Read on for a full rundown of this week’s biggest shows, or check out Phoenix New Times’ online listings for even more live music around town.
Charley Crockett
Monday, December 12The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetThis Texas-born troubadour has the sort of backstory any country musician would die for, not to mention a badass pedigree. A distant relative of folk hero and frontiersman Davy Crockett, he cut his teeth busking on street corners in New Orleans and Dallas before hitchhiking and jumping freight trains across the country and working as a farm hand. All these experiences add authenticity to the singer, guitarist, and songwriter’s thoughtful tunes, which are in the country/blues/soul vein and offer a heaping helping of honky-tonk twang to go along with all the heartfelt emotion. Crockett has been quite prolific, releasing 11 studio albums since 2015, including this year’s The Man From Waco. Not even an open-heart surgery, which he underwent in 2019 to correct a congenital defect, could slow him down. He’s constantly on tour and is due at The Van Buren in downtown Phoenix this week for his latest Valley show. 8 p.m., $30-$45 via livenation.com. Benjamin Leatherman
Harry Connick Jr.
Monday, December 12, and Tuesday, December 13Mesa Arts Center, 1 East Main Street Folks have a certain sense about Harry Connick Jr. You may have seen him in dichotomous film roles like Copycat and Hope Floats. Perhaps all your holiday celebrations are marked with his When My Heart Finds Christmas. Or, you might have fallen in love with your significant other to his When Harry Met Sally... soundtrack. Over a 40-plus-year career — he dropped his debut LP at age 10 — Connick Jr. has released enough albums and films to create an indelible but multifaceted mark. This week, he brings his yuletide tour to Mesa Arts Center and will perform seasonal favorites like “Sleigh Ride” and “Silent Night,” cuts from his aforementioned holiday album, and such crowd-pleasing tunes as “It Had to Be You” and “The Way You Look Tonight.” 7:30 p.m., $50-$200 via mesaartscenter.com. Chris Coplan
Silversun Pickups
Tuesday, December 13Marquee Theatre, 730 North Mill Avenue, TempeIt’s cruel to say, but it’s true: when Silversun Pickups first started getting attention in 2006 with their single “Lazy Eye,” the easiest way to sum up their sound is I Can’t Believe It’s Not Smashing Pumpkins. Singer Brian Aubert's vocals sounded like a less harsh Billy Corgan, and the layers of distorted guitars on early albums Canvas and Swoon recall the dense tapestry of guitar overdubs on the Pumpkins’ classic LP Siamese Dream. To Silversun Pickups’ credit, they didn't stay in that lane for long: from 2012's Neck of the Woods onward, their albums have pushed into a more electronic sound, dropping the layer-cake guitar approach for something more low-key and distinctive. They finally sounded wholly themselves. Their latest album, Physical Thrills, finds them continuing to push their sound in new directions. For the first time, bassist Nikki Monninger takes on several lead vocals as a solo singer. Her warm voice adds an interesting new texture to the Silversun sound, which continues to explore a more subdued yet compelling psychedelic-electronic space. It’s great chillout music with a sense of mystery at its core. With Wilderado; 8 p.m., $34-$54 via ticketweb.com. Ashley Naftule
Exhumed
Tuesday, December 13The Underground, 105 West Main Street, MesaIf you’re unfamiliar with Northern California band Exhumed, it's safe to say you won't find a more lighthearted and fun-loving group of guys in the metal universe. Okay, lighthearted might be a stretch — considering their songs have much to do with death, killing, and dismemberment — but, as guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey told Phoenix New Times in 2014, “It's not like we actually do the things we sing about.” One thing that the deathgrind (a.k.a. death metal plus grindcore) act does do, though, is attempt to destroy the eardrums of the punks, metalheads, and other heathens who attend their shows. Exhumed has undergone a number of lineup changes since debuting in 1990 (Harvey is the sole original member), but their onslaught of thunderous guitars, intense percussion, and growling vocals is just as fierce as ever. They’re touring in support of their ninth full-length album To The Death and invade the Valley this week. With Vitriol, Escuela Grind, and Castrator; 7 p.m., $18 via seetickets.us. Tom Reardon
Rod Wave
