Wednesday | 9/15

JESSE WINCHESTER

For four decades, singer/songwriter Jesse Winchester has lived the troubadour's life, epitomizing the old cliché about taking the road less traveled. Winchester may have never topped the charts—his biggest hit was the 1981 single "Say What," which hit No. 32 on the singles charts—but he accrued a following of notable fans, including Elvis Costello and Reba McEntire. Since returning to the States in 2002 from Canada, his principal roaming ground since the 1970s, he has embarked on a number of domestic tours and has been welcomed back as a seasoned elder statesman of the form. Kuumbwa; $25 adv/$29 door; 7:30pm. (Paul M. Davis)

Thursday | 9/16

LUBRIPHONIC

A name like Lubriphonic suggests something slippery, lubricated and probably a bit NSFW. The Chicago soul band lives up to the unsavory connotations of its name with elastic, rubbery funk and R&B that does Bootsy proud. Having earned their stripes backing up Chicago blues legends like Buddy Guy and Koko Taylor, the Lubriphonic boys have chops to spare. This is a rhythm-and-soul rave-up with its eye on the dance floor first and foremost, with just the right amount of grit to vouchsafe its credibility. Moe's Alley; $9 adv/$12 door; 8:30pm. (PMD)

Friday | 9/17

PILLARS & TONGUES

The term "experimental gospel" doesn't come up in a lot of bands' musical descriptions. But sure enough, there it is in Chicago trio Pillars & Tongues' bio. Like most labels, however, it falls well short of capturing the essence of what the group is all about. Using layers of harmonized vocals and accompanying them with little more than a violin or a double bass—if anything at all—Pillars & Tongues approaches Americana and gospel with a style that's both hauntingly simplistic and ambitiously complex. Crepe Place; $8; 9pm. (Curtis Cartier)

LANGHORNE SLIM

It may dishearten some Americana purists to learn that New York up-and-coming singer/songwriter Sean Scolnick, a.k.a. Langhorne Slim, is a classically trained guitarist with a fancy degree in music. Americana, after all, is poor man's music that derives a lot of its tradition from oral history, not glossy textbooks. That said, Slim's taken the polished songwriting skills he learned at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College and used them to push the traditional down-home sound toward a more fully realized and epically produced musical experience. Besides, the man writes some heart-wrenchingly solid lyrics, which the aforementioned purists should find more than makes up for his hoity-toity education. Brookdale Lodge; $21.25; 9pm. (CC)

Saturday | 9/18

RANDY JACOBS AND THE BONESHAKERS

Behind every famous musician is a great guitarist. And when that guitarist trades in the shadows for the spotlight, the world suddenly has a Randy Jacobs on its hands. At the ripe old age of 13, he was prowling Detroit streets with a guitar and a wheelbarrow to hold his amp. He's seen the back of many a star, from rapper Coolio to pop star Elton John. It's Jacobs' turn now, and he has his own band of stellar musicians in tow. The Boneshakers deliver a mighty funky R&B, hard as rocks and triumphant as Randy Jacobs' career. Moe's Alley; $17/$20; 9pm. (Kate Jacobson)

CASH'D OUT

Like a Folsom Prison guard looking down on the exercise yard, The Man in Black looms large over country & western and rock music. Indeed, Johnny Cash became a legend not just because of his music—that famed baritone easyspeak and freight train boom-bada guitar cadence—but also because of the mysterious and rebellious aura that emanated from his core. Nearly seven years to the day after Cash died in a Nashville hospital, Cash'd Out, "the next best thing to Johnny Cash," hits the stage at the Catalyst. The San Diego cover group, led by lookalike Douglas Benson, dresses the part in shirts and ties as it whips out convincingly gravel-throated renditions of Cash favorites. Catalyst; $12 adv/$15 door; 9pm. (CC)

Monday | 9/20

THE JIM JONES REVUE

The Jim Jones Revue is a throwback in the best way possible, taking the rare ore of old-school rock & roll and fashioning it into something modern and relevant. The band's sets are less like the somnambulist exercises that pass for contemporary rock shows and more like a righteous revival at the altar of debauchery and excess. Owing much to early boogie-woogie rock & roll and garage-rock saviors the MC5, the Jim Jones Revue delights in the sort of dirtbag riffage and paleolithic beat that will never be heard on an iPad commercial. Crepe Place; $10; 9pm. (PMD)

Wednesday | 9/22

LAURENCE JUBER

Laurence Juber's life changed when Paul McCartney picked him as the lead guitarist for Wings. After the band folded in the early '80s, Juber switched gears and launched into a solo career that gained him Grammys and number one rankings galore. He's a finger stylist, weaving together seamless solo melodies that sound like a group effort, giving his audience two or three for the price of one. His later albums are a breath of fresh air and instrumentals, the sound of an artist who has honed his skills into a classy, head-clearing blend. Don Quixotes; 7:30pm; $16 adv/ $18 door. (KJ)

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