PATIO: Samantha Rise + Whitney Monge
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVESAMANTHA RISE samantha rise (they/them) is a black, nonbinary performer, artist, and human-amplifier. One of WXPN’s artists to watch, samantha made a power reentry into Philly’s music scene with their Black Opry residency at World Cafe Live, weaving high country and deep roots into their original music.A recipient of the 2023 Pew Fellowship for the Arts, Rise believes that creativity and community are our primary technologies for healing, transformative justice and self-determination. Rise combines their original music with advocacy, designing and implementing creative direct action with social justice organizers to build a more just and equitable world. WHITNEY MONGE Americana Soul singer-songwriter & guitarist, Whitney Mongé built her 16 year music career starting as a prolific street performer in Seattle, WA, working her way to major stages around the world. She has supported Ziggy Marley, KT Tunstall, Amy Helm, Allen Stone, Big Boi, and performed mainstage with Black Opry at Newport Folk Festival (2023). Whitney has also sold out her own headlining shows, and has toured the US & Europe in support of her four album releases Steadfast (2014), Stone (2017), Carry On (2018) and Whitney Mongé Live with The Seattle Symphony (2020) showcasing her relatable songwriting, powerhouse vocals and rhythmic blues guitar playing. Mongé also stars in an award winning film about her busking journey, “Find Your Way: a Busker’s Documentary” with Chris Ballew (Presidents of the United States) & Joshua Bell (violinist). Currently Whitney resides in Asheville, NC and is working on a new album.
Willie Watson
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYWILLIE WATSON Soon before Willie Watson turned 18, he met God in an apple orchard. Or at the very least, he met there a man named Ruby Love, the older friend of a high-school buddy who had an enormous Martin guitar and a seemingly bigger understanding of the American folk songbook. Watson was existentially thirsty: A high-school dropout from upstate New York’s Finger Lakes, he was fast on his way to his first heartbreak and in a first band that didn’t take itself seriously enough. But that night in an apple orchard that had always seemed magical, at a graduation party for one of his bandmates and best friends, Watson and Love sang a few of those old songs together—“Worried Man Blues” and “Tennessee Waltz.” It was the first time Watson had cried while singing, the first time he had made the connection between making music and making sense of his life. He never saw Ruby Love again, but within months of that foundational 1997 rendezvous, he met the musicians with whom he’d soon start Old Crow Medicine Show. Call it revelation, fate, resurrection, whatever you will; for Watson, more than a quarter-century later, it was a duet with the divine. As told in the talking-gospel masterpiece “Reap ’em in the Valley,” that scene is the transfixing finale of Watson’s self-titled debut as a songwriter and as a human at last making music to make sense of his life. Yes, Watson has released two albums since he left Old Crow Medicine Show a dozen years ago and since his long-term collaborations with David Rawlings and Gillian Welch. But those records, both titled Folk Singer, were sets of tunes he knew, interpretations of the songbook he has diligently mined since even before that night in the apple orchard. At 44, however, he feels that Willie Watson is his first-ever true album, having finally lived and lost and simply witnessed enough to know he has something to sing with his exquisite rural tenor. Every memory, Watson likes to say, is surrounded by a shroud of sadness, whether it’s good or bad. And there are lots of memories in a life, all mixed: Though the band he started soon after that night with Ruby Love long gave him a purpose and career, it conscripted him into a role as an old-fashioned folkie, forever stuck playing a part that got tiring. Marriage and fatherhood became boons in their own time, but they kept him bound to Los Angeles, its sprawl and selfishness causing a country boy like Watson to lose himself again. And there was the stereotypical excess of it all, too, the habits of hard living nearly breaking Watson in his 30s. But after he lost those relationships, he slowly got sober and faced himself head on, working to be honest about the traumas of his childhood that had helped create the troubles of adulthood. Sobriety, though, was never enough for Watson. He wanted that shift to prompt change and growth, to force him into situations that were beneficial because they were uncomfortable and challenging. That, in many ways, is the motivation of these nine songs and the only album he’s ever felt deserved to bear his name. VIV & RILEY Viv & Riley’s sound is old-soul roots music to its core, elegantly combining a traditional backbone with the fresh iconic melodies of future-leaning indie-folk, and the tightly wound vocal harmonies of the old-time and classic country music they came from.
