COUNTRY

After a fall solo tour of Australia, Gary Allan is kicking off the new year with a two-night stand at his favorite Minnesota venue. Recently named country music's fifth sexiest man by Country Weekly magazine, he is neither a hat act nor a Nashville kind of guy. Like fellow Californians Dwight Yoakam and Merle Haggard, Allan does things his way. He's not afraid of singing sad, introspective songs, or doing fun tunes, or philosophizing in song. Whatever direction he chooses, he's had a steady presence on country radio for the past dozen years with such hits as "Nothing On but the Radio," "Every Storm (Runs Out of Rain)" and "It Ain't the Whiskey." (9 p.m. Fri. & 8 p.m. Sat., Treasure Island Casino, Red Wing, Minn., $50-$60.) Jon Bream

POP/ROCK

Playing its first show since summer, dramatic and nervy Twin Cities rock duo Peter Wolf Crier went on extended hiatus in 2012 after it finished touring behind its second album on Jagjaguwar, "Garden of Arms." Singer/guitarist Peter Pisano wound up taking a teaching job in Toronto and drummer Brian Moen landed in Oakland, Calif., but they regularly meet up back in Minnesota to record and perform together. For this latest instance, they're promising new songs and bringing along another Minnesota expat, Actual Wolf, aka Eric Pollard, who is back from Nashville to play with his band of MVPs, including Jeremy Hanson of fellow opening band BB Gun. (9 p.m. Fri., Turf Club, $8-$10.) Chris Riemenschneider

Hammerhead went over so well at the 25th anniversary bash for Amphetamine Reptile Records in 2010 outside Grumpy's Downtown, the band has stayed together, and even put out a new EP in 2011. The Fargo-reared power trio — which had the crunch of labelmates Helmet and the intensity of Unsane — is a perfect fit for the Turf Club's fourth annual Blowout! concert, a guitar-blaring noise fest whose regular players, the Blind Shake, were heavily influenced by the headliners and their offshoot band, Vaz. Local scenester Hannah Kathleen's buzzing new band Waveless opens. (10 p.m. Sat., Turf Club, $10.) Riemenschneider

In early December, versatile local sax man Pat Mackin (Northcoast, TC Jammers, Daisy Dillman, Mick Sterling) was broadsided by a Jeep on his way home from his regular Tuesday gig with Jaybee & the Routine. The accident was brutal, leading to several surgeries, and was compounded by a stroke. But the eight-time Minnesota Music Awards winner was in great physical shape — offstage, he's a rock climbing instructor — so his odds of battling back are considerably better than those of most 61-year-olds. A gritty and groovy cast of friends is holding a fundraiser, including Dirty Shorts Brass Band, Willie Murphy, the Good, the Bad & the Funky, Maurice Jacox, Mick Sterling, Who Nu, Mark Arneson and Jaybee & The Routine, of course, featuring Jellybean Johnson. (4 p.m. Sun., Minnesota Music Cafe, $10.) Tom Surowicz

Since coming straight outta Eau Claire, Wis., Sloslylove is perhaps better known for his work in Twin Cities electro-pop stargazers Vandaam. But the real-life Feng Meng Vue has quietly built an interstellar catalog of beats with Dogi and his solo material, culminating with his 2014 album "The Haunted." With an un-kitschy '80s aesthetic that Com Truise fans can dig and an ear for hip-hop, the budding producer composes dreamy soundscapes for chill-out dance parties. Sayth & Wealthy Relative, North House and Venue Vanity also perform. (8:30 p.m. Wed., 7th Street Entry, $5.) Michael Rietmulder

Bobby Bare Jr. has bounced from the 400 Bar to the Dakota over the past decade of local tour stops but seems tailor-made for the Turf Club, in part because of his rugged alt-country/twang-rock charm but also because of his clowning barroom character. The Nashville music heir — who put out a pair of criminally underrated rock albums from 1998-2000 with Virgin Records — has played more stripped-down, songwriterly sets in town of late, but he's back to raising a little heck with his full band, the Young Criminals Starvation League, in support of his latest Bloodshot release, "Undefeated." Eleganza! and Sam Cassidy open. (8:30 p.m. Thu., Turf Club, $10.) Riemenschneider

The High 48s deliver a bluegrass brunch set Saturday at the Aster Cafe.

