Thursday, Feb. 15
1. Rachael & Vilray: Guitarist Vilray Bolles was last seen backing Rickie Lee Jones on her standards concert at the Dakota. Chanteuse Rachael Price was last seen fronting Lake Street Dive at the State Fair. Rachael & Vilray is their gloriously jazzy side project, featuring vintage-sounding tunes circa the 1930s and ‘40s that Vilray composes. The pair met in 2003 while students at the New England Conservatory of Music. They started performing as a duo in 2015, released their self-titled debut in ‘19 and last year delivered “I Love a Love Song.” (6:30 & 8:30 p.m. the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $35-$55, dakotacooks.com)
Also: Acme Jazz Company, an 18-piece Twin Cities big band featuring vocalist Arne Fogel and saxophonist/arranger Bob Parsons, surveys the Great American Songbook (7:30 p.m. Crooners, $25-$35); Scottish neo-folk trio Talisk is touring the States (7:30 p.m. Cedar Cultural Center, $25-$30); the Martin Devaney and Friends series with St. Paul’s songwriting troubadour will feature the International Treasures and Paul Bergen (8 p.m. White Squirrel Bar, free); husband/wife rock duo the Danger Pins are heading out to Excelsior (8 p.m. 318 Cafe, $15).
Friday, Feb. 16
2. Big Turn Music Fest: Named for the bend in the river that houses Red Wing’s historic downtown, this two-day gigathon amounts to a full-on musical bender. Some 200 acts will perform across 16 walkable venues, including the Sheldon Theatre, St. James Hotel, three churches and bars like Liberty’s and the Red Wing Barrell House. Friday’s top names include Native blues-rockers Corey Medina & Brothers, Trampled by Turtles’ Dave Simonett, Annie & the Bang Bang, Loud Mouth Brass, Sean Anonymous and Maygen & the Birdwatcher. Saturday’s lineup features Turn Turn Turn, the Foxgloves, Desdamona, Porcupine, Molly Brandt, Connie Evingson, Favourite Girl and many more. (4:30 p.m.-midnight Fri. and Sat., downtown Red Wing, $55 or $95/two-day, bigturnmusicfest.com)
3. Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, Pitbull: Latin music is all the rage, whether it’s Karol G, Peso Pluma or Bad Bunny. But a previous generation of Latin superstars paved the way. And three of them are uniting for the Trilogy Tour. Each is a worthy headliner, so the order of performers changes from night to night with a trio of full sets. Ricky Martin will reprise “Livin’ la Vida Loca” and “She Bangs.” Enrique Iglesias will seduce with “Bailamos” and “I Like It.” And Pitbull, that Miami energy machine, will bring the bangers “Timber” and “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).” (7 p.m. Xcel Energy Center, 199 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, $60-$1,200, ticketmaster.com)
4. Matthew Sweet: After hunkering down in his native Omaha for the past four years without touring, the guitar-cranking power-pop hero of “Girlfriend” and “Sick of Myself” fame is hitting the road again ahead of what sounds like a busy year. He has a new album in the pipeline as well as a live recording from 1993, when Television’s Richard Lloyd was in his band. This year’s backing unit looks pretty great, too, with the Bangles’ Debbi Peterson on drums and the Orange Peels’ John Moreland on guitar. Alabama’s Abe Partridge opens. (8:30 p.m. Turf Club, 1601 W. University Av., St. Paul, $35, axs.com)
5. Subtronics: The Twin Cities’ first major EDM event of the year is big enough to spread out over two nights. Philadelphia-reared dubstep wizard Jesse Kardon, aka Subtronics, headlined festivals such as the Electric Forest and Lost Lands last year. Now, he’s coming to Minneapolis to kick off his Tesseract Tour behind the new album of the same name, which is derived from a four-dimensional feature in quantum physics that will be reflected in the show’s visual production. Also set to perform both nights are Wooli, Hedex, Jon Casey, Distinct Motive and Skellytn. (8 p.m. Fri. and Sat., the Armory, 500 S. 6th St., Mpls., 18 & older, $55 or $85/two-day, ticketmaster.com)
6. World Music Fusion: The irrepressible, resourceful Gao Hong, a Chinese pipa virtuoso and professor at Carleton College, is involved in another smorgasbord of global music. Joining her will be erhu player Changyao Zhu, known as the Itzhak Perlman of China; Emmy-winning Vietnamese đàn tranh and đàn bầu player Vân-Áhn Võ; guzheng player Zhongbei Wu, who has performed at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and Twin Cities world music ensemble Speaking in Tongues. (7:30 p.m. Hamline University, Sundin Music Hall, 1531 Hewitt Av., St. Paul, $18-$25, 952-210-3268)
7. The Sounds of Gospel: This musical was created by the Rev. William Pierce of 2nd Chance Outreach, with Jevetta Steele directing and Billy Steele overseeing the music. Created in 2018 for the National Baptist Convention held in Minneapolis, the piece chronicles the extensive history of gospel music, with an all-star Twin Cities cast including Tonia Hughes-Kendrick, Cornisha Garmon, Jermaine Thomas, J. Michelle Caldwell, Fred Steele, Jr., Jhadiya Steele, Jackson Hurst, Angel Woods and Lysanis Shelby. (7 p.m. Fri.-Sun. Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Ave., Mpls., $35-$65, thecowlescenter.org)