Golden Folk Sessions
ALL AGES 6PM DOORS / 7PM SHOW FULLY SEATED SHOW GOLDEN FOLK SESSIONS Golden Folk Sessions (formerly Open Folk AVL) offers an intimate, carefully curated listening experience that celebrates the art of original music. Each event showcases six handpicked artists, performing three-song sets in a quiet, seated environment where the music takes center stage. To add a sense of surprise and discovery, the lineup is revealed only when the show begins. Running from 7–9 PM, these early shows create the perfect evening for music lovers who value live performances and a good night’s rest. With over 100 shows hosted and extraordinary artists from around the globe gracing our stage, Golden Folk Sessions is entering an exciting new chapter. Under a new name and with a new home at The Grey Eagle—one of the Southeast’s most iconic venues—we’re thrilled to continue fostering community through music. Staying true to our values of accessibility, we aim to make music available to everyone. Presale tickets guarantee your seat and support both Golden Folk Sessions and The Grey Eagle. For those attending on the day of the show, our “pay what you can, if you can” option ensures that all are welcome to be part of this unique and meaningful experience. • $10 General Admission (presale) • $0-$25 Day-of-Show (no minimum) We can’t wait to see y’all there.
Golden Folk Sessions
ALL AGES 6PM DOORS / 7PM SHOW FULLY SEATED SHOW GOLDEN FOLK SESSIONS Golden Folk Sessions (formerly Open Folk AVL) offers an intimate, carefully curated listening experience that celebrates the art of original music. Each event showcases six handpicked artists, performing three-song sets in a quiet, seated environment where the music takes center stage. To add a sense of surprise and discovery, the lineup is revealed only when the show begins. Running from 7–9 PM, these early shows create the perfect evening for music lovers who value live performances and a good night’s rest. With over 100 shows hosted and extraordinary artists from around the globe gracing our stage, Golden Folk Sessions is entering an exciting new chapter. Under a new name and with a new home at The Grey Eagle—one of the Southeast’s most iconic venues—we’re thrilled to continue fostering community through music. Staying true to our values of accessibility, we aim to make music available to everyone. Presale tickets guarantee your seat and support both Golden Folk Sessions and The Grey Eagle. For those attending on the day of the show, our “pay what you can, if you can” option ensures that all are welcome to be part of this unique and meaningful experience. • $10 General Admission (presale) • $0-$25 Day-of-Show (no minimum) We can’t wait to see y’all there.
Corey Stevenson Band w/ The Mad Dog Blues Band: An Evening of Blues, Soul and Rock’n’roll
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY COREY STEVENSON BAND From the coal town of Man, West Virginia to the Carolinas, The Corey Stevenson Band delivers a powerful blend of Southern rock, country, and blues. Fronted by Corey Stevenson, the band is known for its raw energy, gritty authenticity, and standout guitar work. By 14, Corey was already making industry connections with Noel Golden and Edwin McCain, later studying at the Greenville Fine Arts Center under Steve Watson. He went on to earn a music leadership scholarship to Newberry College and share stages with artists like Victor Wooten, Steve Bailey, and the studio Brent Mason. A Golden Ticket winner on American Idol and Top 16 finisher in the Country Music Bracket, Corey recently formed the band with Jake Keller and Lance Sweat. The group has shared stages with Bucky Covington, Big Smo, Zach Myers, and the Kentucky Headhunters, and is set to play over 200 shows in 2026. With multiple independent chart successes, their upcoming album Loaded 44 drops October 17th, continuing their mission to bring real, hard-hitting music back to the forefront. MAD DOG BLUES BAND A blues and soul collective with roots in the 1990s, The Mad Dog Blues Band is made up of gifted musicians and singers from Asheville, New York City, Washington D.C., and North Georgia. For this show, original members Mark McDaniel, Brian Harvey, Jacob Keller, Bob Walters, and Kate Brown Walters are joined by a gifted group of performers including Andy Hunter, John Caldemeyer, Wes Snoddy, Ashley Berger and others. Their goal is to pay homage to the blues, soul and rock’n’roll music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s that laid the foundation for almost all popular music we have played and listened to since.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM Perhaps we can call them Avant-Prog Metal, or Grindcore Funk Theater, or in the words of one particularly rapt concertgoer “Satanic Anarchic Viking Shit.” Regardless, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum indoctrinates their audiences with circuitous melodies, unnamable harmonies and gleefully dark, evocative sounds emanating from an array of voices and instruments, many of them homemade. WENDY EISENBERG Wendy Eisenberg is an improviser and songwriter who uses guitar, pedals, the tenor banjo, the computer, the synthesizer and the voice.
