E-Mail This Article to a Friend Roots report (continued)

Of course, the biggest folk and country concert of the season is the Bob Dylan/Merle Haggard double bill that pulls into Boston’s Orpheum Theatre (1 Hamilton Place, 617-679-0810) April 15 through 17. Touring together was Dylan’s idea, Haggard told me recently, "and when Bob Dylan calls you to tour, you go, even though I was planning kind of a soft year for myself." Both giants will play full concert sets, and Haggard is going to touch on every era of his four-decade career. Dylan’s going to do whatever the hell he wants, as usual.

At the other end of Commonwealth Avenue in Boston, at the Paradise Rock Club (967 Comm Ave; 617-562-8800), reggae kings the Wailers, who are still in magnificent form, will hold court on April 8, the night after Jump Little Children bring their folk-rock distillations to the room. Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray will be there on April 18, and John Brown’s Body, whose membership is split between Boston and upstate New York, will bring their Jah-fired music there on April 23 on the trail of their new CD Pressing Points (Easy Star).

Speaking of local heroes: most diehard blues fans know by now that the Radio Kings have re-formed around their original creative nucleus of singer Brian Templeton and guitarist Michael Dinallo. And they’ve got a gift for their fans: free shows at Toad (1920 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge’s Porter Square; 617-497-4950) on April 7 and 21. They’ll also be playing Memphis and touring Europe in April.

There’s more good blues out in Worcester on April 2 and 29 when Chris Beard and Professor Harp, respectively, take the stage at Union Blues. Chris is the son of journeyman Mississippi singer/guitarist Joe Beard. Professor Harp is a longstanding member of New England’s blues community who was given his moniker by his friend the great soul singer Solomon Burke.

There’s a busy schedule of Irish music and other international fare in April. At Scullers (in the DoubleTree Guest Suites Hotel, 400 Soldiers Field Road at the Mass Pike; 617-783-0090), Czech singer Marta Topferová makes a rare US appearance. At a formative point in her career, Topferová fell in love with Latin music, and her mix of Spanish and Czech traditions gives her sound an unusual cultural blend. And the locally based Latin jazz ensemble Ginga play Scullers on April 27.

The Somerville Theatre (55 Davis Square, 617-625-4088) is the dominant area venue for world music this spring, and April kicks off with Scotland’s respected Battlefield Band, marking more than 30 years together, on the 8th. On the 15th, the Mauritanian singer Malouma brings her combo of West African and Arab styles, with an airy pop backbone, to the Somerville. Celtic artists Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain play there on the 16th, and popular Irish ensemble Altan are in on the 22nd. Women’s music group Libana appear on April 30.

Back at the Sanders Theatre, the Balinese gamelan music and dance troupe Çudamani hold court on April 9. And the fabulous Ladysmith Black Mambazo stop in on April 23. Across the Charles River at Boston’s Berklee Performance Center (136 Massachusetts Avenue; 617-747-2261) on April 24, Venezuelan folksinger and composer Simón Díaz performs.

May’s biggest mainstream roots event looks to be the latest splashy tour by country singer Alan Jackson, which stops at Mansfield’s Tweeter Center on the 22nd. He’ll be joined by singer Sara Evans, a multi-platinum-selling star in her own right, and duo the Wrights. On a smaller scale: critics’ favorite Kathleen Edwards leaves Ottawa for the Paradise on May 10, cutting a path behind her second folk-rock album, Back to Me (Rounder).

The Somerville Theatre’s schedule offers two more major events for spring: the Balkan Gypsy orchestra Taraf de Haïdouks on May 13 and international star Angélique Kidjo on May 14. Kidjo’s concert is an absolute must for fans of African music or those with an interest in the roots of African-American styles. She’s an energetic and charismatic performer with a captivating voice and a knack for bending genres to her will. This tour follows the release of her Oyaya! (Sony), which blends African and Caribbean sounds. But live, her take on pop is always more wide-ranging, blending the rhythms of West Africa with rock and roll, tribal chants, funk, R&B, salsa, jazz, zouk, house, and hip-hop. Indeed, in Kidjo’s embrace, world music lives up to its name.