Hello, fine readers. I hope everyone had a good Saint Patrick's Day. Thank you once again for all of the feedback — it's good to know you're reading. As I've said before, we have so much talent in our neck of the woods, and it's truly a pleasure to help spread the word.

A few quick notes before we get into the featured shows: Music has started back up on the rooftop at the Mystic Grill on the Square — check the Mystic's FB page to get updates; Also, last edition I had mentioned the Saturday night picker's circle at Cowboys BBQ. You can also find a bona fide picker's circle every Thursday night at Where's There's Smoke BBQ on the main road in Mansfield.

Featured shows:

Adriane Ivey will perform at Common Ground Coffee House. Hwy 81, North Covington on Friday, March 25 at 7 p.m.
I've mentioned Ivey — who I’ve played shows with at Milazzo’s — in this space before. Now she's doing her first true solo gig at Common Ground. Ivey has an esoteric and laid-back folk sound combined with an eclectic songbook that makes a good listening experience. She'll have Ann McCart and Rebecca Bates, both of Sweet Harmony fame, as her special guests.

Izaak McDonald will perform at Amici Covington, 1116 College Ave SE, Covington on Friday, March 25 at 8 p.m.

A newer performer to the Amici rotation, McDonald seems to play an interesting mix of singer-songwriter acoustic music that delivers down to earth lyrics with a transparent feel. When I first heard one of his tracks, I heard vibe of a melding between Garth Brooks and Jim Croce. I know what you’re thinking, weird, right? Well, no. It was good. Really good. He's got a nice voice and has the finger-picking guitar stuff down pat. I assume he'll be plugging in a mix of covers to go along with his originals.

Apalachee Don will perform at the Porterdale Bar & Grill, 52 South Broad Street No. 200 on Friday, March 25 at 9 p.m.
I'd heard of Don a time or two, but when I went to his Facebook page and saw a picture of him, I said to myself, "Man, who the heck is this guy?!". He's has a kind of hillbilly meets hip-hop thing going on with a self-described genre of "universal,” which apparently is a fusion of rock, country and rap. Not normally my type of stuff, but Don has quite the following with more than 2,000 likes on his Facebook page. By all accounts, he usually packs them in down at the Porterdale Bar and Grill, so it should be quite the night.

Drew Parker will perform at The Social House, 2101 Main Street, Porterdale on Saturday March 26.

I've been following Parker’s career for several years now. As I mentioned in a previous article, we really have a strong group of some serious Country singers — Dustin Bragg, Gannon Adams, and Thomas Tillman to name a few. Parker is right up there with them. He has a truly classic Country voice complements with some great songwriting. Also, he has put together one heck of a band. Jesse Dickison can sure enough play the guitar and Joe Cram is a fine drummer. Parker also has a couple of McCart boys with him — Taylor on bass and Okie on guitar, and they're both very good. Sweet Harmony did a show with the Drew Parker Band a couple of years back and between sets I told Okie (fourth cousin, once-removed, if my genealogical research is right), we'd have to get a side project up and call it, "The McCart Boys".

That’s a funny thought. But, I have a tendency to digress...

So back to Parker. He's the truth. His influences include Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Travis Tritt, and you can tell with his music. It’s real good stuff, and the Social House is a really great venue to hear it.

Whiskey Bent will perform at Sycamore St. Pizzeria, 198 East Sycamore Street, Social Circle, on Saturday, March 26.

I know I covered them a few editions ago, but they always put on a good show. And I know I covered Sycamore last week, but they're booking some great acts. This should be a good one down in Social Circle.

Also, for those of you who don't mind hitting the road for a bit, Covington's Tedo Stone will be playing at the Georgia Theater in Athens Wednesday night, March 23. That should be a great gig.

Since I went heavy on the shows, we'll skip the featured venue and artist segments until a future column. As Mathew McConaughey’s Woody Wooderson in Dazed and Confused says: "alright, alright, alright” that’s all until next time.

Marshall wears many hats, but being a musician and musical enthusiast are chief among them.