Drag Queens in Limousines: Celebrating 25 Years of Mary Gauthier
ALL AGES FULLY SEATED SHOW 6PM DOORS / 7PM SHOW LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE MARY GAUTHIER Drag queens in limousines, nuns in blue jeans, dreamers with big dreams, they all took me in.” – “Drag Queens in Limousines,” Mary Gauthier What out lesbian moves to Nashville at 40 to start a troubadour career? Who goes from playing open mics to playing the Newport Folk Festival in one years time? It’s been 25 years since Mary Gauthier, now revered songwriter, released her groundbreaking debut album Drag Queens in Limousines. Eighteen months after this record was released, the response was so incredible that she hung up her chef’s coat, moved to Nashville, and started to make her mark as an exciting new voice in the songwriting world. “Drag Queens in Limousines” is an anthem for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. It turns out, that’s all of us. For twenty-five years, Mary Gauthier has brought all kinds of folks from all walks of life together with her deeply personal, yet paradoxically universal work. By writing about what matters most to her, having the courage to sing what’s often too hard for us to say, and delivering the work authentically, Mary Gauthier opened the gate and widened the path that many who came after her have traveled. Join us in celebrating twenty-five years of the unique, courageous songs of Mary Gauthier. JAIMEE HARRIS The Next Queen of Americana-Folk” – NPR
The Local Honeys
ALL AGES STANDING ROOM ONLY THE LOCAL HONEYS Though many artists are defined by place, only a handful of artists come to define the places they’re from. The Local Honeys are Kentucky and Kentucky runs through their veins like an unbridled racehorse. When a master songsmith like Tom T Hall calls an artist “a great credit to a wonderful Kentucky tradition” it’s time to pull up a chair and pay attention. As it pertains to The Local Honeys he was right on the money. For almost a decade the duo (Montana Hobbs and Linda Jean Stokley) have been an integral part of the Kentucky musicscape. They’ve paid their dues, garnering countless accolades and accomplishments (tours with Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, praise from the New York Times) and have become the defining sound of real deal, honest-to-god Kentucky music. With their self-titled debut on La Honda Records, (home of some of today’s most gifted songwriters; Colter Wall, Riddy Arman, Vincent Neil Emerson) the duo have set forth on a journey to create something true to themselves while pushing the envelope within the traditions they hold dear. Carefully crafted vignettes of rural Kentucky soar above layers of deep grooves and rich tones masterfully curated by longtime mentor Jesse Wells, Grammy nominated producer and musician (Assistant Director at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State). “Jesse grew up with sisters. He was cut from the same cloth as us and we knew he would understand what we wanted to do.” What they ended up with is the most nuanced, moody, deep-holler sound they have captured to date. “This is the first time we’ve actively gotten to express who we are and where we’re from” says Linda Jean, “The songs on the album speak for us,” adds Montana “they’re about what we know, reflections of us as people. We realized we have the power to add our own narrative into Kentucky music.” Through that realization the two were able to uncover and dissect themes unique to Central Appalachia and in turn their own lives, capturing small moments in time that deliver thunderous results. The Local Honeys come from a long line of storytellers, a lineage of strong Kentucky women that aren’t afraid to tell it like it is and their self-titled La Honda debut is proof it’s in their bones. The duo have mastered the art of telling a good story. The narratives and landscapes they weave into song, the deep understanding and love they share for old time traditions, their undeniable charisma and charm, and their blatant disregard to follow the rules make it clear the duo is poised to become not only the defining voices of their home state of Kentucky but the defining voices of a new Appalachia.
