520Fest: A ‘Funraiser’ for SoundSpace@Rabbit’s
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYSOUNDSPACE@RABBIT’S 520Fest is a local band showcase of the twanging, squealing and space-rocking sounds of Asheville. This event is a ‘funraiser’ for SoundSpace@Rabbit’s, a music rehearsal and art studio facility inside of a historic 1947 Black-owned tourist court and soul food cafe’ known as Rabbit’s Motel. Opening new soul food cafe Areta’s by chef Clarence Robinson in Fall 2023.Featuring: White Oak Splits, Hex Wizard, JD Pinkus, The Squealers
Triathalon
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYTRIATHALONSometimes lo-fi rock, sometimes r&b, always smooth. Savannah, GA formed trio TRIATHALON gear up to tour this fall and soothe speakers in a city near you.CURRENT BLUEHailing from Charleston, South Carolina, Current Blue is an indie pop group, and has been working on music since 2014. The band features STEPHAN on guitar/vocals and Yuki Tillis on drums/lead guitar. The band blends indie, surf and R&B into a unique and distinguishable sound.
An Evening with Ivy Eld + Friends: Remembering Our Roots
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEIVY ELD & FRIENDS This evening with Ivy Eld, her band, and other special musical guests is sure to be a heart-expanding and soul-nourishing show for listeners. It will be a cross-cultural musical experience that invites us all to get curious about our own ancestral roots. At this show, Ivy and her band will play some folk rock tunes from her debut album. She is also delighted to host and perform with some wonderful guest artists who hail from a variety of cultural identities and heritages–Eastern Band Cherokee, Mexican/Aztec, African American, Scandinavian, Celtic, and more. This evening will be about celebrating our diversity, cherishing our shared humanity and commonalities, and experiencing the healing that can come from music, stories, and honest reflection and connection. Ivy Eld’s music dances in the land of paradox. Her voice is simultaneously angelic and rawly human, fiery and red-wine smooth. Her evocative and tender songwriting invites listeners to dive in quickly and deeply, piercing weary hearts and enshrouding them with the fierce love and witnessing they desire and deserve. Her vulnerable, heartfelt lyrics soar through the air on the wings of her transcendent, soulful voice. A psychotherapist for over a decade and a half, Ivy has been privy to the sacred inner worlds of thousands of souls (while navigating her own inner hallways, dark attics, and sun-lit living rooms). This rich interpersonal and intrapersonal experience and her curiosity about the internal landscape saturates her indie folk pop music. Her artist moniker is a part of her remembering, her reconnecting to her own ancestry (“Ivy” based on her Scandinavian great grandmother’s name, “Eld” being the Swedish word for “fire”). And her self-titled 2022 debut EP album follows suit with that remembering. It documents her journey of coming home to her inner artist, her voice, her wildness, her power, her roots. The songs dance with mystical, nature-filled language through themes such as love (of self and others), speaking up, setting boundaries, grief, generational healing, and the transformative power of art. The album was specifically dedicated to her beloved little brother (also a musician) who passed away just a few months prior to her entering Drop of Sun studio in West Asheville, NC, to record. Ivy longs for her music to be an oasis of healing and beauty, a call to deeper respect and compassion for ourselves and for humanity. She considers her music to be another facet of how she shows up in the world in authentic and passionate service— as a singer-songwriter, a therapist, a mom, a partner, an advocate, a friend, a human. She hopes her thoughtful, earthy, poetic songs will inspire others to look inside – light, shadows, and all – and come home to their deeply worthy selves.
OUTPOST: Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE Liam Purcell & Cane Mill RoadRapidly rising on the bluegrass scene, Billboard-charting artists Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road perform internationally and stateside winning both industry awards and the hearts of fans who turn out to see them at some of the industry’s most iconic venues. Growing up just down the road from Doc Watson, Liam Purcell leads Cane Mill Road as they rock the traditional bluegrass standards they were raised on, yet boldly write original music with roots in the fertile grounds of bluegrass, old-time, and Americana. Their powerful arrangements and dynamic stage presence have landed them main stage slots at legendary festivals across the country. Named Momentum Band of the Year by IBMA in 2019, Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road have been recognized as one of the fastest growing bands in the industry. Their latest release “Roots” debuted at #6 on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Charts, joining their three previous albums for a total of 12 weeks in the Top 10. In 2022, bandleader Liam Purcell turned heads by sweeping the Rockygrass Instrumental Championships on Guitar, Mandolin, and Banjo, becoming the first person in history to do so.
