Thursday | 7/8

ROSIE FLORES

Alt-country grand dame Rosie Flores is one of the innovators of a sound born somewhere southeast of Nashville, an amalgam of honky-tonk, rockabilly and western swing that roughs up Music City's obligatory studio sheen. Born in San Antonio, Flores has since made her home in Austin, which officially adopted her as its own in 2006 by declaring Aug. 31 "Rosie Flores Day." The designation acknowledges a performer who's the whole package: a peerless guitar player and a commanding presence on the stage with the ability to embody any material she approaches, whether it's contemporary or half a century old. Moe's Alley; $12 adv/$15 door; 8:30pm. (Paul M. Davis)

Friday | 7/9

FORREST DAY

Is San Francisco's Forrest Day a folk singer, a jazz saxophonist, an electronic beat maker or a hip-hop rhymesayer? Tough to say; the man contains multitudes. But while many multi-instrumentalist overachievers of his ilk follow lofty trajectories, making complex and heady music, Mr. Day opts for a playful and often comical approach. With tracks like "Dead Now," "River Rat" and "Secret," the dabbling musician gives a tongue-in-cheek send-up to booze, drugs, masturbation and cheating women, all the while wrapping orchestral texture around heavy electro beats and vocal effects. Catalyst; $7 adv/$9 door; 9pm. (Curtis Cartier)

Saturday | 7/10

ROB & ZACH SHOW

Pinback's most identifiable trait is the steel-cut precision of its mixture of live instrumentation and electronic tones. This has worked both to the band's benefit and its detriment, as Pinback's songs sometimes suffer from a sense of sterile airlessness. Main dudes Rob Crow and Zach Smith are trying to shake this up by leaving the band and the studio trickery at home and hitting the road as the Rob and Zach Show. The stripped-down duo has promised that this one-off tour will give fans an insight into their songwriting process. Catalyst; $12 adv/$16 door; 9pm. (PMD)

SUGAR MINOTT

Santa Cruz does not want for venerable reggae artists touring in the twilights of their careers. In fact, it can be difficult separating hype from reality: if every week brings another reggae "legend" to town, which ones are over-hyped and which ones are legit? Dancehall godfather Sugar Minott belongs to the second category. Since 1969, Minott has played a role establishing the blueprint of the dancehall sound, cutting a set of seminal singles that hold up to this day. His hitmaking days may be behind him, but he carries on as an elder statesman with considerable authority and continues the legacy on this tour by bringing daughter Fire Pashon along for the ride. Moe's Alley; $18 adv/$20 door; 9pm. (PMD)

Sunday | 7/11

IMAAD WASIF

Finding work has never been a problem for Imaad Wasif. The Canadian-born, California-raised guitarist has strummed strings for bands ranging from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Alaska! to New Folk Implosion and Lowercase. It's in the spotlight, not on the sidelines, however, that Wasif has always longed to be. And through three very different solo albums he's tried to make his name as more than an ax man for hire. On his latest disc, The Voidist, Wasif delivers his best work to date: a passionately worded, musically textured and ambitiously epic folk rock record that has the indie world abuzz. Brookdale Lodge; call for tickets; 8pm. (CC)

DIBLO DIBALA

Known as "Machine Gun" for his instrumental skills, or simply "The King of Soukous," Congolese guitar master Diblo Dibala is a world-renowned star of the African music scene. Soukous, a type of popular dance music combining Caribbean rumba, African traditional and American country music, first appeared in Diblo's home country of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) around mid-century and has since become popular throughout Africa and the rest of the world. Diblo has done much to further the style, from his legendary recordings with Kanda Bongo Man in the '80s to the present day. He has made a few innovations, such as adding distortion and jazzy elements to the music, and continues to take a distinctively hot, fiery approach to soukous. Moe's Alley; $10 adv/$15 door; 8:30pm. (Sean Conwell)

Monday | 7/12

PLENA LIBRE

Founded in 1994 by virtuoso bassist Gary Nuñez, Plena Libre can be credited with rescuing Puerto Rico's folkloric plena style from the dustbin of musical history. With roots in Spanish and African music, plena has often been described as the "sung newspaper" of the lower classes, an important piece of cultural heritage that Plena Libre has been able to popularize once again by adding modern dance beats, as well as a medley of other Latin American genres like bomba, salsa, merengue, bossa nova and cumbia. This band's percussion-infused sound has made its members the world-famous musical ambassadors of Puerto Rico. Kuumbwa; $22 adv/ $25 door; 7pm. (SC)

Tuesday | 7/13

MARY GAUTHIER

With a Southern twang that hints at her Louisiana childhood, folk songstress Mary Gauthier cracks open the mysterious path of a soul seeking truth in every song that she writes. She began recording 12 years ago at the age of 35 and has released six albums since. Her latest record, The Foundling, confronts her recent search for her birth mother. Born the same month Bob Dylan released his first album (March 1962), Gauthier's stark honesty and storytelling capacity carry an uncanny resemblance to the great "truth teller" she found salvation in growing up. Don Quixote's; $18/adv, $20/door, 7:30pm. (Maria Grusauskas)

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