December 13, 2012 | 9:54 AM | By

Tonight’s Concert Picks: The Gathering feat. Rhiannon Giddens at Sellersville Theatre, Young Statues with Heartwell at the Barbary, Slingshot Dakota at The Fire, John Fullbright at the Tin Angel, Antibalas at Union Transfer

FILED UNDER: Concert Previews, Events, Antibalas, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Heartwell, John Fullbright, Rhiannon Giddens, Sellersville Theatre, Slingshot Dakota, The Barbary, The Fire, The Gathering, Tin Angel, Union Transfer, Young Statues

XPN Welcomes a Holiday Concert with The Gathering featuring Rhiannon Giddens at Sellersville tonight. The string band’s enchanting harmonies weave a different set of carols to celebrate the yuletide. The Gathering, which is Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Laurelyn Dossett, Mike Compton, Joe Newberry, and Jason Sypher, started playing together in 2011 as a seasonal project of the North Carolina Symphony. Their reputation escalated and they were soon being commissioned for more performances, finding their own among the embrace of holiday tours. Tickets for tonight’s all-ages performances can be found here; below, watch the band perform “Breaking Up Christmas.”

Local indie newcomers Young Statues and Heartwell will be playing tonight at The Barbary. Stream The Young Statues’ brand new four-track Covers EP, which features a subdued, Death Cab-esque version of The Magnetic Fields’ hit “California Girls,” or you can grab the band’s acoustic EP at your own price here. Heartwell, the New Jersey punk outfit, followed up their 2011 On Strings, On Science EP this June with their debut full-length record, Certainty of Change, which you can stream here. Go here for tickets and info about tonight’s 21+ show, and check out The Young Statues’ video for “Spacism” from the band’s eponymous 2011 record.

Bethlehem pop/punk duo Slingshot Dakota is rocking The Fire tonight hot off the release of their new Dark Hearts album, which dropped November 6th. Slingshot Dakota’s raw DIY sound comes from Carly Comando on keyboard and vocals and Tom Patterson on drums and vocals. Tonight’s concert starts at 7; go here for tickets. Watch the band perform “Disaster” from the band’s Nervous Energies session this summer.

XPN Welcomes John Fullbright to the Tin Angel tonight. This year the Oklahoma native wowed audiences with a series of remarkable performances at SXSW, the Kerrville Folk Festival and Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. With the release of his extraordinary debut studio album From The Ground Up, which earned a Grammy nod for Best American Album, and being recognized for the 2012 ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award, this is only the beginning of a star to watch. Tickets for tonight’s 21+ show can be found here; below you can watch Fullbright’s performance of “Gawd Above” at this year’s SXSW festival.

Brooklyn world music collective Antibalas is performing tonight at Union Transfer. The funky ensemble draws from afrobeat with jazz and dub elements and has been performing together since 1998. Their cool drum-meets-horn fusion emits a unique energy, which can be heard on their epoonymously-titled fifth album, released earlier this year. Go here for tickets to tonight’s show, and below you can watch the video for “Dirty Money” from Antibalas.