On the beat Americana, indie at Meadowlark

Franklin gets its ‘Mojo’ on

Scott Thompson & Brother Mojo with special guest A. Lee Edwards will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts in Franklin.

Combining more than 100 years of professional musicianship, Scott Thompson & Brother Mojo is a classic rock/soul powerhouse band. Together with the Clocktower of Power horn section, this eight-piece band will have you tapping your toes and drifting away to the music scenes of Woodstock, Muscle Shoals, Laurel Canyon, and Austin, Texas.

A. Lee Edwards has been a singer-songwriter for over 30 years. His music holds an honesty and an authenticity, not built on outward style, but inner substance. He is joined by a backing band of some of the top players in the region, all of which with vocal harmonies reminiscent of The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, and Buck Owens & Don Rich.

General admission tickets are $18 in advance, $22 day of show. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on smokymountainarts.com or 828.524.1598.

Interested in learning the dulcimer?

The Pic’ & Play Mountain Dulcimer Players will be resuming in-person jam sessions at the St. John’s Episcopal Church basement fellowship hall in Sylva.

The group welcomes all beginners and experienced dulcimer players, including mountain (lap) dulcimer and hammered dulcimer players. Songs played include traditional mountain tunes, hymns, and more modern music. The group meets at 1:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturday of every month in the basement of St. John’s. For more information, call Kathy Jaqua at 828.349.3930 or Don Selzer at 828.293.0074.

Heidi Holton will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at Mountain Layers Brewing in Bryson City.

Holton is turning heads with her unique take on one of America’s oldest popular musical traditions: the blues. She began young, leaving Murphy to play in rock bands in Athens, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana, before the blues called and she answered.

Mountain Layers feels the blues

Regional blues/folk singer-songwriter

She studied under the great Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna) and then disappeared to Alaska’s arctic interior to perfect her craft. She has then moved back to Murphy and is touring around the country.

The show is free and open to the public. 828.538.0115 or mountainlayersbrewingcompany.com.

Appalachian folk act Pigeon River Messengers will perform at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley.

A duo based in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, Zach & Lori met over their common love for Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings and folk music as a whole. Originally from Knoxville and later moved to Nashville, Zach is heavily influenced by a wide range of musical genres. From the high, lonesome sounds of Bill Monroe to the funky syncopated rhythms of James Brown, his musical style reflects a unique blend of old and new.

Lori is a North Carolina singer-songwriter who grew up listening to Appalachian ballads and attending bluegrass festivals with her musical family. A fourth-generation ballad singer, she embraces the old songs, all while eager to share her own, which includes many of the songs from her late Uncle Bobby McMillon.

Tickets are $10 per person. For more information and/or to purchase tickets, click on meadowlarkmotel.com or call 828.926.1717.

Performance dates will be Feb. 11, 18, and 25. All shows begin at 9 p.m.

In terms of musical ambassadors within the melodic melting pot of a scene that is Western North Carolina, you’d be hardpressed to find an artist as dedicated and inclusive as that of Andrew Thelston.

Thelston residency in The Gem

Popular Asheville rock act Andrew Thelston Band will hold a special monthlong residency every Saturday evening in The Gem downstairs taproom at Boojum Brewing in Waynesville.

Throughout his exploration of these mountains and its inhabitants, Thelston has remained a sponge of sorts, always soaking in the knowledge and wisdom of astute musicians, the sacred act of performance, and the ancient craft of creation — either in collaboration, in passing, through a recording or in the presence of live music.

The culmination of these vast, ongoing experiences and interactions remains the fire of intent within Thelston to hold steady and navigate his own course, which currently is The Andrew Thelston Band — a rock/soul ensemble of power and swagger. Free and open to the public. facebook.com/andrewthelstonmusic.