Our Critics Picks

THORNTON, THURSDAY, 15TH

The local rock scene can be a real bitch, chewing up and spitting out even the most hard-boiled veterans. Kevin Thornton was once its latest casualty: after being lauded as a New South version of Rufus Wainwright and courting BMI execs in black suits, Thornton’s momentum ground to a halt. He soon tore off for Chicago like a bat out of hell. But Nashville is a town brimming with second shots, and Thornton is back with a comeback album that’s a near-mortar. On the forthcoming Your Operator, Battle Tapes engineer Jeremy Ferguson captures the aching emotionalism of Thornton’s previous work while expanding the sonic palettes beneath him. Thornton himself still smolders with a wounded sexuality, but this time it’s as if he’s been combing through Blondie’s Parallel Lines instead of languishing in noir-pop purgatory. (myspace.com/thornton) Exit/In —JOEY HOOD

MUSIC

THURSDAY, 15TH

PHILIP GLASS The famed avant-garde composer is in town this week for a mini-festival featuring, among other things, the Nashville premiere of a new choral work with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. Passion of Ramakrishna is a multi-movement, 45-minute work for large chorus, vocal soloists and orchestra that deals with the passion and death of Sri Ramakrishna, a 19th century mystic whose Hindu-centric writings helped shape modern-day India. Glass assigns the part of Ramakrishna to the full chorus, giving the holy man a luminous celestial weight and authority. The concert repeats Feb. 16-17 and includes performances of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Haydn’s Cello Concertoin D Major (with cellist Alban Gerhardt). The Glass Fest concludes Feb. 18 with a retrospective concert featuring the Philip Glass Ensemble. Schermerhorn Symphony Center —JOHN PITCHER

PAUL BURCH & THE WPA BALLCLUB The Ballclub’s getting an early jump on spring training. Long one of the city’s hottest Americana-whatever talents, capable of shifting from stone country to scrappy blue-eyed soul, Burch plays and sings on the hotly anticipated new Charlie Louvin record—including a George Jones-Elvis Costello duet on the Louvin Brothers’ immortal “When I Stop Dreaming”—as well as an upcoming Nashville-recorded LP by British R&B phenom Beverley Knight. Also, thanks to getting a song on David Cronenberg’s A History of Violencesoundtrack, he’s been able to open his own analog studio, Pan American Sound, hosting artists such as Ultrababyfat/Tigers and Monkeys singer-guitarist-lawyer Shonali Bhowmik. Between overseas jaunts for last year’s East to West (including several U.K. dates with the Cowboy Junkies), he stops by for an East Nashville date—and possibly a song or two from 4-year-old son Henry’s project, STOP! Family Wash —JIMRIDLEY

BLACKIE AND THE RODEO KINGS Blackie and the Rodeo Kings bring the old “We’re big in Japan” joke closer to home. Though hardly a household name in the States, they’re bona fide roots rock heroes in Canada—their 1999 album Kings of Love won a Juno Award (the Canuck equivalent of a Grammy). Core band members Tom Wilson, Stephen Fearing and Nashville resident Colin Linden were all established singer-songwriters when they came together in 1996 to make High or Hurtin’, a tribute to Canadian folk music hero Willie P. Bennett. Response was so strong that they decided to make a band of it, and the resulting sound, if hard to pigeonhole, is easy to like. The first 20 seconds of “Silver Dreams,” the lead track on Let’s Frolic, sound like an outtake from All Things Must Pass, while the moody “House of Soul,” suggests a Daniel Lanois influence—not surprising, since Lanois is a friend and fan of the band. Other highlights include the old-school R&B vibe of “I Give It Up Everday” and the ZZ Top-meets-Mark Knopfler gutbucket stomper “Life Is Golden.” 3rd & Lindsley —JACK SILVERMAN

FRIDAY, 16TH

KYLE ANDREWS W/CLARE BURSONThis show features the return of two Nashvillians—one native and one not-so-native. Singer-songwriter Kyle Andrews, whose earnest indie-pop can be heard on his debut Amos in Ohio, headlines his first bill since moving back to town after a brief stint in Philly. Andrews has grown exponentially as a live performer, and his sound has become moodier and more dynamic, but he never loses himself under the weight of his digital trickery. Singer-songwriter Clare Burson is a Nashville native with a casual, unnervingly expressive voice who now lives in Brooklyn. Her spare indie-Americana bears a heavy Nashville influence, both in its contributors and its sweet soulfulness. Rounding out the bill are The Bees’ Daniel Tashian and Philadelphia’s Red Heart the Ticker, a co-ed acoustic duo who trade vocal duties and carefully walk the line between mountain-music slumber and slow-charging indie burn. (kyleandrews.com) The Basement —LEESTABERT

THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERSWith its light touch and unerring sense of pacing and dynamics, The Infamous Stringdusters’ new Fork in the Road plays around with neo-bluegrass in ways that go beyond homage. With years of collective experience under their belts, the band isn’t afraid to tackle John Mayer’s arty “3 x 5,” or take an original instrumental called “No Resolution” into unexpected directions. Singer and Dobro player Andy Hall delivers Geoff Bartley’s “A Letter From Prison” with suitable fatalism and urgency, and while Jesse Cobb’s “40 West” might hint at math rock, these guys are more than just another jam-friendly assemblage of virtuosos. Sure, some of their songs exist in that old-time space, but this band really seems to care about what they’re singing—an achievement more elusive than any number of perfect licks. (myspace.com/stringdusters) The Station Inn—EDD HURT