PATIO: Brooks Forsyth + Shay Martin Lovette
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEBROOKS FORSYTH Hailing from the mountains of North Carolina, Brooks Forsyth is a musician of Appalachia and beyond. He began playing in his hometown of Boone, NC and has since become a Nashville recording artist. Encompassing a variety of styles within Americana, he has a large repertoire of original songs and a versatile guitar style consisting of both flatpicking and fingerpicking techniques. Throughout the last seventeen years, he has performed solo and with a variation of musical ensembles across the U.S.A. “Brooks Forsyth is an Appalachian musical treasure with universal appeal! Not since I worked with Jimmy Buffett in the early seventies have I been so excited about a new artist! – Buzz Cason (Songwriter/Producer)SHAY MARTIN LOVETTEThe tale of wayfaring songwriter Shay Martin Lovette is shaped by an enduring creative pursuit, an inseparable connection with the natural world, and a deep appreciation of the nonpareil musical voices of the past. In 2021 Lovette delivered big on his sophomore LP, Scatter & Gather, a collection of songs that signaled an undeniable shift in the gravity of his writing and arranging. Written mostly from a remote, creekside cabin, the songs solidified Lovette’s role as a versatile harmonica-wielding, wordsmith, drifting between the formulas of folk, indie, and homestyle roots music. Lovette’s songcraft has elicited high praise from American Songwriter, The Bluegrass Situation and No Depression and he plans to release new music in 2023.
PATIO: Asheville Junction
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEASHEVILLE JUNCTIONAsheville Junction is a bluegrass/Americana band from the high country of North Carolina. Their lively, entertaining shows feature hot fiddlin’, vocals, harmonies and much more. Folks find themselves singing, clapping, and toe-tappin’ along to the music. Asheville Junction formed when mother-daughter duo Tierra and Maria Raiti moved to Asheville and joined up with long-time local musicians Brad Pope on upright bass, and Ken Sager on dobro.Tierra Raiti: Fiddle and Lead SingerTierra Raiti, lead and harmony singer and fiery fiddler for the band, has been noticed as a formidable rising musician and invited to appear on the Woodsongs International Radio Show in 2022. Tierra is a featured singer and player on Galax to Toledo Tracks. Recordings from this album have been played in roots and Americana radio shows around the world. Tierra is a phenomenally accomplished and versatile singer and fiddler, having won numerous fiddle contests and violin competitions, as well as singing competitions and scholarships ranging from jazz to classical to country. Ken Sager: Dobro and GuitarKen has been a musician all his life. He began performing violin publicly at the age of 10 and played electric guitar for large audiences at 13, and ever since has loved playing for live audiences from 1 to 10,000. Sharing music with other musicians and listeners has become a long-running conversation for Ken. He has performed on more than 40 albums for other groups and soloists, and even released a solo album Here in 2007. Ken is also the 2004 State Flat Pick Guitar and Mandolin champion. When not playing music Ken enjoys poker, fly fishing and traveling with his wife Sherri.Brad Pope: Bass, harmony and occasional lead vocalsI was born and raised in Asheville, NC. I have a lot of family around these parts, and that exposed me at an early age to old time, bluegrass and just goodle mountain music. 22 years ago I heard dwightyoakamacoustic(net) CD and it socked me in the eye and I said ‘I WANNA DO THAT!’ So my Mom got me a guitar for Christmas that year, and I sat down and taught myself guitar, and as time went on, mandolin and bass. In other music, I play tenor guitar and mandolin with the Lazybirds. In the spare time that I rarely see at my door, I’m a painter as well. I also love pasta, crocodiles, Shel Silverstein, late night ice cream, crickets when they’re crickin’, crows, trains and turtles.Maria Raiti: Rhythm guitar, harmony and occasional lead vocalsWhen Maria and her daughter Tierra lived up north, Tierra was taking classical violin lessons, but kept expressing passionate interest in bluegrass fiddle. So Maria picked up a guitar and mother and daughter discovered joy and bonding in playing music together at local jams, and eventually bluegrass bands. Maria always joked with friends and family that one day she would move and take her talented daughter to Nashville. Then in August of 2021 Maria and Tierra actually made the move, no joke. Except instead of Nashville, they stopped and got off at The Asheville Junction!
