How do I know summer is upon us? Because the Live Oak Music Festival is just around the corner. Held on Father’s Day weekend, Friday, June 13, through Sunday, June 15, at El Chorro Regional Park, this fundraiser for local NPR affiliate KCBX features three days of music, fun, and community.
Opening day brings an amazing headliner, Grammy-nominated Cuban singer Cimafunk, who blends Caribbean sounds with Afro-Latin rhythms, funk, and hip-hop sounds. The Spanish language vocalist is a powerhouse with machine-gun-like delivery. If you’re unfamiliar, look up his NPR Tiny Desk concert on YouTube.
Cima takes his stage name from cimarrones—slaves that escaped and found freedom in the mountains in Cuba.
“I studied my family history and there is a strong history of cimarrones in my family tree,” Cima explained via email. “I’m a huge fan of funk music and when I started my solo career, I was deep into George Clinton, P Funk, Motown, and I put cimarrones and funk together to get to Cimafunk.”
Born in Pinar del RÃo Province, Cima now calls New Orleans home.
“I love exploring new places and cultures, and the U.S. is a really diverse and interesting place. New Orleans is amazing. The music, food, and culture are very similar to Cuba, and I’ve been able to connect with so many people, making me feel very much at home.
“My family is in Cuba, and I visit them as often as possible, and they visit me in New Orleans as well,” he continued. “Family is very important for Cubans, and we find the way to see each other and spend time as much as possible. I also love working with kids in the schools in Cuba and often bring Cuban youth to New Orleans and New Orleans youth to Cuba.”
New Orleans is obviously one of America’s music capitals, and Cima has found kindred spirits there.
“Even before I moved to New Orleans, I had connected with my friends Trombone Shorty, the Soul Rebels, and other local artists with whom I’ve collaborated regularly. I think more than anything, New Orleans has allowed me to reflect on Cuba and my culture and history and what stories I want to tell and how I want to use my music.”
Cima’s 2017 debut, Terapia, introduced a surprising new voice and unique combination of genres to the international music scene, and it opened doors for his second full-length, 2021’s El Alimento, which featured wonderful collaborations with the likes of George Clinton, Lupe Fiasco, and CeeLo Green. Cima’s newest album is 2024’s, Pa’ Tu Cuerpa.
“El Alimento was so special because of the collaborations with George, Lupe, and CeeLo, artists I’d been watching for many years, both enjoying their music and studying their careers,” he explained. “Just to meet them is a gift and to collaborate is even more special! Pa’ Tu Cuerpa is doing really well. It was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Alternative album and one of the songs, ‘Catalina,’ was nominated for Record of the Year in the Latin Grammys. I’m so grateful for that recognition! In terms of sound, with Pa’ Tu Cuerpa, I tried to return a bit to my original sound from my breakout album, Terapia. However, similar to El Alimento, there are lots of collaborations with a diverse array of artists, so it’s a very eclectic, global sound with a strong presence of Afro-Cuban funk.”
Cima’s style and stage presence has already been compared to James Brown. Big shoes to fill.
“It’s an honor to be mentioned with James, but I don’t like it because I respect him so much that I feel bad to have that comparison made. I am just getting started, and I have big plans for the future, but I have too much respect for James Brown to endorse that comparison or feel really comfortable with it. But my band and I are huge fans and students of James and many of the other greats, so we do our best to honor them and have them present in our live shows.”
Alright, Live Oakies. Get ready for this Caribbean musical cyclone to blow through town.
“It’s my first time performing in that area, and we’re really excited to share our music with everyone at the festival,” Cima added. “We’re bringing some surprises and lots of energy.”
Cimafunk headlines Friday, June 13. If you can only come for one day, Friday’s a great choice. Entertainment begins at 1 p.m. in the Beer Garden with Poi Rogers playing Hawaiian steel and Western swing music. Think “somewhere in-between the tropical lounges of 1930s Los Angeles and the honky-tonk beer joints of rural 1950s California.”
You can hone your singing skills with longtime Live Oak emcee and Daivid Grisman collaborator Joe Craven and his talented daughter Hattie Craven in a workshop from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on Stage Too. Called Put Your Music Where Your Mouth Is, the workshop covers expression, improvisation, harmony, and mouth rhythms.
Brass band mash-up act Brass Mash plays twice on Friday with a 4 p.m. concert on the main stage and an 10:30 p.m. closing show on Stage Too. If you like popular songs mashed together and arranged for a horn band, which you should, this band is awesome.
Americana and roots country singer-songwriter Margo Cilker plays the main stage at 5:30 p.m. She released her debut, Pohorylle, in 2021 to universal acclaim. It led to a 44-show tour across the U.S. the U.K., and Scandinavia. Her follow-up, Valley of the Heart’s Delight, explores her Santa Clara Valley childhood.
Local Americana act Jill’s Knight Out plays Stage Too at 6:30 p.m. Knight is a local treasure—an amazing songwriter with an incredible voice. Expect R&B-tinged Americana songwriting and harmony singing.
Virtuoso bluegrass and country performers Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley play the main stage at 7 p.m. Rolling Stone calls them “two bluegrass aces,” and NPR calls them “two musical phenoms.” This Grammy-nominated acoustic duo will blow you away.
Tickets are available at liveoakfest.org.
