Jeremie Albino
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYJEREMIE ALBINO Jeremie Albino’s grainy ballads are inflected with a joyous tenor that has found him a distinct space in the world of Americana, folk, blues, and country. Reimagining the image of the lonesome wanderer, his music is rooted in the instant when everyone in a room experiences the same moment in a multitude of different ways—embodying solitude and connection all at once. Starting out playing late night gig slots, Jeremie’s rigour has landed him a blossoming touring career. Garnering attention from the community and press alike, he’s heralded as “a true resurgence of the most authentic blues brought to life through the eyes of a modern and young, but old-soul artist ” (American Songwriter) and “the next in line of emotive band leaders that project soul and directness atop a head turning sound” (Glide Magazine). His forthcoming album, Tears You Hide (2023), produced by Jeremie’s long time collaborator and manager Crispin Day, is a memento to family, resilience, and the road ahead. Three years in the making, the rickety footstomping, and lilting stories inherent to Albino’s sound remains, yet the narrative has shifted slightly. Tears You Hide troubles the romanticization of the past by cherishing the present, stringing a narrative where connection, resolve, and vulnerability are distilled in an unfiltered amount of gratitude.CLINT ROBERTS (of Holler Choir) Led by the lyrical craftsmanship of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Clint Roberts, the distinctly Appalachian, old-time sound of Asheville’s Holler Choir combines haunting harmonies, stirring string compositions, and heart-wrenching ballads, yet hardly conforms to a stereotypical genre. Call it a confluence of old-time, Americana, and bluegrass, but, by its own exceptional design, the sound and atmosphere of Holler Choir are singular. Robert’s wordcraft and explosive vocal range is met with the dulcet clawhammer banjo plucking of long-time collaborator Helena Rose and the sturdy timekeeping of upright bassist Norbert McGettigan. With a rotating cast of gifted musicians featured on Holler Choir’s recordings and electrifying live performances, it’s no wonder they are the band to watch in 2023. The band’s inception began when recording Robert’s 2022 solo release, entitled “Mountain Air”. That fortuitous collaboration of gifted roots musicians at Asheville’s Crossroads Studios proved to be the genesis of an unmistakable new sound built on that shared experience. Produced by Grammy award-winning multi-instrumentalist, Michael Ashworth, of The Steep Canyon Rangers, the five-song EP lit the fuse and Holler Choir was well on its way to delight audiences throughout the southeast and beyond. According to Roberts “Holler Choir” could be a double entendre. A choir that hollers, or a choir from the hollers of western North Carolina. What their sound and vision exude leaves the meaning up to you.
The Nth Power
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYTHE NTH POWER The Nth Power believes in the healing power of music. This all-pro alignment of sharp and seasoned musical vets delivers a transcendent blend of soul, funk, rock and rhythm and blues with multi-part vocal harmonies and songs that inspire audiences to dance, groove, make love or just stand there with goose bumps. The band’s electric live performances have been flooring audiences ever since the group formed in New Orleans during an impromptu jam during Jazzfest nearly a decade ago. After an EP, studio album and two live albums, the band returned in 2021 in support of their second full-length studio release, Reverence, which was featured on the first-round nominations ballot for the 2022 Grammy Awards.The Nth Power hails from diverse musical backgrounds, races and creeds, but the universal language of love and its power to change lives is the thread that binds them. The trio features drummer Nikki Glaspie, whose credentials include Beyonce, Maceo Parker, Dumpstaphunk and countless more; guitarist and lead vocalist Nick Cassarino, known best for his previous work with Jennifer Hartswick and Big Daddy Kane; and bassist Nate Edgar of reggae giant John Brown’s Body. “It’s my dream team,” said Glaspie, “each one of us is a songwriter, so when we get together, everything becomes that much stronger.” Beyond raw skill, however, Glaspie cites a deep spiritual connection as the glue that binds them together. “Music is what brought us together, but it’s the spiritual bond that makes us play so in touch with each other,” she explained.The Nth Power’s inspirational sets have floored audiences at music festivals like Electric Forest, High Sierra, Peachfest, North Coast Music Festival and Hulaween. They maintain New Orleans as their spiritual home, and the celebratory essence of that city’s music culture is audible in each performance – garnering high profile festival appearances and national acclaim from outlets like Relix, Modern Drummer, Huffington Post, Glide, Consequence, Okayplayer and Sirius XM. Simply put, there is something pretty magical happening in this band, and they’re only just getting started. “Were going as far as you can go on the planet Earth and playing music,” explains Glaspie, “I don’t know how many times we’ve said it, we are so blessed.”
