Who’s playing tonight?

Preserving the moment from the audience at The Maltese.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Longtime Chico musician Nate Pendery sits in on pedal steel for a quiet set with local singer/songwriter Garrett Gray at Tender Loving Coffee. It was a lively crowd both inside and outside the newly opened coffee shop/pizza place as renowned troubadour Tom Brosseau headlined.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

A member of Animal Liberation Orchestra and buddy of musician Jack Johnson, Zach Gill also puts on an impressive solo show. KZFR community radio brought him to the Chico Women’s Club for an engaging two-set—one sit-down, one stand-up-and-dance—show that included liquid-light display, shadow puppets and a skit involving a leaf blower and a roll of toilet paper.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Zach Gill’s shadow puppet accompaniment.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Despite a cancellation by Reno funk/soul crew Jelly Bread (the dreaded broke-down van), the nine members of Sacramento’s Element Brass Band—including trombonist Gio Antolin—held down the dance party at downtown’s Lost on Main with its hot, lively New Orleans second-line groove.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Chico band Esplanade plays the hits—“Love Shack,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” “867-5309/Jenny”—during the Friday Night Concert at City Plaza. That got some folks out of their seats, including Ron Willadsen and Joy Galbraith, who showed off the moves they’ve been rehearsing at Studio One Ballroom.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Esplanade five-string bassist Lee Kremer.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

The Sierra Nevada Big Room sold out for a performance by Austin-based swing-music legend Ray Benson (left) and his nine-time Grammy-winning crew, Asleep at the Wheel. The band started the party with the lovely, shuffling “Cherokee Maiden,” then ramped up the energy with a couple of the band’s earlier recordings: “Miles and Miles of Texas” and an Ameripolitan version of the R&B standard “Route 66.”
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Part of the job description for many of Chico’s working musicians is to blend into the background while providing the evening’s soundtrack, and that’s especially true in the lounge at Two Twenty Restaurant, where Larry Peterson and Friends (from left, guitarist Chris Wenger, keyboardist John Seid, guitarist Peterson) were tucked behind the grand piano, subtly ripping through tasty versions of standards.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Butte College student Drew Hitchman busks on Broadway, delivering a sweet version of Iron and Wine’s “The Trapeze Singer.”
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Oroville’s Country Mile knows what a Saturday night crowd wants to do: dance! A string of party classics—Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools,” Chuck Berry’s “You Never Can Tell,” Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart,” etc.—filled the big dance floor at the Tackle Box.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY

Greg Hopkins’ earplugs should be a clue that the bassist and his West by Swan cohorts were not going quietly into the night during an extremely loud four-band show at the Naked Lounge. Also on the bill, Paradise metal crew Aberrance, Chico rockers Spun and Venezuelan post-punk destroyers Zeta.
PHOTO BY MICHELLE CAMY