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Athenians will get an excellent opportunity to see three very dissimilar yet strangely congruent acts this week in a rare, one-time-only triple-bill show on Legion Field Thursday.

The University Union’s Contemporary Concerts Division should take pride in bringing the outstanding and imaginative grouping of folk singer, Michelle Shocked, jazz ensemble, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and alternative artists Poi Dog Pondering this week.

All three of these bands could be classified as up-and-coming while still on the fringes of today’s musical scene. Shocked shocked her folk music fans by taking a swing into swing music on her latest PolyGram/Mercury release. The eight-member Dirty Dozen Brass Band has gone back in time to a more traditional mode of music with their latest Columbia release which is a tribute record called, The New Orleans Album. Poi Dog Pondering has finally released a full-length record album after several different attempts at EPs over the years. Columbia also put out the Poi Dog’s latest, Wishing Like a Mountain & Thinking Like the Sea.

Michelle Shocked has been touring with the Poi Dog Pondering bunch for a week now, but the addition of co-headliners, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, is something special and not to be missed. Since both Shocked’s band and especially the Poi Dog Pondering gang incorporate brass sections in their respective styles of music, the differing genres might just click in a historic manner.

Shocked’s first album, The Texas Campfire Tapes, was recorded on a Walkman. Self-cited influences such as Norman and Nancy Blake, Guy Clark, Randy Newman, Lead Belly, and Doc Watson were wafting beneath the surface of this first record. She followed this debut up with the more successful, Short Sharp Shocked, which shows Michelle getting a choke hold at the 1984 Dallas Republican National Convention on the cover. This classic gem features such soulful tunes as, “Anchorage,” “The L & N Don’t Stop Here Anymore,” “V.F.D.,” and “If Love Was A Train.” She did many of these songs the first and only time I have seen her play, before Billy Bragg at the Metroplex a couple of years back.

Her songs on the new album, Captain Swing, are obviously arranged with a bit more brass and sass. Politics are still firmly in check to the left with “God Is A Real Estate Developer,” “The Cement Lament,” and “Streetcorner Ambassador.” Besides being one of the first skateboarding folk singers, she has championed the homeless cause long before it became trendy and cool. Shocked helped define the punk-folk bridge which has been called, “Anti-Folk” by some.

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band consists of Gregory Davis on trumpet and vocal percussion; Efrem Towns on trumpet; Kevin Harris on tenor sax and percussion; Roger Lewis on baritone and soprano saxophones, as well as percussion; Kirk Joseph on sousaphone; Jenell Marshall on snare drum and percussion; Lionel Batiste on bass drum and percussion; and last but not least, Charles Joseph on trombone. This band has worked with Elvis Costello among many others. They will treat us to such fine songs as, “When I’m Walking (Let Me Walk),” which was originally done by Fats Domino, I believe. A Julian “Cannonball” Adderly song is covered equally well with “Inside Straight.”

The eight members of Poi Dog Pondering are sounding great these days. The new album gives them plenty of room to roam through various genres like a curious child on a safari for strange and exotic sounds. “U-Li-La-Lu” is the title of the first single and video from the band. MTV is foolishly waiting on radio to see if the single is picked up and played on commercial stations.

Frank Orrall is the heart and soul of the band, although each member has begun to take on a more creative role as of late. Beautiful Susan Voelz plays violin quite well and Ted Cho plays various guitar-like stringed instruments. Bruce Hughes bounces on bass while Dick Ross plays the drum kit. John Nelson is the percussionist and Adam Sultan is a guitarist as well. David Maz Crawford is the trumpet player who is very fired up to be playing with The Dirty Dozen Brass Band here in Athens, Thursday evening.

Tickets are $5 for students with a current fees paid card; and $10 for everyone else. Be sure to get to Legion Field early enough to ensure that you see all three acts—Poi Dog Pondering opens, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band follows, and Michelle Shocked and band headline at a classic outdoor concert Thursday.