Carson City’s free summer music series to continue with The Novelists

The Brewery Arts Center will continue this season’s free concerts under the stars in Carson City. Having started out last week with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the music continues Saturday with The Novelists and Athena McIntyre.

Sponsored in part by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a private family foundation that empowers communities to transform neglected public spaces into thriving destinations through the power of free, live music, the Levitt AMP Carson City Music Series presents 10 free family-friendly concerts to the public at the Minnesota Street Stage. The series has a diverse lineup of talent spanning genres like reggae, Southern rock, blues, cumbia, bluegrass and more.

This week’s show begins at 7 p.m., after first unveiling a new mural by Bryce Chisholm, sponsored by the Downtown Business Association.

First to play is local favorite Athena McIntyre, whose bluesy fierceness has captivated audiences and propelled her decade-long music career, most strongly in Northern Nevada, especially the greater Carson City and Reno-Tahoe communities.

Headlining Saturday night is The Novelists. Equally comfortable acoustic or electric, The Novelists showcase cliffhanger storytelling, multiple lead singers, and their signature four-part harmonies.

Recently, The Novelists have become a mainstay on the West Coast festival, college and house concert circuits and are planning several national tours throughout 2017. They’ve shared the stage with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, John Prine, and Daryl Stuermer of Genesis.

The diverse line up continues on July 8 with blues guitarist Guitar Shorty. Reno indie artist Grace Hayes will open. A giant in the blues world who is credited with influencing both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy, Guitar Shorty has been electrifying audiences for five decades with his supercharged live shows and his incendiary recordings.

July 15 is Gene Evaro Jr. With the folk magic of Paul Simon to the crazy funk fashion of Sly & The Family Stone and the lyrical poetry of Jim Morrison, Evaro’s old-soul youthful songs speak for his generation through his prolific song writing.

La Misa Negra will take the stage on July 22. La Misa Negra is an eight-piece band from Oakland, Calif., that plays a blend of 1950s and 60s style cumbia and high-energy Afro-Colombian dance music. Yaple’s Ballroom Dance Studio will also be offering Cumbia classes prior to La Misa Negra.

Rounding out July is Nashville artists’ Southern Drawl Band on July 29, a Southern rockin’ country band with a twist of lime distilled in the backwoods of Tennessee.

Fresh off Coachella, psychedelic cumbia-punk trio Thee Commons will perform on Aug. 5.

Reggae royalty Marla Brown will perform Aug. 12, and five-piece electric newgrass group Dusty Green Bones will take the stage on Aug. 26 with the Cherry Pickers opening. Irish rockers, Young Dubliners, will end the series on Sept. 2.

The public is invited to bring their own picnics, blankets and lawn chairs to the concerts, which will have an open lawn and lot setting. Food trucks, libations and kids activities will be available at each of the shows. Pets on leash are welcomed as well.

The Levitt AMP concert series is at 449 W. King St., at the corner of King and Minnesota streets. Admission is free.

Visit http://levittamp.org/carson_city for a schedule of concerts, directions and information on parking and wheelchair accessibility.