Renowned jazz/funk ensemble Kanola Band will perform at 7 p.m. Feb. 14, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

Whether reimagining the soulful grooves of Fats Domino, channeling the joyful spirit of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band or celebrating the resilience of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition, Kanola Band is dedicated to spreading joy and honoring the deep roots of New Orleans music. 

Americana/bluegrass act Darren Nicholson will hit the stage for an intimate performance at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley.

A Grammy nominee and winner of 13 International Bluegrass Music Association awards, Nicholson has taken his own brand of mountain music around the world. 

Presented by Astro Record Store, the “Yonder Mountain Record Show” will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. 

The Asheville Mountain Boys’ self-titled debut album drops on Feb. 12, heralding the arrival of a new era of old-school bluegrass from the Buncombe County quartet. 

Recorded at The Shop Studio with master bluegrass engineer Van Atkins (Doyle Lawson, Balsam Range, Town Mountain), the record blends heartfelt originals about love and loss with a hand-picked selection of bluegrass standards and deep cuts from the catalogs of the band’s musical heroes. 

Americana/folk singer-songwriter A. Lee Edwards will perform at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the Cataloochee Ranch in Maggie Valley.

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.

Presented by Astro Record Store, the “Yonder Mountain Record Show” will be held from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 15, at Frog Level Brewing in Waynesville. 

In truth, there are two camps when it comes to Texas singer-songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey: you’re either completely obsessed with his music, with his tunes becoming a pillar of the soundtrack of your life, or you’ve never heard of him. 

I only met Bob Weir once. It was backstage at the long gone Gathering of the Vibes music festival located on the shoreline of the Long Island Sound in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was the summer of 2009 and I was 24 years old, myself an aspiring journalist for a now-defunct music magazine. 

The Voices in the Laurel choirs have announced that spring registration is now open and the organization invites new/returning singers from Haywood, Buncombe, Jackson and Swain counties to be part of its 30th season. 

Ron Rash has never been to an opera. But later this month, he’ll sit down to enjoy an opus based on stories and poems he wrote about the Southern Appalachian mountains he calls home. 

“Shelton Laurel: An Appalachian Opera” takes place over a few years around the Civil War. The opera, which will see its world premiere later this month, tells the tale of farmers in Madison County’s Shelton Laurel, not far from Western Carolina University’s Bardo Arts Center in Cullowhee where the work will be performed.