49 Winchester
– WITH COLBY ACUFF- ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY49 WINCHESTERWith its latest album, “Fortune Favors The Bold,” Russell County, Virginia-based 49 Winchester is ready and roaring to break onto the national scene with its unique brand of tear-in-your-beer alt-country, sticky barroom floor rock-n-roll, and high-octane Appalachian folk. “As we’ve aged and matured, our sound has gone from a softer place to this grittier, edgier tone that we have now,” says lead singer/guitarist Isaac Gibson. “So, we’re trending more towards being a rock band instead of a country band. But, at the same time, I don’t think anybody’s ever known quite what to call it.” Although it’s 49 Winchester’s fourth studio album, “Fortune Favors The Bold” marks its debut for Nashville’s New West Records — one of the premier labels for Americana, indie and rock acts on the cutting edge of sound, scope and spectacle. Formed eight years ago on Winchester Street in the small mountain town of Castlewood, Virginia (population: 2,045), the band started as a rag tag bunch of neighborhood teenagers who just wanted to get together for the sake of playing together. “From day one, it’s always been a band and it will always be about being a band. This is everything, everything we love about music — we’re going for broke with this thing,” says Gibson. “And that gives us a unique perspective because it’s still the same guys. It’s still all of us from Castlewood traveling around, playing music and making this band a reality — this is a story of growth.” And it’s that sense of growth — more so, a sense of self — at the core of “Fortune Favors The Bold.” It’s not only a record that showcases the current state of 49 Winchester, it’s a melodic stake in the ground of how this group is constantly evolving and taking shape, sonically and lyrically. Reflecting on his early days as a jack-of-all-trades stone mason in Castlewood, where it was about trying to make ends meet in an effort to keep 49 Winchester rolling along, Gibson can’t help but be grateful for a well-earned notion at the core of the band’s ethos — anything worthwhile in life is built brick-by-brick. “Everything has to be built. And very few people are going to achieve success overnight,” says Gibson. “There’s going to be people you see succeed in front of you. Maybe you don’t think they deserve it as much as you, haven’t worked as hard as you, haven’t done it as long as you. But, none of that matters — they ain’t you. They’re not living your life. They’re not part of your experience.” At its essence, “Fortune Favors The Bold” is about going against all odds to bring your art into fruition and into the world. It’s about leaving your hometown and heading for the unknown horizon. And it’s about proving those wrong who snickered and waited for the day you’d give up somewhere down the line, only to circle back home with your tail between your legs. But, it’s also about looking into the rearview mirror with a genuine appreciation for where you came from and what you’re made of, those hardscrabble, salt-of-the-earth traits in your blood and character that define what it actually takes to climb that damn mountain of dreams — come hell or high water.
NED COLLETTE US TOUR feat. Elisabeth Fuchsia w. Shane Justice McCord (Sham) at Shakey’s
– ALL AGES- AT SHAKEY’S (38 N FRENCH BROAD) – FREE / $10 SUGGESTED DONATION AT DOORNED COLLETTE Australian Ned Collette has long established himself as a songwriter whose literate, evocative songs are paired with music that’s both adventurous and eclectic. His early background in improvised and experimental guitar music has resulted in six albums of uncompromising vision, released on a variety of international labels. 2018’s double album Old Chestnut was released by Feeding Tube Records and was his introduction to a lot of US audiences—a deep and complex folk song-cycle featuring musicians such as The Necks’ Chris Abrahams amongst Ned’s regular collaborators. In addition to his song work, he has released works such as 2019’s Afternoon—Dusk, a trio record of long-form instrumental music with James Rushford and Joe Talia. 2022 saw the first ever vinyl reissue of his 2006 debut, Jokes & Trials, the liner notes for which describe “a rich velvet voice somewhere between fragile youth and aged sage”. Ned’s live performances drift between delicate, intimate folk and explorative jam-outs, both when performing solo or with his band. He is currently working on new material featuring Abrahams and Dirty Three’s Mick Turner, and over the years has performed with such artists as Joanna Newsom, Cat Power, Bill Callahan, St Vincent, Kurt Vile and Deerhoof, amongst many others.SHANE JUSTICE McCORD
Pony Bradshaw
