Bill Kirchen and His Silent Knights: Honky Tonk Holiday Show
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOWBILL KIRCHEN Forget the “Nutcracker” and “Handel’s Messiah.” For a real taste of seasonal cheer, nothing says joy to the world like Bill Kirchen singing “Daddy’s Drinkin’ Up Our Christmas!” Bill Kirchen and his Silent Knights will make a stop on their annual Honky Tonk Holiday Tour at the Grey Eagle in Asheville on Monday 12/12. Featured is a sleigh-full of rarely heard holiday numbers from the blues, rock ‘n’ roll and honky tonk bags: “Silent Surfin’ Night,” “Truckin’ Trees for Christmas,” “Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy” and more. But be ye not afraid, there’ll be so much more than holiday songs of questionable taste; you can count on a truckload of dieselbilly classics, rockers, and country weepers to take the edge off the holiday fuss. So mark your calendars and check ’em twice – Santa Claus is back in town! Bill Kirchen is touring with Jack Saunders on bass and Rick Richards on drums. Guitar Player Magazine dubbed Bill Kirchen the “Titan of the Telecaster.” Rolling Stone said he’s “an American treasure” and “one of our best.” No matter what you call him, Kirchen is a founding father of the Americana movement, now at the peak of his impressive career. Kirchen was originally known as co-founder and lead guitarist of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, one of the first and only rock-n-roll bands to infuse their honky-tonk sound with pure, blood-and-guts country roots and western swing. It was Kirchen’s scorching guitar licks that helped define their sound and drove their hit, “Hot Rod Lincoln,” into the Top Ten in 1972, a song that eventually took on a post-Cody life of its own. Today, Kirchen’s extended version of “Hot Rod Lincoln” is his universally loved signature masterpiece, a pumped-up joyride through the last 60 years of guitar-god history, described as “epic” by Rolling Stone. In 2001, Kirchen received a Grammy nomination for his instrumental “Poultry in Motion.” The following year he was inducted into the Washington Area Music Association Hall of Fame, neatly sandwiched between John Phillip Sousa and Dave Grohl. Kirchen has recorded and/or played guitar live with a who’s who of Americana and Roots Rock ‘N’ Roll, among them Gene Vincent, Link Wray, Bo Diddley, Hazel Dickens, Doug Sahm, Hoyt Axton, Emmylou Harris, Maria Muldaur, Dan Hicks, and Nick Lowe. Bill is pretty sure that he is the only person to have, in a single year, stood on stage and played with both Ralph Stanley and Elvis Costello.
PATIO SHOW: Awen Family Band
– ALL AGES- PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEDAWEN FAMILY BAND Awen Family Band is a nationally touring world boogie collective founded by song-writer and coddie-wompler Tim Husk (formerly of Freeway Revival) in 2019 and has performed at numerous venues and festivals around the country featuring members of Toubab Krewe, Big Something, Dr. Bacon, The Kind Thieves, TUB, Reliably Bad, Self Help, Firewater Tent Revival, The Moon Unit, Mellow Swells, Custard Pie, Wigeon, FRUTE, Alo Ver, Boom Unit Brass Band, Rolling Dynamite, The Fundamentals, and many other acts. Every Awen Family Band show is a never before seen collaboration between musicians from other touring acts who understand that we are just moving the music and message from one plane to another “we don’t create the lesson, only move the message” (Song-Kiwi Beach). Blending roots music from around the globe such as Zydeco, Bluegrass, Afrobeat, Wassalou (West Africa), Old Time, Swing and Psychedelic Boogie topped with lyrics spreading the message for all who seek to hear. From our table to yours, we invite you to join us in celebrating music, life and each other! ~Building Community, Expanding Circles and Spreading Love~
Morgan Wade: “No Signs of Slowing Down” Tour
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- LIMITED NUMBER OF VIP MEET & GREET PACKAGES AVAILABLE THAT INCLUDES: One general admission ticket VIP early entry into the venue Intimate pre-show performance by Morgan Wade Q&A session with Morgan Group photo with Morgan Wade Collectible tour poster, autographed by Morgan Commemorative pre-show VIP laminate Merchandise shopping opportunity before doors open to public Limited availability MORGAN WADE Morgan Wade didn’t write to be a sensation, for critical acclaim or massive concert tours. She wrote to speak her truth, to save her own life – and perhaps throw a rope to others struggling with the weight of a world moving too fast, loves where you fall too hard and nights that, good or bad, seem to go on forever. 2021 saw Reckless, her Thirty Tigers/now Sony Music Nashville debut, and lead single “Wilder Days” topping critical lists from Rolling Stone, TIME, Stereogum, New York Times, Boston Globe, FADER, Tennessean, Whiskey Riff, Billboard, and The Boot and Taste of Country who both proclaimed, “a once-in-a-decade debut.” With a voice that is raw hurt, deep knowing and somehow innocence retained, Wade wrote or co-wrote a song cycle about the reality facing teens and 20-somethings that embraced raw desire, the reality of getting high and getting sober, the realm of crawling through the wreckage with a tough vulnerability that is as singular as the young woman from Floyd, Virginia. MEG McREEAfter attending Vanderbilt University on a full ride, Meg McRee traded her newly earned degree for the pursuit of an unpredictable dream as a songwriter. McRee was validated as more than a driven idealist with the signing of her first publishing deal at Hang Your Hat, a creative joint venture with Concord Music Publishing and hit-songwriter Hillary Lindsey. Since, she has had songs cut by Grace Potter, Elle King, Caylee Hammack, Paul Cauthen, Carter Faith, Ben Chapman and others. Meg is currently working on her debut project as a songwriter turned artist with the first track “A Lot to Say” due for release on September 30.
