COLIN MELOY (of the Decemberists)

Colin Meloy is a true 21st-century rock-and-roll star. The jacket-and-tie-clad, bespectacled, singing/songwriting Lothario’s lyrics tend to shy away from the staid and dull rock themes of “I like partying hard,” “I got dumped,” and “I got dumped, so I’m partying hard over it.” Instead, his themes focus on Japanese folk tales or stories of Brighton’s long-suffering barrow boys, and he has also been known to bust out a sea chanty—or 10. With his band the Decemberists, Meloy has been one to set the indie rock benchmark, proving that literacy and acoustic guitars could indeed be the new punk. It’s worked well enough to make the band one of today’s most important working groups and earn them (and him) a fervent and adoring fanbase. Regularly working outside the context of the Decemberists, Meloy has just issued a live album, the appropriately titled Colin Meloy Sings Live! (Kill Rock Stars.) It’s a smattering of Decemberists songs along with choice covers including those from his series of EPs of other artists, which to date include wonderfully Meloy-ed renditions from the catalogs of English folkie Shirley Collins, that incomparable soul stirrer Sam Cooke, and—perhaps the most obvious inspiration—Morrissey. Meloy performs this Friday with support from Oregon indie folk/Americana artist and torch singer Laura Gibson.

—donny kutzbach

8pm. Tralf Music Hall, 622 Main Street (852-2860/tralfmusichall.com). $20/presale (852-5000/www.ticketmaster.com) or $22/day of show. All ages