Fingerpicked guitar fed through a loop pedal to produce a one-man bluegrass band.

Modal and hard bop jazz saxophonist who follows closely in Coltrane’s giant footsteps and is best known for his 1970s stints with legends like Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, and Buddy Rich, and Elvin Jones.

Progressive acoustic bluegrass jamband

Funky rock from the jamband fave and undisputed champion of the “sacred steel” tradition which uses the pedal steel guitar in gospel worship.

Retro 1960s psychedelic pop. Head And The Heart opens.

Aggressive revolving-door dual-drummer Southern sludge metal outfit; recommended for fans of Mastodon and Baroness. Rosetta and Fight Amp open.

The local folk duo leads the charge at this fundraiser for Appalachian Voices, a non-profit organization which promotes sustainable coal mining operations. Also featuring Dewi Sant and Matrimony.

The Honey Dewdrops - Nowhere To Stand
The Honey Dewdrops - Fly Away Free

Dream-pop and garage rock. With Hot Lava and Left & Right.

White Laces - Motorik Twilight
Hot Lava - Apple+Option+Fire

Yeah, yeah, Jolie Holland, folk-rock songwriter who splits the difference between California freak-folk and Texas Americana and was a founding member of the Be Good Tanyas. But the real draw here is Kyp Malone, the TV On The Radio guitarist who split off for the Rain Machine solo project, playing all the instruments himself on a killer set of songs which prove him a much more potent creative force than you’d have guessed based on the output from his other band.

Jolie Holland - Back Hand Blues
Jolie Holland - Black Stars
Jolie Holland - Crazy Dreams
Jolie Holland - I Wanna Die
Jolie Holland - Old Fashion Morphine
Jolie Holland - Springtime Can Kill You

Local folk rocker Chris Campanelli and the Dusty Jackets open.

Paul Curreri - Once Upon A Rooftop
Paul Curreri - California
Paul Curreri - Long Gone Again

The folky Americana singer-songwriters, one of them a recent addition to the lineup of country-rock superstars-in-the-making The Zac Brown Band, share the stage and alternate songs with improvised set lists. Holly Allen opens.

Lo-fi indie rock inspired by Guided By Voices. The Hilarious Posters open.

The Hilarious Posters - The Fists The Fighting
The Hilarious Posters - Crossed Over The Ocean
The Hilarious Posters - That Thing You Don’t
The Hilarious Posters - Sugarbread Falls

Americana-rock. With Ocean Versus Daughter and Jenny and the Holzers.

Pantherburn - The Octopus
Pantherburn - Mister Baby [demo]

Prodigious young folk-pop singer-songwriter in the vein of Emmylou Harris and Alison Krauss.

Sahara Smith - The Real Thing
Sahara Smith - Are You Lonely

Folk-rock. Bobby Bare Jr. opens with country-rock with an occasional absurdist edge.

Ted Pitney and Megan Huddleston’s Americana band join the raucous bluegrass-rockers for a powerhouse local folk-rock lineup.

6 Day Bender - Kick Out The Fire
6 Day Bender - Devil Lets You Dance
6 Day Bender - Factory Man

Lo-fi bedroom freak-folk songwriter

Timid heart-on-sleeve folk-pop songwriter who owes his career to Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs trying out a new alt-rock edge with his latest album. Anya Marina and Andrew Allen open, the former notably with a breathy sexpot cover of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.”

Twin teen pop-rock singers in the vein of Pink and Train.

Nalani and Sarina - Letting You Go
Nalani and Sarina - Hey! (I’m OK)

Twin teen pop-rock singers in the vein of Pink and Train.

Nalani and Sarina - Letting You Go
Nalani and Sarina - Hey! (I’m OK)

Electronic jam rock

Folk singer.

Award-winning local folk rock songwriter.

Galen Curry - Oh Mama
Galen Curry - I Tore Down A Mountain

Reggae-rock. Richmond ska punks Murphy’s Kids open.

Award-winning local folk rock songwriter. Gunchux and Ryan Thompson open.

