Tierney Sutton
WAMC, Thursday

Tierney Sutton just released her fifth album, Dancing in the Dark, in February, to critical acclaim. The songs are from the Frank Sinatra songbook, but not to worry—you won’t be hearing yet another cover of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” She’s now on tour to support the new album, and when she stops in to the WAMC Performing Arts Studio, she’ll have her longtime band backing her (as she did on the album)—bassists Kevin Axt and Trey Henry, drummer Ray Brinker, and pianist Christian Jacob. According to the globs of praise Sutton has received—the Boston Globe says that Sutton has “a honey voice . . . with a touch of Ella Fitzgerald”—it should be quite a show. (Sept. 9, 8 PM, $15, 339 Central Ave., Albany, 800-323-9262)

Mose Allison
The Van Dyck, Friday

Given the high praise that
Mose Allison has received from his peers—he can count among his fans the likes of Tom Waits and Van Morrison, and he’s been covered by the likes of the Who and Bonnie Raitt—it’s odd that his commercial profile isn’t higher. But throughout his career the jazz-blues (or is that jazz/blues?) songwriter has confounded categories, and that can make for a tough sell. Not that it’s slowed him down in any other way. Allison has more than two dozen albums to his credit and, at 70 years old, is still recording, still touring and still wowing those in the know. (Sept. 10, 7 and 9:30 PM, $20, 237 Union St., Schenectady, 381-1111)

Cowboy Junkies
The Egg, Saturday

In 1988, Cowboy Junkies’ release The Trinity Sessions—a wistful album of dreamy, rural melancholy—went platinum. Platinum. The album was recorded over the course of a single night in a Canadian church using only one microphone, and featured not a single Pepsi tie-in or nipple-exposing-halftime-show-PR-gambit, and still went platinum. How things have changed. But as they say, the more things change . . . In the ensuing years, Cowboys Junkies have enjoyed “a remarkably consistent 18-year career” (according to Creative Loafing) without any significant loss of vibe: Tracks Magazine says that after all this time, Cowboy Junkies can still “make romantic desperation, inclement weather, even cold-blooded murder sound like a pretty sexy way to burn through an afternoon.” (Sept. 11, 8 PM, $24, Empire State Plaza, Albany, 473-1845)

Collective Soul
University at Albany, Sunday

Collective Soul haven’t had a hit in nearly five years—long enough a span that it’s possible that all of the students in attendance at SUNY Albany Fall Fest could have matriculated after the band’s last big single—but there should be no doubt that the band will be long on crowd-pleasers when they headline the multi-band, all-ages festival this Sunday afternoon. The Georgia-based band have to their credit a string of platinum albums, including 1994’s Hints, Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, and eight No. 1 rock tracks, including the positively mammoth tunes ”December,” “The World I Know,” and “Shine.” They’re currently recording a new studio album for release this fall. This Sunday’s bill will also feature locals Bishop, Import, the Velmas, and Ben Tyler. (Sept 12, 1 PM, $10, 1200 Washington Ave., Albany, 442-3997)

Gloria Estefan
Pepsi Arena, Tuesday

Come on, shake your body
baby, do the conga, you know you can’t control yourself any longer, feel the rhythm of the music getting stronger . . . and all that blah blah. But come on—we know Gloria makes you want to shake your groove thing. Both as a solo artist and fronting the Miami Sound Machine, Estefan is a force to be reckoned with. She’s the most successful Latin crossover artist ever—more than Ricky Martin, more than Enrique Iglesias, and more than (shudder) Jennifer Lopez. They all bow down and worship at the Temple of Gloria. And so should you. (Sept. 14, 8 PM, $37-127, 51 S. Pearl St., Albany, 476-1000)

Drive-By Truckers, Allison Moorer
Pearl Street, Wednesday

Muscle Shoals is a town of just under 12,000 that sits high in the northwest corner of Alabama, an hour from the borders of Louisiana and Tennessee. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, superstars like the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Wilson Pickett, and Aretha Franklin conceived some truly legendary music at Muscle Shoals’ legendary FAME Recording Studio. Somewhere ’round about that time, the five members of Drive-By Truckers were also conceived, and by golly, if we ain’t tickled about that. The band’s new LP, The Dirty South, was recorded at that same legendary studio, and it tells the tale of a South whose face is changing, and whose people are struggling to stay afloat in tough times, all set to a gritty part-Skynyrd, part-Steve Earle soundtrack. Allison Moorer, whose latest LP, The Duel, features guitar work from ex-Superdrag frontman John Davis, will open this double dose of modern country-rock. (Sept. 15, 7 PM, $15, 10 Pearl St., Northampton, Mass., 413-584-7771)

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