This weekend The Burl serves up two potent, but different live music shows

Bear Medicine/Letters of Acceptance/Idiot Glee

8 p.m. Jan. 11 at the Burl, 375 Thompson Rd. $10. 859-447-8166. theburlky.com, bearmedicine.bandcamp.com, lettersofacceptance.org, /idiotglee.bandcamp.com.

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio

8 p.m. Jan. 12 at the Burl, 375 Thompson Rd. $12. 859-447-8166. theburlky.com, delvonlamarrorgantrio.com.

Hit hard with the post-holiday, dead of winter-doldrums? Well, The Burl has some big-time relief ready for you by way of two potent, but very different weekend shows.

On Saturday, the locals will rule with a triple bill of Bear Medicine, Letter of Acceptance and Idiot Glee.

This should serve a fine time to introduce yourselves to Letter of Acceptance, a prime power pop quartet that boasts a pair of expert Louisville area guitarists, vocalists and song stylists, Clinton Harlin Newman and John Harlan Norris, backed by a rhythm section of proven Lexington vets, bassist Scott Whiddon and drummer Tim Welch.

Letters of Acceptance has released a string of EP recordings and singles over the past two years in lieu of a full album.

Another morsel dropped recently by way of the single “Entity,” a tune indicative of the band’s far reaching pop palette.

The groove is sleek and contemporary with a modest Euro-pop accent. The guitars chiming in over the rhythm, however, sound rooted in something very American – namely, the electric sway popularized in the ‘60s by the Byrds. Add to that vocals steeped in a hushed, post-punk cool and you have the kind of accessible, cross generational fun that drives Letter of Acceptance.

Also on the bill will be Bear Medicine, the psychedelic folk troupe that shared some fine Sunday afternoon stage time with Letters of Acceptance last August at Crave Lexington. Rounding things out will be the elder act of the evening, Idiot Glee, the performance nom de plume of James Friley who began fashioning appealing lo-fi pop statements as Idiot Glee over a decade ago. If you can find it, his 2013 EP “Life Without Jazz” is a fascinating scrapbook of loop-laden pop mischief.

Then on Sunday, The Burl goes to church – sort of. Taking the spotlight will be the Hammond B3, the instrument of voice of the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. No, don’t expect hymns out of this bunch. Still, the spirits are sure to get rocking when the group dives into covers of vintage soul classics like the 1968 Tyrone Davis heartbreaker “Can I Change My Mind” (from the Lamarr trio’s 2016 debut album, “Close But No Cigar”) or the 1970 Curtis Mayfield groove affirmation “Move On Up” (which kicks off the 2018 concert recording “Live at KEXP!”).

Then again, there are also fine originals that serve as direct homages to the soul pioneers that preceded Lamarr, like the suitably Memphis-flavored “Al Greenery” or the funkier ode to a B3 giant Booker T. Jones on “Little Booker T.” Both are featured on “Close But No Cigar.”

Slap all that together and you have a powerful weekend cure for the winter blues.

Hawktail/Appalachian Road Show

6:45 p.m. Jan. 13 for the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour at the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center, 300 E. Third. $20. 859-280-2218. lexingtonlyric.tix.com, hawktailmusic.com, theappalachianroadshow.com, woodsongs.com.

With its 1000th broadcast and an extended winter break now complete, the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour gets back in action on Monday. For its first show of 2020, the program is offering up two string bands reflecting a blend of progressive and traditional leanings, a mix ignited by world class players.

First up we have Hawktail, which is releasing its sophomore album, “Formations,” on Jan. 10. The band’s instrumentation is largely bluegrass inspired – fiddle, bass, guitar and mandolin - but the music is also folk, Americana and, at times, even jazz directed. That’s hardly a surprising direction, given the background of the musicians. Fiddler Brittany Haas clocked time with such prestigious new generation artists/ensembles as Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings and Crooked Still while bassist Paul Kowert is best known for his work with the genre-free string troupe Punch Brothers. Haas and Kowert also performed a 2017 concert in Louisville as members of the Dave Rawlings Machine.

Completed by guitarist Jordan Tice and mandolinist Dominick Leslie, Hawktail recorded “Formations” with Kowert’s Punch Brother bandmate Chris Eldridge as producer over a four-day period, a marked contrast to the three years it took to complete the quartet’s debut album “Unless.”

There is no shortage of string band star power, either, in Appalachian Road Show, which completes Monday’s WoodSongs bill. Among its ranks are vocalist/banjoist Barry Abernathy (who has clocked time with IIIrd Tyme Out and Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver) and mandolinist Darrell Webb (who Central Kentucky audiences may remember from his touring days with J.D. Crowe and the New South). The real coup came from enlisting Todd Phillips, the bassist whose immensely prolific resume extends back to the groundbreaking and genre-busting David Grisman Quartet of the 1970s.

Fiddler Jim VanCleve (who worked extensively with Abernathy in Quicksilver and, later, Mountain Heart) and guitarist Zeb Snyder round out the roster.