Chatham County Line / Wednesday, August 4
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Samba gang Seu Jorge & Almaz.
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Is Chatham County Line a seasoned, flawless bluegrass band from North Carolina? Or are they a major-league baseball team? All evidence points to the latter, even though the real answer is the former. While in Washington, they'll play a de facto four-game series in three days, beginning with a Wednesday gig at the Tractor Tavern and culminating with a Friday gig at the Green Frog in Bellingham (their "getaway game" will be played at noon that day near the South Lake Union Discovery Center). Whereas Deadheads typically needed an operational VW bus to get from gig to gig, all Chatham County Line fans seem to require is a ten-speed. With the Black Lillies, Sam Quinn of the Everybodyfields. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599, 9 p.m., $8. (Also playing free, all-ages shows at St. Edward's Park in Kenmore at 6 p.m. Aug. 5 and at 2200 Westlake Ave. in South Lake Union at noon Aug. 6).MIKE SEELY
Langhorne Slim / Wednesday, August 4
A man moves to New York City under a pseudonym. A legend grows around his swirling bourbon, ever-present cigarette, and way with the ladies. He oozes the kind of magnetic charisma for which the phrase "charm your pants off" was invented. He's one debonair mystery and wears the hell out of a hat. You probably assume I'm referring to Mad Men's Don Draper. But the above also pertains to soulful folkster Langhorne Slim, whose live performances are so compelling, engaging, and infectious that they tend to overshadow his perfectly pleasing records. In a world where inverted indie rockers' social skills make Napoleon Dynamite seem Rico Suave, we should all have such problems. With Palmer Electric, Red Jacket Mine. Neumos, 925 E. Pike St., 709-9467. 8 p.m. $12. MA'CHELL DUMA LAVASSAR
Joanna Newsom / Wednesday, August 4 See An Incomplete History.
Bluegrass Concert / Thursday, August 5
Quite a lot of pseudo-roots-shtick music is being made right now that's been labeled "bluegrass" simply for lack of a better term. So sometimes it's nice to step outside the indie-intelligentsia-approved band box and check out artists who perform the traditional songs that spawned the best (Whiskeytown, Gillian Welch) and worst (the Avett Brothers) of the past decade's formidable roots revival. This Fremont Abbey show features artists who specialize in that old-timey stuff: Boston-based Della Mae, Seattle bluegrass band Loose Digits, and duo Cahalen Morrison and Eli West. You know, people used to grow bushy beards not out of irony, but because shaving with a strop and a straight razor was a pain in the ass. Do you even know what a strop is? I didn't think so. Fremont Abbey, 4272 Fremont Ave. N., 701-9270. All ages. 8 p.m. $10. SARA BRICKNER
Blunt Mechanic / Thursday, August 5See preview.
Paper Bird / Thursday, August 5
The banjo is a powerful, powerful thing. In the 21st century, those four or five strings aren't just limited to bluegrass yarns about the ol' Appalachians. Paper Bird has some of that (in this Colorado band's case, it's the Rockies), but When the River Took Flight, released July 27, is more a joyful, jaunty salmagundi of chiming indie folk, quippy ragtime rhythms, and warm vintage pop hymnals, sweetened by three female vocalists, a trombone, and, yes, that trusty banjo. With In Lake'ch, Dovekins, Shenandoah. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8000. 7 p.m. $8. MARY PAULINE DIAZ
The Animals at Night / Friday, August 6
Graig Markel, the musician and producer behind The Animals at Night, calls their sound "broken soul"—a blend of down-tempo, rock, and R&B that would fit nicely between Hot Chip and Head Like a Kite (whom Markel produced) on a mixtape. It's pretty great stuff, from a wildly creative and largely unheralded local talent. Members of Modest Mouse and the Long Winters contributed percussive and multi-instrumental prowess on last year's Cut to Chase Chorus and Fade, with sexy results. Check out their new jams at tonight's show, a CD release for The Quit's Stars Invisible by Day. Mal de Mer, with members formerly of the Divorce and Slender Means, open. Chop Suey, 1325 E. Madison St., 324-8005. 8 p.m. $10. RACHEL SHIMP
Elliott Brood / Friday, August 6
Toronto folk-rock hybrid Elliott Brood specializes in boot-thumping Frankensteins of country songs. The band's second full-length, 2008's Mountain Meadows, is constructed of plucked banjo and strummed ukulele, saloon piano, and horns, with a rock edge supplied by frontman Mark Sasso's hoarse howl. The band is currently working on its third full-length, and because Elliott Brood likes to road-test songs before recording them, it's likely that audiences will get to hear plenty of brand-new material. And while Mountain Meadows is a good reflection of the band's skill, Elliott Brood is one of those bands you just have to see live—and in an outdoor setting, it should be even better. KEXP Mural Concert Series, with Grand Hallway, Gabriel Mintz. Mural Amphitheater, Seattle Center, 684-7200. All ages. 5 p.m. Free. SARA BRICKNER
Head and the Heart / Friday, August 6 See Rocket Queen.
T-Model Ford / Friday, August 6
At nearly 90 years old (he thinks—his birth year could have been 1920 or 1921), veteran bluesman and ex-con T-Model Ford is a grizzled legend with plenty of aches and pains in his body and heart. Signed with eclectic indie label Fat Possum Records (also responsible for releasing early records by the Walkmen, Dinosaur Jr., and the Black Keys), the Mississippi native tours a remarkable amount for someone so advanced in years. Thanks to a serendipitous infusion of energy he got last year from local band GravelRoad (and a recently inserted pacemaker), he keeps trucking, with his markedly younger peers backing him up with a respectful, rock-steady rhythm section that is the perfect platform for his songs of dirty deeds, dirtier women, and the kind of deeply fermented wisdom that can only come from a hard life lived. With GravelRoad, Watch It Sparkle. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave. N.W., 789-3599. 9:30 p.m. $10. HANNAH LEVIN
