This is a huuuuuge week for live music in T-town, so when our esteemed editor insisted on squeezing in an obscure folk-and-blues band from Santa Cruz, I was intrigued. Then I listened to the album, and all became clear. Marty O'Reilly & the Old Soul Orchestra is one hell of an outfit. I've started calling them the Old School Orchestra, as their music puts me in mind of someone's porch in a gator-bait bayou where people have names like Fingerless Earl, Jimmy Gumbo, and Jailhouse Jackson. Yes, you'll hear echoes of Andrew Bird. Yes, Howlin' Wolf and Tom Waits were influences. But really, this is one of those times when the word esoteric comes in handy for critical purposes. It means the trio grabbed everything good from every hallowed genre of American traditional music, then piled on evocative lyrics: "She was my three-legged dog...It's not the body of the beast that holds its spirit." Man, this stuff goes down finer than crawfish étouffée.

MARTY O'REILY AND THE OLD SOUL ORCHESTRA, 9:30 p.m., Doyle's Public House, 208 St Helens Ave., Tacoma, no cover, 253.272.7468