Caroline Rose “hates hates hates” genres, so the singer/songwriter/frontwoman made up her own for the music made by her band, also called Caroline Rose: “schizodrift, which basically sounds like Blondie drunk on Mai Tais. Our shows can get pretty psycho.”
She teams up with local band Hammydown (the creation of singer/songwriter/guitarist Abbie Morin) for a show at the Parlor Room in Northampton on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Rose, a writer of poetry and songs since age 13, was once going to major in architecture, but the experience set off alarms for her (“It all felt like a farce,” she told one interviewer), so she hit the road, asked a lot of questions, wrote a lot of songs.
She has put out two records with a third on the way, and there’s a theme underlying her performances and country/folk/rock/garage/punk music (my genre descriptors, not hers), summed up by the title of one of her favorite songs to play: “I Will Not Be Afraid.” She puts it another way on the t-shirt for sale on her website: “F*** Fear.” In a scary time, Rose is wearing bright red and white and speaking and shouting her mind and heart.
Her previous record began with “Blood On Your Bootheels,” a song about racism and violence (inspired by the Trayvon Martin shooting) with lyrics that careen in run-on lines like a melding of Neko Case and Brenda Kahn. Hopefully included on the new record will be her breathless twang-rocker “Yip Yip Yow,” always a show highlight.
Hammydown’s Morin was once a folkier performer, but when she kept breaking strings on her acoustic, she decided it was time to plug in and turn up. She (bottom right) and her bandmates released their debut EP a few months ago, “Pizzaface,” with lyrics that deal with “the plight of the millennial slacker.”
The Sweetback Sisters celebrate the release of their new album, “King of Killing Time,” at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls on Friday at 7 p.m. The Mammals open.
The Town Council — the trio of Rick Murnane, Fred Goodhue and Nick Dines — plays its final public performance at Mocha Maya’s in Shelburne Falls on Friday at 8 p.m. Free show.
The Mary Jane Jones, the long-running local jazz/blues/soul ensemble fronted by vocalist/songwriter Mandy Pachios, brings its current nine-piece lineup (complete with horn section) to the Iron Horse in Northampton on Friday at 10 p.m. Boston-based soul singer Ali McGuirk starts off the night with her trio.
Moon Power, dogs breath, Arvilla and Kill D Stroy make up the quadruple bill at the Royal Monarch, an all-ages art/music/performance space in Easthampton, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Charles Neville, backed by his son Khalif‘s trio, offers up two sets of funky jazz at the Luthier’s Co-op in Eathampton on Sunday at 7 p.m.
The Adam Rudolph/Hamid Drake Duo, with special guest Ralph C. Jones on reeds, plays UMass Old Chapel at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Monday at 8 p.m. It’s the latest show in the 29th season of the locally legendary Magic Triangle Jazz Series.
Frankie Cosmos (at right), the acclaimed indie quartet led by vocalist/guitarist Greta Kline, plays the Iron Horse in Northampton on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. Sharing the bill are Ian Sweet (Brooklyn band led by singer/songwriter Jilian Medford) and Nice Try (indie-pop trio from Bloomington, Indiana, fronted by vocalist/guitarist Madeline Robinson).