Horse Feathers
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY HORSE FEATHERS In 2026, Horse Feathers’ debut album, Words Are Dead, celebrates its 20th anniversary. Kill Rock Stars is set to release a deluxe reissue that will be completely remastered and pressed on an exclusive vinyl color. It will include a replica of their original six-song demo CD in the package, along with a deluxe foil-stamped LP jacket. To support the release, Horse Feathers’ current ensemble of Justin Ringle (guitar, vocals, banjo), Nathan Crockett (violin, saw), Halli Anderson of River Whyless (violin, vocals), Kati Claborn of Blind Pilot (banjo, vocals, clarinet), and Luke Ydstie also of Blind Pilot (bass, cello, vocals) faithfully recreate the mood of the original release with taut dynamics and sensitive arrangements. In the years following Words Are Dead, Horse Feathers quietly built a body of work defi ned by patience and evolution rather than reinvention. Records like House With No Home, Thistled Spring, and Cynic’s New Year expanded their sonic palette without abandoning the restraint that fi rst set them apart. By the time of Appreciation, the band had begun to open its sound outward, introducing richer arrangements and a subtle warmth that suggested growth without rupture. Through it all, Ringle remained a steady center, writing songs that favored emotional precision over spectacle. The reissue of Words Are Dead does not attempt to rewrite that history. Instead, it brings the origin point back into focus, offering a rare chance to hear where it all began while recognizing how far the project has traveled since. Revisiting the album now, with two decades of distance, reveals not just a beginning but a foundation. The same careful interplay, the same attention to space and tone, still anchors the band’s work today. In that sense, the reissue feels less like a retrospective and more like a continuation. A reminder that some records do not age so much as they wait for the right moment to be heard again.
NOW! Karaoke Band
ALL AGESSTANDING/SINGING ROOM ONLY! COME JOIN THE BAND! NOW! KARAOKE BAND This one’s for the night owls. The dreamers. The magical believers.This one is for the Nights. The Nights Of Wonder.Embrace the mystery of the hidden card. Sip from the goblet of illusion. Grasp the hare of life from the nape of its neck and pull slowly. Now Karaoke Band is bringing the magic on the road. And you know the magic words.Join us on the road this summer for NIGHTS OF WONDER! Coming to a city near you.
FREE SHOW – PATIO: Dave Desmelik with Laura Blackley
– FREE SHOW – ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE DAVE DESMELIK “Desmelik delivers. He is reliable. He is tenacious, steadfast, and solid. His music is earthy and elemental, unpretentious and observational, and when he’s performing, his head is in the song he is playing for you and the rest of the audience.” -ashevillestages.com Dave Desmelik is a singer-songwriter and instrumentalist whose musical focus is on original compositions. What attracts listeners to Desmelik’s tunes, old and new, is the element of authenticity incorporated in them. There is no sugar coating involved. His songs are not wrapped in false smiles, rather they are stark and open and tend to settle on the pulse of everyday life. An unclosed and evolving journal of thoughts set to music and melodies in prose and instrumental performance. If you listen to Dave Desmelik’s songs, whether lyrical or instrumental, you may become pleasantly fixed in the simplistic realness of them and if you hear Desmelik in a live setting you may realize that there are no tricks, just a genuine venture into the highs and lows of life. Laura Blackley Laura Blackley has been making music in Western North Carolina for several years. She’s a singer, songwriter and guitarist who specializes in country, blues and rock with an emphasis on songwriting. BPR News
PATIO SHOW: Julianna Jade
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE JULIANNA JADE Julianna Jade is an up and coming artist making waves with her angelic, ethereal voice. Her music feels like a spell, weaving light into every song. A lifelong artist, self-taught musician, and intuitive performer, Julianna channels both the beauty and ache of being alive into sonic worlds that shimmer with vulnerability and truth. Blending experimental pop and dreamy atmospheric indie, her music takes you to another world creating undeniable ripples in the air. Whether alone on stage or with her band, her presence leaves behind a special kind of magic. Locals have commented, “There is no other voice like Julianna in Asheville”. “Julianna is creating an aura with her performance – a performance that never feels performative. She is popping up everywhere now and we want to know more… Fiddle Man says don’t miss it.” Written by local press – Fiddle Man from Where Y’at? AVL Live Music With her debut single, 444, and more original music to be released soon, Julianna Jade is here to leave a mark on the world and she’s only just getting started.
PATIO SHOW: Oliver Sayani
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE OLIVER SAYANI Appalachian honky tonk, bluegrass and backwoods blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Oliver Sayani paints raw pictures with original songs, introspective stories and old time melodies with a dark and heavy twist forged deep in the mountains and polished on vast highways touring across the country. As influenced from the rock music of the past 50 years as the bluegrass and country of the past 100, he mixes styles into a unique blend that can be experienced in his debut album, “9 Kinds of Blue,” produced by Colter Wall guitarist Pat Lyons, releasing in 2026. Tour schedule at Oliversayani.com. Performed Direct Support for: Afroman, The Creekers, Hannah Dasher, Eddie 9V, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Dallas Wayne, Ted Russell Kamp, members of Exile & Little Texas
FREE PATIO SHOW: East Coast Dirt
– FREE SHOW – ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE- DONATIONS FOR THE ARTISTS ENCOURAGED! VENMO: @BRAD-BOUGHTON EAST COAST DIRTAfter a 4 year break, the core three members of East Coast Dirt have decided to reunite and play their blend of originals and covers for the first time as a trio. East Coast Dirt was founded in 2005, and its core trio solidified in 2007. For nearly a decade, primary songwriters Brad Boughton, Wilson Hawes and Will Little morphed through different lineups, playing countless shows throughout the Southeast. Now the band is returning to old haunts and new venues alike to give crowds a taste of old-school Asheville, NC with a new guitar-led sensibility. The ECD sound has been reshaped with original songs and choice covers ranging from jammy psychedelia to full-force rock. Look for East Coast Dirt’s new album, “Polarization”, now on Spotify and other streaming services.
