Jack Marion and The Pearl Snap Prophets w/ Lord Nelson
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYJACK MARION AND THE PEARL SNAP PROPHETS Jack Marion and The Pearl Snap Prophets bring a youthful-exuberance and high-country swagger to the doorsteps of modern country music. The North Carolina-based band has spent the past 4 years in honky-tonks, bars, and mountain roadhouses, collecting fodder for songs along the way. There are songs about living; written in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They are straight-from-the-hip and straight-from-the heart. No bull-honky. All truth. But they are just as catchy as any songwriting-factory-formed mega hit that will ever curse your ear. “If young country-based bands like Jack Marion and The Pearl Snap Prophets keep raising the standards of what songs can be, maybe we can turn the tides.”- NC Music MagazineLORD NELSONThis year saw Lord Nelson release their third full length album, Transmission to strong press and reviews. Thanks to radio play across the country, it cracked the Billboard Americana Top 100 and the band toured nationally to share the songs with the road. It is a rowdy, rock-forward record that intends to bring people together. Dance, sing in the car, hum under your breath, crank up on the stereo, don’t take life too seriously for a few minutes. Thanks for tuning in.
OUTPOST: Dave Desmelik Trio
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEDave Desmelik is a singer-songwriter and instrumentalist whose musical focus is on original compositions. What attracts listeners to Desmelik’s tunes, old and new, is the element of authenticity incorporated in them. There is no sugar coating involved. His songs are not wrapped in false smiles, rather they are stark and open and tend to settle on the pulse of everyday life. An unclosed and evolving journal of thoughts set to music and melodies in prose and instrumental performance. If you listen to Dave Desmelik’s songs, whether lyrical or instrumental, you may become pleasantly fixed in the simplistic realness of them and if you hear Desmelik in a live setting you may realize that there are no tricks, just a genuine venture into the highs and lows of life.
Ocie Elliott
– ALL AGES – SEATED SHOW – LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEOCIE ELLIOTT Ocie Elliott pen tunes that feel lived-in. You can hear their memories, experiences, and emotions in the dusty acoustic guitars, the sparse production, and the graceful harmonies between Jon Middleton and Sierra Lundy. Their life together plays out in the music as if projected on the big screen of an old small-town theater. Generating tens of millions of streams, earning a JUNO Award nomination and inciting the applause of American Songwriter, CBC, PopMatters, Atwood Magazine, Exclaim, and many more, both of their spirits shine like never before on their 2022 EP, What Remains [Nettwerk Music Group]. “Since we spend so much time together, our life becomes our songs,” observes Sierra. “We play off each other really well. One of us will start playing around, and the other will join in. We fuel one another in a way we normally wouldn’t be fueled by ourselves. We think differently when we’re together.” “Sierra makes me a better songwriter,” Jon agrees. “She makes me want to try different things and experiment with melody. She pushes me to use new words and phrases.” Their interplay borders on magical, and it continues to entrance audiences. Ocie initially emerged with EP in 2017. The single “I Got You, Honey” has amassed over 13 million Spotify streams and counting. Meanwhile, their music appeared multiple times in Grey’s Anatomy in addition to a sync on NETFLIX’s Sweet Magnolias, among others. Following 2019’s We Fall In, their 2020 In That Room EP yielded the fan favorite “Be Around,” which eclipsed 10 million Spotify streams. Remaining prolific during 2021, they unveiled the Slow Tide EP and A Place EP. Of the latter, Exclaim! praised, “Each track is a direct invitation to the listener; six strings tugging on the heart,” and PopMatters attested, “The folk duo create another collection of sweetly understated music.” Along the way, they toured with Joshua Radin, Sons of The East, Kim Churchill, and Hollow Coves. During 2022, they garnered a nomination at the JUNO Awards in the category of “Breakthrough Artist of the Year,” marking their first nod. Ocie Elliott composed What Remains during a series of writing retreats, holing up in Whistler and Sierra’s hometown of Salt Spring Island. In the midst of the process, Sierra’s dad was suddenly diagnosed with cancer. “We had one last month with him,” she recalls. “We were able to play these songs live for him in his final days. I think it helped us. He was the reason I started playing music to begin with and encouraged me to get piano lessons as a kid. My dad was the kind of guy who picks up any instrument, plays it, and makes it sound good.” “Playing those songs for him was one of the most powerful things I’ve ever gone through,” Jon exclaims. “When he was listening, he was fully immersed. It was a beautiful experience for us.”CHRIS STAPLES
