Thursday, September 18, 2014

This week's hot concerts


Brad Paisley
Friday  7 p.m., PNC Music Pavilion, 707 Pavilion Blvd., $38.91-$81.13, www.livenation.com
Following the release of his latest album “Moonshine in the Trunk,” the country guitar whiz whose concert tours are big, show stopping productions, returns with his Country Nation World Tour. Randy Houser, Dee Jay Silver, Leah Turner, and Charlie Worsham open the show.

Jeremiah Wilde
Friday  10:30 p.m., Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St., $5, www.eveningmuse.com
This Charlotte rock band is the next step for frontman Jeremy Vess and guitarist Jeremy Mullis, who gained local recognition in the band Vess. The new quartet (with Kevin Dudley and Joe Reese) celebrates the release of its dramatic, driving new single “Momentum.”

Matrimony
Saturday  7 p.m., US National Whitewater Center, 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy, Free, www.usnwc.org
The busy family band, which has been spreading its spirited folk-pop nationally since the major label release of “Montibello Memories” in May, returns home briefly (before heading on tour again in October) for a free show - one of the last of the River Jam series’ season.

Astronautalis/Sarah Jaffe
Saturday  9 p.m., The Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd., $14, www.themilestoneclub.com  
The acclaimed alternative rapper and the dreamy pop-rock singer-songwriter may seem an odd pairing, but imagine a young, more hip-hop-steeped Beck and a modern, less whimsical Kate Bush playing dingy clubs together and you’ve got a recipe for “don’t miss.”


Scowl Brow
Saturday  10 p.m., Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St., $5, www.snugrock.com  
The punky Charlotte trio boasts the unapologetically frank and sometimes controversial biographical songwriting of frontman Robby Hale, who slings hard truths with a grain of hope like a young, yet grizzled Axl Rose. It celebrates the release of its new six-track EP that’s built on Hale’s scratchy voice, driving tempos and distorted hooks.


Lydia Loveless
Sunday  9 p.m., Double Door, 1218 Charlottetown Ave., $10-$12, www.doubledoorinn.com  
The Ohio singer-songwriter may be the best true country songwriter out there today making non-commercial country for young women who can’t relate to the new Miranda. On her third album “Somewhere Else” her gnarly, world weary heartache and dark sense of humor come across like a twangy, raised on riot grrrl Stevie Nicks.

Coheed & Cambria
Sunday  8 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $40.23, www.livenation.com
The progressive metal act recently rereleased its breakthrough 2003 album “In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3,” which spawned the singles “A Favor House Atlantic” and “Blood Red Summer.” The group will revisit the album in its entirety live.

Joshua James
Sunday  7 p.m., Stage Door Theatre, 130 N. Tryon St., $18, www.blumenthalarts.org  
Discriminating singer-songwriting junkies love this Utah transplant’s pastoral folk-based rock, which resonates with the spiritual beauty, thought, and simplicity of the life he lives as a farmer, father, husband, and brother in the mountains outside Mormon music mecca Provo.


Greensky Bluegrass
Thursday 8 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $17-$20, www.visulite.com 
On its new album "If Sorrows Swim," the Kalamazoo, Mich. raised jam-grass outfit doesn't make your granddaddy's bluegrass, but the progressive band can pick with the best of them. Its live show mixes jam band improvisation, pop-rock, singer-songwriter originals, nibble fingered picking, and unusual covers.