Travel and transition. Weary miles on the road and brief stops of respite, enjoying truck stop beauty or the way taking three steps back from a chugging city can reveal a majesty normally reserved for nature. Country. Folk. Pop. And especially melodies. Cotton Jones, naturally on tour and headed to Olympia on a Wednesday night, posses all of it. With a new record soon to be released on Suicide Squeeze, Tall Hours in the Glowstream, band pillars Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw, both originally from Western Maryland Shore with a musical connection built on an intriguingly mysterious relationship (a kind of Jack and Meg White feeling). Cotton Jones has been all over, seen most everything and has the sun-faded and wise sound to prove it. Check this band out.

[Northern, with the Parson Red Heads, the Quiet Life, 8:30 p.m., all ages, $8, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]