21 March 13-19, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival NOON, SATURDAY, MARCH 15, SOUTHSIDE PRESERVATION HALL, 1519 LIPSCOMB ST., FORT WORTH. $50+ AT PREKINDLE.COM The depth and breadth of Black artists’ musical influence — regardless of genre or artist — has long been marginalized, discounted and over- looked, whether accidentally or deliberately. To help re-center black artists and illuminate their role in American roots music, organizer and ed- ucator Brandi Waller-Pace founded the Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival (FWAAMFest, for short) five years ago, the only major city festival of its kind in the United States. Blending educational sessions (including talks with Maya Brown-Boateng, Joe Z. Johnson and Rev. Robert Jones, Sr.) and performances — the 2025 iteration will include Dom Flemons, Kyshona, Yasmin Williams and Mehuman, among many others — the fifth annual FWAAM- Fest will unfold as equal parts day-long celebra- tion, reclamation and exploration. PRESTON JONES Deftones 7 P.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER, 2500 VICTORY AVE. $174+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM Incredibly, California alt-metal foursome Def- tones — Chino Moreno, Stephen Carpenter, Abe Cunningham and Frank Delgado — is bearing down on four decades as a going concern. “It’s weird with our career,” Moreno told KROQ at Coachella last year. “It’s such a slow build. It still feels like we’re still building for some crazy reason after 30 years. I’ve never felt like one day … I woke up and went like, ‘Wow,’ because it’s been so gradual.” Rather than slowing down and shifting into a new, more relaxed phase, the group ap- pears to be pressing ahead as intensely as ever — work continues on the band’s as-yet-untitled 10th studio album, the follow-up to 2020’s Ohms. The Mars Volta and Fleshwater will open. PJ Tyler, the Creator 7:30 P.M. MONDAY, MARCH 17, AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER, 2500 VICTORY AVE. $349+ AT TICKETMASTER.COM The man born Tyler Gregory Okonma but better known as Tyler, the Creator, has traveled a fasci- nating path to this point in his career. He first burst onto the scene in the mid-2000s as a member of provocative alternative hip-hop col- lective Odd Future, which, in addition to Tyler, counted among its ranks several artists who would go on to profoundly alter the face of pop music: Frank Ocean, Domo Genesis, Earl Sweat- shirt and Syd, to name a few. While his early solo career was more notable for the problematic lyr- ics and visuals he conjured, Tyler, the Creator has (somewhat) calmed down and settled into a cre- ative life that is commercially and critically suc- cessful. His eighth and latest studio album, Chromakopia, dropped last year, and features a slew of high-profile cameos: Doechii, Lil Wayne, Childish Gambino, Solange and Thundercat, among others. With Lil Yachty and Paris Texas. PJ Anoushka Shankar 7:30 P.M. TUESDAY, MARCH 18, EISEMANN CENTER, 2351 PERFORMANCE DRIVE, RICHARDSON. $50+ AT EISEMANNCENTER.COM London-born sitarist, producer and composer Anoushka Shankar descends from a renowned lineage. Her father is acclaimed sitarist and com- poser Ravi Shankar; her half-sister is equally cel- ebrated (and North Texas-bred) singer-songwriter Norah Jones, but she has forged a path all her own over the last 30 years. Far from confining herself to a single genre, Shankar, in addition to building up her career as a solo recording artist, film score composer for film scores, actor and writer, has collaborated with an array of artists from across every con- ceivable genre: Sting, Joshua Bell, Patti Smith, Thievery Corporation and Herbie Hancock have enlisted her talents over time. Shankar is on the road supporting her forthcoming EP Chapter III: We Return to Light, which focuses upon Goa trance, and is the final installment of a triptych begun in 2023, featuring contributions from Sarathy Korwar and Ali Akbar Khan. PJ Inhaler 8 P.M. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, HOUSE OF BLUES, 2200 N. LAMAR ST. $41.25+ AT LIVENATION.COM Irish rock foursome Inhaler comes by at least some of its pedigree honestly: Vocalist and gui- tarist Elijah Hewson is the son of some guy named Bono (if memory serves, his band U2 made kind of a splash, back in the day?). All jokes aside, Inhaler, which also counts Robert Keating, Ryan McMahon and Josh Jenkinson among its ranks, has fast proven itself, logging stints as an opening act for top-tier rock groups such as Pearl Jam, Kings of Leon and Noel Galla- gher’s High Flying Birds. Those high-profile gigs came as Inhaler also punched out a trio of blis- tering, ingratiating albums (which have racked up more than a half-billion streams to date), be- ginning with 2021’s It Won’t Always Be Like This. The latest LP, the just-released Open Wide, is the impetus for the quartet’s current run of dates. With Benches. PJ Laura Lewis You might’ve heard of sitarist, producer and composer Anoushka Shankar’s half- sister: Norah Jones. | LET’S DO THIS | t Music
