Jul 29 Moab FREE Concert Series at Swanny City Park.- Los Mocochetes, a Chicano Funk band from Denver, CO, will perform. This colorful cast of characters fuses thoughtfully brazen, socio/politically charged song lyrics, groovilicious melodies and high-energy stage antics to create an immersive experience unlike anything you've ever seen before. They have chosen to use their music to inspire and encourage positive social change, and they have a ton of fun along the way! Music is medicine, laughter is medicine, community is medicine. 6-9pm  400 N 100 W, Moab

Jul 29 Live Music at Blu Pig- PJ Moon

Jul 29 Free Live Music at The Fort- Dallyn Bayles, 7pm, 550 Black Locust Ave, Bluff

Jul 30 Live Music at Stateline Bar & Grill Car Show- Bubba Bartosh and the Redrock Outlaw Band performing. Dove Creek, Colorado.

Aug 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 Bluegrass night with Quicksand Soup. High powered music from one of the Four Corners most legendary bluegrass bands. Free admission. 8pm Moab Backyard Theater Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South. See pg 15A

Aug 4, 11, 18, 25 Juniper Drive- Honky Tonk with a twist 8pm Moab Backyard Theater. Free Admission. Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South

Aug 6 Magic Show with Rick Boretti, the Four Corners most acclaimed magician. The longest running outdoor magic show in the Southwest! Prepare to laugh, be mystified! 8pm Moab Backyard Theater. Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South. See article pg 15A

Aug 10, 17, 24, 31 Bluegrass night with Quicksand Soup. High powered music from one of the Four Corners most legendary bluegrass bands. Free admission. 8pm Moab Backyard Theater Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South

Aug 11, 18, 25 Juniper Drive- Honky Tonk with a twist 8pm Moab Backyard Theater. Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South

Aug 12 Free Live Music at The Fort- Scott Glen Lambertsen & Mark Seeley, 7pm, 550 Black Locust Ave, Bluff, Utah

Aug 12 Firefall in Concert- Riverfront Concert Series in Grand Junction. See article pg 6B

Aug 12-14 Fort Desolation Fest- Music and adventure-travel festival at Cougar Ridge Resort in Torrey, Utah. See the artist lineup at fortdesolation.com/fest.

Aug 13, 27 Helper Saturday Vibes is a festive outdoor market where family and friends can shop local artists, enjoy live music, learn about local nonprofits, sample a variety of food trucks, peruse the classic car parking, and bounce around the kids’ activities—all on Helper’s Historic Main Street! 5pm-10:30pm

Aug 13, 20, 27 Magic Show with Rick Boretti, the Four Corners most acclaimed magician. The longest running outdoor magic show in the Southwest! Prepare to laugh, be mystified! 8pm Moab Backyard Theater. Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South. See article pg 15A

Aug 16 Music in the Grapevines- is presenting Donny Morales and Glenn Patterson (acoustic funk and soul) in concert at Two Rivers Winery in Grand Junction, Colorado. Gates open at 6pm, concert at 7pm. Picnics are encouraged. Two Rivers Wine available. Tickets $15 in advance; $20 at gate.
Info and tickets at artcenterguild.org

Aug 17, 24, 31 Bluegrass night with Quicksand Soup. High powered music from one of the Four Corners most legendary bluegrass bands. Free admission. 8pm Moab Backyard Theater Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South

Aug 18, 25 Juniper Drive- Honky Tonk with a twist 8pm Moab Backyard Theater.Free Admission. Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South

Aug 19 Moab FREE Concert Series- Big Richard began as an all-female festival collab quickly morphed into a serious passion project driven by sisterhood, harmony and humor—along with the shared desire to rage fiddle tunes and smash the patriarchy. Big Richard is a neo-acoustic super group made up of four well established Colorado musicians: Bonnie Sims on mandolin, Joy Adams on cello, Emma Rose on bass + guitar and Eve Panning on fiddle. Formed in late 2021, the band gained immediate notoriety for their charismatic stage presence and their vocal/instrumental prowess. 6-9pm Swanny Park. See ad pg 15A

