TOMBERLIN

MONDAY 5/8. GEORGE’S MAJESTIC LOUNGE, FAYETTEVILLE. 8 P.M. $16-$18.

Following in the footsteps of confessional, post-evangelical songwriters like Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan, Tomberlin’s songs often examine the half-life of a Christian upbringing, the way it tends to haunt those who leave it behind. If her first album was a direct response to losing her religion, her sophomore record — “I Don’t Know Who Needs To Hear This…” — documents the dogged yet heartbreakingly unsuccessful attempt she makes to fill the faith-shaped hole. In “Born Again Runner,” she’s watching “your sermon looking for an apology.” In “Tap,” she scrolls and hearts and “talk[s] to strangers” on social media until she “hates herself.” In “Happy Accident,” she “walk[s] five miles” in reckless devotion to a negligent lover who only wants her when they’re “lonely and bored,” an arrangement not dissimilar from her efforts to connect with a distant God. A sad song is not inherently a good song, but Tomberlin is the queen of artful devastation. Her opener is Trace Mountains, a solo project from the former lead singer of LVL UP, and he’s so talented that I consider this a co-headlining situation.

DG

Wednesday

FRIDAY 5/19. STICKYZ ROCK ’N’ ROLL CHICKEN SHACK. 8:30 P.M. $16-$20.

Visions of the American South can sometimes be vague, oldtimey and mythical, but Wednesday — a scruffy indie rock band from Asheville, North Carolina — has an unflinchingly specific, contemporary and bleak way of describing this place. “Bath County” — named after an area on the border of Virginia and West Virginia — is my favorite song from their new album, “Rat Saw God,” and it’s littered with references to Dollywood, Planet Fitness, Narcan, the Drive-By Truckers and “piss colored bright yellow Fanta.” So much crusty commercial name dropping might indicate that Wednesday is out to merely shock and disgust, but when the distortion swirls down the drain at 1:45 and Karly Hartman leans into the sweeter side of her vocal register over weeping riffs from guitarist MJ Lenderman (whose solo work is also spectacular), Wednesday seems capable of just about anything. DG

Freshgrass Music Festival

FRIDAY 5/19-SATURDAY 5/20. THE MOMENTARY, BENTONVILLE. $140$375.

If the organizers behind the Momentary’s annual bluegrass and roots festival were breaking a sweat about how to top last year’s Tanya Tuckerand Margo Price-studded lineup, they aren’t showing it. The list of headliners promises a master class in how ideas around country and traditional music forms are being reconsidered and revived, with sets from R&B matriarch Mavis Staples; bluegrass legend Del McCoury; badass flatpicker Molly Tuttle (pictured) and her band Golden Highway; virtuosity and pageantry from West Virginia country darling Sierra Ferrell; funk-meets-performance art from the inimitable Tank and the Bangas; and Willi Carlisle, whose showmanship is so seamlessly stellar you’ll hardly notice he’s peddling some of the most subversive ideas in modern country music. Add to that a silent film screening with a live score from the real-deal Melissa Carper, and a country music-inspired video project from filmmaker Moheb Soliman and you’ve got yourself a fine set of reasons to spend a mid-May weekend in Waltonland. SS

BALLET ARKANSAS: NEW WORKS

THURSDAY 5/4 & SUNDAY 5/6. ARKANSAS MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS. 7:30 P.M. $40.