10 Best Concerts of the Week: Mariachi Sol de Mexico, Ten Hands, We Them Grays and More

Christmas time is here, North Texas, and with so many touring acts taking a break from the road to come home for the holidays, we, too, get the chance to spend this week with our local favorites. There will be some touring acts coming to town, namely Andrew Wells of Dance Gavin Dance, Mariachi Sol de Mexico and Sajjan Raj Vaidya from Nepal. Locals kick off this concert week with an homage to Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse at The Kessler. On Friday, Kings Return does a holiday show in Oak Cliff, and UnityTX brings hip-hop and metal fusion to Deep Ellum. Saturday brings a holiday show from We Them Grays, a country concert from Tanner Usrey and, well, whatever Ten Hands wants to do at the Texas Theatre. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day go concertless as we spend time with family and friends, but the live music returns on Wednesday with blues rock band Jim Suhler & Monkey Beat. Just wait until you see how North Texas closes out the year next week.
Homage Nation: A Tribute to Mark Linkous
6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 21, The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St. $25 at prekindle.com

Every year, The Kessler Theater hosts an event called Homage Nation, which offers a rotating collection of notable North Texas musicians. These musicians are tasked with paying tribute to a band or an artist who has made some impact on their own careers. In the past, the musicians playing Homage Nation have paid their respects to Talking Heads, Joni Mitchell and Daniel Johnston. This year, artists from all around North Texas will come together for one night only to pay homage to Mark Linkous (aka Sparklehorse) and honor him by playing songs from the posthumous LP, Birdmachine, released on Sept. 8,  along with selected tracks from his catalog. Artists listed to perform include Tim DeLaughter of The Polyphonic Spree and Tripping Daisy, John Dufilho of The Deathray Davies and Chris Flemmons of Baptist Generals. The Kessler will also show the recent documentary film This Is Sparklehorse before the show. Proceeds from the event will be donated to the nonprofit organization Foundation 45, which raises awareness for suicide prevention, addiction and mental health.
Andrew Wells
6:30 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 21, Deep Ellum Art Co., 3200 Commerce St. $20+ at prekindle.com

Andrew Wells may not be a name that immediately stands out to you, but if I said the name Eidola or Dance Gavin Dance, things might start coming together. Since 2011, Wells has been the singer and guitarist for Salt Lake City's Eidola, a post-hardcore/progressive rock band that has released four albums, achieving more and more critical acclaim with each one. Since 2015 or so, Wells has also been sitting in with Sacramento post-hardcore band Dance Gavin Dance, whether as a studio musician or touring musician, just to give the band a little bit more guitar and vocal power. In 2021, Dance Gavin Dance announced that Wells would become a full member of the band. For this solo tour, Wells will perform acoustic renditions of Dance Gavin Dance and Eidola songs. Wells will have opening support from his Eidola bandmate Sergio Medina and singer-songwriter Sani Bronco.
Kings Return
7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 22, The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St. $20+ at prekindle.com

A cappella R&B group Kings Return performs its We Four Kings Christmas concert in Oak Cliff this Friday. As the name of the show suggests, the group comprises four members, each with a complementing vocal timbre that makes the quartet feel more like a full choir at times. For a group that is put together this well, you'd expect it to have a history reaching back for decades, but in truth, the group has been together only since 2020, when bass singer Gabe Kunda finalized the lineup with baritone Jamall Williams and tenors Vaughn Faison and JE McKissic. This Dallas-based quartet has since garnered an impressive fanbase in addition to its growing national following. The group released its debut album, Rove, in 2022 and earned a Grammy nomination for “Best Arrangement Instrumental or A Cappella” for its cover of the Bee Gees' "How Deep is Your Love." The group's latest album, We Four Kings, was released last month.
Mariachi Sol de Mexico
7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 22, Majestic Theatre, 1925 Elm St. $34.50+ at ticketmaster.com

Mariachi Sol de Mexico is an iconic mariachi band coming to town this holiday season for its annual Merry Achi Christmas Concert. The concert will invite the audience to traditional Mexican Christmas carols played by a 13-piece ensemble, bringing the holiday spirit to life. Led by the Los Angeles-based mariachi maestro, Jose Hernandez, Mariachi Sol de Mexico has been producing music since the early '80s, releasing 15 albums and contributing to many film soundtracks such as Don Juan de Marco and Glory Road. The band's Christmas concerts have become well known for their vibrant atmosphere filled with joyful music. Even if you're not a big fan of mariachi music, or Christmas music for that matter, this concert experience is sure to make you see the better side of both.
UnityTX
7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 22, Trees, 2709 Elm St. $20 at axs.com

