Cole Ritter & The Night Owls + Vaden Landers
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYCOLE RITTER AND THE NIGHT OWLSFounded in 2019, Cole Ritter and The Night Owls have since been pioneering new sonic spaces and finding their very own home-grown sound that is completely new, yet nostalgic. This award-winning band is helmed by Cole Ritter, a Nashville Native who has devoted his life to music. Cole was featured on Season 20 of American Idol and was chosen as Hunter Girl’s duet partner. Ritter’s songwriting draws inspiration from many genres including country, rock, folk, and the blues.The Allstar backing band, The Night Owls, features a lineup of some of Nashville’s best and brightest up-and-coming instrumentalists and musicians. The Night Owls are made up of Alex Barcic on Pedal Steel Guitar, Tom Davis on Upright Bass, Christian Starrett on Guitar, and Matt Martirano on drums. Cole Ritter and The Night Owls were chosen as the winner of Belmont’s University’s “Country Showcase” in 2020. Cole Ritter and The Night Owls are quickly rising and can’t wait to share their music with the world!VADEN LANDERSVaden Landers is a 27 year old multi-instrumentalist from Eastern TN. As a teen he set out traveling the American highways and railways, learning the ways of a travelermusician, and gaining hard-won life experience along the way. Vaden continued to hone his songwriting, singing, yodeling and picking skills while busking and touring from Alaska to Florida, turning heads as an exciting new player in the revival of the traditional country music scene and finetuning his original songs, which harken back to the golden days of country music. Blending influences from honky tonk, rockabilly, folk, blues, ragtime, jazz, western swing and old-time Appalachian, Vaden Landers brings new fire to a classic sound!
Frankie and the Witch Fingers
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYFRANKIE AND THE WITCH FINGERS Over the course of five years and five LP’s, L.A. veterans, Frankie and the Witch Fingers, have been mutating and perfecting their high-powered rock n’ roll sound. After savagely touring the USA and Europe, this four-headed beast has shown no signs of relenting—appearing like summoned daemons and dosing crowds with cerebral party fuel. The main attraction of Frankie and the Witch Fingers is their explosive performance. With their rowdy and visceral approach to live shows, each member brings their own devilry to induce an experience of bacchanal proportions. Using absurd lyrical imagery—soaked in hallucination, paranoia, and lust—the band’s M.O. strikes into dark yet playful territory. This sense of radical duality is astir at every turn, in every time signature change. Airy vocal harmonies over heavily-serrated riffs. Low-key shamanic roots under vivid high-strangeness. Rambling stretches and punctuated licks. Cutting heads and kissing lips. All this revealing a stereophonic schizophrenia that has flowed throughout their body of work: an ebb & flow of flowery-poppy horror. The band’s latest incarnation is primed to break new sonic ground, edging into the funky and preternatural. Just when you think the trip couldn’t get any weirder, Frankie and the Witch Fingers cranks up the dial, shatters the mundane, and summons new visions.WINE LIPSToronto based garage punk psych rockers, Wine Lips hit the stage for the first time in the fall of 2015. Initially a part time project between songwriter/guitar player, Cam Hilborn and drummer Aurora Evans, the band began playing clubs in Toronto, stretching organically to surrounding Ontario cities, and then Quebec. Wine Lips released their self-titled debut LP on indie label Fried Records in 2017 and set out on their first 5-province tour east to Halifax, and haven’t looked back since. After an appearance in Quebec City, the band was approached with regard to touring overseas. That chance meeting resulted in an April 2018 tour of Hong Kong and China, where they were received by enthusiastic audiences.Never letting the dust settle, the band released their follow up LP “Stressor” in March 2019 and toured North America relentlessly until early 2020. The release of Stressor along with endless tour dates earned the band a new following and saw some of the albums tracks featured on television and Netflix.The band spent most of their free time in 2020 writing and recording their third full length record “Mushroom Death Sex Bummer Party” at The Sugar Shack in London, Ontario with Simon Larochette.“The record is crazy, I really spent a lot of time getting the songs to sound the way I was hearing it in my head. I think this is the best stuff we’ve recorded and I couldn’t be happier with the end result!” – CamWine Lips consists of Cam Hilborn on Guitar and Vocals with Aurora Evans on Drums and Charlie Weare on Bass.“Fuzzy, loud and fast, Wine Lips are a garage/ punk/ psychedelic band whose music feels like a shot of adrenaline to the heart. A no holds barred kind of rock n roll that’ll make you want to buy a motorcycle, just to crash it.” – Sled Island
Buffalo Nichols
