Chris Barron will take a break from the Spin Doctors to tour with his new band the Time Bandits. The group is currently focusing on material from Barron’s second studio album, the reflective, Americana-influenced Pancho and the Kid, but will also draw from the Spin Doctors’ catalogue. The Time Bandits will hit the road on April 17 for a performance at Richmond, VA’s Capital Ale House. Barron will also make stops in Winston-Salem (4/18), Pittsboro, NC (4/19), Nashville (4/21), Chattanooga, TN (4/22), Birmingham, AL (4/24), Macon, GA (4/25), Atlanta (4/26), Charlotte (4/29), Chapel Hill (4/30), Asheville, NC (5/1), Spartanburg, SC (5/2), Baltimore, MD (5/3)and Ft Lauderdale, FL (5/24). The Spin Doctors have also confirmed a handful of gigs, including a May 27 appearance at New York’s Fillmore at Irving Plaza with Dark Star Orchestra, John Popper & Chan Kinchla and Moonalice. The performance will benefit The Bill Graham Memorial Foundation.

Page McConnell, Booker T. Jones, String Cheese Incident’s Kyle Hollingsworth, James Carter, The Fab Faux, Matisyahu, Sharon Jones and the Disco Biscuits’ Jon Gutwillig and Marc Brownstein are among the initial acts confirmed to play the 7th Jammy Awards. As previously reported, the multi-band gathering will take place at New York’s Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 7. Other confirmed artists include co-hosts Warren Haynes and Grace Potter, Christian McBride, The HeadCount All-Stars, Galactic, Squeeze’s Glenn Tillbrook, Umphrey’s McGee’s Jake Cinninger, Joe Russo, the Los Lonely Boys, Rose Hill Drive, Tea Leaf Green, ALO’s Steve Adams and Big Head Todd’s Todd Park Mohr. As is tradition, the evening’s entertainers will be paired in a number of unique configurations throughout the night. A handful of additional artists will be confirmed in the coming weeks. Voting is now open at www.jammys.com.

Beck, the recently reformed Stone Temple Pilots and Lucinda Williams are among the initial acts confirmed to appear at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. Though the festival’s full line-up won’t be announced until this summer, the annual gathering has confirmed a partial list of performers much earlier than in past years. The announcement comes shortly after Sub Pop confirmed a festival-size 20^th anniversary celebration of its own in Seattle this summer. As of press time, Bumbershoot’s  initial lineup will also include Neko Case, Ingrid Michaelson, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Jakob Dylan, !!!, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Saul Williams, Joe Bonamassa, M. Ward, The Walkmen, Asylum St. Spankers, Dan Deacon, MIDIval PunditZ, Blitzen Trapper, Bedouin Soundclash, Tim Finn, Dale Watson, John Vanderslice, Final Fantasy, The Fall of Troy, Orgone, Forro in the Dark, Ryan Bingham, Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby, Arthur & Yu, Darondo and Nino Moschella and Pacifika. One of the summer’s last large-scale gatherings, Bumbershoot will take place at the Seattle Center from August 30 - September 1.

Country legend Willie Nelson and jazz great Wynton Marsalis will collaborate on the upcoming release Two Men with the Blues. The set was recorded live last year at New York’s Rose Hall at Lincoln Center, where the living legends ran through a selection of jazz, blues and rock standards. The live album’s track list includes rearranged versions of several familiar cuts, including “Stardust,” “Georgia,” “Basin Street Blues,” “My Bucket's Got A Hole In It” and “That's All.” Throughout the performance, the pair is backed by Marsalis’ working group: Walter Blanding (saxophone), Dan Nimmer (piano), Carlos Henriquez (bass) and Ali Jackson (drums). Nelson’s longtime harmonica player Mickey Raphael also appears throughout Two Men with the Blues.