THE AFGHAN WHIGS The long-running soul-rock outfit just released its ninth album, “How Do You Burn?,” a darkly hued collection that balances Greg Dulli-led rave-ups like “I’ll Make You See God” with to-the-bone cuts like “Domino and Jimmy,” an elegiac swirl that brings Scrawl wailer Marcy Mays back into the fold. Sept. 17, 7 p.m., Paradise Rock Club. 617-562-8800, crossroadspresents.com
LIL NAS X: LONG LIVE MONTERO It’s been about a year since the man behind the twang-rap megahit “Old Town Road” released his debut full-length, which grappled with the human lurking within the larger-than-life persona while employing insouciant lyrics and arena-worthy guitar. His awards-show performances have been eye-popping, Broadway-level affairs, and early reports suggest this headlining tour will reach for similar heights. Sept. 18, 8 p.m. MGM Music Hall at Fenway. crossroadspresents.com
YOLA: STAND FOR MYSELF TOUR Last year this singer-songwriter — recently seen portraying guitar pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Baz Lurhmann’s fever-dreamy “Elvis” — released “Stand for Myself,” a fiery, joyous album that showcases her vocal brawn and defiantly hopeful outlook. Sept. 21, 7 p.m. Big Night Live. bignight.com
TODD SNIDER The Nashville troubadour comes to the area as part of what he’s calling his “second tour”; it follows his first one, which lasted awhile: “I went out on the road in ‘94 and never went home till the pandemic.” If that comment gives a perfect sense of Snider’s point of view, onstage he’ll amplify it, as he always does, by celebrating and making manifest what his new album, “’Live: Return of the Storyteller,” points to. Don’t miss opener Lilly Winwood. Sept. 16, 8 p.m. $45. TCAN, 14 Summer St., Natick. 508-647-0097, www.natickarts.org
AL BILALI SOUDAN This Malian Tuareg band, whose members represent three generations of one of the country’s notable griot families, offers a ferocious, percussive, acoustic desert blues precursor led by the sound of the traditional instrument the tehardent. Sept. 17, 8:15 p.m. $10. The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge. 617-955-7729, www.lilypadinman.com
THE DUSTY 45s These guys aren’t traveling from quite as far away as Mali, but still coming a good distance from their Seattle home to play a string of East Coast dates. They play traditional music, too — the sort of honky-tonk, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, and rhythm and blues you might find on those dusty 45s. Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m. $20. City Winery, 80 Beverly St. 617-933-8047, www.citywinery.com/boston
LLOYD THAYER The musician plays just about any instrument with strings, including dobro, oud, ukulele, and many more. His music mixes American blues and roots with influences from the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. Sept 17, 7 p.m. $23-$25. Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. 617-492-7679, www.clubpassim.org
SHERYL BAILEY & JON WHEATLEY DUO Mandorla Music’s fall season opens with a concert by accomplished guitarists Bailey and Wheatley that pays tribute to the late, great bebop guitarist Jimmy Raney, featuring works by composers Joe Puma, Frank Foster, Thelonious Monk, and more. Sept. 17, 8 p.m. $15. Hope Central Church, 85 Seavern Ave., Jamaica Plain. www.mandorlamusic.net
MR HO’S ORCHESTROTICA QUINTET The evocative exotica of vibraphonist, percussionist, and composer Brian O’Neill’s chamber jazz quintet takes the listener on a musical world tour. With Geni Skendo (flute, bass flute, and shakuhachi), Tev Stevig (oud, tanbur, and resonator guitar), bassist Michael Harrist, and percussionist Jeremy Smith. This performance is dedicated to the memory of Boston’s beloved musician, DJ, and mixologist Brother Cleve. Sept. 20, 8 p.m. $20-$25. The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge. www.lilypadinman.com
A FAR CRY Jamaica Plain’s conductorless string orchestra opens up the fall with “Homeland,” an evening of musical reflections on immigration and belonging that features composer/performers Kinan Azmeh (clarinet) and Dinuk Wijeratne (piano) as well as a performance of Mieczsław Weinberg’s rarely aired Symphony No. 10. Sept. 16, 8 p.m. Jordan Hall; Sept. 17, 7 p.m., South Shore Conservatory, Hingham. 617-553-4887, www.afarcry.org
COSMIC COWBOY Boston-based opera lab White Snake Projects returns to live performance for the first time since 2019 with “Cosmic Cowboy,” a science-fiction collaboration between White Snake founder/librettist Cerise Lim Jacobs and local composing luminary Elena Ruehr. Sept. 16-18. Emerson Paramount Center. 617-824-8400, www.whitesnakeprojects.org
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA The BSO starts out its Symphony Hall season with music director Andris Nelsons on the podium; the concert opens with John Williams’s “A Toast!,” and pianist Awadagin Pratt makes his BSO debut with Bach’s Piano Concerto in A and Jessie Montgomery’s “Rounds” for piano and string orchestra. Take note: Starting this fall, Thursday evening concerts now begin at 7:30 p.m. instead of 8, and there is no Saturday evening program this week due to the standalone Opening Night fund-raiser event. Sept. 22 and 23. Symphony Hall. 617-266-1200, www.bso.org
HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING The complexities of faith, right-wing politics, and personal history collide in Will Arbery’s bracingly original, consistently compelling drama. A reunion of four Catholic conservatives — eventually joined by a fifth — turns into a polemical showdown in a Wyoming backyard. For at least a few of them, the unspoken goal is to see who has the right right stuff. Directed with finesse by Marianna Bassham, taking a break from her usual acting duties, and starring a top-notch quintet of Dayna Cousins, Nathan Malin, Jesse Hinson, Elise Piliponis, and Karen MacDonald. Through Oct. 8. SpeakEasy Stage Company. Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.com
SING STREET A Dublin schoolboy (Adam Bregman) tells an aspiring model (Courtnee Carter) that he’s in a band — he isn’t — and asks her to appear in the nonexistent band’s music video. A flawed but exuberant musical about the power of music-making to lead you out of a dead-end life, “Sing Street” essentially argues that to express yourself is to find yourself — and packs such a visceral punch in making its case that by the end it’s got you believing it, too. Directed by Rebecca Taichman, again evincing her skill at making a stage come alive while meshing many moving parts into an organic whole, abetted by Sonya Tayeh’s dynamic choreography. Through Oct. 9. Presented by Huntington Theatre Company in association with Sing Street Broadway LLC. At Wimberly Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-266-0800, www.huntingtontheatre.org
TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 A frequently riveting production of Anna Deavere Smith’s landmark work about the prelude, tumult, and the aftermath of the 1992 riots that ensued when white Los Angeles police officers were acquitted of the vicious beating of Black motorist Rodney King. Revised by Smith from a solo piece to accommodate a cast of five, “Twilight” loses none of its raw power as a testament to the human cost of systemic racial injustice. Under the taut direction of Taibi Magar, a first-rate cast (Tiffany Rachelle Stewart, Carl Palmer, Elena Hurst, Francis Jue, and Wesley T. Jones) deliver keenly particularized portraits of Black, white, Asian-American, and Latino residents of Los Angeles sifting through the meaning of a traumatic event. The stories those characters tell, and the sheer vividness of their voices, make “Twilight” not just a must-see but a must-hear. Through Sept. 24. Production by American Repertory Theater in association with Signature Theatre. At Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org
DANCE HAPPENS HERE: 2022 To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the Dance Complex is throwing a free daylong street party in front of its Massachusetts Avenue studios. Other streets around the Central Square arts hub also will be closed to traffic as venues for flash performances, walk-up classes, music, storytelling, and food. The day also marks the launch of a new collaboration with Central Square Theater called Community/RITUALS focused on Caribbean culture. Sept. 18. Free. Dance Complex, Cambridge. www.dancecomplex.org
REWRITTEN Co-created by Tom Truss and Matthew Cumbie, this work weaves together dance, music, visual art, projection, and text to explore the often-overlooked intimate relationship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Playing off the rich history of correspondence between the two, this reimagined intergenerational love story time travels between then and now to examine queerness, history, writing, and self-expression. Sept. 16. $10-$15 (students, under 18, and Salem residents with ID free). Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, Salem. www.salemstate.edu/arts
FINDING HOME: IMMIGRANT STORIES FROM BOSTON AND BEYOND Hoopla Productions and ZUMIX present a new iteration of this multimedia work created to elevate immigrant voices. The free outdoor collaborative production combines music, dance, poetry, and storytelling to illuminate the process of leaving one home and finding another. Well-known featured artists include Jean Appolon and Stan Strickland. Sept. 17, 5:30-7 p.m. Free. Piers Park, East Boston. www.hooplaproductions.org/
GREATER BOSTON ARTS EXPO City Ballet of Boston, OnStage Dance Company, and Ballroom in Boston are among the dance participants that will enliven the Rose Kennedy Greenway in this preview of the Boston area’s upcoming arts season. Visitors to the family-friendly expo of dance, music, and theater will get a taste of a wide range of regional arts offerings, from flamenco to Shakespeare. Sept. 19, 4-8 p.m. Free. Rose Kennedy Greenway (Atlantic Avenue between Milk and High streets). www.bostonartsexpo.com
DARE TO KNOW: PRINTS AND DRAWINGS IN THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT The 18th century was an era of profound change, as rapid advancement in science and global exploration broadened long-held boundaries of reality and wobbled Western notions of a world guided by the invisible hand of God. This show of 150 drawings, prints, books, and other objects spotlights the social transformation of the era, broadly known as the Enlightenment, and puts on view a transformational moment of the world expanding intellectually and culturally in every direction. Through Jan. 15. Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge. 617-495-9400, www.harvardartmuseums.org
