Twin Cities concerts of the week: Jayhawks, JD McPherson, the Bad Plus, Little Fevers

JD McPherson: The Oklahoma retro rocker redefined Christmas music last year with his delightful album "Socks," stuffed full of spirit, heart and humor. On the twangy rockabilly tune "Bad Kid," he explains, "I can't help it, I was born like this. A permanent spot on the naughty list." The sax-fueled "Hey Skinny Santa" encourages St. Nick to pig out before making his ride. The lazy blues "Socks" whines about receiving lousy gifts. (8:30 p.m. Fri., First Avenue, Mpls., $22-$25)

Little Fevers: The fuzz-rocky, bedroom-poppy quartet that grew out of the folkier Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles is sneaking in a new album release at year's end, "Strangers," following Lucy's busy stretch at the New Standards holiday shows and as the illustrator of Chan Poling's new kids book "Jack & the Ghost," while bassist Eamonn Carter is off the road from his cellist duties with Trampled by Turtles. Har-di-Har and Matt Latterell open. (8 p.m. Fri., Cedar Cultural Center, Mpls., all ages, $12-$15)

The Jayhawks: They can celebrate another fruitful year of touring in 2019, but the real reason for Minnesota's Americana music vets to rejoice going into their usual hometown year-end gig is what's to come next year: a new album, their first in four years with all new songs. Gary Louris and his harmonious gang just finished up a few weeks' worth of sessions at Flowers and Pachyderm studios for a new album firmly set for release next year. They'd be real Scrooges if they didn't offer local fans a taste of the new stuff at the show. Duluth folkie Gaelynn Lea returns after charming Wilco's audience in the same venue last month. (8 p.m. Sat., Palace Theatre, 17 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, $35-$60, eTix.com.)

Mark Mallman's Peace on Earth: Hardly a standard, all-cheer holiday concert, this hopeful third annual affair suits the theme of the madly energetic Minneapolis piano rocker's well-received personal memoir, "The Happiness Playlist," a moving and amusing account of how music helped him fight depression. He'll be playing some of the tunes that quite literally saved his life alongside some secular seasonal tunes and his own nuggets, with a cast of friends and other surprises. (8 p.m. Sat., Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Av. S., Mpls., $13-$18, theparkwaytheater.com)

The Fixx: Yep, that Fixx. The '80s London band of "One Thing Leads to Another" and "Saved by Zero" fame is rounding out their set lists with holiday tunes on its so-called Fixxmas Tour, featuring most of the members you would've seen in their heyday MTV videos. To add where-are-they-now intrigue, Spacehog frontman Royston Langdon opens. (8 p.m. Sat., Cedar Cultural Center, $30-$35.)

Kinda Kinky Holiday Concert: Whether or not the Kinks reunion rumors finally prove true in 2020, let's hope we can always end the year with the nerdishly loved Twin Cities tribute band that turned "Father Christmas" into the mother of all holiday food-drive gigs. Garage-band vets Dave Randall and Keith Patterson and their krew will breeze through two long sets of Davies brothers classics with a large casts of guests, including the Carnegies, Curtiss A, Kiki Lane, Allison LaBonne, Willie Wisely and more. (8 p.m. Sat., Minneapolis Eagles Club #34, $10 or $5 with nonperishable food donation; benefits thefoodgroupmn.org)

Bad Bad Hats: Macalester College's best-loved band since Walt Mink and maybe even Bob Mould got to play Rock the Garden and open for Death Cab for Cutie over the summer, and now brooding popmeister Kerry Alexander and her boys are throwing what promises to be a mighty warm "winter ball." Chicago rockers Ratboys and local punk trio Last Import open. (9 p.m. Sat., First Avenue, Mpls., $16-$18.)

BoDeans: Fittingly, Minnesota's favorite Wisconsin band will be the opening act, so to speak, to Vikings-Packers week. For their frequent late December visit, Kurt Neumann and company have a special strategy: The early show is acoustic, the late one electric. Wonder how much overlap among the setlists? (7 & 9:30 p.m. Sat.-Sun., Dakota, Mpls., $40-$65.)

Sara Evans: The big-voiced country star, who was a radio fixture 15 to 20 years ago, arrives for the final show on her Blue Christmas Tour, which means lots of seasonal selections plus maybe some of her hits like "Born to Fly" and the unseasonal "Suds in the Bucket." (8 p.m. Sun., Mystic Lake Casino, $29 and up)

Wee Willie Walker Celebration of Life: The great Twin Cities soul/blues singer died in his sleep in November after returning from a recording session in Oakland. Many of his musical friends will pay tribute, including Maurice Jacox, Paul Metsa, Mari Harris and Anthony Paule as well as two bands with whom he sang, the Butanes and the We R Band. (3 p.m. Sun., Minnesota Music Cafe, St. Paul, free)

Paul Metsa: The good-hearted, peripatetic singer-songwriter is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his first Minneapolis gig, what would have been his musical partner Willie Walker's 78th birthday and the overdue release of "Walkin' in a Woman's World." The CD was recorded in 1996 when Metsa was feeling down because his mother and sister-in-law had died, his girlfriend left him and he had no gigs. But he had these heartfelt, often melancholy songs. Guests include Sonny Earl, Stanley Kipper, Mari Harris and Jim Anton. (7 p.m. Mon., Parkway Theater, Mpls., $20-$25)

The Bad Plus: Replacement pianist Orrin Evans had officially been in the Bad Plus for less than three weeks when the Twin Cities-launched jazz trio released "Never Stop II" in January 2018. Now having logged many hours and gigs with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King, Evans is more integral to the mix on this fall's "Activate Infinity." His post-bop playing and appealing melodicism fuel the Bad Plus' 14th album, which will be showcased in their annual Christmastime home stand. (7 & 9 p.m. Wed.-next Sat., Dakota, $40-$45)