By Shane Harrison
Live music picks
Hootie frontman brings his twang to Wild Bill’s
Thursday, September 25, 2008
THURSDAY, SEPT. 25
Darius Rucker
Gone country: It was bound to happen. Think back to those Hootie and the Blowfish hits of the mid-’90s. They wouldn’t seem at all out of place on current mainstream country radio. Hootie frontman Rucker’s latest album ups the twang factor just to make sure. It’s working. He has a current Top 5 country hit with “Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It.”
Autumn de Wilde/Special
Jenny Lewis of the band Rilo Kiley will play solo at the Variety Playhouse Tuesday.
• The 411: 8:30 p.m.$15-$100. Wild Bill’s, 2075 Market St., Duluth. 678-473-1000, www.wildbillsatlanta.com.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 27
Five Eight, Young Antiques, Warm in the Wake
Local times three: The Young Antiques — Blake Rainey, Blake Parris and Kevin Charney — return with “Soundtrack to Tear Us Apart” on Sept. 27, and the Atlanta trio will be playing some of the new tunes on release day at the Star Bar. The ‘tiques have been an on-again, off-again proposition. The Blakes are childhood friends who grew up near the Alabama border in Cedartown and started the band around 1999-2000, but took a breather for a few years around the middle of this decade. These guys reside where punk meets pop, in a neighborhood that includes folks such as Husker Du, the Jam and the Replacements, adding a touch of literate Southern charm to the community. The band is joined by two more terrific local outfits, the fiery, long-serving Five Eight and Warm in the Wake, which gave us one of the best local releases of 2007 with “American Prehistoric.” WITW has a new digital-only EP called “Speak Plainly.”
• The 411: 9 p.m. $10. Star Bar, 437 Moreland Ave. N.E., Little Five Points. 404-681-9018, www.starbaratl.com.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 30
Jenny Lewis
A tad obsessed: I’ve been infatuated with Jenny Lewis since the first time I heard “Spectacular Views” from her band Rilo Kiley’s second album, “The Execution of All Things.” Her voice turns my knees to jelly. I’m still trying to decide how much I like her just-released second solo album, “Acid Tongue.” Every time I listen to it, that voice wraps me tighter in its spell, so you should probably take my recommendation with a grain of salt — or a listen to some snippets online. Like the Four Tops, I can’t help myself.
• The 411: 8 p.m.$20; $18 advance. Variety Playhouse, 1099 Euclid Ave. N.E., Little Five Points. 404-521-1786, www.variety-playhouse.com.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 1
Against Me, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Wanna rock? This will be a rockin’ good time. Against Me’s “Thrash Unreal” was one of the catchiest tales of a descent into drug addiction ever crafted, and the rest of the band’s “New Wave” album was pretty amazing, too. Ted Leo is one of the hardest-working men in indie rock, seemingly touring nonstop. He’s also a blistering live performer who tears into his guitar with a fervor that recalls Pete Townshend. With Future of the Left.
• The 411: 7 p.m. $18 advance. The Masquerade, 695 North Ave. N.E., Midtown. 404-577-8178, www.masq.com.
Maroon 5, Counting Crows
Wanna pop? The sweet pop-meets-R&B stylings of Maroon 5 brought the quintet a best new artist Grammy in 2005 and six Top 40 hits. The band’s second album, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long,” hasn’t been a hit factory like the band’s debut, “Songs About Jane,” but it still debuted atop the Billboard album chart. Counting Crows has made some undeniably catchy and classic records over the past 15 years, but the 1993 debut, “August and Everything After, ” is still the band’s high-water mark.
• The 411: 7 p.m. $62-$150; $29.50 lawn; $89 four-pack lawn. Lakewood Amphitheatre, 2002 Lakewood Way, Atlanta. 404-443-5090, www.livenation.com.
