PATIO SHOW: Wheelwright
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEWHEELWRIGHT Wheelwright makes music for late nights and early mornings, for dive bars bonfires and house parties, the highs and the lows. a Southwestern inspired blend of country folk and grunge that reflects his life growing up in the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona. None of his songs are idealistic. No light without darkness, no laughter without atleast some suffering, no thoughtfulness without some recklessness. With a Devil-May-Care spirit, and a message of hope, frustration, and love; Wheelwright’s music contrasts between worlds of wandering existentialism, the strife of modern relationships, and shreds of hope that can be found in the darkest and most broken places of ourselves. Songs of acceptance, hard luck, and love without all the kumbaya bullshit, but rather the idea that we are all beautiful and flawed, stuck here together whether we like it or not. His songs are self-admitting and allow listeners to meet him where they truthfully are. It’s brash and it’s honest. In his words, “Everybody has things about themselves that they don’t like, they have things that they would change about themselves, but they also have spirits, and hopes, and dreams and light inside of themselves despite the darkness that seems to have over us as we march into the uncertainty of what’s next.”
PATIO SHOW: Eric Brace & Thomm Jutz
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEERIC BRACE & THOMM JUTZ Eric Brace and Thomm Jutz made their separate ways to Nashville two decades ago, each with a musical career well underway. Now a formidable duo, their partnership is an extraordinary sum of its parts.The duo’s second album, Circle and Square, arrived in January, 2026, and is a gorgeous rumination on creativity, art, beauty, love, and friendship in an age of destruction and hatred. Their last album, Simple Motion, hit #1 on the Folk DJ chart (FAI) in March, 2024. Both are out on Eric’s East Nashville label, Red Beet Records. Eric moved to Nashville twenty years ago from Washington D.C., where he was leading his acclaimed roots-rock band Last Train Home, named D.C.’s “Artist of the Year” in 2003 by the Washington Area Music Association. Thomm grew up in Germany, where as an eleven-year-old boy he saw “Outlaw” legend Bobby Bare sing on a television show. It was a bolt out of the blue, and right then Thomm knew that his future was in Nashville. In 2002, twenty years after that epiphany, Thomm moved to Music City and immediately became an indispensable sideman to the likes of Nanci Griffith, Mary Gauthier, David Olney, Kim Richey, and others, while also building a studio and a reputation as a producer and songwriter. Eric, after a leaving his career as a music writer for The Washington Post, built Last Train Home into a powerful touring unit. Moving to Nashville in 2004, he launched Red Beet Records, a label with an eye on all the talent in his East Nashville neighborhood. One neighbor was journalist and songwriter Peter Cooper, whose debut album Eric released on Red Beet. Eric and Peter’s friendship evolved into a duo. Over more than a decade they released four albums, and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Children’s Record after making I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow. After recording two albums at Thomm’s studio, Eric and Peter realized that they were just better with Thomm joining in on the fun, and the Brace/Cooper/Jutz trio was born. Two powerful albums ensued: Profiles in Courage, Frailty & Discomfort, and Riverland. On those albums, songs by Brace and Cooper are side by side with those of Thomm, who won “Songwriter of the Year” at the 2021 IBMA bluegrass awards. His songs have been recorded by dozens of artists (Billy Strings, Tim O’Brien, the SteelDrivers, and many more), and he teaches songwriting at Belmont University. Thomm’s solo album To Live in Two Worlds was nominated for a bluegrass Grammy award in 2020, and he was featured in an “American Currents” exhibit in the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum. The tragic death of Peter Cooper in December, 2022, led Eric and Thomm to reassess their musical path, but one thing emerged with clarity: They would continue to make music together.Their fluid acoustic guitar interplay and warm vocal harmonies will continue to be heard, all in service to the songs. Songs from the heart, songs about insomniacs, mill workers, train whistles, astronauts, lovers, painters, writers, sailors and soldiers, songs about everyday struggles, heartbreak, and triumph.In a time of division, Eric and Thomm seek — and find — connection.
FREE PATIO SHOW: Reed Turchi Album Release Show
– FREE SHOW – ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE REED TURCHI Reed Turchi is a musician, poet, and producer from Swannanoa, North Carolina, now living in Brooklyn. His debut poetry collection Dancing With Poets was selected by Victoria Chang for the 2026 Colorado Prize for Poetry, and will be published in November 2026. He has won a GRAMMY Award and received an EMMY Nomination, and has been featured in Rolling Stone, American Songwriter, No Depression, The Oxford American, Living Blues, and many more. His poetry has been published in POETRY, The American Poetry Review, Narrative Magazine, and The Los Angeles Review, among others. He earned his MFA from Warren Wilson College, where he was awarded the Ellen Bryant Voigt Scholarship. Turchi is the owner/operator of Second Take Sound and co-editor of The Swannanoa Review.
