Guitarist Richard Leo Johnson will perform at 8 p.m. Friday in the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater in Little Rock as part of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies' Arkansas Sounds music series. Admission is free.
Johnson, a self-taught guitarist with an unorthodox style, plays instrumentals that are a hybrid of jazz, country, rock, soul and Americana. He has released five albums, two of which were on the jazz label, Blue Note Records.
A native of El Dorado, Johnson is an architectural photographer who now lives in Savannah, Ga., with his wife, Jane. He'll also be at the Butler Center Galleries, 401 President Clinton Ave., from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday for the opening reception of "Richard Leo Johnson: Once Was Lost." The exhibit is a collection of photographs of Johnson's friends and family, and landscapes and strangers in north Louisiana and south Arkansas from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s.
The exhibit's name refers to the images having once been thought lost to a mid-1990s fire in a Eureka Springs storage unit.
"I couldn't believe it when I heard the news from Russ Powell, a former Democrat-Gazette photographer who had worked with me," Johnson says from Nashville, Tenn., fresh from a rare performance at Jack White's Third Man Records venue. "Russ found a box of negatives in his parents' attic and they had survived summers and winters for about 27 years. They were still in amazingly good shape; probably 90 percent of them I'd never even made prints of.
"I'm really looking forward to both the exhibit and to playing live again in Arkansas, which is something that I haven't done in quite some time. I had gotten burned out, doing 150 or so shows a year, so ... the way you can now make recordings at home freed me from the obligatory touring that record companies would put on you."
During his one-hour performance, Johnson will display his rescued images on the theater screen.
The reception will feature music with a holiday twist by guitarist/vocalist Reade Mitchell. The exhibit will be on display through March 18.
Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave., Little Rock, (501) 320-5715, cals.org
...
The Rodney Block Collective will perform at 9:30 p.m. Friday at South on Main in Little Rock. Admission is $15.
Block, with Cedric and Rosetta Lambert, is hosting the Soulful Holiday concert and social, and the night includes performances by Bijoux, Dee Davis, The Collective, DJ Hy-C and others.
Ian Moore returns to central Arkansas for a performance at 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $10.
Moore, a singer-songwriter and guitarist, first performed in central Arkansas in the early 1990s as the opener for Bob Dylan's first Arkansas concert. He has released 12 albums, plus a 2016 EP, The Noble Art, and appeared in Billy Bob Thornton's movie, Sling Blade. After being based in Austin, Texas, for a time, he moved to the Seattle area.
South on Main, 1304 Main St., Little Rock, (501) 244-9660, southonmain.com
...
Ashley Davis returns for another Little Rock Folk Club performance, bringing with her Cormac de Barra, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hibernia Irish Tavern in Little Rock. Admission is $15, $10 for those with military IDs, $8 for students with ID and free for accompanied children age 12 and under.
Davis and de Barra will present "Songs of the Celtic Winter." Davis performed for the Folk Club in May, alongside Irish guitarist John Doyle. The duo asked if they could return with their Christmas show, but Doyle later learned he would not be able to participate. Instead, de Barra, a master of the harp, will accompany vocalist Davis. He has recorded five group and four duo albums with Moya Brennan of Clannad, three with Davis and five with singer-songwriter Hazel O'Connor. He also has performed with The Chieftains.
Hibernia Irish Tavern, 9700 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock, (501) 663-0634, littlerockfolkclub.org
...
Dana Louise and the Glorious Birds will perform at 9 p.m. Friday at the White Water Tavern in Little Rock. Admission is $7.
Color Design, Headcold, R.I.O.T.S. and Peach Blush will perform at 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $7.
White Water Tavern, 2500 W. Seventh St., Little Rock, (501) 375-8400, whitewatertavern.com
...
Cosmocean will perform from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Friday at Four Quarter Bar in North Little Rock. Admission is $7.
Good Foot will perform from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Saturday. Admission is $7.
Four Quarter Bar, 415 Main St., North Little Rock, (501) 313-4704, fourquarterbar.com
...
The Ben Miller Band will perform at 9 p.m. Friday at the Rev Room. Admission is $10.
Chantae Cann, along with Caleb Sean, will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $20.
Revolution Room, 300 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, (501) 823-0090, revroom.com
...
Benton trio Triple Threat will perform a Holiday Harmony concert at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Cabe Festival Theatre at Wildwood Park for the Arts in Little Rock. Tickets are $15 to $25.
Singers Caleb Conrad, Tyler Davis and Will Richey made their national debut on NBC's reality series, America's Got Talent. Proclaimed a new "boy band," they have a Christmas EP out, Holiday Harmony.
Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, (501) 821-7275, wildwoodpark.org
...
Ned Perme, chief meteorologist for KATV, Channel 7 will perform as part of a benefit concert, Christmastime in Arkansas Live, at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Hot Springs Convention Center. General admission tickets are $28; VIP tables of 10 are $500.
Country music singer and Arkansas native Buddy Jewell is slated to perform, too, along with other acts.
The concert is a benefit for the Arkansas Food Bank.
Hot Springs Convention Center, 134 Convention Blvd., Hot Springs, (501) 664-9410 (for tables), hotsprings.org
...
Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ward Country Dance. Admission is $6.
Burgess and his band are beginning their 62nd year of touring, with 2017 shows scheduled in Las Vegas, London, Dallas, Nashville and Memphis, plus Arkansas performances in Little Rock, Helena-West Helena and Stuttgart, along with a reunion of The Dukes of Hazzard cast in Virginia.
Country Dance, Arkansas 319 and Hickory Street, Ward (501) 605-3251.
Weekend on 12/08/2016