San Diego's best-kept musical secret of the month starts Thursday night in North County.
Unless you're a radio exec, DJ or music insider, you may not know that Michele Clark's 15th annual Sunset Sessions is set to kick off Thursday at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. Rain or shine, some legendary artists and an avalanche of up-and-coming talent are pouring into North County to take part, and SoundDiego will be offering local fans an insider's look at the event held exclusively for industry professionals.
Last year in Carlsbad,Stevie Nicks
of Fleetwood Mac,Mike Mills
of R.E.M. and pop/country singer/songwriterk.d. lang
all put in appearances, as did Black Joe Louis and the Honeybears, Augustana and Daniel Lanois Black Dub.
This year, the party has shifted south to Rancho Bernardo and also has two satellite shows at the Belly Up (Sunset Sessions Kickoff Party with reggae icon Jimmy Cliff and Lukas Nelson -- Willie's kid -- at the Belly Up on Feb. 15) and a Sunset Session New Music Adventure on Jan. 19 at the Griffin in San Diego (with sets by Gayle Skidmore, Kevin Martin, Bushwalla, Shawn Periera and James Morris).
SoundDiego
Music. Community. Culture.
So, what happens in between those two shows? Well, on Thursday, there will be sets by Everest, Lukas Nelson and others; on Saturday, Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips will talk about the future of music before a set by Rebecca Pidgeon (David Mamet's wife), then there's a panel with new music moguls -- including the legendary Danny Goldberg -- followed by sets by Chris Shinn, Eve 6, Jimmy Cliff, Fun, Birdy, Gary Clark Jr. and many others. When folks have shaken off the sleep on Saturday, they can check out the Jason Mraz panel, during which the local music icon will play new music and meet with the audience, followed a few hours later by a Storytellers Superstar panel with singer/songwriting icon Lucinda Williams. For dessert, there will sets by the Parlortones, Bushwalla, White Buffalo, Everlast, the Makepeace Brothers and many more
We'll be sleeping late on Sunday.
SoundDiego's coverage begins Friday, but stay tuned and go backstage with us at Sunset Sessions all weekend.