OUTPOST: Snake Oil Medicine Show
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE Snake Oil Medicine Show From Asheville, North Carolina, Snake Oil Medicine Show is a dedicated group of artists and musicians who love and respect tradition in acoustic music, but who also share an even stronger passion to shape its future. Snake Oil’s goal is to convey positive energy and ideals to their audiences through music and art. Fantasies become three-dimensional, technicolor props and mysteriously gargantuan puppets at festivals and larger shows. Improvisation rules as guest musicians, rappers, freestylers, artists, puppeteers, dancers and jugglers often grace the stage. Snake Oil Medicine Show features some of the hottest talents around, no two performances are ever the same! Snake Oil was founded by Guitarist and guru songwriter George Pond in 1993, whose witty, Dr. Suess-like lyrics explore everything from the golden rule to quantum physics. This sheriff now plays the electric as well as upright Bass and is considering attending Clown College where he will use the power of Humor to promote World Peace Through Music and Art! The group has been playing across the globe for 3 decades as Psychedelic Bluegrass-Rock Pioneers!
PATIO: Sara Jean Kelley
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVEDSARA JEAN KELLEYA lover of wild things— plants, animals, people, and music— Nashville native Sara Jean Kelley crafts songs that combine upbeat, pop-inspired country hooks with thoughtful, often philosophical lyrical themes that explore our human connection to the natural world. Due to her dark sensibility and slightly melancholic sense of humor, Kelley’s particular brand of alternative country is multidimensional, with one foot firmly rooted in her Nashville Country/Americana background, another foot exploring the realms of alternative rock, rock and roll, pop, and even hip hop influences. Her voice, at times husky, dark and sultry, at times floating light-as-a-feather, has been compared to celebrated female country stars Brandi Carlisle, Patti Griffin, and Lucinda Williams. She’s opened for country music icons Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, and her songwriting reveals a clear, intuitive understanding of what makes a song work. Her latest EP Black Snake, is about life and death, transformation and rebirth, strength and resilience; all the things you experience in your early thirties that you wish you had known a decade earlier.
OUTPOST: Funktion 1 Decompression Pop-up
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE Join us for a pop up Decompression, outside on the river. TOMORROW at the Grey Eagle Outpost! From many of the folks who brought you the Chop Shop Fundraiser! Push/Pull (rolling sunset dnb journey)Wij (breakbeats, heavy)Phon (funky/disco) with special guest: Valdy (Chop Shop, Miami) Funktion One sound provided by Dosobis What is encouraged to bring:-Inflatables!-picnics/snacks!-flow/fire props!-yourself! Plenty of space outside for lounging and spinning. *THIS IS AN INFLATABLE FRIENDLY EVENT* There will be an open fire circle, fuel provided. Doors at 3pm, Music 4pm to 10pm A portion of the proceeds will go to Harmonia.https://www.harmoniasanctuary.org/ Suprise Function 1 Pop-up DecompressionPhon – Funky DiscoPush/Pull – Sunset DNBWij – Breakbeat
OUTPOST: Pleasure Chest
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE 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!
Foy Vance – Regarding The Joy Of Nothing Tour
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEFOY VANCEFoy Vance is a singer and songwriter hailing from the land of Bangor, Northern Ireland. Deeply rooted in the rich musical history and aesthetic of the Southern United States, Foy independently released his debut album Hope in 2007, quickly garnering acclaim from fans and fellow musicians alike. Foy released his second full-length album, Joy of Nothing, in 2013 on Glassnote Records which led to further critical praise and star-studded invites on tours worldwide from the likes of Ed Sheeran, Bonnie Raitt, Marcus Foster, Snow Patrol and Sir Elton John.Foy was only the second artist signing to Gingerbread Man Records, Ed Sheeran’s label division within Atlantic Records. Foy’s debut recording on Gingerbread Man Records, The Wild Swan, was Executive Produced by Sir Elton John and released in 2016. His music video for the lead single “She Burns” featured “Pretty Little Liars” and People’s Choice Award winner Lucy Hale. His music video for “Coco” featured the inspiration for the song title, Coco Arquette, the daughter of Courteney Cox and David Arquette, and was directed by Cox as well.Foy’s recent collaborations include “Moonshine” with Kacey Musgraves, the end credits track from Ben Affleck’s film “Live By Night,” four tracks including “Galway Girl” on Ed Sheeran’s latest album ÷, as well as cuts on recent releases by Miranda Lambert, Plan B and Rudimental.Foy has headlined globally to sell-out crowds and splits his time between London and the hills of Aberfeldy, Scotland with his