Music Forecast 11.13-11.19: David Bazan, Rhonda Vincent, Chrissie Hynde, and more

David Bazan + Passenger String Quartet
As if the chance to see David Bazan perform wasn’t enough to lure us out, the singer-songwriter — formerly of Pedro the Lion and Headphones — is appearing Friday in Lawrence with fellow Seattle act Passenger String Quartet. In September, Bazan released a collaboration album with the quartet (David Bazan + Passenger String Quartet: Volume 1) featuring reimagined versions of Pedro the Lion tunes and some of Bazan’s solo work. Bazan’s records have never lacked power, but the addition of cello, violins and viola in these fresh arrangements makes for an exquisite experience. The Bottleneck seems an odd venue for this concert. It’s really the kind of show for which you want a cushy chair and a box of tissues, but don’t let that keep you at home.

Friday, November 14, the Bottleneck (737 New Hampshire, Lawrence,
785-841-5483)

The Found Footage Festival
Hey, remember VHS? Those spectacular rectangles that you so carefully cataloged as a kid, the boxes and boxes they occupied? And then along came DVDs. Your parents probably resisted the increasingly necessary hardware upgrade. Oh, the ’90s. But if you’re the nostalgic type, and you’ve kept a few of your most cherished cartoons on tape, then the Found Footage Fest is just your kind of party. Started 10 years ago in Wisconsin and Minnesota, the FFF is now based in New York City and is on the road with Volume 7. Saturday night at RecordBar, prepare for nearly two hours of funny clips from VHS videotapes recovered from spots around the country — warehouses, garage sales, dumpsters. Afterward, the always entertaining Drop a Grand performs.

Saturday, November 15, RecordBar (1020 Westport Road, 816-753-5207)

Rhonda Vincent & the Rage
For anyone invested in bluegrass, speaking Rhonda Vincent’s name is like saying a prayer. The 52-year-old singer-songwriter (and mandolin, fiddle and guitar player) has a career that stretches back four decades and is studded with a dozen International Bluegrass Music Association awards. She has performed with country music’s biggest stars — Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Alan Jackson, Merle Haggard — and remains a favorite collaborator in that industry. Vincent’s most recent album, Only Me, finds the artist straddling both traditional bluegrass and country, and leaving no one disappointed. She’s as true a storyteller as you could hope for, with songs that sound great blaring from a beat-up truck. And if you want to geek out about chord progressions and bluegrass tech talk, well, Vincent has your number there, too. Witness both sides of her at Knuckleheads Saturday.

Saturday, November 15, Knuckleheads Saloon (2715 Rochester, 816-483-1456)

The Wytches
Halloween may have come and gone, but that doesn’t mean the witching hour is over. Behold the English three-piece Wytches, a metal-punk act with a treacherous agenda. On its Partisan Records debut, Annabel Dream Reader, the Wytches rumble impatiently from one gnarly track to another, with lead screamer Kristian Bell’s frightful wails punctuating ill-tempered bass lines and frantic riffs. But there’s more to the Wytches than rage: Under this intrepid cover, surf-punk and melodic rock entwine, an ode to early Pixies and grunge. And that’s just on record. Live, with an unholy energy, the Wytches will undoubtedly put a spell on you.

Saturday, November 15, the Riot Room (4048 Broadway, 816-442-8179)

Chrissie Hynde
In June, Chrissie Hynde released the first solo album of her long career. Stockholm features a slew of collaborators, including Björn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn and John), who co-wrote the majority of the tunes, and Neil Young. But fans of Hynde’s longtime band — the legendary Pretenders, which she spent 35 years fronting, with a rotating cast of players — had nothing to worry about. The 63-year-old star hasn’t strayed far from her usual course; the tracks on Stockholm would fit easily alongside most of the Pretenders’ catalog. The main constant is, of course, Hynde’s own distinctive voice: a sound like charred velvet, complex and infinitely capable. Don’t miss her Sunday at the Uptown Theater.

Sunday, November 16, Uptown Theater (3700 Broadway, 816-753-8665)