NOVEMBER 30

Live-show legend has it that Chesnutt’s a bilious, drunk, crippled cracker who delights in terrorizing his audience, but his records project a less truculent persona. Even on Nine High a Pallet, the new release by Brute, a group in which Chesnutt is accompanied by members of Widespread Panic, he makes a better folkie than rocker—a downbeat, atheist alternative for Victoria Williams fans who wish every song was “Summer of Drugs.” Mike Hamilton opens at 8 p.m. at the Birchmere, 3901 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $12.50. (703) 549-5919. (Glenn Dixon)