Burlington, Vermont, singer-slinger Lowell Thompson has that angst-ridden delivery that screams “this is alt-country.” A pointed No Depression/Jeff Tweedy-ness abounds on Thompson’s 2004 EP Turn, which is full of steel guitar and generic but pleasant middle-of-the-country-road strumming.
Even with smart lines like “Please don’t kiss him just to prove that you don’t love me anymore,” nobody’s likely to mistake Thompson and his band for a Texas outfit, because they lack a bit of the grit and growl it takes to make a living down this way. Still, his inoffensive take on country shouldn’t make folks feel too out of place.
Since Thompson, who won the annual Advance Music Singer/Songwriter Acoustic Guitar Search in 2004, will be playing a solo show in support of local warrior LL Cooper, the singer-songwriter angst may be pretty thick around the Rudz stage by the time he’s done. - William Michael Smith
8 p.m. tonight at Rudyard’s, 2010 Waugh, 713-521-0521.