Kristy Lee
ALL AGESSEATED SHOW (GA) “PAY WHAT YOU CAN” TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR THOSE FINANCIALLY IMPACTED BY HURRICANE HELENEKRISTY LEE Kristy’s career started in the early 2000’s with an exclusive deal through Target Stores across the U.S. releasing her 1st album, Lifescapes. She’s been touring the U.S. and overseas for the last 20+ years. Her latest release (Aug 2023), The Olive Tree, debuted at #1 on the iTunes blues charts. Kristy’s raw authenticity has captured the hearts of a loyal international fan base as well as some of music’s top names. She has toured and shared the stage with Leon Russell, Zac Brown Band, Indigo Girls, G. Love & Special Sauce, Jack Johnson, Jason Isbell, Sister Hazel and Imagine Dragons – to name a few. She has played some of the most prestigious music festivals in the world including BluesFest Australia, the Hangout Fest, 30A Songwriters Festival, Cayamo & The Rock Boat Festivals at Sea, and her own conception, the Unleashed Women’s Music Festival in Pensacola, Florida. Kristy also landed an original song, “One Night Romance” with G.Love & Special Sauce on the album, Sugar, featuring 60’s soul legend, Mary Clayton (The Rolling Stones, Gimme Shelter) – it is the ultimate incarnation of the “Dirt Road Soul” Kristy Lee has become known for. Her music transcends genres, lifts heavy spirits and promotes the healing that we all sometimes need. Her songs tend to be true stories of her own journey, her loved one’s struggles and accomplishments, and overall positive messages that the world can relate to – and needs to hear. Kristy’s unique style of music is the background music to all our lives.
Caitlin Krisko & The Broadcast (Album Release Show)
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY A NOTE FROM THE BAND: In an effort to best support and uplift our physically, emotionally, and financially impacted local community, we’re now offering discounted tickets (50% off) for our upcoming album release show at The Grey Eagle on Friday November 8th for those that need the relief. Full priced tickets are also still available for those unaffected by Hurricane Helene. We will also welcome anyone at the door on the night of the show free of charge. No one will be turned away as capacity allows. We love you, Asheville. CAITLIN KRISKO & THE BROADCAST After the unexpected death of her mother in 2023, ‘Blueprints’ is an introspective reflection on the waves of emotion that follow such a loss. Caitlin Krisko delivers soaring melodies while simultaneously pouring her soul into the center spotlight of the album. Gut wrenching ballads like “Haunted By You” performed to near perfection, sit comfortably next to groove heavy rock anthems like “Piece of You”. Blueprints puts the listener in the front seat for the Krisko experience as she turns to the music to capture her grief in songs like “Have To Say Goodbye” and “Blue Monday”. Uplifting the listener with songs like “Devil On Your Side” and “Operator”, her songs are celebrations with storytelling lyrics that take you for a full spectrum ride. Powerful drums, driving bass, and raw blues and rock guitar are hand squeezed into every nook and cranny of the album, delivering a saturated roots rocks experience done with a masterful and heartfelt touch. HUSTLE SOULS Hustle Souls, based in Asheville, NC, masterfully blend Retro-Soul, New Orleans Brass, and Americana into a unique and captivating sound. Lauded by American Blues Scene as a “generation-jumping mashup of new school second line funk with old school vintage soul,” and described by Bluestown Music as “intimate soul…with a Curtis Mayfield like warmth,” the band has earned a spot as one of Music Connection Magazine’s “Hot 100 Live Unsigned Artists & Bands.” DETECTIVE BLIND Detective Blind is a 3-sister indie rock band from Asheville composed of Montgomery (guitar/vocals), Andersen (drums), and Kittredge (bass). They have been rocking stages for several years performing their own music, which they continue to release on all streaming platforms. They also cover a wide variety of classics to current day favorites. The trio have tight harmonies, solid grooves, and a strong positive energy. Detective Blind has preformed in many states including New York, Montana, Tennessee, South Dakota, and of all over western North Carolina at countless breweries, and festivals, where they have gained a hardy local following.
