Check out some concert highlights for this Thurs., April 14. Amy Helm & The Handsome Strangers You likely started wondering it as soon as you saw her name so let me clear things up for you – yes, Amy Helm is related to the late, great Band drummer/singer Levon Helm. Not only that but she worked with her dad extensively, producing his 2007 Grammy-winning “comeback” album, Dirt Farmer, and performing in all his subsequent bands amid becoming a mom and remaining active with New York-based folk-blues group Ollabelle. She only recently tried her hand at songwriting and released a debut under her own name: 2015’s Didn’t It Rain. Her pitch soars higher than dad’s and has a more sweetly expressive quality, but you can hear his imprint in her country-flecked drawl, which dips to lower gospel-soaked soul tones in the title track, a traditional re-imagined as a guitar-seared anthem with loose swinging rhythms and a funky grooving bassline. Her current live trio The Handsome Strangers includes bassist Byron Issacs (who produced her LP and co-wrote most of the songs), guitarist Daniel Littleton and drummer David Berger. (Murray Theater at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
Reel Deal Thursday: Teen Wolf + Wolf-Face The local punk rock-howling band of werewolves, performing their Teen Wolf-inspired music, following a screening of the original ‘80s-era film starring Michael J. Fox? Yep, it’s another edition of the Reel Deal film series, and this match-up seems made in furry heaven. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
ALSO TONIGHT
DAWNS/Slumberjack/Sleeping Pills The Bends, St. Petersburg
Grace Dickerson Duo Ale and the Witch, Ybor City
10th Annual Largo Teen Idol Competition Largo Cultural Center, Largo
This article appears in Apr 14-20, 2016.