Suzanne Vega announces tour, two nights in Greenville

With a new album titled Close-Up Vol. 1, Love Songs due out next Tuesday, February 9, singer songwriter Suzanne Vega is gearing up for a busy couple of months of touring. Her schedule will lead her to an odd venue a short drive east of the Triangle.

She'll play two nights at Wright Auditorium at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC on April 19 and 20. Tickets for the April 20 show are available here for $32 for the public (student tickets and those for ages 18 and under are just $10).

Follow the link below to download the song "Gypsy (2010)" from Vega's new album and check out her upcoming tour dates down there too.

Dylan vs. Petty at Local 506 to benefit Haiti

The local music scene has been turning out show after show to benefit the people of Haiti, and now there's one more. The show is dubbed "Dylan vs. Petty" and will feature bands covering the songs of Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. The line-up includes Mandolin Orange, Semi-Formal, It Is Rain On My Face, Mary Johnson Rockers, Big Fat Gap, Birds & Arrows, Gambling the Muse and The Pneurotics.

The show is this Saturday, February 6 at Local 506 in Chapel Hill. There is a $5 minimum donation and the proceeds will go to Partners In Health. So once again, get out and support a good cause. Hopefully the weather will be kind.

Norah Jones adds distant Durham date to tour

Singer songwriter Norah Jones is set to return to the Triangle for the first time since 2004 later this year in support of her latest album The Fall, released last November.

The show will be happening at DPAC in Durham (where else), but the wait is not brief. The show is on Sunday, August 8, but tickets will go on sale next Friday, February 12. They will be between $38 and $58 and will be available here.

If you can't wait to see Jones, she'll also be playing Charlotte and Asheville in May. Check out those dates and along with the complete tour schedule below along with the music video for "Chasing Pirates" from The Fall.

Let's Wrestle announces US dates, play Carrboro

We first told you about UK band Let's Wrestle signing to Durham's Merge Records less than a month ago and now they've announced US dates in April with Quasi. The tour will bring them to the Cat's Cradle on Monday, April 26. Tickets for the show are on sale now via etix.com for $10.

Download the song "We Are the Men You'll Grow To Love Soon" below from the album In the Court of the Wrestling Let's, out via Merge Records on March 23. Check out the details of the album here.

Album Review: Lissie - Why You Runnin'? EP

It might be hyperbole – and even a bit unfair – to write that Lissie's music sounds like the perfect amalgam of Neko Case and Bon Iver as the Why You Runnin'? EP is only her first record and making such comparisons can create unrealistic expectations, but this skinny, freckled, blonde midwesterner has made a striking debut that is hard to describe any other way.

From the first track, “Little Lovin,'” Lissie's voice is on display, overpowering the quiet trot of the instruments behind her. Her voice isn't quite a mature as Case's, but it's remarkably similar in sound and sheer power. In “Everywhere I Go,” there is little beside her vocals, yet it fills every corner of the room.