Aug 19-20 Live Music at Spitfire Smokehouse- the Nanites

Aug 19-21 Helper Arts, Music and Film Festival- Live music, painting, sculpture, youth art, ceramics, jewelry, wood working and food court. Located in Nationally Registered historic Main Street, Helper, Utah. helperartsfestival.com

Aug 20, 27 Magic Show with Rick Boretti, the Four Corners most acclaimed magician. The longest running outdoor magic show in the Southwest! Prepare to laugh and be mystified! 8pm Moab Backyard Theater. Outside Food and Drink welcome. 56 W. 100 South

Aug 22-Sep 16 Moab Music Festival - Every September, the award-winning Moab Music Festival brings world-class musicians to stunning red rock venues around Moab, Utah for a feast of chamber music, jazz, and traditional music concerts. We call it music in concert with the landscape®, celebrating old and new chamber music, jazz with a Latin flavor, and traditional music from around the globe. www.moabmusicfest.org. See article pg 19A

Friends of the Moab Folk Festival is proud to produce our 5th Annual free summer concert series. Four free concerts will be held on select Fridays at Swanny City Park. The concerts are open to the public, and folks are encouraged to come with their friends and families. Beer and wine will be available for the adults. Local food trucks will be available to purchase dinner. The concert stage will be set up adjacentto the pavilion, providing a perfect picnic spot for all under the large cottonwoods and a playground for the kiddos. Opening acts begin at 6 PM. The headliner performs from 7 to 9 PM. KZMU Community Radio will livestream on 90.1 FM and kzmu.org.

The Series concludes on August 19 with Big Richard, a neo-acoustic super group made up of four well established Colorado musicians. Big Richard features platinum recording artist, Bonnie Sims on mandolin. Bonnie studied commercial music in college, double majoring in mandolin and singing/yodeling. After graduating she moved to Colorado where she has had over a decade of success in projects with her husband, Taylor. Emma Rose is a vocalist, upright bassist, and songwriter - sought for the magic, synergy, vibrance, and mystery she brings to her solo and collaborative projects including Sound of Honey, Daniel Rodriguez, and Whippoorwill. Fiddle player Eve Panning has a storied history inspiring crowds and classrooms with music. Eve began studying classically at the Indiana University String Academy when she was six years old. She was also exposed to a rich culture of traditional folk music in the small town where she lived with her family and as a member of The Panning Family Band. Multi-genre cellist Dr. Joy Adams grew up on a farm north of Spokane, Washington. Equally at home improvising over fiddle tunes or playing a concerto with orchestra, she is also a composer, songwriter, educator, and a prolific recording artist with an amazing list of credits.

Lizzy Plotkin and Natalie Spears will open the show at 6 PM. Lizzy Plotkin is featured on Fiddle, Guitar, Mandolin, and Vocals and Natalie Spears on Banjo, Upright Bass, Guitar, and Vocals. Nestled in the high country of the Central Rockies, Lizzy and Natalie craft a fresh tapestry of sound rooted in American tradition and inspired by the soul-stirring landscapes they call home. Their music brings listeners in touch with the warmth of community, the quiet awe of wild places, and a sweet sense of nostalgia. Lizzy’s exuberant fiddling is the perfect companion to Natalie’s colorful and syncopated banjo and bass playing. Their sisterly harmonies raise a room to a whole greater than its parts. As avid students of the American Roots genre, dedicated songwriters, and experienced collaborators, this duo is an exciting force rising from Colorado’s vibrant acoustic music scene.