OUTPOST: The Loudes
– FREE SHOW- ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEThe LoudesEclectic rock band formed 4 years ago in Asheville, NC. Comprising of Anthony Preston on lead vox/rhythm guitar, Glen Case on lead guitar, Sam Barker on bass, and Tyler Matthews on drums, they have a unique style, taking influence from 80s alternative rock. The band is well-established on the local music scene, playing regularly at places such as the Joint Next Door, The Dugout Sports Bar And Grill, and Sweeten Creek Brewing.
OUTPOST: Foundation Fundraiser Mixtape
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEWe’re excited to announce the FOUNDATION DIY Skatepark fundraiser being held at the Outpost on June 3rd with doors opening at 5:30 pm and the show starting at 6 pm. All proceeds are going to benefit the Asheville Skate Foundation nonprofit and the FOUNDATION DIY in the River Arts District. Twin Suns, Toadhand, and Powder Horns
Trash Panda + Hotel Fiction
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYTRASH PANDATrash Panda began in 2015 as the pet recording project of songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Patrick Taylor (AKA Lazuli Vane), expanding into a duo then a trio in 2016. Pulling from influences as wide as neopsychedelia, soul, indie rock and pop music, the band considers themselves somewhat postgenre. Darlings of the indie scene, Trash Panda tapped into both the perils of modern dating and the existential questions of dark nights of the soul. Their 2016 EP Off features crowd-favorites “Aging Out of the 20th Century,” “Off,” and “Check Please.” Trash Panda’s 2018 album The Starclimber made a splash with tongue-in-cheek banger “Atlanta Girls” and the psychedelic groove of “Heartbreak Pulsar.” After the album the band went on hiatus and pursued other projects, emerging four years later in 2022 with several new members, releasing four singles “Things Will Never Change,” “Doin’ Fine Today,” “STARHEART,” and “Made of Love,” which are quickly gaining attention, featured on more than 10 of Spotify’s editorial playlists. “Doin’ Fine Today” has seen radio play in France. In Trash Panda’s first wave, only two years of frenzied creativity, the band made a regional splash touring small and midsized venues. Then, during its four year hiatus, the band reached a certain level of worldwide cult status with passionate fans spanning the globe. Autumn of 2022 brought the band their first nationwide tour as support for Ceramic Animal. Trash Panda plans to release their second full length album, PANDAMONIUM, on April 28, 2023, coinciding with their first national headlining tour in the May and June.HOTEL FICTIONHotel Fiction is an Athens, Georgia-based band comprised of Jade Long and Jessica Thompson. Both women have been playing music for over ten years and began writing, performing, and playing together in January 2019. In August of that year, Hotel Fiction released their debut single “Astronaut Kids” which received a warm welcome from the indie scene, and went on to amass over 2 million global streams.Hotel Fiction’s sound has often been described as genre-fluid, with indie, pop and rock influences. With Jade’s dynamic vocals and piano, and Jessica’s complementary lead guitar and harmonies, the two create a sound that invites listeners to settle in and stay a while. For Hotel Fiction, the no vacancy sign is never illuminated, everyone is accommodated here.During quarantine, the two finished recording their debut album Soft Focus which was released in the fall of 2021. The project was met with praise from Atwood Magazine, Early Rising, A1234, and We Are the Guard, and was placed on Spotify editorial lists Fresh Finds and Fresh Finds Rock, where it spent eight weeks straight.Most recently, Hotel Fiction has supported Beach Fossils, Adam Melchor, flipturn and The Brooke and The Bluff. The band released their new EP Enjoy Your Stay on October 28, 2022.
PATIO: QuickChester
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVEDQUICKCHESTER Paul Quick and Mark Chester began playing music together sometime around 2010. By 2012 they were playing around Asheville, NC as a duo called “QuickChester.” During that time they began to play original songs penned by Chester. In 2018, QuickChester began working on their first album, “Cocoon” which they released in February of 2019 with CD release shows at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC, and The Vista Room in Atlanta, GA. The album featured Kate Barber on flute, and Atlanta musicians Darren Goot on drums, Daniel Wytanis on trombone, and Chris Suarez on Saxophone. In 2020, as with most musicians, Covid brought about changes for the band. Mark and Paul continued to hone their original songs, and a long list of covers by classic rock artists. In the fall of 2022 three new players joined the group: Kyley Byrd, vocals and flute, Stu Way on drums and Chris Leonard on bass. This opened up a myriad of musical possibilities as they began to expand their song list with new originals and covers. Today, the QuickChester Band is performing a wide variety of musical styles featuring more than 30 original tunes, as well as music from classic artists including The Beatles, The Byrds, The Band, Eric Clapton, JJ Cale, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Little Feat, Pink Floyd, The Derek Trucks Band, Neil Young, Gillian Welch, and many more.