PATIO: Lauren Calve
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVELAUREN CALVE Lauren Calve has been undergoing a metamorphosis in her life, a massive shift. You can hear it seeping through every song, oozing out of every lyric, and feel the shedding of her skin with every note on her first full-length album Shift. The subtle and understated yearning in her voice, the intonation in her haunting vocals and delivery, Calve is longing for something more. Through the ten-track collection of songs on Shift, she invites the listener to come along on her journey of self-discovery and change, demonstrating a musical masterclass in the art of emotional storytelling. Shift was recorded in Nashville at 3Sirens Music Group with producer, engineer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Dex Green (Margo Price, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Allison Russell). “He took songs that had never been road tested, songs that went directly from my living room to the studio, and effortlessly brought them to life,” says Calve. He also brought heavy hitters into the studio: Fred Eltringham on drums (ACM Drummer of the Year, Drumeo Country Drummer of the Year, Sheryl Crow, Willie Nelson), Audley Freed on guitar (Sheryl Crow, The Black Crowes), Robert Kearns on bass (Sheryl Crow, Lynyrd Skynyrd), Marlon Patton on drums (Larkin Poe, Lera Lynn), Jared Reynolds on bass (Ben Folds) and Joe Costa on the board (Ben Folds). “Nashville is home to some of the best musicians in the world,” says Calve. “But I felt like I got to work with the best of the best. It wasn’t just their technical ability, they approached every song with true artistry and infectious enthusiasm.” During this process Calve learned that she liked putting herself in uncomfortable situations. From embracing a different sound to recording in Nashville for the first time with “musical Jedis” as Calve calls them to trusting the unconventional fourteen month writing and recording process, she was thriving on pushing herself outside of her comfort zone. In turn, Shift was the catalyst for major paradigm shifts in her life. Several months after wrapping up the album she ended an engagement and six-year relationship, she finally stopped drinking after years of failed attempts, and the writing process forced her to examine the ways she had limited herself. “Ultimately, I made this album, but it remade me,” says Calve.
Wyatt Flores
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYWYATT FLORES Wyatt Flores was raised on the outskirts of a small Oklahoma college town with a rich music history spanning from the likes of Garth Brooks, All American Rejects, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Colour Music and The Great Divide. There’s something unique about growing up in a town riddled with musical giants. Embracing this musical energy, and further inspired by stories from his father’s stint as a seasoned drummer in the Red Dirt music scene, Wyatt wrote and released his debut acoustic single “Travelin’ Kid” in the Spring of 2021. Shows around campfires and in small bars throughout Northeast Oklahoma followed soon after. In the summer of 2022, Wyatt left Stillwater, OK and moved to Nashville, TN to pursue his career full-time. He released fan-favorite “Losing Sleep” in February of 2022, as well as a series of stand-alone singles in the second half of the year, each showcasing new facets of the stories and sounds Flores creates. Wyatt’s sound is somewhere between Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson and Caamp — he tells his stories in his own way and craves authenticity in his lyrics, collaboration and sound. This wide-ranging field of influences captivates listeners of multiple genres, as his fans have tallied up more than 3-million total streams across platforms. Having dedicated the past few months to transforming new lived experiences into songs, Wyatt is in the process of recording his first full album, planned for a September 2023 release: “Losing Sleep, the album, is a time and place in my heart. I learned that sometimes not everyone can be loved. It’s homegrown and Oklahoma made and I hope folks see the originality behind it. I hope this project helps people get through the rough times in their life” Be good to one another. See you soon. — WFJONATHAN PEYTONJonathan Peyton is a singer/songwriter from Woodstock, Georgia. He writes emotion-evoking songs that tell a story and captivate audiences by their relatability and honesty. He says that writing music has become a way of processing through life and relating to others and their stories. Music has been not only something to enjoy, but also a tool for healing. His biggest hope is to write songs that help people feel less alone. Jonathan has recently teamed up with guitar player/producer, Sadler Vaden (Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit), to release his newest music. They have released 4 singles together and are working together on Jonathan’s next album.
