The Big Gigs: Our critics' music picks

A decade of nonstop touring has paid off for Memphis' mighty twang-rock band Lucero, which graduated to Universal Records for its new disc, "1372 Overton Park," named for the address of its rehearsal space (in case any groupies want to stop by?). The band cashed in by enlisting veteran Al Green sideman Jim Spake to add horn arrangements and Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem) to produce. It's bringing some hometown compatriots on its Ramblin' Roadshow & Memphis Revue, featuring bluesman Cedric Burnside, Lightnin' Malcolm, Jack Oblivian, John Paul Keith & the One Four Fives and the Dirty Streets. (8 p.m. today, Varsity Theater. 18 & older. $15.) (C.R.)

After two decades, New York's Klezmatics have become the Rolling Stones of klezmer, the Jewish Eastern European music that will raise your spirits and move your feet. Because they address political and social issues (whether singing in English or Yiddish), these virtuosos are considered radicals in a genre known for tradition. (8 p.m. Sat., Cedar Cultural Center, $25-$28.) (J.B.)

Anyone who enjoys the Killers' anthemic rock, but could do without the disco-y crap, should dig Southern California's Airborne Toxic Event, whose eponymous debut has stood up to repeated listening since its March release. (9 p.m. Sat., Fine Line. $15-$17.) (C.R.)

Although she's in the Country Music Hall of Fame, Emmylou Harris' palette has always been broader. Starting with the superb "Wrecking Ball" in 1995, she went on adventures in atmospheric pop. Last year she returned to country-folk with "All I Intended to Be." In concert with her first-rate Red Dirt Boys, Harris explores her various phases -- from bluegrass to rock to country (her "brunette-hair period," as she puts it). Opening is Harris' guitarist, alt-country hero Buddy Miller. (7 p.m. Sun., Mystic Lake Casino, $32-$49.) (J.B.)

Toronto's Great Lake Swimmers are another scruffy-bearded, crystal-clean harmonizing folk-rock duo in the vein of Fleet Foxes, but with more of a rootsy, mandolin-laden style. Which makes them a great fit for the Cedar. Opening band Wooden Birds is the new project of American Analog Set frontman Andrew Kenny. (7:30 p.m. Sun., Cedar Cultural Center. $12-$15.) (C.R.)

For fans of Scottish rockers Travis, two out of four ain't bad. Chatty frontman Fran Healy and lead guitarist Andy Dunlop are touring as a duo to present a chronological acoustic journey through Travis' catalog, which they've billed as "Laugh Out Loud Stories, Scottish Accents, Handsome Scottish Men, Naked Torsos." (8 p.m. Sun., Fine Line, $22.50-$25.) (J.B.)

Danish rock duo the Raveonettes stick with the fuzzed-out, Phil Spector-meets-Jesus & the Mary Chain sound on their fourth disc -- and best yet -- "In and Out of Control." New titles such as "Suicide" and "Boys Who Rape (Should Be Destroyed)" demonstrate a growing dark underbelly to frontwoman Sharin Foo's soft, sugar-coated melodies. They return with psychedelic garage-rock Texans the Black Angels, Australian newcomers Violent Soho and local haze-rockers Daughters of the Sun. (9 p.m. Mon., First Avenue. $14-$16.) (C.R.)

Former Pedro the Lion singer David Bazan just issued his first solo album, "Curse Your Branches," a more personal and spiritual collection that has led to his first tour in four years. Seattle's Say Hi (formerly Say Hi to Your Mom) and Baltimore's psychedelic folk-rock troupe Wye Oak open. (9 p.m. Wed., Turf Club. $12.) (C.R.)

In 2007, tween queen Miley Cyrus had the most in-demand ticket in bubble-gum pop history. This year, the Disney darling's Minneapolis concert is not quite sold out yet. Opening is "Shake It" hitmakers Metro Station, featuring Miley's brother Trace. (7 p.m. Thu., Target Center, $42.25-$82.25.) (J.B.)

The New York Times described Iceland's Múm (pronounced "moom") as "Belle and Sebastian at play in a Mac store." This lo-fi folktronica septet mixes beats, beeps, melodies, disparate instruments (harmonium, melodica, PowerBook) and whimsy into a strangely intoxicating concoction that ranges from digital lullabies to pastoral folk-pop. Also appearing is Sin Fang Bous, an Icelandic folk group. (8 p.m. Thu., McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center, $15-$18.) (J.B.)

Bernard Fowler has sung backup on every Rolling Stones album (and tour) since 1989's "Steel Wheels" as well as on projects by Robert Plant, Yoko Ono, Herbie Hancock and Philip Glass, to name a few. On his solo album "Friends With Privileges," Fowler is aggressively soulful with a flair for funk-rock grooves. The New Yorker's touring band includes L.A. hotshot guitarist Waddy Wachtel (Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne). (9:30 p.m. Thu., Lee's Liquor Lounge, $15.) (J.B.)

After a couple of albums nominated for Dove Awards (Christian music's Grammys), South Carolina's NeedToBreathe has gone mainstream on this year's "The Outsiders," which owes debts to Coldplay and U2. That explains why the group has received airplay on Cities 97. Opening is Canada's Alanis-inclined Serena Ryder, who impressed at this year's Basilica Block Party. (8 p.m. Thu., Varsity Theater, $12-$15.) (J.B.)

