TURN IT DOWN

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Friday, May 11, @ The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. 18kknd, $25, 9 p.m.

The southern hip-hop duo of Jelly Roll & Struggle Jennings perform Friday at The Loft. Now embarked on their Waylon & Willie Tour, the Tennessee-based emcees released their second collaboration, the “Waylon & Willie II” LP, last month. In March, the pair also dropped the moody track “Can’t Go Home”— the debut single and music video that’s racked up over 1 million views on YouTube. Jelly Roll, born Jason DeFord, has been a fixture in the Nashville rap scene since his solo debut, “Halfway House,” in 2005. But it was his collaborations with Lil Wyte and Haystak that gained him an international following. Meanwhile, Struggle Jennings — the grandson of Waylon Jennings — was sidetracked in 2011 with a five-year prison sentence for drug charges. After his 2016 release, Jennings, born Will Harness, dropped his “Return of the Outlaw” solo EP, which features Yelawolf on the title track.

Friday, May 4, @ MSU Community Music School, 4930 Hagadorn Road, East Lansing. All ages,$20, $18 members, $5 students, 7:30 p.m.

Musicians Ken Whiteley and Reggie Harris celebrate the 99th birthday of folk-music icon Pete Seeger Friday at the MSU Community Music School. The event is the last show of the Ten Pound Fiddle’s 43rd season. Attendees are welcome to sing along to the renowned Seeger catalog, which includes “If I Had a Hammer,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” to only name a few. As for the performers, both are folk vets who knew Seeger personally. Harris, a Pennsylvania native, is a songwriter, storyteller and lecturer who often sings and speaks on themes of unity and social justice. Whiteley is a Grammy-nominated Canadian roots-music legend known for his work on guitars and mandolin. On May 5, Whiteley returns to the Community Music School for a 10 a.m. show geared toward children ages 3-13.

Friday, May 4, @ The Avenue Café, 2021 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. 21kknd, FREE, 8 p.m.

The Avenue Café has hosted numerous free shows since last year, and this Friday the venue is back at it. This time around, Alpha Rabbit, a Trenton, New Jersey indie-punk group, performs along with the Sailor Kicks, a Grand Rapids-based ska outfit. Rounding out the bill are two Lansing bands: The Plurettes, mostly ’60s girlgroup covers funneled through a punk-rock filter, and the chaotic alt-rock sounds of Disappointed Dad. As for Alpha Rabbit, the trio has just one four-song EP under its belt, and it’s streamed at alphaalpharabbit.bandcamp. com. The band began as the solo project of Jaime Parker, but soon grew into a three-piece band after members of Honah Lee and the Shallow joined in. All the members share songwriting duties and describe their sound as a mix of “the dark, the bright, the melancholy and the hopeful” combined with “a healthy dose of dance beats.”

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