FRIDAY, APRIL 10

Andy the Door Bum CD release The man in the Milestone booth – aka Andy Fenstermaker – delivers us another set of home-fried country rock that should, if history holds, shame most Americana troubadorks into just shutting the fuck up, please. Though we've only been privy to one MySpace cut – press leaks have been tighter than a multinational bank's credit spigot – it has all the characteristics of another ADB winner: passionate playing, a slyly textured arrangement, throat-lozenge vocals, and a story worth listening to for a change. With Lisa's Sons and KpSoloMan5000. Milestone (John Schacht)

Lamb Handler Playing the first hometown show in Charlotte since the release of its CD Jingle Jangle back in January, the Lamb Handler crew (former members of Loaf faves Dirty Box, Semi-Pro and it could be nothing) are bringing along fellow Coma Gun Records labelmates New Killer Stars, a Netherlands troupe who've opened shows for the likes of Dino Jr. and Eagles of Death Metal. Given the stone(d) free(ly) live shows the Handler boys are known for, having a few flying Dutchmen around probably won't phase them one whit. The band describes its new, more Southern-fried sound as lying somewhere "between Queens of the Stone Age and Rev. Horton Heat." Stoned and heated, indeed. With New Killer Stars. Snug Harbor (Timothy C. Davis)

Vertigo This Tennessee quartet sometimes doesn't quite know which way to go. Musically that is. But with harder edged pop-rock, effects-laden guitar work and a fairly potent female vocalist, they manage to find their way back. Their moody pop holds promise and the new recording, And Miles to Go Before We Sleep, has several worthy cuts touched lightly with '80s punk and alt.rock ethos. With Charlotte's Sugar Glyder. Double Door Inn (Samir Shukla)

The Corduroy Road The chatty banjo, rolling harmonies, the acoustic guitar and melodic, Southern vocals are the name of the game for Athens quartet The Corduroy Road. The music is so damn, well comfy, that the quaint country and roots music peppered with folk rock sounds warmly familiar. The gents are releasing an E.P., Just One Drop (April) and a full-length Love Is a War (June) recorded with veteran Athens knobs-twirler John Keane. Puckett's Farm Equipment (Shukla)

The New Familiars The guys may have lost one teammate – banjo/guitarist/singer Eric-Scott Guthrie amicabily left the group in March – but they've been in the studio working hard on a new album. It'll be interesting to hear how the sound has changed and maybe get a glimpse at some of the new stuff – I'm guessing it won't include the Bojangles fish anthem though. Neighborhood Theatre (Jeff Hahne)

SATURDAY, APRIL 11

Earl Scruggs Sometimes you make the music, sometimes the music makes you. The 85-year-old Earl Scruggs, like former bandmate Bill Monroe, is one of those guys who has made music in his very own image, creating a genre from the ground up. Having basically invented three-finger bluegrass banjo (now called simply "Scruggs style" if it's called anything at all), Scruggs melded jazz and blues into what was too often a hopelessly white (if white-hot) art form, and laid the groundwork for all the "newgrass" bands to come later. His picking has slowed a little bit over the years, but Scruggs has always taken good care of himself, so the drop-off is negligible. Besides, did anyone really complain that Babe Ruth didn't hit the ball 500 feet toward the end of his career? No. They just came to see the legend hit one over the wall. Presented by The Neighborhood Theatre, Ovens Auditorium (Davis)

Eyes of the Elders CD Release The show may be listed as Eyes of the Elders, but it's all Stump Dickens these days. After the departure of Josh Panda last year, the guys known as Uncle Fox and Bearcat joined forces with a live band. The guitar of Austin Hill is well known from his solo work and that with Humans, and he brings the same fire to Stump. Christina Swinger's violin is also heavily showcased on the album and brings a classical, eerie and sometimes jazzy element to the groove. The band's celebrating its new seven-song EP. Snug Harbor (Hahne)

MONDAY, APRIL 13

Disturbed The latest incarnation of the band's Music As a Weapon Tour – it's the fourth one – will bring a whole helluva lot of metal to Charlotte. The band will share the main stage with Killswitch Engage, Lacuna Coil and Chimaira. The second stage will be taken over by Suicide Silence, Spineshank, Bury Your Dead and Crooked X. Lots of distortion and screaming – guaranteed. Bojangles Coliseum (Hahne)

TUESDAY, APRIL 14

Holy Ghost Tent Revival Praise be, but somebody tell me when these banjo-fueled revivals have finally simmered down. Lest we be accused of party-pooping on this group of Greensboro jump-blues and ragtime partisans, we're all in favor of the young'uns discovering music whose roots transcend, I dunno, The Strokes, but for anybody with some miles on 'em we've jitterbugged 'round this maypole before (Squirrel Nut Zippers anyone?). Still, these cats do not lack for live energy, and last year's studio debut, So Long I Screamed, had enough songwriting nuggets to suggest that once they tone down the shtick – several members are theater vets, and you can tell – good things await. With Philly's Hoots & Hellmouth. The Evening Muse (Schacht)

MDC The band's debut 7" (in 1981) was titled John Wayne Was a Nazi. The Cali blokes have since released and toured their toxically political hardcore and punk nuggets with a few periods of intermittent inactivity. MDC (Millions of Damn Cops, Multi-Death Corporation, Millions of Damn Christians, take your pick) have been spewing guitars-blasted, vocals-thrashed, lyrical bombast that still shakes the girders of gin joints around the world with nary a care for trends – musical, political or otherwise. Also on the bill are Embrace the Kill and Dirty South Revolutionaries. Milestone (Shukla)