THURSDAY 7/5

THE TRICKS

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9:30 p.m. White Water Tavern. $5.

This show is a release party for the debut from The Tricks, a relatively new local group made up of Gabe Smoller, Alexander Jones and Jason Griswold. According to the band’s presser, the trio “grew up on the sounds of Pixies, Pavement, Ween and Weezer.” There’s definitely some Pavement influence audible on the record, especially on the shambling “Sorghum,” the acoustic-tinged “Chessmaster,” and album closer “Parachute,” all of which recall the quiet-loud dynamic that runs throughout “Wowee Zowee,” perhaps the weirdest and most underrated Pavement album. I also hear some traces of the rough-around-the-edges, pre-indie rock sounds of ’80s U.S. underground bands such as Squirrel Bait or The Embarrassment. “The Burglary” is a slice of unvarnished yet catchy pop punk that reminds me a bit of early stuff by The Cure. There’s an appealingly scrappy and youthful vibe to the album. It’s good stuff, and you can get it for $10 or the album and a T-shirt for $15. Also performing are the folk-rockin’ multi-instrumentalists in Don’t Stop Please, the Conway-based six-piece that has a new album coming out later this summer called “Crowded Car.”

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FRIDAY 7/6

LUCKY 777 INCH VINYL RELEASE CRUISE

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10 p.m. Arkansas Queen. $15.

Ah, the 7″ split single, the historically punk- and hardcore-oriented format that gave us classic unions like Melvins/Nirvana, Destroy/Disrupt, Rorschach/Neanderthal, Crossed Out/Man is the Bastard and so many more. Add to the list Iron Tongue/The Dirty Streets. The two bands are chums and did a tour together in 2010. Now, they’re joining forces for a split vinyl slab of bluesy heaviosity. Iron Tongue you probably know as the local supergroup whose steel-forged songs of pain pick up your head and slam it gently into the sidewalk — metaphorically speaking, mostly. The Dirty Streets is a power trio out of Memphis that boogies down the same overdriven, fuzzed-out highway as yesteryear greats like Blue Cheer or The Groundhogs or more contemporary cosmonauts such as Comets on Fire. The Dirty Streets are out on the dusty road right now, but you can catch Iron Tongue aboard the Arkansas Queen, with Hot Springs’ finest purveyors of nasty punk ‘n’ roll The Holy Shakes and Little Rock’s The Nigh Ends, which has personnel from some of the city’s best rock bands of the last decade-plus.

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SATURDAY 7/7

DIKKI DU & THE ZYDECO KREWE

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9 p.m. Stickyz. $5.

If you’re looking for a night to cut loose, have a drink or three or four and dance around with complete abandon like some kinda gol-durn fool, this right here should do quite nicely. Dikki Du is the stage name of Troy Carrier, who grew up in the tiny South Louisiana town of Lawtell (say it like “lot-tell”). Carrier has a great voice and is a maestro on the accordion. Backing him up is The Zydeco Krewe, an ace group that includes his son, drummer Troy Carrier Jr. The group’s tight playing anchors the whole thing, though they’re never shy about stretching it all the way out like sticky sonic taffy. In terms of pure and utterly unselfconscious fun, this 18-and-older show will be hard to top and at a mere five bones, it’ll be a hell of a bargain as well.

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SATURDAY 7/7

GRETCHEN WILSON

7 p.m. Magic Springs’ Timberwood Amphitheater. $30-$65.

