Tickets are all sold-out for Midge Ure on Thursday night (November 3) at The Stables, but Stage 2 is well worth checking in with.
Cain Rising are fans of Springsteen, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan, and use them as their sonic touchstones according to the blurb.
It's working a treat, mind you, and the debut self-titled album (“The album Springsteen never made,” according to one scribe) is a solid body of accessible grooves, shaking up Americana with a shrewd solid rock ethic. It's great stuff, and it's brewed local - frontman is Jim Price, who plenty of you will know as the frontman with Southside Jimmy.
“We're looking forward to getting back to playing in our hometown – and in such a prestige gig!” he told Total MK.
“We'll be playing all the favourites from our first album plus we'll be debuting four or five new songs which we've been playing in the studio, working on the last couple of months.”
The main stage is all booked up on Friday night (November 4) with funny man James Acaster at the microphone.
On Stage 2, there's more music to treat your ears to, though, with the welcome return of Ben Maggs.
He went down a storm when he supported The Christians at the venue in mid-2015. So much so that he was called back to headline Stage 2 last November, and he sold that date out.
Ben has forged a firm fan base in these parts, also playing the venue with Russ Ballard and hitting up the acoustic stage at IF:Fest in the summer.
Inspired by the nature of life and love and his love of life and nature, Ben has continues to write and create beautiful tapestries and is currently sitting pretty as one of our most exciting, warming singer-songwriters, his poetic lyrics and cleverness with melodies setting him apart from the pack.
If you've not yet taken the time to check in with him, put that to rights this Friday night.
Nearly Dan pick up the reins on Saturday night (November 5) over in the main auditorium, treating fans of Fagen, Becker and co. to a veritable feast of their jazz rock fusion, and hits including Reelin' in the Years, Do it Again, Deacon Blues and Rikki Don't Lose That Number.
It's a 10-piece band bringing the sounds for a two-hour session, and the attention to detail is meticulous.
The Alexandra Rideout Quintet play for you on Sunday morning (November 6), but all tickets are gone for that.
Leddra Chapman takes over in the evening. Hers is a quintessentially English voice that is both pure and unique. She picked up a guitar and wrote her first song before she became a teenager, and releases her first album back in 2009.
The Independent called it 'pitch-perfect acoustic pop.'
Support is coming from Lee Broderick.
Chango Spasiuk is considered the new hero of chamame at home in Argentina.
He plays a warm-accordion-based style that taps into native Guarani, Spanish, Criollo and Eastern European Roots.
A fiery and sensitive virtuoso, with a rare charisma, you can see him at work on Monday evening (November 7).
The Boy with Tape on His Face returns on Tuesday (November 8) night, but that's another show that is already fully booked.
Singer-songwriter Maz O'Connor plays Stage 2 fresh from the release of the recent single Skin.
The London-based player, who already has two albums banked in her career, says that the death of David Bowie this year sparked her new drive of creativity.
“Bowie's death reminded us that artists should have the courage to be authentically themselves,” she says.
“His subversion of the status quo was much bigger than music; it's about offering an alternative to the establishment.”
But while she is broadening her musical horizons, the genre that has so far afforded her success, won't be forgotten.
“Folk songs will always be in my bones, but so is Bowie, so is Joni, so is Nina Simone. I'm a musician, and for too long I've limited myself to being a folk musician,” she realises.
John Parker, from Nizlopi, will join her on bass, and Tom Moore on strings and drums.
Jon Boden calls time on the week ahead with a date on Wednesday (November 9), with only single tickets remaining.
Jon went On Track with Total MK. Read more about the sounds that stoke his musical passions here: http://totalmk.co.uk/music/on-track-jon-boden-in-the-total-mk-hot-seat
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