This week in Philly music features newly formed supergroup Howl Owl Howl and indie rockers Geese at Union Transfer; Erykah Badu and Sting in Atlantic City; jam band Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and Lilith Fair founder Sarah McLachlan at the Met Philly; and Bill Murray & his Blood Brothers at Parx Casino.
Harmonizing folk-pop trio the Lone Bellow play Ardmore Music Hall on Wednesday. The band — featuring singer-guitarists Zach Williams, Kanene Donehey Pipkin, and Brian Elmquist — released its most recent album, Love Songs for Losers, in 2022. New Jersey singer Nicole Atkins, known for her swoony sound, opens the show.
Howl Owl Howl is the unexpected trio of Hootie & the Blowfish singer Darius Rucker, R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills, and longtime Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman, who also wrote the memoir Hard to Handle: The Life and Death of the Black Crowes.
There’s an album in the works, but so far they’ve only released one single, the promising “My Cologne.” The project repositions Rucker as a rock singer after he’s crossed over to country in recent years, and the set list will draw on all three band’s repertoires as well as new material. They play UT on Wednesday.
Philly “What We Do” rapper Freeway is doing a Son of the 215 album release party on Wednesday at World Cafe Live.
Getting Killed, the third album by celebrity.land-punk band Geese, follows the release of singer Cameron Winter’s 2024 solo album, Heavy Metal, into a satisfyingly arty and unpredictable direction. It’s going to be on all the critics’ year-end best-of lists. On Thursday, Geese play Union Transfer. Like-minded Irish songwriter Dove Ellis opens.
Pop craftsman of the first order Marshall Crenshaw plays Maryland’s Elkton Music Hall on Thursday and Bucks County’s Sellersville Theater on Saturday. James Mastro opens both shows.
Joe Russo is alive and well. The drummer’s group Almost Dead, featuring standout Philadelphia guitarist Tom Hamilton, mostly plays the music of the Grateful Dead. The band plays the Met Philly Friday.
Swedish songwriter Jens Lekman is both uncommonly earnest and uniquely quirky. The Gothenburg native’s new album, Songs for Other People’s Weddings, is a companion piece to a book of the same name that Lekman wrote with YA novelist David Levithan.
In past Philly appearances, Lekman has been joined by the Charlie Hall indie rock choral group the Silver Ages, so we’ll see if he has any special guests lined up for his Friday show at Underground Arts.
The “melon” in Josh Ritter’s new album, I Believe in You, Honeydew, is the Moscow, Idaho-born songwriter’s muse — “my invisible and blinding companion of long standing.”
Ritter will perform new songs and favorites from his extensive catalog in two shows Friday: a Free at Noon set at World Cafe Live and a full-band performance that night at the Keswick Theatre with the Royal City Band.
The Inquirer Food Fest, happening Saturday at the Fillmore with eats by El Chingon, Friday Saturday Sunday, Doro Bet, Fiorella, and many more, is also a music fest. Snacktime and Zinadelphia play live, and DJs Joshua Lang and DJ Sylo of BWC Sounds will spin all day.
The visionary Philadelphia musician born Edward Larry Gordon — better known as Laraaji — plays hammered dulcimer, electronic zither, kalimba, and synthesizers. On Saturday at the Church of St. Luke & the Epiphany in Center City, he’ll team with New York meditative composer Ana Roxanne for a night of ambient church music.
The band calling itself the Saints ’73–’78 includes two members — Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay —of the original 1970s Australian punk group carrying on the legacy of frontman Chris Bailey, who died in 2022. They will be joined at Union Transfer by Saints superfans Mark Arm of Mudhoney, Mick Harvey of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, and Peter Oxley of Sunnyboys in a labor of love.
With his 2022 memoir The Yin & Yang of It All and 2024 album The Long Game, John Faye remains a force in the Philadelphia rock scene. The Caulfields, the power-pop band he fronted in the 1990s, has (briefly) reunited in celebration of 1995’s album Whirligig. They’ll play what’s billed as their final show ever at the Queen in Wilmington on Saturday. Olivia Rubini opens.
Bill Murray’s classic rock cover band Blood Brothers is loaded with legitimate blues-rock firepower, with three ace guitarists in Mike Zito, Albert Castiglia, and Jimmy Vivino. They start a party at Parx Casino on Saturday.
Blue-eyed soul singer Boz Scaggs — known for hits like “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle” — recently released Detour, his first new album in seven years, which he describes as “a love letter to the Great American Songbook.” He makes a rare Philadelphia appearance Saturday at Marian Anderson Hall.
Mon Rovîa is Chattanooga, Tenn.-based folk musician Janjoy lowe. He takes his stage name from the capital of Liberia where he lived the first years of his life. His ukulele-centered Afro-Appalachian music connects West African and American roots styles. He plays Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday.
Sting was last seen in Philly sharing a stage with BBF Shaggy at their One Fine Day festival at the Mann Center in September. This weekend, the British rock star is back sans Shaggy with three-piece band Sting 3.0, with whom he’ll be doing Police songs and solo hits in two shows at the Borgata Event Center in Atlantic City on Friday and Saturday.
Action in A.C. continues on Sunday when Erykah Badu plays Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena. Her tour marks the 25th anniversary of her second album, Mama’s Gun, recorded with the Soulquarians, the group featuring James Poyser and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of The Roots, plus legendary producer J Dilla. It’s a high-water mark in Badu’s career.
The Bret Tobias Set’s summery power-pop still goes down easy with an autumn chill. The band, led by the former Bigger Lovers singer, plays the Kelly Center in Havertown on Saturday.with Faint Halos and Koser.
Ukrainian art-folk band DakhaBrakha — which describes its sound as “ethnic chaos,” blending traditional and forward-looking styles — plays the Zellerbach Theater in West Philadelphia on Sunday.
Sarah McLachlan has just released Better Broken, the Canadian songwriter’s first album in nine years. Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, the new documentary on Hulu, highlights her status as a feminist hero in a male-dominated music industry. She plays the Met Philly on Monday.
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