nights and are on sale now at www.majesticconcerts.com or www.ticketsage.com. In case of inclement weather the festival will move to the Tyson Track Center.

Goodfolk is humming
Fayetteville songwriter Mike Sumler has pulled together some of his friends— who, like Sumler, are some of the best musicians around—for a rare appearance at GoodFolk at 8 p.m. this Friday night. Joining Sumler for the Friday night show will be guitarist Ed Nicholson, bassist Emily Kaitz and mandolin player Susan Shore. This same group of folks got together last spring at GoodFolk and those who attended will quickly tell you that it was an evening to remember. Sumler is a versatile musician who easily glides from guitar to keyboards. His songs often have a more jazzy and bluesy feel than what it expected from most singer songwriters. Show at 8 p.m. Cover: $10.

Next Thursday night, March 6, GoodFolk will host one of our very favorite musicians and performers, the workingman’s musician, Fred Eaglesmith.
Despite his avoidance of highroller record labels, Eaglesmith is a Juno winner (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy) and has a gold record, thanks to Toby Keith who recorded Eaglesmith’s song “White Rose.”

Eaglesmith grew up in rural Canada and pretty much avoids anything that would throw him into rock star status. He’s a no glitter man who runs an online garage sale on his website, where you can exchange $20 for a pair of earrings made out of Fred’s old guitar strings. Why are we telling you all this? Because Fred Eaglesmith is one of a kind. The combination of Eaglesmith’s top-shelf songs and his dry sense of humor make his live shows worthy of the record books. They’re as good as it gets. This particular show should be extra special since Eaglesmith is primed to release a new CD in March called “Tinderbox” so expect to hear some new Fred. Show at 7 p.m. Cover: $18.

GoodFolk concerts are held in a Victorian house at 229 N. Block Ave. in downtown Fayetteville, for reservations call 521-1812.

Standing outside the gates
Music fans of several different musical genres will be standing outside the gates this week, hoping to score tickets to three sold-out shows: Yo Yo Ma tonight at the Walton Arts Center, Foo Fighters Friday night at the UA and Arlo Guthrie Saturday night at the Walton Arts Center. At press time there were a handful of seats still available for the Arlo Guthrie show, so if you hurry, you may be able to score some without standing outside the entrance to the venue hoping that someone has tickets to sell.

There’s a bonus on Friday night for Foo Fighters ticket holders. Anyone with a FF ticket stub will get into the Apartment 5 show at George’s that night with no cover.

There are some other noteworthy shows happening this week, too. Jeremy Dawson of Shiny Toy Guns will play George’s Saturday night with super groove dancehall unit Dead P.A. out of Los Angeles and the Fayetteville Funk Ensemble.

Tulsa blues guitarist and songwriter Scott Ellison will return to the Green Door Friday night energized by a new record deal with Chicago’s Earwig Music and an upcoming national tour. Ellison’s songs have been featured on TV shows and movies including the soap opera “Santa Barbara” and in the movie “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Ellison launched his career many years ago as a member of Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s band.