Mix some outlaw country, electronic beats, Afro-Cuban vibes, vocal harmonies, blues and jazz, Brazilian rhythms and a gumbo-serving guitar player, and you've got the musical headliners for the 2017 Utah Arts Festival.
Festival organizers recently announced the slate of headlining musical acts that will play the festival's big stages on Library Square and Washington Square in downtown Salt Lake City, June 22-25.
The headliners are:
• Shooter Jennings, the maverick country-rock musician, performing with Waymore's Outlaws, made up of former members of his father Waylon Jennings' recording and touring band.
• RJD2, aka Ramble Jon Krohn, the EDM/hip-hop producer.
• The Pedrito Martinez Group, an Afro-Cuban combo.
• Bill "Sauce Boss" Wharton, a Florida swamp-funk slide guitarist whose show includes a culinary demonstration in which he mixes a big pot of gumbo (with his own hot sauce) and serves it to the audience.
• Fruition, a Portland, Ore., quintet that blends three lead voices with strings for a mix of soul, blues and British Invasion-era pop.
• Salt Lake City Jazz Orchestra, featuring singer Andrea Miller and trumpeter Chuck Findley.
• Jazz singer Niki J. Crawford.
• Blues/hip-hop/rock guitarist-singer Jarekus Singleton.
• The Mitch Barrett Trio, an Appalachia-bred Americana band.
• Blues/R&B/soul guitarist Dexter Allen.
• SoundMass, a merger of Salt Lake City rock band Theta Naught and Austin, Texas, band My Education.
• Samba Fogo, the well-known Utah Afro-Brazilian rhythm and dance corps.
• Classical pianists Jae Hong Park and Chaeyoung Park, the 2016 gold and silver medalists in the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition.
• Saliva Sisters, the comedy-harmony musical troupe, who performed from the back of a flatbed truck at the first Utah Arts Festival in 1977.
Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune Samba Fogo dancer Joana Galdino entertains onlookers. The spirit of Carnival filled downtown Salt Lake City, September 12, 2015, at The Gateway during Saturday's free celebration of Brazil’s art, culture, music and cuisine during the 11th annual Brazilian Festival.
| Courtesy of Fruition The State Room in Salt Lake City will present the Portland string infused bluegrass quintet Fruition, Jan. 12, 2017. Visit thestateroom.com for information. Must be 21+ to attend.
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