The Black Lillies, Samia Najimy Finnerty & More Set for Joe's Pub this Week

This week at Joe's Pub at the Public (July 8-14) will feature The Black Lillies, Mima, Rabbit Rabbit, Samia Najimy Finnerty, and more. Details below!

THE BLACK LILIES
July 8 at 7:30 PM
$15
Black Lillies front man Cruz Contreras knows a thing or two about the road. It was there, over a year spent rolling down the highways of East Tennessee, that the songs and sounds that would form the nexus of The Black Lillies were conceived and where "Runaway Freeway Blues," the band's third studio album, was realized. Rooted in the mud-rutted switchbacks of Appalachia, it is the sound of a band that's becoming something of a phenomenon across the country. They've been featured on numerous television specials and conquered festivals, and they've been invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry more than a dozen times - a record for an independent act. From gentle Laurel Canyon folk rock to the honky-tonk heartache of classic country to winding jams, "Runaway Freeway Blues" is an album that defies easy categorization. It's breakneck, brazen and beautiful. It's the sound of a band that's rooted in East Tennessee but more at home piled into a van stacked with gear, windows down and aimed toward the next gig. It's an album that lets long-time fans as well as relative newcomers to the Black Lillies phenomenon know that this train isn't stopping anytime soon.

Samia Najimy FINNERTY
July 9 at 7:30 PM
$15
With the voice of Laura Nyro and unforgettable appeal of icons such as Fiona Apple and Stevie Nicks, the 16-year-old newcomer singer-songwriter Samia Najimy Finnerty is taking New York City by storm. Having only just moved to and only performed in NYC 3 times-- Samia's last sold-out debut at Joe's Pub at the Public rocked Gotham and now she is back for her 2nd special appearance. Finnerty will perform 14 original songs, and play guitar and piano. Her profound, moving and humorous take on life is beyond her years. Samia will be joined by special guests- Joe's Pub and NY Star Bridget Everett, as well as Dominique Fishback and Amy Ziff. Teens and anyone with a love for new voices will be sure to take note. 2013 is set to be a breakout year for Finnerty who is also currently starring in the Off-Broadway Art Effects Theater NYC Fringe production of SLUT based on a controversial teen rape case in Oklahoma.

THE DEADLY GENTLEMEN
CD Release with Special Guest T.H.E.M
July 9 at 9:30 PM
$12
Join the wildly inventive young acoustic pioneers the Deadly Gentlemen as they celebrate the release of their new CD, Roll Me, Tumble Me, on Rounder Records! Featuring Greg Liszt on banjo, Mike Barnett on fiddle, Sam Grisman on bass, Dominick Leslie on mandolin, and Stash Wyslouch on guitar. Although the Boston-based quintet employs acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and double bass their music defies conventional genre restrictions, filtering a bottomless assortment of influences through their own decidedly distinctive songwriting sensibility and uncanny instrumental rapport. The result is timelessly resonant music that's rooted in tradition, yet effortlessly contemporary and boundlessly entertaining. Opening the show will be T.H.E.M., a captivating female acoustic trio featuring New York's own Hannah Read, Tamsin Wilsen, and Megan Lui.

MARIA DE BARROS
July 10 at 7:30 PM
$21
Maria de Barros' music transcends taste, preference and even language. It travels through countries dense with culture, picking up pieces of each along the way, combining distinct inflections of Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, France and Spain, while allowing the tradition and culture of Cape Verde to permeate.

FLOANNE:
Edith Piaf Alive
July 11 at 7:30 PM
$20
French singer and actress Floanne recounts the Piaf story. This authentic 'chanteuse' and farm girl opens the door to her culture, by taking a closer look at the legendary 'Little Sparrow' -with that husky, mournful voice so popular in the 1940' and 50's. The performance is a culturally rich and moving presentation that will make you smile, with tunes transporting you to other times and places. She will embody the legend, interpreting the melodies from her point of view as a child, imagining Piaf's characters coming to life. Down to earth, sensual and bohemian as her beloved Edith, Floanne will make you discover her poignant music and share her unconventional life.

MIMA
July 11 at 9:30 PM
$20
Skillfully weaving the romanticism of traditional folk and Neo-Caribbean sounds with a DIY approach, Mima offers up a dark and powerful work, one that takes the listener on a constantly changing journey, sometimes soothing, at others shockingly irreverent.

John Roberts
July 12 at 7:00 PM
$25
John Roberts continuously wows audiences with his live performance skills and original character work in shows across the country and on television. He currently provides the voice of Linda in the Emmy-nominated FOX primetime animated hit Bob's Burgers. John has also had multiple appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and has been seen on Good Day NY. John first gained attention as a standout performer and writer on YouTube. His first viral video "The Christmas Tree" was hailed as an instant comedy classic. It was nominated for a broadband Emmy award and was featured on VH1's Best Week Ever, Comedy Central Insider and other websites. The follow up "Jackie & Debra" won The Comedy Smalls award in London, was featured on YouTube, and formed a huge cult following with audiences both young and old. John currently has over 20 million hits on YouTube and counting.

