LUCERO

Lucero frontman Ben Nichols has an aggressively punk-like energy that could make even the most upstanding citizen break a law or two when he pours it on. He also has a soulful rasp that could break hearts from a mile away whenever he dials it back. Along the way, his ever-expanding band matches him step for swaggering step. Lucero’s just-released Women & Work is a love letter to the music and atmosphere of their hometown of Memphis – a sonic sample platter of everything the group has been doing infinitely well for more than a decade, alternately roaring and purring like street-corner buskers occupying the intersection of Al Green Street and Alex Chilton Boulevard. Lucero are on the road two out of three nights every year, and every place they play is like a church being saved from shingles to boiler room -- every audience is a congregation in the throes of something much bigger than themselves. Praise the Lord and pass the Stax; Lucero are tearing up the countryside again. With William Elliott Whitmore. 8 p.m. Tickets: $18. – Brian Baker