The Big Gigs: 10 best concerts to see in the Twin Cities this week

1. Thomasina Petrus and the Selby Avenue Brass Band: Powerhouse Twin Cities vocalist Petrus may be best known for her stirring stage appearances as Billie Holiday in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” (and, not to mention, her cashew brittle for sale at gigs and the State Fair). When she teams up with tuba player Tom Wells and his St. Paul-named brass band, the repertoire is heavy on New Orleans sounds, whether jazz, funk, blues, soul or R&B, a perfect respite for this frigid January. (7:30 p.m. Crooners, 6161 Hwy 65, Fridley, $30-$40, eventbrite.com)

Also: One hit Wonders salutes all those famous songs by artists who never had another hit, this time performed by an all-star Twin Cities cast including Dan Israel, Mother Banjo, Katy Vernon and Leslie Vincent (8 p.m. Turf Club, $15); Choro Borealis features Twin Cities musicians with a deep love for Brazilian music (6 p.m. Crooners, $32.31-$43.47).

2. Kelsea Ballerini: At the Armory in 2023, it was obvious that this Knoxville-reared country singer was ready for a big-time show. Then last October, Ballerini went straight to America’s most famous arena — New York’s Madison Square Garden — to perform her fifth album, “Patterns,” in its entirety before delivering hits like “Hole in the Bottle,” “Miss Me More” and “Love Me Like You Mean It.” On her social media this month, Ballerini, who will become a coach on “The Voice” this spring, has been posting on how she’s preparing for her first arena tour (with assistance from her dogs and actor beau Chase Stokes). The trek kicks off this week, with Minneapolis as the third stop. Opening are Sasha Alex Sloan and MaRynn Taylor. (7 p.m. Target Center, 600 1st Av. N., Mpls., $44 and up, axs.com)

3. The Current Turns 20: Back to being a two-night affair for the Big 2-0, the anniversary party for Minnesota Public Radio’s alternative-leaning music station features a headliner who helped bring underground music to the mainstream in the late ‘80s and another on the verge of crossover success. Frank Black, aka the Pixies’ Black Francis, tops Night 1 revisiting his sprawling 1994 solo album, “Teenager of the Year,” with the original MVP band behind its making. Chicago pop-rocker Lili Trifilio headlines Night 2 with her clever and infectious band Beach Bunny of “Prom Queen” and “Cloud 9″ viral fame. The all-local opening cast features She’s Green and DJ Jake Rudh on Friday, then Bad Bad Hats and Makr An Eris on Saturday. (7:30 p.m. Fri. & Sat., First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $40, resale only Sat., axs.com

4. Big Pink presents the Last Waltz: For 20 years, keyboardist Rob Hillstrom has dutifully enlisted Twin Cities players to recreate the Band’s farewell concert and film, “The Last Waltz.” It’s always a treat to hear the core band play “Upon on Cripple Creek,” “Stage Fright” and other Band favorites as well as various guests such as Maurice Jacox as Muddy Waters, Adam Levy as Bob Dylan, Nicholas David as Dr. John, Kendra Glenn as Mavis Staples, Dylan Salfer as Eric Clapton and show-stealer Terry Walsh as Van Morrison. The personnel will change slightly on Friday and Saturday but not this year’s special guest — trombonist Tom “Bones” Malone, who performed at the actual Last Waltz in 1976 as part of the large horn section. Expect some extra emotion this year following the death this week of organist Garth Hudson, the last surviving member of the Band. The Belfast Cowboys open. (8 p.m. Fri. & Sat. Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul, $30-$50, axs.com)

5. Drone Not Drones: An anti-war bumper-sticker slogan that inspired Low’s divisive 2013 set at Rock the Garden and then became an annual music festival, the 28-hour improvisational marathon is back for its 10th almost-annual installment. Dozens of performers will perform mostly free-form, instrumental, sound-bath-style music nonstop overnight and through the next day, including Zac Sally’s Swam, Virginia’s Spiral Joy Band, Earthen Sea, Charlie Parr, Davu Seru with DeVon Russell Gray, Iceclimber, Dosh and American Cream Band. Attendees are welcome to bring mats and pillows and whatever is needed to kick back and zone out. It all benefits Doctors Without Borders. (7 p.m. Fri.-11 p.m. Sat., Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Av. S., Mpls., $35-$40, thecedar.org)

Also: Don Felder, the guitarist who was instrumental on such Eagles tunes as “Victim of Love” and “Hotel California” before the band terminated him, travels to Red Wing with his double-neck guitar (8 p.m. Treasure Island Casino, $29-$50); Two Friends, the L.A. DJs who have led parties at Coachella and in Las Vegas, bring their Big Bootie mixes to downtown Minneapolis (9 p.m. Armory, $42 and up); New York veteran Nicolas King, who opened for Liza Minnelli for 12 years and played Chip in “Beauty on the Beast” longer than any actor, croons at Crooners (7:30 p.m., $37.89-$49.50); jam-band vets the Jones Gang host their Dancin’ in the Dead of Winter party (8:30 p.m. Hook & Ladder Theater, $15-$20).

