“In my eyes, it’s a tacit acknowledgement by the record industry that there’s a loyal, committed group of customers who are looking for something more than the run-of-the-mill, no frills product that the majority of music consumers give no second thought about,” Butts said.

This Friday, he’ll play at the Ten Pound Fiddle. Old New England murder ballads, Southern Appalachian and Irish songs, gospel: Eriksen does them all. His music has been featured in films like Billy Bob Thornton’s “Chrystal,” “Behold the Earth” and the Oscarwinning.

This Friday the band’s “Dirge Across America Tour” will stop at Mac’s Bar. In April 2010 after the re-release of “Abuse,” Wormrot’s debut album on Earache Records, the group embarked on another tour across Europe and the United States. The band will release a new full-length titled “Dirge” in May.

The band plays the Landshark Friday. Sharing the bill are Audrey (Muskegon), Good Weather For Airstrikes (Howell), Bloomill (Mt. Pleasant). Elliot Street Lunatic will record its sophomore album in California this June with producer Casey Crescenzo from The Dear Hunter, a national indie band.

“It’s an escape from reality for people to see ‘Wizard of Oz’ set to ‘Dark Side of the Moon,’ with lasers. It’s a surreal experience,” said Tom Beller, bassist and backing vocalist for Echoes of Pink Floyd, a tribute band with an enormous light show..

The Alternative Press called one of his folk/country inspired albums, “the disc Ryan Adams keeps threatening to make but never quite delivers.” Sharing the bill is his tourmate Matt Pond, a Philadelphia-based songwriter. Known for his indie-pop, Pond has been keeping busy since he formed Matt Pond PA in 1998.

Metro Bowl is back with ‘Friday Night Blues’ From the 1960s through the 1980s, Metro Bowl was a Lansing hotspot for not only bowling and drinks but also live music. In the past three years the complex, which is under new management, has hosted “Tejano Saturday” and recently launched “Friday Night Blues,” a weekly live blues show inside The Metro, the club portion of the complex.

A “loop” is a short section of sound that’s repeated continuously, creating an entirely new track. It’s something Jessica Arnold fully embraces with her solo project Loop Goat.

Two Brooklyn-based bands, Rex Complex and Railbird, joined forces and independently booked a United States tour, which stops at Mac’s Bar Friday. Opening the show are local rockers Narc Out the Reds and Life Size Ghost.

Detroit blues legend Eddie Kirkland, 87, who played with the likes of John Lee Hooker and Otis Redding, was killed in an automobile accident Sunday while doing what he did since the 1940s ' touring the country and playing the blues.