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Dan Sartain “Young girls are stupid / and they’re cruel / but I still want them,” sings Dan Sartain on “Young Girls,” the best track on Join Dan Sartain, released last year on Swami. But despite all this macho melodrama, Sartain’s hardly the rockabilly savior the UK press has painted him to be. A lanky Alabaman with the face of a cretin, he’s just a shack rocker who’s ditched the basement scuzz for studio clarity but keeps on singing about getting in fights, getting fucked-up, and getting in trouble with women. Sartain plays the Electric City Rockfest, which started on Thursday; full schedule on page 26. Detroit Cobras headline and Willowz open. a 9 PM, Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee, 773-489-3160 or 312-559-1212, $15.– Jessica Hopper
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cRANDY WESTON With the recent death of Max Roach, it’s tempting to characterize Randy Weston as one of the last living links to the golden era of modern jazz. But though that would be accurate enough, it underplays the 81-year-old pianist’s singular style and undimmed vitality. His ongoing fascination with African music–particularly that of Morocco’s Gnawa people–continues to inform his writing and soloing, and while last year’s superb Zep Tepi (Random Chance) contained only older compositions, it confirmed that Weston still brings substance and power to anything he plays. (Trumpeter Dave Douglas, who recently formed a band to perform Weston’s music, suggests that the composer’s tunes haven’t been widely interpreted by others mainly because it’s so hard to top his own versions.) An overwhelming command of the bass register gives his sound a deeply satisfying heft, while his right-hand work delivers strong melodic ideas articulated in spare, heavily percussive bursts. And the interplay of his longtime trio, with bassist Alex Blake and percussionist Neil Clarke, is a study in rhythmic efficiency and near orchestral movement. Weston performs on day two of the African Festival of the Arts; see page 28 for a complete schedule. a 6 PM, Dee Palmer Woodtor stage, African Festival of the Arts, Washington Park, 51st and Cottage Grove, africainternationalhouse.org, $12, $10 in advance, $5 kids and seniors, $30 for a daily family pass (one adult and up to four children) or an adult four-day pass, $90 for a weekend family pass (two adults and four children). A –Peter Margasak
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Marissa Nadler On her latest album, Songs III: Bird on the Water (Kemado), mystic folkie Marissa Nadler expands her instrumental palette. Her acoustic guitar arpeggios still anchor her subtle melodies, but they’re ornamented with delicate details–including cello, mandolin, synthesizer, and even some corrosive if gently mixed electric guitar–thanks largely to producer Greg Weeks of the Espers. Nadler has a gorgeous voice, ethereal and narcotic, and the way she ends some phrases with a forlorn curlicue of vibrato intensifies the sadness of most of the characters in her songs. Nadler will play solo for this performance. Picastro and Angel Olsen open. a 9 PM, Ronny’s, 2101 N. California, 773-235-6591, $7. –Peter Margasak
KIM RICHEY Kim Richey got her start writing for the likes of Trisha Yearwood and Radney Foster, but it was clear when she launched her own singing career more than a decade ago that she wasn’t interested in fitting the Music City mold. Still, I never expected she’d make anything like the polished adult pop of her latest record, Chinese Boxes (Vanguard). Richey gives love’s travails the same poetic treatment she did on her early stuff, but she sounds a lot more like Aimee Mann than Loretta Lynn. Peter Bradley Adams opens. a 9 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, $15. –Peter Margasak