An Evening With Boot Scootin’ Boogie Nights
ALL AGESDANCING ROOM ONLYBOOT SCOOTIN’ BOOGIE NIGHTSExperience 90’s country music like never before! Boot Scootin’ Boogie Nights is a party hosted by the supergroup Neon Rainbow, a collective of some of the best musicians in Tennessee. The band takes fans on a raucous journey through all the biggest 90’s country hits for a night of line dancing, singing along, boot stompin’, and ice cold beer – we’re talkin’ Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, George Strait, Billy Ray, and so many more of your country favorites!
OUTPOST: Old Sap with Peter Stone & Anterra, and Southern Pine
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE Old Sap: Poet from Chicago, rambled out to Montana, cut a banjo from a tamarack, strings across the country, foot like a freight train, voice rushing down over lush Appalachia, sings a thrush tune through the rush hour and into your long-forgotten prairie dreams. Folk. Folk Rock. Americana. Anterra: Anterra is a multi-instrumentalist weaver of songs and siren of sorrow. She delicately intertwines ethereal, harmonically-rich, unexpected vocal arrangements with lush, powerful instrumentation; all a backdrop supporting her poignant and moving meditations on self-purpose and grief. A distinctive melodic and poetic voice in dark indie folk. Peter Stone: Peter Stone is an independent musician and a writer of songs that are equal parts intimate and cinematic, energetic and evocative, familiar and haunted. It’s easy to imagine any of Peter’s songs playing over the final shot of a film about love and loss, giving your tears just enough time to dry while the credits roll before you leave the theater. With a voice like warm evening sunlight creeping in through a ranch homestead’s western windows, it does not come as a surprise that they have lived all across the United States, acquiring dust and stories along the road. In addition to releasing their own music as a solo artist, Peter is also the co-founder and former guitarist of The Rare Occasions, an LA-based band whose explosive garage rock anthems and soaring melodies have been heard by millions of listeners around the world. Songs by The Rare Occasions featuring Peter’s guitar and songwriting contributions have been streamed over 500 million times worldwide. Southern Pine: Southern Pine is the moniker of songwriter and multi instrumentalist, Zack Kardon. Originally from the Northeast, Southern Pine now resides in Asheville, NC. Kardon’s songs look inward. They don’t seek to describe or explain but simply hover- bottling the essence of a feeling.
Victoria Canal
ALL AGESSEATED SHOWLIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEVICTORIA CANAL For almost two years, singer-songwriter Victoria Canal used her gift primarily as a way to process grief. The result of this transformative period was 2022’s Elegy EP, a bittersweet collection of tracks. Now, after experiencing creative and emotional catharsis, Canal is turning the camera back on herself and zooming in further than ever before. Grown from heartache and made with unabashed honesty, her upcoming release finds the artist at her most vulnerable—and her most courageous. Canal, who received the 2023 Rising Star award at the prestigious Ivor Novellos, embraces the discomfort of self-analysis. “These days I’m writing mostly to confront things about myself in order to gain more of an understanding and acceptance of them,” she shares. She first started sowing the seeds of her new project during quarantine, in part while watching the TV show Parenthood. She recognized herself in a people-pleasing character, remarking, “I’ve definitely shrunk myself down before to please everyone else. I deserve to take up space.” Canal challenges the habit of self-shrinking across all of her work, magnifying parts of herself that she’s never openly shared before. The gentle gut-punch of opener “Shape” delves into the complex and intimate topic of body dysmorphia. Against folky guitar and airy backing vocals, her retrospective lyricism brings to the surface internalized moments, like the lasting impact of passing cruelty and the relationship between self-image and faith. These