Galen Curry - Oh Mama
Galen Curry - I Tore Down A Mountain

Very 2000’s indie rock with beefy guitars as concocted by four very 1990’s former alt-rockers, most notably including Drive Like Jehu frontman Rick Froberg. Gentleman Jesse and His Men open by splitting the difference between punk rock and 1970’s power-pop.

Post-rock and shoegaze guitar tones over poppier skeletons, like Explosions In The Sky with a sense of purpose.

Indie pop with occasional experimental electronic touches.

Loud and heavy local keyboard rockers. With Gila Monster and Rugby.

The reliable roots-rock standbys say goodbye to their Miller’s residency with one final show before their big upcoming tour.

The Rogan Brothers - Into The Light
The Rogan Brothers - Heartbeat
The Rogan Brothers - Hang Tough

Jazz and world beat

Robert Jospé and Inner Rhythm - Blue Blaze
Robert Jospé and Inner Rhythm - Blue Rumba
Robert Jospé and Inner Rhythm with Heather Maxwell - Malado

The most famous space-gypsy guitarist of all time gets a local memorial of sorts with this tribute show, featuring covers and reverence alike from blues guitarist Eli Cook, Andy Waldeck’s improvised funk mob XPS, The Chickenhead Blues Band, and more.

Everything old is new again, or something — ring in the new year by partying like it’s 1989 with a set by the recently revitalized elder statesmen of C-ville’s 1980’s college-rock circuit. Similarly old-school blues-rockers The Nighthawks open.

Led Zeppelin tribute band

Acclaimed young violinist. With piano accompaniment by Robert Kulek.

Classical string quartet performs Haydn, Beethoven, and a piece by the Austrian composer they are named for.

Classical string quartet and woodwind ensemble join forces for a Bach fugue

Sick of spending your holidays with Trans-Siberian Orchestra yet? Give Trans-Continental Hustle a shot instead — that’s the latest album from raging “gypsy-punk” rockers Gogol Bordello, whose wild shows are soundtracked by the unlikely combination of distorted guitars and greasy accordion parts. Bizarro-rockers Man Man open.

Christmas show by the local country rock brother band featuring guests like guitarist Nick Cordle, Travis Elliott, and the titular Papa Bill. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a soup kitchen and canned food donations will also be accepted at the door.

Sons Of Bill - Broken Bottles
Sons Of Bill - Joey’s Arm
Sons Of Bill - Rock And Roll

The Hill And Wood - I Can Say What You Want

Electronic rock. With Jimkata.

Jazzy funk

Basshound - Till I Hit The Ground
Basshound - Ranura Bastarda [live]
Space Cadet 7 - Killer Octopus

Jazz pianist

Folk songwriter with ties to jamband heroes Tea Leaf Green. With Carl Anderson and Tara Mills.

Carolina power-pop trio in the vein of Superchunk and heavily influenced by mid-90’s alternative. With Lights East and local stargazing rockers Astronomers.

Hammer No More The Fingers - Shutterbug

Singer-songwriter

Eric Reitz - Lunar Lonely
Eric Reitz - Dublin
Eric Reitz - Cumberland
Eric Reitz - Carolina
Eric Reitz - Breaking
Eric Reitz - 12 South

As in years past, the coffee shop’s annual Christmas concert blowout is a compelling reason to make the drive out to Lovingston. Your big draws here include folk singer-songwriter duo Gene and Gala Mills, guitarist Thomas Gunn, alt-rocker turned sensitive songwriter Andy Waldeck, psychedelic Americana rockers Junior Moment, Delta bluesman and slide guitar fiend Eli Cook, up-and-coming songstress Sally Rose Monnes.

Gene and Gayla Mills - Ghost Town
Gene and Gayla Mills - Fool’s Gold
Gene and Gayla Mills - Waiting For Rain
Eli Cook - Static In The Blood
Thomas Gunn - Conversations With A Wishing Well
Thomas Gunn - Ma Jolie
Andy Waldeck - Those Days Are Gone
Andy Waldeck - Ordinary Men
Andy Waldeck - Diggin Me
Andy Waldeck - Healing
Junior Moment - Mirror
Junior Moment - Point Of View
Junior Moment - Number 11

Funk and R&B. With Neptune and the Never Rockets.

