Andrew Savage, Jack Cooper, and Garment District at Mr. Smalls; Josh Ritter also at Mr. Smalls (Wed., 11/1/17)

1) Mr. Smalls will offer a double billing of indie-rock frontmen. New York City rockers Parquet Courts are no strangers to Pittsburgh; they’ve played the Rex Theater and Spirit. This month, their frontman, Andrew Savage, who performs as A. Savage, stops here as part of his tour for his solo album, this year’s Thawing Dawn. He speak-sings with the best of them (Lou Reed, Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan) on tunes like “Winter in the South.” From across the pond is Jack Cooper, who co-fronts Ultimate Painting and fronts Mazes. Sandgrown, also out this year, is his first solo album. His hometown, Blackpool, England, inspired the recording. Opening is The Garment District, a project of multi-instrumentalist Jennifer Baron, a Mt. Lebanon native and founding member of the Brooklyn band The Ladybug Transistor. The Garment District’s debut album, If You Take Your Magic Slow, was released in 2014. 2015’s Luminous Toxin followed; check out “The Feral Surfers.” Lucy Blehar, also from Lebo, sings vocals on the non-instrumental tracks. Live, Baron is joined by friends and family including her husband, Greg Langel. 8 p.m. 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. (CM)

2) In another chamber of Millvale’s sprawling music mansion, singer/songwriter Josh Ritter brings his Royal City Band to Mr. Smalls Theatre for a show that promises to be sweeter (and much livelier) than any leftover Halloween candy. Ritter is touring in support of his new album Gathering. The critically acclaimed LP showcases the variety of sounds he is capable of producing: from straight-ahead folk-style picking and singing to eerie, plaintive ballads and thundering harmonic roof-raisers. Ritter hails from Moscow—Moscow, Idaho, that is—and not surprisingly, he’s been compared to a variety of his musical predecessors, ranging from Dylan to Paul Simon and even Warren Zevon. The 41-year-old Ritter can also sound Grateful Dead-ish, and in fact one track on Gathering, “When Will I Be Changed,” features former Dead man Bob Weir. Ritter’s show at Mr. Smalls is all ages, so leave the candy at home and get high on the music. Good Old War opens. 8 p.m. 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. (MV)

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