Greensboro, N.C. songwriter Laurelyn Dossett premiered her seasonally themed “The Gathering: A Winter’s Tale in Six Songs” with the North Carolina Symphony (who commissioned the work) and a cadre of fellow travelers from the Piedmont region last November. Well, it’s that time of year again, so she’s reconvened the string-band quintet — Mike Compton (mandolin), Joe Newberry (banjo/guitar), Jason Sypher (bass) and the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens (fiddle) — to perform a more stripped-down version of the song cycle along with a passel of suitably old-timey holiday tunes. As with the Chocolate Drops (whose newest record features Dosset’s tune “Leaving Eden” as its title track), the approach is lovingly steeped in ancestral Appalachian folkways without feeling the least bit dusty or dated, and serves as a warm reminder that, yuletide or not, we can always use more tradition.
Thu., Dec 13, 8 p.m., $25-$39.50, Sellersville Theater, 24 West Temple Ave., Sellersville, 215-257-5808, st94.com.
