The best and worst thing about the Tacoma music scene is how tight-knit it can be. This quality can manifest itself as stubborn resistance to expanding the sonic palette of our town, but it can also result in inspiring gestures of care and support for one another. Tacoma takes care of its own, as I like to say. Saturday will provide an opportunity for us to prove that we can extend this affection to one of our city's beloved visitors.

Roughly three weeks ago, Portlander Drew Grow (of the Pastors' Wives fame) was in a devastating automobile accident, which left him saddled with piles of medical bills, including costs covering a stay in the hospital, surgery and the months of rehabilitation he will likely need. In order to help soften the blow of the hospital bill's crude insult to injury, five benefit shows have been arranged in the Pacific Northwest, and the Peabody Waldorf Gallery will be host to Tacoma's contribution.

For those unfamiliar with the work of Drew Grow & the Pastors' Wives, a visit to their Bandcamp will reveal a treasure trove of material. Their specialty is in soulful, gorgeously realized blues-punk. Drew Grow frequently comes across as a ringleader, a showman, a mad preacher with a huskily expressive voice that very nearly overreaches at every turn. Behind him hover the voices of a downtown gospel choir, sweetly intoning even as the guitars grow aggressive and the percussion fills in every vacant crack. It's exciting, propulsive stuff that somehow always manages to remain tactile and personal, which is a particular feat unto itself.

Zach Varnell, an avid supporter and friend of Grow, has worked closely with the Peabody Waldorf in arranging this benefit show.

"(Drew Grow) has played in Tacoma a number of times over the last year and a half, and has been an inspiration to a lot of musicians in Tacoma," says Varnell, who teaches many of the up-and-coming musicians from  SOTA. "So, we thought we'd step up and put on an evening to celebrate the impact he's had.

"Drew Grow & the Pastors' Wives put on such an incredible live show," Varnell continues. "Every time we see them, it inspires so many of us to be better at what we do. They're tremendous performers and, just as individuals, they're really caring and wonderful people. So we were inspired to step up and do something for them."

Playing on the bill in tribute to Drew Grow will be likeminded miners of Americana - Big Sur, Elk & Boar and Alexander Graham Bell. They all long for high grass and dusty roads, their plucked guitars yearning to have a tune carried off in the summer breeze.

Perhaps appropriately, none of these bands approach the dirty, rollicking energy that the Pastors' Wives fostered. Not that a benefit show must be mournful, but light contemplative folk and bluegrass may be the tactful approach when wishing someone a speedy recovery following such a frightening accident.

It seems a foregone conclusion, to me, that the vibe of the show will be warm and communal, much like the poster that was provided for the event by Beautiful Angle. The artwork features four men, huddled together amidst nefarious black smoke, admiring together a jewel that shines through the dark. They treasure their brotherhood as the last defense against a mostly cold and indifferent world. No one should have to travel it alone.

It's moments like these when we Tacomans can show our mettle, our worth, our compassion. We haven't grown embittered, right? We still have the capacity to care for others, if that's all we have.

Drew Grow Benefit

with Big Sur, Elk & Boar, Alexander Graham Bell
Saturday, Feb. 5, 8 p.m., $5
The Peabody Waldorf Gallery, 745 S. Broadway, Tacoma