PATIO SHOW: Pleasure Chest
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE PLEASURE CHEST Pleasure Chest cement their status as Asheville’s party band. If there ever was an “Unofficial Asheville Party Band,” Pleasure Chest is just that. The outfit ripped through its set of old-school blues and soul renditions during a late-night Funkatorium set. The pinnacle came with a rousing take on Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds.” Pleasure Chest is a high energy Blues, Soul, Rock and Roll band hailing from Asheville NC. With the humor of Bo Diddley and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins to the swampy, dirty grit of Slim Harpo and Elmore James they’re guaranteed to please and get your booty shaking!
FREE PATIO SHOW: Meschiya Lake
– FREE SHOW – ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE- DONATIONS FOR THE ARTISTS ENCOURAGED! MESCHIYA LAKELooking back, it’s no surprise that when a precocious nine year-old Meschiya Lake hit the stage for a singing contest at a Rapid City, South Dakota steakhouse, she already believed that she could hold her own with the best of them. She had been singing around the house, and competing against adults who thought she was “cute” didn’t intimidate her. When she won the contest – which came with $500 prize and a weekly in-house singing gig – it made sense that – in some form or another – the groundwork for a career had been laid, even if she didn’t realise it at the time. For several more years singing for fun and joy continued to trump music as vocation for Lake, but it was only in her early twenties during her stint as a member of the Know Nothing Family Zirkus Zideshow and End of the World Circus – a ragtag traveling troupe that blended traditional circus arts with modern sideshow entertainment – that she ultimately realised exactly what she wanted to do as an adult. Now steadfastly at the helm of her own musical battleship, things moved fast and far for Ms. Lake. The year 2010 saw their debut album, Lucky Devil, and the beginning of a decade’s worth of accolades, tours, and awards. From the stages of Lincoln Center in NYC, to Brazil, Canada, Denmark, The Netherlands, Italy, Russia, the U.K., and Ireland, she’s shown people to express love of life through music and dance. This passion, seemingly tireless energy, and expert skill has garnered much praise, from NPR’s top ten albums of 2010, to First Lady of Jazz 2013, at the Sun Valley Jazz Festival. But most importantly, back at home in New Orleans, Lake was recognised as Female Performer of the Year, three years running, at the Big Easy Awards, was named Best Female Singer in Offbeat Magazine’s Best of the Beat poll in 2013 and 2014, and in 2013 the Little Big Horns were honored with the Best of The Beat’s coveted Best Trad Band award. Along the way, Meschiya’s found the time to record, write, and produce another two albums with the Big Horns, Foolers’ Gold, and Bad Kid’s Club, as well as work in the studio as a vocalist with musicians like Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, as well as singing for a gentleman by the name of Tom Waits. Her 2019 collaboration with Soren Siegumfeldt, This is Meschiya Lake, won the Danish Music Awards category of Best Vocal Jazz, otherwise known as the “Danish Grammy.” Meschiya Lake has come a long way since her South Dakota Opry and traveling circus days, and she’s not done yet. In fact, far from it. With upcoming plans for an all original solo album, and more great music from the Little Big Horns, as well as other projects, far and wide, friends and fans are sure to be continually inspired and delighted.
HAPPY LANDING w/ The Band Solstice
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY HAPPY LANDING HAPPY LANDING is an American band formed in Oxford, Mississippi in 2020 by Matthew Hendley (lead vocals, guitar), Keegan Christensen (vocals, keys), Jacob Christensen (drums, vocals), Andrew Gardner (fiddle, vocals), and Wilson Moyer (bass/guitar, vocals). The group pioneers a new wave of folk music, captivating audiences internationally with their energetic live shows and fresh sound, blended from the roots of southern rock, punk and folk. After debut festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Summerfest, the band’s sophomore album, Big Sun, comes in 2026 paired with a major headline tour of the US & Canada. THE BAND SOLSTICE The Band Solstice, formed in 2019 by childhood friends, has grown from a summer-solstice idea into a rising indie-rock force known for their energetic shows and evolving sound. Now students at The University of Tennessee, the group channels influences from Kings of Leon, Dawes, Mt. Joy, and Dr. Dog into a style all their own. Frontman Marty Gee delivers powerful, emotive vocals, anchored by the tight rhythm from drummer Grayson Strayder and bassist Maddox Frazier. Jacob Greene adds depth and lush keyboard textures, while Jackson Frazier’s expressive guitar work brings soaring riffs and melodic solos that define the band’s signature feel. With their debut album slated for early 2026, The Band Solstice prepares to bring new music to new cities as they step confidently into their next chapter.
