Pre-Christmas Philly music week with Musiq Soulchild, Jeff Bradshaw, Matt Quinn of Mt. Joy, and Samara Joy

The final pre-Christmas week in Philly music is about hometown artists settling in for hometown shows. Musiq Soulchild, Matt Quinn, Marah, and Jeff Bradshaw all fit that category, plus jazz vocalist Samara Joy is continuing a growing tradition of finishing out her holiday tour with a show with her Philly-born family band.

Philly trombonist Bradshaw is playing eight Soulful Jazzy Christmas shows at South on North Broad Street. The band leader, whose albums include Bone Apetit and Bone Deep and has worked with Jill Scott, The Roots, Jay Z, and others, plays two shows Thursday through Sunday.

Musiq Soulchild, the silky smooth R&B-soul man, hasn’t released a new album since 2017’s Feel the Real, but he still commands a big following in his hometown. The artist born Taalib Johnson is also playing eight shows, through his residency at City Winery Philadelphia, where he’s playing two shows each on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday.

Matt Quinn moved back to to Philly in 2020 after he and his Conestoga High School buddy Sam Cooper formed Mt. Joy when they were both living in Los Angeles in 2016. So with the rest of the band out west, Quinn is available to play solo dates, like at Union Transfer on Friday, when Mt. Joy, which has announced headlining shows at the Mann Center next Sept. 26 and 27, is not on the road.

Quinn may be joined by friends, but the question is, who these “friends” might be? Hmm, maybe a certain bearded former Eagle with whom Mt. Joy recently recorded “Santa Drives an Astrovan” for A Philly Special Christmas Party? Someone who will be taping his new ESPN late-night series, They Call It Late Night with Jason Kelce, at Union Transfer? The series premieres in January.

Delaware native Olivia Rubini — who competed on The Voice this year on John Legend’s team — headlines the Queen in Wilmington on Friday. Former Caulfields leader and The Ying and Yang of It All author John Faye — who’s also playing Ardmore Music Hall next week — opens.

Philly born, Millheim, Pa.-based rock and roll band Marah — now fronted by Dave Bielanko without his brother Serge — hosts its annual Santa-hat-wearing Christmas blowout at Underground Arts on Friday.

There’s a surprise in store: The Goats, the terrific early Philly band who were among the best ever to combine hip-hop and rock and roll on its 1994 album, No Goats, No Glory, is returning to action with its new single “PHL Baby” and will join Marah on stage. Ma’am opens.

The next night, yacht rock-compatible “smooth-fi” Philly band Work Drugs teams with the Tisburys and the Coordinators for the annual Work Drugs Holiday Spectacle at Johnny Brenda’s. Also Saturday, Philly saxophonist and band leader Bobby Zankel celebrates his 75th birthday at Solar Myth with an all-star band that will include sax great David Murray.

For the last three years, jazz vocalist sensation Samara Joy — who was named the Grammy’s best new artist in 2023 — has closed out her holiday themed fall tour in Philadelphia. Every year, it gets bigger, moving from Ardmore Music Hall to the Miller Theater last year, and now to Marian Anderson Hall at the Kimmel Center.

That’s where the singer touring behind her new album Portrait is on her “A Joyful Holiday” tour with the McLendon Family on Monday. The singer, whose full name is Samara Joy McLendon and who is up for two more Grammys for last year’s A Joyful Holiday EP, grew up in the Bronx, but her family, who formed the gospel group the Savette in the 1950s, is deeply rooted in Philadelphia.

She’ll be performing with many of her bountifully talented family members, including her bassist father, Antonio McLendon, singing cousins Tiera Lovell Rowe and Thomas Niblack, and her grandfather Elder Goldwire McLendon, 94, who is sure to steal the show.