Get in, Loser, We’re Going on Tour

Whether sliding just across the Metroplex or hopping into dingy vans and traversing hundreds of miles, road shows allow area musicians a chance to play for some faces different from those they regularly see at the city’s handful of remaining venues. Not only can going out on the road give a boost to an artist’s career, it’s also an opportunity to elevate Fort Worth as a bona fide music city in the eyes of the rest of the state and country. Depending upon where they’re headed, it’s also a chance to escape some of the season’s vicious 100-degree days.

It’s hard to think of a better way to kick off the face-melting season than with some music that will do the same. On Sat, May 23, the thundering Werewolf Victim Revival cruise up I-35 to Denton’s iconic Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios (411 E Sycamore St, Denton, 940-514-0675) to support Dallas heavy rockers The Infamists, who are celebrating the new single “Feral Noises and Amphetamines.” North Texas’ blistering Van Damme, which features members of beloved wall-of-guitar heroes DUELL, are on the bill as well.

If that doesn’t give one their fill of cranked-up Marshalls, on Sat, May 30, down-stroke rockers The Dangits are at Three Links in Deep Ellum (704 Elm St, Dallas, 214-484-6011) with Houston’s badge-and-baton-wielding Cops.

To close out the month, back up at RGRS on Sun, May 31, Tarrant County death-metal pioneers Gammacide hit the 40-year milestone as they rip it up with Silvertonguedevil and Chemicaust.

This week, folk singer-songwriter Jacob Furr heads up north with a show in Edmond, OK, on Wed, May 20, before stretching out to Missouri, Chicago, Kansas, New Jersey, and Arkansas through the beginning of August. Fellow Fort Worth singer-songwriter Clint Niosi is following a similar path on his own tour, bringing his jazz-tinged melancholia on a swing up through Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and Minnesota in July and August.

On Sat, Jun 6, at Dallas’ Four Corners Brewing (1311 S Ervay St, Dallas, 214-748-2739), the dust-up Southern rock of Fort Worth’s Quaker City Night Hawks headlines the second annual Dumb Zone Generic Summer Event. The former Ticket midday hosts continue to cultivate an even more obsessive post-Ticket podcast listenership, and QCNH will cap an evening of fun, beer, tunes, special guests, and yuks.

One of the larger bands from the area, high-energy cowpunks the Vandoliers are currently on tour through the Northeast. They’re playing Boston, New York, and Philly before swinging through the Midwest in support of their latest album, Life Behind Bars, the confessional record about frontperson Jenny Rose’s recent coming out as one of alt-country’s only trans women artists. The tour ends with a trip to Norway (!) mid-June.

The captivating elementary school teacher-turned-country music star Summer Dean heads through the Hill Country the first week of June with stops in Austin and Fredericksburg before heading north to the seemingly popular tour destination of Wichita, Kansas. She then heads northwest with dates in Montana, Washington, and Oregon.

Also heading toward the mountains, albeit on the southern side, cosmic country troubadour Broke String Burnett has a three-date swing through Big Bend’s Chisos Mountains, starting with a Thu, Jun 18, stop in the famed ghost town of Terlingua before heading through the small mountain towns of Alpine and Marathon. Broke String previews his tour set on Fri, May 29, at The Cicada (1002 S Main St, Ft Worth, 817-405-9318) with Walker & The Texas Dangers.

The same night, homegrown Texas rock darlings Cutthroat Finches play the first of a trio of dates over the summer, this one at Arlington’s scenic outdoor venue Levitt Pavillion (100 W Abram St, Arlington, 817-543-4308) before heading down I-30 to Dallas’ Granada Theater (3524 Greenville Av, Dallas, 214-841-4900) on Sat, Jul 25, then coming back home to Tulips FTW (112 St. Louis Av, Fort Worth, 817-367-9798) on Sat, Aug 8.

Neo-soul husband-and-wife duo Igimèjí are taking their jazzy R&B to Big Sky Country in August, beginning with a stop in El Paso before moving on to three shows in California, then heading back home with stops in Tucson and Albuquerque.

Even when summer ends, the touring doesn’t. Raw Fort Worth punk revivalists Love Cuts are heading out in September just about the same time raspy-voiced soul songstress Katie Robertson joins the equally soulful Paul Schalda on the road supporting indie-rock icons Built to Spill over September and October. — P.H.