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

Like Orville Peck, he’s an overlooked phenomenon in country music who gets attention (when he gets it) for the wrong reasons, namely his appearance. The controversy-stirring Dallas singer-songwriter has a feminine-sounding voice that he embraces by wearing fits like a pink faux-fur coat. On 2023’s “What Is It Even,” Walker proved his bona fides as a vocalist by giving twangy interpretations of pop hits by women including “Cuz I Love You,” “Halo” and “Believe.” But, Walker can play it straight, too, as he did on last year’s acoustic Texas singer-songwriter-y collection “Thank You.” Winnipeg’s buzzing alt-twanger Boy Golden opens. (8 p.m. 7th St. Entry, 701 1st Ave. N., Mpls., $27.40, axs.com)

Also: A bustling concert season at Surly Brewing Festival Field begins with a sold-out gig by Northern California’s monotoned rock unit Cake of 1996’s “The Distance” fame (8 p.m., resale tickets only); cabaret queen Marilyn Maye, unstoppable at 97, continues her annual May run at Crooners (7 p.m. Thu., 8 p.m. Fri., $55-$65); equally unstoppable at 98, Minneapolis piano man Cornbread Harris shares his love of blues and jazz at the hip newish Berlin (4:30-6:30 p.m., free); the Go Your Own Way singalong tribute to Fleetwood Mac will feature Haley E. Ridell, Annie Enneking, Katy Vernon and more on vocals (8 p.m. Turf Club, $12).

After returning home to north Minneapolis, recording his “Flowers” EP amid a backdrop of racial strife and forming his sort-of-namesake band, Geoffrey Lamar Wilson has settled in as a father, a bandleader and a prodigal son of the local scene. Those traits all come together with warm-burning results on his first full-length Laamar album, “In the Light,” a confident, openhearted and at times groovy collection that falls between Jackson Browne and Bill Withers on the sonic front and is loaded with lost-but-found lyrics, from the existential title track to the standout burner “Gasoline” with guest singer Clare Doyle. He’s celebrating its release with Lady Midnight to help stir the soul. (9 p.m. Icehouse, 2528 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls., $15-$22, icehousempls.com)

The Twin Cities’ foremost purveyors of contemporary choral music from Latin America and its diaspora will close its season by performing Cuban composer Calixto Álvarez’s “Réquiem Osún.” It’s a work rooted in the Catholic requiem Mass for the dead, but also incorporating elements of the religious traditions and music of West Africa. Ahmed Anzaldúa conducts. (7 p.m. Fri., Church of the Ascension, 1723 Bryant Av. N., Mpls.; 7 p.m. Sat., Academia Cesar Chavez School, 1801 Lacrosse Av., St. Paul, $6-$30, children free, bordercrossingmn.org)

Diaz is a rare children’s music artist who has a degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music. His musical partner and wife, Alisha Gaddis, has a degree in drama from New York University. Together, they make bilingual, ageless kindie music, children’s music in Spanish and English and in various musical genres, some in pop/rock, some in various Latin styles. Their collaborations have led to many albums, books, films and TV shows as well as Emmys and Latin Grammys and, this year, a Grammy for best children’s album for “Brillo, Brillo!” The group headlines the 25th Annual Flint Hills Festival. (6:30 p.m. Ordway, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, $8 and up, ordway.org)

Also: With plenty of reason to fire it up again, Twin Cities rock hero Tina Schlieske is reigniting her feminist punk band Genital Panic and opening with another of her all-star units, Quatro (8 p.m. Turf Club, $20); synth-poppy Vancouver rockers Peach Pit are still touring for last year’s sweet album “Magpie” and have Briston Maroney with them (7 p.m. the Armory, $47); New Orleans Suspects return with their good grooves from NOLA (7 p.m. the Hook & Ladder, $34 and up); big band jazz doesn’t get better in the Twin Cities than the Adi Yeshaya Orchestra with Garlandesque singer Jennifer Grimm (7 p.m. Belvedere tent at Crooners, $37.80 and up); the Neighborhood Quartet finds the New Standards vibraphonist Steve Roehm doing his jazz-rock-funk thing (5:30 p.m. Dunsmore Room at Crooners, $32.31 and up).

The Tennessee-reared, Brooklyn-based singer eschews her cosmic Americana vibe on her month-old sixth album, “Owls, Omens and Oracles.” With her inimitable childlike voice, the Bob Dylan-cosigned singer oozes optimism. The mood of this record is established on the opening “Joy Joy,” a celebrative bop that assures “you’ll find that joy, joy in your soul.” Produced by M. Ward with guest appearances by Norah Jones and the Blind Boys of Alabama, “Owls” has a lo-fi indie-rock tone, though these melodic tunes have a taste of the soul, blues, folk and spiritual touches that have characterized June’s Grammy-nominated career. (8 p.m. State Theatre, 805 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $65 and up, ticketmaster.com)

Maybe the Twin Cities music scene’s all-time biggest fan, Paul Engebretson, died in March and is getting an appropriately large summer festival thrown as a memorial with some of the 60-plus rock bands he supported spread over two days and stages (inside/outside). Saturday’s 12-hour lineup includes the Shackletons, Melismatics, Flamin’ Ohs, Cindy Lawson, High on Stress, Faith Boblett, Zeppo, Mood Swings and Pullstring. Sunday’s cast includes Ike Reilly backed by the Shackletons, the Hypstrz, Silent Treatment, Belfast Cowboys, 99ers, Katy Vernon and Annie & the Bang Bang. Money raised will go toward a Flowers Studio recording grant for new bands. See the full schedule on Facebook. (Noon-midnight Sat., noon-10:30 p.m. Sun., Palmer’s Bar, 500 Cedar Av. S., Mpls., $10 or more donation, palmers-bar.com)

