PATIO: Electric Blue Yonder
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEELECTRIC BLUE YONDERElectric Blue Yonder is a musical group like no other, featuring Beth Hataway and Johnny Veres as its core members. Their music takes the listener on a journey through space and time, blending influences from folk, rock, and ambient music into a unique sound that is both familiar and alien.Beth’s haunting vocals and Johnny’s intricate guitar work are the perfect match, creating a sonic landscape that captivates audiences and leaves them spellbound. Their music touches on themes of love, loss, and the search for meaning in an ever-changing world, conveying heartfelt emotions and genuine experiences.Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, Electric Blue Yonder continued to showcase their music through virtual performances and interviews, captivating audiences with their otherworldly sounds and unique blend of space-folk. Their debut album, “B/TST Between Space and Time,” was released just two weeks before the pandemic began, but the band’s unwavering commitment to their craft enabled them to overcome adversity and continue to create and perform.Their sophomore album, “Mourning Sounds,” takes listeners on a metaphorical journey through the process of loss and grieving, highlighting the power of the human spirit to overcome adversity and find a way forward. The album’s message of friendship, perseverance, and radical acceptance resonates deeply, garnering critical acclaim from prestigious outlets such as American Songwriter, Americana UK, and V13.With their innovative blend of musical styles and themes, Electric Blue Yonder has established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the world of indie music. Their continued growth and evolution as artists, while staying true to their unique sound and vision, is a testament to their talent and commitment to their craft.Their highly anticipated album, “MicroPARTY,” promises to be a celebration of life’s small moments, with catchy hooks and danceable beats that will have listeners grooving along in no time. The album’s production is said to be top-notch, with expertly crafted layers of synths, guitar riffs, and vocals that create a sonic landscape that is both immersive and exhilarating. Electric Blue Yonder’s music is a beacon of hope in a world that is ever more complex and uncertain, reminding listeners that the human spirit is capable of reaching for the stars. Their unique sound and commitment to their craft are sure to inspire and captivate audiences for years to come.
PATIO: Drunken Prayer
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEDRUNKEN PRAYER Drunken Prayer transcends the bounds of Americana music. Whether a big country soul band, gospel power trio or just a voice and guitar, Drunken Prayer is always Morgan Geer. Morgan writes songs that could emerge from a highly blissed-out biker bar or a swampy ashram. For his most recent release, 2023’s The Name Of The Ghost Is Home, Geer worked from his backyard studio in North Carolina with Paul Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Royal Trux), building on drum tracks initially recorded in New Mexico at Empty House, home of doom metal bands like OM and Sleep. The end result evokes an ominous Acid Western feedback-and-driftwood aesthetic. Preceding the last record was the acclaimed LP Cordelia Elsewhere, mixed by Mitch Easter (Let’s Active, REM). Drunken Prayer is currently finishing up an album of gospel covers, recording at the original Fat Possum studio in North Mississippi, with members of Drive-by Truckers and Squirrel Nut Zippers. Morgan Geer and his Drunken Prayer have played hundreds of shows across 18 countries and across the US at venues such as the Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon Music Festival and San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. Drunken Prayer’s music has been featured on NPR, AMC, WFMU and Little Steven’s Garage on SiriusXM. On the side Morgan is the lead guitar player for alt-country goths Freakwater, writes for a diversity of artists and plays bass in local honky-tonk and soul bands. He’s also been touring internationally; opening for and often joining The Handsome Family. Morgan Geer lives in the mountains of southern Appalachia.
The Dirty French Broads: Kate’s 30th Birthday Boondoggle!
ALL AGES STANDING ROOM ONLY Come celebrate Kate’s big Dirty 30 with The Dirty Frenchies and their swamp grass friends The Shoaldiggers! (no pressure but the more costumes and glitter, the happier Kate will be) THE DIRTY FRENCH BROADS This rowdy grass band from Asheville, NC brings sultry ballads and boot-stomping cut-a-rugs with the energy of a thousand golden retriever puppies seeing their first snowfall. Leading lady Kate Thomas captivates you with her smoky Tyler Childers timbre, endearing songwriting, and sharp Donkey-from-Shrek wit, then steals your heart with her crooked smile and spirited storytelling. She and her lively crew have a warm authenticity and contagious energy that wears holes in shoes and fills them in hearts. Toss a handful of groovy Newgrass, a sprinkle of Jeannie’s magic fairy dust, and whatever Americana is into a blender, and you’ve got The Dirty French Broads. THE SHOALDIGGERS The Shoaldiggers’ nine pieces produce a one of a kind sound that is completely unique, yet familiar enough to embrace. From rolling seascapes to the hollers of the smokey mountains,Shoaldiggers shows are a swamp grass blast!