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYPONY BRADSHAW On his new album North Georgia Rounder, Pony Bradshaw leads the listener on an exploration of the woods, rivers, and mountains of Appalachia, more specifically, the area for which the album is named and he’s called home for the past 15 years. “It’s got its hooks in me,” Bradshaw says of North Georgia, and it shows, with songs that quickly establish a setting, much like the one he initiated with the album’s predecessor, Calico Jim. The sonic excursion includes stops along the Conasauga River, visits to the holler, and a few diversions—nearby Knoxville plays a supporting role, as do Louisiana and Arkansas. It’s an impressionistic journey of introspection and connection all at once. Will Stewart’s tastefully-understated guitar leads and Philippe Bronchtein’s atmospheric pedal steel provide the perfect backdrop for Bradshaw’s impassioned vocals in lead-off track “Foxfire Wine.” Its swampy, bluesy intro makes way for an interesting amalgamation of Sturgill Simpson and The Grateful Dead, serving as the perfect aperitif for “a hell of a heaven and a hell of a show.” From that point on till the album wraps with the aptly titled “Notes on a River Town,” not only do you see and hear North Georgia, you even smell and taste it. Take, for example, “Safe in the Arms of Vernacular,” a pensive, melancholy track that delights all the senses and is reminiscent of Ray Lamontagne’s mellow side. When Bradshaw sings of the “bonafide gas mask” his Dad brought back from Desert Storm and describes the Saudi Arabian sand as turning to “glass sharp as a sultan’s sword,” one can almost see it. As quickly as it sets the ever-vivid stage, the track shifts its focus to a waitress downtown. “Draped in Bedouin gown, smoking Kent cigarettes in the underground” in an attempt to “escape all those voices,” she naturally drinks white wine—”Riesling room temp from a coffee cup,” to be exact. A voracious reader, Bradshaw credits his talent for expressing such rich details in his songs not so much to other songwriters but instead to books, fiction, short stories, essays, and literary criticism. With such colorful descriptions as “teeth stained red with Lebanese wine, long hair … in sweeps of oil blacker than a cypress pool,” one might assume he bases the subjects of his songs on real-life people he interacts with in North Georgia; instead, Bradshaw describes them as “nameless characters” compiled from “fragments” he’s collected, pieces that usually start with just a line or two. These fragments all add up to a remarkably cohesive 10-song collection, despite Bradshaw being a self-professed admirer of (and writer of) the non-sequitur. This is thanks in no small part to his own masterful vocal delivery and the expert musicianship of his backing band, one that includes the aforementioned Stewart and Bronchtein with Robert Green on bass, Ryan Moore on drums, and Jenna Mobley on fiddle. “The poet soon stops experimenting and innovating and starts his life’s work,” Bradshaw expounds, citing a quote from one of his favorite writers, Wendell Berry. A single album as a life’s work may seem like a grand, overambitious aspiration. But for Pony Bradshaw, North Georgia Rounder is just that – a life’s work, one that, as he describes it, is a culmination of “sweat and work and joy and pain and anger and patience and restraint.”
The Travis Book Happy Hour ft Jim Lauderdale
– SEATED SHOW- LIMITED RESERVED TABLES VIRTUAL TIP JAR : Paypal.me/TravisBook1VIEW LIVE STREAM HERE : facebook.com/greyeagleasheville*DONATIONS ENCOURAGED TRAVIS BOOK (of The Infamous Stringdusters) The Travis Book Happy Hour is a 90 minute variety show hosted by Travis Book; bassist, songwriter, and vocalist in the Grammy Award winning bluegrass band, The Infamous Stringdusters, streaming live from the historic Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC. Born from his desire to bring musicians and friends together for collaboration and conversation, Travis launched the series in the summer of 2020 amidst the uncertainty of the Covid-19 crisis and a country divided. Faced with a cascade of existential questions about the nature of life and of being, Travis sought an outlet for inquiry, and individuals to help him dig deeper into what it means to be a musician and a creative being in the context of an ever-changing world. Unique, spontaneous musical collaboration with friends and contemporaries leads to singular moments of harmony and the occasional musical train-wreck… The Travis Book Happy Hour is his attempt to shine light into the darkest corners of our lives; to dive deep into the nature of our being and emerge bathed in the love, happiness, grace, and gratitude that’s available to us all, and hopefully, to make some beautiful, meaningful music along the way.JIM LAUDERDALE At any given time, you’re likely to find Jim Lauderdale making music, whether he’s laying down a new track in the studio or working through a spontaneous melody at his home in Nashville. And if he’s not actively crafting new music, he’s certainly thinking about it. “It’s a constant challenge to try to keep making better and better records, write better and better songs. I still always feel like I’m a developing artist,” he says. This may be a surprising sentiment from a man who’s won two Grammys, released 34 full-length albums, and taken home the Americana Music Association’s coveted Wagonmaster Award. But forthcoming album Game Changer is convincing evidence that the North Carolina native is only continuing to hone his craft. Lauderdale has been a vital part of the country music ecosystem since 1991, when he released his debut album and began penning songs for an impressively long roster of country music greats. “When I was a teenager wanting to be a bluegrass banjo player, I never would have imagined that I would get to work with people like Ralph Stanley, Robert Hunter, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams and John Oates ,” he muses.