John R. Miller + Melissa Carper
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYJOHN R. MILLERJohn R Miller is a true hyphenate artist: singer-songwriter-picker. Every song on his thrilling debut solo album, Depreciated, is lush with intricate wordplay and haunting imagery, as well as being backed by a band that is on fire. One of his biggest long-time fans is roots music favorite Tyler Childers, who says he’s “a well-travelled wordsmith mapping out the world he’s seen, three chords at a time.” Miller is somehow able to transport us to a shadowy honkytonk and get existential all in the same line with his tightly written compositions. Miller’s own guitar-playing is on fine display here along with vocals that evoke the white-waters of the Potomac River rumbling below the high ridges of his native Shenandoah Valley.MELISSA 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.TAYLOR KINGMANIn a time drenched in escapism, where an unceasing barrage of synthetic shine promises comfort and relief from facing the complexity of our natures, Taylor Kingman’s new album Hollow Sound is an antithetical long night in a solitary cave, with nothing but a small fire and a hard look inward to keep you company.Between his work fronting TK & The Holy Know-Nothings and his 2017 solo debut Wannabe, Kingman is no stranger to the darkness. But here he transcends the desolate rock bottom, as Hollow Sound whispers, then howls us into that place beyond brokenness where breathing begins again. To listen deeply to these songs is to lay down naked on the wet, unforgiving earth, pushing the ground through your fingers; it is to be soothed by the wholeness of who we are, filth and all. Kingman pulls no punches with his writing, and requires us to listen with the same honesty.
Viv & Riley (Album Release Show)
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEVIV & RILEY Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno play old-soul roots music, fluidly melding a backbone of Appalachian traditional music with fresh iconic melodies and the tightly wound vocal harmonies of indie folk. A bittersweet nostalgia lies at the heart of Imaginary People, the new album from Viv & Riley, coming September 15, 2023 on Free Dirt Records. Over ten tracks, the pair applies an indie roots sheen to newly composed pop gems. Rooted originally in the folk tradition, the pair reframe the production into experimental territory, crafting songs that speak to finding a path forward into adulthood in an uncertain world. Gifted songwriters and multi-instrumentalists, Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno’s first album under the name Viv & Riley is a subtle masterpiece of thought and reflection. The album brings a reflectiveness to summertime jams that speak of uninhibited joy and creative camaraderie. Coming on the heels of their acclaimed earlier albums that showed preternaturally talented songwriting from such young artists, now the songs have caught up with their lives. Now in their mid-20s, the two are building a life together, creating a supportive community, and looking back on everything they’ve been through. Based out of Durham, North Carolina, they’ve tapped into the area’s eclectic and collaborative music scene, recruiting Alex Bingham of Hiss Golden Messenger to produce the album. Bingham brings a sunny, lush sound to Viv & Riley’s music, moving beyond their earlier country roots and toward a layered sound and sonic experimentation. The songwriting has evolved as well, from the world-weary, stripped-down country songs they’re known for to indie songwriting at turns sweetly sad and gently sardonic. Ultimately, Imaginary People is about carrying and honoring our pasts, about letting that inform our new steps forward. No matter how much we might cling to where we are, sometimes we need to uproot and take a leap of faith, to open ourselves up to new experiences and ideas in order to grow and blossom.LEO SHANNON
Early James at French Broad River Brewery
– AT FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY- ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY (SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVED)EARLY JAMES Alabama’s native son, Early James, released his sophomore album, Strange Time To Be Alive, on August 19th, 2022. The lyrical wordsmith conjures the ghosts of great southern gothic writers from Eudora Welty to William Faulkner, while channeling the haunted spirits of Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt. The album evokes a timeless amalgam of forsaken blues, wistful folk, and Tin Pan Alley crooning, anchored by the singer’s unmistakable voice that sways from gravel-filled shouts to pained, forlorn whispers – and songs that tread in the waters of darkly themed broken hearts, with the wry humor of the sad clown.DRUNKEN PRAYER Drunken Prayer transcends the bounds of Americana music. Morgan Geer writes songs that could emerge from a highly blissed-out biker bar or a swampy ashram. The newest Drunken Prayer album is 2022’s The Name Of The Ghost Is Home. For the last year Morgan Geer has been working from his home studio in Asheville, NC with Paul Oldham (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Royal Trux), building on tracks initially recorded in New Mexico at Empty House Studios, home of doom metal