Coming attractions include Jimmy Herring, Snarky Puppy, Bett Butler

Catching up with the contents of the email inbox here at StLJN HQ, here's info on three upcoming shows by touring musicians coming to town to promote new releases that may be of interest to StLJN readers:

* Guitarist Jimmy Herring will be coming to St. Louis to perform at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 29 at the Old Rock House.

Herring (pictured, top left), who's currently working with the band Widespread Panic, has played with a "who's who" of the jam band world, including the Allman Brothers Band, the Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends, and Bela Fleck, as well as with several groups he helped to co-found, such as Aquarium Rescue Unit, Project Z and Jazz is Dead. He'll be touring in support of his second solo album, Subject To Change Without Notice, which comes out next Tuesday, August 21. Tickets are $20 general admission, 18 and older only.

* The Texas-based instrumental band Snarky Puppy (pictured, center left) will return to St. Louis for a show presented by the Old Rock House at The Gramophone at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 20. Three-time winners of "Best Jazz Act" in the the Dallas Observer's Music Awards, Snarky Puppy came together while various members were studying music in the famed jazz program of the University of North Texas in Denton.

Led by bassist Michael League, they describe themselves as "somewhere between a garage band and a collective, with over 25 players in regular rotation." In addition to League, Snarky Puppy's core members include drummer Robert “Sput” Searight, keyboardists Shaun Martin and Cory Henry, and multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato. The individual band members' credits include work with artists including Marcus Miller, Q-Tip, George Duke, Erykah Badu, The Polyphonic Spree, Snoop Dogg, Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor, Morcheeba, Tower of Power, Justin Timberlake, Kenny Garrett, Yo-Yo Ma and others. Their latest recording, the live, two-disc album/DVD Tell Your Friends, came out earlier this year. Tickets for Snarky Puppy are $8 in advance, $10 day of show.

* Another Texan, singer and pianist Bett Butler (pictured, lower left), is coming to St. Louis for "Words & Music," a performance and reading with author Pam Houston at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 30 at the Ethical Society.

Butler, who's from San Antonio, previously has recorded two albums of her own material, which her press kit describes as "off-beat songwriting about dark subject matter" and has been likened by one critic to that of "a female Charles Bukowski." Her latest recording, American Sampler, is her third studio album and first recorded collection of jazz standards by Gershwin, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, and others.

Tickets for "Words and Music" with Bett Butler and Pam Houston are $10 at the door.