BBJr will perform at the Iowa Music Store Saturday night, April 25, to celebrate the release of a 20 track archival collection with Nova Labs.  

11 Clouds, DJ DJ Tanner and Josey Todd will also perform at Saturday night’s show.

“I like it, the small, supportive community, Ames has come a long way since 15-20 years ago when I first started music,” BBJr said in regards to the Iowa Music Store, the small music shop in downtown Ames. 

BBJr, the Iowa-based solo musician, has spent the last month or so in California attending music workshops at Humboldt University. He also released his third vinyl album on April 21 through Captcha Records, a studio based in Arcata, Calif.

“It’s my first time in Iowa in 30 days and I’m excited to come back home,” BBJr said. “I’ve done over 20 shows in one month and no two shows are the same.”

Local electronic fans attending the show will also enjoy the tunes of 11 Clouds of Pella, Iowa. The solo electronic artist combines many different styles and sounds to create a unique experience for listeners.

“When I signed up with Nova Labs it sounded like they wanted some more electronic stuff,” said Nathan Key, solo artist of 11 Clouds, when asked how he got started creating his style of music.

Key released his first CD with Nova Labs in October of last year. New to the Iowa Music Store, Key is excited to experience the intimately small venue with a purposeful yet fun set.

“Electronic dance music is bigger than some bands,” Key said. “It’s more exciting.”

Coming from small town roots caused difficulty for Key in the early years of his music, because of the difficulty he had meeting and connecting with people. So he began a project as a solo artist.

Though enjoying the freedom and control of the one-man-band, Key still finds performing to be uncomfortable at times being that he is the only one to entertain the crowd instead of having a band playing and entertaining. This brought on the idea to add lights and video to future shows to create a visual show to accompany the audible show.

DJ DJ Tanner, another solo artist from Ankeny, Iowa, will also join the show Saturday night. Creating sample based originals with added vocals has been DJ DJ Tanner’s performing style for the past four years. 

The performer name DJ DJ Tanner started as a joke about the Full House character DJ Tanner as a DJ, and the name has stuck ever since. 

DJ DJ Tanner will have a cassette available with Canadian based tape label Adhesive Sounds as well as an ongoing project of a 24 hour, multi-tape set with Warren Gospel records.

DJ DJ Tanner also has a website project that will launch the first week of may. The website, dsmshows.com, will provide web surfers with dates and locations of different shows around Des Moines, Ames and Iowa City.

The show starts at 7 p.m. at the Iowa Music Store on Saturday, April 25.