LEON RUSSELL
8 p.m., Revolution. $25.
In the history of pop music, no one can touch Leon Russell as a session man. When he was just 14, he lied about his age to gig at a Tulsa nightclub, where he reportedly played behind Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks (who’d later, of course, become the Band) and later landed a job touring with Jerry Lee Lewis. A couple years down the road, he ended up in L.A., where he did sessions for Glen Campbell and played as a member of Phil Spector’s band. He occasionally played and arranged songs like Ike and Tina Turner’s “River Deep, Mountain High,” the Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man” and Gary Lewis and the Playboys’ “This Diamond Ring.” He did sessions with BB King and Bob Dylan, appeared in George Harrison’s concert for Bangladesh and toured with the Stones. Since the mid-’70s, he’s mostly stayed focused on his varied solo career and prodigious Santa Claus beard. Look for him, Sunday, to warble like a drunk Randy Newman, and venture through a wild mix of genres — Southern swamp, bluegrass, country, rock — likely with his daughters, Tina Rose and Sugaree Noel, backing him.
‘POP-DOO-WOP’
3 p.m., Trinity United Methodist Church. Free.
The 50-member River City Men’s Chorus kicks off its season with a nostalgic revue of the last 60 years of pop music. Expect songs like “Autumn Leaves,” “As Time Goes By” and “Blue Moon” as the chorus highlights classics from the 1930s to present day. For this performance, the RCMC allows that “a limited amount of swooning, dancing in the aisles, and throwing flowers on the stage will be permitted.” An encore show follows at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 22, also at Trinity United Methodist.