6. Urban Hillbilly Quartet: For 30 years, St. Paul guitarist/accordionist Erik Brandt has been the inveterate leader of this twangy, sometimes grassy, sometimes world music-tinged Americana ensemble. He is organizing two separate gigs with two different lineups to commemorate the milestone. Saturday’s show will feature the current ensemble of the always expanding group with guitarist Jeremy Szopinski, guitarist Dave Strahan, bassist Mike Schultz, fiddler Celeste Kiewel, drummer Jim Orvis and Brandt; Sunday’s personnel is being touted as the classic UHQ. Each ticket includes one of UHQ’s eight CDs. (The group’s first record was released on cassette.) (7 p.m. Sat. & 2 p.m. Sun. Celtic Junction, 836 Prior Av. N., St. Paul, $20 or $30 for both shows, celticjunction.org)

7. The Vaccines: These U.K. rockers kicked up a boatload of hype in the 2010s but have since settled into a decent mid-tier following and sophisticated style. They are sounding like an ‘80s-’90s band more than ever before on their latest record, “Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations.” Stylish frontman Justin Hayward-Young and his West London crew channel Simple Minds-like synth-pop melodies in the single “The Heartbreak Kid” and the other tracks. Vermont post-punk band Thus Love opens. (8 p.m. Fine Line, 318 1st Av. N., Mpls., $25, axs.com)

Also: Iowa’s soulful Americana rocker Lissie continues her two-weekend residency with all of her Twin Cities-based band behind her and openers AirLands (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $29-$49); all-star Twin Cities jazz unit the Atlantis Quartet is back at Berlin nightclub (7:30-10 p.m., $25); hip-hop returns to Minneapolis’ best-known jazz club with one of the Twin Cities’ most colorful and meaningful rappers, Nur-D (7 p.m. the Dakota, $25-$35); Django-channeling jazzy swingers the Mississippi Hot Club celebrate their 10th anniversary (7:30 p.m. Hook & Ladder Theater, $17-$22); prolific Twin Cities piano rocker Zaq Baker is also a novelist on the side and is celebrating a new book release along with fellow musician/author Dylan Hicks (8 p.m. Icehouse, $15).

8. Kerry King: One of thrash metal’s most influential guitarists, the former Slayer axman is cutting loose for the first time since his old band retired in 2019. He has assembled quite an impressive and fierce crew for the occasion, too, with Phil Demmel of Machine Head as a second guitarist, Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders, Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda and late-era Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph. They’re getting Slayer fans’ blood raining again at shows with songs from King’s debut solo album, “From Hell I Rise,” plus a few covers and favorites from the old band. (7 p.m. the Fillmore, 525 N. 5th St., Mpls., $53-$86, ticketmaster.com)

9. Tommy Mesa: This Cuban-American cellist is one of the great successes to emerge from the Sphinx Virtuosi, a string orchestra composed of outstanding young Black and Latino musicians. In 2023, Mesa and pianist Michelle Cann recorded “Our Stories,” an album full of music by traditionally underrepresented composers, and, for this Music in the Park Series recital, they’ll perform pieces from it by Kevin Day and Andrea Casarrubios. Also on the program are works by Nadia Boulanger, Claude Debussy and Dmitri Shostakovich. (4 p.m. St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ, 2129 Commonwealth Av., St. Paul, $23-$33, students and children free, schubert.org)

Also: The last installment of blues/folk cult hero Charlie Parr’s January residency features harmonious friends of his from Nashville as openers, Paper Wings (7:30 p.m. Turf Club, $20-$25); Lissie wraps up her two-weekend residency at the Parkway Theater playing with a stripped-down trio and opener Chris Koza (7:30 p.m., $29-$49); the Current’s Carbon Sound series continues at Berlin with guitarist Zak Khan and friends (7 p.m., free); standout Twin Cities vocalists Ginger Commodore, Kendra Glenn and Monique Blakey pay tribute to seldom-touring R&B royalty Anita Baker (7 p.m. the Dakota, $35-$40).

British indie-rocker Geordie Greep of Black Midi notoriety has cut out on his own and is touring for a wild new album, “The New Sound” (8 p.m. Fine Line, $22); alt-twang stalwarts the Cactus Blossoms have enlisted Nashville singer/songwriter Erin Rae to open their final January residency show (7:30 p.m. Turf Club, $25-$30); Yiddish/Eastern European-inspired string group Red Thread pairs up with a Laurel Strings Quartet-backed Aby Wolf (7 p.m. Berlin, $15); St. Paul-reared, “The Voice”-endorsed R&B singer Ashley DuBose returns to the Dakota (7 p.m., $20-$25).

Two emo-y and punk-y bands from Middle America who made a lot of noise in the 2000s, Kansas City’s Get Up Kids and Chicago’s Smoking Popes, are touring together (8 p.m. Fine Line, $30-$55); pianist Kavyesh Kaviraj and trumpeter Omar Abdulkarim, two essential young players in the Twin Cities jazz scene, team up (7 p.m. the Dakota, $20-$30).

10. Leftover Salmon: Cofounders Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman have been around for all 35 years of this Colorado progressive bluegrass band. The personnel has changed over the years but not the spirit or the quality of the picking. On their most recent album, 2023’s tight and impressively grassy “Grass Roots,” the Salmon were joined by Billy Strings, Darol Anger and Oliver Wood to interpret the Grateful Dead’s “Black Peter,” Delmore Brothers’ “Blue Railroad Train” and Bob Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate” and “Nashville Skyline Rag.” The Salmon migrate to the western burbs for a rare jam-band gig in a performing arts center. (8 p.m. Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, $55-$65, hopkinsartcenter.com)

Also: Last year, well-traveled actor/comedian/musician Tim Heidecker released his most musical (and least comical) album, “Slipping Away,” about the challenges of middle age highlighted on such songs as “Dad of the Year” and “Hey, Would You Call My Mom for Me;” singer/comedian Neil Hamburger opens (8 p.m. First Avenue, $39.50 and up); three of the most accomplished acoustic guitar pickers in Minnesota — Pat Donohue, Tim Sparks and Phil Heywood — share a stage (7 p.m. the Dakota, $25-$35); the Fairlanes, the St. Paul a cappella quartet, harmonizes on ‘50s and ‘60s classics by the Temptations, Beatles and others (5:30 p.m. Crooners, $37.89-$49.05).

Classical music critic Rob Hubbard contributed to this column.