PATIO SHOW: Darby Wilcox
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING (FIRST COME FIRST SERVED)DARBY WILCOXStunning. Incisive. Heartbreaking. These are words that jump to mind when describing singer-songwriter and Mayor of Babetown, Darby Wilcox, whose powerful and commanding presence leaves her audiences captivated, charmed, and fascinated. With the dual powers of her tenderness and ferocity, she makes you feel as if you have been given a gift; a precious glimpse into the deepest depths of her secret soul. Her songs are places you’ve been before. They are pain. They are joy. They are honesty. They are your story through her eyes. It is this unadulterated vulnerability and strength in honesty that leaves Darby’s audiences with the feeling that ‘this too shall pass and in the morning I will try again,’ empowered, inspired, and likely misty-eyed. You can find Darby Wilcox in a plethora of venerable listening rooms, patios, and galleries throughout the Southeast, and you can find her music on any streaming platform where music is available.
I Draw Slow
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEI DRAW SLOW Critically acclaimed roots five piece I Draw Slow are coming back to the US to launch their fifth and most exciting album to date. The band have consistently redefined roots music over four celebrated albums: their last cut, Turn Your Face to the Sun, reached number 1 in the Irish Independent Chart. Their songs are streamed in the millions worldwide and the band are in tour demand in the US, UK and across Europe. Their distinctive music has been licenced for film, TV and advertising and is widely covered and recorded by other artists. The band recently appeared in a major Kerrygold butter commercial which featured one of their songs, Swans. They are also known for their high production videos featuring actors such as Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) and award winning directors Hugh O’Conor (Three Musketeers) and Ronan Fox. I Draw Slow is helmed by siblings Dave and Louise Holden and is signed to Nashville label Compass Records, a leading independent US label that nurtures and celebrates roots and folk music. I Draw Slow write unique songs that instil love and loyalty in their supporters. Fans regularly travel hundreds of miles to see their dynamic, emotionally-charged performances that captivate audiences with exquisite balladry, then bring them to their feet with high energy, bass heavy dance trad. Their new album moves once again into new roots territory, employing traditional string instruments to deliver contemporary themes and alt-folk grooves. I Draw Slow have fully established themselves on the North American acoustic music scene, touring the U.S. and Canada multiple times a year and appearing regularly at some of the US’s biggest and most iconic roots festivals including Pickathon, Merlefest and Grey Fox. Locked down for the last two years they have completed their most ambitious album to date, to be released on Compass Records on September 9 2022.
Phuncle Sam at The Outpost
– ALL AGES- THE OUTPOST (521 AMBOY RD)- $10 ADVANCE // $12 DAY OF SHOWPHUNCLE SAMPhuncle Sam is Asheville’s own Dead-Centric “jam band”. Since their formation in 2004, Phuncle Sam has been firmly rooted in musical exploration. The band serves up inventive interpretations of Jerry Garcia, Grateful Dead and many others. They have built up a faithful following by using an approach that respects the improvisational traditions of The Grateful Dead, while exploring what can happen when individual band members bring their unique influences and interpretations into the mix.