Local rockers

Folk-rock singer-songwriter and fingerstyle guitarist.

Curtis Prince - Miles And Years
Curtis Prince - Silhouette
Curtis Prince - Beneath The Moon
Curtis Prince - Little Whistler
Curtis Prince - Pushin Up Daisies
Curtis Prince - Move On

Jamband. Also featuring The Grey Matter.

The Heavy Pets - Drenched
The Heavy Pets - Girl You Make Me Stupid

The Grey Matter - Pumpkin
The Grey Matter - Laughing Bones
The Grey Matter - Stagger Lee

Taiwanese surf and garage-rock. Also featuring Sweatheart.

Fellini’s #9’s favorite junkyard rockers help the reincarnated watering hole celebrate its sixth anniversary.

Holst, Mozart, Bach, and more

Blues and gospel-influenced garage rock duo.

Folky Americana duo whose songs tend to be about major historical events filtered through a lens of anarchist politics.

Seemingly confused about the meaning of “holiday,” local alt-country songwriter Sarah White curates the usual annual yuletide folk fiesta, her own entry being The (All New) Acorn Sisters, her old-school classic country duo with singer Sian Richards. Also: Jim Waive, Paul Curreri, and Old Calf. Some of the proceeds will benefit Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, and donations of canned food are also encouraged.

Jim Waive and the Young Divorcees - Strike A Match
Paul Curreri - Once Upon A Rooftop
Paul Curreri - California
Paul Curreri - Long Gone Again

Folk-rock and Americana

Junk-drawer folk rock duo

Americana-rock from an alum of the Hackensaw Boys and Old Crow Medicine Show. With Mister Baby and Marionette.

Pantherburn - The Octopus
Pantherburn - Mister Baby [demo]

Hip hop. With Les La Britanica.

Globe-trotting originals alongside key Brazilian and Afro-Cuban covers performed on guitar, violin, and percussion.

Traditional Irish flautist

Local pop-rock outfit. Nick Coward and the Last Battle deliver some folk ditties to start you off.

We Are Star Children - City Saints
Straight Punch To The Crotch - Robot Baby
Straight Punch To The Crotch - When Animals Attack
Straight Punch To The Crotch - Summer Sun and Firecrackers

Americana

Thank heavens for this show, else we’d probably have to recommend you spend the holiday weekend with your families or something. But no, The Extraordinaires deliver with an acoustic set; though note that this probably means they’ll have a new tour-only EP that comes packaged inside a frozen Butterball — good luck fishing that out. Still, the main attraction here is probably the exceedingly rare reunion of Truman Sparks, once dubbed Virginia’s best unsigned band by an especially far-reaching survey conducted by the Boston Phoenix. There’s been lots of rumbling about Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand project these days, and if you’re a fan then you’d do well to also check out the delightfully screwball bizarro-rock that directly preceded it. Also featuring Northern Diver.

The Extraordinaires - 2012 Overture [unmastered]
The Extraordinaires - Eloise [unmastered]
The Extraordinaires - Terzetto [unmastered]
The Extraordinaires - Hi-Five The Cactus
The Extraordinaires - Neighborhood Watch
The Extraordinaires - The Captain
The Extraordinaires - A Proud Salute
The Extraordinaires - The Chicken, the Egg, or the Song?
The Extraordinaires - The Confession Of Kyle Griever

Folk-rock and alt-country. Local support from Hunter Smith and Ted Pitney.

Alternately ambient and electric loop-and-pedal driven solo project from the former guitarist for Ecstatic Sunshine; Infinite Love, his Thrill Jockey debut, was a vinyl-only double album based on a mushroom trip in which both LPs started and ended the same way but traversed different ground in between. Vibraphone-and-Rhodes pop duo Avocado Happy Hour sound delicious, too. Also featuring Holy Ghost.

Theatrically-minded new indie-pop trio formed by Nate Ruess of now-defunct one-time Nettwerk sorta-stars The Format with members of Anathallo and Steel Train; the latter also opens here.

