Roadtrips

Hey, who needs Woodstock? Still billing itself as the largest free folk festival in these United States, the 13th annual Lowell Folk Festival (978-454-7339) kicks off this Friday, July 23, at 5:30, with performances continuing Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Among the participants -- on multiple outdoor stages throughout Lowell -- are J.P. Cormier, Fontella Bass, the Hot Club of Cowtown, Nego Gato Afro-Brazilian Ensemble, W.C. Clark, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, and rockabilly vet Ronnie Dawson, all of whom will play multiple sets throughout the weekend. You can also catch Ronnie Dawson at the Plantation Club Drafthouse (508-752-4666) in Worcester tonight (July 22). For a complete schedule of the Lowell fest, check out the Web site at www.lowellfolkfestival.org. And for those commuting from Boston, there's a special "Festival Train" complete with a mini-parade that leaves North Station Saturday at noon.

Out in the Berkshires, the Noppet Hill Bluegrass Festival (413-499-2805) in Lanesboro (near Pittsfield) hosts three days of camping and traditional tunes from Laurie Lewis, James King, the Gibson Brothers (not the ones Jon Spencer briefly recorded with), the Bag Boys, the Cow Tippers, the Goins Brothers, and more. The fest runs July 23 through 25. The 11th annual Falcon Ridge Folk Festival on Long Hill Farm (860-350-7472) -- in Hillsdale, New York, at the tristate corner where Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut meet -- has big-name bills July 23 through 25 including Ani DiFranco, Cheryl Wheeler, Balfa Toujours, Cry Cry Cry, Ellis Paul, Ferron, the Nields, Stacey Earle, Utah Phillips, and Vance Gilbert. And if you're in Providence on the 24th, you'll find the Met Café (401-861-2142) and Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) hosting a joint "Anti-Woodstock" gathering that features New-England-born-and-bred hardcore and metal from the likes of Shed, Seven Hill Psychos, and Eastcide.

You just can't keep a good polka down -- just consider the irrepressible "Weird" Al Yankovic. Weird Al's usually at his best when popular music is at its worst -- and he's certainly got plenty of fodder these days, as his new album's "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi" and "It's All About the Pentiums" attest. Weird Al's at the North Shore Music Theatre (978-232-7200) in Beverly on July 25.

We'd guess that the Upper Crust would go over better with Weird Al's crowd than with Aerosmith (whom they opened for last New Year's Eve), though of course their powder-wigged, AC-DC-loving Highnesses would never, ever, be caught dead opening for a comedian. Instead they're on a brief tour that doesn't include a Boston gig; the closest they'll get is the Lucky Dog Music Hall (508-363-1888) in Worcester on July 23. Odds and ends: So Cal punk/hip-hop hybridists the Kottonmouth Kings, currently trying to go the street-marketing route à la Insane Clown Posse and Limp Bizkit, are at the Commercial Street Café (508-797-4550) in Worcester on July 25. And impossible-to-pin-down smartcore punks Fat Day make a couple of rare live appearances at the Space (508-753-0017) in Worcester on July 26, and at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Boston on July 30 with the Frogs and Peter Prescott's Peer Group.
-- Carly Carioli