Senegalese singer Baaba Maal’s “Tales from the Sahel” show tonight at the Birchmere should prove to be very different from his last local appearance a year and half ago.   That gig offered his 13-piece band Daande Lenol adapting songs from his 2009 album Television, which featured programmed beats and guest vocals from members of New York band Brazilian Girls. But tonight, this longtime vocalist—whose  high-pitched timbre has led him to be dubbed "The Nightingale"—will  be just  joined by percussionist Mermans Mosengo, British multi-instrumentalist Jim Palmer, and longtime British music critic and author Chris Salewicz.

Via email, Maal explained that the tour, which includes acoustic music alternating with question-and-answers segments, “is something I have been doing for many years in Africa and is how musicians have performed for centuries. In the west I was invited to give a lecture at the British Museum about five years ago and I brought my guitar along and it's progressed from there.” The Sahel is a belt-shaped region of grasslands and savannahs that stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the East. The college-educated Maal’s father was a nomadic farmer in that region. As a teenager and 20-something Maal toured Senegal and Europe with guitarist and griot Mansour Seck, and they would recount historical tales and perform.

Maal first met Salewicz, who has penned books on Bob Marley and Joe Strummer, 20 years ago when the critic, after seeing Maal perform in Paris, visited him in his home town of Podor. “Every show has been different so Chris has surprised me every night,” he says, adding “that the beauty of this show is that we don't know where the discussions will lead.” Maal says that with this spoken segment he is trying to convey “something of the rich and vibrant culture of Africa and how culture is an important part of the process to educate, and how we should all work together for a better future.” Similarly with the choice of songs Maal states, the setlist “does change every night and I sing some very old songs and a couple of new ones, but I like to keep it as a surprise.”

Maal had intended to have his longtime percussionist Mamadou Sarr with him on the entire tour, but Saar was blocked from getting his visa in a timely manner. “No reason was given, just more time was needed for processing. I have just heard that he might have a visa granted in time for the last three  shows this weekend so we are waiting with fingers crossed.  He was so upset he could not travel; Mamadou toured the U.S. last year and there was no problem. However we have been fortunate that my great friends from the band Playing For Change lent me Mermans Mosengo, their amazing percussionist, for the tour.” Maal says he began working with the other musician on this tour, Jim Palmer, “about five years ago, and Jim was very important during the recordings of my last album Television. I invited him to play with my African band Daande Lenol when we went on the road and he has even come to Senegal a few times to play shows in Dakar. He is so versatile and plays so many instruments including drums sometimes on this tour.”

This tour is not the only item the busy Maal is working on.  “I have been in the studio a lot recently working with Playing For Change,” he says, plus “a young very talented  musician from the U.K. called Jamie Woon, and I have just released an album in Senegal only called Souvenier. I am sure some of these projects will be released shortly here.” In addition, there’s his annual Senegalese music festival. “Its going very well, thank you, we are now on the sixth edition and will be held in Podor, northern Senegal over the first weekend of December. It's called ‘Les Blues du Fleuve [The Blues of the River].’ You are all invited to come!"

Baaba Maal performs at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Avenue, Alexandria. $35. (703) 549-7500

Predictably, the entertainment behemoth has packed the club's staff with its own people: Justin Kujawa, former promoter at The Pageant in St. Louis, will lead the club's booking team; Jackie Knight, a former Live Nation tour coordinator, is Junior Buyer. Erstwhile Warner Theatre Event Manager Stephanie Steele is general manager. More hires will be announced later on.

The Fillmore also announced the opening of a "preview center" around the corner from the venue at 921 Ellsworth Drive (the same location as ArtSpring). Anyone interested can walk in and get a little history lesson on the original Fillmore in San Francisco and the construction of the Silver Spring venue. My guess is they'll leave out all the controversial stuff about its sweetheart deal with Montgomery County and the State of Maryland, the Birchmere kerfuffle, and the (dismissed) IMP lawsuit.

The venue's opening date is still mid-September 2011; no concerts have been announced. If reading this has made you want to work for Live Nation, Fillmore will also host a job fair in early August.

Friday

• Salt-N-Pepa. DAR Constitution Hall. $41.50-$70.

