With Exclaim! praising his latest album as “a soft and sumptuous collection” that “features some of the finest songs of his career,” Grammy-winning folk rocker Ray LaMontagne plays Davenport's Adler Theatre on October 24 in support of his 2018 release Part of the Light, a work that led Spill magazine to state, “The only disappointing aspect of this albuym is that it is only nine songs long.”

Rock and blues guitarist/vocalist Eric Gales has already earned wild praise from his peers, with Carlos Santana calling him “absolutely incredible” and Joe Bonamassa labeling him “one of the best, if not the best guitar player in the world.” On October 11, Gales will no doubt equally thrill fans at Davenport's Redstone Room, sharing the venerable talents that led Dave Navarro to state, “How Eric Gales isn't the hugest name in rock guitar is a total mystery.”

Performing a Moeller Nights concert on October 11, the Heligoats – what NPR called “a strange name for a guy strumming a guitar, but oddly befitting someone who stuffs his songs with so many sideways ideas and observations” – delivers acoustic indie rock courtesy of singer/songwriter Chris Otepka, whom NPR declared “writes songs that are brainy in the best way: clever without straining for cuteness, wry but never smug.”

One of the most popular and influential country and Southern-rock bands in history makes a long-awaited appearance at Moline's TaxSlayer Center on October 13, with the chart-topping talents of Alabama performing in their 2018 “The Hits Tour,” and demonstrating why AllMusic.com wrote, “It's unlikely that any other country group will be able to surpass the success of Alabama.”

For the group's first concerts of the 2018-19 season, the professional vocal ensemble the Nova Singers will travel Out of Darkness, Into Light on October 13 and 14, delivering Illinois and Iowa presentations that find noted composers wrestling with life’s darkest moments and exploring the uplifting powers of hope, light, and love.

Metavari

Nathaniel David Utesch, the guiding light that illuminates Metavari, has taken one of those travel-routes on his way to his present sound that are full of odd detours and strewn with photos that are better left undiscussed. What he has related along the way, over the course of years, is every bit as good as enough for a narrative. Except where noted, all quotes derive from an e-mail exchange conducted with Utesch.

And the band is appearing on 29 September at Rozz-Tox for Year Two of All Senses Fest (9:30 to 10:15PM). So, there’s that.

Presented in conjunction with the Figge Art Museum's eagerly awaited exhibition French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850 – 1950, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra opens its 2018-19 season of Masterworks concerts with a program fittingly titled French Moderns – an evening of glorious compositions by Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Ravel boasting a challenging and gorgeous solo played by renowned flutist John McMurtery.

Lauded by the New York Times for her “hale and limber voice” and her “mining of emotional subtleties within a song,” Americana singer/songwriter Amy Helm plays Davenport's Redstone Room on October 7 in support of her September 21 release This Too Shall Light, an album American Songwriter praised for its “subtle, organic, but vibrant spirituality that aims straight at your heart” and for Helm's “restrained yet obvious passion.”

Performing in support of their latest album that Rolling Stone calls “a crisp display of precision” in which “everyone plays with fire and purpose,” the musicians of Sarah Shook & the Disarmers serve as Moeller Nights headliners on October 9, their rock-infused country stylings on Years described by NoDepression.com as “real, raw, mean-and-evil, bad-and-nasty bidness that makes an ass-kickin' sound mighty fine.”

I met and spoke with Raj and Bacon on Thursday, 20 September, at Rozz-Tox (2108 3rdAve, Rock Island). After playing a number of schools in the QC during their too-brief stay here, they will return to DC on Saturday. I’m already looking forward to seeing them again…

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