THIS WEEKEND IN LIVE MUSIC: Kristal's Picks for May 25-26

Don't Stop Please will light up the stage and the dance floor at Chelsea's Friday night.

Friday night, if you like experimental music, jazz or indie pop, you NEED to check out the band at Chelsea's!

Conway-based Don't Stop Please, one of the Central Arkansas music scene's best-kept secrets and a fan favorite, has finally taken the DSP experience on the road.

This six-member experimental jazz-Americana band with roots founded in rock and folk influences has been rapidly rising through the ranks of musical acts in The Natural State and winning over audiences with every new venue they play.

This band has been quickly making a name for itself by constantly raising the bar, show after show, and was a standout in the Arkansas Times Musicians Showcase this past spring, winning its semifinal round and impressing judges (and a skeptical me) at the finals competition. Here's a video of them competing in the first round of the Showcase:

With smooth jazz sounds, euphoric vocal harmonies, and amazingly tight rhythmic changes, Don't Stop Please produces a high-energy psychedelic showcase of original sound and presence that exceeds expectations of even the most demanding music enthusiasts.

Their music and stage presence is guaranteed to keep your toes tapping and your butts shaking and will have you begging: Don't Stop Please!

Show begins at 8 p.m. at Chelsea's,10 Mountain St., Eureka Springs. Admission will be $5.

Saturday night, check out Sarah Hughes at the Cathouse Lounge, 82 Armstrong St. in Eureka Springs.

Hughes is in my opinion Arkansas' most talented female singer-songwriter. She's twangy, so if you don't like twang, don't go. But she's GOOD. Her songs are wonderfully poignant, sweet and sharp all at the same time. Her music could be called alt-country, or Americana, and she also does a great cover of Neil Young, among other classic rock and jamband standouts.

Hughes' two studio albums are two of the three most-worn Arkansas-produced CDs I own, and that is no exaggeration. (The other one is by Starroy, a band out of Jonesboro. I'll let you know when they're in town, don't worry.)

Hughes has a full band, called the Sarah Hughes Band, that totally rocks your socks off -- but she also plays a great solo gig, which she is doing both Friday and Saturday nights this weekend at the Cathouse Lounge, beginning between 8 and 9 pm both nights. I am told there's no cover.

Here's a clip of Hughes performing last year with her full band: