Concert Previews

A true multi-hyphenate, Philly singer-songwriter Andrew Lipke meticulously produced and mixed his second album,

Motherpearl & Dynamite,

an atmospheric affair anchored by his high-arcing voice and filled out by his band, the Prospects. It's rich and moody, with cello, pedal steel, dobro, and a chorus of backing vocals sneaking into songs ranging from weighty rockers to plaintive weepers. The South African-born musician wears his influences on his sleeve, with a loving version of Neil Young's "After the Goldrush," and he plays sideman in the Led Zeppelin tribute band Get the Led Out, but

Motherpearl

and last year's

The Way Home. . .

- both released on Drexel University's nationally distributed Mad Dragon label - are more original than derivative.

- Doug Wallen

David Byrne has been working with Brian Eno for three decades, starting with Eno's work on Talking Heads'

More Songs About Buildings and Food

, and he is commemorating their collaborations with "The Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno," sans Eno himself. The first Eno/Byrne album, 1981's

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

, is historically important and artistically inspired. Eno was producing Talking Heads' seminal

Remain in Light

at the time, and

Bush of Ghosts

was its weird doppelganger, full of found voices and extended grooves riding African percussion. The new

Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

is a different, more modest animal: Eno recorded some compact instrumental tracks and sent them to Byrne, who wrote lyrics and melodies. These are catchy, tightly structured songs - two conceptualists' version of pop - and they're often delightfully lighthearted and self-reflexive.

- Steve Klinge

Since recovering from a near-fatal bout with hepatitis C, Alejandro Escovedo has been an even more potent creative force than he was before. And that's saying a lot. The Austin-based singer and songwriter has followed 2006's excellent

The Boxing Mirror

with

Real Animal

, easily one of the year's best albums. With songs that look back over his varied musical life, going back to his punk-rock days of the '70s, it's a wise, furiously focused and deeply felt set delivered with Escovedo's distinctive brand of elegant yet primal chamber-rock. For this show, he will perform in a trio setting, rather than with his big band, but expect no less intensity.

- Nick Cristiano

Some critics say Cassandra Wilson hasn't maintained the ferocity and inventiveness of her recordings from her M-Base career start in the '80s and her

Blue Light 'Til Dawn

album in the '90s. Those critics are wrong. Her last album of mostly original material, 2006's

Thunderbird,

rocked. Her standards albums like

Blue Skies

and her Miles Davis tribute,

Traveling Miles,

were sublime. And Wilson's new covers album,

Loverly

, allows her sultry, depth-diving contralto a Delta-heavy blues air even when the tunes are at their gentlest or jumpiest.

Also not to be missed are guitarist Brian Blade and Philly chanteuse Keisha Hutchins.

- A.D. Amorosi