Watching Chris Wood attack his upright bass onstage is a thing of beauty, and Oliver Wood’s honey-warm vocals and chopping, dance-inspiring rhythms on his beat up old National guitar aren’t far behind. Last Friday night, The Wood Brothers played to a near capacity crowd at The Stone Church in Newmarket. It was the duo’s third time at the venerable old room on the hill, and their second visit since the release of their excellent Blue Note Records debut, “Ways Not to Lose.” 

Some say that it isn’t what you say, but how you say it. With Elijah Wyman, it’s both.At the Red Door in Portsmouth on March 27, under the glow of a dim spotlight, Wyman and his guitar (and his autoharp) wove tales about death, suicide, betrayal and faith. Off stage and in between songs he was modest and lighthearted, encouraging listeners to meet him. But when he began each song, he seemed almost as if possessed by the moment, singing with a haunting conviction that suggested each song was exploding from him instead of simply being released.

Whether you consider Kathleen Edwards one of the new “country rock” musicians or a representative of that hybrid genre known as “roots rock,” her show at the Stone Church this weekend proved that Edwards incorporates just as much rock as country or roots into her music and her persona. Touring as part of what she called an acoustic “solo duo” with fellow Canadian songwriter and band mate Jim Bryson, Edwards is currently making a sweep through New England before she opens for Bryan Adams later this spring.

The Stone Church was packed for Sarah Harmer’s acoustic show in support of her new album, “I’m a Mountain,” despite the snow and the cold that would have kept fans of other performers home. The show opened with the Shiftless Rounders, a rootsy duo with a little ’70s singer-songwriter vibe coursing through their banjo and slide guitar interpretations of mountain music (it might be me, but I had more than one flash of Pure Prairie League and early Loggins and Messina, perhaps evidence of the multifaceted folk heritage from which the Rounders have emerged).