Silverada
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY SILVERADA Evolution. It’s what keeps the best bands afloat — song after song, show after show, record after record. Mike Harmeier was still in his early 20s when he formed Mike and the Moonpies. From the start, they were the definition of a workingman’s country band, cutting their teeth with five-hour sets on Austin’s dancehall circuit before spreading their music to the rest of America. By the early 2020s, they’d become global ambassadors of homegrown Texas music, flying their flag everywhere from Abbey Road Studios (where they recorded 2019’s Cheap Silver & Solid Country Gold with help from the London Symphony Orchestra) to the Grand Ole Opry. The growth was remarkable, but all that momentum left Harmeier and his four bandmates — drummer Taylor Englert, guitarist Catlin Rutherford, bassist Omar Oyoque, and steel guitarist Zachary Moulton — looking for something new. After all, their music had decidedly changed. Why shouldn’t their name do the same? Silverada marks a new chapter in the band’s history. It’s not just the title of the boldest release of the group’s critically-acclaimed career; it’s also the name of the reinvigorated band itself. “Back in the day, all we wanted to do was play the Broken Spoke,” says Harmeier, nodding to the hometown honky-tonk in Austin, TX, where Silverada began sowing the seeds for a sound that mixed timeless twang with modern-day dynamics. “We had different aspirations back then. We were still figuring out what kind of band we were gonna be, and that took a lot of time and a lot of records. A lot of records, indeed. Silverada marks the group’s ninth release, and it balances the strengths they’ve accumulated along the way — sharp, detailed songwriting that bounces between autobiographical sketches and character studies; gorgeous swells of pedal steel that drift through the songs like weather; a rhythm section capable of country shuffles, hard-charging rock & roll tempos, and everything in between — with a willingness to break old rules and open new doors. “Radio Wave” is a roots-rock anthem for the highway and the heartland, peppered with Springsteen-worthy hooks and War On Drugs-inspired atmospherics. “Eagle Rare” launches the band into outer space during its explosive middle section, which the band improvised in the recording studio. “Stay By My Side” showcases Silverada’s road-warrior credentials — the band recorded the track live during a tour across the American Southeast, capturing it in a single take at Capricorn Sound Studios in Macon, Georgia — while “Wallflower” blends the organic with the otherworldly, finding room for harmonized guitar solos, driving disco beats, and 808 percussion. “Going into the studio, everybody in the band felt inspired to do something bigger than what they’d done before,” Harmeier explains. “We all knew we were at a precipice, and we wanted to jump. I brought in some songs that were metaphorical and not always straightforward, and that showed the guys that I wanted to take this music somewhere new… so they threw their own rulebooks out the window, too.”
Nick Shoulders
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY NICK SHOULDERS Refugia Blues, the fifth album from songwriter Nick Shoulders, is a record of big ideas and small, intimate moments. Rooted in the acoustic stylings of Southern traditional music, it finds the Arkansas native turning off his amp and stepping up to a ribbon microphone as a solo performer, singing in a voice that’s equal parts country croon, Appalachian yodel, and high-lonesome field holler. Shoulders’ interpretation of American roots music has always been more progressive and punky than the trucks-and-beers conservatism that passes for modern-day country, and Refugia Blues offers songs about climate collapse, radical anthropology, and generative disruption. It balances the macro with the micro, too, making room for love songs and personal topics, packaging humor alongside heavy insights. At once academic and accessible, Refugia Blues isn’t just a deep dive into southernness, but also into Shoulders himself. This is a raw, resolute version of American country music, stacked high with songs that go down easy but linger in the minds of those willing to invest the time.
J & The Causeways
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY J & THE CAUSEWAYS New Orleans soul/rock powerhouse ensemble J & The Causeways debut album, Motions, conjures a universal theme of togetherness and compassion — melodies and lyrics cultivated with a keen understanding of reaching one another through healing and transcendence. Singer and keyboardist Jordan Anderson leads with a soaring level of octave prowess and sonic range akin to that of other renowned soul acts like St. Paul & The Broken Bones or Brittany Howard. Captured by famed musicians/producers Robert Mercurio and Ben Ellman (both members of NOLA cosmic funk outfit Galactic) at Studio in the Country and Esplanade Studios, Motions is a record soaked in the freewheelin’ ethos and sonic tones of a vibrant city that Anderson proudly calls home.
