AUBURN — The winter months, in Maine especially, place a higher priority on warm, friendly confines, fine ales and new material. All will be on hand when Bald Hill returns to Side By Each Brewing Co. here in Auburn on Friday night, Jan. 20. Showtime is 6-9 p.m.

And while we’re marking our calendars, please circle March 11: Bald Hill is scheduled to play Side By Each that evening, as well. When spring will be just around the corner. Technically.

The dead of winter, where all find ourselves now, is an surprisingly fruitful time for Bald Hill, those remarkably hep purveyors of blues-inflected newgrass, folk rock and Americana. Vacation and travel tend to be more limited in January and February — leaving more time to practice and develop new material.

When the band holds forth on Jan. 20, expect plenty of old favorites, but also a raft of new songs from Mandolin Orange (now known as Watchhouse), Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, Old Crow Medicine Show, Tyler Childers, Merle Haggard and Emmylou Harris.