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.
PATIO: David Childers + Tin Roof Echo
THE SHOW WITH DAVID CHILDERS & THE SERPENTS + TIN ROOF ECHO ON AUGUST 16TH HAS MOVED INDOORS TO OUR MUSIC ROOM STAGE! CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS.
Alan Doyle (DOS, BOX OFFICE ONLY)
OUTPOST: Caleb Caudle
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINECaleb CaudleForsythia, the latest studio LP offering from Caleb Caudle out 10/7/22 via Soundly Music, is a portrait of his truest self, of the artist at his most solitary and reflective.Thematically, it meets anticipation for the unknown future with nostalgia for the past, and reconciles both with meditation in the present. The album was recorded at the legendary Cash Cabin during the pandemic, and inspired by the solitude and symbols Caudle found in nature during that time. It’s produced by John Carter Cash, and features veteran session players Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Dennis Crouch and Fred Eltringham, and the vocal talents of Carlene Carter, Elizabeth Cook and Sarah Peasall McGuffey. Simplistic arrangements– in which Caudle was the only guitarist– built a framework for space that is filled intentionally so that the songs themselves can be heard and appreciated without an overcrowding of instrumentation. On this record, outsider influences come into play nearly as much as his foundational knowledge of traditional Appalachian folk and other music history. This collection of 10 songs serves as a manifesto of Caudle’s beliefs and simplest desires. Forsythia sees Caudle as a master of his craft as a songwriter and musician. Isaiah BreedloveIsaiah Breedlove is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from rural Western North Carolina. His adolescent years were spent in a home where music was sacred. His mother and father performed at area churches and potlucks and a typical evening in the Breedlove household would likely include rehearsals of old spirituals and rock classics alike. After spending his teens and twenties touring in various bluegrass ensembles, electronica and punk rock projects, he has returned home with a renewed passion for the music of his youth, of his family, and the rugged mountains of Appalachia.
Joe Pug
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEJOE PUG A singer-songwriter known for his lyrical acumen and plaintive harmonica style, Joe Pug dropped out of college and moved to Chicago where he worked as a carpenter before breaking into the city’s music scene. Since 2008 he has released a string of critically-acclaimed albums and toured heavily in the U.S. and abroad. Paste Magazine wrote of his music: “Unless your surname is Dylan, Waits, Ritter or Prine, you could face-palm yourself to death trying to pen songs half as inspired”. He has toured with Steve Earle, Levon Helm, The Killers, Justin Townes Earle, Sturgill Simpson, and many others. He has appeared at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, and The Newport Folk Festival. His music has appeared on NPR’s “Prairie Home Companion” and “Mountain Stage”. His music has been released by Lightning Rod Records, which features an alumni roster of Jason Isbell, Billy Joe Shaver, and James McMurtry. Additionally, he is the creator and host of the popular podcast The Working Songwriter.ANNA TIVEL Oregon-based songwriter Anna Tivel’s newest album Outsiders starts with a lens so wide that we have left the planet to look back from a great distance at the turmoil and beauty of our shared humanity. From there, the lens pulls close and unfolds in a gripping collection of stories so often ignored. Tivel’s flawed and honest characters move through a landscape of hurt and loss, of small triumph and big love. In 11 songs full of recognition, veracity and hope, Tivel’s watchful and empathetic eye details the undeniable ache of living. Recorded almost entirely live to tape in Rock Island, IL with producer and multi-instrumentalist Shane Leonard and engineer Brian Joseph (Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens), the album is a truly collaborative exploration. Tivel gathered the same vibrant group of friends from her acclaimed record, The Question, which NPR heralded as “one of the most ambitious folk records of 2019.” “We holed up together in a little house a few miles from the studio,” she says, “walked there every day to sink deep into the music. No one had heard the songs beforehand, and I would play each one sitting on the floor trying to convey the gut feeling. Then we’d face each other in a circle and feel our way through, working to find the heart of each song in a few takes. Shane brings this layer of uninhibited magic to every session, setting the stage for everyone to listen deep and react with open doors. He gives himself as fully to sonic atmosphere as I do to words and I have a great amount of trust in his vision and admiration for the care he takes with the world of each song.” The constraints of analog recording fostered a rawness and immediacy in the final tracks. The arrangements on Outsiders are spacious and full of intrigue, drawing you into the cinema of Tivel’s lyrics. The title track opens the album with a meditation on the first moon landing. “I wrote it sitting on the floor in front of the TV between fragments of an Apollo 11 documentary,” she recalls. “The news was feeling especially dark, full of pain and distorted truths, and watching all that incredible footage of human hope and achievement hit me so hard. For just that one moment in the great upheaval of the times, everyone paused together to witness something new and full of wonder.”
Melissa Carper
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEMELISSA CARPERAfter the success of her critically-acclaimed 2021 release Daddy’ s Country Gold, Melissa Carper, dubbed “HillBillie Holiday” by friend and collaborator Chris Scruggs, was eager to get back in the studio. With co-producers Andrija Tokic (St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Hurray For The Riff Raff) and Dennis Crouch (The Time Jumpers) behind the boards again at Tokic’s analog paradise The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, Carper assembled that same crew of magical music makers — plus a few more — to embark on her newest effort, Ramblin’ Soul, set for release November 18th via Thirty Tigers.Carper’s deep, old-timey music roots were firmly planted as a child, playing upright bass and singing in her family’s traveling country band in rural Nebraska. Her love of country classics was cultivated as she laid beneath the console listening to her parents’ record collection. Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, and more became the soundtrack of her youth. When Carper’s father gifted her a collection of Jimmie Rodgers’ recordings, she began to find her voice and calling as a songwriter.Carper attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on a music scholarship, and spent much of her time in the music library, instinctively drawn to the great jazz classics and jazz vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole. She also discovered Lead Belly, uncovering a deep well within when singing his songs. Carper stands firmly on the shoulders of American ramblers, crooners, and songsters — the building blocks of her musical foundation.After two years of college, wanderlust set in, and Carper hit the road in the family’s 1980 Dodge Maxi Van, and landed in historic Eureka Springs, Arkansas. There, she was welcomed into the busking community, and found a new home base — a place to write, reflect, and rejuvenate in years to come. As she belted out the lyrics to “Ramblin’ Man” life began to imitate art. Carper put a few hundred thousand miles on her vans and pick-up trucks, playing the streets and clubs of New Orleans, Austin, and even a stint in NYC as a founding member of The Maybelles. Magnetically pulled into the cultural heritage wherever she went, she immersed herself in the music of those who sang on those same street corners, and off the beaten path in times gone by.CAROLINA STORYNot long after parting ways with their former label, Ben and Emily Roberts headed into the studio to record a few songs for the sake of sating their creative impulses, then quickly found themselves with an entire album’s worth of material. Rooted in the lush and moody brand of Americana they first honed by traveling across the country on DIY tours in the late 2000s, those songs contained essential truths about transformation, surrender, and the inevitability of impermanence—altogether forming a narrative of transcendence that soon had a life-altering impact on the band itself.
