Strand of Oaks Opens for Crooked Fingers & Cotton Jones at JB’s Dec. 10

As Strand of Oaks, Tim Showalter crafts devastatingly brave and unsettlingly idiosyncratic folk – unnerving moments lay bare in both his howling acoustic homilies and absorbing synth fables. Just listen to Pope Killdragon and you’ll understand within seconds. There’s something so restless and poignant in the way Showalter melts the numinous with the doleful that it’s almost too difficult to put into words. In fact, catching his gig tonight with North Carolina’s Crooked Fingers (featuring Archers of Loaf’s Eric Bachmann) and Maryland’s Cotton Jones might be all the description that you’d need. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, $12, 21+ – Annamarya Scaccia