Land Of The Sky Burlesque Festival: “Geektastic Revue”
-AGES 18+-SEATED SHOW “Geektastic” is a burlesque show for NERDS! Performers pay homage to fandoms from comics, TV, film, books and more!!! The opening night of the Land of the Sky Burlesque Festival! *Weekend passes and VIP available here >>> landoftheskyburlesque.com
Land of the Sky Burlesque Festival: “Burlesque Brunch”
-AGES 18+-SEATED SHOW Welcome to the most dazzling brunch experience in Asheville! Closing out the Land of the Sky Festival weekend with tantalizing tastes and titillating performances. A feast for the senses, where laughter, glamour and allure collide. Join us afternoon of tacos and tassels!*Weekend passes and VIP available here >>> landoftheskyburlesque.com
The Deslondes
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY THE DESLONDES When the Deslondes recorded their new covers album, they didn’t want to simply exalt their heroes and catalog their influences. They wanted to give their friends a boost as well. The poignant and powerful Don’t Let It Die Vol. 1 includes new interpretations of old songs by artists who’ve guided the band for years, including Swamp Dogg, Johnny Cash, and Clifton Chenier, alongside new songs by peers, tourmates, and collaborators, including Nick Woods, Pat Reedy, and the Kernel. “We have so many friends who are songwriters, and we just love their music so much,” says John James Tourville, who plays guitar and occasionally the fiddle. “Riley and Dan are always kicking around awesome, inspiring old songs for us to do, but for this album we really wanted to do some friend songs, too.” Don’t Let It Die maps out a community of likeminded musicians given to hopping trains, crowding tour vans, and blurring the lines between styles and scenes. “These songs are very much a close part of our lives,” says Riley Downing, who sings and usually plays guitar. “They’re all part of our circle, this big organism that keeps influencing itself. It’s mysterious, though, which musicians get heard and which ones don’t. I think we’re in a good position to tip our cap to the friends we look up to, and hopefully it will benefit our buddies. Hopefully this album will encourage people to go down those rabbit holes.”
Chris Acker and the Growing Boys w/ Creekbed Carter Hogan
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY CHRIS ACKER & THE GROWING BOYS In a genre full of tall tales and marketable lies, New Orleans’ Chris Acker crafts candid songs – weaving his wit and woes into a body of work that exposes the stale plight of the American Songster to the honest, and sometimes hilarious, light of day. In the tradition of Guthrie and Prine, Chris lends a quavering voice to the half-rotten romance of the unremarkable and unrefined. Regardless if you’re sitting by a backyard fire on a muggy Louisiana night or standing stage-side in some far flung town, when you hear Chris Acker playing, you’re hearing the end result of countless hours of observing the masters of the craft…and the end result of repeating their mistakes. From the folk revival through the golden age of country music, deafened by punk shows and brass bands alike, Chris’s songwriting is a nod to the absurd yet muted brilliance that inhabits the molded corners of the bars he patrons and cratered street he treads, paired with a pained honesty that merits a long second look. Acker released his fourth full-length album, Famous Lunch, on Gar Hole Records in October of 2024. Famous Lunch contains some of his best work yet: laid back, country-rockers like “Wouldn’t Do For You (Buddy)” and “Shit Surprise” (which Paste Magazine called a “song of the year contender” in 2024), a few raucous, bar-ready joints like “Don’t You Know (Who I Think I Am)” and “Bunn Machine”, and tender, folky triumphs like “Stubborn Eyes” and “Eyelash”, all showcasing Chris’ gift of building “vivid scenes at an impressively low word count” (No Depression). Acker tours solo or with his band The Growing Boys — Zach Thomas (bass), Nikolai Shveitser (pedal steel), Dave Hammer (guitar, vocals), Sam Gelband (drums, vocals), and occasionally Howe Pearson (piano). CREEKBED CARTER HOGAN For trans folksinger Creekbed Carter Hogan, everything good is made from the rotten stump of something else. It’s a theme they’ve become familiar with as they’ve made a life weaving stories of growing up religious around songs that pierce the soul, tickle the funny bone, and showcase a unique blend of self-taught folk picking and queer mayhem. Creekbed Carter, out with Gar Hole Records on March 22 2024, is Hogan at their most confident. Deftly crafted with folk sensibilities, country swagger, and a power emanating from the force of their own desires, their new self-titled album is both creed and archive: a defiant declaration of survival and solidarity in an otherwise limited world.
