DANIELLE HOWLE/ANGELO GIANNI
At 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19
Blowin' Smoke BBQ, 514 Martin Luther King Blvd.
Fans of Ani DiFranco will want to check out South Carolina's Danielle Howle. She is a hungely versatile acoustic guitar player who uses strange chords, poly-rhythms and a kind of left-field jazz sensibility to punctuate her complex and bitterly straightforward lyrics. She's about to start recording her first jazz album, is producing the Myrtle Beach Americana band Ten Toes Up, and has twice acted on the TV series Army Wives. Out now is The Triangle Album, recorded live - and solo - in clubs across the United States. "I kept recording things along the way, more as something to look at and work from as a songwriter," she says. "Some tunes on The Triangle Album were played once, when they were recorded. It is nice to visit this material again and offer it to my music friends. I have changed so much since those days as a spirit and an artist." See daniellehowle.com
Opening the performance is singer/songwriter Angelo Gianni, the frontman for the great South Carolina rock ‘n' roll/classic pop quartet Treadmill Trackstar. Heidi Carey's cello adds a wonderful visceral feeling to the harmony-laden songs. Like Danielle Howle, the band - and Gianni himself - were mainstays of Columbia's rich indie music scene (both Howle and Gianni have since moved elsewhere). See treadmilltrackstar.com
PASSAFIRE
At 9 p.m. Friday, March 18
Live Wire Music Hall. With 3 Legged Fox. $10 advance, $12 day of show
Are you new to local Savannah music? If you are, here's a tip from your friends at Connect: Go to this show. Passafire is not only one of the city's most successful exports - the guys'll be on the Vans Warped Tour, all over the country, this summer - it's one of the finest reggae/dub/rock bands in the country. Want proof? Check out the 2009 Everyone on Everynight CD (LAW Records), and try - just try - clearing those hooks out of your head. It can't be done.
Passafire formed in 2003, an aggregate of SCAD students, inspired and emboldened by the genre-jumping John's Brown Body - a band they often share the stage with these days. They haven't played Savannah in a while, although most of the band still lives in town, and sometimes they gig around (with other friends) as Chupacabra. See passafiretheband.com
CHECK IT OUT
For the weekend of March 17-20: Singer/songwriter Channing Wilson, of the Chattanooga-based Tennessee Rounders, plays the Jinx Friday ... What's better for St. Patrick's Day than a big ol' hip hop show? Thursday at the Wormhole, it's "The Truth Tour" with J Bo, Yard Call, Brabo Gator, E-Klass, Grim, Dirty K and others ... The stellar bluegrass outfit Nothin' Fancy takes a break from the busy festival circuit to perform at Randy Wood Guitars Friday ...
