Vermont-born folk artist Anais Mitchell celebrates the release of her debut recording for Righteous Babe Records this Friday (Feb. 16) at Neitszche’s beginning at 10pm. The CD, Brightness, showcases Mitchell’s lyrical talent with more than a nod to her formative influence, Ani DiFranco. Similarities aside, Mitchell is a force of her own, with an ambition to rival DiFranco’s: A winter tour to promote the album kicks off in Buffalo and will take her all the way to the UK and back again. In the meantime, Mitchell is staging a folk-opera, based on the myth of Hades and Eurydice, and living life as a 25-year old who has been compared to Dylan and Leaonard Cohen, among other songwrting geniuses. She’s certainly rising to the occasion. RBR labelmate Michael Meldrum and Jessica Kern open the show at 9pm.

The New Amsterdams come to Mohawk Place on Friday (Feb. 16), with support from the Highway Beautiful and Jettason. Featuring former Get-Up Kids frontman Matt Pryor, the New Amsterdams formed in 2000 after Pryor had spent ten years exhausting his original outfit. They’ve recorded five albums since, most recently releasing Story Like a Scar in 2006 (Vagrant Records), a breezy, nostalgic ode to Pryor’s home of Lawrence, Kansas and to his former incarnation as a Get-Up Kid. The band plays soft sounds with heavy lyrics and uses a variety of instruments —lap steel, banjo, harmonica, stand-up bass, brushed drums— to create a kind of mystical Americana that is at once cerebral and “down home.” Local artists the Highway Beautiful (a one-man band named Jason Jurewicz and his guitar) and Jettason open the show, set to start at 6pm. Righteous Babe recording artist That 1 Guy will play a late show at 11pm

The Buffalo band As Summer Dies is celebrating the release of their highly anticipated album Sincerely, with their official CD release party at the Buffalo Icon on Friday (Feb. 16). The band has accomplished much since their 2005 EP Close Your Eyes, I’ll Make You Famous, touring with bands such as 18 Visions and Powerman 5000. The band’s fast rhythms, intense bass lines, and heavy drumbeats create a background for haunting vocals and the occasional brilliant guitar solos that give As Summer Dies a unique sound that is quickly gaining popularity around the country. Support comes from the Banner, Ventena, Thoughts Lost, the Wretched. Doors open at 6:30pm

Classical music lovers are in for a real treat as the BPO welcomes pianist Andre Watts to Kleinhans’ Music Hall for a special Saturday night (Feb 17) performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, perhaps the most beloved concerto in piano literature. Watts burst onto the music scene at age 16, when Leonard Bernstein asked him to perform with the New York Philharmonic in their Young Peoples concerts; two weeks later Bernstein called him again and Watts continues to be a driving force in the music world more than 40 years later. Included in the evening’s performance will be composer Aaron Copland’s Music for the Movies and John Corigliano’s Three Hallucinations, inspired by his 1980 score for the movie Altered States. The concert starts at 8pm (www.bpo.org)

Singer/songwriter Keller Williams isn’t used to sharing the stage with other musicians. He usually prefers to play all the instruments himself, a one-man-band of stage bravado and showmanship who carries himself with the sort of confidence and affability that has earned him a reputation as one of the more unaffected guys in his business. On his latest release and ninth studio album, dream (SCI Fidelity Records), Williams briefly departed from his established solo style and recruited some of the finest jam band all-stars as guests on nearly every track. He hits the road with a live band for the dream tour circuit, stopping by the Town Ballroom next Thursday night (Feb. 22) for an all-ages show at 8pm