More information available at www.moabfreeconcerts.com or https://www.facebook.com/moabfreeconcerts/
Funding for this project is generously provided by the Moab Area Travel Council, Utah Arts and
Museums and the Utah Legislature, the City of Moab, Rocky Mountain Power Foundation, George S. And Dolores Dore Eccles Foundation, and The Sorenson Legacy Foundation, as well as many additional business sponsors. The series is produced with cooperation from Moab Folk Festival, Moab Arts and Recreation Center, and KZMU. Our non-profit organization will use income earned from beer and wine sales and local sponsorships to continue and expand the series in the future. The series is a labor of love for music and community for all those involved. Friends of the Moab Folk Festival (Friends) is a 501 (c)
(3) non-profit organization founded in 2005. Our programming efforts include: The Moab Folk Festival (Festival), the Moab Folk Camp (Camp), educational outreach within the Grand County school system, senior citizen outreach, and the Moab Free Concert Series.

Not only are there plenty of natural wonders to see in Moab, there’s also lots of fun entertainment available right downtown. Moab hosts a thriving music scene. If you’re looking for something totally different, there’s the Moab Backyard Theater, located right in the heart of downtown. It’s open to all ages and great fun for grown-ups and kids alike.

The Backyard Theater is one of the only open-air entertainment venues in the west, a throwback to the old west days when traveling shows entertained culture-starved pioneers on the dusty streets of the frontier towns. Located just a half-block off Main street in downtown, The Backyard Theater features Magic and Music three nights a week. The stage sits beneath a giant cottonwood tree that is older than the town itself. In its fifth year of operation, the theater has entertained thousands of people from all over the world. They come to see an old-fashioned type of American entertainment that has all but vanished in the rest of the country.

Every Wednesday, traditional bluegrass music returns to the theater. The band Quicksand Soup performs old-time standards and unique originals starting at 8 pm. The free show has become a downtown fixture over the last few years and it’s common to see both locals and tourists alike tapping their toes.

Thursday, Juniper Drive plays Honky Tonk Fusion. Saturdays, The southwest’s only outdoor downtown Magic show returns with the award-winning magic of Rick Boretti. Rick’s hilarious routine changes constantly, but always involves lots of wisecracks and mystifying magic tricks. Folks have been known to return year after year for the show. Kids love Rick’s magic, but adults are often amazed at how much they love it too. If you haven’t caught a real magic show in a while, then you might have forgotten how fun they can be. Shows start at 8. Music is always free. Magic Prices are 10 dollars for folks over 12 and 5 dollars for kids over 3. 3 and under are free. Outside food and drink is allowed and also the authentic cooking of El Local Cocina Food Truck is available. Moab’s Backyard Theater is located just behind Zax at 56 W. 100 South

Buckle up for the Moab Music Festival’s spectacular 30th anniversary season, which runs from August 22 to September 16, and pays tribute to three decades of its unique artists and audience “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences, and all the performers and collaborators who have helped shape and propel it through the years. On September 3 Sunrise on Turtle Island: Contemporary Native American Voices puts this season’s theme on full-display at beautiful Red Cliffs Lodge. The performance showcases the work of the new generation of Native American composers with three world premieres of newly (Festival) commissioned works. Taking the stage with Moab Music Festival artists are composers Dawn Avery, who the Washington Post says, brings “an evocative tapestry of history and sound” to her work, soloist and award-winning composer Laura Ortman, and vocalist and songwriter, composer, and educator Martha Redbone, whose music The Huffington Post called “an organic, gorgeous feast for ears and minds. With this program the Festival hopes to honor the land it occupies every day. Also on that program is the ground-breaking ensemble The New York Times calls “reliably surprising, and reliably impressive,” the JACK Quartet, which is also featured on the first of the Music Hikes on September 3. This hike also features Bang on a Can All-Stars bassist Robert Black, who curates a program of living composers inspired by nature, with a world premiere by John Luther Adams, expressly written for the outdoor space where it will be performed. These Festival-favorite events bring adventurers to a “secret” wilderness location where trekkers are the audience for unparalleled