OUTPOST: The Last Revel
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEThe Last RevelAfter a 5 year hiatus, The original trio has reunited to produce new music with a revitalized appreciation for camaraderie and creativity. Now living in three different cities across the US, these three independently talented singer-songwriters bring together the sounds of Nashville TN, Minneapolis MN, & Bozeman MT to create Front Porch Americana soundscapes that are equally original as they are timeless. Drawing influence from their salt-of-the-earth Midwest ethos the band’s songs so naturally blend the genres of Folk, Old Time String-Band, and Indie Rock to create a sound that echoes the current heartbeat of America. The Last Revel utilizes their multi-instrumental abilities to bring the full spectrum of modern Americana to life with lush arrangements of three-part vocal harmonies, acoustic and electric guitars, upright bass, fiddle, and 5-string banjo to consistently support impassioned performances of their honest and heartfelt songwriting.
Frankie Cosmos w/ Good Morning
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY FRANKIE COSMOS Several things happened before a warm day when I met the four members of Frankie Cosmos in a Brooklyn studio to begin making their album. Greta Kline spent a few years living with her family and writing a mere 100 songs, turning her empathy anywhere from the navel to the moon, rendering it all warm, close and reflexively humorous. In music, everyone loves a teen sensation, but Kline has never been more fascinating than now, a decade into being one of the most prolific songwriters of her generation. She’s lodged in my mind amongst authors, other observational alchemists like Rachel Cusk or Sheila Heti, but she’s funnier, which is a charm endemic to musicians. Meanwhile Frankie Cosmos, a rare, dwindling democratic entity called a band, had been on pandemic hiatus with no idea if they’d continue. In the openness of that uncertainty they met up, planning to hang out and play music together for the first time in nearly 500 days. There, whittling down the multitude of music to work with, they created Inner World Peace, a collection of Greta’s songs changed and sculpted by their time together. While Kline’s musical taste at the time was leaning toward aughts indie rock she’d loved as a teenager, keyboardist Lauren Martin and drummer Luke Pyenson cite “droning, meditation, repetition, clarity and intentionality,” as well as “‘70s folk and pop” as a reference for how they approached their parts. Bassist/guitarist Alex Bailey says that at the time he referred to it as their “ambient” or “psych” album. Somewhere between those textural elements and Kline’s penchant for concise pop, Inner World Peace finds its balance. GOOD MORNING They say it’s hard to keep a creative partnership going after a while. Not so in the case of Good Morning – in their seventh year of making music together, the Melbourne duo made up of Stefan Blair and Liam Parsons have only just now stepped into that most fruitful of creative endeavours: commercial real estate. They’re not landlords just yet: in fact, the early months of 2021 have seen Stefan and Liam sign the lease on a modest, appropriately scrappy recording studio in Melbourne’s inner north. The natural next step for two musicians who have always preferred to do things entirely themselves – the band first formed after Stefan and Liam split the cost of a Foxtex 4-track tape machine – Good Morning’s new recording space is already yielding dividends with the release of Mollyduker / Keep It, a new double-A-side single and their first new music since 2019’s Basketball Breakups. A full-length album will be released later in 2021, with details to come.JANA HORNA Rothko-esque color field set to music, The Window Is The Dream ventures even deeper into Jana Horn’s inner space than her stark, acclaimed debut Optimism. The New Yorker recently described her music as: “Spectral and strangely soothing” going on to say that “Horn’s work aligns with a fraternity of the lonely that cuts across genres: traces of Young Marble Giants, Syd Barrett, and Broadcast all waft through her songs.”
