Wilco to headline 2-day Independence Day Music Festival
The big news is Salt River Fields is expanding its annual Independence Day Music Festival to two days, Friday, July 3 and Saturday, July 4.
The bigger news is that Wilco — yes, Wilco! — is headlining Friday with Dr. Dog in the opening slot. Saturday's bill is topped by Little Big Town with Brandy Clark as the support act. Additional bands will be announced on both dates and there will be fireworks both nights.
Wilco's sound is rock and roll the way the Beatles' sound was rock and roll — a definition elastic enough to take in the Neil Young-gone-Krautrock approach of "Art of Almost," and the upbeat Motown accents and infectious '60s organ of "I Might." Those songs were among the highlights of "The Whole Love," Wilco's latest studio release.
Although they've never had a major pop hit, Wilco grabbed the zeitgeist by the collar in 2002 with "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," a well-deserved yet unexpected breakthrough based, in part, on being dropped because the label said they'd gotten too experimental for their own good. Other highlights of their years as critics' darling include 1999's "Summerteeth" and 1996's "Being There," among the greatest double albums ever made.
Dr. Dog is also well worth checking out. When Jim James of My Morning Jacket invited them out as an opening act in spring 2004, these psychedelic pop revivalists had yet to play more than a short drive outside Philadelphia. They get around more these days, big enough to play two shows in one night at the hippest club in town in continued support of 2013's "B-Room." Magnet said the album "might be Dr. Dog's career-defining work," but there are several other strong contenders for that title. If you're going, don't miss Hanni El Khatib in the opening slot.
Formed in 1998, Little Big Town are the Country Music Association's reigning vocal group of the year, an award they've won three times. They also won the Academy of Country Music's vocal group of the year award in 2013, the same year they picked up a country duo/group performance Grammy for "Pontoon."
The double-platinum "Pontoon," which topped the country charts, remains their biggest song. Other hits include the Top 10 country singles "Tornado" and "Day Drinking."
Brandy Clark is an up-and-coming country talent who made a powerful case for herself as Sam Smith's strongest competition in the best-new-artist race at this year's Grammy Awards with her soulful performance of the understated country ballad "Hold My Hand." Her first album, "12 Stories," was on the short list of best country albums of 2013.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, March 6, at ticketmaster.com.
Both shows begin at 5:30 p.m. Doors open at 5.