Snider is a vociferous musician whose fans know him to be quite the workhorse. His acclaimed 2006 release, The Devil You Know found the barefoot troubadour performing live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with David Letterman.

More recently, last year’s Peace Queer EP - a concept record featuring all the peace, love and anarchy Snider is known for - inspired Blender to say he “morphed from a wisecracking country-ish journeyman to the sharpest and funniest protest singer working today.” The EP spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Americana chart and Spin Magazine dubbed him, “One of roots music’s slyest, smartest songwriters.”

Local singer/song writer and long time veteran of the East Cooper Music Scene, Carroll Brown sent me an e-mail about a benefit that he’s playing for The Daughters Of Saint Paul. “The Daughters of St. Paul, are a Catholic group who live and operate a bookstore on King Street in downtown Charleston. The building there is an older one and is very much in need of repair and re-construction to remove and prevent mold and other health hazards to these wonderful people,” he said.

“They have had to evacuate parts of the building from time to time, and the need is real and immediate. This is our chance to help those who have dedicated their whole lives to helping others.”

The Benefit will be held at the Pauline Book and Media Center, 243 King Street. in downtown Charleston on Thursday, Sept. 17. For more information call 886-5611. You can also catch Brown performing at Dunleavy’s Pub on Sullivan’s Island this Saturday and Sunday night.

This Friday at A Dough Re Mi, you can catch  It’s East Of Trouble. Great cover tunes that span over four decades. A little bit of everything from an enthusiastic quartet of talented music lovers is the best way I can describe them. They’ll kick off the show around 9:30  p.m. and play all night. I’ll be there mixing sound so come by and say hello.

This weekend, The Village Tavern has a full slate of great music lined up. On Friday it’s Colour-slide - Indie/pop/rock from Gainesville, Fla. Check them out at www.myspace.-com/colourslide. Also on the bill is local band Zero to Never. Jeff Califore and crew have never failed to impress me with their unique brand of pop rock that draws from many different genres as far as influences go.

On Saturday, Boone, North Carolina’s  BPL mixes funk and jazz to lay the foundation for their own

On Sunday, it’s Hiero-sonic from Harrisburg, Pa. These guys play Industrial /Electronic/Progressive Rock similar to Nine Inch Nails or Stabbing West-ward.

This week’s Barn Jam promises to be a very special show. On the bill from New York is Ben Caroll. His soulful, powerful voice lives somewhere at the crossroads of Stevie Wonder and James Taylor. With the help of his accomplished acoustic guitar playing, he moves his audiences with his plaintive songwriting, written from the heart and with a thoughtful, sometimes keen eye, while exploring the endless themes of love, of a search for a place and meaning in the world. A soul and folk artist at once, Carroll has steadily toured North America and Europe as a solo act since 2004.

Also on the bill is Mark Bryan from Hootie and the Blowfish.  He’s basically the same guy I knew back in the day before Hootie became one of the biggest bands in the world. Friendly, positive,  creative and energetic, the kind of person who is easy to be friends with. All of this is apparent in the three profile songs he has posted. Songs about faith, living life, and an enthusiastic excitement about what lies ahead.

Also on the bill is Gaslight Street, local guys who combine blues, soul, and funk, with rock to get their unique sound.

Since Allnightkungfu broke up, Kung Fu and I have been jamming some but I’m not doing to much. Last year I recorded some demos for a solo project and now I’d like to try to get back to work on it. If you are a musician who would like to get involved, I’m looking for a drummer and other instrumentalists to work on it with me. You can contact me at 259-4507 or allnightjohnson@gmail.com

Next week: The inside scoop on the upcoming Roctoberfest at Awendaw Green.

Until then, support live entertainment and be nice to each other.

Contact Stu at allnightjohnsonatgmail.com.