LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III

Loudon Wainwright III's renaissance over the past decade seems as effortlessly planned as everything else he's done since the release of his self-titled debut album in 1970. Since 2003, Wainwright has worked with directors Tim Burton (he was in Big Fish), Martin Scorsese (a small role in The Aviator), and Judd Apatow (appearances in both The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, which he also wrote the soundtrack for). He became an NPR fave. And he released one of the best albums of his career, 2009's High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. You should also check out last year's five-disc anthology 40 Odd Years, a well-curated retrospective of highlights that includes his only charting single, 1973's Top 20 “Dead Skunk,” a goofy, but incredibly catchy, banjo-and-fiddle-powered song about, yep, a dead skunk stinkin' up a roadway. Wainwright's new album, Older Than My Old Man Now, which comes out this week, is all about family, memories, and getting old. They're familiar themes for the 65-year-old singer-songwriter, who faces them all with the casualness, honesty, and humor you'd expect from the guy who wrote “The Shit Song.” With Lucy Roche. 8 p.m. Tickets: $22, $20 in advance. – Michael Gallucci