JAY VAN RAATLE & THE SPECTRUM @ THE WORMHOLE

SAT NOV 18 | 10 PM

The early-20s Lowcountry native just might be a guitar and songwriting prodigy. On her 2022 album Sound and Soul, she went full-on Prince/Lenny K and played nearly every instrument. Her trio is currently rounded out by her dad Derek on bass and drummer Bradley Palles. The former Jump Castle Riot member used lockdown to upgrade the home studio — and her skills. Moving to the spotlight in the power pop trio has been a revelation. Van Raatle fits fine up front, unlike her heroes The Edge and Peter Buck who eschewed center stage. She also preaches the Nile Rodgers theory of the DHM: the Deep Hidden Meaning is each song, something a person who writes, performs, and produces can grasp quicker than most. This dedication to the craft of songwriting shines through on stage. You get way more than you might expect from someone relatively young and wonder how much better it can get.

FRI & SAT, NOV 17 & 18 | 8 PM

Ten years after being named the director of the Count Basie Orchestra, trumpeter Scotty Barnhardt continues to spread the joy of jazz. A two-time Grammy Award winner, the acclaimed musician, band leader, composer, arranger, educator, and author hasn’t slowed down. He’s worked with Tony Bennet, Diana Krall, Ray Charles, and Tito Puente, to name a few. Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, and Clark Terry are three more names who contributed to his record Say It Plain. He wrote a book on the history of jazz trumpet and teaches at Florida State U. His Savannah quartet features local stalwarts Eric Jones on keys, Sam Edwards on bass, and Xavier Breaker on the drums.

TELEKINETIC YETI + AURALAYER + OAKSKIN + JD PINKUS @ EL ROCKO

SAT NOV 18 | 8 PM

There is no shortage of metal duos, from veterans Black Cobra and Jucifer to newer heroes Mantar and Seattle’s Pound. Telekinetic Yeti puts the simple formula to work with devastating effects. The Iowa outfit decided to delete a bass player for practical reasons. “…it was just another schedule to work around, another person whose boss could tell us we can’t tour,” explains guitarist Alex Baumann. This decision has not decreased the unimaginable heaviness of their sound. Nearly as brutal, Auralayer blends doom and progressive metal with…pop? Yes, pop. And it works. Oakskin is the latest offering from former Damad and Kylesa leader Phillip Cope, a man who knows how to rock the house. For a special treat, former Butthole Surfers, Melvins, and Honky member JD Pinkus is along for a solo set you can count on to be unusual.

A potent mix of explosive sounds, hard beats and stunning production sets dubstep and bass music pro Effin apart. He came out of Icon Collective after moving to LA to elevate his skill set. The 20-date Cheap Thrills Tour hits festivals in Vegas and Texas, with a stop in Germany. The schedule mirrors the output, with a full LP released earlier this year and new singles dropping since. For someone who debuted in 2019, he’s come a long way. Support act Okay Jake, who released the bizarre Metal Flower a year ago, starts the weirdness right.

Featured elsewhere, Savannah is paying tribute to the best supergroup of all time. The best of Chickenfoot, Asia, Audioslave, and Velvet Revolver might as well have been throwaways from Nickelback recording sessions compared to the greatness found on the two Traveling Wilburys albums. The songs stand up to the members’ other work, and that’s a tall order when the members are George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. This quintet of rock giants had a ball making the record, and it shows. The songs are perfectly crafted, tearfully poignant, or funny as hell, and the harmonies are incredible. Despite Orbison’s death after the release of Volume One scuttled the planned tour, the second record is just as strong even without that three-to-four-octave vocal range. Local drummer Jim Reed and Bottles and Cans leader Ray Lundy have corralled about 30 local musicians you know who, it turns out, are fans of the TW records (not to mention their members) and are recording this show for possible CD release. Be there and be loud!

This article appears in Connect Savannah | November, 2023.