Pat Metheny brings his Unity Band to the Moody Theater tomorrow, Thursday. It’s the first time in 30 years the renowned jazz guitarist is touring with a saxophonist, this time Chris Potter. Metheny's notorious for never standing still and his most recent past is as radical as he’s ever been.

It's hardly news that jazz remains the redheaded stepchild of Austin's music scene. Talking to local trumpeter Jeff Lofton, one harbors hope that might change.

Something’s up this fall. There are too many new releases to keep track of, much less listen to. Due in the next month or so are new discs from Iris Dement – her first in 16 years – Tift Merritt, Wanda Jackson, Van Morrison, and a second 2012 disc from Neil Young & Crazy Horse. In the meantime, here’s a few new ones occupying my sound system.

If you got to Austin after 2003 and don’t have a taste for folk music, you probably don’t remember Caroline Herring. In 2001, her sparkling debut Twilight made her a local darling, and landed the singer-songwriter a Best New Artist plaque at the 2002 Austin Music Awards.

While preparing a review of the two new DVD/CD sets from the Band of Heathens, I discovered that the locals have experienced big changes since the beginning of the year.

How would you like to celebrate when you turn 70? If you’re Jorma Kaukonen, you book your band Hot Tuna into New York City’s famed Beacon Theater for two nights. He and Tuna partner Jack Casady, once Jefferson Airplane's jet engines, also invited some notable friends and guitar players and filmed the whole thing for posterity.

“I can’t think of any records recently that had to be listened to as a piece. Things just get more atomized with each passing day. Who’s got an hour to listen to an album anymore? I know I don’t.” That’s Los Lobos' Steve Berlin. The album as an art form may be mostly dead, but 20 years ago, the East L.A. band reached a creative peak with a record called Kiko.

Since her 2000 debut The Captain, Kasey Chambers and Austin music fans have enjoyed a passionate love affair. Safe to say the songbird is just as beloved here in Central Texas as she is back home in Australia. She returns to her favorite U.S. city Thursday night, taking the stage at the One World Theatre for two shows, 7 & 9:30pm.

If you haven’t seen the Mother Truckers around town lately, here’s the deal. After 12 years, bandleaders Teal Collins Zee and Josh Zee decided to take a break and do other things. He's now part of the South Austin Moonlighters. She's teamed up with relatively new-to-town singer-songwriter Barbara Nesbitt and formed the Whiskey Sisters.