Come see the best of Sunday-morning sittin’ jams on a Thursday night. Tim O’Brien is playing with a stellar bluegrass lineup including the more progressive Guthrie Trapp and Mike Bub, who has more than five International Bluegrass Music Association’s Bass Player of the Year awards. The Carpenter Ants bring their gospel soul on top of O’Brien’s old-timey bluegrass, which brings me back to summers spent in Eastern Kentucky. Drinking coffee on the porch after a rowdy night with the warm mixture of bourbon and moonshine swashing around in your belly calls for some comforting tunes. And while O’Brien might not bring you to church like ol’ Ralph Stanley will, his soothing voice will calm the storm that’s raging in your gut. I can’t promise that a mid-week jam session will provide the same relief (unless you’re a raging day drinker), but O’Brien is sure to bring enough harmony to get you through until the weekend.
— Amanda Haggard