It’s 12:23 a.m. and I can hear the tires from sporadic cars splashing through small puddles on nearby Walnut Street in downtown Waynesville. They say a big rainstorm is coming later today. For now, it’s another pull from the lukewarm Coors Light can.

Presented by Rock for Relief WNC, the “Black Tie-Dye Ball” will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 23, at The Orange Peel in Asheville.

Headlining the event will be acclaimed indie-rock act Susto. Support will be provided by rising Americana/indie act Holler Choir and indie/folk group Watkins. 

The annual Cold Mountain Music Festival will be held May 30-June 1 at the Lake Logan Retreat Center in Canton.

Artists to appear onstage include The Last Revel, American Aquarium, Melissa Carper, Fireside Collective, Denitia, The Moon & You, Fancy & The Gentlemen and more. 

The Town of Sylva, Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce are proud to present the 16th season of the annual “Concerts on the Creek” music series. 

A regional Americana/bluegrass act, Granny’s Mason Jar will perform at 6 p.m. Saturday, May 24, at Mountain Layer Brewing in Bryson City. 

One of the newest and most exciting acts emerging from Asheville, Las Montañitas will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at the Folkmoot Friendship Center in Waynesville.

Las Montañitas brings the Andes to the Appalachians.

The 29th annual Swain County Heritage Festival will be held May 23-24 at Riverfront Park in Bryson City.

Live music, clogging, heritage demonstrations, artisan vendors and much more.

Much like their sorrowful, purposeful melodies, the members of The Last Revel contain this thick thread of self, and of place, when it comes to the underlying trait in the sounds and scope of their intent, onstage and in the studio — survival mode. 

The Haywood Community Band (HCB) will kick off its 2025 season with a special concert, a “Celebration of Song and Dance,” at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 18, at the Calvary Road Baptist Church in Maggie Valley. 

A community jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12, on the front patio of the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City.

Anyone with a guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, dulcimer or anything unplugged is invited to join. Singers are also welcomed to join in or you can just stop by and listen.