THOMAS WYNN & THE BELIEVERS

At 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13

Live Wire Music Hall, 307 W. River St. $5

Anyone who's still got a healthy jones for the southern blues/rock of bands like Wet Willie or the Elvin Bishop Group needs to come and see this Florida combo. Not only is Wynn a killer lead guitarist, he has a singing voice that's so powerful it'll knock that old Skynyrd bandana right off your head.

Seriously, the voice is a bluesy octave-leaping mother, like Jimmy Hall's, or Mickey Thomas' (in his pre-Starship days). There's some Gregg Allman in there, too, but Wynn, who plays mostly original material, is a seriously cool contender in this, the year 2011. If anyone is going to jumpstart a revival of interest in this sort of purely southern soulful rock, it's Thomas Wynn.

Add to this a muscular band that includes Wynn's sister Olivia delivering smoking, Bonnie Bramlett-esque harmony and counterpoint vocals and a mad drummer named Rion Smith. For a measly five-buck admission, you don't want to miss this one. See thomaswynn@bandcamp.com

TOWN MOUNTAIN

At 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13

Randy Wood Guitars, 1304 E. Highway 80, Bloomingdale. $20

From Asheville's especially vibrant acoustic music scene comes a quintet that combines the simplicity of traditional bluegrass with the youthful attitude and high-energy quickstep of the progressives. Town Mountain has just released its third full-length album, Steady Operator, about which the estimable No Depression had this to say: "Deep, meaningful lyrics and powerful instrumentation to back them up ... these boys know what they're doing. The clean, crisp licks and runs featured throughout the album showcase the talent of the gifted members of the band."

"We certainly are on the fence of traditional and progressive," banjo player Jesse Langlais told the magazine. "We play it in the vein of traditional, but it's progressive in the way of some of the stuff we're doing musically. The songs we bring to the table...we're not playing old songs. We're doing stuff we've written or cover songs that we've selected. We ride the line." See townmountain.net