PATIO SHOW: Forty Drop Few & Vaiano’s Paisanos
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEFORTY DROP FEW & VAIANO’S PAISANOS The “Forty Drop Few” are a trio originally from the southwest that play popular music of the early 1900s. They perform in various styles from the era as a string band and are influenced by nothing other than the old 78 records that they love so well. Their main influences include New Orleans jazz, southwestern fiddle music, classic banjo rags, black string band music, hillbilly harmonies and unique vocals. The trio consists of Ethan Francis, Candra Edwards and Elliot Kennedy who all currently reside in Portland Oregon. The couple, also known as “Stone and Sue” have been playing music together for a decade and met Kennedy who joined them 6 years ago. The three are inseparable and spend all of their time picking apart old tunes, listening to 78s, throwing shows in Portland and traveling around the country together.Vaiano’s Paisanos, the string band, founded by Rachel Meirs (violin, mandolin); Maxwell Apra(mandolin, tenor banjo, tenor guitar); and Van Burchfield (guitar)—which sometimes balloons to a quintet, thanks to Quentin Bardinet (mandolin, tenor banjo, tenor guitar) and Albanie Faletta (guitar)—is a melting pot of old- instrumentation, with international repertoire gathered from recordings made in New York City. Though the musicians in the band met busking in New Orleans, fiddler in chief Meirs, now based in Louisville, KY, first encountered some of the recordings that inspired this project while working at the Jalopy Theatre over a decade ago. Following in the grand tradition of musical discovery and dissemination by Jalopy Records labelmate and musicological genius Pat Conte, curator of the acclaimed Secret Museum archival reissue series, Vaiano’s Paisanos’ repertoire consists of the masterful melodies immigrants would’ve been humming along and dancing to in the late ’20s and early ’30s. Think Cape Verdean fiddle tunes, Italian mandolin music, pre-Belafonte Calypsos, and Venezuelan waltzes. “Almost everything in our repertoire was originally recorded in New York City,” explains Meirs. “It’s not that we chose to play immigrant music; it’s that we come from a society largely made up of immigrants, and this music is a beautiful byproduct of that melting pot, as are we.” We owe our gratitude to the musicians who originally composed, played, and eventually recorded this music, who all came from different countries and traditions, and all recorded in New York in the 1920’s and 30’s. Of course, we would not have heard any of these songs if not for the people who seek out and and collect old 78’s, and who found ways to share what was on them, so that they eventually made their way to our ears in compilations, blog posts, discord channels, youtube videos, or a CD burned and sent in the mail.
PATIO SHOW: ZG Smith & Madison Hughes
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEZG SMITH & MADISON HUGHES ZG Smith is the Los Angeles-born, Nashville-based son of an English professor mother and a shipwreck diver and underwater archaeologist father. For over ten years, he fronted the band Smooth Hound Smith who headlined tours in the US, Europe, and the UK and supported artists like The Chicks, Collective Soul, Trombone Shorty, Jamestown Revival, and many more. Following the release of their third album in 2019 and a month-long European tour in February 2020, the band’s eventual hiatus caused Smith to refocus towards other artistic pursuits. “I started seeking out music again like I did when I was younger. I realized that I had been so focused on Smooth Hound Smith and had been trying to push the band forward, that I stopped listening to music just for enjoyment. Because of the pandemic, I had time, so I dug a massive hole in my backyard, leveled it off, and laid a patio of over 1,200 bricks, all by hand. It took me about a month. I would just be out there all day in the sun listening to North African desert blues, EDM, ‘90s hip hop, or bizarre, outsider folk music. A lot of that stuff really informed the music I ended up creating months later.”Madison Hughes makes music that lives in the in-between — the space between falling apart and finding your footing. Her sound pulls from the women who defined late ’90s Americana — Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Mazzy Star — and roots it in something country-blues and lived-in. Warm, honest, and a little worn around the edges. Like someone you trust quickly, even if you just met.
PATIO SHOW: Jesse James Deconto (The Pinkerton Raid)
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEJESSE JAMES DECONTO (THE PINKERTON RAID) Leading up to Independence Day, The Pinkerton Raid’s songwriter Jesse James DeConto will release “The Fight for Freedom was in VOGUE,” about Lee Miller, Solange D’Ayen and the Parisian artists who stood up to the Nazi occupation in the ways they knew how. “VOGUE” is among a series of narrative-driven resistance singles from his upcoming full-length album, IF YOU LOVE SOMEBODY, TELL THEM, singing his story as a dad trying to hold onto hope and imagine a future for his kids in the face of American fascism and climate catastrophe. Back home in Durham, NC, with partners like Indivisible, Jesse often leads singalongs of classic protest songs from Bob Dylan, NENA, Neil Young, 4 Non-Blondes, Crowded House and others. “The sane response to tyrants is to sing,” Jesse says on “VOGUE,” inspired by a famous quote by revolutionary painter Pablo Picasso. On Wednesday, July 1, he’ll bringing his “protest songs with Big Dad Energy” to the Grey Eagle patio in Asheville’s River Arts District.
