Wade Bowen & Randy Rogers
House of Blues, August 25
As two of Texas country’s hardest-working entertainers, it’s easy to imagine Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen might work up a powerful thirst. Thus Hold My Beer, Vol. 1, the recent album the two longtime friends cut together because they happen to be between labels right now, not to mention because they thought it would be fun. Their co-writing camaraderie is obvious on “Lady Bug,” “In My Next Life,” “El Dorado” and a few more songs Rogers and Bowen probably didn’t take too long to write and even less time to commit to tape; it amounts to one long, laugh-filled storytelling session set to guitars. Covers of Joe Ely’s “I Had My Hopes Up High,” Willie Nelson’s “Reasons to Quit” and Merle Haggard’s “It’s Been a Great Afternoon” fit seamlessly into a perfect listening companion while enjoying a few cold ones on a lazy Texas afternoon.
Yes, Toto
Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, August 26
‘Tis the season of summer, which also means it’s the time of the year for the increasingly popular Classic Rock Package Tour. It really is a win-win for both sides. Fans get to see two or three like-minded acts from the same era on the same bill, bands get to play for larger audiences, and maybe – just maybe – create some new fans…and sell a few more post-show Greatest Hits CDs in the process. Still, Toto guitarist/singer Steve Lukather knows that his band’s split bill with prog-rock giants Yes might raise some eyebrows among the latter’s exacting (and, assumedly, brainy) acolytes. “I know some people are going, ‘I don’t know. Toto with ‘Rosanna’ and ‘Africa?’ Is this shit going to work? I fucking hate ‘Africa!’”, he says, in mock voice of disgust. (BOB RUGGIERO)
Nashville Pussy, Valient Thorr
Scout Bar, August 27
Minting unapologetically debaucherous 180-proof hard rock for nigh on two decades now, Nashville Pussy revels in everything that’s bad for you. The Atlanta-based group led by front man Blaine Cartwright and Ruyter Suys has been celebrating sin and sizzling ‘70s licks in copious amounts since 1998 debut Let Them Eat Pussy, giving Motorhead’s hell-for-leather ethos a healthy dose of good old Southern attitude. Their seventh album, last year’s Up the Dosage, certainly delivers the goods, but 2009 predecessor From Hell to Texas is also worth mentioning: recorded at the Willie Nelson-owned Pedernales Recording Studio in Spicewood, it lays on the dirty boogie so thick it’s probably the best unofficial ZZ Top tribute albums ever released. One of NashPuss’ healthier habits is splitting tours with like-minded bands, and Valient Thorr — the bearded stomp-rockers from Venus by way of North Carolina — fits the bill perfectly.
Kim Lenz
Continental Club, August 27
Kim Lenz has been one of rockabilly’s leading ladies since her days in Dallas, where in 1997 our sister paper the Dallas Observer named the former University of North Texas student its Female Vocalist of the Year. Shortly thereafter she moved to Los Angeles with her new family and signed a deal with Oakland’s HighTone Records, one of the most vital roots-music labels of the ‘90s and early 2000s. Her three releases on the label are now part of Shout! Factory’s catalog, while the auburn-haired Lenz has kept right on knockin’ em dead with her vintage Wanda Jackson/Sun Records sound, accented by hints of R&B and soul. Her most recent release, 2013’s Follow Me, features the boogie-woogie contributions of UK-born pianist Carl “Sonny” Leyland, a longtime member of Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys.
Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def
Warehouse Live, August 27
Rescheduled from July 8. Those unfamiliar with the name Yasiin Bey would surely recognize him as Mos Def, the Brooklyn-born MC whose liquid flow and acutely intelligent lyrics made him one of alternative rap’s biggest stars in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, first with partner Talib Kweli in Black Star and then on his own. Now based in South Africa, the 41-year-old Bey is back touring the States to mark the 15th anniversary of Black On Both Sides, his landmark 1999 solo debut that combined live instrumentation, several top NYC producers (DJ Premier, Tribe Called Quest’s Ali Shaheed Muhammed, the Beatnuts’ Psycho Les) and the socially on-point, oft-critical rhymes that were already Bey’s trademark. “My country is called Earth,” he told Complex in May. “If there’s anything I can do with my career, it’s hopefully encourage the generations around me and after me to have that worldview.” With D-Risha, Rocko Steady, Frank d’Amato and the Waxaholics DJs.