There’ll be plenty of pickin’ and grinnin’ — and some foot stompin’ too — when five Anacortes venues host down-home bluegrass and roots bands for the popular annual Brewgrass joint cover event this weekend.

With five clubs, 10 bands and 48 handles, you can leave the jug of moonshine at home and enjoy a load of great craft-brewed beers.

One $8 cover provides access to it all. Music starts at 9 p.m. and finishes around midnight at the Rockfish Grill, the Brown Lantern and the Watertown Pub. Music at Adrift and the Majestic runs 8-11 p.m.

Any Brewgrass goers planning to spend the night in town can get a discount at Cap Sante Inn with advance reservation. Call 293-0602 and mention Brewgrass.

Friday’s lineup is the Blackberry Bushes at Adrift, Prozac Mountain Boys at the Brown Lantern, Deadwood Revival at the Rockfish, Scott’s Landing at the Majestic and Slim Pickens at the Watertown. On Saturday, Adrift presents Queens Bluegrass, the Brown Lantern has the Stilly River Band, the Rockfish hosts Tall Timber, Majestic has Pearly Blue and Watertown has Grapevine Bluegrass.

Choosing which bands to see won’t be easy.

• The Blackberry Bushes, dubbed mountain divas and Olympia’s sirens of indiegrass, is an acoustic string band that plays progressive Americana. The band’s repertoire of original, bluegrass and traditional music is infused with indie, jazz, punk and alternative styles. Bonded by their love of music, mountains and leg warmers they perform regularly at bars, cafes, galleries, festivals and radio stations.

• The Prozac Mountain Boys offer an uplifting, therapeutic mixture of traditional, bluegrass and modern music. The boys combine bluegrass instrumentation with rich vocal harmonies to create an intimate blend of yesterday and today, from Bill Monroe to Bob Dylan and the Beatles to the Grateful Dead.

• Deadwood Revival includes a Georgia theater chick, a California drummer turned banjo player, a Deadhead bass player and a bluegrass fiddler who make unassuming and honest feel-good music filled with the spirit of old-time Appalachia, soulful American roots and a hint of jam-band improvisation. Their original tunes have been described as “old-timey with smokin’ hooks.”

• Scott’s Landing draws on the power and beauty of bluegrass music to take the listener on a journey through time, rediscovering gems of early bluegrass. Playing from the heart, these seasoned veterans deliver confident instrumentals and impassioned harmony singing carried on a rock solid beat.

• Slim Pickens is the trio of Virginia fiddler “Barrell House” Annie Hiddle Fickie Ford, Lake Charles Jake from Louisiana and Slim Syncopator from New Orleans on a homemade gas tank bass and rack harmonica. Sticking true to their Southern roots, their style is a mixture of old-time, blues, ragtime, Cajun and fiddle tunes. Their swingy, bluesy fiddle and ragtime guitar are complimented by a three-string bass and tasteful harmonica harmonies.

• Queen’s Bluegrass plays traditional bluegrass and gospel tunes with sweet harmonies and old-time sound that treat the ears.

• The Stilly River Band, often called “the bad boys of bluegrass,” plays an eclectic mix that blends traditional bluegrass with less conventional styles such as progressive folk, Latin, Irish and R&B to create a sound the band calls “rude grass.” The band’s accomplished musicianship, tight vocal harmony and entertaining and unpredictable shows have made them a popular attraction in the region for 15 years.

• Tall Timber Grass is led by Don Mills, who played with the original Tall Timber Grass in the 1970s and did the festival circuit with Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and many of the greats. Banjo player Don Hitt has a straight and solid traditional playing style and also sings tenor. John Rantschler plays bass and sings baritone. Tim Saxton plays mandolin and Rob Bennett plays the fiddle.

• Pearly Blue is a Northwest bluegrass group that specializes in traditional mountain music. Its members are veterans of many top Washington bluegrass bands. Guitarist and Anacortes resident Barry Brower is at the core. A bluegrass writer and historian, he was a longtime emcee of KBCS “Bluegrass Ramble.” Jen Dunton, another home-town gal, is known from her years in the Dunton Sisters. She switches from guitar to bass in Pearly Blue but her sweet voice remains. Joining them are multi-instrumentalist Rich Jones, master fiddler Pete Martin and mandolin player Tom Moran.

• The Grapevine Bluegrass Band is a dynamic traditional bluegrass band with contemporary flavor. Grapevine’s standards are set on the tried and true music of years past with an injection of powerful new grass. Vocalist Laura Quigley plays the bass and creates the “groove factor.” On fiddle is John Melnichuk, a six-time senior fiddle champion in the National Oldtime Fiddler’s Contest in Weiser, Idaho. Mandolin player Jeff Westerinen, banjo player Jamie Blair and guitarist Randy Weese all add vocals.