Sue Foley will perform on Saturday at the Heights Theater. Shows from Cowboy Mouth, Lina Gail Lewis and Agent Orange are also on tap this week. Credit: Photo by Ron Baker

The 2025 nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced, and it seems that maybe the Hall can regain some respectability following the ouster of cofounder and former Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner. 14 acts have been nominated, and between five and seven will be inducted, depending on the total number of votes that they receive. Assuming that seven make it in, here are my picks for this year:

Bad Company. These guys should have been in the Hall years ago. Tremendous musicians and great songwriters. Not to mention the fact that they were the first band signed to Led Zeppelinโ€™s Swan Song record label.

The Black Crowes. Somewhat derivative? Sure. But what a mix of influences: the Stones, the Faces, the Allman Brothers and Humble Pie. The Crowes almost singlehandedly kept honest-to-God rock and roll alive during the โ€˜90s.

Mariah Carey. No. Ixnay. Uh-uh.

Chubby Checker. To quote Don Vito Corleone, โ€œI must say noโ€ฆand let me give you my reasons.โ€ Yes, โ€œThe Twistโ€ was a huge record and a pop culture phenomenon. But while Checker had an engaging delivery, he didnโ€™t do much of note beyond that record and its overly similar follow ups.

Joe Cocker. Should be a shoo-in. He took inspiration from Ray Charles and injected it with wild rock and roll energy.

Billy Idol. See โ€œChubby Checker.โ€ A couple of decent songs, but an insufficient catalog to merit inclusion.

Joy Division / New Order. Not a huge chart success โ€“ not that this is necessary for induction โ€“ but still massively influential. Maybe next year.

Cyndi Lauper. A versatile and charismatic performer who cowrote a modern standard in โ€œTime After Time.โ€ Hey, it was good enough for Miles Davis to cover. Yes.

Manaฬ. In Latino rock and roll, they donโ€™t come much bigger than Manaฬ. ยกEstรก bien!

Oasis. When the band was nominated last year, Liam Gallagher slagged the Hall, saying, โ€œThereโ€™s something fishy about those awards.โ€ So donโ€™t count on Oasis showing up, even if they do get in.

Outkast. Big Boi and Andrรฉ 3000 put out some worthwhile albums (most notably Speakerboxxx / The Love Below), but they are not rock and roll. (See โ€œMariah Carey.โ€)

Phish. Not at the top of my list, but they get points for originality, creativity and tenacity. As a first-time nominee, the band may need to wait a year or two.

Soundgarden. Absolutely. Maybe the best of Seattleโ€™s grunge explosion. And Chris Cornell โ€“ what a powerful and distinctive voice.

The White Stripes. While not exactly my cup of tea, this was, at least, a true rock and roll band, even if it only had two members. Letโ€™s see what the Stripesโ€™ legacy looks like in a couple of years.

Ticket Alert

Punk legends the Melvins will be on tour this spring to promote not one but two new albums: their own Thunderball and Savage Imperial Death March, a collaboration with tour mates Napalm Death. Both bands will perform at the White Oak Music Hall on Sunday, April 19, and tickets are on sale right now.

Texas singer-songwriter and Houston favorite Radney Foster will play at the Mucky Duck on Saturday, June 28. Thatโ€™s a few months away, but tickets are already going fast, so get to clicking and donโ€™t miss out.

Rock and roll nostalgia-themed package tours have been around for years, but only recently have we seen them take on an โ€˜80s slant. If you have a hankering for music of the MTV era, check out the โ€œI Want My โ€˜80sโ€ tour when it stops at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Friday, July 18. The bill includes Rick Springfield (โ€œJessieโ€™s Girlโ€), John Waite (โ€œMissing Youโ€), Wang Chung (โ€œDance Hall Daysโ€) and Paul Young (โ€œEvery Time You Go Awayโ€), and tickets are on sale now.

Former Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle is touring with his own band, โ€œhonoring Ronnie Van Zandtโ€™s Lynyrd Skynyrd.โ€ This statement would seem to indicate that Pyle – who did play for several years with Ronnie prior to Skynyrdโ€™s tragic plane crash in 1977 โ€“ doesnโ€™t think much of the current โ€œofficialโ€ version of Skynyrd (fronted by Ronnieโ€™s brother Johnny), which no longer contains any of the bandโ€™s original members. Pyle and his crew will perform on Friday, July 25, at the Dosey Doe Big Barn.

Call them what you want โ€“ alt-folk, folk-rock, Americana โ€“ but be assured that the Lumineers put on an entertaining show.ย The duo of Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites (plus touring musicians) will play the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Friday, October 10, in support of their just-released album Automatic. Presales are in progress, with the general sale set for Friday.

Concerts This Week

Mardi Gras will be here before we know it (March 4 this year), so itโ€™s perfect timing for Crescent City rockers Cowboy Mouth to pay us a visit, performing on Thursday and Friday at Main Street Crossing. โ€˜Cause Knowledge is Power: Cowboy Mouth released a song called โ€œKelly Ripaโ€ in which the singer declares his unrequited love for the talk show host, back when she was doing a morning show with Regis Philbin. But when Philbin departed in 2011, Ripa moved on to Ryan Seacrest and then Mark Consuelos, leaving the forlorn members of Cowboy Mouth to worship her from afar.

I suppose it might be easy to be overshadowed as a performer when your brother was Jerry Lee Lewis.ย  Nevertheless, Linda Gail Lewis has never hidden her light under a bushel basket, and why should she? Lewis rips it up on the piano (though, unlike her brother, I donโ€™t think she has ever set one on fire) and backs that up with a serious rock and roll yowl. Catch her act on Friday at the Continental Clubย where she’ll be playing the early show about which she had this to say to our own Gladys Fuentes: “When Iโ€™m doing a gig like the one I’ll be doing at the Continental Iโ€™ll tell a lot of stories because people will really be listening because it won’t be the 10 o’clock intoxicated people and there’s nothing wrong with that, I enjoy that too,โ€

Sue Foley and her guitar Pinky (a pink paisley Telecaster) have been wowing blues fans for years, but last yearโ€™s Grammy-nominated album One Guitar Woman featured her acoustic chops. She will perform on Saturday at the Heights Theater, with Danielle Nicole opening.

OG west coast punk band Agent Orange is at the Continental Club on Tuesday. When a band is named after a Vietnam-era military herbicide, you expect something wild, and Agent Orange doesnโ€™t disappoint, cranking out an amped-up blend of punk and surf music that particularly appeals to surfers and skaters. You donโ€™t have to wear Vans to the show, but you wonโ€™t stand out if you do.

Contributor Tom Richards is a broadcaster, writer, and musician. He has an unseemly fondness for the Rolling Stones and bands of their ilk.