.Onetime Pioneers

It’s hard to believe that this historic pairing of members from the country music class of ’87 were storming the conformist gates of Nashville’s tastemakers alongside mavericks like Steve Earle and (believe it or not) Randy Travis. And while they may not have effected any kind of wholesale changes in Music Row’s model, for better or worse (you can thank Garth Brooks for the latter), Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang, and their ilk laid some of the groundwork for the insurgent country movement. Nowadays, Lovett has become an elder statesman, hitting the road with His Large Band and touring more than recording, with 2003’s My Baby Don’t Tolerate (the first album of new and original material since 1996’s The Road to Ensenada) being his last studio effort. Lang has wandered quite far from her country roots, drifting in more of a sophisticated, chamber-pop direction. That said, the Canadian-born chanteuse possesses the kind of Patsy Cline—like pipes that earned her a shot working with the late legend and Cline producer Owen Bradley. Sunday, July 29 at the Sleep Train Pavilion in Concord. 7:30 p.m., $25-$95. www.chroniclepavilion.com