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Old Crow Medicine Showis not your average bluegrass band. While the high-lonesome vocals and fleet-fingered string-pickin' suggest a Southern-fried musical education, the players didn't meet in some backwater town in ol' Caroline but in New York. Not one of the musicians is over the age of 30, which gives the group hipster cachet among younger patrons of the voguish roots-music resurgence. And though OCMS clearly performs with respect for the traditions spawned by the genre's founders, like the Monroe and Stanley brothers, it brings a youthful, almost edgy exuberance to its mix of old-school and original tunes that makes it stand out from the herd. In fact, the band smoked a number of the more than three dozen acts at last year's Strictly Bluegrass festival in Golden Gate Park, including country luminaries like Willie Nelson and Emmylou Harris. OCMS opens for big-time fans Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, who produced the band's latest self-titled album, on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 8-9, at the Fillmore; call 346-6000 or go to www.thefillmore.com.
-- Sam Prestianni

Without the inside knowledge that drummer Carlo von Sexron is actually singer Josh Homme from hotshot dessert rockers Queens of the Stone Age, one might dismiss the Eagles of Death Metalas your run-of-the-mill bar band. Indeed, as far as its name and sound go, the group doesn't differ much from the hirsute, leather-clad biker gang in Pee-wee's Big Adventure. A closer look, however, reveals the band is quite capable of stringing together infectious pop songs that draw from Let It Bleedera Stones, as heard on this year's Peace, Love, and Death Metal. So expect bluesy rhythm guitar, clanky, straightforward drum rhythms, and falsetto vocals from Sexron as well as guitarists Jesse "The Devil" Hughes and Timmy "Tipover" VanHamel when the Eagles of Death Metal play Café Du Nord on Sunday, Oct. 10; call 861-5016 or go to www.cafedunord.com.
-- Abigail Clouseau