Thursday, January 10, 2013

This week's hot concerts

Lucy Kaplansky
8 p.m. Friday, January 11, Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St. $17-$19. 704-376-3737.
The acclaimed folk singer-songwriter took an unusual career path. An early peer of Shawn Colvin and Suzanne Vega, she left music for clinical psychology until she was drawn back in the early 1990s. She released her seventh album, “Reunion,” in September.

Max Baca and Los Texmaniacs
8 p.m. Friday, January 11, Don Gibson Theater, 318 S. Washingston St., Shelby. $21. www.dongibsontheater.com
This Grammy winning group captures the sound of South Texas’ Conjunto - a style marked by accordion and the twelve string Mexican guitar, the bajo sexton - mixing classic waltzes, boleros, ballads, polka, and Western swing in tribute to cities like Laredo, Corpus Christi, and El Paso.

The Old Ceremony
10 p.m. Friday, January 11, Double Door 1218 Charlottetown Ave. $12. 704-376-1446.
There’s a thread of waltzing old `50s and `60s rock n’ roll combined with songwriting chops on this orchestral indie-rock-meets-gypsy-folk-flavored band’s fifth album “Fairytales and Other Forms of Suicide,” which should draw greater attention to the Chapel Hill outfit.

Joe Buck Yourself
10 p.m., Friday, January 11, Snug Harbor, 1228 Gordon St. $5. www.ticketfly.com
With his unfurled Mohawk he looks like a survivor of late `70s street punk or a horror movie extra (he actually made his name playing with alt-country leaning artists Legendary Shack Shakers and Hank III). Solo, he falls somewhere between growling punk and chugging rockabilly-flavored country.

Bloc Party
8 p.m. Tuesday, January 15, Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd. $33. www.livenation.com
The London foursome - who stormed the UK charts in 2005 - returned in 2012 after a two-year hiatus with the new album, “Four,” which rages and rolls with its signature electro-dance-meets-guitar-rock while still covering new ground.

Tea Leaf Green
8 p.m. Thursday, January 17, Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave. $15. www.visulite.com
Like peers My Morning Jacket and moe, this prolific and diverse San Francisco outfit expands on the old idea of a jam band by channeling the BeeGee’s, Southern rock, the Grateful Dead, and a funky carnival barker from one track to the next.  

A Troop Of Echoes
8 p.m. Thursday, January 17, Milestone, 3400 Tuckaseegee Rd. $5-$8. www.etix.com
Ready for original? This Rhode Island instrumental outfit unites mathy guitar rock and lyrical saxophone in a cinematic, experimental marriage that works quite well - as if an indie rock band got a job scoring Showtime’s “Homeland.”

Gina Sicilia
9 p.m. Thursday, January 17, Double Door, 1218 Charlottetown Ave. $10. www.doubledoorinn.com
The Pennsylvania-based blues singer has a deep, lived-in alto that sounds years beyond her twenties and is capable of tackling blues, R&B, and Americana. She wrapped up an Indiegogo.com campaign this week to fund her upcoming fourth album.