MIKE VIOLA
July 12 at 9:00 PM
$20
Fresh off his 4th Japanese tour in 5 years (and 4th Danish tour in 4 years), Mike Viola returns toJoe's Pub, his home away from home. Recently co-penning singles for Matt Nathanson ("Mission Bells") and New Politics ("Harlem"), Viola remains prolific with a followup to 2011's "Electro De Perfecto" and 2012's "Acousto De Perfecto" currently in the works. Attendees can expect a 90-minute career-spanning set full of Viola's past, present, and future.

RABBIT RABBIT
July 13 at 7:00 PM
$15 in adv / $17 at the door
Rabbit Rabbit is the song-spinning duo of Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi. Collectively, this husband and wife team are founding members of the iconic bands Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Tin Hat, 2 Foot Yard, Causing a Tiger, The Book of Knots, and Fred Frith's Cosa Brava. Between them they have written music for the International Contemporary Ensemble, The Bang On a Can All-stars, and more. But Rabbit Rabbit dares to peel back these influences, revealing an intimate and dramatic music that is all their own. Drawing on their mutual love of art song, folk song, industrial music, improvised music and heart-wrenching balladry, and rendered on a motley assortment of acoustic instruments, their songs are raw and beautiful, sparse and rich, lighthearted and full of pathos. In keeping with their fiercely independent nature, in February 2012, they launched Rabbit Rabbit Radio as a way to connect with their listeners in a more meaningful way in this post-label world.

JONAH SMITH
With Special Guest Jason Myles Goss
July 13 at 9:00 PM
$12 in adv / $15 at the door
Award-winning songwriter Jonah Smith was a staple on the New York music scene since his debut record in 2001. In 2012, Smith wrote, produced and released two albums, one of which was nominated for Rock Album of the year by the IMA's. At the end of 2012, he moved to Los Angeles to where he continues to record and perform. This show is a homecoming for Smith who will reunite with his longtime band as well as a CD release show for a new acoustic EP produced by Andy Stack and Jonah Smith. The band will be joined by a few special guests for this performance. Jason Myles Goss has been writing and recording since 2003 when he released his first full length album Long Way Down. Since then, he's spent his time touring and releasing subsequent albums before settling down long enough to make Radio Dial (June 2012). The songs contained big, melody-driven, pop ambitions in the vein of records like Counting Crows' "August and Everything After," or The Wallflowers' "Bringing Down The Horse"- song-centric 90's rock records that occupied Jason's world when he was a teenager growing up in a small mill town in Massachusetts. Rather than grapple with these two divergent influences, Jason strove at the outset to make a record where they both could sit side by side at the same musical table.

KENYON PHILLIPS & THE LADIES IN WAITING
July 13 at 11:30 PM
$15
Front man Kenyon Phillips whips glam rock, surrealist theater, and cabaret into a heady froth with a little help from his all-girl backing band, The Ladies In Waiting, and cameos by an array of special guests including downtown darling Michael Musto, drag diva Flotilla DeBarge, beatboxer Shockwave, rapper T Bruin, and former Armitage Gone! dancer Marlon Taylor-Wiles.

John Kelly
Rebel Songs of a Range Queen
July 14 at 7:30 PM
$20
***FINAL NIGHT***
Visual artist, dancer, actor and downtown cabaret artist John Kelly will be performing 'Rebel Songs of a Range Queen', including songs by Kurt Weill, Charles Aznavour, Jacques Brel, The Good, The Bad, & The Queen, Joanna Newsome, The Clash, & The Shins. John Kelly returns to Joe's Pub for a 4 performance residency, on the heels of his breakthrough debut concerts last fall. 'Rebel Songs of a Range Queen' will display his 3-octave voice singing as a weathered, genre-traipsing punk altar boy, as the rebellious, orphaned sage. His flexibility as a performing artist is stunning. With special guest Miguel Gutierrez. A portion of the proceeds will go to the ongoing Hurricane Sandy Relief.

NONHLANHLA KHESWA
July 14 at 9:30 PM
$15
***Star of The Suit Directed by Peter Brook***
South African jazz singer Nonhlanhla Kheswa makes her Manhattan debut as a leader with her adventurous new septet (Taber Gable, piano; Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere, bass; Joe Palmer, drums; Andrew Renfroe, guitar; Jovan Alexandre and Karim Rome, tenor saxophones)."Nonhlanhla Kheswa ... is possessed of the kind of strong, lilting voice that quiets everything else in the room. In her rendering, for example, of 'Malaika,' a haunting Swahili song, she is mesmerizing: large, expressive eyes, closely cropped hair accentuating the perfect shape of her head, her incredible posture-and then out comes the black velvet of her tone." -Darryl Pinckney

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