The four San Diego concerts you definitely don’t want to miss this week

A Semi-Acoustic Evening with Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs — “Songs and Stories from “Heartbreaker”

Former Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ guitarist Mike Campbell will be doing double-duty when he takes the stage at The Magnolia tonight.

He’ll be performing with The Dirty Knobs, the band he formed in 2001 as a side project from his work with Petty, his musical partner from 1970 until Petty’s death in 2017. Campbell, 75, will also be sharing stories from his best-selling memoir, “Heartbreaker,” which was published in March.

A much-in-demand studio guitarist, his other credits also include collaborations with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Joe Cocker, Chris Stapleton, Neil Diamond, former San Diegan Chris Hillman and Fleetwood Mac, whose lead singer, Stevie Nicks, offered to leave the band if Petty and The Heartbreakers would add her to their lineup.

Her offer was declined because, as Campbell wryly writes: “One tempestuous blond was all we could handle.”

Despite his many credits with a slew of music legends, Campbell acknowledges in his book that his public profile stems almost entirely from one source. “You don’t know about me without having heard a band by the name of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but that’s okay,” he writes.

As a songwriter, Campbell’s credits include co-writing Nicks’ “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” the Dixie Chicks,’ “Lubbock or Leave It” and Chris Stapleton’s “Watch You Burn.” His songwriting partnership with Petty produced such Heartbreakers’ classics as “Refugee,” “You Got Lucky” and “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” whose title seems prophetic.

Or, as Campbell writes: “Early on, even before we knew it, we made some unspoken deal that we were going down the line together, no matter what. Me and him. Full speed ahead, from the very beginning to the very end.”

Campbell is still moving down that line with The Dirty Knobs, whose drum chair is expertly filled by his longtime Heartbreakers’ bandmate, Steve Ferrone.

8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5. The Magnolia, 210 East Main Street, El Cajon. $53.50-$92. ticketmaster.com

Matt Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O

Dapper drummer. composer and band leader Matt Wilson shines in straight-ahead and edgy jazz settings alike, as befits a musician whose collaborators have included Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, San Diego bass master Mark Dresser and many more.

Wilson’s Christmas Tree-O, featuring saxophonist Jeff Lederer, exudes enough joyous holiday spirit to illuminate any setting. Their repertoire has included everything from “Winter Wonderland” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” to “Mele Kalikimaki” and John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).”

7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5. Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall Street, La Jolla. $50-$55; 858-454-5872; ljathenaeum.org/jazz

Molly Tuttle

Change is in the wind for bluegrass guitar and vocal standout Molly Tuttle.

In May, the Palo Alto native disbanded Golden Highway, the group with which she won consecutive Grammy Awards in 2023 and 2024.

Her new five-woman band does not yet have a name, but Tuttle’s arresting new album, “Little Miss Sunshine,” skillfully expands her musical palette to embrace elements of pop, country and rock.

The results at times suggest the best Taylor Swift album Swift has yet to make.

8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6. House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Avenue., San Diego. $39.25-$177. ticketmaster.com

Blind Boys of Alabama Christmas Show, with Ben Powell

The first edition of this truly legendary gospel-music vocal group was formed in 1939 as the Happy Land Jubilee Singers. Its members were students at what was then called the Alabama Institute for the Negro Deaf and Blind in Talladega.

As the Blind Boys, they have won six Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, performed three times at the White House and collaborated with such admirers as Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Prince, Peter Gabriel, Kanye West and San Diego’s Sara and Sean Watkins.

I have heard the Blind Boys in concert halls, nightclubs, the Poway Performing Arts Center and — back in 1996 — at San Diego Street Scene, where they played on the same stage as The Monkees! In each instance, the group has consistently elevated its music and its audiences. Expect no less this time around.

7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9. Belly Up, 143 S. Cedros Avenue, Solana Beach. $60.80. 858-481-8140. bellyup.com

Also recommended

Friday, Dec. 5: Rebecca Jade & Friends’ “Jingles & Jams,” Sycuan Live & Up Close

Sunday, Dec, 7: Kim Wilson & His Blues All-Stars, Winstons Beach Club

Sunday, Dec. 7: Vienna Teng, Lou Lou’s

Sunday, Dec. 7: Jake Shimabukuro “Holidays in Hawaii,” Belly Up

Wednesday, Dec. 10: Soweto Gospel Choir, Epstein Family Amphitheatre