This show is a part of the 2023 Subaru Music Series. 

Few art forms are more American than the blues, and SummerStage’s opening night in Central Park will showcase three very different—but equally soulful—takes on the genre. Paul Janeway’s Alabama eight-piece St. Paul and the Broken Bones updates the classic soul of the 1960s with strings, a choir, and synthesizers. They’ve spent the last decade winning over fans one club at a time with an infectious energy that led NPR to name them “one of the nation’s best live bands.” Their latest LP, last year’s The Alient Coast, adds a bit more grit to their sound and introduces new psychedelic and stoner-rock influences. Brooklyn’s Say She She is a seven-piece band led by three women, named in homage to the Nile Rodgers band Chic. They’re adding a modern twist to girl groups and three-part harmonies, like in their latest disco-flavored single “Reeling” released earlier this spring. The bill is rounded out by Mwenso and the Shakes, a joyful Harlem-based jazz, soul, and blues band that draws from a wide spectrum of Black ancestral diasporic music with an afro-futuristic lens.

An additional special performance by the La Guardia HS Gospel Choir is supported by NY Music Month. NY Music Month is an initiative of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.