Copyright Star Tribune
Last seen in town in June opening the Weeknd’s stadium tour, the Atlanta rapper born Jordan Carter has stepped up to arena-headliner status on his own at age 30 with his third album, “Music,” alternately (if not humbly) titled “I Am Music.” The soft-voiced hip-hop star got a big profile bump as a featured guest on Travis Scott’s megahit “Fein.” Now, he has Scott, Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd guesting on his new record, the latter’s turn in “Rather Lie” helping turn it into a rather big hit. Ken Carson, Destroy Lonely and Homixide Gang are opening. (7 p.m. Grand Casino Arena, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, $44-$459, ticketmaster.com) The well-traveled trumpeter gets typecast as a smooth jazz musician. That’s only part of his Grammy-winning résumé. He’s a serious jazz man, too, having toured with Buddy Rich and the Brecker Brothers, as well as a versatile trumpeter, who’s recorded with Sting, Barbra Streisand and John Mayer. He’s also a bandleader of a highly entertaining and musically satisfying Ed Sullivan-like variety show, this time featuring violinist Anastasiia Mazurok and vocalists John Splithoff and Veronica Swift, a jazzer who has branched out with Postmodern Jukebox as well as the hard-rock Dame. (6:30 & 9 p.m. Thu.-Sat., the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $92.42 and up, dakotacooks.com) Alongside the buzz for the food menu at the popular food truck’s new permanent space just west of downtown Minneapolis, there’s also excitement for the similarly meaty performance calendar. The restaurant will double as an Americana-flavored live music venue starting this week. The main opening party Saturday features the busiest 98-year-old in town, Cornbread Harris, with synth-rock mainstays Solid Gold (8 p.m.). Dexterous rocker Al Church will perform solo on Thursday (8 p.m.) and then with a band on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.). Former Pines co-leader David Huckfelt and his neo-Americana band Mystery Lights perform Friday (8 p.m.). Indigenous singer/songwriter Laura Hugo plays Sunday (3 p.m.). There’s no cover charge in all cases. (Animales BBQ, 241 Fremont Av., Mpls., animalesbbq.com) Also: Stone Arch Rivals celebrate their debut album, “That’s What They Say,” featuring Tommy Barbarella and produced by Soul Asylum’s Ryan Smith, who plays an opening set as does PaviElle (7 p.m. Hook & Ladder, $16-$21); fresh off another tour with his side trio Bonny Light Horseman, Eric D. Johnson is into Fruit Bats mode playing a stripped-down show touting the similarly raw new Merge Records release, “Baby Man” (8 p.m. Icehouse, $30); visually driven, 4AD-endorsed Canadian electro-pop duo Purity Ring are coincidentally in town the same night as Playboi Carti, who sampled their song “Grandloves” in his new track “Knife Prty” (8 p.m. First Avenue); the 10th annual Senses Working Overtime tribute to British rockers XTC will feature the usual all-star house band a cast of singers such as Aby Wolf, Adam Levy and Janey Winterbauer (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $25-$30). After recent dates opening for Beck and Japanese Breakfast touting her 2023 debut album, Vermont indie-rocker Dana Foote, aka Sir Chloe, is out headlining her own tour for album No. 2, “Swallow the Knife,” based on an abusive relationship (7:30 p.m. First Ave); Mississippi’s gritty blues stylist Kent Burnside, grandson of RL Burnside, is celebrating his new album, “Hill Country Blood,” produced by Royal Studios’ Boo Mitchell, in a double release party with Minnesota bluesman Mark Cameron (7:30 p.m. Hook & Ladder, $25); all-star Twin Cities jazz unit the Atlantis Quartet is taking over Berlin nightclub for two nights to trumpet a new live album recorded right there on site (7:30 p.m., also Sat., $20); Swedish folk mainstays Vasen return to Minneapolis’ West Bank (8 p.m. Cedar Cultural Center, $30-$35); ‘90s country star Tracy Byrd is remembered for serving up “Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo” (8 p.m. Medina Entertainment Center, $30 and up); Minneapolis singer/songwriter Sara Bischoff’s critically lauded neo-twang/haze-pop band Under Violet is dusting off another album, “Orchard” (8 p.m. Turf Club). A rebirth of sorts for one of Minnesota’s most internationally acclaimed bands of the past 13 years could also be the start of a long goodbye. Crystal-voiced songwriter Channy Leaneagh and her hypnotically grooving crew are back from hiatus without medically sidelined bassist/co-vocalist Chris Bierden but with a strong new album and a new member, too, electronics dazzler Alex Nutter. Their seventh LP, “Dreams Go,” arrived last week with some of their most dance-heavy tunes yet but also some of their most tender balladry, including the (gasp!) guitar-accompanied single “Wasted Me.” Word is it could be the band’s last record. They’re having a hometown release party. (9:30 p.m. Icehouse, 2528 Nicollet Av., $25-$35, icehousempls.com) It’s a delectable double bill with Detroit’s brilliantly soulful song stylist LaVette, who has been a Twin Cities favorite ever since her Joe Henry-produced 2005 comeback album, “I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise.” She arrives with a new band after collaborating with the likes of Steve Winwood and John Mayer on her last record, 2023’s Steve Jordan-produced “LaVette!” She’s paired with the New Orleans funkster Cyril Neville, who’s the youngest of the Neville Brothers and was an auxiliary member of the Meters. (8 p.m. Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, $55-$70, hopkinsartscenter.com) Also: Another inviting doubleheader features two singers who first made their marks in the ‘70s — Steve Forbert of “Romeo’s Tune” fame and Peter Holsapple of the dB’s and later sideman in R.E.M. and Hootie & the Blowfish (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $30-$45); a fun tradition that dates back to his romantically morbid 2010 album “The Reluctant Graveyard,” Twin Cities indie-pop songwriter Jeremy Messersmith is hosting his All Hollow’s Eve bash with costumes and musical candy (8 p.m. Fitzgerald Theater); local singers Jill Martin and Jacy Smith wail in their tribute to Janis Joplin (7:30 p.m. Belvedere tent at Crooners, $49 and up); after pulling off previous salutes to Radiohead and Nirvana, Al Church’s tribute band Permanent Record is taking on Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” for its 30th anniversary (8 p.m. Parkway Theater, $20-$25); versatile music maker Destin Conrad has made two recent records, his R&B-leaning “Love on Digital,” featuring collabs with Kehlani, Lil Nas X and Teezo Touchdown, and his jazzy project, “Whimsy,” with Terrace Martin, James Fauntleroy and Keyon Herrold (7 p.m. Varsity Theater, $38 and up). In her post-Justin Vernon world, the Canadian-reared, Florida-based Americana singer/songwriter is rocking harder, with a fuller and often louder sound on this summer’s “Billionaire,” only her second album in 13 years. Credit coproducers Gena Johnson, a Minnesota State Mankato alum, and Jason Isbell, whose guitar is all over Edwards’ sixth full length. The Current has been spinning the single “Save Your Soul” and the title track, which is about the richness of life, not a tax bracket. (8 p.m. Fine Line, 318 1st Av. N., Mpls., $53 and up, axs.com) This New Yorker stands alone among harpists working in jazz. She was impressively adventurous in her previous albums paying tribute to her fore-mothers Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby. On this year’s “Gadabout Season,” Younger is a bit more meditative but no less intriguing. A two-winner in Downbeat’s Critics Poll, Younger was honored this year with a Doris Duke Artist Award recognizing her achievement in jazz. Her résumé includes recording with Common, Lauryn Hill, Pharoah Sanders and Christian McBride and, in 2021, creating a dramatic instrumental entitled “Olivia Benson,” named for the lead character in TV’s long-running “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” (7 p.m. the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $41.95 and up, dakotacooks.com) While early 20th-century music critics equated French composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel with the art world’s impressionist movement, Ravel was more like Pablo Picasso, what with his restless, envelope-pushing imagination. Explore his genius when Bavouzet — one of classical piano’s masters of French repertoire — performs Ravel’s complete solo piano works over the course of two Schubert Club International Artist Series recitals. This is magnificent music, some of it notoriously difficult, all of it overflowing with eloquently expressed emotions. (7:30 p.m. Tue. & 10:30 a.m. Wed. Ordway Concert Hall, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, $28-$82, students and children free, schubert.org) Willie’s son made quite an impression at dad’s Farm Aid 40 last month in Minneapolis but, to be honest, part of the appeal was the fabulous Sierra Ferrell sitting in. After spending more than 15 years with Promise of the Real, his band that sometimes backed Neil Young in concert, Lukas made his proper solo debut this year with “American Romance.” Following his muscular jam-band tendencies with POTR, this is more of a singer/songwriter type of Americana. With echoes of Tom Petty and inevitably Willie Nelson, Lukas expresses a fresh-faced view of romance, especially on “Make You Happy,” as well as a well-lived perspective, especially on “You Were It,” the first song he ever wrote, at age 11. (7:30 p.m. Palace Theatre, 17 W. 7th Pl., St. Paul, axs.com) Also: Since forming in 2008, Flor de Toloache, the all-female mariachi ensemble from New York City, has collaborated with Dan Auerbach, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade, among others (7 p.m. the Dakota, $47.10 and up); pioneering British hardcore punk band GBH of “Sick Boy” notoriety still count its original core members and is on tour with Slaughterhouse (8:30 p.m. Fine Line); another big one for local punk fans, Off With Their Heads is back with Toronto’s Smug LLC (6:30 p.m. Cloudland Theater, $15-$17). Did you know that Adam Levine and company had a new album? Did you know that Lil Wayne, Sexyy Red and Lisa from Blackpink are featured on it? Did you know that Maroon 5 did a new video for “Priceless” that’s inspired by the film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”? Well, the album, “Love Is Like,” is like a forgettable Justin Timberlake effort. Thankfully, Maroon 5 is doing only a couple of the new numbers on tour along with the old faves “Harder to Breathe,” “Moves Like Jagger” and “Sugar.” Claire Rosinkranz opens. (8 p.m. Grand Casino Arena, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, $55 and up, ticketmaster.com) Also: It’s a big-band treat when Twin Cities vocalist supreme Jennifer Grimm joins the Adi Yeshaya Orchestra (7 p.m. the Dakota, $35 and up); resourceful musician Adam Bohanan has assembled a tribute to Black genius D’Angelo with fellow Twin Cities singers Monique Blakey and Traiveon Dunlap (7 p.m. Crooners, $25 and up); Louisiana’s swampy and soulful guitar ace Tab Benoit is playing a special Pantages Theatre gig produced by the Dakota with Chicago bluesman JD Simo (7:30 p.m., $65 and up); after a big U.K. buzz and a steady stream of festival dates, Brighton’s cute and catchy pop-rock band Lovejoy is playing U.S. club dates touting its full-length debut, “One Simple Trick” (7:30 p.m. Uptown Theater, $48).