Oliver Wood Trio
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYOLIVER WOOD TRIOOliver Wood is a mainstay of modern-day American roots music. The frontman of the Wood Brothers since 2004, he’s spent the 21st century blurring the boundaries between folk, gospel, country-soul, and Americana, earning an international audience and a Grammy Award-nomination along the way. Always Smilin,’ his debut as a solo artist, continues that tradition while also shining new light on Oliver’s sharp songwriting, savvy guitar chops, and a voice that evokes the swagger of a Saturday evening picking party one moment and the solemnity of a Sunday morning gospel service the next.Always Smilin’ is an album of bridges, mixing a wide range of collaborations with a uniquely personal touch. Guests include bandmates from Oliver’s musical past and present, from mentor and co-writer Chris Long (who performed alongside Oliver in King Johnson, the roots-rock band that dominated Atlanta’s music scene around the turn of the millennium) to percussionist Jano Rix (Oliver’s partner in The Wood Brothers). Blues heroine Susan Tedeschi, Hiss Golden Messenger’s Phil Cook, Medeski Martin & Wood’s John Medeski, Tedeschi Trucks Band’s Tyler Greenwell, Nashville staple Phil Madeira, and singer/songwriter Carsie Blanton also make appearances, with Rebecca Wood — Oliver’s wife — handling the album’s handmade linocut cover art. For Oliver, the goal was simple: to collaborate freely with a mix of old friends and new partners, embracing a new level of independence.Longtime fans don’t need to worry; Oliver remains fully committed to the Wood Brothers. When the Covid-19 pandemic forced the band to clear its touring schedule and spend most of 2020 at home, though, he began gathering together the solo material he’d been writing with other musicians. Gradually, almost surprisingly, an album began taking shape.”People would come through Nashville during the year before the pandemic, and I’d set up a co-write or a jam in our studio, just to do some stuff outside of my own band,” he explains. “There wasn’t an album in mind. I just wanted to be creative. But when the pandemic happened, the songs started building up.”There was plenty of stress to go around in 2020, but Always Smilin’ — like its title suggests — is mostly an album of celebration. While “Get the Blues” addresses the struggles of the modern moment, songs like “Roots” and “Molasses” focus on brighter topics, from finding one’s center to embracing a simpler way of living. That diversity is reflected throughout the track list: on gospel covers like “The Battle is Over (But the War Goes On)” and “Climbing High Mountains (Tryin’ To Get Home)”; on country-soul standouts like “Soul of This Town”; on the tongue-twisting craft of “Kindness.” Oliver even makes room for an unlikely percussion instrument — the chicken coop — that once played a major role in his pre-Wood Brothers projects.Always Smilin’ celebrates the full range of Oliver Wood’s musical heritage, from the blues and gospel sounds he explored long before the Wood Brothers’ formation to the American roots music he’s been making during the past two decades. It’s an album of collaborations and communal recordings, spearheaded by a longtime team player who, for the first time ever, is making the final decisions himself. There will be more Wood Brothers music in the future, but this is an album about the present. An album about right now. And right now, Oliver Wood is smiling.
Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
– WITH SPECIAL GUEST SUNNY WAR- ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYSARAH SHOOK & THE DISARMERSNorth Carolina’s Sarah Shook sings with a conviction and hard honesty sorely lacking in much of today’s Americana landscape. Always passionate, at times profane, Sarah stalks/walks the line between vulnerable and menacing, their voice strong and uneasy, country classic but with contemporary, earthy tension. You can hear in their voice what they’ve seen; world weary, lessons learned—or not—but always defiant. They level-steady mean what they say. Writing with a blunt urgency—so refreshing these days it’s almost startling—Sarah’s lyrics are in turn smart, funny, mean, and above all, uncompromising. The Disarmers hit all the sweet spots from Nashville’s Lower Broad to Bakersfield and take Sarah’s unflinching tales out for some late-night kicks. At times, it’s as simple and muscular as Luther Perkins’ boom-chicka-boom, or as downtown as Johnny Thunders. The Disarmers keep in the pocket, tight and tough.The Disarmers line-up is currently Jack Foster on drums, Blake Tallent on guitar, Andrew Lambie on bass, and Nick Larimore on pedal steel.SUNNY WARSunny War has crafted a set of songs that draw on a range of ideas and styles as though she’s marshalling all her forces to get her ideas across: ecstatic gospel, dusty country blues, thoughtful folk, rip-roaring rock and roll, even avant-garde studio experiments. She melds them together into a powerful statement of survival revealing a probing songwriter who indulges no comforting platitudes and a highly innovative guitarist who deploys spidery riffs throughout every song. “I feel like there are two sides of me” says the Nashville-based singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso. “One of them is very self-destructive and the other is trying to work with that other half to keep things balanced.” That’s the central conflict on her upcoming fourth album, the eclectic and innovative Anarchist Gospel, which documents a time when it looked like the self-destructive side might win out. “Everybody is a beast just trying their hardest to be good. That’s what it is to be human. You’re not really good or bad. You’re just trying to stay in the middle of those two things all the time and you’re probably doing a shitty job of it. That’s okay because we’re all just monsters.”
Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters Holiday Spectacular III
– ALL AGES- PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW- SEATED AND STANDING ROOM ONLY TICKETS AVAILABLE AMANDA ANNE PLATT & THE HONEYCUTTERSSalvation Army Santas, hard liquor, new classics and some old country standbys make up the Honeycutters’ Holiday Spectacular. After the 2019 release of their EP, “Christmas on a Greyhound Bus,” Amanda Anne Platt and her band took to the road bringing with them a holiday show that is both irreverent and heartwarming. The spectacular is back for 2022, with some new tunes in tow from their latest studio album, “The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea.” The music of Asheville, North Carolina based outfit Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters is nuanced, bringing insight and wit to the stories Platt tells through songwriting. Lyrically driven, the band’s country roots music often inspires introspection, whether it be about life on the road, heartache or hope. There is an empathetic and charming wit ingrained in Platt’s songwriting. She has a knack for accessing a deep well of emotion and applying it to her story-telling, whether she is writing from her own experiences or immersing herself into the melody of emotions in another person’s life. Performing along with Platt, The Honeycutters are Matt Smith (pedal steel and electric guitars), Kevin Williams (keys), Rick Cooper (bass/vocals), and Evan Martin (drums/vocals).
Snake Oil Medicine Show at The Outpost
– ALL AGES- THE OUTPOST (521 AMBOY RD)- FREE / $10 SUGGESTED DONATION AT DOORSNAKE OIL MEDICINE SHOW From Asheville, North Carolina, Snake Oil Medicine Show is a dedicated group of artists and musicians who love and respect tradition in acoustic music, but who also share an even stronger passion to shape its future. Snake Oil’s goal is to convey positive energy and ideals to their audiences through music and art. Fantasies become three-dimensional, technicolor props and mysteriously gargantuan puppets at festivals and larger shows. Improvisation rules as guest musicians, rappers, freestylers, artists, puppeteers, dancers and jugglers often grace the stage. Snake Oil Medicine Show features some of the hottest talents around, no two performances are ever the same! Snake Oil was founded by Guitarist and guru songwriter George Pond in 1993, whose witty, Dr. Suess-like lyrics explore everything from the golden rule to quantum physics. This sheriff now plays the electric as well as upright Bass and is considering attending Clown College where he will use the power of Humor to promote World Peace Through Music and Art! The group has been playing across the globe for 3 decades as Psychedelic Bluegrass-Rock Pioneers! “The Snake Oil Medicine Show has no boundaries. More than a band, the group is a caravan, whose shows include live art and sounds that veer from Jazz to Bluegrass to Swing to purely original instrumental. Even if the group doesn’t accomplish its lofty goal of World Peace, Snake Oil Medicine Show carries with it a sense of abandon, from music to art, that says to audiences that free expression can be embraced, that breaking out of social structures can be liberating and fun. Musically, Snake Oil Medicine Show defies every convention, practicing ‘Creative Anarchy’. Songs are guaranteed to splash all over the musical spectrum. A bluegrass, hillbilly, stomp-your-feet undercurrent bobs throughout, an always dynamic interplay of strings, ragtime bop, a frenzied rhythmic dialogue, oozing experimental jazz and all those extra sounds – the drums, the whistles, the horns, the spoons and an occasional blast upon the sea-shell conch – added in for oomph!” – Brita Brundage, Fairfield County Weekly, Stamford, CT.