– ALL AGES- PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW (please note – guaranteed seating OR standing room ticket options)BUFFALO NICHOLSOn his second album, The Fatalist, Carl “Buffalo” Nichols does things with the blues that might catch you off guard. There’s 808 programming, chopped up Charley Patton samples, washes of synth. There’s a consideration of the fullness of the sonic stage and the atmospherics of the music that can only come with a long engagement with electronic music. But this is no gimmicky hybrid or attempt to turn the blues into 21st century music by simply dressing it with skittering hi-hats. Nichols’ vision for the blues is of a form of music that’s intimately tied to everyday life in 2023, something that’s reflected not only in the choice of instrumentation, but in the complexities of the songwriting and the gray areas his lyrics explore. This is music that comes straight from the present, and as such, it’s a reminder that the same shit that drove the first blues singers to pick up a guitar is still present behind the throbs of deep bass hits today. The Fatalist sounds unlike any blues record you’re likely to hear in 2023.Of course, Nichols’ songwriting has always been firmly rooted in the present. He proved he could succeed on the music industry’s own blues terms on his self-titled 2021 debut, whose songs, Bandcamp Daily said, “seem to flow from some great repository of emotion and insight.” The Fatalist finds him digging deeper in search of answers to ever-more-complicated questions around responsibility and self-definition, his plainspoken lyrics both cutting and refreshing in their sincerity and refusal to accept pat solutions. Over a guitar line that blisters and pops with bright sunshine, he holds forth on the simple everyday power of love in “Love is All,” and when he shades his optimism with a clear-eyed view of “bad behavior in the canon of good men,” as he sings, his guitar line goes cloudy with the thought. He slowly walks around a broken relationship in “The Difference,” trying to find the faults. It’s a decidedly modern breakup song, one steeped in moral ambiguity. “I just don’t know the difference between love and sympathy,” he sings, before hoping his once-beloved “won’t forget the one who kept your ego fed.”Still, Nichols rarely sounds like a blues singer. Like Leonard Cohen, he dominates these songs with his voice. His low, guttural baritone is high in the mix, and he sounds coiled, clenched tight. The slow drip of his songwriting lends The Fatalist an incredible amount of drama, which the production—at times dark and dewy and claustrophobic, at times zippy with light—further emphasizes. Nichols produced the album himself at home, having recently returned to Milwaukee following a few years in Austin.“Being back in Milwaukee reminded me of why I started making music in the first place. It got me away from the ‘industry-town’ mentality,” he says. “There’s definitely a certain work ethic that comes from being in a city like Milwaukee. There are no clear paths to success and not many examples of ‘making it,’ so people end up creating their own path and developing a broad skill set to sustain a career as an artist.”CROW BILLIKEN
David Gborie
– AGES 18+- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE DAVID GBORIE David Gborie is a comedian, writer, voice actor and all-around thorough dude originally from Denver, Colorado. He has appeared on NBC’s AP Bio, TBS’s Chad, and can currently be heard as the voice of Comedy Central. He is the co-host of the wildly popular All Fantasy Everything podcast and was featured in the adult swim animated series Royal Crackers and the star-studded music video for George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord. David will soon be seen in Netflix’s animated series Exploding Kittens produced by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels and AppleTV’s The Instigators, starring Casey Affleck and Jack Harlow. with special guests….Kenny StempienBrad Sativa
Corey Ryan Forrester
– AGES 18+- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE COREY RYAN FORRESTER (presented by Modelface Comedy)Corey’s love for comedy started when he was a toddler watching Carson (and then Leno) from a blanket on the floor next to his daddy, Dale. By the second grade, Corey had already informed his teachers that he would be a comedian and didn’t ever consider another profession. At 16, he worked up the nerve to do his first open mic (lying about his age to be admitted into the club). Corey spent the next decade hawking jokes in dingy bars and comedy clubs at night, then waking up to do random jobs to supplement his income. He was a house painter, retail associate, motorcycle salesman, urine sample collector, flower delivery boy, hotel maid, college textbook reseller, and hay bailer… at one point, he ran a family bakery with his mother and sister where he was considered the “Head Quiche Chef.” In 2015 Corey traded in his chef’s hat for a full-time trucker hat. Under Corey’s trucker hat is a giant head, and under that are surprisingly thought-provoking rants on society, culture, and politics. His stand-up blends humor and common sense into a high-energy act full of silly physical comedy, recounting wild stories and emotionally-driven tangents. Corey dreams of being in the small club of EGOT winners. His creative output is nearly insatiable and propelled by his passion for writing, performance, and silliness. Choosing to live in his hometown of Chickamauga, when Corey isn’t on the road touring internationally as part of the wellRED Comedy Tour, he takes hours-long walks through the woods, talks on the phone with his momma, and makes live videos to destigmatize mental health. You can find daily videos and writing across Corey’s platforms. He makes viral character videos and political satire sketches, writes daily for his Substack subscribers, works on his upcoming second book, and produces more podcasts than you can count. Corey’s undeniable charm has garnered fans like Whoopi Goldberg, Chelsea Clinton, Leslie Jones, and Dave Bautista. His greatest honor has been connecting with people of all kinds, meeting fans on the road, and making his family proud, even if they cringe a little.
