Boyd contemplates next gig

If local singer-songwriter Jim Boyd wasn’t his own booking agent and promoter, he might have fired himself by now.

He’s already considering dropping himself from his own label.

Boyd’s latest album, “Going to the Stick Games,” was released on March 22. And he is only now getting around to playing a CD release party tonight at The Met.

Swirled with traditional Native American songs from stick ball (a game of chance still played today that was once used as an ice breaker between tribes when they would gather), zydeco, blues, bluegrass and folk music, “Going to the Stick Games” was sort of an accident album.

“‘Stick Games’ came out of nowhere. I made that CD for fun. I used to play in high school and I hadn’t played in years. I had to get that out of my system. I was running a label and producing, and I got a product out without promoting it,” Boyd said during a telephone interview.

Boyd has been switching hats so often his head is spinning, and after tonight’s show he hopes to take an extended break from performing live to explore new musical frontiers.

“I’m not sure I’m even going to play anymore,” Boyd said. “I need a break. I’m still writing like a maniac.”

Through most of the summer, he toured across the Midwest and Southwest with what used to be Kyo-T, now called The Jim Boyd Band, performing three albums- worth of material he has yet to release – all of it bluesy and more rockin’ than the eclectic Americana collection that is “Going to the Stick Games.”

“In the Native world, ‘Stick Games’ is doing well on its own,” said Boyd, 48, who was born in Inchelium on the Colville Reservation. “I was off doing the rockin’ stuff; I wasn’t connecting the dots. I’m in such a transitional place right now with trying to figure out a sound.”

Boyd said he is debating licensing out his next three albums on a label other than his own Thunderwolf Records so he can concentrate on actually making new music. He is tempted to not look back in order to continue forging his next album.

He also said he may give music a break altogether and have a go at video production; he has ideas for making a documentary or two in his spare time.

Check out what looks to be an increasingly rare appearance by The Jim Boyd Band tonight at 7:30 p.m. at The Met. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door through TicketsWest, (509) 325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com.

Club hoppin’

• The bad news is burlesque dancers The Voodoo Dollz aren’t coming to town next week. The Vancouver, B.C., group couldn’t make it across the Canadian border. The good news is psycho-a-go-go madman guitarist/singer Big John Bates and The High Priestess of the upright bass, sCare-oline, did make it across the line, along with their sixth drummer in four years. The trio lands Thursday at 9:30 p.m. at The B-Side, 230 W. Riverside. The Dearly Departed opens the show. Also at The B-Side, the 52-hour songman Mark Mallman brings his whacked-out antics on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. There is a $4 cover for both shows.

• Indie-rock bands Shearwater, Decibully and

Some By Sea come to The Shop, 924 S. Perry, on Monday at 7 p.m. There is a $5 cover.

• Seattle-by-way-of-Spokane funk-jazzers Flowmotion play tonight at 9:30 at Mootsy’s, 406 W. Sprague. There is a $6 cover. Portland bluegrass band Jackstraw hits Mootsy’s at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday. There is a $5 cover.

• Honky-tonkin’ rockabilly blues group Sidetrack plays tonight at 7 p.m. at The Spike Underground, 122 S. Monroe. The suggested donation is $4. New-wave emo-rock band Lucia’s Grey Dot headlines at the Underground on Saturday starting at 7 p.m. with Oblique Incidence and In The Way. The suggested donation is $5.