Americana/folk act Woolybooger will hit the stage at 10 p.m. Friday, March 20, at Breadheads Tiki Shak in Sylva.

Creating sound dubbed “music to grow your hair out to,” the Murphy musician, whose real name is Gavin Graves, is well-regarded in this region for his mix of blues and roots music into a unique Southern Appalachian tone. 

I first laid eyes and ears on Americana/roots act Old Crow Medicine Show at the 2005 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. At the time, I was a 20-year-old college student on my first solo road trip from my native North Country of Upstate New York — in search of the sound, the way. 

When you see a plant growing, flowering and fruiting in a garden, field, forest or pot you’re only seeing a part and not the whole. Much of the plant exists below the ground in the soil in the form of roots. It’s common to think that half of the plant is aboveground — stems, flowers and leaves — and half is below the ground in the roots, but this is not true across the board. 

Even
After
All this time
The sun never says to the earth,
“You owe me.” 
Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the
Whole
Sky. 

This poem by the 14th century Persian poet, Hafiz, was cited in Wayne Dyer’s book “Change Your Thoughts — Change Your Life.”

Plants grow in soil. It is plant roots that hold soil in the ground in fields and forests, and along creekbanks, streambanks and riverbanks. When floods come again — and they will — having plants like shrubs, trees and wildflowers growing along and up to the waterline will help ensure that the banks do not fail.

On a fourth-generation family farm nestled in the hills just outside of Fairview, Jamie Ager spent his childhood watching the seasons change, the animals grow and the land evolve with the rhythms of life in the mountains. Today, that land is not only the site of a thriving regenerative agriculture business, but also the launching pad for a campaign that could reshape North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District. 

Americana/folk singer-songwriter Woolybooger will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 14, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Franklin. 

Americana/folk singer-songwriter Woolybooger will perform at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10, at Mountain Layers Brewing in Bryson City.

The Natti Love Joys will perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, at Lazy Hiker Brewing in Sylva.

A roots-rock-reggae band that has been playing live since 2003, the group consists of husband and wife duo Anthony “Jatti” Allen and Sonia “Marla” Allen (formerly Sonia Abel). 

The U.S. Forest Service announced that its pause on issuing permits to harvest American ginseng on the Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests will remain in place for the 2024 season.