[CANCELED] PATIO: 5J Barrow
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE 5J BARROW From the historic Apollo Theater to the open air of Washington Square Park, 5j Barrow has inspired audiences with soulful music, evocative imagery, and lyrics that tug at the heart. Founded by Broadway performers and newlyweds, Eryn Murman and Jason Hite in the fall of 2011 in NYC, 5j Barrow was named “Best Band in NY” after winning The Greene Space WNYC/WQXR’s ‘Battle of the Boroughs 2014’. They’ve built a loyal following on the streets of the city and just completed a year-long tour of North America with performances that are both intimate and rousing. 5j Barrow released their debut album From the Dim Sweet Light in 2014, and their first two installments of three upcoming EPs produced by Grammy nominated David Mayfield, were released in October 2017 titled The Journey, Vol. 1 and May 2018 The Journey, Vol. 2. Volume 3 was released in May 2019. While they continue to tour extensively, they are now based out of Asheville, NC.
PATIO: Moon Bride + Jason Scavone
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEMOON BRIDE Indie-pop artist, Moon Bride (formerly Carly Taich) has a voice that is all at once timeless yet contemporary, otherworldly yet grounded. Her warm and airy vocal quality, reminiscent of Regina Spektor, instantly captivates listeners while her award-winning lyrics give new life to themes of doubt and faith, fear and love. Framing her songs with cinematic orchestrations and unusual melodies, Moon Bride ushers us into another dimension, with one foot planted in this reality. Her 2024 LP, Insomnie, which crowd-funded over $24,000 through Kickstarter, is an eclectic 12-song journey through the inner mind, weaving around genres and time periods, refusing to be pinned down. It “explores the deep and nervy recesses of creativity, loneliness, insecurity, and self-discovery [Newsong Music].” Since the release of her 2017 album, Reverie, listeners have wondered whether Moon Bride is luring us into a dream or shaking us awake. Insomnie’s premiere track answers our quandary in the most forthright way: “Rise up, rise up, why are you sleeping?” JASON SCAVONE With an undeniable gift for songwriting that illuminates the joyous, mundane and oftentimes bewildering experiences of life, North Carolina based singer, songwriter & producer Jason Scavone has developed a unique sound that transcends traditional genre barriers, delivering a unique musical thumbprint that seamlessly melds the best of indie, pop, americana & rock. Highlights from Jason’s musical journey include serving as frontman/songwriter for The Noises 10, recording a duet of “My Repair” with Brandi Carlile, and performing with acts like Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, American Authors, Plain White T’s, Thirty Seconds To Mars, & Derek Trucks Band. His songs have been featured in TV shows like One Tree Hill, Criminal Minds, The City, commercials for Range Rover and Bojangles, as well as Indie films such as Poor Boy, and Valiant. Jason has worked in recording studios for almost 20 years alongside such notable producers as Eric Valentine, Al Sutton, Joe Pisapia, and Tom Schick.
PATIO: Samantha Rise + Whitney Monge
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVESAMANTHA RISE samantha rise (they/them) is a black, nonbinary performer, artist, and human-amplifier. One of WXPN’s artists to watch, samantha made a power reentry into Philly’s music scene with their Black Opry residency at World Cafe Live, weaving high country and deep roots into their original music.A recipient of the 2023 Pew Fellowship for the Arts, Rise believes that creativity and community are our primary technologies for healing, transformative justice and self-determination. Rise combines their original music with advocacy, designing and implementing creative direct action with social justice organizers to build a more just and equitable world. WHITNEY MONGE Americana Soul singer-songwriter & guitarist, Whitney Mongé built her 16 year music career starting as a prolific street performer in Seattle, WA, working her way to major stages around the world. She has supported Ziggy Marley, KT Tunstall, Amy Helm, Allen Stone, Big Boi, and performed mainstage with Black Opry at Newport Folk Festival (2023). Whitney has also sold out her own headlining shows, and has toured the US & Europe in support of her four album releases Steadfast (2014), Stone (2017), Carry On (2018) and Whitney Mongé Live with The Seattle Symphony (2020) showcasing her relatable songwriting, powerhouse vocals and rhythmic blues guitar playing. Mongé also stars in an award winning film about her busking journey, “Find Your Way: a Busker’s Documentary” with Chris Ballew (Presidents of the United States) & Joshua Bell (violinist). Currently Whitney resides in Asheville, NC and is working on a new album.