music in majestic spots with red rock walls and sandstone floors. Other events include raft trips, ranch concerts and events in charming and historic Star Hall in town. September 5 at 2pm, Labor Day, brings another Moab Music Festival tradition – the free Rocky Mountain Power Community Concert, this year, it’s a 30th Birthday Celebration! The Festival welcomes the entire community to pull up a blanket, soak up the sunshine, and join in on the fun. The program offers its signature musical thrills, nature’s brilliance, and cake, and features an all-star program with performances by baritone Justin Austin, fresh from a run at New York City’s Lincoln Center, Native American World Hoop Dancing champ Joseph Secody, and the wind virtuosity of New York Philharmonic clarinetist Anthony McGill and Seattle Symphony flutist Demarre McGill.

New this year is the “Floating Concert,” on Saturday, August 27 at 5:30pm. Patrons will board an open air river boat and travel several miles upriver to a breathtaking performance spot surrounded by towering red rock canyon walls. Boaters will hear a program of the music of Schubert, who wrote dozens of songs about rivers and the promise of fresh fish, life-giving water, recreation, and beautiful respite from everyday drudgery. The concert also includes his beloved “Trout” Quintet, and puts audiences on the Colorado River, the perfect setting to reflect on the promise of survival and romance that harkens back to the 19th-century admiration of the life-giving waterways. It’s a reverence Festival shares in the drought-stricken Southwest. Another new spot for audiences is a secluded streamside meadow, which will host the next unforgettable evening of music in concert with the landscape® on Sunday, August 28 at 5:30 pm. Patrons will enjoy the music of Mozart and Dvořák, and will enjoy refreshments and light hors d’oeuvres.

TICKETS are available through the Moab Music Festival office or website at moabmusicfest.org

The 1970s legacy band Firefall will perform outdoors at the James M. Robb Colorado River State Park in Fruita, Colorado on Friday, August 12.

“They’re really good; their sound is very much the vibe of the 70s,” said Ron Wilson, of Sandstone Entertainment. “Firefall came out of that scene in the mid-70s; they’re loaded with that feel. They influenced a generation of country rockers.”
Firefall was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame in 2015. The band includes three original members – Jock Bartley, David Muse, and Mark Andes – as well as longtime drummer Sandy Ficca, and Nashville guitarist and vocalist Gary Jones.

During their four-decade career, Firefall has produced three gold albums, two Platinum albums, 11 chart-topping singles, including “You Are the Women,” and “Just Remember I Love You.”

Firefall toured the world during the 1970s, and shared stages with such bands as Fleetwood Mac, The Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kenny Loggins, The Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band, and many more. Currently, Firefall often performs with Atlanta Rhythm Section, Orleans, Pure Prairie League, America, and other seventies bands.

“Firefall had a 10-year period where they made their mark,” with huge hit singles – “which is pretty strong,” Wilson said.

The band put out a new album – COMET – in December 2020, the first since their 1998 release of Messenger.

Americansongwriter.com describes the new record as “one-half legacy and one-half brand-new renditions of Firefall with nuances of Americana, rock, pop, and country.”

The performance is the first of this year’s Riverfront Concert Series, which raises money for trail building and maintenance along the Colorado Riverfront Trail. The Doubious Brothers, a local Grand Junction band, will open the show at 7 p.m.

Concertgoers are encouraged to bring a chair or blanket for the ground. While you’re allowed to bring in food, there will be food trucks on the premises selling both barbeque and Mexican cuisine. Proceeds from the sale of food, beer and wine – as well as donations collected onsite – go to the Colorado Riverfront Foundation. Enstrom’s ice cream will also be for sale. No outside beverages are allowed.

Tickets are just $7 and available at www.universe.com/river. Children 5 and under are free. For more information contact Sandstone Concerts at 970-243-TIXS. VIP tickets gets you select seating and expedited beer and wine purchases. The park is located at 595 Hwy 340. Limited, reserved camping sites are available at the park.