Rock and country crooner Chris Isaak plays Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Aug. 12 

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Way back in my nightclub managing days, Chris Isaak played D.K.'s West Indies Bar a couple times, and it was glorious. His crew would hang tiki lights around the club, and Isaak wore these custom-made suits with outrageously colorful floral designs. It was a spectacle, and of course the ladies went crazy for the tall, handsome, smooth-as-silk crooner from Stockton.

At the time, he was just three records—Silvertone (1985), his titular sophomore album (1987), and Heart Shaped World (1989)—into his now 13-record career, and he was just beginning to get some acting gigs such as Married to the Mob (1988) and Silence of the Lambs (1991). MTV was still a thing, and in 1991 his video for "Wicked Game" was named Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards.

The platinum-selling artist had hits with tracks like "Blue Hotel," "Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing," "Lie to Me," "Can't Do a Thing," "Blue Spanish Sky," and many more, and judging from his recent setlists, he doesn't shy away from playing his most well-known songs in concert.

This Saturday, Aug. 12, Chris Isaak plays Vina Robles Amphitheatre (7:30 p.m.; $45 to $89.50 at vinaroblesamphitheatre.com). The Grammy-nominated performer still has a haunting voice, and he's been the mastermind behind a number of film soundtracks, from Eyes Wide Shut and True Romance to Wild at Heart and Blue Velvet. He was also recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance by the Americana Honors.Oh, and the lifelong bachelor is still single. Let's see who can draw that sword from that stone.

Also this week at Vina Robles, check out Los Lonely Boys on Friday, Aug. 11 (7:30 p.m.; $40 to $59.50 at vinaroblesamphitheatre.com). This family music trio features brothers Henry, Jojo, and Ringo Garza, who've been playing and touring together since their teens growing up in San Angelo, Texas. This is a second-generation sibling band as their father, Enrique "Ringo" Garza Sr., played conjunto music with his brothers in a band called Falcones.

Their father moved them to Nashville, where he thought they'd have a better chance at success, but ironically, real success came after they returned to Texas and were discovered by Willie Nelson, who showcased them at Farm Aid.

Their first single, "Heaven," connected the "Texican rockers" to new fans as it shot to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2005, it won a Grammy Award. They've been going strong ever since except for a break between 2019 and 2022 to grow their families. Who knows. Maybe a third-generation sibling band will emerge.

Fremont Theater

I waxed poetic last week about the Patti Smith Trio this Thursday, Aug. 10 (8 p.m.; all ages; $55 at seetickets.us). Looks like tickets are still available for this NYC proto-punk icon.

Also this week at the Fremont, get your rap fix when MC Magic, Baby Bash, and Lil Rob play on Saturday, Aug. 12 (8 p.m.; all ages; $48.50 at seetickets.us). MC Magic, née Marco Cardenas in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, raps in English and Spanish and is founder of NastyBoy Records. His family moved to Phoenix when he was 5, and by 13, he learned to program a drum machine and began DJing. His breakthrough album was 2006's Magic City, that hit No. 1 on the Heat Seekers chart. His most recent is 2014's Million Dollar Mexican.

Numbskull and Good Medicine

If you were hoping to see Sunny Sweeney or the Dustbowl Revival this week, both those shows have been canceled but will be rescheduled later. I'll keep you posted. The Numbskull and Good Medicine show that's definitely on is The Young Dubliners at The Siren on Saturday, Aug. 12 (8 p.m.; 21-and-older; $20 at goodmedicinepresents.com).

Formed by frontman Keith Roberts in Santa Monica in 1988, for 35 years they've been one of the world's best loved Celtic rock bands. They tour all around the world, but a few years ago Roberts moved his family to the Central Coast, so this is sort of homebase now. Like all bands, they had to hunker down and weather the pandemic, but now they're back in full swing, playing a bunch of West Coast dates this month before traveling east across the country and then back again.

"We want to be the band who reminds the world how important a good gig can be to our sanity after what we've all been through," Roberts said in press materials.

They're also currently crowd-funding for a new album.

"The business has changed so much over our lifetime that it no longer makes sense for us to take money from a label and then owe it all back," Roberts explained. "Making all our supporters co producers is a far more rewarding way to make a record and allows us to maintain control all the way."

Also at The Siren ...

Get your hardcore and punk rock tribute on when Babes Against the Machine and Dad Religion play on Friday, Aug. 11 (7:30 p.m.; 21-and-older; $17 at tixr.com).

The four seasoned members of Babes "share a passion for the unbridled fiery intensity of Rage Against The Machine's in-your-face music and the powerful universal messages spread throughout their lyrics," press materials explain. "Empowered and unstoppable—Babes Against The Machine delivers the instantly recognizable tunes, driving rhythms, and authentic hard rock-metal-funk style of Rage Against The Machine wrapped up in a mesmerizing stage show that keeps both casual viewers and the most hardcore RATM fans dancing and singing along all night long."

Dad Religion is a punk cover band that's just an out and out blast. They're having as much fun rocking out as you will listening to them put the pedal to the metal on everything from Bad Religion to Green Day to NOFX.

Louisville, Kentucky-based country and western singer-songwriter and guitarist Kyle Eldridge is known for his mix of Joe Maphis and Merle Travis picking and Western jazz stylings. According to his bio, he "got his start playing in the Southern United States, where he met upright bassist Dakota Collins, who brought him to Nashville, Tennessee. There, they began playing honky-tonks on the famous Broadway strip, and soon after, Kyle recorded his debut EP in Los Angeles, California, at Deke Dickerson's studio."

With his ripping double-neck guitar playing, he's been called the "heir apparent" by Larry Collins of The Collins Kids. See Kyle Eldridge's Rockabilly Review next Thursday, Aug. 17 (7 p.m.; 21-and-older; $15 at tixr.com).

SLO Brew Rock

The club near the airport only has one show this week, but it's a doozy. SLO Brew Live and (((folkYEAH!))) present Bobby Oroza on Friday, Aug. 11 (doors at 7 p.m.; 18-and-older; $20 at ticketweb.com). The soulful Fin was born in Helsinki into a family of musicians and artists and spent years grinding it out as a sideman in the Finnish music scene before breaking out on his own.

His debut, This Love (2019), was well received, but his follow-up, Get on the Otherside (2022), has established him as an authentic Finnish soul sensation. Judging by his bio, it sounds like he had a fascinating early life, born to a Finnish father and Bolivian mother.

"During frequent family parties, Bobby's Bolivian grandfather would pick up a guitar and sing Latin canciones and Cuban classics. Bobby's mother is a singer and his father a gypsy-style jazz guitarist. All his siblings work in show business and music. As a kid, Bobby was lucky to grow up surrounded by his parents' record collection, which included early jazz and blues, Motown hits, gospel ensembles, and doo-wop groups like The Drifters and The Clovers. The Soul records were balanced out by Brazilian ones, African ones, his mother's collection of North and South American folk songs, and Nuyorican Salsa albums. All of these influences show up in Bobby's music."

More music ...

Soul funk act Dante Marsh and The Vibe Setters headline Concerts in the Plaza this Friday, Aug. 11, in Mission Plaza. The show opens at 5 p.m. with a set by Jineanne Coderre, who's got a gorgeous voice, followed by the headliner at 6 (free, all ages). Δ

Contact Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey at [email protected].