Twin Cities concerts of the week: Huun Huur Tu, Pokey LaFarge, Caitlyn Smith

Big gigs for the week of Jan. 19-25, also including Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine and a Johnny Cash tribute.

Cannon Falls Caitlyn Smith appears Thursday at the Turf Club.
Cannon Falls Caitlyn Smith appears Thursday at the Turf Club. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Huun Huur Tu: How do they do that? You'll wonder when you hear these well-traveled veterans from Tuva (it's in Siberia) offer their throat singing. In short, they're able to sing two notes at once. It's strange and marvelously musical. The Tuvans started out playing traditional music but they've evolved into exploring more contemporary sounds. Huun Huur Tur has been coming to Minneapolis for a couple of decades but this will be their first time at the Dakota. Please keep the dinner noise to a minimum. (7 p.m. Sat. Dakota Jazz Club, 1010 Nicollet Mall., Mpls., $30-$40, 612-332-1010, dakotacooks.com).

Pokey LaFarge: A favorite among rootsy Americana fans for years, the vintage St. Louis rockabilly/vaudeville twanger earned a much broader following last year with his memorable appearance in the Jack White and T-Bone Burnett-helmed PBS music doc series "American Epic." Hence the two-night stand this time around. He's a hoot live and just issued one of his best records yet, "Manic Revelations," which adds just a tinge more modern flavor to his classic charm. (9 p.m. Fri. & Sat., Turf Club, 1601 University Av. W., Mpls. $16-$18, eTix.com.)

Cash Only: The subtitle to the event tells all you need to know — a Tribute to the Man in Black. This is the 18th annual salute to Johnny Cash. All songs performed will be associated with you know who. The Minnesota players include Trailer Trash, White Iron Band, Ol' Yeller and Cash's personal pal, the unstoppable Sherwin Linton. (9 p.m. Sat. Cabooze, $12-$15.)

Crashed Ice Afterparty: Pretty Lights-affiliated Colorado dance producer Paper Diamonds will meet Twin Cities beatmaker Paper Tiger and the rest of Doomtree-associated fellas in Shredders to help celebrate the big ice-skidding event in downtown St. Paul. (9 p.m. Sat., Palace Theatre, $25-$30.)

Unknown Prophets: The '00s-era northeast Minneapolis hip-hop trio with the all-time best summer-in-Minnesota anthem (sorry, Atmosphere) is reuniting in the dead of winter for their neighborhood brewpub Dangerous Man's fifth anniversary, a hard-grooving affair also featuring New Sound Underground and Yohannes Tana. (7 p.m. Sun., Cedar Cultural Center, $15.)

Roberta Gambarini and Cyrus Chestnut Trio: She is an accomplished Italian-born jazz singer in the tradition of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. But the added treat is having the acclaimed Chestnut on piano. (6 & 8 p.m. Sun. & 7 p.m. Mon. Dakota Jazz Club, Mpls., $25-$40, dakotacooks.com)

Al Jardine: A co-founder of the Beach Boys with high-school classmate Brian Wilson, the rhythm guitarist and harmony singer isn't one to write a book-length memoir but he has chosen a storyteller concert to share his Beach Boys tales. He'll explain how he got to sing lead on "Help Me Rhonda" and other stories behind the songs. Minneapolis will be the premiere of Jardine's "A Postcard from California." (7 p.m. Tue.-Wed. Dakota Jazz Club, Mpls, $65-$75, dakotacookscom)

Børns: The Michigan-bred psychedelic electro-pop singer of "Electric Love" fame is making St. Paul one of his first stops behind his second album for Interscope, "Blue Madonna." (7 p.m. Wed., Palace Theatre, sold out.)

2Cellos: This pair of classically trained cellists from Croatia, bounced from YouTube to Sony Masterworks to "Glee" to PBS to arenas by playing instrumental versions of well-known pop and rock hits by Michael Jackson, AC/DC, Coldplay and others. The duo recorded its fourth album, 2017's "Score" — featuring TV and movie songs from "Game of Thrones" and "Chariots of Fire," among others — with the London Symphony Orchestra. Working with orchestral players, 2Cellos will give the acoustics at the remodeled Target Center a workout. (8 p.m. Thu. Target Center, Mpls, $29.50-$65, axs.com)

Caitlyn Smith: A Cannon Falls native who first tested her songs in the Mad Ripple Hootenanny and 400 Bar, she relocated to Nashville in 2010 and wound up co-writing Meghan Trainor's No. 1 duet with John Legend, "Like I'm Gonna Lose You," plus other tracks for Garth Brooks and Lady Antebellum. She has her own record deal now and there's a good buzz on her twang-poppy, Lambert-meets-Clarkson-flavored album "Starfire," including a sparkly appearance of the fun single "Contact High" last week on Jimmy Fallon's "Tonight Show." (8 p.m. Thu., Turf Club, 1601 University Av. S., St. Paul, $19.50, eTix.com.)

Huun Huur Tu (from Siberia) brings their throat singing to the Dakota on Saturday.
Huun Huur Tu (from Siberia) brings their throat singing to the Dakota on Saturday. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
about the writers

about the writers

Jon Bream

Critic / Reporter

Jon Bream has been a music critic at the Star Tribune since 1975, making him the longest tenured pop critic at a U.S. daily newspaper. He has attended more than 8,000 concerts and written four books (on Prince, Led Zeppelin, Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan). Thus far, he has ignored readers’ suggestions that he take a music-appreciation class.

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Chris Riemenschneider

Critic / Reporter

Chris Riemenschneider has been covering the Twin Cities music scene since 2001, long enough for Prince to shout him out during "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)." The St. Paul native authored the book "First Avenue: Minnesota's Mainroom" and previously worked as a music critic at the Austin American-Statesman in Texas.

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