Here’s a list of what to do this weekend—Sherlock on stage, Jason Isbell, an opera adaptation of an anti-McCarthy allegory, Rossini Fest, and Record Store Day. Visit the Knoxville Mercury online calendar or pick up this week’s issue for a full list of the weekend’s offerings.

FRIDAY, APRIL 21
Theatre Knoxville Downtown: Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure
Theatre Knoxville Downtown • 8 p.m. • $15
A fast-paced parody/homage that combines plot points and characters from two of the most memorable Sherlock Holmes stories: “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Final Problem.”

UT Opera Theatre: The Crucible
Bijou Theatre • 8 p.m. • $20
The University of Tennessee’s student opera company presents Robert Ward’s Pulitzer-winning operatic adaptation of Arthur Miller’s play, in which the Salem witch trials serve as an allegory for McCarthyism. More shows on Saturday and Sunday.

SATURDAY, APRIL 22
Rossini Fest International Street Fair
Downtown • 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
In size and scope, Knoxville Opera’s annual street fest is one of Knoxville’s largest single events. The Rossini Fest International Street Fair brings tens of thousands of people from around East Tennessee to downtown Knoxville for 11 hours of music, fair food, beer and wine, kids’ entertainment, and arts and crafts vendors. (The only thing that tops Rossini is University of Tennessee football, and this year, the Orange and White spring exhibition game is the same day—and there’s a sold-out show at the Tennessee Theatre—so expect the center city to be treacherous to navigate.) Rossini Festival continues next weekend with Knox Opera’s production of Donizetti’s Mary, Queen of Scots. Read our previews here and here.

Record Store Day
The annual springtime cavalcade of collector consumerism known as Record Store Day is upon us again—expect limited-edition exclusives, extended hours, and live music performances at Basement Records, Lost and Found Records, McKay’s, Raven Records and Rarities, and Wild Honey Records. Knoxville’s newest record shop, Magnolia Records, is not an official participant (yet), but they’ll have that new (and nearly sold out) vinyl edition of the V-Roys’ Just Add Ice.

Jason Isbell
Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $44-$79

Michael Wilson

Between 2007 and 2013, Jason Isbell was mostly known as a former member of the Drive-By Truckers. Then he released Southeastern. Isbell’s post-DBT, post-rehab solo breakthrough album is a polished, intimate, elegant example of singer-songwriter folk-rock, considered by many to be a masterpiece. Saturday night’s show is sold out, but tickets are still available for Sunday. With opening act/2015 Big Ears alumnus William Tyler.

SUNDAY, APRIL 23
Jason Isbell
Tennessee Theatre • 8 p.m. • $44-$79
See Saturday’s blurb.

The Turnpike Troubadours
The Mill and Mine • 8 p.m. • $18 • 18 and up

Justin Voigt

The Turnpike Troubadours have released just four albums in a decade together—evidence that these Oklahoma shit-kickers make tried-and-true bar-band heartland rock, tested in front of real live audiences. The band’s 2015 self-titled album cements the case; it’s a powerhouse set of straight-ahead, sing-along country-rock anthems about drinking, bad relationships, and bad decisions. With the Cordovas.

Matthew Everett

Senior Editor Matthew Everett manages the Knoxville Mercury's arts & entertainment section, including the comprehensive calendar section—Knoxville’s go-to guide for everything worth doing in the area. You can reach Matthew at matthew@knoxmercury.com.