GREG Garing, who grew up in Erie, Pa. – where he played ragtime and boogie-woogie piano at a VFW Hall at age 10 – might be labeled a country artist (in the Hank Williams vein), but he’s also finely versed in jazz and blues.
The guitar-, fiddle-, piano-, banjo- and mandolin-playing singer/songwriter moved to Nashville at 18, where he recorded with fiddler Vassar Clements, played in Jimmy Martin’s band (the Sunny Mountain Boys) and with renowned artists such as Lucinda Williams and Willie Nelson.
The musician was partly responsible for the roots-revival of Nashville’s honky-tonkin’ Lower Broadway, which was more like the old Hell’s Kitchen.
He moved to New York about 10 years ago, where he ran a Monday-night country and bluegrass jam at 9C, which was dubbed the Alphabet City Opry, and also played jazz with the Harlem All-Stars and jazz-era greats.
After spending the last few years in Nashville, Garing’s back. He’s performing every Monday at Bar Nine (807 Ninth Ave.; [212] 399-9336) – in Hell’s Kitchen.
Hem member Dawn Landes, a Louisville, Ky.-raised Brooklynite, performs this Monday night at 8.
MONDAY Plus: Montreal musician Tam has played in Django Reinhardt and Oasis cover bands but in the late ’90s switched gears to her own stuff.
She flooded Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore with CDs – hoping he’d notice – and he joyfully did, finally releasing her self-titled album of his favorite Tam tracks on his label, Ecstatic Peace.
Her vocals have that Liz Phair tunelessness (from her pre-Britney days) mixed with Karen O chop-punkiness, accompanied by some ’60s guitars (more Velvet Underground than Byrds) and synths.
It’s a mixed batch, some songs are more melodic than others, and she boldly goes where David Bowie has gone before, covering some Arcade Fire tunes. She performs at Tonic (107 Norfolk St.; [212] 358-7503) on Monday and Trash (256 Grand St., Brooklyn; [718] 599-1000) on Tuesday.
New York singer/songwriter Libby Johnson, who used to make a living playing in piano bars, breaks away from 22 Brides to record her debut solo disc, “Annabella,” a rootsy-folk album. She is also featured on the soundtrack for “Trust the Man” (starring Billy Crudup, David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Julianne Moore ), so she may just be our next Aimee “Magnolia” Mann.
She performs Monday at Rockwood Music Hall (196 Allen St.; [212] 477-4155).
TUESDAY Plus: I guess I’m in a front-porch frame of mind.
Portland, Ore.-raised, Nashville-based roots-rocker Todd Snider tells it like it is with pointed songs on his new album, “The Devil You Know.”
He performs at the Canal Room (285 West Broadway; [212] 941-8100) on Tuesday and Wednesday.
THURSDAY: Besides being the summer song of 2006 (take that, Shakira), “Crazy,” by Gnarls Barkley, is probably one of the most covered tunes of the year with artists such as Jack White’s Raconteurs, Nelly Furtado and Ray LaMontagne taking on the soulful track.
The dynamic duo performs at Central Park SummerStage (Rumsey Playfield; summerstage.org), but it’s sold out, so pull up a blanket behind the bleachers.
