8 buzzworthy concerts coming to Charlotte in the next week

From serving time for drug possession six years ago to a role in MTV’s “How High 2” (airing at 8 p.m. Saturday), Atlanta’s Lil Baby became one of his city’s hottest exports thanks in part to platinum-selling singles featuring Drake (“Yes, Indeed”) and frequent collaborator Gunna (“Drip Too Hard”).

More than 40 years ago, ex-marrieds Dan and June Kuramoto co-founded this California jazz-pop ensemble, which bridged traditional American and Japanese instrumentation like koto, taiko, and shakuhachi. Informed by its immigrant history as well as the fast-changing political, social and cultural environment of the late ’60s and ’70s, the five-piece became much more than a quiet storm.

The former Hey Monday vocalist and 2012 winner of “The Voice” has come a long way from her pop-punk beginnings, able to claim a 2016 Grammy nomination and now the headlining slot on CMT’s Next Women of Country Tour. She’s paired with fellow up-and-comers Hannah Ellis (“Home and a Hometown”) and Colorado singer-songwriter Clare Dunn.

The Charlotte instrumental rock quartet celebrates the release of its album, “Sketchbook” (which is out on two different vinyl color configurations). On it, the group trades in complex math rock that flirts with progressive jazz while featuring unusual time signatures and fidgety picking.

On its 2019 tour, the influential progressive-metal outfit commemorates the 20th anniversary of its fifth album, “Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory,” which it will play in its entirety — along with material from its recent release, “Distance Over Time.” This will be the group’s first time at Ovens since the fall of 2016.

Mexican-American Lincka Elizondo heads up this Oklahoma City-based trio with producer Rat Fink and instrumentalist Salvador Chavez. The group mixes Latin music, pop and hip-hop with Elizondo’s uplifting, empowering Spanglish lyrics on songs like “Chicana Baby” and “Gardenias.”

Veteran folk musician, union organizer and activist Si Kahn celebrates his 75th birthday in his adopted hometown of Charlotte. With German bluegrass trio the Looping Brothers (who recorded 2013’s “Aragon Mill” album with Kahn) and Grammy-winning folk duo Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer.

Each night of the Whitewater Center’s four-day outdoor sporting and lifestyle event concludes with a free concert, the first of which features The Suitcase Junket and Fantastic Negrito, which is 2-for-2 in Grammy wins for Contemporary Blues Album of the Year. Ongoing through Sunday, Tuck Fest also includes workshops, tutorials, races, yoga, biking, hiking, water sports, and even a dog jog.

This story was originally published April 18, 2019 at 2:24 PM.