Malcolm Holcombe (Album Release Show)
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEMALCOLM HOLCOMBE Malcolm Holcombe is a survivor. Most recently, a cancer survivor, so it’s a real gift to have this, his 18th album of brilliant vignettes and expressive musicianship. Shortly after his diagnosis in 2022, he and Jared Tyler decided to get these songs recorded, just the two of them, not knowing what the future held in store for them. To musicians, giving life to new songs can feel as critical as life’s most basic needs. If a completed album can come from it, all the better.He’s a survivor of other struggles, too: ones that claim the lives of folks half his age. There are the self-inflicted ones, and the ones inflicted upon us by, well, the unpredictable world that he describes, unfiltered. Greed, hatred, inexplicable injustice… Malcolm helps us wrestle with them, as he has done for maybe a few lifetimes now. As he sings in “Fill These Shoes”, “People get murdered for no reason / Some give up their lives so others keep breathin’.” Through it all, we are blessed to have him among us. Jared Tyler is, as RB Morris has called him, the musical shadow of Malcolm: able to anticipate his next moves, predict what’s needed when, and provide just the right embellishment and backbone on harmonies, guitars, mandola, dobro, banjo, etc. (As I write this, the music world is reflecting upon the recent passing of David Lindley, who provided the kind of support to Jackson Browne and others that Jared has done for Malcolm since 1999. Let this be a reminder, to all of us, to appreciate and support those who excel so well at backing up our favorite headliners, yet rarely receive the credit they deserve.) Jared also produced this album, along with Brian Brinkerhoff. No one can fully get inside the musical mind of the great Malcolm Holcombe, but Jared comes as close as anyone ever could. Let me repeat part of that again: no one can fully get inside the musical mind of the great Malcolm Holcombe. You can memorize his lyrics, you can witness the awe and power and transcendent experience of his live performances, but you still won’t be absolutely certain that you see exactly what he’s seeing. And that’s but one of his many attributes. One that has perhaps made contemporaries like Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Steve & Justin Townes Earle, and Iris DeMent fans of his. Malcolm Holcombe: singer, songwriter, survivor. He survives thanks in part to the fire and passion and conscience that you witness in his craft. “I will not hide from the words of justice / I will not join the cries of liars / I will not keep my heart from climbing from the dust I swallowed behind. …Great spirit lift me from despair / to your bosom sweet and fair” (“Conscience of Man”) Martin AndersonWNCW FMMusic director, hostED SNODDERLYRecalling the modern, esoteric lyricism of Guy Clark and Billy Joe Shaver and the Southern traditions of old-time music and bluegrass, veteran Americana singer- songwriter-guitar player Ed Snodderly’s new album Chimney Smoke, (his 10th), is a hypnotic, slow-burning masterpiece of expert songcraft and storytelling.
