Roadtrips

Fat Tuesday hits cold, cold Cranston, Rhode Island, this Saturday, when the ninth annual Mardi Gras Ball takes place at the Rhodes on the Pawtucket Ballroom (401-783-3926). A cherished tradition among Cajun-music fans, the show features Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Geno Delafose and French Rockin' Boogie, and the young, buzzed-about group Charivari, who also headline their own show at Johnny D's (617-776-2004) in Somerville this Friday. You'll find discs by all three of those groups on the Rounder label, which also dominates the proceedings at this weekend's 16th annual Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, running Friday through Sunday at the Dedham Holiday Inn (617-527-1555, or visit www.bbu.org). The Rounder contingent includes the Lynn Morris Band (featuring the best of the genre's few female bandleaders), the James King Band, multi-instrumentalist Skip Gorman, New England grassfathers the Lilly Brothers (with the legendary banjo player Bill Keith sitting in), and the jazz-tinged Wayfaring Strangers.

Northampton's indispensable Iron Horse Music Hall (413-584-0610) celebrates its 22nd anniversary with a gig this Saturday by indispensable singer/songwriter/novelist Bill Morrissey. On Friday, Mary Lou Lord hits Lilli's (617-591-1661) in Somerville with Asian-American neo-folkie Kevin So (his "Standing in the Shadow of Ellis Paul" laments, "This job is for a white guy, Vance Gilbert knows what I mean/we're the only two minorities in the whole folk scene"). On Tuesday, Lord hits the Kendall Café (617-661-0993) in Cambridge with Cave In's Stephen Brodsky, in his lo-fi indie-pop incarnation. Joan of Arc's Tim Kinsellas does the solo thing at Providence's Met Café (401-861-2142) this Friday; and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy plays a sold-out solo gig with former Radish frontboy Ben Kweller at Lilli's on Tuesday.

After retiring Black Sabbath for good last year and announcing that he would abstain from headlining the vastly successful metal package tour that bears his name, Ozzy Osbourne confirmed last week that he was once again re-forming Sabbath in order to headline this summer's Ozzfest. Beneficiaries include nü-metal upstarts Linkin Park -- confirmed for the tour -- who headline Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence this Saturday with Taproot and Alien Ant Farm, whose initials we expect will prove irresistible to a certain local active-rock radio station. Which station is that? The one responsible for breaking local hard-rock titans Godsmack and Staind, who return to the area with shows at the Whittemore Center Arena (603-862-4000) in Durham, New Hampshire, on February 26 and the Cumberland Civic Center (207-775-3481) in Portland, Maine, on February 27.

Mike Rivard's avant-groove instrumental collective Club d'Elf (featuring guest John Medeski) ventures out from its home base at the Lizard Lounge to tour in support of a debut double live-CD document of the group's past two years. After a show this Thursday at the Lizard (617-547-0759), the group hits Club Helsinki (413-528-3394) in Great Barrington on February 23; the Iron Horse on February 24; and the Columbus Theatre in Providence (401-831-9327) on February 25. In related developments, Mike Clark -- the renowned drummer of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, among numerous others -- has an all-star group along for his Prescription Renewal Tour, including Charlie Hunter, Robert Walter, and Medeski/d'Elf collaborator DJ Logic. They're at the Iron Horse on Thursday, March 1 and at Lilli's on March 3.

-- Carly Carioli