Rhode Island Delta-blues hero PAUL GEREMIA hits Johnny D’s on the 23rd. Then long, tall MARCIA BALL, as her fans know her, sashays into Harvard Square’s Regattabar (Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St) on the 24th and 25th, pounding out her distinctive take on Texas blues, Louisiana boogie, and primal rock. On the 26th at Scullers, guitar duo STRUNZ & FARAH play their high-wire blend of flamenco, classical, jazz, and Gypsy music, New Orleans piano man HENRY BUTLER plays Johnny D’s solo, and blues takes the stage again as legendary acoustic guitarist JOHN HAMMOND hits the Regattabar for a solo performance. He’s followed on the 27th at the R-bar with a tribute to samba pioneer Antonio Carlos Jobim featuring Jamaica Plain’s own SERGIO BRANDÃO & MANGA-ROSA.
Metallurgists will dig BATTERY — MASTERS OF METALLICA at the Middle East on the 26th. They toured with the real Metallica for the band’s Garage Days Revisited (Elektra) concerts; now ANGRY CHAIR, an Alice in Chains tribute, are touring with them.
Anglo-pop fans get a chance to see beloved Glaswegians CAMERA OBSCURA January 27 at the Paradise. Ameri-pop fans can hear BLEU, the EVERYDAY VISUALS, the SNOWLEOPARDS, and the NOVELS at T.T. the Bear’s Place (10 Brookline St, Cambridge) the same night. And finally on the 27th, BOB SEGER is playin’ that old time rock and roll at the T.D. Banknorth Garden (100 Legends Way), performing in Boston for the first time in 10 years in the wake of his new, tough Face the Promise (Capitol).
TV-addled rock freaks can get cheap — well, maybe not so-o-o cheap — thrills with reality-show band turned real show band ROCK STAR SUPERNOVA at Worcester’s DCU Center (50 Foster St) on January 28. BOB SEGER returns to play the DCU Center on the 30th. That same night, INCUBUS with the Strokes’ ALBERT HAMMONDJR. opening are at Avalon, and bluegrassers ANNALIVIA are at Johnny D’s.
The month’s hot prospects end on the 31st with versatile, edgy guitar master DAVE FIUCZYNSKI & KIF at Johnny D’s and a “Rock ’n’ Roll Mardi Gras” show with New Orleans’s COWBOY MOUTH and IVAN NEVILLE’S DUMPSTAPHUNK at the Middle East.
FEBRUARY
Sink your teeth into “Cherry Pie” one more time with the original members of hair-metal group WINGER at Harpers Ferry (158 Brighton Ave, Allston) on Groundhog Day, February 2. Or dig the vintage sounds of the SOUL BAND at Johnny D’s, BIG HEAD TODD & THE MONSTERS at Avalon, singer-songwriter JOHN RITTER at the Somerville Theatre, or acoustic-blues woman RORY BLOCK at Club Passim. The next night TOBY KEITH pulls his big-ass country caravan into Providence’s Dunkin’ Donuts Center (1 LaSalle Square), with opener Texas songbird MIRANDA LAMBERT.
Local garage-rock kingpins DOWNBEAT 5 christen a new CD with a show at T.T. the Bear’s on the 3rd that includes the PRIME MOVERS, CHEATER PINT, and the INTERCONTINENTALS; meanwhile Celtic singers JOANIE MADDEN and MARY COOGAN headline CHERISH THE LADIES at the Somerville Theatre. On the 5th it’s garage night again with the DWARVES at the Middle East. New Orleans jam freaks GALACTIC hit the Paradise on the 6th while stream-of-consciousness acoustic-guitarist/songwriter DAVID JACOBS STRAIN plays Johnny D’s.