experiences are all too common for anyone who sits outside the status quo, and Canal reclaims her own power by bringing them to the surface on her own terms. “She Walks In” continues to explore body image, this time from a more current perspective. “The idea of this song stems from a beautiful girl turning heads when she walks into a room. I have the experience of people staring at me, but it’s because of my limb difference,” Canal shares, “There’s an inherent yearning for people to look at me the way that they look at her.” This vulnerability comes through in her poignant reflections set against waltzing watery instrumentals. Its candid delivery and gentle rocking almost makes you forget its devastation. But she ensures that it can’t be ignored. LUCY CLEARWATER Lucy Clearwater was born in a bathtub in a cookie factory in Northern California. The “sweet” and slightly granola nature-lover is a folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with a background in classical violin. The grassroots artist independently released her debut EP “Feel Again” in 2020, followed by 3 self-produced EP’s “Casual” (2023), “Augenlieder” (her German-language EP in 2023) and “April” (2024). Her songs are incredibly emotive, topical, and melodically driven with influence from Joni Mitchell, Eva Cassidy, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Laura Marling, to name a few. After 3 solo, DIY tours in Europe and Australia, Clearwater joined queer pop artist Lie Ning on tour in Germany in 2023, and has since toured all over the US, EU, CAN and UK supporting artists such as Victoria Canal, Philine Sonny, Luca Fogale, and others.
[CANCELED] Mama’s Broke + Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves
ALL AGESSEATED SHOWLIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEMAMA’S BROKE Mama’s Broke is a powerful duo that deliver a compelling performance with heart and raw energy. Although highly influenced by their Canadian roots, Lisa and Amy are based out of nowhere and everywhere. Their two strong voices blend to create haunting harmonies, while they artfully juggle fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin, and incorporate traditional dance and foot percussion into their performance. Their original -and often dark- compositions push the boundaries of tradition and the constraints of genre. Drawing from old-time, Quebecois, blues, punk, celtic, balkan and doom metal, they create a soundscape that is both familiar and new. ALLISON DE GROOT & TATIANA HARGREAVES Traditional music is not static; it shifts with the times, uncovering new meanings in old words, new ways of talking about the communal pathways that led us to where we are today. For master musicians Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, traditional banjo and fiddle music is a way to interpret our uncertain times, to draw artistic inspiration and power from the sources of meaning in their lives. History, family, literature, live performance, and environmental instability all manifest in the sounds, feelings, and sensations that permeate their music. Their 2022 sophomore album, Hurricane Clarice is a direct infusion of centuries of matrilineal folk wisdom, a fiery breath of apocalyptic energy. Individually they are both leaders in the young generation of roots musicians, de Groot being known for intricate clawhammer banjo work with Bruce Molsky, and Hargreaves bringing powerhouse fiddling to the stage with Laurie Lewis and David Rawlings in addition to teaching bluegrass fiddle at UNC-Chapel Hill. Their first self-titled album released in 2019 garnered attention from CBC Q, Paste Magazine and Rolling Stone Country, earning the duo the Independent Music Awards “Best Bluegrass Album” and a nomination from IBMA for “Best Liner Notes of the Year.” The duo has been booked at festivals and venues such as Newport Folk Festival, Savannah Music Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, NC, and Red Wing Roots Music Festival. Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves create a sound that is adventurous, masterful, and original, as they expand on the eccentricities of old songs, while never losing sight of what makes them endure.
