“Jesus and Elvis, painted on velvet/hanging at the bar here every night.” Nope, it’s not Kenny Chesney. Well, Chesney recorded it but singer-songwriter Hayes Carll was actually one of the folks who penned the song recorded by Chesney in 2016. Now Carll has it on his new album, What It Is. The songs are classic Hayes Carll, and you can experience the Texas-born singer with his plaintive voice at Sessions on Friday. He performs along with Swedish-born New Orleans-based Anders Osborn and guest John Craigie. Like fellow alt country/Americana musician Larry McMurtry, you listen to Hayes Carll as much for the clever lyrics as you do for the actual music. The genre makes the point that country doesn’t necessarily mean bling and stereotypes. Carll is nostalgia, politics, dry humor (he is also the man who penned and performed “She Left Me for Jesus”) and wit. The show is worth risking any possible Friday the 13th bad luck vibes — it’s country after all, where problems become fodder for music.  

Hayes Carll and Anders Osborne w/ special guest John Craigie play Sessions Main Hall 7:30 pm Friday March 13. $35, adv. $30.

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