An Evening With Carbon Leaf
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY 6PM DOORS / 7PM SHOW CARBON LEAF Carbon Leaf’s fifteenth studio album, Time is the Playground is both a call to action and an embrace of the moment. Marrying nostalgic storytelling to nuanced, folk-infused indie rock, the Richmond, Virginia band embroiders heartfelt melody and harmony with acoustic and electric instrumentation to create a 12-song rumination on time, love and personal growth that’s equal parts urgent epiphany and contented exhalation. “Everybody says people don’t listen to albums anymore,” mulled Carbon Leaf frontman Barry Privett, holed up in a coastal cottage. “So, the challenge for us was to make something that felt good to get through from beginning to end … to listen to like a story.” Originally formed as a college cover band in 1992 and with over 3,500 famously enthused live shows together, Carbon Leaf helped to define the aughts indie rock that they ultimately outgrew and outlasted. They first earned national recognition with “The Boxer,” a song that won the American Music Awards 2002 New Music Award and made Carbon Leaf the first unsigned band to perform before millions on the AMAs. “The Boxer” entered regular radio rotation, Carbon Leaf’s tours grew bigger and better, and within a couple of years they quit their day jobs and inked a record deal. The band’s fanbase snowballed, drawn to their infectious spirit of commitment, empathy, communion, and selfreliance – not to mention supremely crafted songs with ultra-relatable, thought-provoking lyrics. After a trio of charting albums for Vanguard Records, multiple songwriting awards and headlining shows, Carbon Leaf opted to return to the complete creative control of their indie roots. Guitarist Terry Clark, who co-founded the band with Privett and multi-instrumentalist Carter Gravatt, converted his garage into the band’s Two-Car Studio, where they’ve recorded releases for their own Constant Ivy imprint ever since. Carbon Leaf’s DIY spirit even extended to re-recording their three Vanguard albums in order to regain the rights. Due in September, Time is the Playground is Carbon Leaf’s first full-length album in a decade, during which they released two EPS and a 27-song live performance album and Blu-ray. Time is the Playground gathers the best of songs written, in fits and starts, over 15 years, alongside brand new ideas. Privett dusted off old demos and shut himself away for months to finish their stories, while also honing recent compositions. With Clark engineering, Carbon Leaf – completed by longtime bassist Jon Markel and drummer Jesse Humphrey – spent a year and a half recording and mixing the resulting songs. “Thinking about these disparate pieces of music, I began ruminating on time itself,” Privett recalled. “The band’s been together a long time. You mature a bit and see yourself in place on the timeline … rolling around the scenes of love and growth.” “I want what we create to resonate with ourselves, to the level that we want to play it for a long time to come, and where we want others to hear it and experience it,” Privett concluded.“Hopefully, listeners can glean the pieces from it that they identify with.” Time is the Playground will be accompanied by the tireless touring almost synonymous with Carbon Leaf, who’ve become a model for self-managing bands in the digital landscape.
Olive Klug
ALL AGES SEATED SHOW LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE OLIVE KLUG Olive Klug refuses to be put in a box. Working out who you are in front of an ever-growing audience is no small task, but one that the Portland-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter is up for and thriving. Olive graduated with a liberal arts degree shortly before the 2020 pandemic derailed their plans of pursuing a career in social work. Though they’d recorded and self-released the 2019 EP “Fire Alarm” from a childhood friend’s bedroom, up until early 2021, Olive categorized their music as either a hobby or a pipe dream, depending on who was asking. However, after being laid off of a teaching job in late 2020, Olive starting working as a barista and decided to commit all of their extra energy to an ever-growing community of fans online. Olive can’t help but be unapologetically themselves, something their community of fans (dubbed the “Klug Bugs” on Instagram and Discord) appreciate most about them. Their debut LP ranges from a playful Americana romp about “watching all the rules disintegrate” to folk-punk anthem “Coming of Age,” which somehow manages to reference both pop singer Taylor Swift and existential philosopher Kierkegaard in one song, to “Parched”‘s haunting modern ballad about a doomed relationship, to an indie rock closer about learning to take up space as a person with a marginalized identity. Through this no-holds-barred documentation of the struggles of their early adulthood, Klug embraces all their inner contradictions with reckless abandon. The album takes on the world with visceral and tactile images: it finds them falling in love with reckless abandon, haunted by the ghost of an old lover, waiting for fairies in the backyard of their childhood home. Olive’s work is optimistic, but not naive. Klug emerged into the scene in fraught times: for the folk landscape, for the country, for themself. By combining Golden Age folk references and contemporary narratives with ease, Olive Klug is a singular voice for the future of folk: honest, compelling, often unsure, but willing to try anyway. 2024 finds Olive in Nashville, attempting to stabilize after a 3-year whirlwind of viral niche internet-fame, nonstop touring, and music industry naïveté. Olive’s social work background grounds them in community, a word they keep coming back to when ego proves unfulfilling. After attending Folk Alliance International for the last two years, Olive is excited to solidify themselves as a fixture of the greater folk community and return to what inspires them the most about music; the catharsis and social change that is possible when people come together and share themselves through song. CREEKBED CARTER HOGAN For trans folksinger Creekbed Carter Hogan, everything good is made from the rotten stump of something else. It’s a theme they’ve become familiar with as they’ve made a life weaving stories of growing up religious around songs that pierce the soul, tickle the funny bone, and showcase a unique blend of self-taught folk picking and queer mayhem.