[CANCELED] SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYSPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVEFor the past decade, SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE have honed an aesthetic like no other. They’ve chopped up samples, chewed them up, spit them back out again, baby birded it. Across four albums and a smattering of EPs, Zack Schwartz, Corey Wichlin, and Rivka Ravede have fully solidified their stance as some of rock’s weirdest and best deconstructionists. 2018’s Hypnic Jerk was a study in noise punk sampledelia. It was a breakthrough for the band. Frank Ocean became a fan, spinning “fell asleep with a vision,” on Blonded Radio. 2021’s ENTERTAINMENT DEATH, was nasty dream pop by way of K-Mart realism and hitting the channel search setting on an old TV set.The goal in making YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING was to soften out some of the edges. “Less hard left turns,” says Wichlin. “We wanted to make something intentionally less antagonistic,” he jokes. In practice, this means the record has slightly fewer drastic arrangement changes, and it is more stripped down. Take “I’VE BEEN EVIL,” one of the newest songs on the record, as one such offering. It is straightforward in that its tempo is consistent, in that the song keeps us in the same place. It does not digress. It holds itself steady, with bleary-eyed guitars and hushed vocals. The song is weary, the song is a whisper. The utterance “I’ve been evil,” is like the shrug of a shoulder, a so what, ha ha.YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING is a record of provocations. It wants you to think it is just normal rock ‘n’ roll music. That it is purely pleasure oriented. But beneath these intentions is a collection of songs that are as complex as ever. The Ravede-led “FOUND A BODY,” is a downtempo smoke cloud of variegated synths. “Found a body,” she sings “No one can touch me.” “SUN SWEPT THE EVENING RED,” starts out disconcertingly chipper, before breaking down into an assault of sludged out guitars, auto-tuned vocals, a flurry of strings. Like all Spirit records, It is music made by three distinct voices, written independently and then assembled together. Despite being written all over the globe, with Ravede in Portugal and Schwartz and Wichlin back in Philadelphia, the trio arrived at the same themes: that of the brutality of coming to terms with reality, that of what it means to lie to protect yourself and your heart. Schwartz says he writes songs more less in a stream of consciousness. The band listens to very little outside music when working. The result is a record that very much is its own world. Where chaos is carefully organized, where being able to ever actually chill out is totally illusory, a trick mirror.KASSIE KRUTTaking inspiration from dub, noise, UK club music, and contemporary pop, Kassie Krut is a brand new project by Eve Alpert, Kasra Kurt (both Palm) and Matt Anderegg (Mothers, Body Meat).
A Place to Bury Strangers
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYA PLACE TO BURY STRANGERSFans all over the globe know: Oliver Ackermann always brings surprises. The singer and guitarist of New York City’s A Place To Bury Strangers has been delighting and astonishing his audience for close to two decades, combining post-punk, noise-rock, shoegaze, psychedelia, and avant-garde music in startling and unexpected ways. As the founder of Death By Audio, creator of signal-scrambling stomp boxes and visionary instrument effects, he’s exported that excitement and invention to other artists who plug into his gear and blow minds. In concert, A Place To Bury Strangers is nothing short of astounding — a shamanistic experience that bathes listeners in glorious sound, crazed left turns, transcendent vibrations, real-time experiments, brilliant breakthroughs.And just as many of his peers in the New York City underground seem to be slowing down and settling in, Ackermann’s creativity is accelerating.He’s launched a label of his own: Dedstrange, dedicated to advancing the work of sonic renegades worldwide. He’s also refreshed the group’slineup, adding bassist John Fedowitz and drummer Sandra Fedowitz, and the band has never sounded more current, or more courageous, or moreaccessibly melodic. The Hologram EP is the first release from the new lineup — and the first on Dedstrange — and it’s no overstatement to saythat the reaction has been ecstatic. Ghettoblaster wrote that the band’s racket outpaced everything to emerge from New York City in the pastdecade. Brooklyn Vegan praised Ackermann’s “terrific, emotive” singing, and lauded the group’s recent commitment to foregrounding its melodiesand lyrics. Pitchfork, Flood, AllMusic: they’ve all lined up to call Hologram an example of the best work of a tireless band with a deep discography and an unquenchable drive to create