Heartless Bastards
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYHEARTLESS BASTARDS No salve soothes quite like music does. Like the ultimate balm, it releases tension and stress and reinvigorates the spirit. With a warm patchwork of rock ‘n’ roll, psychedelia, folk, alternative, and blues, Heartless Bastards unlock healing and catharsis within their music. Whether in the studio or on stage, the Austin-based band fronted by vocalist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Erika Wennerstrom calm as they captivate. After generating over 100 million total streams and enrapturing audiences at legendary venues such as Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the group continue to connect with listeners everywhere through boundary-breaking sonics and straight-from-the-heart lyrics. At the turn-of-the-century, Erika founded Heartless Bastards in Cincinnati, OH. Inspired by the likes of Joan Jett, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and more, she cut early demos in 2003, performing the bulk of the instruments herself. A bartending gig inspired the name Heartless Bastards. The bar’s touch screen game posed the question, “What is Tom Petty’s backing band?” and offered “The Heartless Bastards” as an answer option, so she accepted this humorous twist of fate and adopted it as her band’s moniker.The band initially came to life with Stairs and Elevators in 2005, building a discography of fan favorites highlighted by All This Time [2006], The Mountain [2009], and the seminal Arrow [2012]. The latter captured #2 on the Billboard Top Independent Albums Chart, went Top 10 on the Tastemaker Albums Chart, and even cracked the Top 200. “Only For You” notably amassed north of 42.6 million Spotify streams and 17.2 million YouTube views. In the wake of the album, Time attested, “Wennerstrom’s voice is one of the cornerstones of their success. It is tender even when it is severe, and she is unabashedly soulful even when she rocks, almost as though she were at once performing a slow country ballad and singing alongside Mark Bolan from T. Rex.”In 2022, they celebrate the 10th anniversary of Arrow with a special limited-edition re-release on vinyl, new acoustic recordings, and the addition of the previously unavailable “Got to Have Rock and Roll,” “Parted Ways,” and “Bye Bye Baby Blues” originally by George “Little Hat” Jones.“Arrow is the album that reached the most people,” she smiles. “It’s cool to celebrate the success of it and give fans something else. The response to ‘Only For You’ made me feel connected to people everywhere in a beautiful way. I’ll always be grateful for Arrow.”In the end, Heartless Bastards might just be able to heal what ails you.“Ultimately, I hope people enjoy themselves when they’re listening to our records or seeing us live,” she leaves off. “Playing shows really brings me a lot of joy. I hope the connection translates. I’m ready to tour a lot and release more music.”SANTIAGO Y LOS GATOS Santiago y Los Gatos is pop music at its core, indie rock at its root that is infused with Hispanic heritage and Southern soul. All this, delivered in songs from the heart. Their live shows are full of passion, energy and emotion.
Jervis Campbell
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYJERVIS CAMPBELL Jervis is a Nashville-based Musician from North Carolina. He is in the process of producing and releasing his second Album called “Hopeful Hearts Club” and will be releasing it throughout 2023! His songs are prayers that have helped him through his life and he hopes that they would help you too. Thank you for your support and encouragement!!! Follow Jervis on streaming platforms and socials to stay updated!KYLIE ODETTAKylie Odetta is an indie/pop solo artist from Greenville, SC. Her music is colorful, dreamy, and full of hope. She sings with airy, pop vocals as she plays timeless melodies on the keys. Kylie has over 2 million streams on Spotify and 10 thousand followers on Instagram but her favorite way to connect with people is live at a concert. With stories and lyrics that resonate deeply, Kylie brings her whole heart and zest for life to every performance. Her live shows have been compared to Adele, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, and Taylor Swift.
