DAVE MATTHEWS & TIM REYNOLDS
Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land, January 25
No, not Dave Matthews Band. Rather, Dave Matthews is teaming up with longtime friend/collaborator Tim Reynolds for a more low-key evening in Sugar Land. Regardless of your opinion of DMB, and they certainly vary from overrated Phish wannabe to cult-like phenomenon (the truth lies somewhere in the middle), Matthews knows how to please an audience. And with Reynolds in the fold, these two will treat those in attendance to an evening full of hits, banter and deep cuts. CLINT HALE

TERRY ALLEN
Heights Theater, January 21
Somehow the territory around Lubbock, some of the flattest plains on the planet, has produced some of the most brilliantly bent minds in Texas music. Even taking into account the Flatlanders and Tommy X Hancock’s crew, Terry Allen’s creativity engine was especially born in overdrive, long since spilling over into sculpture, painting, and sketchwork. Even decades after their original release, his biting, cinematic records Juarez and Lubbock (On Everything) — reissued last year by North Carolina label Paradise of Bachelors — continue to cast impossibly long shadows over lesser songwriters who could barely dream of populating their albums with such disagreeable and yet oddly endearing characters. CHRIS GRAY

AARON LEWIS
Lucky's Pub, January 29
Six and a half years ago, Staind front man Aaron Lewis released a country album, much to the bewilderment of his fans and the music industry at large. Guided by the single “Country Boy,” which featured George Jones musing as the devil, Town Line was well received by the scene, debuting at No. 1 despite being critically panned. Since then, Lewis has released two full-length country albums, including last year’s Sinner, which debuted at No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard 200, led by the single of the same name featuring guest vocals by Willie Nelson. MATTHEW KEEVER

RICK ASTLEY
Warehouse Live, January 31
It happened in 2007. Thanks to the prevalent bait-and-switch technique of "Rickrolling," an English singer-songwriter's career was revived. Message-board contributors would click a hyperlink to something purportedly relevant to the conversation only to have a YouTube window open and Rick Astley's "Never Gonna' Give You Up" blare through their speakers. The practice is still popular. Astley, who had retired nearly two decades prior, was able to reemerge as an Internet phenomenon, 30 years removed from the song's original release. True, his scheduled performance at Warehouse Live later this month could be a hustle — if you hear Astley's signature tune playing overhead as you wait for the lights to dim, go ahead and leave because you'll have been conned. But maybe he'll show up. MATTHEW KEEVER