Summer is ending, and there’s no better way to bid adieu to the season than with the bittersweet, timeless country ballads of The Annie Ford Band. Leading the talented ensemble with a powerful voice a la Gillian Welch, Ford fully embraces the world of loneliness, heartbreak, revelry, and everything else that comes with relationships. It’s the perfect music to slow-dance alone to, spilling beer, with an indelible grin. With Euro Dance Party USA, Huck Notari. Cafe Racer, 5828 Roosevelt Way N.E., 523-5282, caferacerseattle.com. 9 p.m. No cover. SM

Seattle isn’t necessarily considered a bastion of countrified sounds, but it’s getting there. With the acclaim showered on Sub Pop’s more bucolic-sounding efforts, Zoe Muth’s recognition can’t be too far behind. Despite her decamping to Austin about a year and a half ago, the Seattle native is returning in the wake of her third long-player, World of Strangers. The roughshod country color persists—“Too Shiny” is ostensibly musically cribbed from the Stones’ “Dead Flowers”—but is now augmented by softer, more refined moments, as on “Somebody I Know” and “Annabelle,” the latter replete with a bit of strings. With Joy Mills Band. Slim’s Last Chance, 5606 First Ave. S., 762-7900, slimslastchance.com. 8 p.m. $12. DC