Nashville, TN in 1986 was a far cry from the Southern-fried version of Portland it currently is, and no band represents that city’s eclectic evolution quite as well as Lambchop. Touted as “Nashville’s most fucked-up country band,” Lambchop started from much more traditional roots, but have spent nearly three decades in a state of gradual, graceful genre-hopping. This year’s Lambchop record Mr. M finds the band honing in on breathtakingly pristine, carefully orchestrated pop, with frontman Kurt Wagner equally channeling Burt Bacharach’s slowly gushing sentimental moments and Lou Reed’s dry, detached narratives. With Alina Hardin. GREGORY FRANKLIN

Tue., May 1, 8 p.m., 2012