challenging, unprecedented music. A Place To bury Strangers released their highly anticipated sixth album See Through You February 4, 2022 to on their newly formed label Dedstrange to critical acclaim and have been touring incessantly since then. 2024 brings the release of ‘The Sevens’: four 7”s featuring unreleased tracks from ‘See Through You’ released monthly starting in February with Album #7 due in the fall. YHWH NAILGUN The quartet of Zack Borzone (vox), Jack Tobias (synth), Sam Pickard (drums), and Saguiv Rosenstock (guitar) display an innate ability to translate a primitive spirit into a modern form. Born during the lockdown as an experimental project between Borzone and Pickard in Philadelphia, the group expanded as the two moved to New York, adding Tobias for their debut self-titled EP, which was produced by Rosenstock, who was then integrated into the band. That first collection is one of self-discovery, of finding the tools necessary to make songs within the band’s own ecosystem. They honed in on their own world and their collaborative, close-knit writing process, discovering the essential structures and feelings that make YHWH Nailgun. LUNACY
The Cactus Blossoms
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYTHE CACTUS BLOSSOMS “Hey baby, do you wanna take a trip with me? / I’ve got a feeling there might be a silver lining all around.” So begins One Day, the captivating new album from critically acclaimed Minneapolis duo The Cactus Blossoms. Written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the record explores the tension between optimism and despair that’s defined much of the past few years of American life, examining the power (or naïveté, depending on your perspective) of positive thinking in the face of chaos and uncertainty. The songs here are tender and timeless, with straightforward arrangements centered around brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum’s airtight harmonies, and the performances are warm and intimate to match, delivered with a soulful, ’70s-inspired palette of playful Wurlitzer, breezy guitars, and muscular percussion. The Cactus Blossoms broke out nationally in 2016 with their JD McPherson-produced debut, You’re Dreaming. Dates with Kacey Musgraves, Jenny Lewis, and Lucius followed, as did raves from the New York Times and NPR, who praised “the brothers’ extraordinary singing.” The band was further catapulted into the spotlight in 2018, when David Lynch tapped them to perform in the return of Twin Peaks, and continued to build on their success with their 2019 sophomore LP, Easy Way, which led Rolling Stone to laud the duo’s “rock-solid, freak of genetics harmonies.” ERIN RAE Three years after the release of her critically acclaimed debut, Putting On Airs, Nashville-raised singer-songwriter Erin Rae shares an intimate, honest, and playful version of herself through her sophomore album Lighten Up. Produced by Jonathan Wilson, and recorded in the musically hallowed grounds of California’s Topanga Canyon, the album represents a sonic and inner shift for Rae. In it, she embraces more of her influences, like baroque-pop, cosmic country, and indie-folk songs while mirroring a more compassionate self-view she calls “accepting my humanness”. Although she grew up in a musically oriented family, Rae’s pursuit of music happened by accident. After being gifted a Martin acoustic guitar on her 18th birthday, Rae decided to drop out of college after just one semester. Her goal at the time had little to do with making music into a career, and everything to do with spending more time and energy with the community of musicians and writers she knew back home. Looking back on those days, she recalls the initial high of playing live at an open mic during winter break and realizing, “this is how I connect with people. I have to pursue this.” Rae has continued to connect with people through her music ever since, performing at mainstays like Newport Folk Festival, Red Rocks Amphitheater, and sharing stages with Father John Misty, Hiss Golden Messenger, Jenny Lewis, Jason Isbell, and Iron & Wine. The success of Putting On Airs also earned her a nomination for Emerging Act of The Year at the 2019 Americana Music Awards alongside other trailblazing artists like Yola, Jade Bird, and J.S. Ondara.
Copperhead
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYCOPPERHEADFormed around the campfire at the French Broad River Festival in 2016, Copperhead began playing gigs in 2019. The band works to take your old favorite songs new places and has an array of accessible original songs to complement their catalog. Copperhead is Michael Thurman on guitar and vocals. Jay Copley on guitar and vocals. Eric Snoddy hangs out in the lowlands on Bass. George Hodges,Jr. adds guitar and sings . Mark Murphy plays piano, Hammond, and also vocals. Jenn Webb holds us all together on the drum kit.
