Lucinda Williams, Maverick City Music, and VinylCon are highlights of a busy Philly music week

This week in Philly music Lucinda Williams circles the city, Big Thief singer Adrianne Lenker closes out her tour at Union Transfer, Maverick City Music hosts a gospel throwdown, and Daryl Hall sings down the Shore. Plus, VinylCon returns to Philadelphia for a weekend-long celebration of record culture.

But let’s start with a Thursday night chock full of top flight guitar bands. J Mascis, who continues to thrive decades after the grunge era beginnings of his band Dinosaur Jr., plays Underground Arts in support of a new album that asks an eternal question: What Do We Do Now.

Blues guitar slinger Samantha Fish heads up a bill at the Keswick Theatre that celebrates the 30th anniversary of Ruf Records. Canned Heat, whose lineup now includes original drummer Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra and guitarist Jimmy Vivino, is on the bill. As is Mitch Ryder of “Devil in the Blue Dress” fame and Belgian blues-rock guitarist-drummer Ghalia Volt.

The John Ross-led Brooklyn indie band Wild Pink, who released the hard rocking Dulling the Horns earlier this year, is playing the Ukie Club. Philly steel guitarist Mike Brenner is missing this gig, but will be with the band when they play Free at Noon at Ardmore Music Hall on Dec. 6.

Margaret Glaspy, the singer-guitarist who confirmed the promise of her 2020 debut Emotions and Math with last year’s rock solid Bruce Lee-inspired Echo the Diamond, is at Ardmore Music Hall. The underappreciated blues guitarist and masterful mood setter Chris Smither plays Elkton Music Hall on Thursday with his band the Motivators. His new album is All About The Bones.

Lucinda Williams surrounds Philadelphia this weekend. On Friday, the great roots country, blues, and country — or Americana, if you prefer — songwriter is at the McCarter Theater in Princeton. On Saturday, she moves on to the Ocean City Music Pier, before headlining the Grand in Wilmington on Sunday.

On Dec. 6, Williams will release Lucinda Williams Sings the Beatles From Abbey Road. It’s the seventh album in her “Lu’s Jukebox” series. She is the first artist to ever record an entire album of Beatles songs at the London studio where the band worked. The album starts with a “Don’t Let Me Down” that’s ideally suited for her careworn voice. She puts her stamp on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and other Fab Four classics.

VinylCon returns to the 23rd Street Armory in Center City on Saturday and Sunday, after the record fair made its Philly debut there in April. Over 100,000 records — or “vinyls,” if you must — will be on sale from 70 vendors, and DJs including Nex Millen, John Morrison, and Skeme Richards, who curated the lineup will spin both days, starting at 10 a.m. More info at thevinylcon.com.

Philly songwriter Chelsea Mitchell, who records as Dirty Dollhouse, celebrates the release of her new album The End at Johnny Brenda’s on Friday. Salami Rose Joe Louis, the one-woman project of experimental electro-pop producer Lindsay Olsen, plays the Fishtown venue Saturday.

Ronald Reagan? The Actor? is a psych-surf space-rock trio that draws from game show theme songs and mariachi music. The Philly band has two gigs coming up: Saturday at Tin Can Bar with El Dingo, Feaster, and Negative Affirmations and Tuesday at Johnny Brenda’s, opening for like-minded space rockers Gene Wildest.

Grammy-winning gospel group Maverick City Music’s “Good News Tour” plays the Liacouras Center on Monday. The self-described “multiracial, multicultural, genre-bending group bringing hope and love to all,” who hail from Atlanta, top a bill that includes JWLKRS Worship and Tasha Cobbs Leonard, who put on a showstopping performance at the Roots Picnic in June.

Adrianne Lenker plays two shows at Union Transfer, touring in support of her hushed, gleaming, and frequently beautiful new Bright Future, which was recorded in a cabin in the woods in New England during the early days of the pandemic. These are her final two solo dates before the singer-songwriter goes back to doing Big Thief things, so they’re likely to be memorable.

It’s a busy week at the Fillmore. Country-folk songwriter Charles Wesley Godwin plays there Friday, after doing a Free at Noon at World Cafe Live earlier in the day. Simultaneously, Rhye, the super smooth R&B project of Canadian singer Mike Milosh, plays upstairs at the more intimate Foundry at the Fillmore.

And the Foundry then has notable shows for three consecutive nights early next week. Los Angeles rock band Lo Moon on Sunday, New Jersey-raised Jamaican genre splicing singer Fousheé, supporting her new album Pointy Heights on Monday, and Amy Winehouse-influenced singer Zinadelphia on Tuesday, who is touring behind her new seven-song EP The Magazine.

Down the Shore, the Atlantic City casino showroom lineup heats up with 98 Degrees and Bell Biv DeVoe teaming up at the Hard Rock’s Etess Arena on Friday. Las Vegas legend Wayne Newton is at the casino’s Sound Waves venue that night, and Melvin Seals and JGB give the Deadheads what they want at the Tropicana.

Then on Saturday, KC and the Sunshine Band are at Ocean Resort, Jeffrey Osborne and Heatwave play Caesars, and the Oates-less Daryl Hall is at the Borgata with Howard Jones opening.