Tall Tall Trees + Griffin William Sherry
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYTALL TALL TREESTall Tall Trees is the musical id of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Savino, a pioneer in the realm of experimental, DIY banjo music. Accompanied by his trusty Banjotron 6500, a highly customized, electrified banjo and effects pedal setup, Savino has wowed audiences since the 2009 debut of his self-titled debut album with his eclectic and innovative blend of psychedelic folk, rock and world music. His work seems to actively evade comfortable definition, upon first listen one will recognize the tenderness of Cat Stevens, the melancholy introspection of Elliott Smith, the anthemic psychedelia of Pink Floyd, and a deep abiding respect for Earl Scruggs. Savino often performs solo, showcasing his fleet-footed loop pedal mastery, as well as alongside long-time collaborator and fellow innovator, Kishi Bashi. Tall Tall Trees latest release, A Wave of Golden Things was released in 2020 on Joyful Noise Recordings.A Wave of Golden Things, his fourth studio album, opens with the distant crow of a rooster and takes off in a dust cloud of swirling banjo, drums and bass. The lead off track, “The Wind, She Whispers,” quickly evolves from a droning mountain melody into full-blown banjo funk, setting the precedent for an album of unexpected turns. Though the banjo is heavily featured, the influence of Pink Floyd, and Cat Stevens can be felt as much as banjo mavericks Earl Scruggs, and Bela Fleck. Opting for an immersive experience over a traditional studio, Savino set up residence and a mobile recording rig on a hemp farm in the Appalachian mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina, where he now resides. Recorded in just under three weeks, with much of it arranged on the spot, the album maintains a sense of immediacy, celebrating raw performance over perfection. “I’m giving up on my expectations, let them go and see where it takes us,” Savino sings on “Expectations,” almost seeming to revel in this experimental process. GRIFFIN WILLIAM SHERRYLiving somewhere in-between modern catharsis and American myth, Griffin William Sherry’s roots continue to grow strong in the ever-evolving genres of Folk, Americana and Rock & Roll. Griffin’s music is inspired by his New England rural roots. As such, he cobbles together an inimitable signature style, visceral and heartfelt, loud and passionate, each song taking on a voice of its own. In 2011, He co-founded the independent band The Ghost of Paul Revere, capturing the hearts and minds of countless fans with a series of acclaimed releases and sold-out shows everywhere. He helped establish his own music festival, performed on national television, and garnered millions of streams. In 2019, his song The Ballad of the 20th Maine became the official Maine State Ballad, securing The Ghost of Paul Revere’s place in Maine music history. In 2022, after writing music for seventeen years, Griffin’s begun work on his first solo record, taking a defiant step in a new direction.BENBENBenBen is a composer, singer and animated film director based in New York City. His debut solo album “Sincere Gifts,” releasing in late 2023 on Perpetual Doom, was mixed by Julian Dreyer at Echo Mountain studios in Asheville. BenBen’s AVL roots run deep, as the former singer of Arizona The Band, which was signed to Echo Mountain Records during the indie boom of the early 00’s.
An Evening With John Fullbright
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEJOHN FULLBRIGHT“If you can’t say it, you don’t have to,” sings John Fullbright on “Bearden 1645,” the opening track to his new record “The Liar.”The song details the GRAMMY-nominated songwriter finding refuge in playing the piano, starting as a child and still today. For fans, it may feel like a bit of a rebuttal to “Happy,” the opener from 2014’s “Songs,” one of several in his repertoire that speak explicitly about mining one’s angst in order to make music. In that way, “Bearden 1645” is also a firm nod to the fourth wall: Fullbright knows you’re thinking about his songwriting. He is, too…but not quite the way he was before.The public at-large hasn’t heard much from the him since the critically lauded “Songs,” a chasm of eight years that seemed unthinkable for someone with so much hype—including a GRAMMY nod, an Americana Music Association Emerging Artist nomination and awards from ASCAP and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame—surrounding his early career. Why did it take so long?“It’s been a process of learning how to be in a community of musicians and less focusing on the lone, depressed songwriter…just playing something that has a beat and is really fun,” Fullbright said. “That’s not to say there are no songs on this record where I depart from that, because there are, but there’s also a band with an opinion. And that part is new to me.”He recorded the album, an exploration of the highs and lows of emotion, the good times and the aftermath, with his band of “usual suspects,” all of them key players in Tulsa’s vibrant music community.Also in the title track of “The Liar,” we find Fullbright talking to God, again. It’s the soft landing of his lifelong struggle with the concept of God, of accepting tenets of Christianity without believing in its central figure.He explored this notably in 2012’s “Gawd Above,” where the vengeful title character exacts terror and salvation in equal measure. “Give ‘em wine and song, fire and lust / When it all goes wrong, I’m the man to trust,” Fullbright sang.In “The Liar,” the power dynamic has shifted. “God, grant me whiskey,” Fullbright sings, “and I promise I’ll be good.” It’s all done with a wink and a nod, less like a prayer and more like a request of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”The sentiment is real, but the words are false. He’s still telling essential truths, which was always his gift, but this time they’re a little more slant. Maybe lying to tell the truth was always the songwriting target. Maybe throwing out some of the rules is what got him there. So is Fullbright, as a songwriter, a liar in his own estimation?“What I love about songwriting is you’re the hero in your own story, most of the time, and I think that’s very human,” he said. “But short answer: yes.”