BLUEGRASS

Regulars at Dulono's who grew into one of Minnesota's sturdiest bluegrass groups over the past decade, the High 48s had a momentous 2014 that saw them gain more steam with a new collection of train songs, "Great Northern Railroad," and gain Sans Souci and Pocahontas County alum Mike Hedding on mandolin after the amicable departure of Chad Johnson. The violin-laced quintet is starting off 2015 with a special bluegrass brunch set at the venue that has become a new home of sorts. (11 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., Aster Cafe, free.) Riemenschneider

JAZZ

Best known around town as the hard-driving bassist of Sonny Knight & the Lakers, Casey O'Brien is an improvising jazz man at heart. He proves it on a spare and beautiful trio album, "Ghost Dance," co-starring simpatico drummer Davu Seru and Fantastic Merlins saxophonist Nathan Hanson. The often folksy-sounding, accessible disc truly seduces the listener. It should find favor with fans of world-jazz heroes Don Cherry, David Bond and Yusef Lateef, as well as listeners hip to the Jimmy Giuffre 3, and hometown fans of Happy Apple's gentler, more contemplative tracks. To celebrate the release of this gem, another fine, brainy saxophonist, Chris Thomson, will join the band as a "special guest," hopefully not upsetting their discreet chemistry. (9:30 p.m. Mon., Icehouse, $8.) Surowicz

One of the precious few jazz artists to score multiple radio and jukebox hits ("The In Crowd," "Wade in the Water," "Hang on Sloopy"), Ramsey Lewis also employed Maurice White, who would become one of the masterminds of Earth, Wind & Fire, as drummer of his acoustic trio. When Lewis went electric on the 1974 album "Sun Goddess," he reunited with White and hired several EWF members in his backing band, tearing up the black music charts in the process. The main singer was Philip Bailey, and Lewis and Bailey still play occasional shows, mixing jazz, R&B, gospel and pop. You can expect Lewis trio staples, "Sun Goddess" material and EWF smashes including "September" and that golden oldie Bailey co-wrote, "Shining Star." 7 & 9 p.m. Wed.-Thu., Dakota Jazz Club, $35-$70.) Surowicz

Standard bearers for a younger generation of traditional jazz musicians in the Twin Cities, the Southside Aces release their fifth album with a party on the south side of Minneapolis — where else? "Second Thursday" features classic 1920s New Orleans fare ("Muskrat Ramble," "Bogalusa Stomp") plus the band's takes on great old songs popularized by legendary ladies Sophie Tucker ("Some of These Days") and Edith Piaf ("La Vie en Rose"). There's one seasonal selection ("Winter Weather") and another hip oldie ("Blues My Sweetie Gives to Me") that bluegrass and jug band fans will recall from the Greenbriar Boys and/or Jim Kweskin. Toss in some fine original material, and "Second Thursday" sounds like a hot Saturday in the old French Quarter. (8-11 p.m. Thu., Minneapolis Eagles Club, $5.) Surowicz

Self-deprecating and full of creative energy, trumpeter Steve Kenny makes an unlikely elder statesman. Yet that is his role with Group 47, the band of talented youngsters who emerged from many years of weekly sessions at the Artists' Quarter with a well-crafted original repertoire and an impressive 2014 album, "Straight to Vinyl." The album is truly old-school, with no overdubbing, Pro Tools or other sweeteners, though Kenny's "flumpet" — a crossbred trumpet/fluegelhorn — is somewhat newfangled, dating back to 1989 and the great lyrical bebopper Art Farmer. Piano savant Will Kjeer, saxophonist Thomas Strommen, bassist Adam Tucker and drummer Alex Burgess round out a group of players that may define Twin Cities jazz for decades to come. (8:30 p.m. Sat., Black Dog Coffee & Wine Bar, $10.) Surowicz