POP
Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music.
BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY (Monday) In the late 1990s, the unexpected success of the independent film “Swingers” facilitated an odd pop renaissance for the swing music of the 1930s and ’40s. Although the resurrection proved fleeting, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, along with Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and the Brian Setzer Orchestra, keeps on tooting — its members still bedecked in fedoras and sharp slacks and still inviting listeners to pop their elbows and kick their bobby-socked feet. At 8 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144, bbkingblues.com; $25 in advance, $30 at the door. (Amanda Petrusich)
CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN (Friday and Saturday) Yet another alternative-rock band to reunite in the new millennium (it temporarily disbanded in 1990), Camper Van Beethoven celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008. Its slinky, clever rock ’n’ roll has aged well. At 9 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; $25.
(Petrusich)
CHAE SOO JUNG/NOREUMMACHI ENSEMBLE (Sunday) The master singer Chae Soo Jung, from Korea, performs pansori, a form of Korean music in which a single vocalist (a sorrikkun) and a single drummer (a gosu) work together to tell ancient — often epic — stories. The Noreummachi Ensemble, also from Korea, combines voice and percussion to create what it refers to as “farmer’s music.” The show will be preceded, at 7 p.m., by a free guest lecture and demonstration by Ju-Yong Ha, a composer and an authority on Korean music. At 8 p.m., Asia Society and Museum, 725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street, (212) 517-2742, asiasociety.org; $20 for members, students and 65+, $25 for nonmembers. (Petrusich)
MARSHALL CRENSHAW (Sunday) Mr. Crenshaw’s songs seem to roll off the guitar in a casual blend of pre-1970s styles — folk-rock, surf-rock, country and above all the Beatles — that put melody first. With his winsome tenor, he delves into the ways love goes right and goes wrong, from distant yearning to the aftermath of infidelity, hiding turmoil within the chiming tunes. With Alex Cuba, Jim Bianco and Dengue Fever. At 8 p.m., Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th Street, Chelsea, (212) 414-5994, highlineballroom.com; $15 in advance, $17 at the door. (Jon Pareles)
TOMMY EMMANUEL/RICKY SCAGGS (Sunday) The Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel is a bit of an acoustic guitar prodigy, which means he gets fewer undergarments tossed onstage but more chin-stroking fans gazing lovingly at his hands. Ricky Scaggs is also a virtuoso of sorts, playing both traditional and neotraditional bluegrass. At 7:30 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144, bbkingblues.com; $30 in advance, $35 at the door.
(Petrusich)
★ GLOBALFEST (Sunday) Now in its sixth year, Globalfest — a co-production of the World Music Institute, Joe’s Pub and Acidophilus: Live and Active Cultures — is a showcase for emerging and established world music acts. The diversity of its roster speaks well to the eclecticism of that genre. This year’s incarnation, spread out over three stages, stars Calypso Rose, Chicha Libre, the Hot 8 Brass Band, Kailash Kher’s Kailasa, L&O, La Troba Kung-Fú, Márcio Local, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International, the Shanbehzadeh Ensemble, Tanya Tagaq and Watcha Clan. At 7 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212) 533-2111, bowerypresents.com; $40.
(Petrusich)
GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS (Friday and Saturday) This group from Wainfleet, Ontario — just across the border from Buffalo — offers tranquil washes of acoustic guitar, banjo and breathy harmonies that suggest a softer version of Crosby, Stills and Nash, minus the hooks. Friday at 8 p.m., the Bell House, 149 Seventh Street, Gowanus, Brooklyn, (718) 643-6510, thebellhouseny.com; $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Saturday at 11 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700, mercuryloungenyc.com; $13 in advance, $15 at the door. (Ben Sisario)
★ BETTYE LAVETTE (Sunday) One of the great what-ifs of soul music history, Ms. LaVette was on her way to a major career when an album that should have been her breakthrough was shelved in 1972. But over the last few years she’s had a brilliant renaissance, and the effects of time have made her luxurious, fleshy rasp an even more stirring instrument. With the blues singer and guitarist John Hammond. At 9 p.m., Blender Theater at Gramercy, 127 East 23rd Street, Manhattan, (212) 307-7171, irvingplaza.com; $32.50 to $37.50 in advance, $36 to $40 at the door. (Sisario)
PATTY LOVELESS (Thursday) Does a greater handle exist for a country singer? Patty Loveless’s surname isn’t her own, exactly (supposedly it was inspired by Terry Lovelace, her first husband), but she certainly commands the longing in her high, steady voice. In “Crazy Arms,” a cut from “Sleepless Nights” (Saguaro Road), her new album of classic country covers, she wails “You’re someone else’s love now, you’re not mine” over soft, yawning pedal steel. The sentiment might be tired (it’s been more than 50 years since Ray Price first recorded that song), but Ms. Loveless’s desperation is fresh and riveting. At 8:30 p.m., Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway and 60th Street, (212) 721-6500, lincolncenter.org; $35 to $75.
