ON STAGE THE WEEK’S BEST
THE RECORD COMPANY
Style: Rock that is respectful rather than reverent about the blues.
Backstory: Chris Vos used to play in Milwaukee bands, but the Record Company came together in 2011 after he moved to Los Angeles. With Vos on lead vocals and guitar, Alex Stiff on bass and Mike Cazorla on drums, the band became a minor sensation with its 2016 debut LP, “Give It Back to You,” and its dedication to tightly bluesy rock ’n’ roll.
Why you should go: In June, the Record Company put out its second LP, “All of This Life,” which doesn’t mess with the band’s evocation of everyone from B.B. King to the Black Keys. The trio will help Harley-Davidson celebrate its 115th anniversary during a weekend that also features Rival Sons (earlier on Friday), Supersuckers and the Reverend Horton Heat (on Saturday).
Time and place: 9 p.m. Friday, Harley-Davidson Museum, 400 W. Canal St.
Price: Free.
— Jon M. Gilbertson, Special to the Journal Sentinel
LADY ANTEBELLUM AND DARIUS RUCKER
Style: Unmistakably pop-oriented
C&W.
Backstory: Lady Antebellum became a big-time group with three hot singles off its self-titled first LP in 2008. Its second, “Need You Now,” and the titular single, made Lady Antebellum huge. Darius Rucker knew that feeling during the 1990s, when he fronted the massively successful Hootie & the Blowfish. His neo-Nashville solo career hasn’t gone too badly, either.
Why you should go: Rucker’s most recent disc is 2017’s “When Was the Last Time,” while Lady Antebellum’s is the same year’s chart-topping “Heart Break.” Neither purists nor outlaws have time for these two and their unabashedly smooth and crowd-pleasing tunes, but even the most casual fan of either, or both, will find considerable professional entertainment at this show.
Time and place: 7 p.m. Saturday, American Family Insurance Amphitheater, Maier Festival Park, 200 N. Harbor Drive.
Price: $44.55 to $103.85 at the box office, (800) 745-3000 and ticketmaster .com.
— Jon M. Gilbertson
STEVE ‘N’ SEAGULLS
Style: Not much more than one musical joke, told very well.
Backstory: YouTube popularity is usually the domain of Bieber wannabes and gamers, but Steve ’N’ Seagulls began making good use of the video-sharing site in 2014. The Finnish group might have swiped a cue from Nickel Creek or Hayseed Dixie, and its countrified cover of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” got tens of millions of views.
Why you should go: On two albums, 2015’s “Farm Machine” and 2016’s “Brothers in Farms,” Steve ’N’ Seagulls has sown, harvested, fed and milked its metallic-to-bluegrass shtick for songs by Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Led Zeppelin and Dio. The group’s sturdy musicianship and lack of winking keep the shtick almost fresh, and live there’s more room for dexterity.
Opener: ClusterPluck, a raring-to-go rootsy threesome from southern Illinois.
Time and place: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Shank Hall, 1434 N. Farwell Ave.
Price: $20 at the box office, (866) 468-3401 and shankhall.com. — Jon M. Gilbertson
NEKO CASE
Style: Americana that isn’t quite of this nation, or of Earth.
Backstory: Born in Virginia but not there for too long, Neko Case found her musical home in Vancouver. That’s where she began her attachment (still binding) to the power-pop New Pornographers, although on her own she initially was a down-home woman with records like 1997’s promising “The Virginian” and 2000’s fulfilling “Furnace Room Lullaby.”
Why you should go: This year, Case put out “Hell-On,” her latest simultaneously delightful and confounding collection of songs that hover on the edges of subgenres and float on her quietly spectacular vocals. She now has a daunting back catalog — including a collaborative disc with k.d. lang and Laura Veirs — and a reputation for heartbreaking, heart-lifting live performances.
Opener: Thao (Nguyen) of Thao & the Get Down Stay Down. If you like Neko Case, you should dig her, too.
Time and place: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Pabst Theater, 144 E. Wells St.
Price: $38.50 at the box office, the Riverside Theater box office (116 W. Wisconsin Ave.), (414) 286-3663 and pabst theater.org. — Jon M. Gilbertson