When “Abbey Road” by the Beatles celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019, guitarist/singer/songwriter Pamela Means decided to perform the album solo and acoustically in honor of the occasion.

Of course, that meant learning all 17 songs from the classic album, everything from “Something” to “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” to the famous medley. It was no easy feat, but she pulled it off. Means performed six Abbey Road shows beginning in 2019 and stopped only when COVID struck.

“Abbey Road,” the Beatles’ 11th studio album and the last album they recorded (“Let it Be” was the last released) will reach its 54th anniversary this month. Means is dusting her “Abbey Road” project off and will perform the album at Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 p.m.

It’s more than the album’s anniversary that is nudging Means to relaunch the project. It’s also part of returning to being a working musician in the post-pandemic world.

“Since the lockdown, I’ve been reluctant to book any shows that require selling tickets,” said Means in a recent email exchange about playing the album again. “Abbey Road feels like a good one to test the waters. Plus, I love the album and this project.”

Means first delved into this project while on an extended break from touring, living in Plainfield. “I wanted to stay on top of my chops and thought to challenge myself with learning something way outside of my wheelhouse,” she said. “Four white British dudes seemed pretty far outside of my usual.”

And it certainly was outside of her usual wheelhouse. Means wears many different musical hats; she fronts her jazz band, the Pamela Means Jazz Project, and also works as a solo career writing politically charged folk songs. She also developed a series exploring the history and impact of protest music and recently performed a couple of these shows here in Franklin County.

But as she dug deeper into the Beatles music, she was also drawn to the idea of flipping an audience’s expectations.

“Yes, I am a biracial queer woman with a penchant for writing protest songs, but music is music,” she said. “Duke Ellington said that there are only two kinds of music: good and all the rest. I have loved the Beatles since childhood, and I have always wanted to be and continue to work toward being a great musician.”

The material on “Abbey Road” is beyond good; it’s now considered iconic, and Means loved it from the first time she heard it.

“I was 14, and another 14-year-old pal made me listen to it and watch him pretend to play the drum parts on the patches of his quilt. And the medley sections just seemed bonkers.”

An accomplished guitarist and singer, Means was looking for a challenge when she set out to learn this material, and she found one. Taking some elaborately produced songs and stripping them down to voice and acoustic guitar is no small feat, and according to Means, it took eight months and a lot of profanity to learn and memorize all of these tunes.

When asked if she had a favorite to play, she said, “That changes, given that there are 17 songs, but I did realize that I loved George Harrison songs more than I thought (‘Something,’ ‘Here Comes the Sun’). And I felt pretty butch when I learned ‘I Want You’ and the complete ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’.”

Once she played before an audience, she knew she was onto something special that was important to share. Means debuted “Abbey Road” in April 2019 to a packed house at Luthier’s Co-op in Easthampton. The audience that attended was different from her usual crowd and ranged from dudes in baseball caps to septuagenarians coming up to her, shaking her hand with tears in their eyes.

“I saw that I had something far more special than I realized,” she said. “It’s a marvel and incredibly fun to perform, but it’s also a timeless gift of love that I can share. I feel fortunate to be able to do this.”

Tickets are $5 in advance and $20 day of show, and are available at HawksandReed.com.

She Said, the group of female rockers (and one guy) will be rocking the stage at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls on Friday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m.

The Franklin County-based band has been together since 2016 and released its self-titled debut album in 2018. The band, which consists of Tanya Bryant (guitar), Nina Rossi (bass), Torie O’Dell (rhythm guitar), Eileen Almeida (vocals & percussion), Michael Duffey (pedal steel) and Gail Hegeman (drums), draws from blues, rock, jazz and country, all wrapped up in a punk attitude.

She Said is all about rocking and having a good time and for this show it added some special guests to bring the good times up a notch.

Joining the band will be flutist Nicole Sutka from Fusion Junction.

“She’s an insanely talented jazz/blues flute player from the Worcester area. She will elevate our sound and dancing vibe to a whole new level!” said Hegeman, who has played with Sutka in Fusion Junction for 15 years. “I really look up to Nicole as an improvisational musician. Having her join She Said for our show at the Shea is a dream come true!”

But Sutka’s participation this night is only half of it.

“We’re having a dancer and a professional Puppeteer company joining us to add a theatrical/wild energy vibe to a new song I wrote called ‘Little Ms. Muffet!’” said Hegeman about some additional guests She Said will welcome at this show.

“I wrote the song because I was inspired at how our She Said fans enjoy my other song ‘Forehead.’ And I wrote that as a play off of the children’s nursery rhyme ‘the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead,’” said Hegeman of the song. “Over the years, people have said they loved how I re-imagined that old story so I wanted to do it again with Muffet.”

She re-imagined Ms. Muffet as an empowered girl who isn’t scared of the spider but wants to make friends with it.

“Little Miss Muffet. Never sat on a Tuffet. / She stood up! To eat those curds & whey. / And then when the spider. Sat down beside her. / They befriended, no one got frightened away. / And it was Muffet, who told that spider to stay! / Muffet’s really a tough s-! ”

Michelle Marroquin will play the role of an empowered little Ms. Muffet, while Caravan Puppets will be on hand with a puppet or two playing the role of the spider.

Little Ms. Muffet isn’t the only new song that you’ll hear this night. She Said has enough new material for an new album, which it plans to start recording later this fall with Richard Cahillane of Cooleyville Records. So grab your dancing shoes and head to the Shea Friday night for a rocking good time.

Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 day of show. Tickets and more information available at sheatheater.org.

Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at soundslocal@yahoo.com.