BIRMINGHAM MUSIC

Latest news, reviews and music listings for Birmingham, Alabama

SPECIALRoger Clyne and the Peacemakers created and performed an anthem for the Arizona Diamondbacks, "D-backs Swing." It's become the baseball team's victory song, played after wins at Chase Field in Phoenix. To hear the tune or see a video, visit the Peacemakers' MySpace page.

9 p.m. today, The Nick, 2514 10th Ave. South, $12, 252-3831 or www.thenickrocks.com

In Birmingham, the home of a band called Oteil & the Peacemakers, music fans may wrinkle their collective brow when they hear of another Peacemakers tribe.

An offshoot, perhaps, of the jazz-funk collective led by bassist Oteil Burbridge? A competing troupe formed by Burbridge's brother, keyboardist and flutist Kofi?

Not at all.

Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers, a band from Tempe, Ariz., plays a Southwestern blend of mariachi-surf-rock that's distinguished by Latin guitar riffs, catchy pop hooks and occasional reggae rhythms. The four-man group has a 10-year history, an eight-disc catalog, a liberal social stance and an extremely loyal fan base, mainly in the Southwest and Northeast.

"They're quite devoted, because we're so devoted to them," Clyne says during a phone interview. "We're honored to have our voice weave in with people's history."

Mary Colurso
News pop music writer

Tift Merritt (Sunday, 8 p.m., WorkPlay, 500 23rd St. South, $13 advance, $15 day of show, 380-4082 or www.workplay.com. With Teddy Thompson.) The last time we saw Tift Merritt, she was shaking her maracas and making like a soul mama at WorkPlay. An extended trip to Paris altered her sensibility somewhat, leading Merritt back into folk-pop and country territory for her 2008 CD, "Another Country." Her voice remains the same, however: strong, lilting, bell-like. Merritt also has a talent for investing lyrics with believable emotion. That serves her well on tunes such as "Broken," "Tender Branch," "Hopes Too High" and "I Know What I'm Looking For Now."

Alec Harvey
News features editor

The Capitol Steps (Saturday, 8 p.m., The Alabama Theatre, 1817 Third Ave. North; $32, 975-2787 or 252-2262.) The Capitol Steps are always funny, but it's hard to believe there's any better time to hear the comedy troupe than during election season. They skewer all sides with music and sketches. A bonus on this one: It's a benefit for WBHM radio.

If you're looking for something to do tomorrow night, consider the CD release concert from Act of Congress at WorkPlay. I caught their act at City Stages back in June, and I liked what I heard. Here's a clip from that performance...

Not going to wax poetic about the band once again, but it sure was good to see them play the other night in Atlanta. I never understood what would make someone even remotely want to quit everything and follow a band, until My Morning Jacket came along. Can't wait to watch the future unfold for this incredible group. The sky is, without a doubt, the limit.

"We are the innovators. They are the imitators." - My Morning Jacket "Wordless Chorus"

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend.

SPECIAL/JARED RAGLAND FOR THE MARVELOUS COLLECTIVEThe White Oaks will perform a Thursday concert at Bottletree with Strife Rifle and Jesse Payne. Members of the White Oaks, from left, are Noel Johnson, Matt Jackson, Michael Glaser and Scott Thrift.

Call them the Wild Oats, and they'll laugh. Confuse them with the White Oak Dance Project, and they'd probably give props to Baryshnikov. Ask them about the name? You'll hear elaborate evasions -- including a Southern Gothic vignette that starts with magnolia blossoms -- and eloquent silence.

The White Oaks are performers, not explainers. All four members of this Birmingham band are cordial, articulate men who'd much rather play music than answer questions.

If there's a resulting air of mystery surrounding the group -- or a sense that the White Oaks materialized suddenly, magically, with tunes intact -- that's not such a bad thing, says guitarist and keyboardist Noel Johnson.

"We like the idea of coming out of nowhere," he says. "The timing was just fatefully right."

A few facts were revealed, however, during a recent interview with Johnson and his bandmates: bassist Matt Jackson, guitarist Scott Thrift and drummer Michael Glaser.

Louvin keeps movin': Good and evil, saints and sinners, redemption and damnation. Listeners expect to hear such topics aired on gospel albums, and "Steps to Heaven" is no exception. Still, folks in Alabama will have a special reason to pay attention when this CD comes out Sept. 16 on the Tompkins Square label.

SPECIALCharlie Louvin

Louvin, who earned fame as one half of the Louvin Brothers, started his career in gospel music in the 1940s and moved into the country realm during the 1950s. "Steps to Heaven" includes two Louvin Brothers tunes, "Just Rehearsing" and "There's a Higher Power."

It's the first of two discs Louvin will release this year. (Can you say "career resurgence"?) On Dec. 9, he'll follow with "Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs," also for Tompkins Square.

If that sounds like an odd fit, consider that the first Louvin Brothers album was titled "Tragic Songs of Life."

Mary Colurso
News pop music writer

Cedric Burnside And Lightnin' Malcolm (Thursday, 10 p.m., The Nick, 2514 10th Ave. South, $6, 252-3831 or www.thenickrocks.com.) It's not a stretch to think of The Nick as a juke joint, all gritty and sweaty and filled with hip-shaking, soul-stirring blues music. Drummer Cedric Burnside (grandson of R.L. Burnside) and singer-guitarist Steve "Lightnin'" Malcolm (formerly of Knockdown South) should feel right at home in the nightclub that thinks of itself as "Birmingham's dirty little secret." They'll team for a late-night concert steeped in the blues traditions of the North Mississippi hill country.

Alec Harvey
News features editor

Rockapella (Wednesday, 7 & 9 p.m., WorkPlay Theatre, 500 23rd St. South, $30, 380-4082 or www.workplay.com.) They're rock, and they're a cappella, hence their name. And you've probably heard their stuff, either on Folgers Coffee commercials or at the beginning of every episode of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" The quartet's original members are gone, but the sound remains the same -- and it's a whole lot of fun.