If you haven’t do-si-doed since high school gym class, push aside those mortifying memories of swinging your awkward adolescent partner and head to Subterranean, where the Golden Horse Ranch Square Dance Band will headline a benefit for community radio station WLUW-FM 88.7. Sure, the group of twenty- and thirtysomethings understands its inherent kitsch factor, but frontwoman Annie Coleman is no amateur hoedown hollarer. “I grew up on a dude ranch, so I’m used to calling for people who don’t know how to square dance,” the 31-year-old Coleman says. “It’s amazing how quickly people learn.” Expect to hear a polka-punk version of “Good Ol’ Boys” (The “Dukes of Hazzard” theme song); “The Virginia Reel” (the tune Scarlett and Rhett dance to in “Gone With the Wind”); and classics such as “Tennessee Waltz” and “The Texas Star.” 10 p.m. Saturday. $8. Subterranean, 2011 W. North Ave. 773-278-6600.
Puff daddy
It’s good to have Josh Caterer back. Shortly after releasing the criminally under-appreciated “Destination Failure” in 1997 with the suburban Chicago-based Smoking Popes, Caterer quit rock music because of (according to his bio) “a life-changing conversion to Christianity.” During his two-year hiatus, he released an album of acoustic gospel songs. But then he started to realize that “my faith didn’t depend on my cutting myself off entirely from the world,” as he told the Tribune in October. Then came Duvall, Caterer’s new group, a return to the Popes’ pop-punk form, though with a decidedly different focus to the lyrics. The Christian message on the new “Volume and Density,” the group’s debut full-length, doesn’t beat you over the head. In fact, if you didn’t know about Caterer’s conversion, you’d think that when he sings, “I am all in your hands,” he’s talking to his latest love. In a way, I guess he is. 10 p.m. Saturday. $8. Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave. 773-276-3600.
Cream-y cover
Cream, the Eric Clapton-led ’60s power-trio, is next on the list for Tributosaurus, the self-described “Civil War recreationists of rock ‘n’ roll.” For the last year and a half, the cover-band-of-sorts has called Martyrs’ home on the first Wednesday of each month. During its residency, the group has covered legends ranging from Sly and the Family Stone to The Police. So we had to ask: Is there a band that they’ll never cover? “We’re not going to do Speedwagon. We’re not going to do Journey. We’re not going to do any bad bands,” frontman Matt Spiegel says. We think the outfit’s crowning achievement is its elaborate tribute to Steely Dan, complete with three guitarists, three keyboardists, four horns and four backup singers. However, the deceptively simple Cars throws the group for a loop. “It was hard for the keyboard player with all those crazy sounds, and it was really hard for me–nobody sings like Ric Ocasek. Nobody.” Catch Spiegel doing his best Clapton (sans six-string, which is left to virtuoso guitarist Curt Morrison) at Martyrs’ at 8:30 p.m. tonight. $5 cover. 3855 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-404-9869.