(Petrusich)
EDWIN MCCAIN TRIO (Saturday) Edwin McCain, from South Carolina, enjoyed a bit of chart success in 1998 with the schmaltzy ballad “I’ll Be” (“I’ll be better when I’m older, I’ll be the greatest fan of your life,” he howled), but his less commercial work is scruffier and more compelling. After all, Mr. McCain is a great American romantic, and even when his work veers toward sentimentality it still feels genuine. With Chris Barron. At 8 p.m., Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th Street, Chelsea, (212) 414-5994, highlineballroom.com; $25 in advance, $29 at the door. (Petrusich)
MOS DEF (Friday) Though Hollywood jobs take up most of his time these days, Mos Def, once the great socially conscious hope of New York hip-hop, has never walked away from his calling as a rapper. When he’s not feeling sluggish or preoccupied — or simply bored, as he says on his 2006 album, “True Magic” (Geffen) — he is a passionately literate and polemical performer. At 9 p.m., Highline Ballroom, 431 West 16th Street, Chelsea, (212) 414-5994, highlineballroom.com; $40 in advance $45 at the door.
(Sisario)
★ NIGHT AND DAY: ROB FISHER CELEBRATES COLE PORTER (Wednesday) The celebrated conductor and musical director Rob Fisher will host this homage to the inimitable Cole Porter, featuring appearances by the actors David Hyde Pierce (“Frasier,” “Curtains”) and Victoria Clark (“The Light in the Piazza”). This show opens the 2009 season of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series. At 8:30 p.m., Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Broadway and 60th Street, (212) 721-6500, lincolncenter.org; $45 and $65 mezzanine tickets remaining. (Petrusich)
TAKKA TAKKA (Saturday) Takka Takka dresses up its guitar-based indie rock with gurgling synths and disembodied vocals, recalling both the Velvet Underground (the frontman, Gabe Levine, has mastered Lou Reed’s impeccable disaffection) and, occasionally, its Brooklyn peers the National. At 9 p.m., BAMcafé, Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, (718) 636-4100, bam.org; no cover. (Petrusich)
★ THOSE DARLINS (Thursday) This young country trio from Murfreesboro, Tenn., is a tangle of bare legs, cowboy boots and Southern sass. In defiance of its moniker, the band is resolutely unladylike: “I got drunk and I ate a chicken/I ate a chicken I found in my kitchen/Not just a leg and not just a wing/I’d like to let you know that I ate the whole damn thing,” they yelp over acoustic guitar and mandolin. The band’s songs, which can be deliciously unserious, are as memorable as they are charming. Those Darlins are opening for Ida Maria, a Norwegian singer and songwriter who hollers smart, frank rock songs. At 7:30 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700, mercuryloungenyc.com; $10.
(Petrusich)
STEVE WINWOOD (Thursday) Mr. Winwood has enjoyed a profitable solo career since first breaking from the rock band Traffic in 1974, scoring a handful of maudlin radio hits (“Higher Love,” “Roll With It”) in the mid-1980s. While it’s notoriously difficult for former rock stars to mature with much dignity, Mr. Winwood’s once-silken pipes benefit from the scratch of age, and his late-career work proves scrappier and more engaging than his early singles. At 8 p.m., United Palace Theater, 4140 Broadway, at 175th Street, Washington Heights, (212) 307-7171, bowerypresents.com; $44 to $110. (Petrusich)