Bones Owens
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY 7PM DOORS / 8PM SHOW BONES OWENS Bones Owens is a genre bending artist who cut his teeth playing guitar in bands before stepping into the spotlight with his own raw, blues-infused sound. Raised in rural Missouri, he honed his craft in dive bars and clubs, blending gritty Southern rock with alternative and garage-style energy. His music is built on fuzzed-out riffs, driving rhythms, and anthemic hooks that feel equally at home on a backroad or a festival stage.
U.S. Girls
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY U.S. GIRLS Originally from Illinois, Meg Remy is established as one of the most acclaimed songwriters and performers to emerge from Toronto’s eclectic underground music scene where she currently lives. As the creative force behind the musical entity U.S. Girls, her celebrated discography spans 15 years from early experimental works released on the Siltbreeze label and includes three Polaris Prize shortlisted albums on 4AD: Half Free (2015), In A Poem Unlimited (2018), and Heavy Light (2020). All three albums also garnered Juno nominations for Best Alternative Album. Remy has toured extensively through Europe and North America, establishing a reputation for politically astute commentary and theatrical performances with her extended U.S. Girls band, leading her to be named the best live act of 2018 by Paste Magazine. During this time, she has maintained a visual arts practice, exhibited collage work and directed several music videos and other video art works including her short film Woman’s Advocate (2014), in which she also performed. Recently, Remy published her first book, a memoir called Begin By Telling (2021), and she also made her first foray into film-scoring this year, having been tapped for filmmaker (and fellow Torontonian) Grace Glowicki’s surreal horror-comedy Dead Lover (which world-premiered at Sundance Film Festival and featured at SXSW). As a platform and persona, U.S. Girls operates on a uniquely out-of-time wavelength, alternately wronged and rueful, classic but contemporary, bruised vignettes of poetic Americana through a feminist lens. Her most recent album, Bless This Mess (2023), marked both a divergence from and deepening of Remy’s songbook, more at peace with her restless truths and moods. New music is set to follow in 2025. FAUN FABLES Troubadours of animist, avant-folk since 1998, FAUN FABLES are known for exquisite, visceral adventures in songwriting, live shows and theater. Their work became internationally widespread by 2004 with their Drag City Records debut ‘FAMILY ALBUM’ (2004). For over two decades, the group has seasonally toured grass roots, night club, theater & festival circuits in the USA and Europe (including stints in the UK & Oceania.) Dawn McCarthy’s voice (which THE NEW YORKER described as “one of the more compelling instruments in contemporary music”) opens hearts and minds from a whisper to a rallying battle cry into her mythical world, animated by the adventurous musicality and vocals of partner Nils Frykdahl (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum). Their new album ‘COUNTERCLOCKWISE’ marks their eighth release with Drag City; the songs and production offer the most encompassing, richly lived-in sonic world of all their releases. Their timeless ‘songtelling’ practice is entwined with a holistic view of a life in music – celebrating the mundane details of home and family, elevated by a mystical and fantastical perspective. Their daughters- growing up alongside the writing, recording and touring since infancy- now join them with vocals, flutes, keyboard, bass, percussion & dance. Guitarist/singer Arild Hammerø joins them from Norway with his elemental guitar work featured on their new album. FAUN FABLES are currently based in Nevada County, California.
LEAF Cultural Exchange
ALL AGES SEATED SHOW FREE SHOW / $10 SUGGESTED DONATION LEAF CULTURAL EXCHANGE A taste of LEAF Retreat. Artists visiting the US and resident artists will come together to share a little bit about their culture and share a small piece of music. It will be multiple acts sharing for about 15 minutes each. Some of the artists that will be participating are: Masankho from Malawi Chinobay & Dance of Hope from Uganda Las Guaracheras from Columbia LEAF Elite Steel Orchestra St Vincent and the Grenadines Danza Azteca and many more!
PATIO: Melissa Quinn Fox
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE MELISSA QUINN FOX Rising country artist Melissa Quinn Fox is known for her soulful vocals, story-driven songs, and dynamic live performances. A Pittsburgh native with a degree in Musical Theatre, she’s performed across the U.S. and Europe. Since 2021, Melissa has released two EPs and 15 singles, gaining radio play and TV features on Fox 5 and WUSA9. A five-time Wammie Award-winner, she’s opened for Brad Paisley, Phil Vassar, and more, and played major festivals like Barefoot and Carolina Country Music Fest. Currently promoting her single Reaching For The Bottle, Melissa continues to connect with fans nationwide through her music and performances.
Reasonably Priced Babies: The Hasta La Vista Show!
ALL AGESSEATED SHOWLIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEREASONABLY PRICED BABIES Tom is moving. We’re not kidding. We’ve tried to stop him, but he got out of the trunk. This is the last show with Tom for… who knows how long! Let’s give him a full all out “See ya later” send off! We will miss him – don’t YOU miss out on TIX! About Reasonably Priced Babies (RPB): RPB is Asheville’s premiere improv comedy troupe having performed hundreds of shows over 14 years of performing together! A multiple time award winner for Asheville’s Favorite Comedy Troupe (as awarded by readers of the Mountain Xpress), they combine music and comedy through short and long form structures for what is always a great time.