Chris Knight
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY CHRIS KNIGHT After 23 years as a recording artist, singer-songwriter Chris Knight remains boldly empowered to make music that always delivers the unflinching truth. In fact, the man raised in Slaughters, Kentucky uses a simple, direct barometer to regularly check his muse: “If I can’t believe myself, I won’t sing the song.” That brutally honest, no-frills philosophy fits his Americana-fueled, backwoods-grown merger of folk, country, and rock. It’s been at the backbone of nine studio albums, beginning with 1998’s acclaimed self-titled debut and traveling through scorchers such as the one-two punch of 2001’s A Pretty Good Guy and 2003’s The Jealous Kind, two demo-styled discs (2007’s The Trailer Tapes and 2009’s Trailer II), and the recent, electric guitar-fortified opus, 2019’s Almost Daylight. Because Knight’s music has always sat outside of the mainstream, onstage is where he makes his fans one show at a time. It is exactly where his searing tales of rural characters, fringe survivors, and tumultuous small-town existence find a captivated audience. A few edgy, raw gems that immediately come to mind are “It Ain’t Easy Being Me,” “Carla Came Home,” “I’m William Callahan,” and “Everybody’s Lonely Now,” the latter two from Almost Daylight. “I’ve written songs about a lot of different things going all the way back to my first record,” he says, “and some folks still think ‘somebody kills somebody’ is all I write about.” What Knight writes about is what he knows. He was raised in mining country, so it’s no surprise that he would earn a degree in agriculture from Western Kentucky University and then work as a mine reclamation inspector and then miner’s consultant. But eventually his passion for writing songs and playing guitar, both inspired by his musical hero, the late John Prine, led him to chronicle his surroundings in words and music. “I came from a big family and grew up in the woods six miles from two small towns, so there were a lot of stories,” he says. “There were always a lot of ideas to write about.”Those ideas have earned Knight praise from publications such as The New York Times (“the last of a dying breed…a taciturn loner with an acoustic guitar and a college degree”) and USA Today (“a storyteller in the best traditions of Mellencamp and Springsteen”), to name a few. Like his beloved Prine, whom Knight duets with on Prine’s chestnut “Mexican Home,” the cut that closes Almost Daylight, Knight fits comfortably in Texas honky-tonks, downtown Nashville venues, and cool Manhattan rock clubs. It’s no wonder that Knight has single-handedly scraped a reputation as one of America’s most uncompromising and respected singer-songwriters through 23 years and nine studio albums. He’s done this minus fanfare and artifice. The native son of Slaughters, Kentucky (population: 238) only sings songs he believes. He also speaks only when he has a potent message. “If I don’t have something worth saying, I’m not opening my mouth. I haven’t suited everybody, but every time I get a new fan it tells me I’m doing something right. I think all my records have set a precedent, if only for me at the very least. I just want people to think the latest one stands up to everything else I’ve done.” MIC HARRISON
Adeem the Artist
ALL AGESSEATED SHOW ADEEM THE ARTIST As they began working on a new batch of songs, Adeem the Artist was busy thinking about the way a lifetime of experiences can pile up in a person’s brain. “Traumatic events and warm events leave psychological imprints — there’s this pattern to it,” says the Knoxville, Tennessee-based performer. “Different moments and different impressions throughout our lives will ripple out and demand repeated engagement. They play out in little holidays that we celebrate over and over.” Those patterns and markers of time are a crucial thread running through Adeem’s new album Anniversary, due out May 3, 2024 via Thirty Tigers. Recorded live to tape over five days at The Butcher Shop (Nashville, TN) and produced by Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Frank Turner) with the master musicianship of Megan Coleman (Jenny Lewis and Allison Russell), Nelson Williams (Jake Blount), Ellen Angelico (Wheeler Walker Jr.), Jessye DeSilva, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Katie Pruitt, the 12-song collection is a stunning statement of empathy, humor, and deep introspection. The groundwork for Anniversary began in earnest after Adeem met Walker for coffee, having caught the producer’s attention with some spirited shitposting on social media. Adeem had been a fan since Walker’s solo album Sycamore Meadows, which they heard while living in the Syracuse, New York, area after high school. “I was absolutely obsessed,” they say. “I was a Christian worship pastor and having all these doubts. The religious questioning and soul searching Butch was doing on that record was so important for me.” Walker’s ability to blend sounds from classic to contemporary, commercial to experimental, gives Adeem license to play with a range of musical styles on Anniversary, while still remaining tethered to country and roots music. Fittingly, Anniversary also arrives on the date of Adeem’s marriage to their spouse Hannah, bringing with it a heightened sense of intimacy and urgency from a songwriter whose work is characterized by fearless, incisive lyric writing. “This one feels a lot more personal and earnest — a lot of it is very close to the chest,” Adeem says. “This record is a marker as well as a collection of individual markers. I’m saying, ‘This is who I am as an artist and this is the world I want to try to help create.’” SUG DANIELS Sug Daniels is a Delaware born, Philadelphia based, singer-songwriter, story teller, and producer who is using the tools around her to capture the emotions of an era. Daniels’ work is as colorful, vulnerable, and charismatic as her personality. She thoughtfully combines elements of folk, rock, and soul alternatives to create personal and tender music interlaced with messages of truth and positive change.