Sort of a combo pack of underappreciated local assets, this free one-day music and arts festival is being put on by the discoverable Hennepin History Museum in its (and Mia’s) neighboring park to showcase a diverse array of some of the Twin Cities’ most talented women singers and poets. The musical performers are, in order: jazz maven Connie Evingson, blues rocker Annie Mack, R&B family band Nunnabove and rapper-turned-state-representative Maria Isa. Singer/songwriter and Current radio DJ Diane is hosting. Artists and food vendors will set up shop, too. (2-7 p.m., Washburn Fair Oaks Park, 200 E. 24th St., Mpls., free, hennepinhistory.org)

After playing ultra-warm sets at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth and Red Rocks in Denver in recent summers and then burning it up in the midafternoon sun at Minnesota Yacht Club last year, the Twin Cities’ sunshiny pop-rock quintet is finally playing an outdoor headlining set in its hometown as the second date in a thriving Surly Field 2025 lineup. The St. Paul Conservatory for the Arts grads put out a mellower and denser album last year, “Flood,” but their live shows are still buoyant and rowdy. New York openers Hotline TNT are newly signed to Jack White’s Third Man Records. (7 p.m. Surly Brewing Festival Field, 520 Malcolm Ave. SE, Mpls., $45, axs.com)

Also: Avi Kaplan, the bass/baritone singer who left Pentatonix in 2017, has dropped another EP, “Move Our Souls” (8:30 p.m. Amsterdam Bar & Grill); Nachito Herrera, the Cuban-American piano man who has become an essential part of the Twin Cities music scene, celebrates his 60th birthday at his favorite Minneapolis haunt (7 p.m. the Dakota, $40-$50); experimental local label/crew Totally Gross National Product is hosting its annual party outside and inside Icehouse with performances by Nashville-based sonic guru Chiquimamani-Condori, Marijuana Deathsquads, Lauren Flax, Nat Harvie, Stolyette and more (4 p.m., $40); the Driver Era, the Lynch brothers’ L.A. pop duo formerly known as R5, just dropped their fourth album, “Obsession” (8 p.m. Armory, $50 and up); Austin, Texas, guitar slinger and singer Jackie Venson is touting her fifth album, “The Love Anthology” (8:30 p.m. 7th St. Entry, $20-$25); Twin Cities trumpeter Steve Kenny leads his quintet through a program of original material he calls Blue Chunks (6 p.m. Dunsmore Room at Crooners, $30-$40); British indie-rock vets the Wedding Present are back out celebrating the 35th anniversary of their “Bizarro” album (8 p.m. Turf Club, $30).

It’s not the major concert affair of old, but that may turn more diehard music lovers onto the eclectic and cool all-local lineup spread out over five stages along Grand Avenue. The biggest stage (on the corner of Avon Street) will feature alt-twang bros the Cactus Blossoms, bluegrassy pickers Them Coulee Boys and funky rockers FenixDion. Other stages will showcase Ashley DuBose, the 4onthefloor, Brandon Commodore’s NRG, the Scarlet Goodbye, the International Reggae All-Stars, Miloe, LaSalle and lots more. A little something for everyone. (11 a.m.-6 p.m., Grand Av. between Dale and Snelling, St. Paul, $5-$13 for music passes, grandave.com)

Also: Veteran Twin Cities journalist Burl Gilyard, who died in May of a neuro-muscular disease, wrote about music and business (most recently for the Star Tribune), and a few of his favorite local bands, including Trailer Trash, ELnO and the Belfast Cowboys, will pay tribute in a fundraiser to defray medical expenses (2-6 p.m. Hook & Ladder, $32.90); two freakish hard-rock bands of old, Les Claypool’s Primus and Maynard James Keenan’s A Perfect Circle, have teamed up with another of Keenan’s bands Puscifer on the Sessanta V2.0 Tour (7:30 p.m. Xcel Energy Center, $106 & up).

Thirty-plus years after she produced a couple cassettes of playful electro-pop while living in Minneapolis, Pamela Valfer is back as Kitty Craft riding a wave of cultish viral fame for her old music via Asian audiences and TikTokers (8 p.m., 7th St. Entry, $27.50); Accordo, consisting of string players from the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, will perform works by Bruce Adolphe, John Novacek and Felix Mendelssohn for its final concerts of the season (7:30 p.m. Mon., Westminster Hall, 7:30 p.m. Tue., Icehouse, $26).

The North Carolina saxophonist has amassed an impressive résumé in a short period of time. He’s played with Lionel Richie, Bette Midler, CeeLo Green, Fantasia Barrino, Young Jeezy, the Gap Band and Branford Marsalis, among others. He was one of Prince’s go-to saxophonists from 2012–2016. He also leads his own band and has released his own music in the smooth jazz realm. Since Prince died, Crutchfield has been an instructor in the annual Purple Playground’s Academy of Prince in the Twin Cities, teaching young people about the Purple One and helping them to create their own music. Crutchfield will perform with his own band and some students in a benefit for the nonprofit Purple Playground at the place where Prince made his professional debut. (6:30 p.m. Capri Theater, 2027 W. Broadway, Mpls., $55.20, free for ages 12 and under, Eventbrite.com)

Dr. Mambo’s Combo, the Twin Cities funk-rock institution with whom Prince used to sit in, does their annual birthday week salute to the Purple One (7:30 p.m. Parkway Theater, $45-$50); British alt-rock vet and author Robyn Hitchcock is back for a long “evening with” gig that will likely include a few stories (8:30 p.m. Turf Club, $35); Italian guitar wiz Matteo Mancuso, who has been cosigned by Steve Vai and Al Di Meola, makes his Twin Cities debut (7 & 9 p.m. the Dakota, $35-$45).

Classical music critic Rob Hubbard contributed to this column.