This weekend on a shoestring

Thursday, July 8
• Park Rhythms
Free Concert 7:00-9:00pm at Lake Tomahawk. Asheville’s bluegrass quintet Dehlia Low performs as part of the Park Rhythms concert series at Lake Tomahawk (Black Mountain, 669-2052). Food is available from An Apple a Day Depot. 7-9 p.m., free.

• Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation is a traveling exhibition was organized by the Huntington Library, San Marino, California, and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, New York City, in cooperation with the American Library Association. it “examines Abraham Lincoln’s quest to restore a Union divided by Civil War and shows how his beliefs about freeing the slaves were transformed by war-time developments.  From the beginning of the Civil War until his death, Lincoln evolved from a cautious moderate who was willing to see slavery continue for several decades in order to preserve the Union, to the ‘Great Emancipator,’ who emphatically put an end to slavery in the United States.  The exhibition explores the reasons for this change.” The exhibit is on display at Henderson County Public Library (301 N. Washington St., Hendersonville, 697-4725) through August 20.

Friday, July 9
• Local collective Fifth House (“Rock, Funk, Soul, Groove, Big, Bad. It’s as simple as that,” says the band) plays the Highland Brewing Company (12 Old Charlotte Hwy., Asheville, 299-3370) TGIF celebration. 6-8 p.m. for music and food; come earlier for tours.

• The Summer Tracks concert series in Rogers Park (Tryon) returns with jazz-blues guitar master Marc Yaxley “who has opened for jazz great Ramsey Lewis, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson and blues rocker Warren Haynes.” The Red Hot Sugar Babies, “an energetic jazz band performing music of the roaring 1920’s and 30’s,” round out the evening. 7 p.m., donation.

• Okay this one costs more that $5. It’s — steel yourself — six dollars. But it’s also Memphis blues act Victor Wainwright & the Wildroots. Wainrights (a.k.a. “the ‘Piana from Savannah”) claims to have earned “a ‘double major in Boogie, a Ph.D. in Swing and a master’s in Rhythm. 9:30 p.m. at the Carolina Mountain Ribfest (WNC Agricultural Fairground, Fletcher). By the way, that $6 ticket also lets you see supporting blues bands Carolina Rex at 4 p.m., Peggy Ratusz & Daddy Longlegs at 5:30 p.m. and Delta Highway at 7:30 p.m.)

Saturday, July 10
• Sharyn McCrumb, bestselling author of Rosewood Casket and She Walks These
Hills, recently published The Devil Amongst the Lawyers, “a fictionalized version of a 1935 Appalachian murder trial and it explores how the media distorted mountain culture to sensationalize the story.” She’ll read and sign copies at Malaprop’s (55 Haywood St., Asheville, 254-6734). 7 p.m., free.

• Artist Colette Johnson exhibits her mixed media works in RECALL, at Ox & Rabbit (12 S. Lexington Ave., Asheville). The opening reception is 8-11 p.m. with food, drinks and live music from Skew Records. (The exhibit remains through August 10).

• Adorable, talented and recent runners-up in the WNC Magazine Last Band Standing contest, indie-rock trio Grammer School brings its keys-fueled sound to Good Stuff Grocery (133 Main St., Marshall, 649-9711). 9 p.m., free.

•  Asheville-based jazz group One Leg Up pays hommage to Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhart. And they’ll so so at Westville Pub (777 HAywood Rd., Asheville, 225-9782). 10 p.m., $5.

• ”2/3 Goat (pronounced Two-Thirds Goat) is an NYC-based band with metrobilly tendencies. Their musical fusion of folk, blues, rock, and country summons the likes of Cash & Carter, with a contemporary spin,” says the band. They’ll be at Fred’s Parkside Pub (122 College St., Asheville, 281-0920). 10:30 p.m.