21 December 28, 2023 - January 3, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Turnpike Troubadours 6 P.M. THURSDAY–SATURDAY, DEC. 28–30, BILLY BOB’S TEXAS, 2520 RODEO PLAZA. $125+ AT STUBHUB.COM It wasn’t long after the Turnpike Troubadours played its last show in 2019 that the band an- nounced an indefinite hiatus. For many years, many thought that would be the last show the band would ever play as singer Evan Felker strug- gled with his addictions and fiddler Kyle Nix began a solo career. All that changed two and a half years later when the band announced a pair of reunion shows in its home state of Oklahoma, followed by three dates at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth that would ultimately become one of the fastest sell- outs in the venue’s history. The band would con- tinue to tour mid-sized venues throughout 2022 and kept any new material close to its vest, per- forming just one new song, “A Cat in the Rain” twice on the entire tour. The song turned out to be the title track for the band’s August 2023 release, which made it to the Top 10 on Billboard’s Country chart and the Top 40 on the Billboard 200. The Troubadours return to Billy Bob’s for three nights this week with Ray Wylie Hubbard opening. DAVID FLETCHER Uncle Lucius 6:30 P.M. FRIDAY, DEC. 29, LONGHORN BALLROOM, 216 CORINTH ST. $26+ AT PREKINDLE.COM After a five-year hiatus, Austin country band Un- cle Lucius is back in North Texas, playing a show at the Longhorn Ballroom Friday night. The band played its last show in 2018 at Gruene Hall before frontman Kevin Galloway began pursu- ing a solo career, but it came back to life earlier this year. Call it soulfulness or call it grooviness, but Uncle Lucius gives country music a kind of depth that the genre all too often lacks. The band’s 2012 song “Keep the Wolves Away” be- came a surprisingly popular single during the pandemic, reaching 115 million views on You- Tube and earning the band its first and only cer- tified platinum single. For now, the tour is all the news we have from Uncle Lucius, which has not released a new album or even a single since 2015. But there is sure to be something in devel- opment. Austin swamp-funk band Shinyribs will be there to warm up the crowd. DF Toadies 6:30 P.M. SATURDAY, DEC. 30, THE FACTORY IN DEEP ELLUM, 2713 CANTON ST. $39+ AT AXS.COM Returning from a long stretch touring in celebra- tion of the 25th anniversary of its iconic album Rubberneck at the end of last year, Fort Worth al- ternative band Toadies kept things quiet this year. As promised, the band did release the new EP Damn You All to Hell before heading out on that tour. In April, in addition to releasing a new line of edibles, Toadies confirmed that they would be re- cording new material with producer Steve Albini — the producer behind Nirvana and Pixies — with hopes of releasing a new album in 2024. For this concert, however, Toadies will be coming home from a short run of Texas dates in Austin, San An- tonio and Houston to close out the year with Illi- nois alt-rock band Local H and Denton punk band Riverboat Gamblers, which released its first new album in over a decade earlier this year and just released the single “Father Christmas.” DF DeVotchKa 8 P.M. SATURDAY, DEC. 30, TULIPS, 112 ST. LOUIS AVE. $25+ AT PREKINDLE.COM Since the turn of the century, Denver art rock band DeVotchKa has been a sight to behold. The band comprises four instrumentalists whose instrumen- tation has included common instruments like gui- tar, piano and trumpet in addition to uncommon instruments such as the theremin, bouzouki and sousaphone. DeVotchKa got its start as the back- ing band for burlesque shows, namely for Dita Von Teese, who took the band on the road and got them a nationwide following. In addition to its al- bums, DeVotchKa, along with composer Mychael Danna, composed and performed the majority of the music for the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack, earning a 2006 Grammy Award nomination for “Best Compilation Soundtrack.” With vocalist Nick Urata becoming more involved with film, DeVotch- Ka’s most recent album, This Night Falls Forever, was released in 2018, but the band still gets to- gether for little tours like the one coming to Fort Worth Saturday night. DF Little Feat 7:30 P.M. SUNDAY, DEC. 31, LONGHORN BALLROOM, 216 CORINTH ST. $30+ AT PREKINDLE.COM For over 50 years, LA rock band Little Feat has been blending musical genres to create a dis- tinct sound. In 1969, Little Feat took the ground- work of California rock and began to add in elements of funk, jazz, country and New Orleans swamp boogie, making songs like “Willin’,” “Sailin’ Shoes” and “Fat Man in the Bathtub.” While many bands creating such disparate sounding tracks have a hard time finding a through-line that ties everything together, Little Feat is held together by its musicality and its de- votion to writing a good song. Through the years, the band has lost founding members Lowell George and Richie Hayward as well as early band member Paul Barrére, but founding member, vocalist and keyboardist Bill Payne has kept the band going. The band’s Rollin’ Into 2024 New Year’s Eve party at the Longhorn will receive opening support from Americana singer-songwriter Miko Marks. DF Andrew Sherman | LET’S DO THIS | t Music Toadies come home to Deep Ellum for the year’s end. Hand built not bougHt. 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