Sweetwater Music Hall presents Jon Chi with Greg Loiacono & Stingray

Wildfires, floods, quarantine and isolation, protests, riots, and raising children who are coming into awareness of these issues all influenced Jon Chi as he wrote the words and music to his 3rd solo album, River of Marigolds. “How do you take struggle and adversity and turn that into hope and love?” is a central question on the album, Chi says. The Marin County-based songwriter, guitarist, and producer coalesces disparate styles here that he has explored on prior releases. Chi’s lyrics, at times dark and moody and at others hopeful, meld with a musical blend of spacious Americana and psychedelic soul. Much of the album features Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) on bass along with long-time rhythm collaborators John-Paul McLean and Jeremy Hoenig (Melvin Seals and JGB), Jordan Feinstein and Mike Emerson on keyboards, and pedal steel ace Dave Zirbel.