6 buzzworthy concerts coming to Charlotte in the next week

Progressive, roots and pop — the three words this West Coast outfit uses to describe its music — aren’t three words that traditionally fall together. But anchored by the acoustic instruments and bluesy voice of Melody Walker, the San Francisco quintet makes the most of its varied jazz, pop and progressive newgrass influences.

This lineup of Charlotte music veterans features the latest project from experimental, art-rock veterans Hope Nichols and her husband Aaron Pitkin; the long-running, ever-changing band headed up by the Faircloth brothers known musically as the Houstons; and keyboardist John Morris’s collaboration with his wife Shalini, bassist Adam Roth and drummer Donnie Merritt.

The likely heir to Kenny Chesney’s barefoot beach country, the ACA and ACM award winner finds himself in familiar territory performing at the minor-league baseball team’s field. Before he’d ever played a guitar, Owen was an athlete whose golf career was sidelined after a wakeboarding injury.

This Denver, N.C. native moved to Nashville to pursue pop songwriting and signed with Justin Timberlake’s artist development company. She’s got a sonic style that mixes Katy Perry and Annie Lennox with a retro visual aesthetic and catchy pop tunes that have the potential to break big. Her “Committed Tour” — named for her new single — brings her back home. With Cameron Floyd.

Although he’s a white guy from Tennessee, his interpretation of traditionally black gospel is the real deal: He performed as part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s tribute concert to Aretha Franklin in 2011. The former Screaming Cheetah Wheelies vocalist has an Americana Music Award, a Grammy and a Dove award for his work in the soul and gospel genres.

Anyone holding out for a reunion of influential ’70s and ’80s outfit New Grass Revival (featuring Sam Bush, Bela Fleck and John Cowan) should check out this IBMA-winning combo. It picked up where New Grass left off in 1998 by combining rock, soul, pop and bluegrass while adding Bruce Hornsby-like keys and more modern contemporary folk-rock elements to the mix.

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 11:40 AM.