Two shows with Tiny Desk winner The Philharmonik, more concerts for June — The Sacramento Beat

If we may be so bold as to speak on behalf of the Sacramento “scene,” it’s been a couple of days and we’re all still flying sky high from the news of our own The Philharmonik’s triumph in the 2024 NPR Tiny Desk Contest. Congratulations to The Philharmonik and all involved in producing the winning video submission for a biting, soul-shining “What’s It All Mean.” You’ve got two chances when he hits the Concerts in the Park stage on Friday, June 14, alongside Yelly, Yumz Awkword, Jakhari Smith and EDDY, and then holds it down at the Davis Music Festival the following day, June 15 (davismusicfest.com). Both gigs are sandwiched by his appearances on the multi-city Tiny Desk tour.

Local artists, message Aaron Davis on Instagram if you have upcoming shows, @adavis_threetosee.

Our pals at the cozy Drytown Social Club, cranked things up on the second iteration of their Drytown Americana Festival, expanding from one day to two and snaring venue favorite old-time folk slinger and former Old Crow Medicine Show pillar Willie Watson as the headliner. Local Americana rock mainstay Forever Goldrush rejoins the party for year two, with throwback barroom crooner Noelle & the Deserters showing off some tunes from their forthcoming “High Desert Daydream.” Rounding out the dirt-kicking bill are Jacob Aranda, Andre Miguel Cervantes, Smith and Teigo, Herald Sessions Trio, Mike Blanchard and the Californios, Leaping Blennies, Loose Engines and Bobby Dickson (Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2, 15960 Highway 49). To get the weekend started, Watson is also playing a standalone solo gig at the venue the night before (Fri. May 31), likely showing off some tunes from a new album he’s soon to announce. The following weekend on June 9, Drytown welcomes back another venue favorite and a former Old Crower, the strikingly haunting Gill Landry (feistwines.com/shop).

The June Blues & Bourbon series at Harlow’s/Starlet Room is ablaze for June, leading off on June 5 with local blues/junk jazz act Proxy Moon, who can probably blindly swipe at the corner of their tool shed and find something to make an instrument out of. June 12 features the much-ballyhooed return of David Dot Hale and his Blind Lemon Peel All-Stars, with fierce showman Hale coming off a year and a half on the “injured reserve list” and welcoming the likes of Mick Martin, Larisa Bryski, Danny Sandoval and several more into this platoon of fireballers. Soul-charged “blues ninja” Ben Rice & the PDX Hustle round out the month’s gigs on June 19 (harlows.com).

San Francisco-based and Ripon-bred troupe French Cassettes just dished up a new aptly-titled highway trekking tune, “Megabus.” The breezy, faded folk tune is bolstered by a rousing collection of the group’s signature harmony-laden thrift shop indie rock on their bearhug of a new record, “Benzene,” which releases on June 7. Ever accessible and often playfully snarky, the now veteran group has been going strong for north of 15 years. The “Benzene” release tour stops at Starlet Room with local pop rock acts Cugino and Pilot Waves lending support (8 p.m. Wednesday, June 12. $12. harlows.com).

There’s festivals a-plenty on Father’s Day weekend, anchored by the always family-friendly Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival. Held in Grass Valley, this year’s lineup welcomes roots music royalty and virtuoso Alison Brown as the main headliner, with main stage sets from Sister Sadie, Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass, Lonesome River Band, the Horsenecks, Country Gongbang, Tray Wellington Band and several others, with “California Showcase” sets from the likes of One Button Suit, Trouble Town, Salty Sally, Solid Gold Stranger and Caltucky (June 13-16. fathersdayfestival.com).

The aforementioned Davis Music Festival celebrates a dozen years of bringing a mini South-by-Southwest styled smorgasbord of music to multiple venues around downtown Davis, with the cost of your ticket getting you access to all of them. Take in the likes of Skating Polly, Dog Party, the Sam Chase & the Untraditional, Broken Compass Bluegrass, Anton Barbeau, the Snares, artists in residence LabRats and tons more over three days (davismusicfest.com).

Auburn’s two-day Gold Rush Country Music Festival gussies itself up with some Old West garb, activities and interactive reenactments while welcoming country acts Joe Peters, Ariel Jean Band, Jake Jacobson, Sofia Claire, Buck Ford and several others to the stage (June 15 and 16, Gold Country Fairgrounds & Event Center, 209 Fairgate Road, Auburn. eventbrite.com)

Up in Camino, the sprawling Folk on the Farm series at Delfino Farms has a feisty lineup on deck for 2024 — one that’s possibly about to steamroll right through the natural barriers of the word “folk” in their title. Kicking it off is country upstarts the Wilder Blue, who’d probably be drawing Eagles comparisons even without that “Seven Bridges Road” cover, along with Steven Denmark (June 15), with Nicholas Jamerson & the Morning Jays on June 22 and Noeline Hofmann on June 29. Throughout the summer they’ll welcome the likes of, among others, rowdy bluegrass wunderkinds Brothers Comatose (July 13), the Clay Street Unit (July 27), retro-pop rock showman Pokey LaFarge (Aug. 3), Southern rocker Duane Betts & Palmetto Motel (Sept. 7) and the scintillating Margo Cilker closing the season Sept. 14 (delfinofarms.com/folkonthefarm).

That rich, crooning voice of the Moody Blues, Justin Hayward continues to be a seemingly nonstop touring presence and stops by the Crest Theatre on his “Blue World” tour (8 p.m. Tuesday, June 18. $46.50-$84.50. crestsacramento.com). Hayward has plenty of tunes from his expansive solo repertoire to show off, pairing nicely with his seminal contributions to a Moody Blues catalog that found that oh-so-perfect sweet spot between the orchestral pop of the 1950s and the waves of psychedelic rock nipping at its heels in the ’60s and ’70s. Too bad this one couldn’t start a few hours earlier, so it could be on a Tuesday Afternoon.

In true of Montreal fashion, it’s tough to pin down just exactly what frontman Kevin Barnes was thinking on the indie art pop act’s latest release, “Lady on the Cusp” — and that’s always been the point. Take the record’s two leading singles: “Rude Girl on Rotation,” a breezy, cheeky nod to spacious beach psych of decades past, and “Yung Hearts Bleed Free,” a throbbing gutterfunk peek forward to a time when the robots are either our enslavers or the DJs throwing the parties. Maybe both? Barnes brings his wildly imaginative project — which now has 30 years worth of colorfully daring paint splatters layered across its expansive sonic canvas — to Goldfield Roseville, with support from a recognizable face from Sacramento’s yesteryear. Natalie Gordon (aka Natalie Ribbons), formerly one-half of standout avant-garde indie duo Agent Ribbons, returns to the region fronting Tele Novella, self-described purveyors of “coin-operated medieval country songs through a 1950s western lens” (8 p.m. Wednesday, June 19. $30. goldfieldtradingpost.com).