Vandoliers: Life Behind Bars Tour
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY VANDOLIERS “Most personal album yet” is a well-worn cliché within the cliché-addled world of music promotion. But Life Behind Bars, the fifth studio album from beloved Texas country-punk ensemble Vandoliers, brings new meaning to that phrase. This album marks a series of firsts for the band, it’s their first release with upstart Break Maiden Records and distributed by storied indie Thirty Tigers, their first with Grammy-winning producer Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem, Flogging Molly, Lucero), and their first recorded at the sprawling Sonic Ranch studios in West Texas. Most importantly, though, this collection of songs offers a window into frontwoman Jenni Rose’s journey through addiction and gender dysphoria — a journey that has culminated in her decision to come out as a trans woman while working in the macho worlds of Texas country and punk rock, at a moment when the rights of trans people are more intensely threatened by the day. “It’s heavier than our other stuff,” says Rose. “Why is this country punk band that’s usually a source of positive energy so melancholy? It’s because I was dealing with accepting my gender dysphoria, while also trying to get sober.” For the uninitiated, even the most melancholy Vandoliers song has a degree of exuberance and verve, full of an irrepressible energy that has led the band to tour with everyone from Flogging Molly to the Turnpike Troubadours to fellow Dallas-Fort Worth natives the Toadies and the Old 97s. Songs like pandemic anthem “Every Saturday Night,” “Cigarettes in the Rain,” “Sixteen Years” and their irresistible take on the Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” have helped the band find a devoted following across the world, fans who pack out shows that are always life-affirming and usually end with some Vandoliers hopping around onstage shirtless. It was onstage that Rose fully realized who she was for the first time. In early 2023, she was barely six months sober and fighting to stay that way while touring with some of the most raucous bands around; she was also trying to write a new collection of Vandoliers songs responding to the first feedback she’d gotten from Hutt. “Your songs are superficial,” he told Rose. “There’s a barrier between what you’re actually writing and your deeper self.” In the middle of that, Vandoliers happened to be playing a show in Maryville, Tennessee the same day that the state’s governor, Bill Lee, had signed what was generally understood as a “drag ban.” Cory Graves, who sings and plays keyboard and trumpet in the band, suggested they all wear dresses for their show that night in protest. “I was like, ‘Hell yeah, I would love to do that’ — like, how harmless is this?” says Rose. Photos from the show went viral, and were covered by Rolling Stone, among many other outlets. Rachel Maddow did a segment on the band on MSNBC. “That was the first time I had ever worn a dress in public, but not the first time I had worn a dress — and then the entire planet saw it. The wall that I had keeping this side of me invisible was completely shattered. I wrote down in my journal, ‘Fuck, I think I’m trans.'” “We’ve been breaking rules in country for 10 years,” says Rose. “‘You play too fast.’ ‘You’re too loud.’ ‘You sing too high.’ ‘You’re more of a punk band.’ All that matters, though, is that people hear our songs and they help them in any way — that’s all we can hope for. I’m struggling so much on this record, but I hope that another trans girl listens to it and finds something in it for themselves.” NATE BERGMAN
Matt Heckler
ALL AGES SEATED SHOW LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE MATT HECKLER Matt Heckler is the fiddle player you wish still existed. Hailing from the Catskill Mtns, a physiographic subrange to the Appalachian chain, Heckler has been embraced by mountain music and culture from early on. Self-taught on fiddle, banjo and guitar, he can weave together a night of songs from all over the world. Swaying from an acapella Irish ballad to a rowdy Romani fiddle tune, Heckler has taken on a style of writing that sounds timeless, rustic and entirely his own. Touring solo for a decade, Heckler made a name for himself opening for the likes of Benjamin Tod & Lost Dog Street Band, Flogging Molly and Devil Makes Three, playing many of the biggest theatres and venues in the country. After having two album simultaneously on the Billboard Bluegrass charts (Blood, Water, Coal at #3 & Magnolia Sessions at #9) Heckler has started a band of his own to tour and record with.
PATIO: Carbon Harry
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE CARBON HARRY The future of rock n roll is in good hands with this quartet of young musical prodigies. Playing a mix of original songs as well as some stylized rock covers, Carbon Harry brings the music with a reckless abandon and joie de vivre that largely emanates from the fact that they have yet to reach 7th grade! Music connoisseurs and budding young musicians alike will not want to miss the opportunity to see this band of rapscallions on their ascent to rock n roll greatness.
PATIO: Brody Hunt & the Handfulls
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BRODY HUNT & THE HANDFULLS Asheville’s Hot Hobo Honky Tonk.
PATIO: Osprey Orchestra Acoustic
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE OSPREY ORCHESTRA ACOUSTIC Folk, Mountain, Jam music from here in Western North Carolina. Sounds influenced by Bluegrass, Americana, Reggae, and Rock. Acoustic band includes Thomas Grimes on Bass, Skyler Jacobson on Acoustic Guitar, and David Cheatham on Mandolin. Come experience the good vibes with us!
