Tyler Childers
Country artist Tyler Childers contains multitudes. Take, for example, last year’s “Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?,” an album that imagined eight songs three different ways. The “Hallelujah” disc was recorded live in the studio; “Jubilee” adorned the songs with horns and strings; and “Joyful Noise” reworked the songs, sometimes beyond recognition. Despite the tripartite release, the prolific artist is already readying a new album, “Rustin’ in the Rain,” of Elvis-inspired love songs. The first hint of the release is “In Your Love,” a stirring, romantic ballad that Childers wrote in collaboration with a fellow Kentuckian, celebrated author Silas House, using the video to tell a queer love story set in Appalachia. Aug. 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. merriweathermusic.com. Sold out.
Seattle natives Rob Granfelt and Antoine Martel have plied their trades as members of experimental jazz collective High Pulp, but when it came time to explore their more avant-garde inclinations, the duo founded Sunking. As a pair, Granfelt and Martel embrace a genre-less mix that draws from jazz, hip-hop and beyond and leans into discomfort. “Whether it’s the unexpected tonalities or the abstract song structures or even just the raw approach we took to recording,” Granfelt has said, “we’re committing to everything we do in such a way that by the end of the experience, it all feels right and cohesive.” Aug. 13 at 8 p.m. at Pie Shop, 1339 H St. NE. pieshopdc.com. $15-$20.
Ziggy Alberts
Living up to his port of origin — Australia’s Sunshine Coast — singer-songwriter Ziggy Alberts brings a sunny positivity to folky songs that are immediate and personal. His minimalist 2022 album, “Dancing in the Dark,” looks to inspire people to keep their heads up after a trying few years. In kind, Alberts — an environmentalist who has worked to make his tours as green and plastic-free as possible — keeps fighting the good fight, like when he sings on “Together” of people “more concerned with selling water to private companies than we are with the health of the rivers where we’re drinking from.” Aug. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. birchmere.com. $35.
Masters of the Mic: Hip Hop 50 Tour
Hip-hop’s humble beginnings date back to Aug. 11, 1973, when DJ Kool Herc provided the music for a Bronx back-to-school dance by extending the beat using two turntables and a mixer. To mark the 50th anniversary of that fateful occasion, several legendary figures that helped elevate what would become hip-hop into the cultural phenomenon it is today are joining forces. Headliners Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, Rakim and Slick Rick form a veritable rap Rushmore, while beatbox innovator Doug E. Fresh was one of rap’s first stars and Roxanne Shante was one of the MCs who paved the way for today’s female MC-led moment. Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. at Wolf Trap Filene Center, 1551 Trap Rd., Vienna. wolftrap.org. $48-$88.
