Area-based singer/songwriter Brendan Shea writes about things that are intimate enough you’ve gotta give him credit for baring his soul to a live audience. Themes of twentysomething angst set to haunting melodies contrast with a roots-rock style and country flair to keep things lively. Formerly of the local rock group The Switchbacks, Shea’s songwriting skills and stage presence quickly made it clear that he could carry a show on his own, and in 2006 he released his solo EP Good Distractions. Shea headlines an acoustic showcase at Mohawk Place tonight (Thursday, March 29) at 8pm, along with other local talents Bill Eager and Platypus Rex

On Friday (March 30), singer/songwriter Roger McGuinn will be performing at Rockwell Hall. Founder of the legendary rock band The Byrds, he is one of the most influential guitarists in folk music and has toured with fellow folk-rock innovators Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and David Crosby. Opening for him will be local musician Maria Sebastian, who met McGuinn while she was playing at the Galleria Mall for the Music is Art Foundation’s Annual Instrument Drive. McGuinn and his wife, Camilla, liked Maria’s sound, and Camilla suggested “You should share a show with him some time.” The rest is history, or will be come Friday. Sebastian is one of the most talented rising artists in this area. Her latest album, Songs I Wrote in the Car, is primarily acoustic, and really compliments her fantastic voice. She opens the show, starting at 8pm

Matt Mehlan, the hyperactive mind behind the Queens-based Skeletons & the Kings of All Cities, first conceived of the group as a solo project with guest performers. Trombonists, punk rock drummers, and a junkyard boy’s choir all figured in the development of Mehlan’s collage pop sensibility. After settling on a core group he originally called The Girl-Faced Boys, Mehlan released Git, a curious conceptual concoction that somehow married contemporary IDM and early Prince influences. Changing the name to The Kings of All Cities, Mehlan’s newest experiment in eclectic juxtaposition is also his most successful. The latest release, Lucas, evokes a more organic, expansive Dirty Projectors with ambient percussion excursions, funk horn stabs and poppy hand claps supporting electronic washes, free jazz freakouts and weird noise soundscapes. Mehlan’s breezy vocals deliver mysterious and disturbing lyrics that bely his surprisingly lush arrangements. Check them out with openers The Sleeping Kings of Iona at Soundlab this Friday (March 30) at 9pm.

When was the last time your ghetto blaster pumped classical music? Hook up your system with Thee Phantom, an MC who specializes in combining hip-hop with live orchestration by classically trained musicians. This is first and foremost a hip-hop show, albeit a genre-bending one, with an old-school feel. It may sound like a gimmick, but that’s just how Phantom has heard the music in his head — ever since he was 12 years old and first combined the Beastie Boys’ “Paul Revere” with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. He’s also been the first hip-hop artist to perform at Philadelphia’s prestigious Kimmel Center, and now he’s on tour to support his debut album Hero Complex (Invisible Man). Joined by his Illharmonic Orchestra (string quartet, brass quartet, pianist, a female vocalist, and a few other MCs) he’ll come to UB’s Lippes Concert Hall on Saturday (March 31) at 8pm, performing hits by Fat Joe, Kanye West, and Jay-Z, and teaming up with UB student musicians for one of the more unusual hip-hop shows you’ll ever see.

Jon Dee Graham is an Austin, TX legend. From his beginnings playing guitar with the classic cow-punk outfit The True Believers to live and session work with John Doe, Exene Cervenka and Michelle Shocked, Graham has been one of the most in-demand musicians in Austin. In the past decade, listeners too have discovered the truly brilliant songwriting that he has honed. His second solo release from 2004, The Great Battle, earned him accolades all over the world with its brutally honest country folk sounds and a voice that brings to mind Tom Waits. It also earned him “album of the year” in various Austin music papers. His most recent release, Full (Freedom Records), has earned similiar praise, bringing even further attention when the influential country magazine No Depression put Dee on the cover. Graham plays with Bloodshot recording artists The Silos at Mohawk Place on Sunday (April 1), 8pm. The Hammond Shutdown opens.

Battles is a mostly instrumental post-rock supergroup featuring veterans of the indie-prog scene. Ian Williams played guitar for seminal math-rock architects Don Caballero; John Stanier pounded the skins for Helmet; and Dave Konopka played bass with Lynx. Rounding out the group is sound manipulator Tyondai Braxton, the son of legendary avant-garde jazz composer Anthony Braxton and a noted solo experimentalist in his own right. Both funkier and more outwardly experimental than most math projects, Battles generates tension from repetition, layering polyrhythmic loops on solid grooves as guitar lines interweave and bleeping electronics simmer. Although open to crunching experimental dissonance, the group’s highly complex compositions are nevertheless surprisingly accessible ... you could even dance to them! Check out Battles this Monday (April 2) at Soundlab, with local openers Knife Crazy. starting at 9pm