Clint Roberts w/ Descolada at The Outpost
– ALL AGES- THE OUTPOST (521 AMBOY RD)- $10 ADVANCE // $12 DAY OF SHOWCLINT ROBERTSThe 5-song EP, Holler Choir, is Roberts’ most impressive project to date. Relying heavily on vocal performance and the use of Appalachian tonalities, it was recorded in Asheville, N.C., and produced by Michael Ashworth of the Grammy Award Winning Steep Canyon Rangers. “I see this EP as a shift towards my strengths, which is the human voice and mountain music,” says Roberts. His experiences and influences from growing up in Western N.C. near the Pisgah Forest bleeds into every track on Holler Choir. “The instruments played are ‘old familiar friends’ to me. I know how to arrange them in a way that feels very authentic.” Keeping with the thread of authenticity, Roberts (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo, harmonica) carefully selected all fellow North Carolina musicians to accompany him on the project; Michael Ashworth (stand up bass, drums), Julian Pinelli (fiddle), Ryan Stigmon (harmony vocals, dobro, acoustic guitar, pedal steel), Helena Rose (harmony vocals, banjo), and Colton Nelson (harmony vocals).DESCOLADADescolada is the musical child of Asheville, North Carolina based singer-songwriter Colton Ray Nelson. Descolada’s sound treads the line between Country & Folk. The sounds of pedal steel, banjo, organ and fiddle are weaved into a bed of authentic, good ol’ Country vibes, with Colton’s sullen vocals taking listeners through a collection of heartfelt stories.While many things in Colton’s life have changed, music has always been that one, grounding constant. After attempting college, and dabbling with a professional job, Colton failed to find meaning or purpose in much other than music. In 2017, a tragic motorcycle accident resulting in the passing of his brother led him down the path of pursuing music full time.As Descolada, Colton released his debut record ‘Big Dam Foolishness’ in September 2021. It was recorded by Garrett Langebartels of Naptime Recordings in Indianapolis, Indiana. Big Dam Foolishness touches on themes of family, grief and loss, with an array of traditional instrumentation used to get his brand of melancholia across.
Cordovas at The Outpost
– ALL AGES- THE OUTPOST (521 AMBOY RD)- $12 ADVANCE // $15 DAY OF SHOWCORDOVAS The latest full-length from Cordovas, Destiny Hotel is a work of wild poetry and wide-eyed abandon, set to a glorious collision of folk and country and groove-heavy rock-and-roll. In a major creative milestone for the Tennessee-based band—vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Joe Firstman, keyboardist Sevans Henderson, guitarist/vocalist Lucca Soria and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Toby Weaver—the album harnesses the freewheeling energy of their live show more fully than ever, all while lifting their songwriting to a whole new level of sophistication. The result is a batch of songs that ruminate and rhapsodize with equal intensity, inviting endless celebration on the way to transcendence. Recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Rick Parker (Lord Huron, Beck, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club), Destiny Hotel expands on the harmony-soaked roots rock of Cordovas’ ATO Records debut That Santa Fe Channel, a 2018 release that earned abundant praise from outlets like Rolling Stone and NPR Music. Before heading to L.A., Cordovas spent over three months in their second homebase of Todos Santos (an artist community in Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula), sketching dozens of songs partly sparked from their voracious reading of authors like mythologist Joseph Campbell, poet/novelist Rainer Maria Rilke, and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle. And when it came time for the recording sessions—a frenetic seven-day stretch squeezed in just before stay-at-home orders took effect in response to the global pandemic—the band methodically eliminated any lyrics they deemed inconsequential. “We wanted to strike the term ‘want’ from our music—to get rid of all the ‘Baby, baby, baby, I want this, I want that,’ and create something more useful,” says Firstman. “We needed to make sure these were songs we’d be proud to sing forever.” But while Destiny Hotel unfolds in untold revelations on fear and ego and self-liberation, Cordovas offer up that insight without ever slipping into didacticism. In fact, much of the album radiates utter elation, each moment echoing Cordovas’ band-of-brothers kinship and extraordinary closeness: when they’re not touring the world, taking the stage at leading festivals like Stagecoach, Newport Folk and Pickathon, or hosting their own Tropic of Cancer Concert Series down in Todos Santos, Cordovas spend much of their time practicing in the barn at their communal farm home just outside Nashville. “I can’t imagine that many bands rehearse more than we do,” says Firstman, whose wife and young child also live on the farm. “We’re all here together in this wonderful space, and we’re pretty good about never taking it for granted.”
