As usual, it was a great weekend packed with awesome music here in the East Cooper area. On Friday night, I took a walk after dinner and found myself at Iacofano's in the Moultrie Shopping Center. While I was there I decided to hang out for a set of the Wyatt Garey Band. As always, Garey was on fire, tearing up the guitar, displaying talent beyond his years. I expect that this talented young guitar slinger has quite a career ahead of him.

As I've told you in many past columns, Iacofano's has live music almost every night of the week. On Thursday, it's Dearly Beloved Duo. Consisting of singer/songwriter Ryan Bonner and Cory Jarrett on mandolin (also of Milhouse) this is a stripped down version of Ryan Bonner and the Dearly Beloved. Expect to hear great original alt-country songs and beautiful harmonies.

Friday, it's Stained Glass Wall. Consisting of Scott Freeman (vocals, guitar), Dave Clark (drums), Joe Inella (bass) and local guitar wizard Everett Bigbee, these guys play a wide variety of covers and originals that are rocking and raw, as well as smooth and polished. Find out more at stainedglasswall.com .

On Saturday, it's Doug Jones. The former lead singer and contributing songwriter for the S.C. band Cravin' Melon, Jones has a full, rich voice that delivers his well-crafted songs in such a way that it seems like he's been your friend for all your life. It is funky country folk rock that is both original and ear pleasing.

Besides offering great Italian food, a great lunch buffet, and an eight-hour Sunday brunch, Iacofano's has also become a nice neighborhood pub/music venue. Along with weekly gigs by Kevin Church and Keith Bruce, look for upcoming shows from Angela Easterling, Controll Freak, Mike Campbell &Kevin Campbell, Allnightkungfu, and The Thunderkings.

Speaking of The Thunderkings, this Friday they will be at The American Legion, located in Mount Pleasant at 832 Coleman Blvd. The Show starts early at 8 p.m. With a mixture of classic and alternative rock, The Thunderkings are a vibrant and energetic party rock band. I went to www.reverbnation.com/thunderkings# for a sampling of their set list and found their versions of songs by Lenny Kravitz, Pearl Jam, Screamin' Trees, The Black Crowes, and Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Expert musicianship along with great material carefully picked to rock you, along with the longest standing bar on Coleman Blvd., makes for a combination that is sure to keep you moving' and groovin' until the very last note.

At Home Team BBQ on Sullivan's Island this weekend, Tony Mckee has (as usual) great bands for you. On Friday it's Big Daddy Love. These guys bring a natural blend of jam, grass, roots and rock to the emerging North Carolina music scene. With fiery vocals, sugary-sweet harmonies, authentic song-craft, and undeniable musicianship, the quintet delivers high-energy performances comprised of their own brand of good-time music. It is the startling power of these live shows that resonates with their audience. Genuine and intensely personal lyrics captivate and connect.

On Saturday, it's Thrift Store Cowboys. Their fourth studio album Light-Fighter could be called their post-arson period, as Daniel Fluitt and band wrote the record after a stranger torched their gear and merchandise-filled trailer parked next to Fluitt's bedroom, nearly taking his life.

Produced by Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Neko Case, Iron and Wine) Light-Fighter's indie rock shapeshifts through ambient and Gothic western music for songs that touch on death, loss, fear, redemption, the Spanish Civil War and West Texas ghost stories. All buoyed by soaring violin, draped against bottom-ended guitar and pedal steel sounds that spaghetti western composer Ennio Morricone might envy. The Lubbock based sextet, which includes Fluitt, Colt Miller, Clint Miller, Cory Ames, Kris Killingsworth, and Amanda Shires on fiddle and vocals, has been touring together for a decade after meeting at the musical South Plains College.

They are neither of the typical Texas-based types of bands-a country-rock mélange or strictly indie rock. As Buddy Magazine points out, "Thrift Store Cowboys' feel is more, for a lack of better description, gypsy desert music-the free sound of spacey, heat-induced delirium…a sure, confident sound backed by thoughtful vision."

Schumacher produced their 2007 release, Lay Low While Crawling or Creeping, of which Austin Sound said, "the album is to country music what Jim Jarmusch's film Deadman was to the western."

Until next time, be nice to each other and support live music.

(To get your establishment listed in the East Cooper Music Scene, email Stu at sjohnson@allnightkungfu.com).