DaSlobGuide: 2008's Southern summer shows

Several of DaBlog's more recent review subjects are set to appear in concert tours and some funky festivals across the South this summer. Here's a quick look at the dates, with links to our thoughts on each:

DAVID ALLAN COE, Hard Rock Live, May 30, Biloxi, Miss. : If you're talking outlaw -- real outlaw; as in your basic leather-wearing, bad-attitude-having, stringy-hair-hanging, tat-sporting, law-breaking (did I mention, bad-attitude-having?), six-gun-waving, hog-riding, too-country-for-country-radio singing outlaw -- David Allan Coe is your prototype. He's the kind of crazy-ass tough guy who would name an album "David Allan Coe or Else." Really.
ticketmaster.com.

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL-STARS, Hal and Mals, May 31, Jackson, Miss.: A unique blend of music both old and new. They testify to the simple beauty of the blues of their homeland -- even as they are rocking hard.
tickemaster.com.

STEVIE NICKS, Hard Rock Live, June 5, Biloxi, Miss.: While Stevie continues to make something of a career by herself, the fact is she and Fleetwood Mac-mate Lindsey Buckingham are better together than they ever were apart. That said, Nicks hasn't sounded this engaged since she put out "Bella Donna" more than 20 years ago.
ticketmaster.com.

THE CURE, American Airlines Center, June 6, Dallas, Texas: Known for albums best described as monsoons of pouting. More often than not, however, they eventually are revealed as textured masterworks so interesting since they seem to be produced by someone trying to get through something.
ticketmaster.com.

BUDDY GUY, City Stages, June 13-15, Birmingham, Ala.: From bar-walking solos -- thanks to that old 150-foot amp chord -- to his clean, percussive style on a polka-dot guitar, Guy (pictured above) has become a new-age throwback in blues music. Also appearing at the City Stages festival are Diana Ross, the Flaming Lips, Frankie Beverly, the Roots, Galactic.
(800) 277-1700; citystages.org.

CHICAGO, DOOBIE BROTHERS, Superpages.com Center, June 15, Dallas, Texas: Fewer bands in rock have been more unjustly maligned than Chicago. But being responsible for some of the shlockiest pop of the 1980s doesn't diminish the more innovative and ambitious output of the '70s, especially those first five albums. Meanwhile, the departure of Michael McDonald has taken the Doobies back to their roots -- an accessible mixture of boogie rock, country, soul, jazz and R&B.
ticketmaster.com.

B.B. KING, various dates including the Vicksburg Convention Center, June 12, Vicksburg, Miss.: His is a lifetime's tapestry of nights spent weaving stories of love-gone-bad and love-gone-for-good, all with his patented butterfly-wrist guitar twang. Lucky us.
ticketmaster

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, Bonnaroo, June 12-15 Manchester, Tenn.: Meaningful and idiosyncratic, this absurdly named band nevertheless continues to find new ways to illuminate. Also appearing at this festival with B.B King, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Kanye West, Willie Nelson, Jack Johnson.
bonnaroo.com

RINGO STARR, Beau Rivage, July 5, Biloxi, Miss. : Ringo once buttressed three of rock's most important songwriters -- and that is Starr's true, largely underestimated legacy. No surprise, then, that mounting a solo career presented its own daunting task for Ringo, who became the only former Beatle to fail to chart an individual No. 1 hit in his native Britain.
http://brivage.admission.com

BILLY BOB THORNTON, Hal and Mals, July 30, Jackson, Miss.: Even four solo records in, you keep expecting Billy Bob Thornton to do something wacky. After all, in the movies, he's Bad Santa. The Astronaut Farmer. That murderous dude in his Oscar-winning plot for "Sling Blade." But, actually, Thornton was a musician first, and he's still a darn good one.
601-948-0888

JOURNEY, various dates including Verizon Wireless Music Center, Aug. 9, Birmingham, Ala.: Let Journey keyboard player Jonathan Cain make their case, after "Don't Stop Believin'" was famously used in the finale to the acclaimed HBO series "The Sopranos": "We're a staple in the American music culture. Like us or not, we're here to stay." Appearing across the South with Heart/Cheap Trick.
ticketmaster.

SHERYL CROW, Superpages.com Center, Aug. 15, Dallas, Texas: You hear vintage Buckingham Nicks in Crow's music; in fact, it's likely what Stevie Nicks would be sounding like if she could just shake those 80's pop/dance blues and get back to her roots.
ticketmaster.

TOM PETTY, various dates including Woodlands Pavilion, Aug. 29, Houston, Texas: Although no one has noticed anymore Petty still makes good records. Over a career that fought off disco, punk, new wave, no wave, grunge and Britney, Petty has never strayed too far from his core influences -- jangly pop, country and straight-ahead rock 'n' roll. Again, you know, lucky us.
www.ticketmaster.com.

ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS, Austin City Limits, Sept. 26-28, Zilker Park, Austin Texas: Two very talented but seemingly incompatible stars who nevertheless sound like an instinctive pairing. That we didn't think of Lep Zeppelin for one second when listening to this amounts to a major accomplishment in our book. This festival also includes Beck, Manu Chao, John Fogerty, David Byrne.
(888) 512-7469; aclfestival.com.