By Charlene Arsenault

• In the Gardens: Jubilee Connolly seems to be a man of few words, until you listen to his music. As front man/songwriter for Jubilee Gardens, it's hard to get him talking about his songs. Much like Jason James or Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, Connolly's a talent that is expressed through sounds. And gorgeous ones they are. Jubilee Gardens has a new disc out — their second one — called The Wheel. A 10-person band, including Connolly, it's hard to define. Connolly prefers to just concentrate on calling it "heartfelt."

"It varies," says Connolly, when talking about the songwriting process, and the fact that he's got nine other voices with their minds and hands on his songs, "I have been doing a lot more home demos of my own and bringing them in, so everybody has a bit more of an idea of the beat of the songs and a couple of other things."

Textured with tasteful percussion, strings (cello, oud and violin), winds and horns (sax, clarinet), the band — which also includes keys, bass, drums and guitar — is an acoustic mix of folk, singer/songwriter, classical, New Orleans jazz and ethnic sounds. And Connolly is right: by his arrangements and voice, the listener would be hard-pressed to feel that anything was remotely contrived or forced (a singer who sings with false inflection can ruin a band), as this collection of 16 songs are at times soothing, achingly sad (as with "Invisible," about his sister Beque, whom he lost a few years ago), uplifting, fun (as in the case of "Wake Up") — but always gorgeously orchestrated. It is the kind of stuff that will blow you away and you'll wonder why he's not famous but an "American Idol" is, and then you'll be a little mad about it.

"This CD got a lot more thoughtful about the way we approached the arranging," says Connolly "It's a big difference from the last one."

Help Jubilee Gardens celebrate the release of this wonderful disc with a show this Saturday, April 5, at the Sahara Café, 143 Highland St. The show's free and starts at 10 p.m.

• Club notes: On Friday, The Red Riders swing into Gilrein's; On Saturday, the popular Jagfest heads back to The Artist Development Complex — founded by Craig Gaumond of Skulltoboggan in the memory of his brother, Jason, this event raises funds for a bunch of worth charities. Three stages with more than 30 bands rock starting at noon throughout the evening. Check http://www.myspace.com/jagfest for tons of info and updates. Also Saturday, Sean Fullerton, Old School and The Bubbleheads play a "benefit for Josh" at Greendale's; and Soulstice and The Franks split the night at Tammany. Sunshine Superman, a '60s tribute made up of Worcester musicians, heads out to Foxwoods to play the Atrium Lounge on Friday and Saturday night.

We want to hear about it. All of it. The horrors. The stories. The music news. E-mail Charlene at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 508-749-3166, ext. 245. Add cookiewomag to your buddy list, too, to chat live during the workday.