I Draw Slow
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEI DRAW SLOWNo band more successfully bridges the gap between Dublin and Nashville than Americana band I Draw Slow. The Dublin-based group is gearing up to release their deeply personal new 10-track, self-titled album, I DRAW SLOW (out September 9) via Compass Records. The album’s lead single, “Copenhagen Interpretation,” is out today.“Copenhagen Interpretation” is about bringing words back down to earth. The group, found its inspiration from the George Orwell quote: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Guided by subtle banjo picking, the song floats on an early ‘70s soundscape. Like most artists during the pandemic, the group was forced to put their tour career on hold in the spring of 2020. Independently they suffered the loss of loved ones to COVID and weathered the subsequent months of grief. When the band was finally able to reunite in 2021 in a farmyard studio in the Dublin mountains to record their new album they found themselves and their music fundamentally changed. The traditional Irish and Appalachian influences that informed I Draw Slow’s prior releases were augmented by a much wider range of influences, including sixties pop, cinematic soundscapes and the funereal jazz of New Orleans. Lyrically, the new tracks pulled storytelling and tradition apart. “The new music represents tradition in the mixed up way that people live now,” Louise shares, “With the stories we tell to stop ourselves from going crazy and the false memories we build ourselves upon.” Ultimately, the trauma of the pandemic is what defines the band’s eponymously titled new album. Together with bandmates, Konrad Liddy (upright bass), Colin Derham (banjo), and Adrian Hart (fiddle), Louise and Dave Holden explore a broader, and darker, musical palette on the new tracks, yielding unexpected and musically satisfying results. I DRAW SLOW captures a pivotal moment in a shared human tragedy and offers a stunning portrait of the beauty that I Draw Slow salvaged from their collective pain.JAKE YBARRAIt can be hard for an artist to pinpoint when the muse first struck and launched them into a creative life. For 25-year-old Jake Ybarra, the first step on his journey came in Harlingen, Texas, where Ybarra (pronounced “e-BAR-a”) was born into a musical household. With a classically trained pianist for a mother, a semi-professional horn player for a dad, and a couple of guitar-playing brothers, music was constantly in young Jake’s ears. After graduating from college Ybarra got serious about songwriting. Inspired by the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, James McMurtry, John Prine and Lucinda Williams, Ybarra’s evocative, emotional lyrics display a hard-won wisdom that belies an old soul in a young man’s body. Armed with the heartfelt tales on Something In The Water, Jake Ybarra is bending ears and pulling on heartstrings wherever he plays.
Pert Near Sandstone + The Way Down Wanderers
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYPERT NEAR STANDSTONE Hailing from Minneapolis & St. Paul, Minnesota and founded by childhood friends within the vibrant Minneapolis music scene, Pert Near’s chemistry hearkens back to the family bands of yesteryear. They cut straight to the heart across the musical landscape of the Great North and beyond. Formed soon after the turn of the millennium, they have been tireless stewards of the midwestern roots music community ever since. Privileged with co-founding, curating and hosting the prestigious Blue Ox Music Festival, Pert Near performs with infectious energy and an undeniable joy. Strong songcraft melds with old-time sensibilities in a unique brand of modern string band music delivered to fans around the world. Their new album, ‘Rising Tide’, reaches a new height in their songwriting, addressing issues directly relating to our modern times and not holding back commentary on politics and society. Touring from the Great North on the regular, they bring their performances Northwest across to Southeast and often to central Europe.THE WAY DOWN WANDERERSThe Way Down Wanderers sing like angels but write songs with guts that are unmistakably earthbound: a soon-to-be dad, excited but scared, fighting for self-growth; someone recovering from alcohol dependency, devoted to healing but with a confession to make––there are no fairytales here. And yet, the music begs an unapologetically Pollyanna question, like a big-hearted dare: Can a song help save you? “I think when we strive to be the best versions of ourselves, and to accept other people that we don’t understand, that all works toward creating a culture we strive for,” says Collin Krause, one of The Way Down Wanderers’ two lead songwriters and vocalists. “Part of that process really is working on yourself––and self-forgiveness. At the end of the day, we’re not going to be perfect. The idea is to recognize that, and to try to forgive yourself if you can––and to try to move on and make progress.” “Right,” adds Austin Krause-Thompson, the band’s other frontman and core writer. “And this record does lend itself to some of those messages.” Austin and Collin are discussing More Like Tomorrow, the Way Down Wanderers’ third full-length release. The project is the anticipated follow-up to their 2019 breakthrough album Illusions, which earned praise from Rolling Stone Country, No Depression, Relix, and more. The band’s gorgeous harmonies and string-band virtuosity still anchor the new album, but the sonic borders the Way Down Wanderers once flirted with crossing have been beautifully breached. Their lyricism has also evolved, giving way to true stories that cut deep. “I think more so on this record than ever, the songs are just more direct, with acute meanings in our own situations,” says Austin. “Each’s song’s story is less broad. I think, at least for me, writing is definitely growing more and more personal.”
