This week in Philly music, with the Avett Brothers, John Oates, Moor Mother, and more

This week in Philly music, the Mann Center season gets underway, a Philly Folk Festival headliner puts out music without his longtime partner, a Camden gospel bandleader raises the roof at the Met, and Philadelphia’s premier spoken-word and free jazz artist throws down at Solar Myth.

The Mann calendar gets going on Thursday with the Avett Brothers. North Carolina siblings Scott and Seth Avett — last seen at the Mann covering Jim Croce’s “Operator” at Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival last year — are releasing their new Rick Rubin-produced album on Friday. It’s their 11th, simply called The Avett Brothers.

Tye Tribbett, the Camden-born, Florida-based gospel artist, plays the Met. He won a best album Grammy this year for All Things New: Live in Orlando. During its 116-year history, the Met has frequently functioned as a church, and it will surely feel that way on Thursday night.

Also happening on Thursday: A cool double bill at Ardmore Music headlined by Buck Meek, the singer-guitarist who plays in Big Thief with his ex-wife Adrianne Lenker. His new solo album is Haunted Mountain. Opening is singer and violinist Jolie Holland, who also has a new album called Haunted Mountain. Each album includes a song they wrote together called — you guessed it — “Haunted Mountain.”

John Oates’ sixth solo album, Reunion, comes out on Friday. He’s been battling in public and in court with Daryl Hall, and the likelihood of them ever getting back together seems low. His new single is a folkie cover of John Prine’s “Long Monday” and he’s headlining the Philadelphia Folk Festival along with Gangstagrass in August.

In 2019, Kara Jackson was named National Youth Poet Laureate. Last year, she released an affecting debut album called Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? Her new single is a cover of 1960s folksinger Karen Dalton’s “Right, Wrong, or Ready?” She plays Johnny Brenda’s on Friday. And then she’ll be back at the TLA opening for Allison Russell on Oct. 30.

Legendary trumpeter and A&M Records cofounder Herb Alpert and vocalist wife Lani Hall — the former singer with Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66 — make a rare Philadelphia appearance at the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center on Saturday. Also that night, slide guitarist extraordinaire Sonny Landreth joins the Iguanas at World Cafe for a show that namechecks their home state, called Louisiana Calling.

On Sunday, Camae Ayewa — the Philadelphia poet, sonic experimenter, purveyor of “witch rap,” and educator who performs as Moor Mother, is at Solar Myth. Her latest album, The Great Bailout, digs deep into the history of the European slave trade, and features visual artist and musician Lonnie Holley and harpist Mary Lattimore. Lea Bertucci and Henry Fraser are also on the bill.

Sting was just here in March playing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and he’s back in town already. Or at least his music is: The dance performance Message in a Bottle, which plays the Miller Theater through May 19, is a collaboration with British choreographer Kate Prince and tells the story of three refugees driven from their homes by war. It uses 27 Sting songs.

Five more artists have been announced for September’s XPoNential Festival at Camden’s Wiggins Park. They are Guster, Greensky Bluegrass, Trampled By Turtles, and local songwriters Julia Pratt and Brittany Ann Tranbaugh. Daily lineups for the festival, which runs Sept. 20-22 , have also been announced. More info at xpnfest.org.