An all-star cast of local musicians have teamed up to form Kid Charlemagne: A Tribute to Steely Dan, which gets their name from a track off Steely Dan’s 1976 album The Royal Scam.

The lineup is comprised of Brad Cates (lead vocals), Jim Steele (keyboards), Matt Cashdollar (sax and horn arranger), Todd Ward (trumpet), David Cooke (trombone), John Forbing (guitar), Jon Durnell (guitar), Brad Kuhns (bass), Kent Klee (drums), Eliza Toth (vocals), and Jill Jugloff (vocals).

“After about two-and-a-half years of starts, rehearsals, delays, stops, a pandemic, restart, and more rehearsals, we have finally settled on a lineup and material that we cannot wait to share,” Durnell said. “This is a solid lineup, and I feel really fortunate to be playing with them.”

Kid Charlemagne’s first show will be Friday, April 29, at The Club Room at 7 p.m. Although this show is free, you will want to call ahead and reserve a table since this is certain to be a packed house.

An interesting note about the band, eight of the 11 members are also in Night to Remember, the local wedding and party band.

Uncle Muscle have an eventful schedule coming up that starts with a digital single release on Record Store Day, Saturday, April 23.

That day, you will be able to stream “Primal” and “I Do” on all major streaming platforms. The songs were recorded at Sweetwater Studios and engineered, mixed, and mastered by Shawn Dealey. The talented Garrett Spoelhof even adds clavinet to “I Do.”

The tracks will be included on the band’s upcoming LP Say Uncle which is slated for release Saturday, May 7.

You will be able to get you grubby hands on a copy of the 12-track effort that evening at the Brass Rail as they will host a release party at 9:30p .m. that will include friends Milk Bath out of Detroit and Stephie James of Nashville, Tennessee.

In support of the upcoming release, they will embark on a 17-date tour that will have them trekking through such places as Detroit, Boston, Baltimore, Nashville, Connecticut, and everywhere in-between.

The run kicks off at the Rail show, and ends up wrapping up there as well on Friday, May 27.

Calder the Band have released a new single, “Dandelion,” recorded in singer Joe Stillwell’s home studio and mixed by guitarist Luke Matulis.

“Dandelion” will be on their first album in four years, which is slated to be released around June.

The song is bright and unapologetically encouraging, an homage to the new season that lays ahead of the band after several years of hard work on themselves and their sound.

Bassist Lee Cliff tells me they currently don’t have any gigs lined up, as their focus is on the album and promotion.

Exciting news from the Cedar Street camp as they have released an EP, Giving Up, Getting Better.

This barnburner is six emotionally driven, ear-appealing tunes, including “Alabama is a Long Drive,” “Seasons Change,” and “What Good is a Desk, Without a Bobblehead?”

Produced by Austin Putt and mastered at The Wade Studio, singer/guitarist Dustin Hausch said, “All in all, the album took 18 months to get together. We really took our time, and made sure this thing was a collective whole.

“From start to finish, we wrote it like a book. It speaks from the perspective of mending relationships, and understanding how to move on from them.”

“That’s It” was the focus track, accompanied by a video last fall.

The pop-punk trio is set to perform April 23 at The Ruin along with Making Enemies, and The Tijuana Tsunamis.

Thanks to the folks at Alt 102.3, we now have a platform to listen to local music on the air.

The Alt Homegrown Showcase features an hour of local music every Friday at 7 p.m.

When asked how the show has been received, host Zack Skyler told me, “Great response! I love this, and it’s something I’ve wanted to do with Alt from the beginning. I’m getting a lot of submissions and response from bands I know. I really hope to do some live Homegrown shows down the road.”

Send songs for consideration to zack@alt1023fm.com.