The thinking man’s local rock fusion quintet. With The Bridge and The Hill and Wood.

Trees On Fire - Live Life
Trees On Fire - Rosa
Trees On Fire - In The Middle [via WXJM Live!]
The Hill And Wood - I Can Say What You Want

Heads up — the UVA Chapel is a really cool space which goes woefully underused for concerts, plus we’d have to get behind this one for economic reasons alone at one dollar per band. Those would be sequencer-heavy electronic songwriter Painted Face, pop with psychedelic guitar textures from Richmond duo Everybody Yay and the debut of Evenings, a dorm-room home recording indie electro-pop project from UVA student Nathan Broaddus.

Painted Face - Undreamt
Painted Face - Sum Of Me
Painted Face - Girls In Love
Painted Face - Favorite One

Wildly acclaimed brass-based funky jazz led by the titular young prodigy from Treme, New Orleans, focused as much on his trumpet and trombone melodies as his vocals and influenced by everyone from jamband funk rockers Galactic (saxophonist Ben Ellman produced their recent album Backatown) to Big Easy elder statesman pianist Allen Toussaint (he joins them for a cover of his tune “On The Way Down”).

Usually the far-too-hyphenated genres musicians cook up in order to describe themselves are infuriatingly silly, but on principle we alone we’ll probably have to co-sign Hands and Knees‘ self-description as “Fraggle rock,” whatever the hell that means — presumably indie-pop, mostly charming jangle with a touch of alt-country but occasionally turning into garage-rock bite? With White Laces and the Gary Canino Experience.

Well, here’s a curious one — a solo set from Wilco’s frontman, whose biggest news lately has been producing an album for soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples, but with the Autumn Defense folk-pop side project from Wilco bassist John Stirratt and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Sissone opening. Expect a bunch of tunes from both his previous bands (Stirratt was in Uncle Tupelo as well) and perhaps some hand-wringing about how this is just a few freaky Nels Cline solos away from actually being Wilco at the Paramount. Which would be incredible, but is never going to happen — better take what you can get.

The Autumn Defense - Back Of My Mind

When she goes off on her own, the onetime DMB opening act and lead guitarist in Ingrid Michaelson’s backing band plays a folk-rock singer-songwriter with rock and punk inclinations that might get her kicked outta the coffeehouse (and also ukuleles, xylophones, and a bluegrass cover of “Pour Some Sugar On Me”). Lelia Broussard and local youngster Genna Matthew open.

Bess Rogers - Favorite Day
Bess Rogers - What We Want

Things have slowed down considerably for these guys lately, but they’re still Virginia’s finest answer to the Indigo Girls/10,000 Maniacs corner of the folk world which aggressively courts rock listeners, a formidable acoustic quartet in which Charlottesville’s own Michael Clem contributes to the massive stacks of vocal harmonies towering over the jangly guitars. Ellis Paul opens.

Ellis Paul - Annalee
Ellis Paul - Eighteen

Acoustic guitar based folk-rock and 1930’s gypsy swing quartet with fiddle melodies and bouncing bass but no percussion.

Caravan Of Thieves - Rattlesnake

Skeedaddle is your headliner here in theory, 20’s and 30’s swing tunes using instruments that are acoustic, unusual, or both (ukulele, kazoo, washboard, etc), but be sure to show up early to catch a set of country and folk from openers The Don’t Tell Darlings, performing here as a duo.

The Don’t Tell Darlings - Single Girls

The Sound Studios hosts Gunchux head Rob Cheatham, local alt-country fave Sarah White, Adam Long of the Sometime Favorites, and acoustic singer-songwriter Pat Marrah for an “in the round” style shared performance which will be recorded and later broadcast on 106.1 The Corner.

Sarah White - Apple In B Major
Sarah White - Half A Smile
Sarah White - Ply Me
Sarah White - Sweetheart
Sarah White - Where You’re Going

Country

Christmas concert

Rock

Intricately fingerpicked one-man loop pedal bluegrass band