WARPAINT
Warehouse Live, November 16
Sabbaticals often work wonders for bands, allowing their various members time to explore individual interests before they reconvene to find out which fresh ideas stick to the wall. So it was with Warpaint, the moody and mellow L.A. alt-rockers who grabbed indie fans’ attention with the lush textures and dense guitar interplay of 2010’s The Fool. Following 2014’s highly acclaimed eponymous sophomore LP, whose tighter grasp of pop songcraft edged them toward mainstream attention, the all-female foursome spent last year doing their own thing before reconvening with Jake Bercovici — also producer of their debut EP, 2009’s Exquisite Corpse — to record Heads Up (Rough Trade), which Rolling Stone recently lauded for its “dream-rock mysticism with chill confidence and casual concision.” With Golden Suns and Vs. Colour.
DAN PENN
McGonigel’s Mucky Duck, November 17
Dan Penn once explained his decision to become an R&B musician by saying that, when he was a younger man, rock “was something you picked up and throwed.” Now 74, the Alabama native grew up near the Mississippi line and made his way to the legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, where the songwriter and producer had a hand in some of the most timeless tunes of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s: “The Dark End of the Street,” Otis Redding’s “You Left the Water Running,” James & Bobby Purify’s “I’m Your Puppet,” Janis Joplin’s “A Woman Left Lonely,” the Box Tops’ “The Letter.” Still, Penn is probably still best known for “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” his 1967 co-write with Chips Moman; Penn later recalled “you just knew history was going to be made that day” as soon as Aretha Franklin sat down at Fame’s piano. Released on his own label, Dandy Records, his most recent solo album is 2013’s I Need a Holiday. Shows at 7 & 9:30 p.m.
THE YAWPERS
Satellite Bar, November 17
Like the Blasters a generation or two before them, Denver’s Yawpers give vintage American music — blues, country, rockabilly — a post-punk edge, which nowadays makes them an ideal fit for Chicago-based “insurgent country” purveyors Bloodshot Records. The songs on their debut for the label, last year’s American Man, kick and spit the way they’re supposed to, piling on the ragged guitars and raw emotions to the point of giddy exhaustion. Fans of Uncle Tupelo, Ryan Adams or bygone Bloodshot labelmates the Old 97’s will find much to admire here as well. With 4onthefloor.
ALLEN OLDIES BAND
Continental Club, November 19
If anyone does, Allen Hill deserves the title of Houston’s “Mr. Entertainment.” For one thing, it’s right there in the title of his booking and events company, Allen Hill Entertainment. But really, it’s because for the past 20 years, Hill (an alum of Banana Blender Surprise, rulers of the early-’90s Texas college-party circuit) has been preaching the gospel of good-time rock and roll as the Bayou City’s undisputed King of the Oldies. For Saturday’s anniversary bash, Hill and his merry men — who have absorbed the pop, rock and soul hits of yesteryear like so many tuxedo-clad sponges — have taken it upon themselves to play every song the band has ever played at a public performance, a grand total of some 130 good-time oldies. Were they to include the songs from their multitude of weddings and other private gigs, that list might be two or three times that size. With the Twang; show starts at 8 p.m. sharp.
LEGENDS OF SOUTHERN HIP-HOP
NRG Arena, November 19
Nowadays we take for granted that Southern rappers rank among the most popular and innovative artists in all of hip-hop, but a half-dozen who helped things get that way happen to be coming to NRG Arena on Saturday. All of the great Southern rap cities save one (Atlanta) will be represented, thanks to the rapid-fire cadences of trailblazing MCs from the great New Orleans houses of Cash Money (Juvenile) and No Limit (Mystikal); the Memphis-smooth player chronicles of 8Ball & MJG; and gritty thug-life club anthems of Miami OG Trick Daddy. Finally, holding it down for the home team are arguably the two greatest rappers to ever claim the HTX: Bun B, whose post-UGK career has seen both streetwise solo albums and a gig as H-Town’s unofficial mayor (plus that Rice professorship); and Scarface, simply one of the best rap wordsmiths to ever draw breath, from his 1991 Geto Boys classic “Mind Playin’ Tricks On Me” all the way through last year’s Deeply Rooted.
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2016.
