The Beat Goes On: A celebration of Gillian Welch’s music in Amherst, an Grammy-nominated vocalist and composer in Northampton, and more

The Back Porch Festival, the American roots music event put together by Signature Sounds, has become something of a staple in Northampton since its start as a one-day event in 2014.

The late-winter series expanded considerably after that, moving to two, three, and even fours days of music performed by three to six bands. This past March, the festival grew again, moving to multiple venues in downtown Northampton at which more than 50 artists performed during three days.

Now the festival is expanding again, in a manner of speaking, by bringing one of its most popular events to Amherst.

The first show of the Back Porch Songwriter Series takes place Oct. 10 at The Drake, at which a number of singer-songwriters and artists will play the music of Gillian Welch, the acclaimed Americana singer and songwriter whose work has won and been nominated for multiple Grammy awards.

The concert, which begins at 8 p.m., features a crack house band, Deep River Ramblers (Valley veterans Chris Brashear, Jim Henry, and Paul Kochanski on guitar, dobro, fiddle, mandolin, bass and backing vocals) supporting Rani Arbo, Lisa Bastoni, Abbey Gardner and Peter Mulvey on Welch’s songs.

Arbo is well known for her fiddle playing and vocals for her band daisy mayhem (and before that Salamander Crossing); Bastoni has won notice at the Boston Music Awards and the Kerrville Folk Festival; Gardner is an acclaimed dobro player and vocalist with the Americana trio Red Molly; and singer-songwriter Mulvey is a certified road warrior with 20 albums to his credit.

As Signature President Jim Olsen told the Gazette earlier this year, the songwriter series was added to the Back Porch Festival in 2017 and has proved very popular, with sold-out shows dedicated to artists such as Doc Watson, Dolly Parton and John Prine.

Moving the new series to The Drake will allow for bigger audiences, as most of the previous shows were held at The Parlor Room. In November, a similar show will be dedicated to Merle Haggard, and one in December will feature the songs of Nanci Griffith.

Vocalist and composer Priya Darshini, born and raised in India and now living in New York City, is no stranger to Northampton. She’s played two First Night Northampton shows as well as a summer gig a few years ago at Pulaski Park.

Now Darshini is stepping onto a bigger stage in the city: She comes to the Academy of Music on Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. with her ensemble to play the kind of cross-cultural music that earned her 2020 solo record, “Periphery,” a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Age Album.

With roots in Indian classical music, Darshini has also built her sound by incorporating elements of jazz and folk, as well as music from other places and genres: West Africa, the Mideast, and electronic and experimental music.

“I try not to think about [my music] as a genre,” she told The Guardian a few years ago. “The moment you put something in a box, and you want to think out of the box, all you’ll see is the box.”

Elle Magazine, for one, has recognized her merging of styles and sounds: “‘Periphery’ stands out as a beacon of hope for cultural unanimity.”

Darshini has collaborated with many other musicians, including ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, and at the Academy she’ll be joined by her frequent partner, hammered dulcimer pioneer Max ZT, who’s also played in Northampton; Grammy-nominated cellist Dave Eggar; and percussionist Patrick Duke.

Opening for Darshini will be Valley singer-songwriter Kimaya Diggs, who released a new album earlier this year, the pop/jazz-flavored “Quincy.”

The Valley Music Showcase, the popular “Battle of the Bands” competition, comes to a new locale for its latest installment: the Marigold Theater in Easthampton.

Beginning at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Friday, Oct. 6), three bands — The 413s, The Penniless Wild, and Laini & The Wildfire — will play 30-minute sets in an initial competition. Judges at the show, who are selected by Mark Sherry, the Music Showcase founder and producer, will then choose one of the three for a final battle with Shagohod, winners of a previous Showcase event.

The ultimate winner qualifies for various prizes, including free sessions at local recording studios, a custom website design and photo shoot with Cider House Media in Easthampton, and more.

Sherry started the Valley Music Showcase several years ago as a forum for up-and-coming bands and artists from a region roughly defined as the Connecticut River Valley from southern Vermont to central Connecticut.

In fact, most of the groups at the Marigold hail from outside the immediate area. The Penniless Wild is an indie rock band out of Hartford, pop-rockers Laini & The Wildfire hail from New Haven, and Shagohod is a progressive rock band with members from West Springfield and Hartford.

Young rockers The 413s, on the other hand, are Valley players: They’re from Huntington.

There’s no admission fee, but a donation of $10-12 is “kindly requested.”

More music on tap

The Soggy Po Boys bring their New Orleans-flavored jazz and blues to The Parlor Room on Oct. 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Hailing from Bogota, Colombia, the politically charged percussion and vocal trio La Perla will be at CitySpace in Easthampton on Oct. 6. The 7 p.m. show begins with DJ music and then a performance by percussionists Gaia Roots.

Bab L’ Bluz, a Moroccan-French ensemble that blends elements of North African music with the blues — they’re on Peter Gabriel’s “Real World” record label — comes to the Bombyx Center in Florence on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.

The Johnny Memphis Band will be at Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield on Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.

One of pop music’s marquee names from the late 1980s and 1990s, Julian Hatfield, will play a solo show at The Parlor Room on Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m. She’ll have a pre-gig conversation with Freda Love, drummer from the Blake Babies, Hatfield’s first group.

One more show on Oct. 13: Valley regulars Lexi Weege and JJ Slater, who often gig together, will play a record release party at the Marigold Theater at 8 p.m., as they’re both releasing new solo albums.

Another pop music icon, Bob Mould, the guitarist and songwriter for alternative rockers Hüsker Dü and Sugar, will play a solo electric show at The Drake on Oct. 15 at 8 p.m.

Jazz fiddler Mat Maneri brings his quartet to the Community Music School of Springfield on Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m. as part of the Pioneer Valley Jazz series.

Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.