St. Paul and the Broken Bones at Stage AE; Mr. Smalls Hosts Bob Mould (Tues., 2/19/19)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmrxpEFmMhg

1) St. Paul and the Broken Bones closed the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival with a roar heard ’round the Point in 2017. St. Paul (née Paul Janeway) sings with a Sam Cooke-esque range and depth of soul. The Broken Bones, resplendent with horns, further lift his voice. The band is based in Birmingham, Alabama, and has released three albums, most recently 2018’s Young Sick Camellia. Sharp songwriting matches the moving instrumentation. “Crumbling Light Posts, Pt. 1,” “Pt. 2,” and “Pt. 3,” from 2016’s Sea of Noise, allude to a Winston Churchill quote. St. Paul and the Broken Bones have toured around the world and have played the mother of all opening gigs: playing before the Rolling Stones. They will perform at Stage AE. Valley Queen opens. Doors open 7 p.m. 400 North Shore Dr., North Shore. (CM)

2) Bob Mould will perform at Mr. Smalls in support of his new solo album, Sunshine Rock. Mould sang, played guitar, and wrote songs in Hüsker Dü, one of the great ’80s underground rock bands, right up there with R.E.M. and the Replacements. Hüsker Dü formed in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1979. Key entries into the trio’s discography include 1984’s punk rock opera Zen Arcade and 1985’s New Day Rising. (Mould sings in a lower, more jagged timbre, such as on “Celebrated Summer.” The late Grant Hart, who played drums and also wrote songs in Hüsker Dü, sang in a higher, more melodic register.) Hüsker Dü broke up in 1988 amid drug use, creative differences, and the suicide of the band’s manager. Mould released his first solo album, Workbook, in 1989. He later formed another trio, Sugar, in 1992. Murder for Girls, a great Pittsburgh group hot off the release of its sophomore LP, 2017’s All the Pretty Stars, open. 8 p.m. 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. (CM)

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