Tuesday, December 13Desert Diamond Arena, 9400 West Maryland Avenue, GlendaleTrap soul might sound like a spell from a D&D session, but it’s actually a thriving sub-genre of hip-hop. A fusion of soul, trap, and R&B, it mines the dark, claustrophobic energy of trap music and injects it with an uplifting positivity. One of the movement’s biggest trailblazers is Florida rapper Rodarius Marcell Green, better known as Rod Wave. He rose to fame in 2019 after making an impression on TikTok with the heart-on-sleeve confessional "Heart On Ice,” which later became a hit. With a singing voice that’s dexterous and soft, Green’s able to spit a dizzying amount of syllables while sounding humble and remote. While he’s not a household name, his records have consistently hit the Billboard charts and he's landed an impressive roster of guest stars on tracks. Jack Harlow is featured on “Yungen,” his most recent singles, and Green’s also had two of his major inspirations guest on his albums: E-40 and Kevin Gates. Rapping over guitars and piano-heavy tracks, Wave is almost a classic singer-songwriter. Instead of singing out of Laurel Canyon, though, he’s pitching melodies from the trap. With Toosii and Mariah The Scientist; 8 p.m., $44.50-$144.50 via ticketmaster.com. Ashley Naftule
Allman Family Revival
Wednesday, December 14Celebrity Theatre, 440 North 32nd StreetDid you miss seeing the Allman Family Revival when it swung through town back in February? No need to feel like you’re tied to the whippin’ post, since the tour, which celebrates the music and legacy of the late Gregg Allman, is due back in the Valley this week. Like its previous iterations, it's a three-hour-plus jam session led by his son Devon Allman that features an all-star cast of rock, blues, country, and Americana musicians. This time around, it includes guitarists Donavan Frankenreiter and Larry McCray, bassist George Porter Jr., singers Maggie Rose and Jimmy Hall, drummer Alex Orbison, and country band The River Kittens. (Duane Betts, a longtime collaborator with Devon will also perform.) And while that tour’s playing a smaller venue than its last visit, it allows for a more intimate concertgoing experience while listening to veteran musicians jamming out such Allman Brothers favorites as “Blue Sky,” “No One Left to Run With,” and “Midnight Rider.” 8 p.m., $55-$121 via etix.com. Benjamin Leatherman
Soccer Mommy
Wednesday, December 14The Van Buren, 401 West Van Buren StreetSophia Regina Allison, a.k.a. Soccer Mommy, has opened for a lot of impressive acts: Wilco, Paramore, Kacey Musgraves, Vampire Weekend. These days, though, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter has been headlining her own shows (Canadian indie rock band TOPS opens on Allison’s current tour). Have a listen to singles from Soccer Mommy’s 2020 record Color Theory or this year’s Sometimes, Forever (both of which were universally adored by critics), and you’ll begin to hear why: Allison borrows from ’90s indie rock and other genres to create a sound distinctly her own. Better move fast if you want to attend her concert at The Van Buren this week, as the last two visits to the Valley wound up selling out. 8 p.m., $25 via livenation.com. Gannon Hanevold and Benjamin Leatherman
Squirrel Nut Zippers
Wednesday, December 14Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 East Mayo BoulevardThe Squirrel Nut Zippers may have risen to fame during the same late-‘90s swing revival that made Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy a thing, but the North Carolina-born band has always stood apart from their zoot suit-wearing brethren. The Zippers offer more than just a sonorous brass section, mixing dollops of gypsy jazz, klezmer, and delta blues into their eclectic sonic cocktail. (Their spirit animals are more Django Reinhardt and Tom Waits than Louis Prima.) Similar eclectic choices can be found in the band’s holiday offerings, as their 1998 album Christmas Caravan included such songs as “A Johnny Ace Christmas” (an ode to the ‘50 R&B singer who played Russian roulette during the yuletide and lost) and the lonesome country ditty “Gift of the Magi.” Both songs are featured on the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ current tour, which sees the band performing Christmas Caravan in its entirety along with tunes from their 2018 seven-inch “Mardi Gras for Christmas” and various hits. 7 and 9 p.m., $33.50-$49.50 via mim.org. Benjamin Leatherman
Senses Fail
Thursday, December 15Nile Theater, 105 West Main Street, MesaOne of the purest joys of social media is the public schadenfreude every time a notable scumbag or war criminal finally bites the dust. Few “rest in piss” posts pack as much bile or punch, though, as Senses Fail’s “Lush Rimbaugh,” a scabrous tirade against the late right-wing radio host. “When I heard you were dying, I have to admit that I felt a bit of sympathy,” singer Buddy Nielsen sneers. “But then you open your mouth and confirmed to me that you’re a piece of shit and I’m glad you’re suffering, you fuck.” Limbaugh died the same day as the song’s release. Talk about good timing. “Lush Rimbaugh” was the first single off the band's latest album, 2022's Hell Is In Your Head. The 11-track release finds the post-hardcore/metalcore group digging deep into the subject of grief; “Lush Rimbaugh” is one of its few moments of levity, where the prospect of death brings joy instead of sorrow. Nielson sings like an open wound, his lyrics alternately tender and sore. Backed by a melodic blitzkrieg of guitars and pounding rhythms, his songs possess the power to move you — whether that’s to tears or to moshing is up to you. With Oxymorrons and Can't Swim; 6:30 p.m., $24 via simpletix.com. Ashley Naftule
