This week’s hot concerts

Charlotte’s favorite jazz-funk fusion outfit reunites on stage for the first time since July. That’s because its members are busy as sidemen for the most elite A-list musicians out there – legends Paul Simon and Prince. With endorsements like that, you can expect some of the best musicianship around.

Like Kings of Leon, this local trio tempers the Southern roots that color its lyrics with reverb-dripping guitar, thoughtful alt-rock arrangements and soaring vocals and harmonies that channel Muse, Jeff Buckley and the Eagles at different points. It celebrates its six-track EP “Love, Marriage, and Civil War” with Drake Margolnick and Warsong.

Even before the release last week of its debut EP, “Let’s Plan a Robbery,” Brooklyn’s newest buzz band caught the attention of Newsweek, Brooklyn Vegan and Nylon magazine. Despite the bands’ names, don’t expect sludgy stoner rock. Both make fast-paced garage rock with equal allegiances to British psychedelia and punk.

The Nashville-by-way-of-Mississippi rock combo’s latest works – 2014’s “Buttons” and “Dear Bo Jackson” – deliver on the band’s early promise with accessible driving rock songs with emotional resonance that recall Kings of Leon (whose Serpents and Snakes label released those records) and Pearl Jam with a rootsier, Southern vibe.

The least vanilla act to emerge from “American Idol” has become its most successful on a global scale. Forbes reported Lambert’s the current top-earning grad. He’ll be back filling Freddie Mercury’s shoes on stage with Queen in May, but for now his solo “Original High” tour, as he sees it, delivers a “Glambert Utopia.”

Thirteen years after her first album, pop singer-songwriter Platten’s self-affirmation anthem “Fight Song” can be heard everywhere from elementary school gymnasiums to Ford commercials to “Pretty Little Liars” to Hillary Clinton’s entrance music. And much of that happened before the January release of her Columbia Records’ debut “Wildfire.”

It would appear the Atlanta rapper is having the best worst year ever. Best because he’s the first solo artist since 1965 to chart three albums in little more than six months (“Dirty Sprite 2,” “What a Time to Be Alive” with Drake and February’s “EVOL”). Worst because of ongoing disputes with his ex, Ciara, over their son and the January murder of his bodyguard.

This truly genre-merging Nashville outfit spells out its musical design in the title of its new album, “Folk Hop N’ Roll” (out Friday). Songs like the title track “Take It All Back” literally combine rapping and beats with banjo and mandolin and a chant-worthy chorus. It’s a weird marriage, but expect the Dave Cobb-produced record to resonate with ample anthems.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 4:36 PM with the headline "This week’s hot concerts."