family.BONNIE BISHOP The first thing that registers about Bonnie Bishop’s stirring album The Walk is that the seasoned Grammy winner is no longer trying to outrun herself; she owns whatever has come her way, good wind or ill. It’s an uplifting confessional that she dedicates ‘to all who wander’ – laying down searing, emotionally-charged variations to award-winning producer Steve Jordan’s (Robert Cray, John Mayer, Buddy Guy) powerhouse production. She does so in a voice that aches and arches and grabs and never lets go. Blessed with an authentically resounding range, a blistering lyrical gift, and OK – she admits it – a couple of inherent vices that any God-fearing Americana/country/soul artist must wrestle with after years of bringing it live and in-color, Bishop has now broken free from the bust-boom mentality of Nashville to walk a line of her own making. The recipe may sound oversimplified, but it’s a frank, funny, ferocious, insightful Bonnie Bishop we encounter on this path; a recharged singer/songwriter full of grace. Her determination to put one foot in front of the other and find the road to reclamation shifted into overdrive when she left Nashville for her native Texas in 2017. Since then, she’s never looked back. The Walk soars as her most honest effort to date. It’s a groove-laden, lyrical lightning bolt from which the tonic of self-revelation pours forth on songs such as the grateful “Every Happiness Under The Sun” and the gut-wrenching “I Don’t Like To Be Alone.” The album’s euphoric closer, “Song Don’t Fail Me Now,” is Bonnie’s most heartfelt testament to date that music absolutely can still heal the spirit.
Pony Bradshaw
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYPONY BRADSHAW On his new album North Georgia Rounder, Pony Bradshaw leads the listener on an exploration of the woods, rivers, and mountains of Appalachia, more specifically, the area for which the album is named and he’s called home for the past 15 years. “It’s got its hooks in me,” Bradshaw says of North Georgia, and it shows, with songs that quickly establish a setting, much like the one he initiated with the album’s predecessor, Calico Jim. The sonic excursion includes stops along the Conasauga River, visits to the holler, and a few diversions—nearby Knoxville plays a supporting role, as do Louisiana and Arkansas. It’s an impressionistic journey of introspection and connection all at once. Will Stewart’s tastefully-understated guitar leads and Philippe Bronchtein’s atmospheric pedal steel provide the perfect backdrop for Bradshaw’s impassioned vocals in lead-off track “Foxfire Wine.” Its swampy, bluesy intro makes way for an interesting amalgamation of Sturgill Simpson and The Grateful Dead, serving as the perfect aperitif for “a hell of a heaven and a hell of a show.” From that point on till the album wraps with the aptly titled “Notes on a River Town,” not only do you see and hear North Georgia, you even smell and taste it. Take, for example, “Safe in the Arms of Vernacular,” a pensive, melancholy track that delights all the senses and is reminiscent of Ray Lamontagne’s mellow side. When Bradshaw sings of the “bonafide gas mask” his Dad brought back from Desert Storm and describes the Saudi Arabian sand as turning to “glass sharp as a sultan’s sword,” one can almost see it. As quickly as it sets the ever-vivid stage, the track shifts its focus to a waitress downtown. “Draped in Bedouin gown, smoking Kent cigarettes in the underground” in an attempt to “escape all those voices,” she naturally drinks white wine—”Riesling room temp from a coffee cup,” to be exact. A voracious reader, Bradshaw credits his talent for expressing such rich details in his songs not so much to other songwriters but instead to books, fiction, short stories, essays, and literary criticism. With such colorful descriptions as “teeth stained red with Lebanese wine, long hair … in sweeps of oil blacker than a cypress pool,” one might assume he bases the subjects of his songs on real-life people he interacts with in North Georgia; instead, Bradshaw describes them as “nameless characters” compiled from “fragments” he’s collected, pieces that usually start with just a line or two. These fragments all add up to a remarkably cohesive 10-song collection, despite Bradshaw being a self-professed admirer of (and writer of) the non-sequitur. This is thanks in no small part to his own masterful vocal delivery and the expert musicianship of his backing band, one that includes the aforementioned Stewart and Bronchtein with Robert Green on bass, Ryan Moore on drums, and Jenna Mobley on fiddle. “The poet soon stops experimenting and innovating and starts his life’s work,” Bradshaw expounds, citing a quote from one of his favorite writers, Wendell Berry. A single album as a life’s work may seem like a grand, overambitious aspiration. But for Pony Bradshaw, North Georgia Rounder is just that – a life’s work, one that, as he describes it, is a culmination of “sweat and work and joy and pain and anger and patience and restraint.”RUSSELL COOK & THE SWEET TEETH
