Music: Best Bets

The much-loved new orleans vocalist Aaron Neville released an acclaimed album earlier this year that functioned as a tribute to early rock, doo-wop and R&B. That project featured Keith Richards as co-producer and bandleader, helping pick the track listing and infusing each song with rawness and immediacy that honored doo-wop and soul greats while updating them for modern listeners.

“I really wanted to respect the music I was doing,” Neville told 225 in our January issue, “so I didn’t want to go too far from the originals. I just wanted to add my own inflection to it, what I feel in my heart.”

Neville will showcase songs from My True Story and his other records at L’Auberge Casino and Hotel’s event center for two nights this month, Dec. 13 and 14. lbatonrouge.com

DEC. 14: Local instrumental funk band Captain Green performs a free show at Chelsea’s Café. chelseascafe.com

DEC. 20: Rebirth Brass Band gets the crowd moving with some of its signature New Orleans brass band music at Chelsea’s Café.

DEC. 20: Guitarist Tab Benoit offers up some of his swamp blues at the Varsity Theatre. varsitytheatre.com

DEC. 30: Legendary band The Commodores gets funky at L’Auberge.

EARLY NEXT MONTH: Prolific folk singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco, who has made New Orleans her home in recent years, plays the Varsity Theatre Jan. 3.