Willie Watson
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYWILLIE WATSON Soon before Willie Watson turned 18, he met God in an apple orchard. Or at the very least, he met there a man named Ruby Love, the older friend of a high-school buddy who had an enormous Martin guitar and a seemingly bigger understanding of the American folk songbook. Watson was existentially thirsty: A high-school dropout from upstate New York’s Finger Lakes, he was fast on his way to his first heartbreak and in a first band that didn’t take itself seriously enough. But that night in an apple orchard that had always seemed magical, at a graduation party for one of his bandmates and best friends, Watson and Love sang a few of those old songs together—“Worried Man Blues” and “Tennessee Waltz.” It was the first time Watson had cried while singing, the first time he had made the connection between making music and making sense of his life. He never saw Ruby Love again, but within months of that foundational 1997 rendezvous, he met the musicians with whom he’d soon start Old Crow Medicine Show. Call it revelation, fate, resurrection, whatever you will; for Watson, more than a quarter-century later, it was a duet with the divine. As told in the talking-gospel masterpiece “Reap ’em in the Valley,” that scene is the transfixing finale of Watson’s self-titled debut as a songwriter and as a human at last making music to make sense of his life. Yes, Watson has released two albums since he left Old Crow Medicine Show a dozen years ago and since his long-term collaborations with David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. But those records, both titled Folk Singer, were sets of tunes he knew, interpretations of the songbook he has diligently mined since even before that night in the apple orchard. At 44, however, he feels that Willie Watson is his first-ever true album, having finally lived and lost and simply witnessed enough to know he has something to sing with his exquisite rural tenor. Every memory, Watson likes to say, is surrounded by a shroud of sadness, whether it’s good or bad. And there are lots of memories in a life, all mixed: Though the band he started soon after that night with Ruby Love long gave him a purpose and career, it conscripted him into a role as an old-fashioned folkie, forever stuck playing a part that got tiring. Marriage and fatherhood became boons in their own time, but they kept him bound to Los Angeles, its sprawl and selfishness causing a country boy like Watson to lose himself again. And there was the stereotypical excess of it all, too, the habits of hard living nearly breaking Watson in his 30s. But after he lost those relationships, he slowly got sober and faced himself head on, working to be honest about the traumas of his childhood that had helped create the troubles of adulthood. Sobriety, though, was never enough for Watson. He wanted that shift to prompt change and growth, to force him into situations that were beneficial because they were uncomfortable and challenging. That, in many ways, is the motivation of these nine songs and the only album he’s ever felt deserved to bear his name. VIV & RILEY Viv & Riley’s sound is old-soul roots music to its core, elegantly combining a traditional backbone with the fresh iconic melodies of future-leaning indie-folk, and the tightly wound vocal harmonies of the old-time and classic country music they came from.
Victoria Canal
ALL AGESSEATED SHOWLIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEVICTORIA CANAL For almost two years, singer-songwriter Victoria Canal used her gift primarily as a way to process grief. The result of this transformative period was 2022’s Elegy EP, a bittersweet collection of tracks. Now, after experiencing creative and emotional catharsis, Canal is turning the camera back on herself and zooming in further than ever before. Grown from heartache and made with unabashed honesty, her upcoming release finds the artist at her most vulnerable—and her most courageous. Canal, who received the 2023 Rising Star award at the prestigious Ivor Novellos, embraces the discomfort of self-analysis. “These days I’m writing mostly to confront things about myself in order to gain more of an understanding and acceptance of them,” she shares. She first started sowing the seeds of her new project during quarantine, in part while watching the TV show Parenthood. She recognized herself in a people-pleasing character, remarking, “I’ve definitely shrunk myself down before to please everyone else. I deserve to take up space.” Canal challenges the habit of self-shrinking across all of her work, magnifying parts of herself that she’s never openly shared before. The gentle gut-punch of opener “Shape” delves into the complex and intimate topic of body dysmorphia. Against folky guitar and airy backing vocals, her retrospective lyricism brings to the surface internalized moments, like the lasting impact of passing cruelty and the relationship between self-image and faith. These experiences are all too common for anyone who sits outside the status quo, and Canal reclaims her own power by bringing them to the surface on her own terms. “She Walks In” continues to explore body image, this time from a more current perspective. “The idea of this song stems from a beautiful girl turning heads when she walks into a room. I have the experience of people staring at me, but it’s because of my limb difference,” Canal shares, “There’s an inherent yearning for people to look at me the way that they look at her.” This vulnerability comes through in her poignant reflections set against waltzing watery instrumentals. Its candid delivery and gentle rocking almost makes you forget its devastation. But she ensures that it can’t be ignored. LUCY CLEARWATER Lucy Clearwater was born in a bathtub in a cookie factory in Northern California. The “sweet” and slightly granola nature-lover is a folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with a background in classical violin. The grassroots artist independently released her debut EP “Feel Again” in 2020, followed by 3 self-produced EP’s “Casual” (2023), “Augenlieder” (her German-language EP in 2023) and “April” (2024). Her songs are incredibly emotive, topical, and melodically driven with influence from Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Laura Marling, to name a few. After 3 solo, DIY tours in Europe and Australia, Clearwater joined queer pop artist Lie Ning on tour in Germany in 2023, and has since toured all over the US, EU, CAN and UK supporting artists such as Victoria Canal, Philine Sonny, Luca Fogale, and others.
