First stop for the Midwest in our tour of the regional scenes: Chicago and the big flat middle, from the Great Lakes down to the Kansas City stockyards. Flatfoot 56 and The Tossers country, where the drive between gigs is longer than the set. Here’s what’s new.

The Elders are on a fan tour of Ireland this month (Cork’s Cyprus Avenue on October 19, then Westport and Dublin’s Arlington Hotel this weekend) with a fresh record in the bag: The Spirits and the Sea, a five-track EP out since late August, led off by “Shores of Farewell” and “Celtic Warrior”. Back home the Kansas City veterans play the Kauffman Center’s members’ holiday concert on November 23, then head up to Wisconsin for the Oak Creek Performing Arts & Education Center on December 12. The annual Hoolie is already booked too: two nights at Knuckleheads, March 13 and 14, 2027.

Stone Clover, Detroit’s purveyors of what they call “Paddy Slag”, headline Small’s in Hamtramck on Friday, November 6 (7pm). Special guests are Pittsburgh’s Bastard Bearded Irishmen, crossing Ohio for the occasion. A fiddle, a mandolin and a Friday night on Conant Street. You know what to do.

Coming through town

Kate Nash brings her Irish-heritage album Cailín (due January 22 on Kill Rock Stars) to Martyrs’ in Chicago on Wednesday, November 11.

Dropkick Murphys work the Great Lakes on their 2027 St. Patrick’s Day tour with Home Front and Spiritual Cramp: EPIC Event Center, Green Bay (Feb 21); Clyde Theatre, Fort Wayne (Feb 22); GLC Live at 20 Monroe, Grand Rapids (Feb 24); and The Fillmore, Detroit (Feb 26). No Chicago date on the list, so Illinois will have to make the drive.

The Mary Wallopers bring Paddywhackery to the heartland in March: Riviera Theatre, Chicago (Mar 13); House of Blues, Cleveland (Mar 14); The Vogue, Indianapolis (Mar 21); The Argo, Milwaukee (Mar 23); and Fine Line, Minneapolis (Mar 24).