PATIO SHOW: Jesse Fox & Drew White
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEJESSE FOX & DREW WHITE North Carolina–born singer-songwriter Jesse Fox is carving a space of his own in the modern Americana landscape. His upcoming album Magnolia (2026) captures the warmth and weight of Southern storytelling; songs that move between heartbreak, renewal, and quiet resilience. Even before its release, the record has surpassed 100,000 streams through early singles like “Leave” and “If I’m Warm,” which have resonated with listeners for their emotional depth and unguarded lyricism. Produced by longtime collaborator Phil Amalong, Magnolia features Emerson Swinford (Rod Stewart) on guitar, mixes by Audrey Whitfield, and contributions from a wide circle of North Carolina musicians. Blending folk intimacy, indie texture, and soulful craftsmanship, Magnolia stands as Fox’s most confident and cohesive work to date, a testament to his evolution as an artist and to the creative community that surrounds him. Drew White is a 28-year-old singer-songwriter and electric storyteller from Birmingham, Alabama, now rooted in Nashville, Tennessee. Shaped by the Gospel traditions and Rock ‘ n Roll grit of his hometown, White channels a sound that blends Y’ allternative Rock, Folk, and Americana into something both familiar and fresh. His music is anchored in community, self- reflection, and the spirit of storytelling, delivered with equal parts intimacy and energy.
PATIO SHOW: Carrie Morrison
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE CARRIE MORRISON Carrie Morrison is a popular Brevard, NC-based singer-songwriter known for her heartfelt lyrics, warm, expressive vocals, and piano-driven songs blending folk, Celtic, and rock influences. She has been voted in the top three in the keyboardist/pianist category in Mountain Xpress’s Best of WNC awards for three years running. Carrie performs both as a solo artist and with several bands and collaborations, including as a vocalist/keyboardist in The Andrew Thelston Band, supergroup Asheville Blues Women, duo with cellist/flutist JamieLeigh Bennett, called The Neverwhere Sisters. Her most recent albums, released in 2025, are “Balladeer, ” produced by Chris Rosser, and “The Crosswalk” (EP), recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.
FREE PATIO SHOW: The Nature Boys
– ALL AGES- FREE SHOW- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVETHE NATURE BOYS Hailing from the Appalachian musical stronghold of Asheville, NC, The Nature Boys are coming in hot with their brand of bluegrass. As veterans of the acoustic music scene, they are combining a deep love of traditional string band music with a refreshing catalog of original songs, dazzling fans with a certain je ne sais quoi that is both genuine and relatable. Formed in the summer of 2025, long time friends Jack, Jesse, and Nick found themselves once again living in the same town and ready to start a new musical project. These three had spent years touring across the world, often but not always in the same group. With a shared love of music, humor, and brotherhood, The Nature Boys was born in a way that can only be described as natural. Soon after getting the wheels rolling, they enlisted Asheville aces Coop and Korey, now forming one of Asheville’s premier 5-piece bluegrass bands, The Nature Boys. The band is currently performing regionally and is recording their debut album, to be released in late 2026.
PATIO SHOW: Cordovas
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE CORDOVAS Cordovas are an Americana rock band out of Nashville whose sound, equal parts soulful harmony, poetic craft, and cosmic improvisation, has long earned comparisons to The Band, Grateful Dead, and Crosby, Stills & Nash. But with their fifth studio album, Back to Life (out January 30, 2026, on Yep Roc Records), the group sharpens the edges of its identity: road- tested, deeply traditional in the ways that matter, and determined to be respected on its own terms. The band’s heartbeat lies between two places. In Todos Santos, Mexico, where Cordovas have lived, written, and built a small community of artists, the songs take shape in their most relaxed state, often amongst a circle of friends. Then it’s back to Nashville, where rehearsal, touring, and recording hammer those ideas into their final form. This cycle has defined the last three years of work, producing songs that are both varied and cohesive, each one revealing another side of the band’s range. At the center of Cordovas are songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Firstman and guitarist/vocalist Lucca Soria, partners in what they call a “musical friendship.” The new record is a testament to their growth not just as musicians but as people. “I’m extremely blessed,” Firstman says. “Everywhere I look is love, and I set it up that way. My whole life is designed around art, not around bills or phone calls. Everything is based on love and enthusiasm, and it radiates from there.” Soria frames it differently but with the same spirit of devotion: “People are at service to us, and we are at service to them. I am incentivized to do my best all of the time in the service of others. In Mexico, it’s also a community. Everyone has a role, and I want to do the best I can for the community.” That philosophy is embodied in the band’s communal compound in Todos Santos. Over the years, Cordovas have acquired five houses there—each designed by Firstman, each tailored to the people who live or pass through them. More than just residences, they function as creative havens: a space where friends, collaborators, and fellow travelers are invited in to write songs, make demos, stage impromptu shows, or simply live alongside the band in a shared rhythm of art and life. It’s not a retreat from the world but a way of reshaping it—an intentional community built around the belief that music thrives when it’s lived in, day after day, with others.