Critics' Picks: Japandroids, Deep Blues Festival, the Walkmen, and more

courtesy of the artists

Japandroids, in post-celebration mode

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• Japandroids
• Emmylou Harris
• Joan Jett
• Zydeco Music
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Dakota, Tuesday 7.3

Any way you wanna look at it, C.J. Chenier is zydeco royalty. He is, of course, the son of the late, great King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. But C.J.'s achieved enough on his own to warrant a legitimate claim to the zydeco crown. For one, he's a great singer, commanding a rich, deeply expressive voice. He's also formidable wielding the old squeezebox, plus versatile enough to play saxophone, flute, and keyboards too. And he's put his own contemporary mark on zydeco while remaining true to its swampy roots and retaining the raucous spirit of those southwest Louisiana roadhouses. It took C.J. five years to follow up on his strikingly evocative post-Katrina lament The Desperate Kingdom of Love. But last fall's Can't Sit Down perfectly captures the new disc's party-hearty spirit in the title. A modern sensibility flows through tracks like "Zydeco Boogie," but C.J. and the band also boil up the bayou waters with vintage nuggets like Clfton's "Hot Tamale Baby" and Boozoo's "Paper in My Shoe." Get ready for Louisiana fireworks a day early. $25. 7 p.m. 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612.332.1010. —Rick Mason