Tim O’Brien with Jan Fabricius
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLETIM O’BRIEN WITH JAN FABRICUS Multi Grammy winner and multi instrumentalist Tim O’Brien has traveled the world and delighted audiences since 1975 with his warm vocals, string wizardry, and heartfelt original songs. His latest recording “He Walked On” maps a pathway through today’s world. In duet with his wife Jan Fabricius on mandolin and vocals, you can expect rootsy acoustic instrumentation and sweet harmony singing, interspersed with O’Brien’s self deprecating humor.PAUL BURCHPaul Burch’s thoroughly modern yet instantly classic songs have attracted fans and collaborators from Rock to Bluegrass inspiring Pop Matters to call him “one of the finest contemporary roots performers, not to mention one of the best damn songwriters, operating today.” Over a career of a dozen albums, Burch’s wide vision of American music has drawn together what for other artists would seem contradictory colleagues. Whether it’s taking part in First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move program with Doug E. Fresh at the White House or writing a one-of-a-kind opera inspired by Jimmie Rodgers (Meridian Rising), Burch’s work reveals a punk rock ethic for dismantling orthodoxy while forging deep connections everywhere.
Pixiebilly at The Outpost
– ALL AGES- THE OUTPOST (521 AMBOY RD)- FREE / $10 SUGGESTED DONATION AT DOORPIXIEBILLYPixiebilly is a musical duo made up of Miriam Allen on violin, guitar, vocals & percussion and Laura Blackley on guitar and vocals. Blackley, front woman of Laura Blackley & the Wildflowers, and Allen, front woman of Miriam & the Passionistas, started playing together at Farmer’s Markets in and around their hometown of Asheville, NC and soon had people asking them to come play their wineries, breweries, house concerts and rooftop parties. Pixiebilly plays rock, folk, classic country and blues (and we have a weakness for cheesy pop songs too). Strong musicianship and powerful harmonies.
PILE “Dripping” 10 Year Anniversary Tour at French Broad River Brewery
– AT FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY- ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYPILEPile is from Boston, Massachusetts. Started as a solo project by Rick Maguire back in 2007, Pile released ‘Demonstration,’ a 10 song demo and ‘Jerk Routine’ in 2008 before expanding their line-up. Wanting to be able to tour on the material with a band, Maguire attempted to find some other players. After some shuffling, the band found a cohesive line-up with Kris Kuss (drums), Matt Becker (guitar), Matt Connery (bass) and Maguire (guitar, vocals). In the eight years since, Pile has released several acclaimed albums, ‘Magic isn’t Real’ (2010), ‘Dripping’ (2012), ‘You’re Better Than This’ (2015), and “A Hairshirt of Purpose’ (2017), in addition to two highly sought after EP’s and the ‘Odds and Ends’ (2018) collection. Becker and Connery left the band in 2018 and Chappy Hull (guitar) and Alex Molini (bass) joined. They released their most recent album, “Green and Gray,” in May of 2019. Since coming together as a full band in 2009, Pile have toured as much as their lives collectively allow, playing nearly 1000 shows spread out over the US, Canada, the UK and Europe.MANEKAManeka’s debut LP is a release that attempts to encapsulate the experience of one of the more distinct and multifaceted performers currently making guitar music. That experience is a deep and varied one, and one that is influenced by McKnight’s unique cultural background in a number of ways. Raised in the DC area to a black father and a mother of Chinese and Pakistani descent, McKnight first fell in love with rap and hip hop in his early teens, but was influenced by his older brother, a fan of early ‘90s rock bands like Sonic Youth and Nirvana, and his father’s passion for jazz guitar playing, which McKnight went on to study at Berklee School of Music in Boston. His interests have remained omnivorous, but throughout his life and musical career McKnight has felt as though his musical interests have been consistently policed along racial lines.“If you’re into rock music and you’re black then people on all sides will say you’re trying to be white or you talk white,” McKnight says. “What does that even mean? That will take over your identity in a big way. Suddenly just because I’m interested in something else that erases all of the other stuff that I’m into. It’s an uncomfortable thing that I shouldn’t have to deal with but that I deal with any way. I’m here and I listen to some music that some white people listen to but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know who I am, or that I’ve erased this other part of me.”
