Our Critics Picks

Back when jukeboxes were covered with tears and whiskey, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and Ray Price owned a significant slice of country music. Nelson was the conversational, confessional Zen poet, Haggard the stand-tall, working-man icon and Price the satiny cosmopolitan crooner. Blue collars and Blue Ribbon beer also went a lot further than they do now. Redneck music once galvanized folks below the upper crust with a fury of fiddles and steel guitars. Not quite extinct, but flickering in the onslaught of hair-metal-evoking country-lite, these three icons still have serious potency, displayed with flash and verve on the double CD Last of the Breed, produced by equally old-school Fred Foster. No doubt they’ll heavily mine the vintage classics of Breed—“Heartaches by the Number,” “Lost Highway,” “Going Away Party,” “Why Me Lord” and “That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine”—with a jaunty shuffle and a breaking ache where applicable. Backed by Grammy-winning Western swing kings Asleep at the Wheel, this is 100 proof country polished to its gleaming best. (LostHighwayRecords.com) TheGrand Ole Opry —HOLLY GLEASON

MUSIC

THURSDAY, 15TH

SILVERSUN PICKUPSThe Silversun Pickups were recently hurrying from Minneapolis to New York to play a couple of shows in front of industry types, on whose radar SSPU had suddenly appeared like a bright, well-thought-out twinkle. Meanwhile, the band’s gear was streaking its way across the country from Los Angeles in a van driven alternately by their sound guy and their manager (passing through Nashville in the wee hours of the morning). Such was the relationship between supply and demand: the band could hardly keep up with requests for their presence. And that hasn’t changed much; in the intervening weeks, Silversun Pickups, whose driving, melodic rock is the rougher-hewn kin of fellow Californians Grandaddy and Earlimart, have moved quickly from relative obscurity to sharing the stage with the likes of Wolfmother and OK Go and making the late-night television rounds. Their first full-length album, Carnavas, is a bracing mix of straight-ahead guitar rock and glittering, sometimes cacophonous atmosphere. (silversunpickups.com) Exit/In—STEVE HARUCH

THE LONG PLAYERS WITH AL KOOPERThis veteran rocker’s fingerprints are all over rock history. He wrote “This Diamond Ring,” provided the signature organ riffs on “Like a Rolling Stone” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” and backed Mr. Jimi on Electric Ladyland.He also formed Blood, Sweat & Tears and produced Lynyrd Skynyrd’s first three albums—and that’s just the first 30 years. In the last three decades, he’s been a record executive and a Berklee professor, and worked with Ray Charles, Alice Cooper, Joe Ely, George Harrison, B.B. King, Nils Lofgren, Roger McGuinn, Ringo Starr, Richard Thompson and Joe Walsh, to name a few. A Nashville resident in the ’90s, Kooper returns to join the all-star Long Players as they re-create Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited,on which Kooper originally played. He’ll join the core band of Steve Allen, John Deaderick, Steve Ebe, Bill Lloyd and E-Streeter Gary Tallent and other guest vocalists, including Georgia Satellites’ Dan Baird, Steve Forbert, BR549’s Chuck Mead, the Scorchers’ Jason Ringenberg and The Turtles’ Mark Vollman to pay tribute to one of rock’s greatest albums. The following night, Kooper stays for a rare solo gig that will show why this rock ’n’ roll professor remains a soul-stirring performer who pulls on all strains of popular music to create something musically hip and emotionally raw. Mercy Lounge (Thursday); solo at The Rutledge (Friday, 16th)—MICHAEL MCCALL

FRIDAY, 16TH

TIMBALANDIn his February review of Justin Timberlake and Pink’s FutureSex/LoveShow Tour for the Village Voice, Tom Breihan wrote that “…hearing Timbaland’s DJ set was like staring into the face of God.” That’s pretty much right, especially as omnipresence goes: since he first began landing hits in the late ’90s with a cadre that included Missy Elliott, Aaliyah and Ginuwine, Timbaland’s become one of the principal definitions of what hip-hop sounds like as its busiest and biggest producer. His style—big, funky and deceptively simple—has been a calling card for Jay-Z, Nas, Jennifer Lopez and, most recently, Bjork. “Give It to Me”—the first single from Shock Value, his first album under his own name—is an unashamed celebration of his friendships and creative partnerships with Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake. Sure, it’s only marginally successful—you’ll hear it at Friday’s show, but you may not love it. Really, though, if you’re staring into the face of God, you’re not going to say, “Dude, what are you doing?” You’ll just be gawking. Gaylord Entertainment Center (timbalandmusic.com) —GRAYSON CURRIN

DALE ANN BRADLEYThe fact that Dale Ann Bradley would attempt a cover of Ann Peebles’ “I Can’t Stand the Rain”—already done so heart-wrenchingly by Peebles in the ’70s and Tina Turner in the ’80s—on last year’s Catch Tomorrow, and that her bluegrass performance of the song is striking in its own right, is just a small indication of the Kentucky native’s abilities as a honeyed, earthy vocalist. Bradley’s pre-solo work includes the Renfro Valley Barn Dance and a stint as lead vocalist and guitarist for the Coon Creek Girls. On her third solo album—and first for Alison Brown’s Compass Records—she delivers potent, unvarnished renditions of Jerry Chestnut’s “Holding on to Nothing” (a keening duet with Marty Raybon), the aforementioned Peebles tune and a handful of solid originals written with her longtime songwriting partner and bassist Vicki Simmons. Not only is the dark, bluesy moonshine romp “Run Rufus Run” a good song, it’s a true story culled from Bradley’s own family lore. (daleann.com) Station Inn—JEWLY HIGHT