• Bellmer Dolls, Monozid, Bootblacks, We Fought The Big One (DJs). The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• Tom McBride and the Whig Party. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• Perpetual Groove, Future, Poor Man's Lobster. 9:30 Club. $14.

• Junior League Band, The David Wax Museum, Lightfoot. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Stacy Brooks. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Antares. Wolf Trap. $35.

• Nunchucks, The Trillions (Ex Prabir), The Blue Line. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Steve Forbert. Jammin Java. $20.

• Black Lips, Box Elders, The Vermilions. Black Cat mainstage. $13 in advance, $15 day of.

• The Average White Band. Birchmere. $35.

• Kix, ZO2, Baby Jayne. Jaxx. $27 in advance, $30 day of. 21+.

• The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. Kennedy Center Millenium Stage. Free.

Saturday

• Chris Allen. Comet Ping Pong. $8.

• Velvet, Brave, Pseudostate. The Red & The Black. $8.

• Dead Heart Bloom, Aaron Thompson. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• Anvil, Misstallica. 9:30 Club. $20.

• Bio Ritmo, Funk Ark, Dende & Hahahaes. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Tha' Buds. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Jeri Sager. Wolf Trap. $25.

• Kingsley Flood, Threadbare Orchestra, Tall Tall Trees. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Fruit Bats, Blue Giant, The Singleman Affair. Black Cat mainstage. $12.

• Bonjour, Ganesh!, Milk Machine, Big Chimney. DC9. $8. 18+.

Sunday

• National Philharmonic: All Brahms. Strathmore. $29-$79.

• One For The Team, The Prisms. The Red & The Black. $6. 21+.

• David Ford. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• An Evening with Al Petteway and Amy White. Jammin Java. $20.

• Magik Markers, Buildings. Black Cat backstage. $10.

• David Wilcox, Patty Larkin. Birchmere. $35.

• Taking Saturn, A Sound of Thunder, Dance Party Hazard, Misanthrope, The Trouble With Satellites, Upon Disfigurement, Ashes of the Massacre, Radical Element, Silver Cyanide, Deep Down, Seven Days Past, All Out Chaos, The Shadow over Innsmouth, Vile Infection, Bound and Beaten, Once We Were Kids. Jaxx. $10 in advance, $12 day of.

• Barefoot Truth, Color School, Clifton Williams and the Blue Jams Band. DC9. $8. 18+.

The Hurt Locker, Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Christopher Waltz, Mo’Nique.

There, I just freed up your Sunday night. Wanna go see some excellent music instead?

Actually, if Bridges gets any Oscar love, it bodes well for the status of the guitar-toting troubadour in America’s cultural mythology—and, perhaps, for the prospects of Joe Pug and Justin Townes Earle. Both are country-folk musicians in their twenties, but you won't see either singing duets with Taylor Swift at the Verizon Center anytime soon. Each is decidedly old-fashioned: Earle with his Texas-country pedigree, throwback formality, and affection for honky tonk; and Pug with his sparse arrangements, linear songwriting, and lonely-guy-with-a-guitar aesthetic.

Both put on a good show. Earle is a ham who can set you to dancing with nothing but a tightly syncopated picking pattern. Pug, who toured last summer with Earle’s famous dad, just put out what I described the other week as an anticlimactic debut LP, but his lyrics will still sock you in the gut.

More so than Kathryn Bigelow’s acceptance speech. I promise.

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE W/ JOE PUG, BIRCHMERE (Map), MARCH 7, 7:30 P.M., $22.50

Photo courtesy of Flickr user mjbialis.

Friday

• Educated Consumers. Strathmore. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Big Bang TV, Bridges and Powerlines, The Jet Age. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• Taylor Carson, Peter Mulvey. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• Rogue Wave, Avi Buffalo. 9:30 Club. $15.

• Sondre Lerche, JBM. Rock and Roll Hotel. $20.

• Stacy Brooks. Bangbok Blues. Call for price.

• Jon Carroll. Wolf Trap. $22.

• Bellman Barker, The Vermillions, The Armchairs. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Chase Coy, Struan Shields. Jammin Java. $10 in advance, $13 day of.

• The Vita Ruins, Ra Ra Rasputin, Cobra Collective. Black Cat mainstage. $10 in advance, $12 day of.

