Come See My Dead Person Rudyard's, September 5
Arguably one of Texas' most interesting and eclectic acts, Come See My Dead Person are well-known for a gypsy-punk party that melds multiple musical styles with an insane amount of energy. If you can't make tonight's Rudz show, good news: they're playing Galveston's Cowboy's Cajun Kitchen the following evening. SELENA DIERINGER
No Limits CityFest Discovery Green, September 6
What better way to start off the fall (or mid-summer, as we like to call it here), than with a trifecta of some of our best local bands? Discovery Green, which has proven to be an ample festival grounds, is hosting what is being dubbed the No Limits CityFest, featuring three bands you've probably come across in at some point on some stage in Houston. Veteran artists Los Skarnales, the Suffers and Nick Gaitan & the Umbrella Man - all of them HPMA winners many times over -- will be holding it down at this weekend's earlier-than-normal festival that runs from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. JIM BRICKER
Artificial Head Records Meets the Phantom of KISS Fitzgerald's, September 6
Local record label Artificial Head Records is putting on this KISS tribute show, featuring some of Houston's best locals performing the music of the legendary rock band. The big attraction here is headliner Jody Seabody and the Whirls, a garage-punk band who have been in the scene for some time and always rock it live. Also on the bill are Linus Pauling Quartet, Clockpole, the Freakouts, Funeral Horse, Hell City Kings, Cornish Game Hen, the Ex-Optimists and the Swamps. The show is free if you're over 21, so you officially have no excuse to skip this. COREY DIETERMAN
Mike Stinson Under the Volcano, September 10/October 1
A craftsman of a songwriter capable of both great wit and poignancy, Mike Stinson has raised the bar for local troubadors since moving to Houston in 2009. Last year his latest LP, Hell and Half of Georgia, put a rockin', radio-friendly sheen on some damn fine turns of phrase and was named 2013's No. 42 album by former Washington Post critic Geoffrey Himes in Paste magazine; it also helped Stinson take home a 2014 Houston Press Music Award for Best Country Act. After some recent dates in the Northeast and his old Virginia stomping grounds, next week Stinson returns to the Under the Volcano residency that started it all. CHRIS GRAY
Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, September 11
As often as they're mentioned in the same sentence, and as much as they've meant to Texas music these past three decades, Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen don't play together in the area all that often. They'll do Galveston's 1894 Opera House once in a while, and Lovett walked onstage to join in on "That Buckin' Song" during Keen's set at Sam Houston Race Park's CCA Conservation Concert last year, but a full double bill by the fellow Aggies is something to be savored any time it comes along. Both men's latest releases are a couple of years old, so this hopefully not-too-hot September evening at the Pavilion should be long on fan favorites, self-deprecating wisecracks and, if we're lucky, a few impromptu duets. CHRIS GRAY
Bang Bangz Cactus Music, September 13
Bang Bangz should be brimming with stories to tell from their recent weeklong tour of several Mexico City-area venues, and perhaps an update or two from Mario Rodriguez and crew's burgeoning Wonky Power empire over on Navigation Boulevard. Now up to a quartet, Bang Bangz is all about atmospherics and seduction, but their dreamy nocturnal electronica is so irresistible it'll even work in a crowded record store at three in the afternoon. CHRIS GRAY
Fat Tony The Summit (3536 Navigation Blvd.), September 13
After taking up partial residence in Brooklyn, Houston's own slightly-in-shape Fat Tony has returned, turning his talents into a Red Bull sponsorship and recent performances at MFAH's Mixed Media monthly showcases. So, in a true Tony-ism, a party/show is the best way to announce you're going on the road for awhile. Before you see him with the likes of Mobb Deep's Prodigy and a host of others, he'll be at the Summit with the BomBón DJs, DJ Good Grief and Rai P on Saturday. Drinks are complimentary thanks to St. Arnold's, Remy Martin (the tour sponsor) and Topo Chico. 21 and up only; buy tickets here. BRANDO
Yes Indeed Festival Continental Club/Big Top Lounge/Alley Kat Bar & Lounge, September 13
Weekends that go by without another multi-stage festival setting up shop somewhere in Houston are getting pretty scarce, but Yes Indeed has a definite leg up due to its track record and homegrown appeal. For its third edition, the nine-hour event relocates to mid-Main and expands to a nine-hour, four-stage musical feast unfolding at the Continental Club (plus patio), Big Top and Alley Kat, all within stumbling distance of one another if need be.
Out-of-town guests this time include Toronto garage-blues mashers Black Pistol Fire, Baton Rouge electronica brothers England In 1919, and a pair of Austin face-rockers in Otis the Destroyer and Megafauna, demonstrating how the fest's reach continues to grow. But Yes Indeed's backbone remains Houston's vibrant indie scene, an umbrella term that in 2014 covers sweaty hard rock (We Were Wolves, Another Run), bubbly electro-pop (BLSHS, Counting Colors), Americana folkies (Keeton Coffman, Robert Kuhn) and some 18 other acts. CHRIS GRAY
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