• Donavon Frankenreiter with Goodnight, Texas, bands that strive to bring you joy while they do what they love, are set to perform on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Upper Merion Township Park in King of Prussia.
For nearly four decades, Frankenreiter has been traveling the globe, first as a professional surfer and now as a musician. Born in Southern California, Frankenreiter spent most of his youth chasing waves before he turned pro at the age of 16. These days, instead of surf competitions, it’s concert halls that bring Frankenreiter to town, where he entertains audiences with his unique blend of laid-back grooves, philosophical lyrics and soulful delivery.
You can find him touring the world with his three-piece band and still catching waves anytime he can. Goodnight, Texas is a tough-to-define storytelling folk rock band whose strength lies in unexpected sweet spots. Drawing their name from Pat and Avi’s onetime geographic midpoint, the five-piece band also exists at the center of its songwriters’ contrasting styles via a 1913 Gibson A mandolin and a 2015 Danelectro Baritone Guitar, at the crossroads of folk and blues and rock ‘n’ roll, in a place where dry wit and dark truths meet hope and utmost sincerity.
The event is free for those who are 12 and younger. General admission for 13 and up is $25. For more information, visit tixr.
com/groups/concertsunderthestars/events/ . • Rayland Baxter with Sugadaisy, bands that bring their own flair to the stage, are set to perform Saturday at 7 p.m.
at the Upper Merion Township Park in King of Prussia. For the making of his fourth album, “If I Were a Butterfly,” Baxter holed up for over a year at a former rubber band factory turned studio in the Kentucky countryside, a seemingly humble environment that proved to be something of a wonderland. The follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed “Wide Awake,” “If I Were a Butterfly” finds Baxter co-producing alongside Tim O’Sullivan and Kai Welch as they slowly piece together the album’s patchwork of lush psychedelia and Beatles-esque pop.
In addition to working at Thunder Sound, Baxter recorded in California, Texas, Tennessee and Washington, enlisting a remarkable lineup of musicians: Shakey Graves, Lennon Stella, several members of Cage the Elephant, Zac Cockrell of Alabama Shakes, Morning Teleportation’s Travis Goodwin and legendary Motown drummer Bobbye Jean Hall, among many others. In an especially meaningful turn, two of the album’s tracks feature the elegant pedal steel work of his father, Bucky Baxter, who performed with Bob Dylan and who passed away in May 2020. Thanks to the extraordinary care and ingenuity behind its creation, “If I Were a Butterfly” arrives as a work of rarefied magic, capable of stirring up immense feeling while leaving the listener happily wonderstruck.
Baxter’s debut release as a producer, the album bears a dazzling unpredictability that has much to do with his limitless imagination as a collector and collagist of sound. Zach Littleton and Johny Lovan, creators of Sugadaisy, have been aware of each other since third grade in Bowling Green, Ky. It took many years for them to start making music together, and even longer for them to realize they worked best as a duo.
Since 2016, Sugadaisy has quietly built a substantial fanbase by simply being its weird, wonderful selves. Sugadaisy is no ordinary band, largely because Littleton and Lovan are no ordinary musicians. One of their songs “Space Cadet” has nearly 2 million listens on Spotify simply thanks to word of mouth and some love from high-trafficking YouTube creators.
They’ve performed live in shirts and ties and with their heads covered in pantyhose. With tongue more often than not firmly in cheek, they’ve largely released tunes rooted in guitar-based folk. The event is free for those who are 12 and younger.
General admission for those 13 and up is $22. For more information, see tixr.com/groups/concertsunderthestars/events/ .
• Concert Series in the Park, a great eventful weekend for the entire family, is set for Saturday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 4 to 6 p.
m. at Kutztown Park. On Saturday, Swing Fever performs big band music of the swing era, spanning the genre of music from the late 1920s, ’30s and the war years of WW II in the 1940s.
Entertaining for 35-plus years, Swing Fever is the feature band at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum WWII Weekend every year. Their repertoire includes songs by Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, the Andrew Sisters, Count Basie, Artie Shaw and Louis Armstrong. The fun continues Sunday with the Bagpipes in the Band Shell concert from 4 to 6 p.
m. Celtic Session, a division of the Kutztown Pipe Band, will take the stage at 4 p.m.
, followed by a short intermission with the Kutztown Pipe Band performing at 5 p.m. The park concession stand, Saucony Café, will be open for food and drinks.
The event is suitable for all ages and is free. Bring your own chairs and blankets. For more information, go to visitpaamericana.
com/event/ . • Family BBQ Community Event, which the whole family can enjoy, is set to take place Sunday from 2 to 7 p.m.
at the Gouglersville Fire Company along Mohns Hill Road in Cumru Township. The event is hosted by WidowMakers MC, Wicked Reapers MC, Dying Breed and Infamous Ryders. Bring the family and enjoy delicious food and activities.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. For more information, go to allevents.in/mobile/amp-event .
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