“Music month in the Coachella Valley,” as Jim Fitzgerald calls April, now runs from Easter Sunday, April 1, the last day of Dinah Shore Week, through April 27-30, when Stagecoach: California’s Country Music Festival, is held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio and the White Party, America’s premier gay circuit party, runs the same weekend in Palm Springs.
Headliners are blues-rock singer-guitarist Jonny Lang on Friday and Jon Batiste & the Dap Kings on Saturday. Lang, who turns 37 on Sunday, was hailed as an heir-apparent to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan as a teenager. Batiste is the music director for “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert and the Dap Kings, which backed the late Sharon Jones and the late Amy Winehouse. Batiste also has played keyboards for Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and is known for his celebration of jazz legend Louis Armstrong.
“The city has wanted us to expand it,” said Fitzgerald. “We thought there was a great opportunity to serve up a different kind of blend and have it be a part of music month, with all of the attention on the valley during April. So, we’re going to expand the whole experience – the music, wine and art aspect of it. We’ve got some really cool painters who paint the artists and musicians coming in. We’re having a Lifestyle Village with different F&B (food and beverage) offerings. We’re really expanding it to make it the experience it deserves to be.”
For more information on the 2018 Indian Wells Music Festival, visit the event’s website.
http://www.indianwellsmusicfestival.com/general-information
