Chicken Little Hatches Radio-Active Performance

Acoustic duo Chicken Little (it typically adds an exclamation point) brings old-time post-punk to an in-store Radio-Active Records show Thursday. How do those two disparate styles mix? Chicken Little's overt Appalachian bluegrass backbone makes the old-timer bit really easy to make out, but one has to dig deeper into the accordion lines to pick out the post-punk part. Listen closely and it's there: the punchy harmonies, the sardonic lyricism, the speedy three-chord progressions. Doggone it, if it isn't art-damaged rock underneath all that rootsy folk.

This twosome — consisting of squeezebox player Emma "Chicken" Berkey and guitarist Dave "Little" Cuomo — first met in Brooklyn before seeking out greener pastures in Nashville. Punk-turned-folkie Cuomo cut his teeth performing in New York subway stations, and Berkey brings classical training as a choral singer and pianist from her roots in North Carolina. They take turns shouting and crooning vocals on playful tunes. Their most tongue-in-cheek moment is "The Sky Is Not Falling," which takes a stab at the legendary Aesop's Fable. That's pretty punk rock in our book. South Florida's angst-ridden folk rocker Caulfield's Rebellion will open.