On Stage in Ballard Park This Week: Hot Club of Cowtown, Darlingside & U.S. Airforce Band

CHIRP free concert series welcomes a Western Swing Band, a quartet, and a military band this week to Ballard Park

Tues. 8/16  Hot Club of Cowtown – It wouldn’t be a CHIRP summer in Ridgefield without the “world’s most amazing Western Swing Band” (London, Sunday Times). Bring your wallets, Hot Club has a new CD, Midnight on the Trail.  The three incomparables: Elana James, Whit Smith & Jake Erwin.  http://www.hotclubofcowtown.com

Thurs. 8/18  Darlingside – Originally part of a Williams a-cappella group, this quartet now makes music on its own and won the 2015 Artist of the Year award from Folk Alliance International. “The instrumentals are just as meticulous as the harmonies, the harmonies just as haunting as the lyrics, and the lyrics a testament to the Boston quartet’s success to come.” – Larry Groce, NPR’s Mountain Stage. http://www.darlingside.com

Fri. 8/19  U.S. Airforce Band “Jazz in Blue” – An 18-member military big band which performs everything from dance hits of the swing era to up-to-the-minute hard-driving numbers. Latin, swing, salsa, or sizzling scat singing – you name it, this band can play it.