While you're rooting for the Patriots during this Sunday's Super Bowl spectacular, don't forget to say a prayer for the opening band, since Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops are gonna need all the help they can get. The maestro and his crack squad are in the unenviable position of serving as back-up to Mariah Carey during her first public appearance since pulling one of the biggest rock-and-roll swindles on EMI since the Sex Pistols stuck it to the same label back in the '70s. Last week Carey pocketed $28 million just for getting lost, after her latest album and film both tanked in the wake of a highly public "breakdown." On Sunday, she'll sing the national anthem with help from the Pops; the game will be broadcast in Rhode Island on WNAC, Channel 64.

Among the other high-octane performers lined up for the Super Bowl is Mary J. Blige, who has taken the unorthodox step of releasing a superb single, "Rainy Dayz," that wasn't on her outstanding recent No More Drama (MCA). A newly pressed version of the album featuring "Rainy Dayz" is due in stores this week; meanwhile, Blige has asked that her track on Nas's new Stillmatic (Columbia) be removed from future pressings. She shows up for a sold-out gig at the Orpheum (617-931-2000) on Wednesday.

Patty Loveless, Ralph Stanley, the Peasall Sisters, and the Whites are just a few of the multi-generational stars coming "Down from the Mountain" to perform old-timy music from the soundtrack to the Coen Brothers' film O Brother, Where Art Thou? on Saturday at the Wang Theatre (800-447-7400) in Boston. Guitar innovator Leo Kottke makes his annual New England pilgrimage with shows tonight (Thursday January 31) at the Iron Horse (413-584-0610) in Northampton, on Friday at Sanders Theatre (617-496-2222) in Cambridge, and on Saturday at the Palace Theatre (603-668-5588) in Manchester, New Hampshire. Young-lion jazz pianist Brad Mehldau warms up at the Iron Horse on Friday and at Bushnell Memorial Hall (860-987-5900) in Hartford on Saturday before beginning a three-night run at Scullers (617-562-4111) in Boston next Thursday, February 7. The jazz-soul supergroup Masters of Groove -- including organist Reuben Wilson and drummer Bernard Purdie -- hit the House of Blues (617-491-BLUE) in Cambridge on Friday and Saturday before proceeding to the Iron Horse on Monday. And one of the greatest living singers of American popular song, Bobby Short, enjoys a long run at the Mohegan Sun Casino's Cabaret (800-477-6849) in Uncasville, Connecticut, tonight (Thursday January 31) through Sunday and then February 7 through 10.

Provided she doesn't have a nervous breakdown on stage, it'll be good to see indie songster Chan Marshall, a/k/a Cat Power, get back in the swing with dates on Saturday at Smith College (413-584-2700) in Northampton, on Sunday at the Skinny (207-871-8983) in Portland, and on Monday at the Coolidge Corner Theatre (617-734-2500) in Brookline. And all the old members of Days of the New -- except leader Travis Meeks, who celebrated the outfit's commercial success by firing the entire line-up -- have returned with a new singer as Tantric; they headline Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence tonight and open for Creed at the sold-out FleetCenter in Boston next Thursday.