Maria Taylor is a prime yet often underrated voice in the Omaha, Nebraska music scene. As one half of the late lamented Azure Ray and collaborator to some of Bright Eyes’ and Now It’s Overhead’s best moments, Taylor has cut a distinctive cloth for herself with a painfully honest voice that echoes Carole King and Laura Nyro. After gaining mass recognition with Azure Ray, Taylor crafted her first solo album for Saddle Creek Records, 11:11. An album that swirls between acoustic folk and electronic dream pop, 11:11 was a massive critical success, all but eclipsing her previous work. Now two years later Taylor has returned with the release Lynn Teeter Flower (Saddle Creek), which is a culmination of songs written during breaks from her almost constant touring. Named after a family friend, Lynn Teeter Flower produces a very organic sound and is as good, if not better than 11:11. The album features contributions from Taylor’s brother Macey (bass) and sister Kate (keyboard) as well as Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst, who co-wrote and added vocals for the track “The Ballad Of Sean Foley.” Maria Taylor performs at Mohawk Place on Tuesday, and local support comes from All Kinds Of Liars and Ellen West, who’ll open the show.

What’s more entertaining than an Irish Wake? Think of the keening, the over-the-top emotions, the food, the drink! Anyway, the folks down at the Irish Classical Theatre Company decided that the best way to celebrate life is through death, and so funeral festivities for a dearly departed friend have become an annual tradition and lucrative fundraiser. This year, the honoree is the fictitious Phillip McCoffer, taken from us, of course, in untimely fashion. Billed as “an interactive entertainment event, including a toast to Phillip (first hour FREE Guinness and wine!), food (from the Gourmet Store), live entertainment (with Kevin McCarthy!) and laughter (with the Eclectic Company Improv Troupe and friends) in ‘true’ Irish fashion.” Michael Hake will be at the piano, so expect plenty of sing-along, as well as a hodgepodge of laughably bereaved characters—from the widow to the mistress to the priest. And be prepared for a marvelous good time. “The party to die for,” they say, “lives on.”

Sometimes a musician comes along whose approach is so novel, and his playing so superior, that even jaded music buffs walk away a little stunned and freely start calling him a genius. Charlie Hunter is one of those rare talents. Playing a beautiful mutt of an instrument with fanned frets that allow him to hold down low bass lines while improvising all over the high notes on a guitar, Hunter creates a sound that’s uniquely his own. While his playing is technically revolutionary that’s not to say he doesn’t groove like a mofo—especially when he starts scat singing over top of his bubbling B-3 inspired lines. Hunter has been spreading his reputation by performing over 200 shows a year and by stepping in to lend his skills to projects by everyone from jazzman Bobby Previte to pop superstar John Mayer. This show marks the debut of his new trio, featuring Erik Deutsch on Keyboards and Simon Lott on drums, as they kick off a nine city East Coast tour here in Buffalo.

If the thought of rocking out to classical music seems a bit unconventional, singer Nathan Granner (a member of the Sony Classical recording trio The American Tenors) is here to prove that theory wrong. Claiming that “Mozart was a punk” (he likens the great composer to The Clash), Granner and his friend and guitar accompanist Beau Bledsoe are on a mission to introduce the world to a new era of classical music, one that he hopes will attract a hip, younger crowd and shelve the notion that the mature age of the average classical enthusiast should define the genre. Granner and Bledsoe’s carefully crafted record The Departure (Tzigane Records) is an album of varied and emotive music. Granner’s tenor voice is vibrant and flexible as he arbitrarily dips into pieces of opera, Broadway, jazz, flamenco, and pop. Bledsoe’s guitar is at times subdued and at others forthcoming, all the while ready to throw the standards of classical music to the wind and transition into a whole new sound. These two young, talented guys prove that classical is anything but dull, so check them out at Nietzsche’s next Thursday night to see what they’re all about.