This weekend on a shoestring

This weekend is shaping up to be an interesting on. It begins with the summer’s final Downtown After 5 and wraps up with a CGBG-themed showcase at The Boiler Room (Jeff Buckley tribute, anyone?). And it’s all super cheap — but you knew that.

Friday, September 18
• Asheville’s Vertigo Jazz Project kicks off the final Downtown After 5 at 5:15 p.m., sharpish. Head down to the I-240 overpass on Lexington Ave. (downtown Asheville) for a T.G.I.F. block party. Baltimore’s The Bridge goes on at 6:20 with the horn-driven funk/blues jams and the headliner Big Sam’s Funky Nation — led by former Dirty Dozen Brass Band trombonist Big Sam Williams — headlines at 7:45 p.m. All for free, or course.

• Curious Crandalls (pictured below) is the indie-rock project of Andrea Lee, Valerie Phillips and Justin Lee with occasional input from guitarist Jeff Markham. Their sound is a slow burn with melodic guitar, sweetly haunting harmonies and spooky-catchy lyrics. Catch the group at Picnic’s (371 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, 258-2585). 6 p.m., free.

• Barnaroo (839 Old Marshall Highway, Asheville)—the bi-monthly youth music fest—rocks on with punk/grunge act Kill Radio. 8 p.m., free.

• New York’s David Kraai & The Saddle Tramps plays country rock with more twang and cowboy references than seems rightly fitting for New Yorkers. Then again, Kraai (pictured) grew up in the pastoral spaciousness of upstate New York. If country is country wherever you go, that might explain why Kraai looks so authentic in his denim and boots. Kraai plays the Town Pump (135 Cherry St., Black Mountain, 669-4808) at 8:30 p.m. $5.

• One-armed guitarist Jason “Lefty” Williams returns to the Mo Daddy’s (77-B Biltmore Ave., Asheville, 258-1550) stage with his full band. 9 p.m., $5.

• Julia Ann & Laurel Ridge Bluegrass makes the trek from Weaverville (the band’s base) to the Beacon Pub (204 Whitson Ave., Asheville, 686-5943) for a 9 p.m. set. $5.

• Trippy cosmic prog-rockers Dashvara (below) finishes out the evening with a 10 p.m. performance at Hookah Joe’s (38-B French Broad Ave., Asheville, 252-1522). $5.

Saturday, Sept. 19
• As part of the Southern Highland Craft Guild Heritage Weekend local honky tonk musician Cary Fridley (pictured) brings out her old-time string band. The music kicks off at 1:30 p.m. at the Folk Art Center (Blue Ridge Parkway, Asheville). Free.

• A Campaign block party for Asheville City Council candidate J. Neal Jackson runs from 3 to 10 p.m. on Eagle Street (downtown Asheville). Reggae band Crystal Kind sets the festival mood at 7 p.m. Free.

• Black Mountain’s experimental bluegrass band FreeGrass Revival (pictured below) will be at the Buffalo Trail Grill (447B Main Street. Chimney Rock, 625-2290) where there’s back deck seating over the river. 7 p.m., free.

• Asheville world music trio Cabo Verde returns to Zambra (85 Walnut St., Asheville, 232-1060). 8 p.m., free.

• Rockers The Wax Poets (below) put in an appearance at Hookah Joe’s (38-B French Broad Ave., Asheville, 252-1522). 8 p.m., $5.

• In case you either were at CBGB (the famed and recently closed rock club in new York City) back in the day and miss it or never made it to CBGB and wish you’d been there back with the Talking Heads were playing or (more recently) Gogo Bordello was getting tossed out, multiple local bands are set to recreate the scene. The show starts at 9 p.m. at the Boiler Room (11 Grove St., Asheville, 505-1612) with The Steves, Gavin Conner, On the Take (pictured) and Lewis.

—Alli Marshall, A&E reporter