Kassi Valazza
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEKASSI VALAZZAThere is a cult-like fascination growing around Kassi Valazza following the self-release of her 2019 debut album Dear Dead Days and her surprise 2022 EP Highway Sounds. She is seated squarely at the vanguard of new American songwriters strengthening and broadening the sound of country music as she tours with celebrated acts such as Melissa Carper and Riddy Arman. The Southwestern native resides in Portland, a hotbed of songwriters producing albums that both bear the torch and bend the arc of American roots music, where she recently signed with Fluff & Gravy Records — a label known for launching Anna Tivel and Margo Cilker.Valazza’s forthcoming new album Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing is a spellbinding collection of songs that dangle like protective magic talismans, catching dreams and glinting light. She hypnotizes listeners with a sturdy, yet gentle, voice and painterly songwriting imbued with an independent spirit. Though her music plays country cousin to British folk, calling to mind greats like Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention) and Karen Dalton, a Southwestern American streak carves its way through these solemn, sweetly sung melodies like a canyon.On the upcoming 10-song set, multi-instrumentalists from Portland’s TK & the Holy Know-Nothings appear in varying roles as Valazza’s backing band: Taylor Kingman (guitars, bass, vocals), Jay Cobb Anderson (harmonica, guitars, pedal steel, bass), Lewi Longmire (pedal steel, piano, bass, trumpet), Sydney Nash (organ, Farfisa, cornet, Wurlitzer), and Tyler Thompson (drums). The group’s swirling psychedelia combines with Valazza’s gutsy and graceful vocal poetry for a singular sound that washes over the listener like a flash flood, heavy and without warning.Album opener “Room In The City” introduces Valazza’s high-lonesome, but never lonely world with sharp harmonica and reeling organ. She sings of a touring musician’s longing for home, and a distant lover, with lyrical imagery of open skies, whistling winds, and sepia-toned rock formations: “Did you think I’d be out here feeling lonely? / If I said I thought so too it’d be a lie / When I talk to you it’s hard to be withholding / And I was born to chase this blue out of my eyes. / In the still, I often wonder about your breathing / I rise and fall to its rhythm late at night / Clay canyons turn to plaster in my grieving / And our ceiling overtakes the sky.”Using the physical world around her to paint metaphors from the soul, Valazza carries us through her mind and heart, ever the effortless narrator. “Watching Planes Go By” spins a cautionary tale about the dangers of standing still in life and accepting one’s own fate. The song sets a curious and cosmic atmosphere of psychedelic folk-rock as Valazza reflects on the struggles of moving on, “Autumn leaves turn to yellow / and green turns to jealousy / Watching days go by.”Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing captures the romanticism of country crooners with the intuition of a realist poet. Exploring themes of love and longing through metaphors from the natural world, Valazza manages to cut straight to the heart of the human experience, her lucid songs full of delightfully languid characters that haunt the hallucinatory soundscapes her band creates.CAMILLE WIND WEATHERFORD (OF THE LOSTINES)
PATIO: Taylor Ashton
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVEDTAYLOR ASHTON Taylor Ashton is a Canadian singer and songwriter living in Brooklyn. He spent the first half of his twenties on the road across Canada as frontman of the band Fish & Bird before moving to New York to work on a new set of songs and a new chapter of life. His music takes influence from the cosmic emotionality of Joni Mitchell, the sage vulnerability of Bill Withers, the humour and heartbreak of Randy Newman, and old-time and Celtic folk music. Alternately accompanying himself on clawhammer banjo and electric guitar, Taylor croons poignantly clever lyrical insights while effortlessly gliding between a Bill Callahan-esque baritone to a Thom Yorke-like falsetto. His full-length debut album “The Romantic” was released in early 2020, followed by a companion EP “Romanticize” featuring remixes, reimaginings, and new songs. His songwriting appears on albums by Watkins Family Hour, the Brother Brothers, Benjamin Lazar Davis and others, and he has released singles with Aoife O’Donovan, The Fretless, and Aerialists, as well as a moody acoustic duo record in 2018 with songwriter & guitarist Courtney Hartman. Much is in store for 2022, including at least one new album and more fruitful collaborations.
