CHRISTOPHER BELL To call this Christopher Bell unique would be an understatement. Picture a lone musician on stage strumming away at a guitar, pouring out his soul. Now, replace the guitar with a cello, and you’ve got Bell. Bell takes the cello and turns it on its side, slung over his shoulder with a guitar strap. The sound as he strums the cello is like taking guitar chords and making them softer and sweeter so they reverberate and linger. Just to see a musician rock a cello like a guitar is reason enough to hit up this show. Free. Amelie’s French Bakery.

LANGHORNE SLIM & THE LAW Slim’s everyman crooning, never overpowered by his guitar or the accompanying comrades, is a fine showcase of a confident folk-rock tenor. His words tell tales, coaxed further with musical shadings of blues, gospel and American roots. He’s no slacker when plucking the acoustic guitar, either. Quite simply, Langhorne Slim is an upper rung roots singer and songwriter. Jon Lindsay will open. $12/$15. Visulite Theatre.

ANAÏS MITCHELL With her fourth album, Young Man in America, singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell follows up the success of her 2010 folk opera, Hadestown. Young Man continues Mitchell’s tradition of taking on different character voices to tell stories through her music. The sweet tone of her grounded vocals dissipate any sense of pretentiousness to let her lyrics shine through. $10 advance. The Evening Muse.

THE MANTRAS/DOPAPOD Greensboro quintet The Mantras’ P-Funk chops and cred are unimpeachable, having supported George Clinton’s crew. Weeding out their early Zappa fixation, The Mantras mine metal, middle eastern and jazz-rock in a mix that’s more ’70s fusion than ’90s jam band. Pumping popping bass, crisp percussion and crunchy guitar accents add up to the usual magpie’s cache of influences. What’s more surprising is the hint of minor key Factory Records-style angular funk that seeps into their compositions. Tour-and sonic soul-mates Dopapod work a similar vein, with a more pronounced tilt to classic rock. Add a touch of the oozing neo-psychedelia of Ozric Tentacles to their sound, and you’ve got the aural equivalent of a liquid light show. With unapologetic jazz rock fusionaires Kung Fu. $10. Visulite Theatre.

J. COLE He may have started with a dollar and a dream when he dropped his first mixtape, but one Jay-Z signing and a Grammy nod later, J. Cole is riding high while keeping his underground cred. Critically, his commercial success has cast Cole between a Roc Nation and a hard place: The big label debut can’t match the grit of his masterful mixes, yet he’s still too uncomfortably heartfelt for mainstream hip hop. Carolina raised, but N.Y. educated, Cole can come off like a too-earnest grad student. But intertwined with ’90s jazz-rap beats, ’70s soul influences, Afro-pop samples and lots of grand piano, his forthright storytelling is far removed from boilerplate hip hop’s empty glitz and cartoon thuggery. Instead, J. Cole proves that compelling narrative is a powerful reality, and that we can make sense of the world by the tales we tell. $36-$48.50. The Fillmore Charlotte.

NAKED GODS These Boone deities turned in one of last year’s best regional spins with the superb No Jams, an ironic title only if you really believed you’d find 20-minute noodle-fests here. Instead, the tightly crafted Pavement-meets-Beachwood Sparks tracks offer appealingly meandering grooves and stoned musings that capture western N.C.’s mountain vibe without once resorting to granola and banjo clichés. Live, the band dials up the energy to suffuse the proceedings with suitable fire and pizzazz. Dare we say a band on the verge of greater realms? We do dare. With Appalucia, Blossoms and Joint Damage. $7-$9. The Milestone.

WAKA FLOCKA FLAME Southern party-rap talent Waka Flocka Flame makes the sort of music the word “crunk” was invented for. The mixtape warrior has attached his name to such club and radio rap luminaries as Gucci Mane and Nicki Minaj. Now, he’s shaking booties across America in advance of his upcoming sophomore release, Triple F Life. With Rick Ross and Meek Mill. $55.75-$85.75. Bojangles’ Coliseum.

TRUCKFIGHTERS There’s something absolutely ridiculous about desert rock, so don’t hold it against Sweden’s Truckfighters that they come from a country with no deserts. Yet this ostensibly southwestern branch of drug rock, driven by fuzzed-beyond-recognition guitar tone and purposefully overblown stoner psychedelia, almost hinges on pure absurdity. How else, in today’s minefield of ironic metal and self-conscious experimentalism, can a hard-hitting rock band ply its trade? If you dig the Eagles of Death Metal but don’t dig the mustaches, this is the show for you. $10-$12. Tremont Music Hall.

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS Last year, Cody and Luther Dickinson turned in the best album of North Mississippi Allstars’ career, following the death of the brothers’ legendary father, Jim Dickinson — a staple of Southern music whose magic fingers touched everything from the Stones’ classic Muscle Shoals recordings to American punk greats the Replacements. The Dickinson brothers’ thick slabs of meaty blues-rock were more reflective on the Allstars’ Keys to the Kingdom, recalling the spirit of the band’s 2000 debut, Shake Hands with Shorty, but with the kind of wiser and more mature sensibility you get when you live through the death of a family hero. We suspect they’ll do their daddy right on this night. $20-$35. Neighborhood Theatre.

THE VIOLET LIGHTS This Los Angeles twosome is touring in support of its debut EP, Sex & Sound. Their self-produced, self-funded record has launched the band’s music career without the help of a major music label. Though hailing from the West Coast, The Violet Lights’ sound is more akin to british pop and garage rock fused in what should be an unholy harmony, yet somehow they make it work. Their sound is smooth and energetic while still being catchy, with a bass, guitar and drumkit bubbling beneath the surface of The Violet Lights killer harmonies. They might be a brand new band, but they play with the confidence and skill of veterans. $7-9. The Milestone.