Victoria Victoria featuring Charlie Hunter
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEVICTORIA VICTORIA featuring CHARLIE HUNTERVictoria Victoria’s new album, “To The Wayside,” was released on Sept. 9, 2022—completing a beautifully fresh and alluring musical masterpiece that’s been in the making since 2020. Each of the album’s nine songs is a gem, mined through a magical collaboration between Victoria Victoria front woman Tori Elliott, producer/engineer Stephen Lee Price, Jr., and virtuoso guitarist, Charlie Hunter, who plays guitar and bass on all of the tracks. Elliott, who brings an innate effervescence and joyfulness to her live performances, brings equally insightful lyrics and contagious melodies to this album, as she explores and dissects issues surrounding modern female identity. “Songwriting helps me untangle what’s going on emotionally,” said the Winston Salem, N.C.-based singer-songwriter. “It almost feels like doing a puzzle.” “By the time that I got in the studio with Charlie, it just felt like an arrival, musically,” she said. “It felt like my voice was sitting where I always wanted it to be sitting.” Hunter says Elliott’s music draws in people of all ages and walks of life with intriguing narratives, songwriting, singing and instrumentation. “Tori’s work is remarkable because it accomplishes the feat of being accessible but really honest and authentic at the same time, which is rare,” Hunter said. “I just loved being a part of her process.” Victoria Victoria will tour in January 2023 with Tori Elliot on lead vocals, Charlie Hunter on Hybrid guitar, drums, and two back up singers. RAHM SQUADRahm Squad is the heart-and-brain child of Asheville-based guitarist/songwriter/producer Rahm Mandelkorn. His music combines elements of indie-rock, soul-jazz and world-music to create heartfelt original music that always aims to groove. The Squad is a rotating caste of the region’s best players. Rahm studied music in India, Spain, Berklee college online and with many of his favorite guitarists. He developed his craft through years of gigging with different bands, including funk/jazz trio The Digs and touring the country with Claude Coleman Jr’s (WEEN) band Amandla. Rahm has been fortunate enough to share the stage with many of his musical heroes including Jimmy Herring, Jeff Sipe, Oteil and Kofi Burbrigde, The New Mastersounds, Marcus King, members of Snarky Puppy, Lettuce and many more.
The Greybirds & Friends: Album Release Show
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLETHE GREYBIRDS The Greybirds are a band from Asheville, NC. What started as a songwriting partnership began to take on different forms: duo to five-piece, acoustic and/or electric, but the songs are the core of everything. The band formed in early 2022 after escaping to the mountains from big cities such as New York, Seattle & Atlanta. The sound is comprised of Wurlitzer, Upright Bass, two guitars, drums, and two lead harmony vocals. There are fingerprints of Rock & Roll, the common language of Folk, instrumentation of Early American Roots music, with a focus on vibe, dynamics, and lyricism. “In a time when the world seems so troubled, this music & dynamic sound help level out what’s going on… There’s times when singers get together and the blend of voices is hauntingly transforming. Think Mandolin Orange, think Emmylou meets Gram, Johnny meets June, George meets Tammy, and so on.” — David Boughner of Roadmaster Stage Presents, Black Mountain, NCfeaturing some of AVL’s finest: Ashley Heath, Jenny Bradley (Moon Water Duo), A. Lee Edwards, Gabe Epstein (Songs from the Road Band), Kevin Smith (Planefolk), Wilbur Lane, & Matthew Smith (Honeycutters)