Rah Digga & Sa-Roc
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYRAH DIGGA Rah Digga (born Rashia Fisher) is an american rapper, writer, actress, and activist. Well known as a long time member fo the Flipmode Squad, a Hip Hop group led by Busta Rhymes, she parted ways amicably with the group in 2007 and continued to have a prosperous solo career. She has been called “one of rap’s most prominent women MC’s” by Allmusic and has been deemed “one of Hip Hop’s most skilled female MC’s” in the book How to Rap. You can catch her on the weekly podcast she hosts with Lord Jamar titled the “Yanadameen Godcast”. Rah Digga is a resident of Newark, NJ. Early on, Rah Digga was a member of the Outsidaz, a group that included Eminem. She went on to join Flipmode Squad after being handpicked by Q-Tip fro A Tribe Called Quest where he spotted her performing eight months pregnant at a Lyricist Lounge showcase. After recording a series of projects with her new crew, Rah went on to achieve success in Hollywood making movies including Joel Silver’s blockbuster sci-fi hit “Thirteen Ghosts” and MTV Hip Hopera “Carmen” starring Beyonce. After a nice stint on the west coast, she came back to Newark to pursue her true passion by combining her first and second loves, music and working with kids. SA-ROC Sa-Roc is arguably one of the most vibrant MCs in the world today. Her crisp articulation, fiery delivery, and her elevated and insightful lyricism have often placed her within the same conversation as some of Hip Hop’s most notable artists. Once dubbed by Okayplayer as “one of the most formidable microphone mavens in the game,” and recently heralded by NPR as “a modern day griot whose aura radiates calm in a world of chaos,” she is an artist for a socially conscious generation. Sa-Roc grew up in Southeast D.C. at the height of the crack era, with neighborhoods plagued by poverty and disaffection. Her early experiences shaped her understanding of the world around her, deepened her emotional sensitivity and cemented a social consciousness that would later feature heavily within her work. She was born three-months premature and didn’t make a sound during the first fourteen months of her life. This struggle to find a voice—both literally and creatively—would later be critical in shaping her lyrical expression.In 2020, Sa-Roc embarked on the national A Black Woman Created This Tour with rapper Rapsody and performed on NPR’s world-renowned Tiny Desk series, leading viewers to describe her as simply “the truth” and “the best lyricist in recent times.” Shortly thereafter, she released her newest project, The Sharecropper’s Daughter, the title of which pays homage to her father’s experience growing up sharecropping tobacco. The album is, in her own words, “a sonic reflection on the generational inheritance of trauma and triumph that shapes our humanity and influences the way we see the world.” Following a warm critical reception, Sa-Roc returned with a deluxe version of the album in 2021, featuring the addition of six powerful new songs including the sagely affirming “Wild Seeds” and the poignant closer, “The Rebirth”, a transcendent collaboration with the late MF DOOM. At a time where people all around the globe are calling for social change, Sa-Roc is an MC whose energy and conscious lyrics are poised to shake up the rap game and remind us all that Hip Hop was always about giving a voice to the people.
PATIO: The Two Tracks
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVEDTHE TWO TRACKS American Songwriter has this to say about The Two Tracks: “They avoid many of the cliches and gimmicks that have grown common in the Americana world while still championing a natural, Earth-grown sound. To hear an acoustic quartet reach a level of dynamic and thematic intensity like The Two Tracks do is an immeasurably rewarding experience. It’s pure musicianship, it’s pure excellence, it’s pure Americana.” Husband and wife Julie and Dave Huebner write songs that traverse the male and female perspective with emotional and natural images of rural American life. The band cares about lyrics, story, the power of the song as much as the music itself, and every arrangement is designed to fully highlight that direct connection between the song and the listener. Hailing from the eastern side of the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming, the band has traversed the country bringing their joyful, unique sound to stages big and small, including NewWestFest (CO), Deadwood Jam (SD), Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival (CA), MeadowGrass (CO), Albino Skunk Music Festival (SC), Red Ants Pants Music Festival (MT), Levitt Sioux Falls (SD), LevittAMP Green Bay (WI), Ashley for the Arts (WI), Beartrap Summer Festival (WY), Sioux River Folk Festival (SD), Music on the Mothership (NM), Oystergrass (WY), and The LAWN (CO), to name a few, and opened for artists such as Orville Peck, Eilen Jewell, Kitchen Dwellers, Black Lillies, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades and more. They recently completed their first international trip, traveling to Dubai for performances at the World Expo. Julie’s driving rhythm guitar, on-stage enthusiasm and vocal prowess dance perfectly with Dave’s rich voice and unique cello playing, adding a layer of surprise to the band’s sound. This is complemented wonderfully by the four part harmonies, and rock solid groove