Chameleon
Leon Bridges is a musical shapeshifter. He was my favorite new artist of 2015 when he released Coming Home, a collection of original R&B, soul, and gospel tracks that sounded like they were written in the 1950s and ’60s. He even dressed in the retro threads of the era. That debut remains his biggest album, a platinum-seller that peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and garnered a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album. Despite the massive success of that record, he refused to stick to the same sound,
His second and third albums—Good Thing (2018) and Gold-Diggers Sound (2021)—also scored nominations for Best R&B Album, and his 2018 single “Bet Ain’t Worth The Hand” won the Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance. Both albums remained “retro” but evolved beyond Coming Home‘s throwback ’50s vibe. Bridges, it seems, prefers to stay musically unpredictable.
These days he’s touring in support of Leon (2024), a very personal record that explores his Fort Woth, Texas, upbringing and reveal a Leon “not in the lights,” as he told one interviewer. It’s a “a sonic journey through the streets he knows best, the things he holds dearest, and the memories of the people and place that shaped him,” press materials explained.
His music remains engaging and soulful, but he once again proves his sound can’t be pinned down.
Leon Bridges plays Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Wednesday, June 4 (doors at 6 p.m. show at 7:30; all ages; $138 to $478.40 at ticketmaster.com).
Banjo and beyond
If it’s got strings, chances are Tony Furtado can make it sing. Inspired by The Beverly Hillbillies TV show and a sixth-grade music report, he took up the banjo as a 12-year-old. About eight years later, in 1987, he won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas. He won it again in 1991.
These days he also plays banjo, cello-banjo, slide guitar, and baritone ukulele, and he has a soulful voice used to good effect as he explores Americana, folk, indie rock, blues, and jazz sounds. With 17 albums to his credit, his catalog is deep, so there’s no telling what he might play when Numbskull and Good Medicine present Tony Furtado at Club Car Bar on Friday, May 30 (7 p.m.; all ages; $29.56 at goodmedicinepresents.com) with Luke Price opening.
Numbskull and Good Medicine also bring Johnny Cash tribute band Cash’D Out to BarrelHouse Brewing on Friday, May 30 (6 p.m.; all ages; $25.44 at goodmedicinepresents.com). If you like Cash’s Sun Records and early Columbia era sounds and the live recordings from Folsom Prison and San Quentin, don’t miss it!
Funky town
The Siren has a sweet doubleheader on Friday, May 30, when Boot Juice and The Funk Junket perform (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $15.30 presale at tixr.com).
Boot Juice describes its sound as “Cosmic Rock plus Vibrant Americana.” The Davis-based septet features horns and three-part vocal harmonies, and mixes some funk, jazz, soul, and blues into their downhome back porch sounds.
The Funk Junket is a kinetic funk outfit with a horn section and drummer and congas player. They cook.
The Siren has two free ones on Saturday, May 31, starting with a matinee show from rockin’ blues and soul dance band The Ray Jaurique Band (2 to 5 p.m.; 21-and-older). Jaurique describes the band as “one part Sam Cooke, one part Albert King, a pinch of Albert Collins, one part Delbert McClinton, a touch of Keb Mo’, some Van Morrison with a little Holland-Dozier-Holland thrown in.”
That evening, funky, high-energy quintet Strange Cake plays (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older). The Central Coast band is influenced “by the groovy sounds of The Meters and the eclectic jamming of Phish,” according to their bio. They “blend of funk, rock, and improvisational jam music.”
Get ready to sing!
Cal Poly Arts presents Choir! Choir! Choir! leading epic anthem sing-alongs in the Performing Arts Center on Friday, May 30 (7:30 p.m.; $28 to $35 at calpolyarts.org). To get a taste, check out some YouTube videos. The two directors—Daveed Goldman and Nobu Adilman—manage to coax some amazing performances out of you, the audience, as you’re encouraged to sing along to familiar songs such as Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” or Taylor Swift’s “Cruel Summer.”
“Why see a show when you can be the show! Choir! Choir! Choir! is the fully interactive, participatory show that turns audience into performer—so get ready to laugh, dance, and sing your hearts out with hundreds of other music-lovers just like you,” organizers announced. “It’s like a big birthday party for the greatest songs of all time and you’re invited!”
Vegas to you
The Fremont Theater hosts Piff the Magic Dragon’s All-Star Vegas entertainment extravaganza on Saturday, May 31 (doors at 7, show at 8 p.m.; all ages; $44.78 to $81.86 at prekindle.com). The show features “sensational circus artists, hilarious comedians, impossible illusions, and more,” the venue announced.
Piff is a longstanding Las Vegas headliner and America’s Got Talent star, and the cast of All-Star Vegas includes “fellow America’s Got Talent stars, performers from Cirque Du Soleil, special guests, and more than a few surprises … this interactive spectacular promises to entertain the entire family with an unforgettable and jaw-dropping show.”
Keys for thee
The ivories will be well and thoroughly tickled this Sunday, June 1, when The SLO County Jazz Federation proudly presents its 40th annual Jazz Piano Showcase in Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church (4 p.m.; all ages; $40 general admission and $10 for students at my805tix.com).
The concert features some of the Central Coast’s best pianists: Jim Barnett, Marshall Otwell, George Garcia, Jamaal Baptiste, Craig Updegrove, Andrew Sedley, and Bob Harway, who will be accompanied by Dylan Johnson (bass) and Darrell Voss (drums).
The concert is a major fundraiser for the Jazz Fed’s annual student scholarships, and a variety of snacks will be provided at intermission. Visit slojazz.org for more information. Δ
Contact Arts Editor Glen Starkey at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in May 29 – Jun 8, 2025.