• Leon Redbone, Brian Wendell Morton. Birchmere. $35.

• Hammerfall, Powerglove, Division, Pariah, Blood Corps. Jaxx. $27.50 in advance, $30 day of, $60 VIP.

• National Symphony Orchestra. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. $20-$85.

Saturday

• Aunt Martha, The Last Monarchs, Zach Peterson. The Red & The Black. $6. 21+.

• Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express. IOTA Club & Cafe. $18.

• N2N. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Celtic Crossroads. Wolf Trap. $25.

• Navi, The New Retro, Watusi. Velvet Lounge. $10.

• Bowling for Soup, The Dollyrots, Pessimist Parade. Black Cat mainstage. $13 in advance, $15 day of.

• David Bromberg & The Angel Band. Birchmere. $35.

• Cleveland Institute of Music. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Free.

Sunday

• GoGirlsDC: Mindy Miller, Nila Kay, Carmen Calhoun, Annie Sidley & Mojo Nation. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• Jonny Grave, Brian Franke, Ted Garber, Michael Yugo. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• Wolf's Blues Jam: Hot Rods and Old Gas, Hot Roddess Lisa Lim. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Old Crow, East of the Wall, Goes Cube, Eat People. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Billy Woodward and The Senders, The Woodshedders, Chester River Runoff. Jammin Java. $10 in advance, $13 day of.

• Justin Townes Earle, Joe Pug. Birchmere. $22.50.

• Otep, Bury Your Dead, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Destrophy, No Stars Over California, Every One Dies, Salvation Through Struggle. Jaxx. $20 in advance, $23 day of.

• Justin Trawick, Rene Moffatt, Tiffany Thompson, Steph Modder, Ryan Walker, Victoria Vox, Joy Ike, Dan Fisk, Nathan Robinson. DC9. $8. 18+.

Rogue Wave photo by Sterling Andrews, via MySpace.

Friday

• Incwell. Strathmore. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Hotspur, No Second Troy, Margot MacDonald Band, Boys Will Be Boys. 9:30 Club. $15.

• Bo Bice. Wolf Trap. $25.

• Yell County, The Courtesans, The Secret Pop Band. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• New Rock Church of Fire, Greenland, Drunk Tigers. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• Sweet Interference, Tripp, Hot Coffee Mississippi. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Two Car Living Room. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Reboot – The DC Hip Hop Takeover: Reemstarr, DTMD, Beatmakers Surock, Dunc, Maverick, Eurok. Velvet Lounge. $5. 21+.

• The Bigger Lights, Sing Me Insomnia, Action Item. Jammin Java. $13.

• Los Amigos Invisibles, Thunderball, DJ Afro. Black Cat mainstage. $23 in advance, $25 day of.

• National Symphony Orchestra. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. $20-$85.

• V.V.Brown. DC9. $8. 18+.

Saturday

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Itzhak Perlman. Strathmore. $30-$125.

• Nouvelle Vague, Clare and the Reasons. 9:30 Club. $25.

• 4th Haiti Relief Benefit Concert for Red Cross Relief Effort. IOTA Club & Cafe. Donations based.

• John Eaton. Wolf Trap. $25.

• Ravenous, Daddy Lion, Arden. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• CP Blues. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• La Snacks, Typefighter, The Ionosphere Club, Transmography. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Middle East MicFest Tour 2010: Mack Jones, Scottie Flippen, Jah I Witness, Kaze aka 4letters, K Beta, F.A.T., Faraz. Jammin Java. $10 in advance, $12 day of.

• Mission of Burma, Office of Future Plans. Black Cat mainstage. $15.

• The Devil Music Ensemble. Kennedy Center Millenium Stage. Free.

• Walter Beasley. Birchmere. $37.50.

• Franz Nicolay, Romania. DC9. $8. 18+.

Sunday

• Editors, The Antlers, The Dig. 9:30 Club. $20.

• Skeletonwitch, Iron Age, Howl. The Red & The Black. $12. 21+.

• Adrian Hardkor Krygowski, Molly Hagen, Twins of Gazelle. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• Elementary, Deville, Where Winston Stood, Power Pirate. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Animal Genital. Velvet Lounge. Free. 21+.

