What's happening in Portland, Maine:

WMPG 10th Annual Bluegrass Spectacular

WMPG celebrates Bluegrass like no one else! Join The Grassholes, Tricky Britches and The Jerks of Grass for an amazing night of bluegrass. The evening's special guests will be the young musicians of 317 Main Street Community Music Center. Proceeds benefit WMPG Community.

($12, 6:30pm)

Noonday Concert Series at First Parish Church

Noonday Concert at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church

Jeffrey Foucault at One Longfellow Square

Longtime disciple of the rich and strange music that sings behind the American veil, Jeffrey Foucault has spent the last decade mining the darker seams of country and blues, producing a string of spare and elemental albums of rare power while garnering accolades across the United States and overseas for a tersely elegant brand of songwriting set apart by its haunting imagery and weather-beaten cool.

Foucault started in music in his teens playing his father's acoustic guitar, and doing John Prine songs. A stolen copy of Live and Obscure by Townes Van Zandt led Foucault to immerse himself in Lone Star singer-songwriters like Van Zandt and Guy Clark, as well as the distinctive Midwesterner Greg Brown. By 19, he tried his hand at writing his own songs, and by the time he graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in history, he was performing regularly in coffeehouses. He released his self-distributed debut album in 2001, and followed that up in 2004 with Stripping Cane, which did have national distribution. He has been touring extensively, and with Kris Delmhorst and Peter Mulvey also was part of a trio of Bay State singer-songwriters called Red Bird, which released a pleasing recording of acoustic covers of other people's music.

Jazz Brunch with Sean Mencher

EVERY SUNDAY, enjoy Local Sprouts delicious brunch menu with some jazz on the side.

Pet Rock in the Park

Rhythmic Cypher

Avant garde poetry with a beat open mic with musical accompaniment featuring local, regional and national performance poets. EVERY SUNDAY at Slainte!!

An Evening With Chris Smither

“Back in the old days,” muses resilient troubadour Chris Smither, “writing new songs and making new albums were just chores. My priority was, and still is, performing live. I guess I still write the songs and make the records so that I can go out and play – except that now I actually look forward to it. I’ve learned how to do it, and I’m very eager to get stuff recorded once I’ve written it.”

CHRIS SMITHER - NEW ALBUM!

If you’ve seen Chris in concert over the last few months you’ve probably gotten a taste of his upcoming record. He’s been playing all the new songs he wrote over the past year. Well, June 19, 2012 marks the release of Hundred Dollar Valentine (Signature Sounds) – and this, his twelfth studio record, will not disappoint. In fact, it is the first record that has all Smither originals. Back again working with his longtime producer, David “Goody” Goodrich, they’re joined by some veterans of the Boston rock/pop scene. The Hundred Dollar Valentine album package was designed by Chris-fave Meghan Dewar (with interior photos by Devin Dobbins-McCarthy).