www.roanoke.com

Dar Williams | Courtesy JP Cutler Media

Vaunted singer/songwriter Dar Williams returns to Southwest Virginia with a new album, “In The Time of Gods,” which uses parables of Greek mythology to examine modern life. And it works.

Williams brings music from that disc and more from her long career to Kirk Avenue Music Hall on Saturday. Get show details at Top Tickets. On this podcast, we discuss the record, her lyrical process, the players on it (including Larry Campbell, Shawn Colvin and Charley Drayton) and more. Streaming music — “I Am The One Who Will Remember Everything,” “You Will Ride With Me Tonight” and “Summer Child.”

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts

Photo courtesy Charlie Hamill

Charlie Hamill gets together with his musical buddies Ben Trout and Jason Hill for a Thursday night gig on the Corned Beef & Co. deck. They’ll be celebrating the Charlie Hamill Group’s new CD, “Late Night At Hamill’s,” and playing some songs from the disc. Get show info at Top Tickets.

We talk with Hamill about the record, the players on it (including backing vocals from Roanoke Civic Center general manager Robyn Schon, who has quite a voice) and the themes behind it. Streaming music — “Catcher,” “Chump Love Sucka,” “About My Love” and “She Don’t.”

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts

Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds | Courtesy of All Eyes Media

Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds played its collective backside off last year at Awful Arthur’s Towers, as though it didn’t matter that the crowd was sparse. It was a heck of a show, and the band returns to the venue, now named Growler’s American Grill, for a show on Thursday. If you dig funk, rock and soul with deep grooves, hip horn lines and powerful vocals, you’d be foolish to miss this one. Read more, get show details.

On this podcast, we talk with lead singer Arleigh “Sister Sparrow” Kincheloe about the musical atmosphere in which she and her harmonica-playing brother, Jackson, grew up, and other fun topics. We stream music from the band’s CD, “Pound of Dirt” –”Another Ride,” “Bulldozer,” “Dirt” “Hollow Bones” and “Lasso.” “Dirt,” maybe the funniest track on a seriously funky disc, “conveys the attitude and the grittiness of the live show … it’s a very high-energy situation, and we hope you enjoy it,” she said.

Ryan Montbleau Band photo by Ryan Laurey

Ryan Montbleu has had a nice run lately — four songs on two Trombone Shorty hit contemporary jazz CDs, which parlayed into New Orleans sessions with Shorty producer Ben Ellman. The results of those Big Easy sessions, with George Porter Jr. on bass, Ivan Neville on keys and B3 and Simon Lott on drums, will be on Montbleau’s record “For Higher,” set for a May 15 release.

But you can hear many of those songs live when Ryan Montbleau Band comes to Martin’s on Thursday. Read more, get show details. And you can hear four of the numbers — “Burning and Hiding,” “Sweet, Nice ‘n’ High,” “Head Above Water” and “Dead Set” — streaming on this podcast.

Roger McGuinn photo courtesy mcguinn.com

Roger McGuinn, who broke new ground in rock music with the Byrds, has continued to do his thing ever since, with a lot of taste and class. McGuinn comes to Jefferson Center on Friday. Along with him will be his wife, Camilla, who grew up in Roanoke. So it will be a nice homecoming for her. Read full story, get show details.

On this podcast, we talk about the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band made up of such authors as Stephen King, Dave Barry, Scott Turow and Amy Tan — McGuinn is the band’s occasional ringer. And we step back into the wayback machine to discuss Byrds history, among other topics. Streaming music — McGuinn’s version of the old song “Titanic,” made famous in the 1920s by Galax’s Ernest “Pop” Stoneman. And of course, we intro with a snippet of “Eight Miles High,” a Byrds classic.

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts

Mother's Finest photo courtesy Linda Walker

Funk-rock pioneer band Mother’s Finest comes to Roanoke for a show at Schooner’s on Thursday night. PolyChrome opens the show. Read story, get show details.

On this podcast, we talk with Glenn “Doc” Murdock and Joyce “Baby Jean” Kennedy about the band’s long history, why it didn’t get the love it deserved back in the day, and about working with their son Dion, who plays drums for Mother’s Finest. We also get a hint of something cool coming up for the band, recognition from the Smithsonian Institute for the Atlanta-based band’s work in developing a style that imho has influenced Living Colour, King’s X, Prince and more.

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts

Alan Evans Trio photo courtesy Calabro Music Media

Extreme bias showing here. I love funky soul/jazz organ trio Soulive. And as a drummer, I’m way into what Alan Evans does with that act. So I was excited to hear that he is bringing his own trio to Martin’s tomorrow night. Sol & Funk Root is opening the show, which made me even happier. Get show details at Top Tickets. So I had to get Alan on the phone.

On this podcast, we discuss the Alan Evans Trio’s brand new CD, “Drop Hop,” about the players who have joined him to create something nastier and stickier than the typical Soulive record and about how Evans put together some of the record’s grooves. Streaming music — “Check Your Lugnuts,” “Rum Runner,” “If You Want My Love (Give It Up)” and “White Room.”

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts

Toubab Krewe photo courtesy Mason Jar Media

Toubab Krewe returns to the valley tonight for a show at Growler’s American Grill. Get show details at Top Tickets. Here, we stream songs from the band’s latest CD, “TK2,” talk with Perkins about the music and find out that the Krewe has started adding vocals to its previously all-instrumental sets.

Streaming music — “Mariama,” “NTB” and “Konkoba.”

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts

Callaghan photo by Scott Lowden

From England by way of Atlanta, Georgina Callaghan was in town last year, opening a show for Shawn Mullins (“Lullaby”) at Kirk Avenue Music Hall. She returns to Roanoke, solo this time at Blues BBQ, to play songs from her new Mullins-produced album, “Life In Full Colour.” Get show details at Top Tickets.

Here, we stream some of the music from that disc — “Best Year,” “Close My Eyes,” “Get Me Through Tonight” — and talk a bit about the music business, her move to Atlanta and what it’s like to miss family living another continent away.

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts

Floodwood photo courtesy Skyline Music

When the guys from jamband moe. do bluegrass, one shouldn’t expect anything too traditional. After all, one of the two moe. dudes playing in progressive/newgrass/jamband Floodwood is Vinnie Amico, the drummer. Floodwood plays Kirk Avenue Music Hall on April 20, as part of the Down by Downtown Festival. Read all about the music and culture fest.

Here, we talk about the new project with Amico and stream a Floodwood-ized moe. tune, “Magnolia Row,” which the newgrassers recorded at a recent sound check.

More podcasts

• blogs.roanoke.com/cutnscratch/category/podcasts