• Alternative Takes: An Acoustic Evening with The Verve Pipe. Jammin Java. $17 in advance, $20 day of.

• Lookbook, Frau Eva. Black Cat backstage. $8.

• Creole. Kennedy Center Millenium Stage. Free.

• The Manhattans, Gerald Alston, Blue Lovett. Birchmere. $45.

• Battle of the Bands: Azazel the Fallen, All of This, Sextacy, Electronic Hope, Evereaux, Hover Craft, Suffer No Guilt, March Til Morning, New Retro, Love at Hindsight. Jaxx. $8 in advance, $10 day of.

• Leslie & the Ly's, Christopher the Conquered, Shock Diamond. DC9. $10. 18+.

Hotspur photo by Jane Mallen, via MySpace.

Friday

• Ben Sollee, Carrie Rodriguez. IOTA Club & Cafe. $15.

• The Gerunds, Golden City, MilkMachine. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• The Vita Ruins, Casper Bangs, The Jaguar Club. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• King Soul. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Shawn Mullins, Justin Trawick. Birchmere. $25.

• Cowboy Mouth, Junior Brown. 9:30 Club. $25.

• Exit Clov, True Womanhood. Strathmore. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Aspen Ensemble: The Discovery Series. Wolf Trap. $35.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Iván Fischer, Mischa Maisky playing Tchaikovsky. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. $20-$85.

• Lorelei, A Study In Her, America Hearts. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• The Kennedys, Maura Kennedy solo CD release. Jammin Java. $18.

• The Loud Tour with Frayz, Whitefolks, DIA, Tese Fever, Rated R, E-Skillz, K-Beta and more. Jammin Java. $15.

Saturday

• Amanda Blank, Maluca, DJs Lil'El and Jackie-O. Rock and Roll Hotel. $16.

• Jimmy Lee. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Tea Leaf Green, Elmwood. 9:30 Club. $17.

• National Philharmonic: Russian Evening with Leon Fleisher. Strathmore. $29-$79.

• Nouveau Riche. DC9. Free before 10 p.m., $8 after. 21+.

• Girls Rock DC Benefit. Comet Ping Pong. $5.

• John Eaton. Wolf Trap. $25.

• Vocal Arts Society: Anne Schwanewilms, Malcolm Martineau. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. $45.

• An Evening with Charlie Hunter. Jammin Java. $20.

• Abrassive Actions, Invader, Gomorrah, Undercurrent, Silver Cyanide, Over Indulgence, Xstrophy, Orgy of the Damned, Gelidus Astrum, The Phoeniix, Engulfed in Flames. Jaxx. $8 in advance, $10 day of. All ages.

Sunday

• Bronze Radio Return, Dan Mills, The Chilling Effect. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• "Music Helping Haiti" with Echo Boom, Honor By August, Todd Wright, Michaela Thurlow, Tosin and the Rhapsody, Band, Prozakistan, Kat Diva & The World, Michael Yugo, Buster Brown, Laura Tasaggaris, Uninterrupted. Rock and Roll Hotel. $12 – all ticket profits go to "Music Helping Haiti."

• Those Darlins, Pine Hill Haints. Black Cat. $10.

• Blues Jam with Hot Rods and Old Gas and Hot Roddess Lisa Lim. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• David Sanborn Quartet, Joey DeFrancesco. Birchmere. $45.

• Paul Di'Anno, Icarus Witch, Baby Jayne, Bitter Pill. Jaxx. $18 in advance, $20 day of. 21+.

Ben Sollee photo by Liz Linder, via MySpace.

• Haiti Benefit Concert for the Red Cross Relief Effort: Brother Shamus, The Walkways, No Second Troy, Boxcar Collision, Bobby Thompson and more. IOTA Club & Cafe. Donations based.

• Sockets Records Showcase (with The Cornel West Theory, Hume, Imperial China, Buildings and Big Gold Belt). Black Cat. $12.

• Mike Terpak Blues Explosion. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Escape the Armada, Apartment 15, The Bourbon Devils, Cerca Trova, The Rythers, Better Red Than Dead, Irresponsible, LA.TD and Allday Mori. Jaxx. $8 in advance, $10 at door.

• King Giant, Tone, Gifts from Enola and Dark Sea Dream. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde" (Fri.-Sat.). Kennedy Center Concert Hall. $20-$85.

