Dawes

Doubling up on the festival updates here as they both have the awesome common denominator of My Morning Jacket as headliners, which makes it seem like the fellas may be this year's festival whores as the big guns haven't even come out with their lineups yet. Adding to the awesome it's safe to assume that the album Jim James is co-producing with Tucker Martine should hit stores near the May estimate. Either way expect a lot of MMJ in your future.

As for the festivals let's start with Wakarusa, which will return to Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas with or without dead birds falling from the sky. Set to take place June 2-5, the 8th edition of the festival will see the likes of Ben Harper and Relentless 7, Thievery Corporation, Sound Tribe Sector Nine, Umphrey's McGee, Mumford & Sons, Lotus and more.

As for Mountain Jam, which is essentially the Warren Haynes music festival, Michael Franti & Spearhead will join Lotus, The New Deal and MMJ on double dip duty, appearing at both Wakarusa and Mountain Jam. Haynes will be playing with both Gov't Mule as well as The Warren Haynes Band, not to mention the various sit ins he tends to take part in. Who might those sit ins be with? Possibly The Avett Brothers, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, North Mississippi All Stars, or the most likely choice 7 Walkers. The official lineup announcement video is below.

Tickets are on sale now at both the Wakarusa and Mountain Jam sites. Complete lineups available after the jump.

Look at silly me, whining about no John McCauley solo shows out west only to learn he will indeed be playing a solo set out west, even better he is bringing his new (super)group with him for their first official gig as Middle Brother. Formerly known by the uber creative MG&V, the new band features McCauley along with Delta Spirit's Matthew Vasquez and Dawes' Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith. That is some seriously legit songwriting there.

As for the previously mentioned gig, that will be taking place at The Troubadour on December 20th as part of a benefit for the Invisible Children charity. Tickets are only $15 and are still available, and it's a benefit so get on it. The awesome doesn't stop there as the band have also released some details about their self-titled debut which will hit stores March 1st. Pre-orders for the twelve song set are already available at the Partisan Records store.

So you can get a taste of what to expect when Middle Brother is released here is a video of the band performing the opening track "Daydreaming". Good times. Tracklisting is available after the jump.   [via jambase]

Earlier today Ranger Dave finally finished up the good ole Outside Lands schedule, while also adding a couple new night shows. The bad news would be the elimination of the Presidio stage which was reasonably convenient to access and never too crowded, but overall not too many conflicts. Considering they lost a day and the 4th biggest stage this year I'm not sure how bright the future is for OSL, but either way there's a lot of fun to be had in Golden Gate Park next weekend. Adding to the fun options outside of the park are the two latest night show announcements that are both set to take place at The Independent, The Devil Makes Three on Thursday night with a Chromeo DJ set taking place Sunday night.

You can check out the official schedule over at the Outside Lands site and for those that are more adventurous you can check out what we here at SHA will be dabbling in after the jump. We may or may not be sporting a Yim Yames pinata courtesy of our good friends over at Hit A Celebrity so if you see some skull boots, a flying V and a cape made of paper come on over and say hi.