Last month, when word came down that Sugar Hill Records was closing its Durham offices, Sugar Hill act Scott Miller sent a bottle of fine whiskey for the staff's last day. That's just the kind of guy the former V-Roys frontman is, the kind who will pick you up on your way down. Miller's latest album is called "Citation," with a title based on romantic encounters in the undersized Chevrolet model of the same name, because Miller is also the kind of guy who writes terrific songs with unexpected twists, then rocks 'em up like Tom Petty in his more wild-eyed moments. For good measure, there's also a killer cover of Neil Young's "Hawks and Doves." So spend your Valentine's Day with Miller on Wednesday at Raleigh's Hideaway BBQ. (www.hideawaybbq.com)

Hobex's name sounds like some sort of hang-loose surfer jargon. It's the perfect moniker to accompany the band's sunny, upbeat, immensely likable funk-pop. "Enlightened Soul" (Phrex Records) is the new Hobex album, and it sounds like the best possible music you could be playing at your next outdoor event. Get an early taste of summer when Hobex unveils the album Saturday at Raleigh's Pour House. (www.the-pour-house.com)

Downtown Raleigh's Berkeley Cafe will be the site of a hip-hop salon and performance tonight, titled "Triangle Hip-Hop Is Dead?" Various local hip-hop figures, including Kaze, Beyond, DJ Skaz and Pauly Snubnoze, will hold a panel discussion and then perform. Then Saturday, the annual Hip-Hop Summit at Durham's N.C. Central University wraps up with a concert featuring beatboxing legend Doug E. Fresh with MC Lyte and Dana Dane at McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium.

Tonight: The venerable blues-rockin' Nighthawks come to Hillsborough's Blue Bayou; Campbell Brothers fill Durham's Carolina Theatre with the spirit of "sacred steel"; and the Antifolk Southeast Winter Extravaganza is at Durham's Duke Coffeehouse with Charles Latham, Midtown Dickens, Billy Sugarfix and others.

Saturday: Earthy singer/songwriter Greg Brown comes to Carrboro's Cat's Cradle; bluesman Scott Ainslie is at the BNC in Cary; Georgia's Warm in the Wake plays Chapel Hill's Cave; and Hideaway BBQ gets greasy, down and dirty with Scott Biram and Black Diamond Heavies.

Furthermore: Dave Rawlings Machine, led by Gillian Welch's superlative guitarist, plays the Cradle on Sunday; a fantastic singer/songwriter double-bill is at the Pour House on Sunday, Tim Easton and Matthew Ryan; the incredibly cool angular geek-pop trio Deerhoof plays Monday at the Cradle, which has Jonathan Richman on Tuesday; Wednesday brings Grammy-nominated guitar god Tommy Emmanuel to Carrboro ArtsCenter, Dexter Romweber to the Cave, a punk-pop bill topped by Matches to the Cradle, and Guitars in the Sky: A Tribute to the Records (starring Mitch Easter, among others) with Backbeat to Chapel Hill's Local 506; and finally, Thursday is the annual post-Valentine "Love Hangover" at Kings in Raleigh with Scott Phillips/Caitlin Cary, Roger Gupton/Billie Karel and other mismatched couples trading songs of romantic trauma and misadventure.

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