This Wednesday's Mad Planet lineup promises to be about as gritty as it's gotten in these parts in a long time. It's the kind of bill that should be reserved for the warm summer months; the kind of guitar twang and/or banjo plucking steeped with soulful wailing that is best experienced around a roaring bonfire and a million stars.

But given that it's late September in Wisconsin, the weather's feeling awfully autumnal and most touring bands aren't prone to playing gigs in the sticks, a dark little venue in Riverwest is just going to have to suffice.

Here's this week's really good reason to get out and have fun before Friday rolls around: Lucero kicks off its fall tour in Milwaukee and brings Iowa's William Elliott Whitmore and Seattle's Rocky Votolato along for the ride. The result? A three-part evening of whiskey-soaked love songs and dusty ditties, peppered with the occasional rocker.

There's something perfectly charming about the way each act complements the others while maintaining its own specialized take on heartbreak and life's little lonesome trials.

Lucero hasn't strayed too far from its alt. country roots in the course of the band's five-year run, but its latest release, "Rebels, Rouges and Sworn Brothers," (which hits stores this Tuesday) adds more keyboards and organs to the Americana mix, making for the fullest, richest and most Southern sounding Lucero album yet.

Will Whitmore's new album, "Song of the Blackbird," oozes with gentlemanly charm and earnest poetry dug up from the bottom of his rural-life lovin' heart.

Rocky Votolato, who just released his Barsuk debut, "Markers," in April, is more of a straightforward acoustic singer/songwriter with a penchant for heartbreak hymns that seem to be tangled up in sweet melodies. And I guess it'd be only fair to mention that his indie pop charmer of a song, "White Daisy Passing," was featured on that "O.C." show.

So there you have it. The $10 show is Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. Bring your drinking buddies.

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