ROSE B. SIMPSON: LEGACIES Simpson, who is Santa Clara Pueblo Tewa from New Mexico, comes from a long line of women artists in her family who use clay as a principal medium, though she’s far from limited to the material (her work includes performance, installation, metal work, and car design). This show at the ICA spans histories and eras: Simpson combines clay sculpting techniques with origins in the sixth century with contemporary practice to make pieces that connect tradition and history to a fraught and challenging present. Through Jan. 29. Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. 617-476-3100, www.icaboston.org
MARC SWANSON: A MEMORIAL TO ICE AT THE DEAD DEER DISCO Loss freights every inch of Swanson’s largest-ever installation — of his jubilant youth spent in queer dance clubs, of friends to AIDS, and, in the throes of climate disaster, of the very planet itself. Inspired by the life-size dioramas favored by natural history museums, the show is an amalgam of sculpture, video, light, and taxidermy, conjuring an otherworldly lament for an imagined apocalyptic future rooted far too deeply in the here and now. Through Dec. 22. Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams. 413-662-2111, www.massmoca.org
SALLY For curators JoAnne McFarland and Sasha Chavchavadze, Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who was the mother of at least six of Thomas Jefferson’s children, is a touchstone: Her life and legacy were erased for centuries. This show celebrates Hemings and other women who have been unsung or ignored. Artists here honor enslaved women whose names and stories have been lost, women who have kept cautiously silent, lesser known historical figures such as children’s advocate Catherine Fay Ewing, and a host of mothers, grandmothers, and more. Through Oct. 15. Brickbottom Gallery, 1 Fitchburg St., Somerville. https://brickbottom.org/exhibition/sally-project/
DAVID KOECHNER The “Second City” and “Saturday Night Live” alum has been a recognizable character actor in everything from “Anchorman” to “Hannah Montana.” He does stand-up at night, and hosts “The Office” trivia as his character from that show, Todd Packer, Saturday afternoon. Sept. 16-17, 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. $30. Trivia, Sept. 17, 4 p.m. $20. Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. 617-725-2844, www.laughboston.com
SUE COSTELLO The Dorchester native has been producing her own stand-up shows at Florian Hall for the past few years, and she’s is in a new film, “How to Rob,” which includes some of her favorite work in her career. She’s also mounting her one-woman show, “#IAmSueCostello,” next month at Hallspace. Sept. 17, 8 p.m. $25. Florian Hall, 55 Hallett St., Dorchester. www.brownpapertickets.com
ARDAL O’HANLON Perhaps best known as Father Dougal McGuire in the classic Irish sitcom “Father Ted,” O’Hanlon believes there’s nowhere you can go without finding a group of Irish people. “Neil Armstrong,” he says in one bit, “when he arrived on the moon and he was about to step out of his module and launch into his historic speech saw a big crowd of people waving at him. ‘How’s it goin’, Neil? What kept ya?’” Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m. $30. The Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, Somerville. 617-245-2900, www.crystalballroomboston.com
SOUTH BOSTON STREET FESTIVAL South Boston will host over 100 local artists, nonprofits, and businesses this Saturday on East Broadway for this annual festival, now in its 22nd year. In addition to plenty of shopping and opportunities to get involved in volunteer communities in the area, the festival will feature live entertainment on two stages and a number of kids’ activities like balloon twisters, costumed characters roaming the streets, and caricature artists. Sept. 17, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. East Broadway between I and L streets. www.southbostonstreetfest.com
WORLD WAR I AVIATION WEEKEND The American Heritage Museum in Hudson will unveil its newly-restored 1917 Nieuport 28 plane with flight demonstrations over the weekend, weather permitting. The schedule on Saturday and Sunday also includes tank rides for visitors, a Ford Model A Regional Auto Show, and a presentation from WWI reenactors on the museum’s grounds. Sept. 17-18, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. $15-$25. 568 Main St., Hudson. www.americanheritagemuseum.org
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE MUSEUM DAY For one day only, museums across the country — including many in Massachusetts — will follow the Smithsonian Institution’s lead and offer free admission to the public. Participating locations across the state include the Discovery Museum in Acton, the Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge, the Shirley-Eustis House in Roxbury, and dozens more listed on the Smithsonian’s website. Sept. 17. Free. Locations vary. www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/museum-day-2022/
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