XL: SXSW

Thursday band sampler

Bobby Bare. His album 'The Moon is Blue' was one of 2005's most unexpected comebacks. A legendary country crooner whose works with songwriter Shel Silverstein were highlights for them both, Bare had been retired for decades when he created this slice of almost avant-garde western wear. It was as if 'Blue' took Wilco's sound experiments as just another country grammar, another idiom around which to fold his rich voice. (9 p.m., Momo's)

Baroness. This band hails from the fertile Savannah, Ga., punk scene, which has recently produced such killer bands as Kylesa, Black Tusk and Chronicle A.D. The quartet fuses long-form, King Crimson-esque progressive rock, crusty punk, guitar noise and too much facial hair. Their two EPs, helpfully named 'First' and 'Second,' are essential prog-metal listening and feature gorgeous cover art. (9:45 p.m., Room 710)

WWW.BOBBYBARE.NET

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Bobby Bare (9 p.m., Momo's)

WWW.DRIVEBYTRUCKERS.COM

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Drive-By Truckers (1 a.m., La Zona Rosa)

WWW.PARTCHIMP.COM

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Part Chimp (Midnight, Soho Lounge)

Aubrey Edwards

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DJ Rapid Ric & The Whut It Dew Family (9:30 p.m., Back Room)

Sir Richard Bishop. You might recognize him from leading ethno-improvisational-kitchen-sink pioneers Sun City Girls, but this is Bishop in his solo acoustic guise. His solo debut, 'Salvador Kali,' was issued by John Fahey's Revenant label in 1998, and remains one of the few albums from that Austin institution by someone who isn't dead. His excellent new album, 'Improvika,' is on Locust Music, a label with a slightly higher living-to-dead ratio than Revenant, but not by much. (Midnight, The Hideout)

Harlan T Bobo. The mysterious Mr. Bobo has become something of a legend in his hometown of Memphis, Tenn. He handmade each copy of his debut album, 'Too Much Love,' before demand gave it a home at Goner Records. The Memphis Flyer called it "the best Memphis record of the past 5 years." (8:50 p.m., Beerland)

Drive-By Truckers. 'A Blessing and a Curse,' which hits stores April 18, might be the tightest album in the Truckers' career. Gone are the epic story-songs — guitarists Patterson Hood, Jason Isbell and Mike Cooley are all writing at the height of their powers, crafting nugget after diamond-hard nugget, blending power pop, Southern rock and the alt-country that R.E.M. never quite made. (1 a.m., La Zona Rosa)

James McMurtry. Stephen King might think of James McMurtry as 'perhaps the truest, fiercest songwriter of his generation,' mostly because of the hypnotic protest tune 'We Can't Make It Here.' But nobody pays enough attention to McMurtry's spare, crunchy guitar; that and his declarative style have turned him into alt-country's Lou Reed. (Midnight, Antone's)

Mittens on Strings. Detailed and intense, rich and melodic, Mittens on Strings hails from the border between Indiana and Kentucky, along the Ohio River. Which makes sense, as their sound is caught between Midwestern roots rock and Southern country and western. Word has it that their debut album could use a label. (11 p.m., Pecan St. Ale House)

Morrissey. Bigmouth strikes again! He canceled his last Austin date, but Mozzer is here now, riding one of the most amazing comebacks of modern times. Rolling Stone writer David Fricke will interview him today, his 2004 album 'You Are the Quarry' was the best-selling album of his career and the upcoming 'Ringleader of the Tormentors' is a big rock thumper produced by glam legend Tony Visconti. (9:30 p.m., Austin Music Hall)

No Things. I love underground rock math. What do you get when you add Liars' former rhythm section (bassist Pat Noecker and drummer Ron Albertson) to Him singer/guitarist Christian Dautresme? A grim, failing power trio, recalling such early noise rock icons as Mars and 'Confusion is Sex'-era Sonic Youth. After a falling out with its former label, No Things' completed album is looking for a home. No doubt these psychedelic warriors will find one after this weekend. (12:15 a.m., The Velvet Spade)

Part Chimp. It's no wonder 'I Am Come,' the second album from these U.K. noisemongers, is on Mogwai's Rock Action Records. Part Chimp is the perfect band for folks who miss Mogwai's noisier, earlier, funnier work. Like their label bosses, they are volume dealers first and foremost. Yet their songs are tighter, punchier, with more rock action. (Midnight, Soho Lounge)

Pterodactyl. This is the new band from Kurt Beals, the bassist for Union of a Man and a Woman, a late '90s trio out of central Virginia whose sole album for Jagjaguwar Records is one of the most egregiously slept-on noise rock albums of all time. Amazing, jagged scrap metal. (11 p.m., The Velvet Spade Patio)

DJ Rapid Ric & The Whut It Dew Family. Austin DJ Rapid Ric stays fly with his new MC crew, The Whut it Dew Family, which includes Houston heavyweights such as Magno, Chalie Boy and Da Ryno, as well as Austin's own Bavu Blakes, performing here in his grown and sexy persona, Mr. Blakes. Ric has recently produced a killer mix tape for Chalie Boy; look for the whole crew's album sometime later his summer. (9:30 p.m., Back Room)

Sound Team. Will they be Austin's next big thing? The six-piece signed to Capitol/EMI, which will release their full-length album in the summer of 2006. No doubt they will keep their shimmering guitar pop intact. (Midnight, Buffalo Billiards)

The Twilight Singers. After the disintegration of the legendary Afghan Whigs, head Whig (hah!) Greg Dulli started the Twilight Singers as a vector for pretty much anything he felt like doing, from Latin-tinged electronica to dark, punchy guitar soul that doesn't go too far from the Whigs' proggy, R&B infernos. Their fourth studio album, 'Powder Burns,' arrives on May 16. (11:30 p.m., Friends)

Money Waters. In a state packed with unsung MCs who are only now getting their shine on, Waters remains one of the most egregiously slept-on. With its shaggy dog tales and stories of falling for strippers, his first album, 'The Porch,' is one of Texas hip-hop's funniest, most conversational and, yes, most real. (9 p.m., Back Room)