Philly music this week with Kelsea Ballerini, Greensky Bluegrass, Shemekia Copeland and some sad Beyoncé tour news
Sharon Van Etten, Tim Heidecker, and Orrin Evans are in town, and it's a busy weekend in Atlantic City.
This week in Philly music features a mix of genres, from country-pop and blues to bluegrass and R&B. Kelsea Ballerini, the Voice alum and Tennessee-born singer-songwriter, headlines her first arena tour in South Philadelphia.
Additionally, a blues artist takes the stage in West Philly, a bluegrass band known for its prog-rock and Grateful Dead covers performs in Fishtown, and a guitar legend is in town.
Also on the lineup: two Indian playback singers, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame R&B band in Atlantic City, and a big band performing video game music in Center City.
Ballerini, a country radio hitmaker since the mid-2010s, has steadily risen in popularity, expanding her audience through crossover collaborations with the Chainsmokers and Halsey.
Her new album, Patterns, continues that pattern with “Cowboys Cry Too,” a duet with sensitive folk-pop star Noah Kahan. And yes, that is Ballerini with John Legend, Michael Bublé, and Adam Levine in the promos for the new season of The Voice. She plays Wells Fargo Center on Monday.
Greensky Bluegrass, from Kalamazoo, Mich., aptly drops prog and jam-band songs into its sets. These include Pink Floyd’s “Time” and the Dead’s “Jack Straw.” The group’s most recent album is 2022′s Stress Dreams. Nashville indie band Moon Taxi opens for its show at the Fillmore on Thursday.
Jazz percussionist Khalil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble wraps up a two-night stand at Solar Myth, also on Thursday.
Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory celebrates both the release of its new self-titled album and the 20th anniversary of WXPN’s Free at Noon concert series at World Cafe Live on Friday.
Shemekia Copeland lost out to Taj Mahal and Ruthie Foster at the Grammys in two blues categories on Sunday. There’s no shame in that. The daughter of guitarist Johnny Copeland has been one of the leading vocalists in the genre for over a quarter-century now, and the formidable Blame It On Eve is one of her best. She’s at the Zellerbach Theatre on Friday.
Allentown-raised Tim Heidecker is a funny guy who made his name on Cartoon Network’s Tim & Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! with fellow Temple grad Eric Wareheim. But though Heidecker’s music on albums like the new Slipping Away is playful, it isn’t jokey. In fact, it’s surprisingly earnest country rock that bears the influence of Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead. DJ Douggpound opens for him at Union Transfer on Friday.
Philly punk band Wax Jaw is shooting a video at Ortlieb’s in Northern Liberties on Friday. You could be famous: “Star in A Wax Jaw Video. Dance Your Ass Off,” is how the flier advertising the show puts it. DJ Ptferris96 is the after party entertainment.
The 8 Bit Big Band is a very large ensemble — sometimes including over 30 members — that specializes in swinging arrangements of songs you know and might love from the history of video games. The band won a best a cappella arrangement Grammy in 2022 for “Meta Knight’s Revenge” from Kirby Super Star. I have no idea how all the band members are going to fit on stage for two shows at the City Winery on Friday.
Saturday night is busy in Atlantic City. Billy F. Gibbons, the bearded wonder who fronts ZZ Top, plays an intimate show at the Music Box at the Borgata. Kool & the Gang is at Ovation Hall at Ocean Resort.
And Kumar Sanu and Sadhana Sargam, the Indian playback singers whose vocals are featured in hundreds of Bollywood movies, headline the Etess Arena at the Hard Rock Hotel.
Phantogram — the veteran genre-splicing indie band duo of Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter — is playing the Fillmore on Saturday, touring behind its first album in four years, Memory of a Day.
Hard-touring Saharan music psychedelic Tuareg blues-rock band Mdou Moctar is on the road playing an acoustic version of its 2024 album Funeral For Justice. The band plays the Arden Gild Hall on Monday before circling back to the First Unitarian Church on Feb. 20.
TikTok music star and social-media personality Nessa Barrett plays the Met Philly on Tuesday. Teddy Thompson, the British folk musician who is particularly good at interpreting classic American country songs as well as a substance songwriter in his own right, plays the Sellersville Theater on Wednesday, with Philly band John Train as a duo, opening.
And Orrin Evans, the Philly pianist who was nominated for a large jazz ensemble Grammy for Walk A Mile In My Shoe with the Captain Black Big Band, is back in town hosting his jazz jam upstairs at the World Cafe Live on Wednesday.
Two pop music items of note: Don’t get too depressed about this, Philadelphia, but it is now clear that Beyoncé is not coming here on her “Cowboy Carter Chitlin Circuit Tour.” Not on the first go-round, anyway.
Dates for the tour have been announced and will kick off with four shows in Los Angeles starting April 28. The East Coast dates are four shows at MetLife Stadium starting May 22 and two at Northwest Stadium outside Washington on July 4 and 7. Pre-sales for those shows begin Feb. 13 at noon with sign-ups at ticketmaster.com/beyonce.
And in news about another pop star who like Beyoncé was a Grammy standout on Sunday: Sabrina Carpenter will release a deluxe version of her breakout album Short n’ Sweet on Valentine’s Day.
The set will include three new songs — “Busy Woman,” “Bad Reviews,” and the likely double entendre “ Couldn’t Make It Any Harder.” But the newsworthy track is a remix: a new version of “Please Please Please” featuring Dolly Parton. Carpenter commented on Instagram: “And yes that does say featuring Miss Dolly Parton …. 💋💋💋she wouldn’t want me to swear but holy s— !!!!!”