CANCELED: FREE PATIO SHOW: Jordan Smart
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE ***THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED*** JORDAN SMART “A gut punch of simple honesty” – Glide Magazine Jordan Smart is a folk singer based in Latonia, KY. Covering a broad range of subjects — from parental epiphanies and questionable lavatory visits, scathing political commentary and hitchhiking cross country, satirical talking blues to love, loss, grief and even pickles — Smart aims to have a song for every occasion. If he can’t make you laugh, cry, or at very least think, feel free to approach him for a refund.
Yarn Holiday Ball
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY YARN You might expect a band that calls itself Yarn to, naturally, tend to spin a yarn or two. “That’s what we do, we tell stories, live and in the studio, truth and fiction”,singer/songwriter Blake Christiana insists. “We don’t always opt for consistency. There’s a different vibe onstage from what comes through in our recordings. There’s a difference in every show as well, you never know what you’re going to get.” Yarn’s ability to persevere ought to come as no great surprise, especially for a band that spent two years honing their chops during a Monday night residency at the famed Kenny’s Castaway in New York’s Greenwich Village. In effect, it allowed them to rehearse onstage, mostly in front of audiences that often ranged in size from five to a hundred people on any given night. 10 studio albums followed — Yarn (2007), Empty Pockets (2008), Leftovers Part One (2009), Come On In (2010), Leftovers Part 2 (2011), Almost Home (2012), Shine the Light On (2013), This Is The Year (2016), and Lucky 13 parts 1 & 2 (2019). The band then took to the road, playing upwards of 170 shows a year and sharing stages with such superstars as Dwight Yoakam, Charlie Daniels, Railroad Earth, Marty Stuart, Allison Krauss, Leon Russell, Jim Lauderdale, Leftover Salmon, Amos Lee, The Lumineers and many more. They’ve driven nonstop, made countless radio station appearances, driven broken-down RVs and watched as their van caught fire. They’ve paid their dues and then some, looking forward even as they were forced to glance behind. Indeed, the accolades piled up quickly along the way. They have landed on the Grammy ballot 4 times, garnered nods from the Americana Music Association, placed top five on both Radio and Records and the AMA album charts, garnered airplay on Sirius XM, iTunes, Pandora, CNN, and CMT, been streamed millions of times on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon, and also accorded the “Download of the Day” from Rolling Stone. Shine the Light On found shared songwriting credits with John Oates (the Oates of Hall & Oates fame), and when audiences expressed their admiration, it brought the band a populist cult following of diehard devotees, popularly known as “the Yarmy.” It’s proof positive that the Brooklyn and Raleigh based band have made their mark, and in dealing with their emotions, scars and circumstances, they find themselves in a position to share those experiences with others who have juggled similar sentiments The beginning of the journey to these 2 albums began around April of 2022 when Blake booked a solo show at The Down Home in Johnson City, TN (a nod to Townes Van Zandt’s 1986 live show there and ultimate release) with the intention of making a live record. But he wanted it to be songs none of the fans and attendees had ever heard before. The problem was he hadn’t written most of them yet. He was at his crossroads, uninspired, bored, exhausted and fairly insecure about his entire career up to that point. But he got to work, and got more inspired with each new song he wrote. These songs all tell a story individually but they also tell a story as a whole, a songwriter and musician ready to dive deeper into the music and the art for a greater result that he believes most anyone can appreciate, relate to and enjoy.
