Go See Hear in L.A.: June 6-June 13

The first full week of June comes with a full week of interesting shows.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are road warriors whose funky rock sounds have gotten them a reputation as a strong live. I remember digging their debut Nothing But The Water but have lost track of them since then; however, their new disc has received some good notices. They come to the Roxy on June 8.

Karen Elson comes to town for some shows: Spaceland on the 9th and McCabe's on the 11th. Sure, sure, she's Jack White's wife, but listening to some tracks from her impressive debut disc, The Ghosts Who Walks, you forgot all that and focus on the haunting folk-based music that she has crafted.

The Sadies swing down from Toronto to play the Echo on June 10. Over the 10-12 years, the band, led by the brothers Travis and Dallas Good, have released a string of fine albums, first on Bloodshot and now on Yep Roc. Their latest Darker Circles is their second in a row with ex-Jayhawk Gary Louris as producer. Their always interesting eclectic alt. country rock should have made them better known than just being Neko Case’s sometime collaborators.

Speaking of Bloodshot Records, their honky tonk maven Wayne “The Train” Hancock pulls into the Mint for a show on June 10. This true-blue Texan has been cranking out traditional country music – like Hank Sr. did – for going on 15 years now and there seems to be no slowing him down.

Gregory Alan Isakov returns to the Hotel Café on June 11. I found his This Empty Northern Hemisphere filled with laidback, yet lush, chamber folk music.

The next night another purveyor of lush folk-pop Greg Laswell comes to the Hotel Café; he has a new on Vanguard called Take A Bow

Up at the Getty on the 12th is Mayer Hawthorne who has been receiving a big buzz for his retro soul stylings.

The week closes with the top of the week as McCable’s welcomes Leslie and the Badgers and Eleni Mandell. Leslie and the Badgers have an excellent album Roomful of Smoke on which singer Leslie Stevens can sound as sweet as Emmylou Harris or as feisty as Kasey Chamber or Neko Case. Eleni Mandell has been concentrating on her Living Sisters project but she’s also a talented singer/songwriter who likes to cover a lot of musical territory.