Music around town: Linville at the Live Oak; Watkins at the Kessler

Travis Linville at the Live Oak Music Hall & Lounge

Oklahoma troubadour Travis Linville’s just-released album “Up Ahead” is propelled by the sort of easy, earned confidence accrued over the two decades he’s spent as a linchpin for such Americana stars as Hayes Carll and Parker Millsap. Although Linville has long toiled in the shadows of the ever-fertile red dirt country and Americana scenes in Texas and Oklahoma, the polished, powerful songs found on his 10-track effort should serve as a catapult to the next level, rightly exposing Linville’s subtle, gorgeous songcraft to a wider audience. Sample it for yourself as Linville performs at the Live Oak’s popular “Music & Mimosas” concert series.

2 p.m. Saturday. Live Oak Music Hall & Lounge, Fort Worth. $10-$15.

Sara Watkins at Kessler Theater

You could stay home Sunday and watch the annual slog that is the Grammy Awards, or, instead, you could get out and experience a night of live music in one of the state’s finest listening rooms. The Kessler will prove an ideal spot to enjoy the stylings of singer-songwriter Sara Watkins (perhaps best known to some as a member of the acclaimed progressive bluegrass trio Nickel Creek), who is touring behind her third and latest solo LP, last year’s “Young in All the Wrong Ways.” With Liz Longley.

8 p.m. Sunday. Kessler Theater, Dallas. $22.

This story was originally published February 7, 2017 at 2:20 PM with the headline "Music around town: Linville at the Live Oak; Watkins at the Kessler."