The Town Hall Debuts David Byrne THIS IS HOW MUSIC WORKS

Two exciting shows will cap The Town Hall's Spring 2017 presenting season, already the venue's most extensive and wide-ranging season to date. The incomparable David Byrne curates a music-related variety show to illustrate the updated edition of his book How Music Works on Thursday, June 1st titled This is How Music Works. Two weeks later, on June 15th, Dr. John and Henry Butler, two legends of New Orleans music, join forces for a steamy R&B piano summit featuring Dr. John's legendary backing band, The Nitetrippers.

A musician, photographer, author and filmmaker, David Byrne brings a clear-eyed, 360-degree perspective to music, its business and its impact. The Town Hall event on Thursday, June 1st heralds the new edition of his book, How Music Works (Penguin Random House). Byrne explores how music shapes the human experience, examining how we create it, distribute it and consume it, and adds a new chapter on the subject of Digital Curation. "To celebrate this new edition," wrote Byrne to his fans. "I will act as impresario at a music-related variety show - human curation in action. I'll introduce you to some amazing performers that inspire me! This event will include all sorts of performance: music, of course, but also magic, theater, dance, science and humor... and more."

Curated and hosted by Byrne and presented in association with Strand Books, This is How Music Works will feature a stylistically diverse cast of performers including dancer and choreographer Paul Lazar, magician Noah Levine, Brooklyn Technical High School step team Lady Dragons, improv comedy group The Upright Citizens Brigade and the all-female samba/reggae percussion band Batalá, with other guests to be announced. The show is sold out.

Written with the knowledge of an industry veteran but also the passion of a fan, in How Music Works Byrne argues that every aspect of the creation and experience of music-including how, when, where, and with whom you hear it-determines not only if it works, but also what it is. He also examines how our consumption of music has evolved over the years, exploring groundbreaking industry innovations like digital distribution. First published in 2012, How Music Works has inspired a number of staged events hosted by Byrne. The Town Hall showcase for the 2017 edition will be the first since the book's original publication to feature live performances.

On Thursday, June 15th, Dr. John and Henry Butler, two living legends of the New Orleans piano, join forces for an evening of hot and steamy blues, jazz and R&B. The Town Hall will feature the Big Easy's greatest stars as part of Blue Note Jazz Festival 2017. Dr. John and Butler will be backed by The Nitetrippers, Dr. John's quartet. Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, 76, better known as Dr. John, is one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from New Orleans over the past 50 years.

In fact, his work stretches back to the late 50s, when Mac Rebennack became an in-demand producer, player and songwriter working with artists such as James Booker, Professor Longhair and Art Neville. Gris Gris, his 1968 debut album released under the pseudonym Dr. John Creaux, served notice, featuring a combination of voodoo rhythms and chants, jazz, rock and other sounds from the New Orleans music tradition. It was an early highlight of an astonishing career, both as a solo artist and session man that has earned Dr. John six GRAMMY awards and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

A ten-time Pinetop Perkins (formerly W.C. Handy) Best Blues Instrumentalist Award nominee, pianist and singer Henry Butler creates a thick, spicy gumbo mixing jazz, Caribbean rhythms, classical music, pop, swampy blues, and R&B. Blinded by glaucoma at birth, Butler has been playing the piano since he was six years old. By the age of twelve he was not only performing regularly at New Orleans nightclubs (while attending elementary school during the day) but arranging and composing for numerous ensembles. He is considered the finest exponent of the great New Orleans jazz and blues piano tradition.