Look out, Central Arkansas, because Gretchen Wilson — that’s right, the genuine “Redneck Woman” herself — is here to raise a little hell and tell all you lily-livered liberals and pop country fans specifically where you can stick your Dixie Chicks and Rascal Flatts CDs. Hint: It ain’t in that CD wallet thingy that’s attached to the sun visor of your Subaru Forester. Naw, according to the video for “Redneck Woman,” her massive hit from back in aught-four, Wilson “ain’t never been that Barbie Doll type.” She wears a ball cap and drives a four-wheeler and goes muddin’ in, I don’t know, what looks like a ’76 Silverado shortbed, and she prefers beer to sweet champagne and she shops at Walmart and she’ll stand barefoot in her own front yard with a baby on her hip. Also, according to her videos, her drummer looks disconcertingly like James Carville. Also, according to her videos, her house got a lot nicer between the videos for “Redneck Woman” and “Come to Bed.” Of course, she played some big tours and sold more than a few albums in the interim. But then in ’07 or so, her album “One of the Boys,” which had lots of tender tunes like “Come to Bed” and “Heaven Help Me,” wasn’t doing so great on the charts. She eventually broke ties with her big label and struck out on her own. She amped up the Southern rock-style country with “I Got Your Country Right Here,” released in 2010 on her own Redneck Records. It’s pretty good, even though she never does tell us specifically where she’s got our country. Wilson’s fresh off being named NRA Country Artist of the Month for June. She had this to say about it, according to artistdirect.com: “As I go through this journey called ‘life,’ I am reminded every day of God’s sweet blessings. Freedom to live my life the way I was raised is what makes me who I am. I am Gretchen Wilson. I am a strong woman. I am NRA Country! God Bless America.”

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SUNDAY 7/8

MICHAEL WALKER

10 p.m. Revolution. $10-$20.

I heard recently from promoter Chris Bowen that Little Rock singer Michael Walker has been making big waves and playing to growing crowds at Ernie Biggs over the last few weeks. Walker has been singing since he was a youngster, drawing influence from such R&B and soul giants as Al Green, Frankie Beverly and Maze and Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band. This show is to celebrate the release of Walker’s single “She Left Me,” which was produced by Bowen. It’s a heartbroken lamentation for the woman who left and it lets Walker showcase his great voice. The tune has a classic ’90s R&B sound that hearkens back to such artists as Jodeci and Keith Sweat. Bowen said there’s more to come from Michael Walker, but until then you can pick up the single starting July 9 at Ugly Mike’s Records. Other performers include trumpeter par excellence Rodney Block, as well as singer Jeron Marshall and The Live Onestone Band.

TUESDAY 7/10

ATMOSPHERE

9 p.m. Juanita’s. $20.

Minneapolis-based Atmosphere has been at it since the late ’90s, more or less inventing the confessional emo-rap subgenre along the way. Primarily a duo — MC Slug and producer and DJ Ant — the group has taken a decidedly more punk rock approach than a lot of other hip-hop bands, releasing their own albums, touring relentlessly (sometimes with a live backing band) and generally eschewing the brand-whoring and braggadocio of a lot of mainstream hip-hop in favor of darker, more introspective and personal material. The title of Atmosphere’s ’08 album sums up its approach nicely: “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold.” I suppose Atmosphere is among the bands that could be dubbed as indie backpacker fare, but that seems like a copout way to sum up a group that’s most certainly paid its dues and blazed its own path. Whatever you wanna say about Atmosphere, 2 Chainz it ain’t. Openers include DJ Rare Groove and Blueprint and I Self Devine, both of which are on the Rhymesayers roster that includes Atmosphere and other indie hip-hop luminaries such as Aesop Rock and MF Doom.

TUESDAY 7/10

INDIGENOUS

8:30 p.m. Stickyz. $12 adv., $14 day of.

South Dakota blues rockers Indigenous started out as a family band, with frontman Mato Nanji being backed up by his brother Pte, sister Wandbi and cousin Horse. But after several albums of crunchy, electrified blues in the vein of the late, great SRV, culminating with the band’s Vanguard debut, 2006’s “Chasing the Sun,” the lineup changed. Pte, Wandbi and Horse departed, and Mato Nanji lined up a new crew and took things in a slightly rootsier direction, with 2008’s Broken Lands, which was described by Allmusic’s Richie Unterberger as owing more to “Bruce Springsteen than it does to Muddy Waters.” 2010’s “The Acoustic Sessions” offered 11 tracks of, as advertised, acoustic guitar-centric renditions of several Indigenous tunes, as well as a cover of Roy Orbison’s “You Got It.” The opener at the 18-and-older show is Arkansas blues rock wunderkind Stephen Neeper.

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