NATCHEZ — Birdsong isn’t the only song filling Natchez’s air this month.

Natchez’s annual Spring Pilgrimage starts Friday and runs through April 5.

In addition to the annual tour of the area’s private antebellum homes and living history program at the Tableaux, Pilgrimage has several musical offerings this year.

Spring into the Jazz Age: An Evening at Elms Court

While Pilgrimage tours are about offering a glimpse back into Natchez’s past, the March 7 event “Spring into the Jazz Age: An Evening at Elms Court” is a look not at the antebellum period but at the first part of the 20th century. The event will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Violinist David Troutman and pianist Burnley Cook will present an evening of music that would go on to serve as the foundation of jazz.

“Everything we are playing will be written before 1930, and much of it before 1920,” Troutman said. “It is a little more before what we think of when jazz was organized.”

Selections at the concert will include ragtime, blues and other popular tunes of the day.

“It will be some really sappy things, like, ‘Hello Central, Give me Heaven Because Mama is There,’ or ‘Why Should I Care if I go on Living Now,’ songs that are really maudlin but we know were played at the time,” Troutman said. “This is the music that would have been played at a party at Elms Court at the time, and we know they had a lot of parties there.”

During the concert, the house will be open and attendees will have a chance to take an informal tour. Light refreshments will be served.

Attendees are welcome to wear 1920s attire.

“It is going to be a little more of a relaxed evening, with tables set up and dancing is possible,” Troutman said.

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased through Natchez Pilgrimage Tours at 601-446-6631 or at natchezpilgrimage.com.

A Musical Portrait of Natchez with Lynn Beach Smith

Throughout its history, Natchez has served as a microcosm of the United States’ melting pot of culture.

Every Wednesday in March, starting March 9, from 6 to 8 p.m. vocalist Lynn Beach Smith will present a concert at Stanton Hall that will include seven genres of music. Keyboardists Alvin Shelby and Bro. Vincent Ignatius will accompany her.

“It is meant to kind of give a flavor, an overview of the music that has grown out of this area and music that would have come into this area,” Smith said. “For example, through the Jewish people who were German-speaking — because at one time, we had a vibrant Jewish community here — or Appalachian peddlers coming down the river selling their wares.”

Selections will include African-American spirituals, blues and jazz, a Hebrew selection, German Lieder — or art song — and opera and Appalachian folk music.

“It is meant to entertain as well as inform tourists and locals about the kinds of music that grew out of here and is still performed here,” Smith said.

The Carriage House Restaurant will be open for dinner after the concert, but the concert itself will be food- and drink-free.

Tickets are $30 can be purchased at Natchez Pilgrimage Tours at 601-446-6631 or at natchezpilgrimage.com.

Southern Road to Freedom

Music is said to have the power to free, and “Southern Road to Freedom” is a musical presentation that details the black experience in Natchez from the time of slavery through the Civil Rights era.

Hosted at Holy Family Catholic Church every year, the choir also tells the stories of ordinary people who were able to accomplish great things during and after the Civil War and into the 20th Century.

The program likewise details the development of the unique culture of black churches in Natchez.

Since its start, Southern Road to Freedom has traveled to California to perform in the Los Angeles area, was named the Tourist Attraction of the Year by the Governor’s Council on Tourism in 1997 and appeared on the television show “Promised Land.”

Southern Road to Freedom starts at 8 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday through April 8 at Holy Family Catholic Church. Tickets are $15.

Tickets can be purchased at Natchez Pilgrimage Tours at 601-446-6631 or at natchezpilgrimage.com.