Show goes on: Indigo Girls working around singer's health issues

That's one of the more devastating side effects of essential tremor, a progressive neurological disorder that is sometimes mistaken for Parkinson's disease.

Saliers has had the disorder for some time, but the symptoms have recently worsened, she told fans in a mid-April Instagram post.

“I am completely physically unable to hold a straight tone the way I used to, and this is what you, our community, have come to, I think, appreciate and love about some of our harmonies is the way we can hold long straight tones together,” she said, sitting next to lifelong friend and bandmate Amy Ray.

Saliers is also battling a second neurological disorder, cervical dystonia with torticollis, which causes involuntary muscle contractions in the neck. She said she is getting treatment, but there is no cure for either.

The duo said they are trying to work around the issues with modified song arrangements that could alter the harmonies and the use of digital audio tools when necessary.

"As we get ready for these shows, we are doing everything we can to make these songs sound as good as they can sound," Saliers said.

Salier's announcement last month came weeks after she made her musical theater debut earlier this year. She wrote original songs for the new rom-com musical "Starstruck," a queer reimagining of Cyrano de Bergerac that made its world premiere at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

The Indigo Girls show Saturday at the Fox, 17 W. Congress St., begins at 7:30 p.m.; Jessie Mazin is the opener. Tickets start at $63.22 through foxtucson.com.

Jim Messina brings new band to La Rosa

Jim Messina has gotten really good at reinventing himself.

He started his musical life in the mid-1960s playing bass with Buffalo Springfield, then cofounded the country rock band Poco in the late 1960s.

In 1971, he went from country rock to pop rock with fellow singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins performing as Loggins & Messina, a partnership that lasted seven years before both returned to solo careers.

Fast forward to 2025, Messina has a new band, the Road Runners, that includes musicians he's worked with over the years. 

With the band, which he started touring with last year, Messina released his ninth solo album, "Here, There & Everywhere," recorded live.

On Sunday, May 17, he's introducing Tucson fans to this latest chapter with a 7 p.m. show at La Rosa, 800 N. Country Club Road. Tickets are $51.95 through larosatucson.org.

Bay Area rapper Mike Sherm heading to Tucson

Oakland, California, rapper Mike Sherm introduced himself to Tucson with a show in 2024 at the intimate east-side rock venue Encore.

He's playing his follow-up to that show at Rialto Theatre, the much larger venue in the heart of downtown.

His Rialto show on Sunday, May 17, comes a day after Sherm, a shining star in the next gen of underground West Coast rappers, headlines "Who Wants the Smoke" at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. 

The lineup for the showcase of new and rising talent in the hip-hop space includes Oh Geesy, Kalen Frfr, 03 Greedo, Ghad Ghabie and Lil Maru, whose names you might not immediately recognize. 

Sherm was among those unrecognizable names when he started posting videos and songs to SoundCloud and YouTube around 2011, when he was 15. He borrowed the unique slang and language of his Oakland hometown to create somewhat comical and often punchy street-focused lyrics set to bouncy beats. 

His music quickly gained a following, garnering more than a billion streams on platforms including SoundCloud and Spotify, where he has more than 3.2 million monthly listeners.

His 2017 song "A(expletive)" off his debut FLVR Records album "Back Around" garnered 139 million Spotify streams alone, while 2021's "Baby" has racked up more than 117 million.

Sunday's show at the Rialto, 318 E. Congress St., starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $42-$74.25 though rialtotheatre.com.