7 buzzworthy concerts coming to Charlotte in the next week

Like clockwork, the indie-rock throwback to Chapel Hill’s glory years – whose members manage to make time for a rock band around day jobs (doctor, minister, etc.) – celebrates the release of its latest album. The band is teaming with the original lineup of Leisure McCorkle, which also has a new album and is marking the 20th anniversary of its debut.

Western Carolina comes calling as these roots acts bring the Asheville Holiday Hang to town. With equal allegiances to traditional bluegrass, the Grateful Dead, and outlaw country, Town Mountain is a fast-rising favorite in the jam grass scene, while Platt shines on her band’s newest record with reflections on life, death and love that are sweeter and more heartbreaking than ever.

When it comes to progressive indie-rock, this trio of acts trades in unpredictable yet still-accessible tracks that bridge modern technology with earthly emotion and soul. The songs reflect the human condition while giving more-curious listeners something to latch onto and follow through on, musically far-flung from throwaway pop.

Another staple of the holiday season, this Western Carolina rock-grass veteran has been playing the Visulite around the holidays for more than a decade. With left-of-country songs built on farm life and rural pursuits and a creative blend of roots, bluegrass and rock, its sound remains a Carolina calling card.

The veteran Australian Christian-rock sextet – a precursor to genre-shaking Christian pop and rock acts of the ’90s and ’00s – makes its last tour stop in Concord before a brief break for the holidays; then it’s on to 2018’s United Tour, which will cover its three decades of contemporary Christian hits.

On its seventh album, “Last Young Renegade,” the group reflects on things even rock stars can’t outrun: friends settling down and becoming parents, and losing loved ones. Dubbed an All Time Low Christmas, this particular show pre-dates its trio of 10th-anniversary-of-“So Wrong, It’s Right” concerts, so expect a heavy helping of that record as well.

This Charleston-based quartet centers its songs around impressive three-part harmonies reminiscent of the great singer-songwriter groups of the ’70s. But it’s not all gentle folksiness. The group tempers its penchant for simple, serene singing with an ear for dynamics and bright, inventive, percussive rock.

This story was originally published December 14, 2017 at 8:23 AM with the headline "7 buzzworthy concerts coming to Charlotte in the next week."