Dylan LeBlanc at French Broad River Brewery
– AT FRENCH BROAD RIVER BREWERY- ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY (SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVED)DYLAN LEBLANC Dylan LeBlanc is engaging and soft-spoken in person, yet his striking new album Renegade reflects the power of his live show – one that he simply describes as rock ‘n’ roll. While the album was recorded in just 10 days and tracked in three, the intensity of the project marks the culmination of more than a decade on the road. “I like the idea of a renegade — branching off from society or from the structure of the way our world is designed,” he says of Renegade, his first album for ATO Records. “It felt right to call it that. I wanted to write about the crueler, nasty aspects of the world and life.” LeBlanc’s observations are woven through Renegade, though he’s more interested in telling the story than judging the characters for their decisions. The title track, he says, is “about troubled cocky young men charming young women who were intrigued by that way of life, only for it to end in tragedy. I saw this countless times growing up.” Later he writes about his personal efforts to become a stronger person in “Born Again,” after a childhood of being bullied for his long hair and an adolescence marked by insecurity, fear, and anger. LeBlanc considers the new album a departure from his past work, but only because there’s more of an edge to these sessions, recorded with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb in Nashville’s Studio A. This time around, LeBlanc primarily stayed plugged in for the sessions, giving Renegade a Tom Petty feel, charged with a streak of ‘80s rock. “I never really played electric guitar live in the studio like that,” he says. “I’m so used to the rhythmic, acoustic thing. It was just like playing in a show.” ANDREW SCOTCHIEThrough consistent heartfelt releases, year round touring and active charity work, Asheville NC native Andrew Scotchie is a celebrated creative force. His unique brand of rock n roll, blues and Americana has an unmatched sense of urgency and unifying social commentary.
Archers of Loaf
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYARCHERS OF LOAFAs sculpted shards of guitar—tumbling, tolling, squalling—shower the jittery bounce of a piano on opener “Human,” it’s obvious that Reason in Decline, Archers of Loaf’s first album in 24 years, will be more than a nostalgic, low-impact reboot. When they emerged from North Carolina’s ’90s indie-punk incubator, the Archers’ hurtling, sly, gloriously dissonant roar was a mythologized touchstone of slacker-era refusal. But this, the distilled shudder of “Human” (as in “It’s hard to be human / When only death can set you free”), is an entirely different noise. In fact, it’s a startling revelation. A few distinctions between 2022 Archers and the Clinton-era crew—whose “South Carolina” could be heard blaring out of Jordan Catalano’s car radio on ABC teen-angst epic My So-Called Life. First, guitarists Eric Bachmann and Eric Johnson, once headstrong smartasses inciting a series of artful pileups on the band’s four studio albums and EP, are now a fluidly complementary, sonically advanced unit. Notably, Johnson’s signature trebly lines peal clearly above the din instead of struggling to be heard. Second, singer-songwriter Bachmann, after throat surgery, relearned how to sing (this time from his diaphragm); as a result, he no longer howls like the angriest head cold on the Eastern Seaboard. And now, his lyrics balance righteous wrath with a complex tangle of adult perspective. He still spits bile, but it’s less likely to concern scene politics, music trends, or shady record labels thwarting the dreams of a young rock band.Bachmann puts it bluntly: “What I really think about going back to the Archers and doing a new record is that the three other members of this band are awesome. It’s not about responding to the past or whatever our bullshit legacy is. I just wanted to work with these guys because I knew the chemistry we had and that we still have. I knew that was rare. I didn’t care what it ended up sounding like.”Archers of Loaf’s first tour of duty ended after 1998’s White Trash Heroes. The album did not raise the band’s once touted commercial roof, and the members—Bachmann, Johnson, bassist Matt Gentling, and drummer Mark Price—were a bedraggled bunch of coulda-beens. Price was unable to play without extreme pain due to carpal tunnel syndrome. Bachmann itched to try a different musical approach. Everyone was tapped out in one way or another. Though the four remained good friends and convened for occasional reunion gigs (to support Merge’s 2011–12 album reissues, for instance), they never worked on new music. Gentling had joined Band of Horses; Johnson, now a criminal defense attorney in Asheville, North Carolina, contributed guitar to projects when he had the time. On his own, Bachmann thrived, releasing 11 albumsof atmospheric, folky rock/pop under his own name or “group” moniker Crooked Fingers. In recent years, he’d toured as a sideman/foil for torch-country star Neko Case. opener: WE HAVE IGNITION