filled out by Taylor Phillps on bass and Fernando Serna on drums. All seasoned musicians and good friends, they have knit their passions into a tight band family, and it comes across in their albums and on stage. Their latest Cheers to Solitude, was one of the last records made at The Butcher Shoppe in Nashville with Grammy winning engineer Sean Sullivan (Sturgill Simpson, Travelin’ McCourys), and was produced by Will Kimbrough (Todd Snider, Rodney Crowell) and mixed by Grammy winner Trina Shoemaker (Tanya Tucker, Sheryl Crow), spending several weeks on the Top 40 Americana Radio Chart, and the Top 10 Alt-Country Specialty Chart. “One of those consummate Americana albums…the songs just roll along with melodies dovetailing into sublime playing, wonderful harmonies and strong songwriting. There’s a direct line from the songwriters to the listeners with just the right amount of production and texture to make them dance on the surface and slide deep into the soul.” – Post to Wire
AJJ
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYAJJAJJ frontman Sean Bonnette can summarize the band’s new album, Good Luck Everybody, in a single sentence: “Sonically, it’s our least punk record, and lyrically, it’s our most punk record.”And indeed, Good Luck Everybody (January 17, 2020), the Arizona band’s seventh album, stands out in their already diverse catalog. While still rooted in the folk-punk sound AJJ has become known for, the album is unafraid to delve into new territories that test the limits of what the band is capable of. “I think it explores some of the weirder sides of AJJ, the more experimental leanings that we’ve had in the past,” says bassist Ben Gallaty. Good Luck Everybody draws from a wealth of sonic inspirations, from Laurel Canyon folk-rock of the 60s and 70s to avant garde artists like Suicide, as well as some orchestral pop. There is even a piano ballad, the tragic “No Justice, No Peace, No Hope.”Lyrically, Good Luck Everybody is a change of pace from the idiosyncratic songwriting style Bonnette has honed over more than 15 years fronting AJJ. It still features his wonderfully weird turns of phrase and oddball word pairings, but this time, his thematic lens is more directly focused on the inescapable atrocities of the world around him. Longtime fans will recognize the album’s social commentary as a return to their 2011 release, Knife Man, but this time it’s fueled by a more radical urgency.“I usually try for a timeless effect in songwriting, so that you can hear a song and generally not think about the context under which it was written,” says Bonnette. “But for this one, I was trying to write, and all the bad political shit just kept invading my brain and preventing me from writing that way. So I decided to fully embrace it and exorcise that demon.”Much like Woody Guthrie and Phil Ochs pulled their songs straight from newspaper headlines, Good Luck Everybody feels like a long scroll through social media feeds on a particularly volatile day.with special guests….OPEN MIKE EAGLESAD PARKFOOT OX
PATIO: Vince Junior Band
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVEDVINCE JUNIOR BAND “Vince Junior Band makes music that we’d like to hear when we go out to wind down, dance, or throw a few back,” says guitarist and singer Vince Junior of Vince Junior Band. “I love that Muscle Shoals sound of bass, drums, Fender Rhodes, and a Fender guitar. Simple, soulful, and funky. We just try to make that sound our own” Vince Junior Band has been together since 2014, playing around the Asheville area. “I think we have a unique blend of genres. You’ll hear the flavors of blues, funk, Louisiana, and Soul, coupled with some unusual topics.” Indeed, at a recent Vince Junior Band show, the audience heard a surf version of a Jimi Hendrix song, an original song about a 69 Camaro, and another original tune that could double as a pasta recipe. And surprisingly, they all sound like they belong together. “I try to write about topics that I don’t hear people write about,” says Junior. “The hardships of parenting, getting older, working all day and pursuing the dream with little fuel left.” Vince Junior does have some credentials under his belt. He’s shared the stage with Robert Cray and Paul Geremia, won a Parents’ Choice award for his CD of children’s music, and was a finalist in the Cape Fear Blues Competition. With a voice that some have compared to Tom Waits and Greg Brown, Vince Junior has some pretty impressive guitar skills. “I’ve always played with my fingers, and with a Stratocaster through a tube amp, that can get a pretty sweet sound,” says Junior. “And with this new band, I’m working on bringing in some of that Steve Cropper, Cornell Dupree, and James Burton styles.” The band is rounded out by Noah Pitts on keyboards. “He can get a groove going that just makes the sound so soulful,” says Junior. “He finds these really interesting riffs that just make the song sound familiar and new at the same time. Sort of like new shoes that feel already broken in.” The rhythm section of Robert George and Wayne Kirby is tight, simple but interesting. “We work hard on getting really cohesive arrangements. This is not a band that just jams to three chords. Every measure, every note, every lyric has to serve the groove and melody of the song. We all are constantly trying to make the arrangements unique and swinging so hard you’d have to get up and dance,” says Junior.