• Ra Ra Rasputin, Bellflur and Savoir Adore. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

Saturday

• Gloria Kim and Michael Butler. Jammin Java. $8.

• Down N Dirty Fest: The Audition, Sparks the Rescue, The Getaways, We Have the Summer and more. Jaxx. $13 in advance, $15 day of.

• Two Tears, Eyes of the Killer Robot and The Electricutions. Black Cat. $10.

• Scott Ramminger and The Crawstickers. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Laura Tsaggaris with Dawn Landes and the Hounds. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. Music Center at Strathmore. $25-$80.

Sunday

• A Night With Thievery Corporation. 9:30 club. $40.

• XMC and The Formers. Black Cat. $8.

• Robert Klein. Birchmere. $35.

• Blues Jam with Hot Rods and Old Gas and Hot Roddess Lisa Lim. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• People Under the Stairs, Grieves with Budo and Kenan Bell. Rock and Roll Hotel. $15.

The crowd that saw Back Door Slam Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam execute an acrobatic set at the Birchmere last night probably hadn’t seen guitar mastery like that since they were Davy Knowles’s age.

The audience skewed middle-aged—I was probably the youngest person there apart from the 22-year-old Knowles himself—and didn’t fill up the entire hall, which was too bad. But that didn’t stop Davy from turning on the electricity and sending portions of the crowd (one exuberant “young” lady in particular) to fits of hooting and flailing with his vintage blues howl and exceptionally lithe digits.

Opener Rob Drabkin, who flew all the way from Colorado for the occasion, was another technical whiz. He played a brief opening set, crooning over some complex acoustic licks in a style that a little too Dave Matthews for my taste. Then came Davy and BDS, and things got loud. Several thousand sixteenth notes, trills, and string-bends later, the show culminated in a slow jam in which Knowles good-naturedly schooled Maryland guitar-maker Paul Reed Smith, who in turn awarded Knowles a $30,000 guitar.

There is little else that can be said of a performance like last night’s—a fact that both acknowledges its brilliance and betrays its limitations. In a way, watching Knowles and his bandmates (especially Ty Bailie, who matched Knowles solo-for-solo on keys) was like watching Cirque de Soleil: amazing at first, but after an hour or so your senses begin to adjust; and the uncommon feats you witness, while still thoroughly enjoyable, seem increasingly routine. The band’s songs were good, but—apart from a ballad here and a throwback slide piece on a resonator guitar there—more or less of a uniform type and tempo. To put it another way, what made last night’s show great was not the songs themselves, but the way they were played.

Amadou & Mariam, who will be at the Birchmere Wednesday, have been performing together since 1980. However, only in recent years has this blind Malian couple started reaching a sizable audience on this side of the Atlantic.   Their wonderful latest cd, Welcome to Mali, is catchy, creative Afropop, not purist traditional Malian folkloric music or obscure abrasive Sublime Frequencies style international sounds (and I like those approaches as well btw). Mali came out in 2008 overseas, but Nonesuch only recently released it here.  Just as their 2005 Dimanche a Bamako went global via mixing traditional Malian desert blues guitar, Afropop melodies, and Islamic-rooted vocals with producer/collaborator Manu Chao’s ska  and Western pop, Welcome to Mali mixes their home country’s sounds with psychedelic guitar, African rap courtesy of K’naan, and some programmed funky beats.  Plus Malian kora great Toumani Diabate.  Damon Albarn of Blur did some production this time around, and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour recently joined them onstage for a set as did Johnny Marr.  These guests have helped the duo get attention beyond the world music ghetto.  But what makes their music special is not their patrons, but the stringwork and vocals of 54 year-old guitarist Amadou Bagayoko, who started in the 1970s with legendary Malian group Les Ambassadeurs.  Mariam Doumbia’s enchanting, high-voiced lead vocals and harmonies are often hypnotizing, but it is Amadou’s rhythms that drive their songs forward, and his joyous feeling choruses (I don’t speak the languages) that make the tunes transcendent.

Wed. June 10 at 7:30    Amadou & Mariam and band with openers Farafina Kan (local dance and percussion group) in the Birchmere Bandstand room,  3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA  (703) 549-7500. $35