Tucson's Hotel Congress hosting its final HoCo Fest

Back in 2005, David Slutes had this crazy idea: Let’s get the band back together.

Over that last weekend in August, dozens of bands that had played at Hotel Congress’s Club Congress in its first 20 years returned to launch the beginning of what became a Tucson Labor Day tradition: HoCo Fest.

Next weekend, Slutes, the longtime Hotel Congress entertainment director, and his crew are getting the bands back together one last time for “HoCo Homecoming.”

The final HoCo Fest, Friday, Sept. 1, to Monday, Sept. 4, at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St., will bring in 60-plus acts — many of them either from Tucson or with strong Tucson ties — over four days to perform on Hotel Congress’s three stages: Club Congress, Century Room and the outdoor Plaza stage.

“Let’s end where it makes sense to end,” Slutes said. “This is the end of the mission, the iteration; let’s look at the whole thing and how incredible the music is from every genre, every era.”

This year’s event, which kicks off with a free homecoming welcome party on Thursday, Aug. 31, celebrates the breadth and scope of Tucson’s music community with three concerts a night, each exploring a different version of the city’s rich musical history and heritage.

On opening night Sept. 1, for example, old school desert rockers including Giant Sand, Sidewinders and Gentleman Afterdark play the outdoor Plaza stage with relative newcomers The Senators, while a lineup of metal bands including Phoenix’s GateCreeper and Tucson’s North tear it up on the Club stage inside.

Each night also will celebrate Linda Ronstadt, who put her native Tucson and our music scene on an international map. Artists will draw from Ronstadt’s immense catalogue of country, pop, rock and Latin music over a career that spanned the mid-1960s to 2011, when she retired from performing.

In the Century Room on opening night, Tucson vocalist Katherine Byrne and keyboardist Jeff Haskell will visit Ronstadt’s Nelson Riddle trilogy, a collection of albums she recorded from 1983-86 of the famous arranger’s Great American Songbook hits.

Tucson’s legendary Dusty Chaps country band joins the singer’s nephew Pete Ronstadt and his musical partner Liz Cerepanya for “Linda Ronstadt’s Songs and Stories” on the Plaza Stage on Sept. 2.

A highlight of the Ronstadt tributes will come on the Plaza stage Sept. 3, during “Orkesta Mendoza and Friends.” That’s when Los Cenzontles, the California cross-cultural youth ensemble that traveled with Ronstadt to her grandfather’s Sonora, Mexico, hometown in 2019, will perform cuts off Ronstadt’s seminal Spanish-language album “Canciones de mi Padre.” Iconic Artists Group is re-releasing the album on vinyl on Sept. 8 to celebrate its 35th anniversary.

“We’re super excited,” Mendoza said from a Connecticut tour stop with Calexico and Brian Lopez last week. “The whole night is based around the idea of friends who have collaborated together or recorded a song or been on tour. It’s a big excuse to hang out and play music together.”

Orkesta Mendoza will be the backup band for Mireya Ramos, Flor de Toloache and members of DeVotchKa, which has been playing Tucson since they recorded their first three albums at WaveLab Recording Studio in the early 2000s. The lineup also includes Gerardo Garza — better known as Chetes — from the Mexican grunge/alt-rock band Zurdok.

Lopez, who in July released his first solo album since his 2018 release “Prelude,” will open the show, his first solo turn at the festival. Lopez said he will include a couple of songs from “Tidal” during his set.

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“I think we’ve got such a great lineup of really great artists,” Slutes said.

In addition to the performances, several of Ronstadt’s films, including her 2019 documentary “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” and her 2020 short film/documentary “Linda and the Mockingbirds” will be part of the HoCo Fest film festival at The Screening Room downtown and The Loft Cinema.

Slutes said that while HoCo Fest has run its course, there’s still room to hold some sort of musical event over Labor Day weekend going forward.

“We have exciting plans for the future for this weekend, but the HoCo Fest and its beautiful mission, this is the way to end it,” he said. “I’m very proud of what the (Hotel Congress) owners and everyone here has done to give back to the music community, but it’s the music community that also lifted us up. We’ve built something that will be sustainable.”

“It won’t be the end,” Mendoza predicted. “David will figure out a new thing. ... I can’t wait to see what the new festival will be like. But I’m sure David will come up with something. He always has ideas.”

The schedule

Thursday, Aug. 31: 7 p.m. on Plaza Stage: “Hola HoCo Pre Party,” with Pijama Piyama, Transitory Tapes, Piramides and Los Velvets.

Friday, Sept. 1: 5 p.m. on the Plaza, Giant Sand, Gentlemen Afterdark, Sidewinders, Pollo Elastico, Holy Faint and The Senators, with Djents spinning the afterparty; 6 p.m. at Club Congress, GateCreeper, Sex Prisoner, North, Get A Grip and Groin; 7 p.m. in the Century Room, “Linda Ronstadt’s Nelson Riddle Orchestra” with vocalist Katherine Byrne and pianist Jeff Haskell.

Saturday, Sept. 2:  5:30 p.m. Greyhound Soul; 6:30, “Linda Ronstadt’s Songs and Stories” with Liz Cerepanya and Pete Ronstadt; 8:30, Dusty Chaps followed by rapper-DJ Fat Tony playing the after party on the Plaza Stage; 6 p.m. Club Congress, MURS, Lando Chill, Jivin Scientists, Cash Lansky, Tommy Will, Marley B, Shaun Harris & Lugo, S.Beezy, DJ Six, Ben & Bex and Smash Lanes; 7 p.m. Century Room, “Tale Of Two Houses” after party with Caitlin and the Stickponies, River Roses, Blue Stained Stem, Poetry-O-Rama and Arthur Vint’s Country Swingers.

Sunday, Sept. 3: noon at Club Congress, “Metal Mass” with Molton Leather, Blackwulf, Mastadonna, Thunderosa, Demon Weed and Bady Dog; 1 p.m. Century Room, “Ambient Lounge” with Steve Romaniello, Ambent, Karima Walker and Steve Roach; 5 p.m. Plaza, “Mendoza Orkesta and Friends” with Sergio Mendoza, Mireya Ramos, DeVotchKa, Brian Lopez, Los Cenzontles and Frikitona; 6 p.m. Club Congress, Foxx Bodies, Chick Cashman, Angie Bowie, Kid Congo Powers, Alice Bag, Dolly Creamer and Harmony House; 6 p.m. Century Room, HoCo Jazz All Stars with Brice Winston, Eric Nakanishi, Kevin Ravellette, Max Goldschmid, Rob Boone, Matt Mitchell, Chris Peña, Scott Black, Colin McIlrath, Arthur Vint, Kewnji and Lancaster, followed by Paul’s Vinyl Lounge at 10 and Salvador Durán Duran at 11:30.

Monday, Sept. 4: HoCo Hangover: 6 p.m. on the Plaza, Gemini Dragon; 6:30 p.m. at Club Congress, In Lessons, Wyrmhaven and The Bled.