Plenty of Great Free Americana Shows in NYC This Week, Plus St. Vincent

If you're a fan of folk, country, or any of the other genres lumped into the Americana category, this is your time to overindulge in free concerts in New York. This week is the annual Lincoln Center Out of Doors Americanafest NYC, the last week of the LCOOD series that features a blowout of great shows.

See the schedule below for Lincoln Center's big Americanafest.

The 2014 Americanafest is no exception, with a week of shows packed with artists like Rosanne Cash, The Lone Bellow, Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Cassandra Wilson, and Charles Bradley. Most shows take place at the Damrosch Park Bandshell, but see the Americanafest page for links to specific show pages, where you'll find locations as well as information on the artists (including videos).

• Wed., 8/6 - Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell, Robert Ellis, 7:30 p.m.
• Thurs., 8/7 - Tift Merritt, 7:30 p.m.
• Fri., 8/8 - Cassandra Wilson, The Campbell Brothers: "A Sacred Steel Love Supreme" (a film honoring John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme"), 7:30 p.m.
• Sat., 8/9 - The Devil Makes Three, Old 97s, and John Fullbright, 1:30 p.m.
• Sat., 8/9 - "Heroes of American Roots: From the Historic Films Archives," 1 and 4 p.m. (a rare film montage of musical performances by artists such as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Elvis Presley, and Woody Guthrie)
• Sat., 8/9 - Rosanne Cash, The Lone Bellow, Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale, 6 p.m.
• Sun., 8/10 - Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Bobby Patterson, and the Music Maker Blues Revue, 5 p.m.
• Sun., 8/10 - Roots Symposium, 1 p.m., including "Heroes of Americana: From the Historic Films Archives," introduced by Joe Lauro; "Talkin’ Blues:" Music Maker Relief Foundation’s Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, Ironing Board Sam, Dom Flemons, and Tim Duffy in conversation with Coleman “Spike” Barkin; and SiriusXM’s “Buddy & Jim Show” with Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale

If adventurous contemporary rock is more your style, you've got another free option for Saturday night: St. Vincent and San Fermin play a free show at Celebrate Brooklyn at 7:30 p.m.

Enjoy!

Now Streaming: New CDs from Christopher Owens, Hilly Eye, Widowspeak, & More

A couple of long-awaited debut albums are the most notable of this week's new free streaming albums. Ever since Christopher Owens left the popular (and now defunct) indie-rock band Girls, fans had been wondering when he would appear with a solo album, and what it would sound like. Wait no more, for you can now preview Owens's "Lysandre" below at Spinner.

Hilly Eye's debut album is streaming at Paste this week.

The album came out today on Turnstile/Fat Possum, and Owens and his band will play two nights at Bowery Ballroom next week, Jan. 21st and 22nd (get tickets here).

Amy Klein had been working on musical side projects when she was with Titus Andronicus, and cited those efforts in her decision to leave that successful New Jersey band. Klein has been playing in two different bands, Hilly Eye and Leda, since departing from Titus, and it is the former that is now releasing its first album.

While the two-piece Hilly Eye (Klein and Catherine Tung) has released a few songs in recent months, its first album, "Reasons to Live," is streaming this week at Paste Magazine (below). You can enjoy the noise-rock, psychedelia-inflected album this week, and see the band play at the Don Giovanni Records showcase on Feb. 8th at Music Hall of Williamsburg (get tickets here). The album drops Jan. 22nd.

Also streaming this week: the new albums from Brooklyn's Widowspeak and Philadelphia's Free Energy, plus the soundtrack to "West of Memphis," the documentary about the years-long effort to free the West Memphis Three. The soundtrack features contributions from a diverse range of artists: Henry Rollins, Natalie Maines, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Marilyn Manson, Band of Horses, and Eddie Vedder, among others.

There are more albums streaming besides the ones shown here; see the websites below for NPR Music, Spinner, and AOL Music to see their full line-ups. Happy listening!

Paste Magazine: 
"Reasons to Live" by Hilly Eye

NPR First Listen:
"Almanac" by Widowspeak
"No Beginning No End" by Jose James
"My True Story" by Aaron Neville

Spinner.com's Listening Party:
"Lysandre" by Christopher Owens
"Love Sign" by Free Energy
"West of Memphis Soundtrack" by various artists
"Don't Stop" by Willy Mason
"Manifestra" by Erin McKeown
"Don't Let Me Sleep" by Midnight Spin
"Academy Songs, Vol.1" by Holopaw
"Sky Burial" by Rice Cultivation Society

AOL Music Listening Party: 
"Plan-Do-Check-Act" by Recovery Council
"The Lone Bellow" by The Lone Bellow