Grant-Lee Phillips / Kimon Kirk opens

Grant-Lee Phillips headlines McCabe’s Guitar Shop, with Kimon Kirk opening the night. The bill does not specify whether Phillips or Kirk will appear solo or with additional musicians, so the focus is simply on two separately billed songwriters in McCabe’s seated back-room listening space. The concert takes place beyond the working guitar shop, where the room’s quiet is suited to close attention to songs and their details.

Phillips is a Nashville-based singer, songwriter and painter whose thoughtful, literate writing first reached a wide audience through Grant Lee Buffalo. The trio’s 1993 debut, Fuzzy, brought international recognition; its sound has been described as folk-rock, alternative and Americana. Kirk is a Los Angeles-based bassist, singer-songwriter and producer, raised in Boston. He has been Gaby Moreno’s bassist since 2016 and has frequently worked with Aimee Mann as a bassist, backing vocalist and co-writer. His credits also include performances with Phillips, Van Dyke Parks, Alejandro Escovedo, Rufus Wainwright and Session Americana. Reviewers have called his records “a beautiful album” of “exceptionally strong pop songs,” and praised the combination of “penetrating intelligence and unapologetic catchiness.”