TRIBUTE | Hendrix Birthday Bash
Wed. Nov. 27
10 p.m.
$5
Pour House
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving offers music fans and imbibers a near-perfect opportunity to pre-game with friends before you have to settle down at the dinner table on Turkey Day and gorge yourself on all of that delicious grub. So before you become as full as a tick, you can celebrate the birth of the late, great Jimi Hendrix with City Paper Music Award winners the Dead 27s. The first time the guys played the Pour House they put together a Hendrix set, and it went really well, guitarist Wallace Mullinax says. So make no mistake, these guys know their “Voodoo Chile” from their “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” “We’ll be doing one large set of Hendrix and one shorter set of original stuff,” Mullinax says. The full band will be playing, and the Dead 27s guitarist says they expect to have some special guests. As a fellow six-stringer, Mullinax thinks the opportunity to do a Hendrix set is full of possibilities. “We are trying some material we haven’t really done before, and we’re looking forward to it because it’s out of our comfort zone,” he says. —Corinne Boyer WEDNESDAY
NEW BLUES | Davis Coen
Fri. Nov. 29
9 p.m.
Free
Home Team BBQ
Davis Coen may be labeled a blues artist, but that moniker is about as descriptive of his oeuvre as calling something food, because in Coen’s case what he offers is a buffet. Wander over his nine discs and you’ll find loose, rootsy Southern soul, raw acoustic Delta blues, switchback electric blues, old-timey swing, harmonica-laden folk blues, and barroom rave-ups. Coen’s been on the road, guitar in hand or backed by a band, since his teens, and his wide palette seems to be an outgrowth of that boundless existence. He’s not only broadened his sound over the years, but he’s been decidedly prolific, releasing six albums in as many years. They’re all good, going back at least as far as 2007’s Ill Disposition and its album-opening music biz anthem “Busker’s Blues,” where he boils it down: “Brand new corner but the lines are all the same … living with a quarter, feeling like a lousy dime.” His two most recent albums, last year’s Hard Luck Café and this year’s Get Back In, are particularly sharp and feature some keenly drawn portraits. Stand-out tracks include the slinky blues-bluegrass rocker “Brand New Version of the Same Old Thing,” Get Back In’s wistful title track ballad, and the pedal steel country ode, “Good Conversation.” —Chris Parker FRIDAY
’70s ROCK | Cheap Trick
Tues. Dec. 3
7:30 p.m.
$48-$70
North Charleston Performing Arts Center
More than a quarter-century after Cheap Trick’s eponymous debut, the band still delivers a joyous profusion of hooks and power. Formed in the heartland — Rockford, Ill. to be exact — Cheap Trick added a ’70s hard rock throttle to a purring Beatlesque pop engine. Frontman Robin Zander has cock-rock swagger worthy of Robert Plant, but the Cheap Trick frontman has always been more playful than salacious, an attitude echoed in the band’s garb and songs. The hit “Surrender” features the narrator’s parents smoking dope and banging on the couch, “Heaven Tonight” is little more than a come-on, and you probably don’t need a primer to understand what “Stiff Competition” is about. Sometimes Zander and company are like Spinal Tap but with more self-awareness and melody. The first five albums are great, culminating with 1979’s Dream Police and At Budokon, featuring the hit “I Want You to Want Me.” —Chris Parker TUESDAY
MODERN COUNTRY | WEZL Evening with the Stars
w/ Ronnie Dunn, Craig Morgan, Thompson Square
Mon. Dec. 2
7 p.m.
$32.75-$112.15
North Charleston Performing Arts Center
Three national recording country artists are coming together on Monday to raise money for the MUSC Children’s Hospital as part of WEZL’s annual Evening with the Stars concert. The show is hosted by the station’s own TJ Philips and Ric Rush, and every year, the duo gathers a few of country music’s best singer-songwriters and holds an intimate concert where fans can get to know the artists in an informal setting and hear the hits that everyone loves. Rush says, “I think the audience will get to see why country music is really called a family. The interaction is going to be incredible.” This year, Craig Morgan will be performing some of his hits on acoustic guitar, while Thompson Square will show off its chemistry and delve into the revealing nature of the band’s songwriting. Brooks and Dunn’s Ronnie Dunn will also be performing and sharing the stories behind some of his biggest songs. “Ronnie has had the success that you need to have to be able to have the freedom to experiment with his sound,” Rush says. “Ronnie Dunn has one of the purest sounds Nashville has ever seen, and we are seeing a new side to him.” —Tamara Younkins MONDAY
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