bands like OM and Sleep. The end result evokes an ominous Acid Western feedback-and-driftwood aesthetic. The latest Drunken Prayer releases have been 2019’s acclaimed LP Cordelia Elsewhere mixed by Mitch Easter (Let’s Active, REM) and the ambitious 17 minute long death-raga, Electric Daddyland from 2021. Over the past two years, before the pandemic, Drunken Prayer played hundreds of shows across 18 countries and across the US at venues such as the Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon and San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. Geer’s music has been featured on AMC, NPR, WFMU and SiriusXM. On the side Geer is the lead guitar player for alt-country goths Freakwater and writes for different artists including the Brooklyn rock and soul phenom Bette Smith. Morgan has also been touring internationally, opening for and often joining the eccentric Handsome Family. Morgan Geer lives in Asheville, NC.
Todd Sheaffer (Railroad Earth) & Chris Thompson (Coral Creek)
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATS AVAILABLETODD SHEAFFER (RAILROAD EARTH) & CHRIS THOMPSON (CORAL CREEK) Esteemed songwriter and Railroad Earth front man, Todd Sheaffer, hits the road playing a run of solo shows along with Colorado songwriter Chris Thompson of CORAL CREEK. These intimate shows feature the songs that have made Railroad Earth one of the hottest tickets on the Newgrass and Jamband festival circuit, presented by Sheaffer in a solo format with instrumental accompaniment by Thompson on guitar & bass. The show includes two sets of original music, with Thompson kicking off the evening followed by Sheaffer performing solo and with accompaniment. As any Todd fan would expect, every show is different and each performance takes the audience for an ride down the Railroad Earth and From Good Homes catalog.
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott + Tyler Ramsey
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATS AVAILABLERAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOTT One of the last true links to the great folk traditions of this country, with over 40 albums under his belt, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is considered one of the country’s legendary foundations of folk music. Long before every kid in America wanted to play guitar – before Elvis, Dylan, the Beatles or Led Zeppelin – Ramblin’ Jack had picked it up and was passing it along. From Johnny Cash to Tom Waits, Beck to Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder to Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead to The Rolling Stones, they all pay homage to Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. In the tradition of roving troubadours Jack has carried the seeds and pollens of story and song for decades from one place to another, from one generation to the next. They are timeless songs that outlast the musical trends of any given day. He wrote one of the first trucking songs-Cup of Coffee-recorded by Johnny Cash, championed the works of new singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Tim Hardin; and became a founding member of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue. He continued the life of the traveling troubadour influencing Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Tom Russell, The Grateful Dead and countless others. Ramblin’ Jack is a two-time GRAMMY winner, National Medal Of Arts recipient, and in 2016, received a Folk Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award. Featured in the recent Rolling Thunder Revue film by Martin Scorcese and also in the early 2019 PBS release of the Woody Guthrie All Star Tribute Concert Center, Ramblin’ Jack is an icon of American roots and folk music. A lover of storytelling and veteran troubadour style musician, on tour he is in his element and known for telling the tales gathered along his magnificent journey through the roots of Folk, Blues, Americana and Cowboy music and poetry. His permanently enshrined seat at Woodie Guthrie Center Theater in Tulsa, OK., sits among other greats, including Lead Belly, Cisco Houston and Pete Seeger. “Nobody I know—and I mean nobody—has covered more ground and made more friends and sung more songs than the fellow you’re about to meet right now. He’s got a song and a friend for every mile behind him. Say hello to my good buddy, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.” -Johnny Cash, The Johnny Cash Television Show, 1969.TYLER RAMSEY For Ramsey, living deliberately and with a little space, removed from distractions and the allure of needless consumption, is how he feels most creative and at ease. Ramsey grew up absorbing the country-blues guitar players who used to roam the mountainous region of his Carolina home, including Mance Lipscomb, Mississippi John Hurt and renowned pickers like John Fahey and Leo Kottke. Equally adept at playing guitar, keyboards, bass and percussion, he has distinguished himself as a gifted songwriter, a sublime vocalist and an inventive, influential musician. While Ramsey’s writing has been compared to Neil Young, Gram Parsons, Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens, his songs smartly blends elements of rock, Americana and folk, taking the listener on their own meditative, soulful and rewarding journey.
