If you’re a fan of Americana music and interested in hearing a different spin on the currently booming genre, then make your way to City Winery on Saturday night for the husband-wife duo David Wax Museum. Frontman David Wax his wife Suz Slezak are heavily influenced by traditional Mexican folk music and incorporate their studies of that musical tradition into their take on Americana-pop in a mix they’ve dubbed “Mexo-Americana.” Their latest effort Guesthouse was released last year to acclaim for their fusion of deeply traditional Mexican instrumentation and folk songs into contemporary Americana music. Opening are another buzzy folk group, the Cambridge-based quartet Darlingside, who are gathering their own word of mouth for their latest effort Birds Say, and noir-folk solo artist Haroula Rose.
If you weren’t lucky enough to win the pair of tickets we gave away, some are still available for $15-20. Read on to learn more about the bands.
DAVID WAX MUSEUM
Wax and Slezak are the core members of David Wax Museum, supported by a rotating cast of musicians to achieve their unique Mexo-Americana sound. The duo play offbeat, traditional Mexican instruments, including a percussion instrument called a quijada made from a donkey’s jawbone. Wax’s interest in Mexican music began during his graduate studies of son music in Veracruz. Their most recent record, 2015’s Guesthouse, features a title track that draws on several traditional Mexican folk songs for inspiration, and is a joking look at the musician’s constant concern of where to crash for the night.
DARLINGSIDE
Darlingside are an indie folk outfit from Cambridge, MA. The quartet take their name from a bit of word play on the idea of “kill your darlings,” and plays experimental folk sans a drummer. They originally played as an indie rock band and some of their music still has remnants of that format, with their newest album 2015’s Birds Say using electric guitar fuzz and feedback in otherwise acoustic songs. But in the folk setup the members’ four voices and acoustic string instruments are the dominant force in Darlingside’s music.
HAROULA ROSE
Haroula Rose is a folk singer from Los Angeles who has had her music featured on a litany of TV shows and movies (she is also a filmmaker), where you might have heard her sweet, dark voice and alt country-influenced noir folk. Her latest record, Here the Blue River, just came out this month and you can check out the first single “Songbird” below. The record takes influence from Rose’s Greek heritage as well as her literary heroes — the title comes from the Ralph Waldo Emerson poem “The River.”
David Wax Museum, Darlingside, and Haroula Rose will perform Saturday, April 16 at City Winery. The show is all ages, begins at 7 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.), and tickets are available to purchase for $15-$20.
