A Philly music week headlined by legends Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, The Who, and Sheryl Crow
Plus, Eric Clapton’s first Philly show in 16 years, a King Britt-Tyshawn Sorey collab, and Uncle Charlie’s R&B Cookout
Philly music this week is loaded with legends, with a list of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers that includes Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, The Who, and Eric Clapton. Plus, the reunion of a much-loved Philly band, no shortage of jazz, R&B, and indie rock options.
The Who never made it to the stage for its late August shows in Philly and Atlantic City, due to illness. Those dates have been quickly rebooked, with Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey’s “The Song Is Over” farewell tour now playing Xfinity Mobile Arena on Wednesday and Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall on Friday.
Brooklyn singer-rapper Yaya Bey continues a fruitful career on the R&B-jazz-hip-hop continuum with the buttery soul of her third album, Do It Afraid. Bathe and Chioke open her show at Underground Arts.
Superchunk, the Chapel Hill, N.C., band whose Mac McCaughan and Laura Balance founded the influential label Merge Records, has been making bracing, accelerating indie rock for 35 years now. They pull into Ardmore Music Hall on Wednesday night.
The next night, that Main Line venue hosts a Huffamouse reunion. The band, featuring singer-guitarists Craig Elkins and Kevin Hanson whose 1990s escapades included a gig at Woodstock 94, is back together for the first time since 2019. Dave Cope & the Sass opens.
The great alt-country songwriter Robbie Fulks — author of “The Scrapple Song” and also, on his new album Now Then, “Ocean City” — plays 118 North in Wayne.
That same night, Mondo Cozmo, the rock project of Philly songwriter Josh Ostrander, plays Johnny Brenda’s. Earlier this year, his career got a boost when “Shine,” from his 2017 album Plastic Soul, was featured in the season finale of Amazon Prime action series Reacher.
1980s “Sugar Walls” hitmaker Sheena Easton sings at the Levoy Theatre in Millville on Thursday. Janis Ian: Breaking Silence screens at Sellersville Theater on Thursday, with the “At 17” singer doing a Q&A with WXPN-FM DJ Dan Reed. That evening, 1960s Greenwich Village scene songwriter Eric Anderson plays the Fallser Club in East Falls, with Kenn Kweder.
On Friday, the Outlaw Music Festival, headlined as always by the miraculous now 92-year-old Willie Nelson, returns to the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden. Nelson just keeps on keepin’ on. Earlier this year, he released an album of Rodney Crowell covers. This fall he’ll follow that with a set of Merle Haggard songs.
This year, Nelson and his family band will be preceded by Bob Dylan, who enjoyed his dimly lit time on the Outlaw Tour so much last year, he came back for more. Sheryl Crow, formerly Philadelphian stellar songwriter Waxahatchee (the stage name of Katie Crutchfield), and country singer Madeline Edwards complete the bill.
Philadelphia bassist and bandleader Christian McBride has a new Big Band album out called Without Further Ado, Vol. 1, with guests including Samara Joy, Cecil McLorin Salvant, Diane Reeves and two Police men involved in a legal dispute in Sting and Andy Summers.
His Philly gig on Friday at City Winery Philadelphia, however, is with another of the versatile and very busy jazz man’s projects: It’s Christian McBride and Ursa Major, in which he works with a gifted group of young musicians, including sax player Nicole Glover, guitarist Ely Perlman, drummer Savannah Harris and pianist Mike King.
The Happy Fits, the North Jersey-born Philly pop-rock band with a cello, which is breaking out with its single “Cruel Power,” plays a Free at Noon at World Cafe Live on Friday before heading out on a European tour.
Pianist Luke Carlos O’Reilly plays Chris’ Jazz Cafe on Friday, with vocalist Raina Welch. Car Seat Headrest, the indie rock project of songwriter Will Toledo, is back after a five-year break due to health issues, at the Mann’s Skyline stage Friday.
King Britt, the Philly DJ-producer and Blacktronika historian, is now based in Southern California. He’s back in town for a performance with drummer, composer, and Pulitzer Prize winner Tyshawn Sorey at the Institute of Contemporary Art in West Philly on Saturday.
Eric Clapton hasn’t played in Philadelphia since 2009, when he teamed with Steve Winwood at the South Philly arena that was then known as the Wachovia Center.
The British guitarist alienated many fans with his anti-vaccine stance during the pandemic, and racist statements he made while drunk on stage in the 1970s have resurfaced in recent years. But the once-venerated guitarist can still pull in a crowd. His Xfinity Mobile Arena show on Saturday with the Wallflowers opening, is sold out.
Louisiana zydeco and Cajun band Pine Leaf Boys throws a dance party at the Holy Saviour Club in Norristown on Saturday, and North Jersey quartet, the Feelies, brings its hypnotic sound to World Cafe Live.
Two nights of dazzling guitar playing are on tap at Concerts under the Stars in King of Prussia this weekend. On Saturday, Nigerien six string wizard Mdou Moctar headlines, with equally virtuosic Yasmin Williams opening. On Sunday, Sacred Steel guitar hero Robert Randolph tops the bill, with Cordelia Blues in the leadoff slot.
Charlie Wilson, Babyface, El DeBarge, and K-Ci play Uncle Charlie’s R&B Cookout at the Mann Sunday. That same evening, Crescent City party-starter Trombone Shorty and his band Orleans Avenue are at Copeland Hall in Wilmington.
Franklin Music Hall has been busy with worthy bands of late. That continues with Wet Leg, the Isle of Wight duo of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, who scored with “Chaise Longue” in 2021. They are back with “Mangetout,” from the duo’s beefed up sophomore release Moisturizer.
The next night, two bands with fabulous front women play the Franklin. Bubble grunge inventors Garbage, featuring the fabulous Shirley Manson, are supported by Starcrawler, with Arrow de Wilde.