OUTPOST: The Scatterlings
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEThe Scatterlings are a three-piece acoustic/Americana band based inAsheville, North Carolina. The members share a fondness for songs aboutheartbreak, whiskey, and killings, although they promise they are actually allvery peaceful people. Many of their original songs offer masterful personalstorytelling, while others are steeped deep in local history.The Scatterlings are:Elfy Kornfeld on lead vocals and baritone ukuleleBrad Pope on guitar and mandolinKevin Gary on guitar, mandolin, and harmony vocalsThe Scatterlings have released two albums–‘Being Human’ and’The Scatterlings’
Kat Hasty
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEKAT HASTY As a child, before she knew how to put words on paper, Kat Hasty was singing and writing music. Born and raised in West Texas, her upbringing pours through her songwriting in tales of desert highways and the hustle and bustle of oil towns. Laced with heartache, joy, loss and female angst, her songs are ingenious and uniquely her own. The songwriter has released three EPs, a live session collection with OurVinyl, and two singles as of 2023, which has garnered support from all over the world. Talented and motivated, she is set to begin a long career sharing her stories and growing into the performer that she is fated to be.HARPER O’NEILL“Maybe it’s the wrong glass ceiling to break, but I’m telling stories about the whole human experience of being a woman.”That’s Harper O’Neill, sharing insight into the creation of her debut project, Dark Bar Daisy. It’s a gutsy assertion. But then again, O’Neill is an artist who’s always favored her intuition over trends. The Dallas-born, Nashville-based singer-songwriter with the powerhouse voice and versatile musical chops found her way onto Music Row’s radar by trusting her gut and letting her considerable talent guide her, an increasingly rare path to success in a field crowded with hopefuls trying to recreate the sound of the moment.After putting down roots in Nashville, O’Neill began finding ways into the local music scene, trying out co-writes and finding gigs to play around town. After posting a performance video to TikTok in 2022— far from being a regular TikToker, O’Neill had only dabbled with the platform — O’Neill got a text claiming to be from Jody Williams, the renowned publishing executive and former head of BMI known for working with everyone from Maren Morris to Carrie Underwood. Williams texted O’Neill on April 1st, so she couldn’t help but think it was a prank. They arranged a meeting for the following week and Williams signed O’Neill to his Jody Williams Songs on the spot.While she had a stockpile of songs she’d written over the years, O’Neill didn’t feel strongly enough about the material to use it for her first project, so she started from scratch. That decision led to the gradual birth of Dark Bar Daisy. While her demos veered more closely to traditional acoustic instrumentation, O’Neill was adamant that she wanted horns on the record, which Gear made happen with the help of arranger Jordan Lehning. The addition of Lehning’s arrangements helped O’Neill fully realize the colorful, orchestral sonic vision she had for Dark Bar Daisy. “I was really excited to paint with all the brushes in the studio musically,” O’Neill says. “They’re really hip arrangements that Jordan did. We gave him tons of references, like Khraungbin, Silk Sonic, Lake Street Dive and some old soul references. That was the melting pot mix of sounds that I was that I was chasing.”Dark Bar Daisy opens with “No Longer Mine,” the sole song O’Neill pulled from earlier material while making the LP. Instantly groovy thanks to a prominent, swaggering bass line, the track soon gives way to O’Neill’s dusky vocal, which lands somewhere between Ashley McBryde and Amy Winehouse. The title track is a subtle nod to Miranda Lambert’s Wildcard cut “Dark Bars,” with O’Neill’s own unique take on time spent in dives.
