Friday, May 16, 2014

This week's hot concerts


Blue Dogs/The Dirty Guv’nahs
Friday  6 p.m., NC Music Factory Fountain Plaza, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $5, www.ncmusicfactory.com
The music factory’s annual Friday concert series pairs the veteran Charleston bluegrass-flavored roots-rock outfit with the up and coming Knoxville country-rockers, whose new album “Hearts On Fire” topped Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. Both bands have reputations for high energy live shows.

Apache Relay/The Weeks
Friday  8 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $15, www.visulite.com
The Nashville outfit evolves past its roots-rock beginnings with something deeper, melancholy, and classic rock n’ roll on its new self-titled album, which glides on rich harmonies. Its earnest Mississippi-based tour mates are like an early Kings of Leon.
Whitewater Ramble
Friday  8 p.m., Evening Muse, 3227 N. Davidson St., $8-$10, www.eveningmuse.com
The Fort Collins, Colo. quintet brings bluegrass into the future by mixing fast-paced, nimble picking and hearty harmonies with deeper rock n’ roll vocals, segues into jazz fusion, and showy orchestral movements that ignite jam band crowds while keeping an anchor in tradition.

Jamey Johnson
Friday  11 p.m., Coyote Joe’s, 4621 Wilkinson Blvd., $25, www.coyote-joes.com
While his Nashville cousins are headlining amphitheaters the critically adored, Alabama-bred troubadour keeps things low-key - as he did with 2013’s unlikely Top 5 hit album “Living For a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran” - with an intimate-by-comparison club show.
Reverb Fest
Saturday  6:30 p.m., Neighborhood Theatre, 511 E. 36th St., $6, www.neighborhoodtheatre.com
This is one of those big local bills that allows newcomers to sample Charlotte acts without committing much but time, while (in this case) supporting the Chronic Illness Relief Fund. Acts include Bo White, Del Rio, Couches, Hectorina, Sinners & Saints, Pullman Strike, Late Bloomer, Grown Up Avenger Stuff, It Looks Sad, and more.
Tegan & Sara
Monday  7:45 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $47, www.livenation.com
The Canadian sister act has forsaken the snappy indie-pop it built its career on (its second release was ironically called “This Business of Art”) for full-on commercial pop music, following 2013’s “Hearthrob” by sharing the stage with Taylor Swift and providing a track for “The Lego Movie” - "Everything is Awesome!"

Tamar Braxton
Tuesday  8 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $33, www.livenation.com
After playing sister Toni Braxton’s backup singer off and on for two decades and a briefer run with the Braxtons, the younger sibling is enjoying a second life as a solo artist with a No. 1 R&B album thanks to two reality series - “Braxton Family Values” and “Tamar & Vince.”
Nashville Pussy/Supersuckers
Wednesday  8:30 p.m., Tremont, 400 W. Tremont Ave., $15, www.tremontmusichall.com
The grooves don’t get much gnarlier than this pair of gritty guitar rockers. The former’s latest record “Up the Dosage” plays like a redneck Motorhead if Lemmy were raised on Schlitz, muscle cars, and classic country in the deep South. The Supersuckers rock in similar fashion, but hail from the Northwest.

Uh Huh Her
Thursday  8 p.m., Visulite, 1615 Elizabeth Ave., $15, www.visulite.com                                
Before turnings heads with her acting on Showtime’s “The L Word,” Leisha Hailey was half of `90s alt-rock duo the Murmurs. Musically she time jumps 20 years with futuristic electronic-based music that still features lush female vocals in this duo with Camila Grey.

Neon Trees
Thursday  8 p.m., The Fillmore, 1000 NC Music Factory Blvd., $30.50, www.livenation.com
With its third album “Pop Psychology” and singer Tyler Glenn’s recent “Rolling Stone” reveal that he’s gay, Utah’s biggest pop export is enjoying renewed interest. What’s more its third album pins read-between-the-lines lyrics with some of the catchiest pop music this side of Provo.
Gedeon Luke & the People
Thursday, 9 p.m., Double Door, 1218 Charlottetown Ave., $5, www.doubledoorinn.com
This Memphis-raised band leader heads up an eight-piece ensemble through some of the grittiest, liveliest, spirit-moving soul this side of the `70s. He shifts between inspirational Sly Stone-style frontman to an equally emotive singer in the vein of Curtis Mayfield. His debut album "Live Free and Love" is out in June, but you can catch he and the big band early for a bargain price.