Formed in Dallas in 2014, UnityTX has been making a lot of noise with its blend of hard rock, hip-hop and metalcore in the city's underground for nearly a decade. The band's music essentially embraces all the things that made nü metal great while rejecting all the commercial gimmickiness that led to its undoing. Back in September, UnityTX released its debut LP, Ferality, on Pure Noise Records, the home of bands The Bouncing Souls, Cloud Nothings and Hawthorne Heights. UnityTX's previous EPs on the label landed it on tours opening for Silverstein, The Amity Affliction and Poppy. This Friday, the band is headlining a night in its hometown, and it's going to be a mostly-Texas affair highlighting the rise of bands blending hip-hop with metal in all of its forms. The lineup includes HourHouse from New Orleans, Post Profit from Longview and Ballista, Deepincision and Gagging Order, who are all from Dallas.
Sajjan Raj Vaidya
8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 22, Texas Trust CU Theatre, 1001 Texas Trust Way, Grand Prairie. $80+ at axs.com

OK, so acoustic Nepali pop might not even be on your radar of musical genres you've even heard of, but with tickets going at a minimum of $80 a piece, perhaps we should expand our horizons and see just what is going on here. Sajjan Raj Vaidya is a Nepalese singer in addition to being a full stack web developer, which may not seem relevant until you listen to his music. This is a guy who gets song structure and how to develop it into a story with expressive vocals and rising crescendoes that make the music feel like a journey even if you don't speak a lick of Nepali. In his home country, Vaidya gave a voice to the underrepresented LGBTQ community in Nepal when his video for "Hataarindai, Bataasindai" depicted a gay love story. The song has since become something of an anthem for Nepal's LGBTQ community. So, while you may have never even heard of Vaidya, there are hundreds of thousands of people who see him as a hero.
Ten Hands
6 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 23, Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson Blvd. $20 at prekindle.com

Founded in Denton in the mid-'80s, Ten Hands has received much acclaim while developing a massive following in North Texas. The band's fusion of the Frank Zappa's jazz-art-rock-art and the psychedelic punk of the Meat Puppets has captivated audiences with its high-energy art-funk accompanied by Paul Slavens' interesting vocal stylings and lyrical content. While Ten Hands has definitely had its share of political content, it always brings the fun. That is to say that the band both plays music and plays with the music, making the absurdist lyrics a means of coping with the absurdity of politics in general rather than asserting a specific political agenda. The Ten Hands concert film will go on before the Ten Hands full band set.
We Them Grays
7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 23, Echo Lounge & Music Hall, 1323 N. Stemmons Freeway. $27.50+ at livenation.com

We Them Grays is a soul-jazz-funk-fusion band composed of three sibling musicians, Kwinton, Kierra and KJ Gray, who taught themselves how to play music by studying their favorite songs from childhood. As part of an ongoing tradition, the family band comes together Sunday night to play re-imagined versions of all of your favorite Christmas (and some Disney) songs. This is an event that never fails to dazzle crowds of all ages. Not only are The Grays incredibly talented, but their effortless chemistry on stage has been developed over many years of playing residencies around North Texas. They know how to get a crowd moving, and they love watching it happen. Every time The Grays do one of their Disney shows, many local artists have made guest appearances. It's likely the band has some special collaborations in store for this show as well. The DJ and drummer duo Branoofunk opens the show.
Tanner Usrey
10 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 23, Billy Bob's Texas, 2520 Rodeo Plaza, Fort Worth. $20+ at axs.com

Tanner Usrey is an emerging singer-songwriter from Prosper. A soulful Americana-rock artist with heart-wrenching lyrics and soul-touching vocals, Usrey writes songs inspired by the rigors of touring life, drawing on influences from country and heartland rock. Usrey's 2020 single "The Light" was played on the fourth-season finale of Paramount Networks' hit drama series Yellowstone. In 2021, Usrey's EP SOL Sessions showcased the diversity of his songwriting with energetic songs such as "Time Bomb" and the more intimate "With You." Over the last year, Usrey has released a series of singles, beginning with his live duet with Graycie York, "Beautiful Lies," the nostalgic rocker "Take Me Home" and last month's slow-burning ballad "Pick Up Your Phone." Usrey headlines the Saturday night show on the main stage at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth after a set from Niles City on the honkytonk stage.
Jim Suhler & Monkey Beat
7 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 27, The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St. $24 at prekindle.com

Jim Suhler and his band Monkey Beat have been around the North Texas music scene since 1992 playing blues-inspired rock ‘n' roll, releasing seven albums of solid songwriting that have taken them on tour across North America and Europe. The band's 2009 album Tijuana Bible earned a nomination for "Best Rock/Blues Album" at the 2010 Blues Music Awards by The Blues Foundation in Memphis. Suhler has also been nominated for a few Dallas Observer Music Awards. Aside from his role as a solo artist or the leader of Monkey Beat, Suhler has also been the lead guitarist and songwriter for George Thorogood & the Destroyers since 1999. Most recently, Jim Suhler & Monkey Beat released the new single "Get Your Head Right." Blues artist Mike Zito will also play Wednesday night at The Kessler.