After another summer on the Warped Tour and before his six-week stint with Saosin on the PacSun-backed PacTour, P.O.S. is finally playing another hometown show with mix master Plain Ole Bill. The Doomtree/Rhymesayers rapper's third album, "Never Better," features some of his most anthemic, boisterous and pontifical tracks to date; you really haven't heard them until you've caught them in concert. His local openers include experimental dance-rock act Slapping Purses and rap duo Prof & St. Paul Slim. (7 p.m. Sat., First Avenue. All ages. $10-$12.) (C.R.)

Fresh from an appearance at VH1's Hip Hop Honors, incendiary rap legend KRS-One is still out to "Turn the Volume Up on Peace," which is the name of his Source-magazine-backed fall tour. The trek is timed to his new album with Buckshot, "Survival Skills," which includes Atmosphere's Slug on the track "We Made It." A freestyle competition will open the show. (10 p.m. Sat., Epic. 18 & older. $20-$25.) (C.R.)

A more straight-up reggae singer than his hip-hop-inspired big brother Damian, Julian (JuJu) Marley still carries the activist torch and Rastafarian message of the family's patriarch on his third CD, "Awake." He's touring with the Marley clan's production wiz, former Melody Maker Stephen Marley, whose own album "Mind Control" won last year's Grammy for best reggae album. (9 p.m. Sat., Cabooze. $18-$20.) (C.R.)

Asleep at the Wheel has a swell new CD, "Willie and the Wheel," pairing the Western swing stalwarts with the always swingin' Willie Nelson. The red-headed icon won't be along for this ride, but the Wheel will have Elizabeth McQueen, who brought female vocals back to the group when she signed on in 2005. (7:30 p.m. Wed., Cedar Cultural Center, $29-$31.) (J.B.)

One of the premier hard-swinging, big-sound tenor sax men in jazz, Eric Alexander combines power and precision, brain and brawn, along with the three T's -- time, tone and taste. (9 p.m. today-Sat., Artists' Quarter. $15.) (T.S.)

Mama Digdown's Brass Band offers infectious, gloriously funky New Orleans-style street jazz. And their infrequent West Bank shows are notable for a party-hearty atmosphere, plus free band-cooked food at the break. (9:30 p.m. Sat., Nomad Pub.) (T.S.)

The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s is feted in a promising music, dance and poetry production called "Hot Jazz! Harlem Night!" Earning their two exclamation points are singers Charmin Michelle and Dennis Spears, pianist Rick Carlson and a seven-piece group, plus swing dancers and young Denzel Warren reading poems of Langston Hughes and Countee Cullen. Michelle conceived the show, Spears directed, and you can expect such turn-back-the-clock hits as "Minnie the Moocher" and "The Joint Is Jumpin.'|" (7 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., Capri Theater, 2027 W. Broadway, Mpls. $20-$25.) (T.S.)

On her third CD, "Take Love Easy," Sophie Milman makes a compelling case that Diana Krall isn't the only dusky voiced Canadian jazz thrush who matters. Milman shows a sense of adventure in her arrangements and phrasing on Duke Ellington's seductive title track and the breezy, Brazilian "That Is Love." She does a nifty slow-burn, Joni Mitchell-like reading of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire" and sounds suitably sexy and understated on Joni's "Be Cool." (7 & 9:30 p.m. Mon.-Tue., Dakota, $17-$28.) (J.B.)

One of the finest "deep roots" combos on the planet, Poland's Warsaw Village Band honors tradition by tweaking it. Their knockout new CD "Infinity" includes unexpected elements of funk, club music, Indian raga and Delta blues, plus a meeting of Polish polka and Swedish polska, yet every stratagem and surprise works beautifully. This mixed-sex sextet -- three females, three males -- is on to something both fun and profound. (7:30 p.m. Thu., Cedar Cultural Center. $20-$25.) (T.S.)

If you were an eminent English choral conductor aiming to display the richness of the English choral repertoire, you'd settle on a program much like Simon Halsey's for the next concert by VocalEssence. Halsey, who juggles jobs in Birmingham and Berlin, has stuffed his suitcase with excerpts from Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Five Mystical Songs" and Michael Tippett's "A Child of Our Time," Julian Anderson's new "Four American Choruses" and lesser-known music by eminent Victorians Charles Stanford and Hubert Parry. (8 p.m. Sat., Basilica of St. Mary, 88 N. 17th St., Mpls. $23.50-$43.50.) (L.F.)

Just shy of 40, The Musical Offering -- this region's most durable chamber ensemble -- isn't standing still. Pianist William Eddins, former associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, has joined the ensemble, which now numbers 11; bassoonist Norbert Nielubowski has been elevated to co-artistic director. For its season opener, the group has programmed trios by Beethoven and Alexander Tcherepnin and the precocious, Beethovenish Op. 12 String Quartet by Felix Mendelssohn, whose bicentennial year is fast passing. (3 p.m. Sun., Sundin Hall, Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Av., St. Paul. $8-$17.) (L.F.)

It sounds like a Flaming Lips movie or concept album, but Gustafer Yellowgold is actually a kids-music act revolving around a cute little animated character born in the sun who came to Earth to hang out with a pterodactyl and eel. In real life, he has opened for Wilco and the Polyphonic Spree, and his music sounds like a cross between Neutral Milk Hotel and, yep, the Lips. (11 a.m. Sat., Cedar Cultural Center. $12, $5 for ages 2-12.) (C.R.)

Contributors: Staff critics Jon Bream and Chris Riemenschneider and freelancers Larry Fuchsberg and Tom Surowicz.