[CANCELED] Mama’s Broke + Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves
ALL AGESSEATED SHOWLIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEMAMA’S BROKE Mama’s Broke is a powerful duo that deliver a compelling performance with heart and raw energy. Although highly influenced by their Canadian roots, Lisa and Amy are based out of nowhere and everywhere. Their two strong voices blend to create haunting harmonies, while they artfully juggle fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin, and incorporate traditional dance and foot percussion into their performance. Their original -and often dark- compositions push the boundaries of tradition and the constraints of genre. Drawing from old-time, Quebecois, blues, punk, celtic, balkan and doom metal, they create a soundscape that is both familiar and new. ALLISON DE GROOT & TATIANA HARGREAVES Traditional music is not static; it shifts with the times, uncovering new meanings in old words, new ways of talking about the communal pathways that led us to where we are today. For master musicians Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, traditional banjo and fiddle music is a way to interpret our uncertain times, to draw artistic inspiration and power from the sources of meaning in their lives. History, family, literature, live performance, and environmental instability all manifest in the sounds, feelings, and sensations that permeate their music. Their 2022 sophomore album, Hurricane Clarice is a direct infusion of centuries of matrilineal folk wisdom, a fiery breath of apocalyptic energy. Individually they are both leaders in the young generation of roots musicians, de Groot being known for intricate clawhammer banjo work with Bruce Molsky, and Hargreaves bringing powerhouse fiddling to the stage with Laurie Lewis and David Rawlings in addition to teaching bluegrass fiddle at UNC-Chapel Hill. Their first self-titled album released in 2019 garnered attention from CBC Q, Paste Magazine and Rolling Stone Country, earning the duo the Independent Music Awards “Best Bluegrass Album” and a nomination from IBMA for “Best Liner Notes of the Year.” The duo has been booked at festivals and venues such as Newport Folk Festival, Savannah Music Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, NC, and Red Wing Roots Music Festival. Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves create a sound that is adventurous, masterful, and original, as they expand on the eccentricities of old songs, while never losing sight of what makes them endure.
The Cactus Blossoms
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYTHE CACTUS BLOSSOMS “Hey baby, do you wanna take a trip with me? / I’ve got a feeling there might be a silver lining all around.” So begins One Day, the captivating new album from critically acclaimed Minneapolis duo The Cactus Blossoms. Written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the record explores the tension between optimism and despair that’s defined much of the past few years of American life, examining the power (or naïveté, depending on your perspective) of positive thinking in the face of chaos and uncertainty. The songs here are tender and timeless, with straightforward arrangements centered around brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum’s airtight harmonies, and the performances are warm and intimate to match, delivered with a soulful, ’70s-inspired palette of playful Wurlitzer, breezy guitars, and muscular percussion. The Cactus Blossoms broke out nationally in 2016 with their JD McPherson-produced debut, You’re Dreaming. Dates with Kacey Musgraves, Jenny Lewis, and Lucius followed, as did raves from the New York Times and NPR, who praised “the brothers’ extraordinary singing.” The band was further catapulted into the spotlight in 2018, when David Lynch tapped them to perform in the return of Twin Peaks, and continued to build on their success with their 2019 sophomore LP, Easy Way, which led Rolling Stone to laud the duo’s “rock-solid, freak of genetics harmonies.” ERIN RAE Three years after the release of her critically acclaimed debut, Putting On Airs, Nashville-raised singer-songwriter Erin Rae shares an intimate, honest, and playful version of herself through her sophomore album Lighten Up. Produced by Jonathan Wilson, and recorded in the musically hallowed grounds of California’s Topanga Canyon, the album represents a sonic and inner shift for Rae. In it, she embraces more of her influences, like baroque-pop, cosmic country, and indie-folk songs while mirroring a more compassionate self-view she calls “accepting my humanness”. Although she grew up in a musically oriented family, Rae’s pursuit of music happened by accident. After being gifted a Martin acoustic guitar on her 18th birthday, Rae decided to drop out of college after just one semester. Her goal at the time had little to do with making music into a career, and everything to do with spending more time and energy with the community of musicians and writers she knew back home. Looking back on those days, she recalls the initial high of playing live at an open mic during winter break and realizing, “this is how I connect with people. I have to pursue this.” Rae has continued to connect with people through her music ever since, performing at mainstays like Newport Folk Festival, Red Rocks Amphitheater, and sharing stages with Father John Misty, Hiss Golden Messenger, Jenny Lewis, Jason Isbell, and Iron & Wine. The success of Putting On Airs also earned her a nomination for Emerging Act of The Year at the 2019 Americana Music Awards alongside other trailblazing artists like Yola, Jade Bird, and J.S. Ondara.
