Zac Brown Band Plays KeyBank Pavilion; St. Paul and the Broken Bones in Concert at Arts Fest (Sun., 6/11/17)

1) Does the eight-piece country-rock outfit The Zac Brown Band have the best display of facial hair in music? Most of the band members sport diversely styled beards, and bearded or not, they are coming to town on their Welcome Home Tour. 2015’s Jekyll + Hyde, the band’s fourth major-label album, featured a diversity of musical styles. This diversity was demonstrated by collaborations with both Sara Bareilles and Soundgarden’s late leader, Chris Cornell. The Zac Brown Band song “Heavy Is the Head,” featuring Cornell, was primarily released to rock radio stations and not country. The move was a good one as the song sat atop the Billboard chart for Mainstream Rock Songs for a period that year, a rare cross-genre feat. Brown and his band are touring in support of their 2017 album, Welcome Home. Wax your whiskers and check them out at KeyBank Pavilion. Darrell Scott opens. 7 p.m. 665 Route 18, Burgettstown. (EC/RH)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmrxpEFmMhg

2) St. Paul and the Broken Bones will close the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival with a roar sure to reverberate across the Point. St. Paul (née Paul Janeway) sings with a Sam Cooke-esque range and depth of soul. The Broken Bones, resplendent with horns, further lift his voice. The band is based in Birmingham, Alabama, and has released two albums: 2013’s Half the City and 2016’s Sea of Noise. Sharp songwriting matches the moving instrumentation. “Crumbling Light Posts, Pt. 1,” “Pt. 2,” and “Pt. 3,” off of Sea of Noise, allude to a Winston Churchill quote. Janeway credits his wife, who has a masters in literature, with motivating him. The members recorded the new record at Nashville’s Sound Emporium with an additional session at The Stax Museum, formerly Stax Records and home to Otis Redding and other soul musicians. St. Paul and the Broken Bones recently landed the mother of all opening gigs: playing before the Rolling Stones. 7:30 p.m. Dollar Bank Stage, Point State Park, Downtown. (CM)

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