Big Town Playboy: 100 Years of Eddie Taylor

Antone’s, Friday 27

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Eddie Taylor, the man that made all the great Jimmy Reed records, all the John Lee Hooker records, and all the Eddie Taylor records," gushes the emcee. "Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest guitar player in the world."

As preserved on Still Not Ready for Eddie, recorded live at Antone's the year of its GOAT's demise on Christmas Day 1985, the club owner's not lying. Musketeered by three additional axe-grinders (Hubert Sumlin, Luther Tucker, Jimmy Rogers) and electrified by Snooky Pryor's harp and pianist Sunnyland Slim's pedigree (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter), Taylor burns. Nearly all band members belonging to the blues' postwar migration from Mississippi to Chicago, the Antone's Records release blisters open atop "Bad Boy," gets randy with "Knockin' at Your Door," and beams bright lights via "Bigtown Playboy," all three Taylor tunes matching covers of Muddy Waters and Elmore James.

Famously jamming with the talent, Clifford J. Antone returns from the beyond to promote this centennial. Six of Taylor and wife Vera Burns Hill's eight children became performers, so the five survivors reunite Friday to reignite, plus guest John Primer. "That was Eddie Taylor, big town playboy," concludes Austin's giddy host. Ghost notes courtesy of Antone and his esteemed heavenly comrade.  – Raoul Hernandez

Dry Cleaning, Nourished by Time

Mohawk, Friday 27

Florence Shaw's surreal lyricism and droll, charmingly English delivery fused with Tom Dowse's jagged, abstract guitar to make Dry Cleaning's New Long Leg one of the buzziest Pitchfork-approved debuts of 2021. For October's Stumpwork – spelled out in hair on a disgusting album cover – the South London post-punks reunited with exalted producer John Parish for an insular follow-up that slows where its predecessor raged, reveling in creeping bass and atmospheric effects pedals. Baltimore's Nourished by Time opens, delivering melodic rap and lush R&B with a similar penchant for hazy instrumentals.  – Carys Anderson

Trouble in the Streets

Empire Control Room, Friday 27

Friday's gig serves as a single launch for "Can I Breathe," and you can already imagine how the crowd will go off when Trouble in the Streets detonates that song onstage. A balance of tranquility and explosiveness, it begins with Nnedi Agbaroji plaintively repeating the titular question, then crescendos into a volcanic electro-rap section where she breathlessly rhymes over bass drops and intense synth stabs from multi-instrumentalist Andy Leonard. It's an in-your-face compliment to November's "Dreaming of Forever," a sprightly electronic pop song urging people to see past their differences and relate, and both lead into the electronic/hip-hop/R&B/rock trio's forthcoming debut LP on Spaceflight Records. Prime yourself with the sleek, fresh funk of Viben & the Submersibles, and bass music maestro Casual T.
 – Kevin Curtin

Tristan Arp, Nick McDonnough, SaliYah

Club Eternal, Saturday 28

For his November performance at Mexico City fest Mutek MX, capitalino Tristan Arp doused the place in polyrhythm. The native Detroiter, just as likely to throw down ambient computer melodies, sees himself as a gardener allowing light to shine on the sprouting generative patterns he carefully tends. One-time music schoolmate of Venezuelan omnibeing Arca, Arp asserts bass and drum with plucky patterns wild enough to satisfy both dancer and beat freak. Austin's Nick McDonnough pummels the decks as prologue, while SaliYah performs essential nighttime avant-pop.  – Christina Garcia

Terry Allen & the Panhandle Mystery Band

Paramount Theatre, Saturday 28

The yearly chance to check in on the elusive, storied Lubbock musician and his stacked Panhandle Mystery Band is upon us. Additionally, the show billing cryptically promises: "Mystery Guests once again LIGHT IT UP." Annually and into subsequent years, Allen assures a retrospective of his outlaw country freak catalog that stretches back from the Seventies to his latest 2020 release. The jaw-dropping show of musicianship will include the likes of pedal steel legend Lloyd Maines, Allen's son Bukka, and, of course, the man himself.  – Abby Johnston

Alexalone, Palm Sunday, Égaux Sells, Felt Out

Hotel Vegas, Sunday 29

Alex Peterson spent years touring with local indie exports Hovvdy and Lomelda while issuing their own heavy guitar music as Alexalone. 2021's ALEXALONEWORLD cemented the band's right to enter the flooded shoegaze canon, blending melodies and feedback to do right by its world-building name. Peterson's voice just barely peeks out from the band's wall of noise, an assured murmur that makes you lean in and listen. Not a full-on drone night, Vegas' lineup invites skeletal synth-pop, buzzy DIY, and ethereal folk from Felt Out, BluMoon singer-songwriter Égaux Sells, and Portland's Palm Sunday.  – Carys Anderson

Tim Berne & Nasheet Waits Duo

Draylen Mason Studio, Wednesday 1

One of the greatest saxophonists in improvisational music, Tim Berne has ventured to Austin several times under the invitation of the indispensable P.G. Moreno of Epistrophy Arts, most recently with the Fort Worth composers' tribute Broken Shadows. The New Yorker returns in a duo setting with first-call drummer Nasheet Waits, a veteran of bandleaders from Andrew Hill and Stanley Cowell to David Murray and Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride. The blend of Waits' swinging grooves with Berne's outsider sensibilities should provide plenty of fireworks that remain in the pocket.  – Michael Toland

Sir Woman, Moody Bank$, Lunar Rae

Continental Club, Thursday 2

After a fall cross-country tour, Austin soul-gospel-funk septet Sir Woman revives their shimmering "Party City" via a Continental Club residency. Born from singer Kelsey Wilson's pursuit of pop and R&B inklings, the singer bears boundless vocals, grace, and groove in her waltz through the moody jaunt of 2020's Bitch EP and the chipper grandiosity of 2022's self-titled album. Scored by fluttering progressions, Sir Woman celebrates pure love beneath glittery, complex soundscapes. Fellow locals Moody Bank$ and Lunar Rae kick off the second installment of this four-week soiree.  – Kriss Conklin

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Music Notes

by Derek Udensi

Ginuwine

ACL Live at Moody Theater, Friday 27

Washington, D.C.-born R&B singer, best known for 1996 single "Pony," makes up for postponement of this show's original November 2022 date.

Christian Wiggs Big Band ft. Chad Lefkowitz-Brown

The 04 Center, Wednesday 1

Local bandleader Wiggs teams with the New York-based saxophonist to tribute Stevie Wonder.

Aux Cutter

Feels So Good, Thursday 2

The omnipresent sight of host/performer Ben Buck in the weekly club listings, at a variety of venues around town, continues as Aux Cutter, the emcee's trio with Nate Thee Great and Shadowboxin, headlines a FSG lineup. Fellow Austin hip-hop standouts Chucky Blk and Kydd Jones support.