ERIC SOMMER
12:30 a.m. Midtown. $5.
This weekend, Central Arkansas gets not one but two shows from Eric Sommer, without a doubt one of the most battle-tested road warriors on the singer/songwriter circuit today, and certainly one of the most fleet-fingered guit-pickers around.
He’s got some serious range, from power-pop to upbeat slide blues ravers to earnest Americana and chiming Fahey-type instrumental fingerpicking. Sommer usually plays Midtown when he comes through the area, and from what I hear he’s built up a good following there. But if Midtown’s smoky 12:30 a.m. start time is a little on the late side for you, you can check out Sommer at a free 18-and-older show at 7 p.m. Sunday at Stickyz.
He’s got new tunes in store, including the sunny-sounding “Sunny Afghanistan,” a mocking paean to the life of a gun runner, “dealing automatic weapons by the ton” and “Doin’ Wrong,” a tale of a plague of bad luck that ends with the protagonist “livin’ in a Laundromat.”