Michigan's Bill Bynum gets the chance to show off his tasty bluegrass/country/rock-flavored songs twice this weekend in Ann Arbor; he's at Crazy Wisdom Saturday evening and Old Town Tavern Sunday night.

Bynum, who lives on Grosse Ile, is a 2004 Metro Detroit Songwriting Contest winner (he wrote the first prize song "Lovin' You'') and a frequent Ark open mic favorite, in fact he was voted Open Mic Performer of the Year in 2006 at The Ark and by the Windsor Folk Music Society.

"My music is kind of a Southern roots-based acoustic music, but I feel like I am very hard to box into a category,'' he said. "There's more emotional content to my music than probably most people's.''

His band includes Dave Keeney (dobro), Lisa Case (fiddle) and Chuck Anderson (bass).

Although he plays a lot of traditional and contemporary covers, don't think of Bynum as a typical cover act.

"I think people would have a hard time knowing a lot of the stuff we play. I love writing and have had some success at writing, but I can't just think of doing my own songs when there are so many other great songs out there, too,'' he said.

He comes with a strong recommendation from bluegrass legend Pete Goble, who once said of Bynum "I think the world about him ... dependable ... and true blue and on time.''

Randall Beek, who books the Crazy Wisdom shows, agreed.

He's a great player, he's got that great blues voice, that bluegrass moaning voice,'' Beek observed. "He's tremendous, and just a very sweet guy.''