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SUNDAY

There are those who believe Charlie Robison is the artist who can bring male listeners back to country-music radio. His last record, Life of the Party, took 17 months to crack the Billboard chart, but the fact that it finally did is testimony to his relentless schedule of touring—not his marriage to a Dixie Chick (Emily, the cute one), right? On his new record, Step Right Up, Robison—whose motto is “No hat, no act”—churns out uncompromising songs about life and love that should appeal to those who know the difference between Cash and Paycheck and still think Paisley is a sperm-shaped design on cummerbunds. The album—which includes not one, but two countrified versions of favorites from the NRBQ catalog—shouldn’t take as long as his last to make the charts. Then again, knowing NashVegas….In any case, Robison is making a very rare foray into our Yankee neck of the woods, and the honky-tonk faithful—both men and women—should turn out in droves: The guy can write songs that either break your heart or make you want to drink a bunch of Pearl and shoot pistols in the air. Get yer yee-has! out when Robison plays with Malcom Holcombe at 9 p.m. Sunday, May 13, at IOTA, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. $10. (703) 522-8340. (Buzz McClain)