New releases: Hot off playing the mainstage at Oregon Country Fair, local blues-rock band Blue Lotus is gearing up for a six-state tour to promote its new album, Across the Canyon, recorded at Ninkasi Studios. The band’s fifth album is “a collaborative experiment that weaves elements of progressive rock, jazz and improvisational rock ‘n’ roll with hints of ’60s psychadelia,” the band says via press release. Catch them before they hit the road for a Grateful Dead set Saturday, Aug. 15, at Blairally Vintage Arcade, 245 Blair Blvd.

Meanwhile that same night across town, experimental jazz outfit Human Ottoman is hosting an album release party for sophomore recording Farang 10 pm at Hi-Fi Music Hall’s Encore Lounge. The “polyrhythmic power trio” recently won in the Independent Music Award’s instrumental category for its freshman album Power Baby.

Oregon Wine Lab (488 Lincoln Street) is kicking off a free concert series — Sunday Sessions — with the jazzy Tim McLaughlin Trio, featuring Dorian Crow and James West, 3:30 to 6 pm Sunday, Aug. 16.

David Liebe Hart, of Adult Swim and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! fame, is oft described as an “outsider” musician, but in Eugene, he’ll fit right in. His curriculum vitae reads like a lineup for the Oregon Country Fair: street performer, sign painter, artist, puppeteer. And he claims as a child that Korendian aliens abducted him. Head to WOW Hall to hear hits such as “Father & Son” and “Puberty” 8 pm Thursday, Aug. 13.