Gangstagrass
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYGANGSTAGRASS“Suppose, just suppose, you could take a little of everything that’s great about this country and distill it. The creativity, the ingenuity, the strength of the struggles of so many of its people — indigenous, enslaved or otherwise. And then take that distilled energy and creativity and transform it to musical form. What would you say if I told you that it’s being done?” – R-SON the Voice of Reason Gangstagrass brings together two kinds of American music and creates a third, greater than the sum of the parts. Developed as a studio project 15 years ago by Brooklyn-based producer Rench, Gangstagrass grew into a dynamic and spontaneous live band of Americans — from Omaha Nebraska, Pensacola Florida, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Washington DC — who have become close friends. Several work hard at other jobs (one teaches computer programming, another works at a comic book shop) to support their passion for making music, and four are dads, with kids ranging in age from baby through starting college. The band has released six full-length albums with dozens of appearances on the Billboard Top 10 bluegrass chart. Gangstagrass tracks have featured Nitty Scott MC, Dead Prez, Demeanor, Kaia Kater, and legendary rap team Smif-N-Wessun among others. Rench, the Brooklyn-based country and hip-hop producer who is the Mastermind behind Gangstagrass, crafted the instantly-recognizable Long Hard Times to Come featuring T.O.N.E-z that opened every episode of FX show Justified and earned Gangstagrass a 2010 Emmy nomination for Best Theme Song – more proof that Gangstagrass “paved the Old Town Road.” Putting down roots and branching out across never-before-bridged genres, Gangstagrass has delighted crowds and has blown minds across the world, garnering a reputation among fans for dynamism and spontaneity. From SXSW to Grey Fox to the Americana Festival to music festivals abroad, these live performances explode the boundaries between genres generally thought to be incompatible. Howie Mandel described Gangstagrass as “the recipe that America has been looking for until now” and “what America needs right now!”Taking full advantage of the improvisational aspects and virtues of both hip-hop and bluegrass, including frequent three-part harmonies, MCs Dolio the Sleuth and R-SON the Voice of Reason trade verses and freestyle alongside the unparalleled skills of fellow vocalists Dan Whitener on banjo, B.E. Farrow on fiddle, and Rench on guitar and beats. The new Gangstagrass album No Time for Enemies was released in August 2020 and quickly rose to #1 on the Billboard bluegrass charts, as the band continues to explore new sonic territory while showing how amazing the sound of America is when it all comes together.
Acoustic Syndicate: Annual Thanksgiving Homecoming
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYACOUSTIC SYNDICATE Acoustic Syndicate is a musical institution. Since 1994, their unique blend of bluegrass instruments, rock sensibilities, and conscious songwriting has inspired a generation of musicians. Through 8 albums, thousands of performances, and tens-of-thousands of miles, Acoustic Syndicate has long been heralded as one of the important influences on the modern roots-music revival. Always a family affair, the band is fronted by Steve McMurry on guitar and vocals, and his cousin Bryon McMurry on banjo, guitar, and vocals. Their signature three-part blood harmony is rounded out by Bryon’s brother Fitz on drums and vocals. Multi-instrumentalist Jay Sanders holds down the bass with deep pocket and style. “Their modern take on traditional bluegrass and rock values culminates in a glimmering, driving sound rich with acoustic textures and glowing vocals,” said Paul Kerr, of JamBase. If there was ever a band that could capture the universal truths of life from the roots up, it’s Acoustic Syndicate.
