Jonathan Richman

Tue., March 1, 8 p.m., $17.50, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 877-435-9849, r5productions.com.

by K. Ross Hoffman

[ rock/pop ]

Rock 'n' roll's patron saint of childlike wonder, Jonathan Richman has been many things to many people over many years, but he's never been less than an absolute original. And his ongoing quest for truth and beauty via simple, unflinchingly plain-spoken songwriting never ceases to astound, even as his charmingly idiosyncratic performances — just the man, his battered Spanish guitar, his unexpectedly mesmerizing dance moves and indefatigable sidekick/drummer Tommy Larkins — grow ever more eccentric, even bewildering. Last year's O Moon, Queen of Night on Earth (Vapor), the latest in a long and marvelous string of unfussy, largely acoustic records he's cut over the past two decades, might be his most low-key outing yet, but its flashes of inspiration shine as brightly as ever, as Jojo tells it like it is on crowd-pleasers like "My Affected Accent" and "These Bodies That Came to Cavort."

Tue., March 1, 8 p.m., $17.50, First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 877-435-9849, r5productions.com.