Editor’s Note: Since first rolling into Haywood County in August 2012 to start work as the arts and entertainment editor for The Smoky Mountain News, Garret K. Woodward has been extensively documenting banjo players around our backyard.

In the mid-1960s, when Bill Allsbrook was a med school student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, he decided to pick up the banjo. 

Singer-songwriter Andrew Wakefield will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, at The Scotsman in Waynesville. 

Popular regional Americana/bluegrass act Jeremy Rilko will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24, in the SpeakEasy Bar at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley. 

Rising Americana/bluegrass act Appalachian Road Show will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25, on the Grand Stage at the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center in Robbinsville. 

Acclaimed Americana/folk duo Shannon Whitworth & Woody Platt will perform at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Highlander Mountain House in Highlands. 

A beloved long-time Western North Carolina tradition, the 49th annual Mountain Heritage Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30, on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.

Americana/bluegrass artist Darren Nicholson will hit the stage at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 23, at the gazebo in downtown Franklin.

The alarm on my smart phone echoed throughout the small cabin. It was 7:30 a.m. Saturday and I had to be somewhere in an hour — hopping onto a saddle for an early morning horse ride. 

Late last month, I was lucky enough to catch a special musical performance in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.