David Allan Coe
Thursday, Sept. 2, Orange Peel

David Allan Coe is one scary piece of meat. Along with Dick Cheney and my high school biology teacher, Coe is on the short list of senior citizens that scare the ever-livin’ piss out of me.

Just look at his picture. I mean, I know Coe is a firebrand, a renegade, an outlaw, a biker ... but sweet Jesus, that’s a look you don’t see every day. He backs it up, too. He’s spent much of his life in the penitentiary, looks like a redneck Bigfoot, and once lived in a cave in Tennessee.

When he first moved to Nashville, he lived in hearse that he parked outside of the Ryman. He eventually made it in country music — he wrote Johnny Paycheck’s #1 hit, “Take This Job and Shove It,” and scored a hit of his own with Steve Goodman’s “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” — and he did so on his own terms.

Now 75, Coe is still kickin’ ass, as 2003’s Live at Billy Bob’s Texas shows in abundance. Come if you dare.

Tickets are $18 in advance and $20 at the door. Former V-Roy Mic Harrison opens, and the show starts at 9 p.m. Call 828.225.5851 for more info.

Al Green
Friday, Sept. 3, Biltmore Estate

The question is whether or not I can write an Al Green preview without talking about the hot grits. I’d like to think I can, but I’ve got a morbid fascination with the story, and I can’t count on myself to take the high road. I ought to, but I might not.

There’s so much more to talk about, after all. Green was one of the all-time soul greats: he sold millions of records, he’s in the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, and if you can’t sing along to at least the chorus of “Tired of Being Alone,” then there’s a tiny hole in your life that ought to be filled. His style was boastful, sexy, vulnerable, and lush, layered with strings and punched up by horns, and he was as charismatic as a world-class soul man ought to be. He had a good back-story — as a teen, he was kicked out of his family’s gospel quartet when his dad caught him listening to a Jackie Wilson record — and a good coda, as he’s spent much of the last 20 years preaching at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis.

What’s more, there’s no good reason for me to be using the past tense: Green released a wonderful new album last year. I Can’t Stop was recorded with his old engineer (Willie Mitchell), at his old Memphis studio (Mitchell’s Royal Studio), with his old session musicians and backup singers, using the same equipment he always used, right down to his old RCA No. 9 microphone. The results were right nice: the title track is downright delicious, an unmistakable taste of 70s soul that recalls vintage Green. The years have done nothing to dampen his Voice — the smooth lead or the disarming falsetto — and his singing is as joyous and seductive as it was when he ruled the R&B charts. If the sound is dated, it’s also classic; if you swooned then, you’ll swoon now. As Green himself said of “Rainin’ in My Heart”: “You play that for the wife, in the wintertime, fireplace goin’, that song — you gonna get some action, son!” (Action or not, you can hear four full tracks from I Can’t Stop on the Blue Note Records site; search for Big Al and sniff out the samples, and don’t leave without checking out the superb “Million to One.”)

And then there’s the troubling incident with the hot grits, the tragic assault that left one woman dead and helped push Green into the ministry. But look at that: I’m out of room, particularly if I want to mention that sharing the stage with Al will be the Blind Boys of Alabama, the gospel legends invigorated by a comeback album of their own. It’s called Higher Ground, and it ain’t half-bad either.

Reserved seating is $60 and general admission is $55. Call 1.800.624.1575 for more info.

Also Playing

• Hollywood Red, Vincent’s Ear, 9/3

• Sons of Ralph, Jack of the Wood, 9/4

• Darlyne Cain, Westville Pub, 9/4

• The Royal We, Hannah Flanagan’s, 9/4

• 24/7s, Thibodaux Jones, 9/8

• Sound Tribe Sector 9, Orange Peel, 9/8 and 9/9

Three Good Tunes on the New Todd Snider Album, East Nashville Skyline

1. “Age Like Wine”

2. “The Ballad of the Kingsmen”

3. “Sunshine”

They Said It

“One thing is certain: you can’t shake hands with a fist.”

— David Allan Coe

OK, OK, the Hot Grits Story

In 1974, at the height of his fame, Al Green was attacked in the shower by a former girlfriend named Mary Woodson. She poured a pot of boiling grits on him before retreating to a bedroom to kill herself with Green’s .38-caliber pistol. Green suffered second-degree burns over much of his body, spent several months in the hospital, and came to see the attack as a sign from God that he should abandon secular music and return to gospel full-time.