Jackson Free Press

The announcement for this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was announced yesterday. If you haven't heard, over the course of two weekends (the last in April and the first in May), several big names in music will descend on the Crescent City for one the nation's premier music festivals. The top performers for this years are: Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Christina Aguilera, Phish, Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, Santana, Robin Thicke, Public Enemy, John Fogerty, Chaka Khan, Robert Plant, and many others. The list is too long to put here, but go http://www.nojazzfest.com/">here to plan your trip. If you've never been to this festival, you should definitely make plans to attend.

This week's issue of the JFP features a column I wrote concerning how audiences act at live shows. Check it out right http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jan/15/jackson-shhh/">here. My hope is that some of us will take a look at how we act at these events affects someone else's enjoyment of live music. I know concerts can be different things to different people, but there are ways to handle ourselves in a crowd. Plus, it reflects on the artist who is performing and their attitude about playing in our town. I'm proud of Jackson and want bands and artists to want to come visit us.

Finally, here are this week's new releases. I'm listening to Sharon Jones's newest as I write this and can tell you this: It's the funkiest most soulful record I've heard in 2014 (Maybe we can get her for the Jackson R&B Festival this year?).

Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes

Jennifer Nettles - That Girl

Rosanne Cash - The River & the Thread

Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings - Give the People What They Want

Mary Chapin Carpenter - Songs from the Movie

Hiss Golden Messenger - Bad Debt

James Vincent McMorrow - Post Tropical

Mark Lanegan - Has God Seen My Shadow? An Anthology 1989-2011

Pixies - EP2

Blank Realm - Grassed Inn

Switchfoot - Fading West

Lone Justice - This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983

The Crystal Method - The Crystal Method

Tinsley Ellis - Midnight Blue