Nicotine Dolls
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYNICOTINE DOLLS Nicotine Dolls is a NYC based Pop/Rock band formed in 2017 with lead singer Sam Cieri, Guitarist John Hays, Bassist John Merritt, and Drummer Abel Tabares. The band has been steadily releasing singes and EPs since 2019. They have built a devoted and strong base through their successful Social Media engagement. The bands most recent release “What Makes You Sad” was able to garner over 19k Pre-Saves and opened at #5 on the Itunes all Genre chart.ABBIE ROPER Abbie Roper and her band bois make up a four piece indie rock / punk band based in NYC. Abbie and the bois can be found in some of NYC’s classic venues playing a mix of your favorite early 2000’s covers and her originals of ardor.
LIVE! ON STAGE: JONATHAN RICHMAN featuring TOMMY LARKINS on the drums!
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYLIVE! ON STAGE: JONATHAN RICHMAN featuring TOMMY LARKINS on the drums! “Richman is one of America’s most unique and dynamic songwriters…” – Nashville Scene “Richman didn’t need much else besides a beat to work his magic.” – New York Daily News “Buy tickets early. Buy tickets often. This is just good general life advice, but even more so when you’re talking about Jonathan Richman. Don’t get denied at the door, don’t leave things up to chance: You will regret it.” – Nashville Scene “Rhymes worthy of Ogden Nash.” – The New York Times “Richman has spent decades removing barriers between himself and his audience, cultivating an intimacy that is almost extinct in modern music.”- Nashville Scene “The music we’re doing now works well in quiet places like theaters and performing art centers. We still don’t use a program or a set list so we don’t know what we’ll do until we do it. Please do not expect old songs. Many singers my age do a retrospective; this show is not like that. It’s mostly stuff made up in the last 3 and 4 years. Some of the songs presented might be in different languages; this is not to be esoteric or clever, it’s because the different languages help me express different feelings sometimes. One last thing, my idea of a good show has nothing to do with applause. It’s about if all the songs I sang that night were ones that I felt.” – Jonathan
The Supersuckers
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYTHE SUPERSUCKERSAt a time when many alternative rock bands were either filtering hard rock tropes through a filter of irony (such as Urge Overkill, Big Chief, and Redd Kross) or reworking them into grunge (like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, or Stone Temple Pilots), the Supersuckers stood out as a band who approached their music with tongue firmly in cheek while still making it clear they loved arena-ready hard rock, both for its absurdity and for its punch-to-the-gut power. Playing like they should be in a 20,000-seat arena even when they were playing bars that held 200 people, the Supersuckers sounded like the bastard sons of Foghat, AC/DC, and ZZ Top after being weaned on punk rock, unafraid of massive guitar riffs, outsized personalities, or pledging allegiance to sex, weed, and Satan with a wink and a nudge. Rising to nationwide recognition while signed to Sub Pop, they made their debut as a rather ordinary punk band with 1992’s The Smoke of Hell, then dove head-first into speedy hard rock with 1994’s La Mano Cornuda and 1995’s The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers; they then detoured into reefer-addled country with 1997’s Must’ve Been High. While their Sub Pop era contained most of their best work, they were still capable of making their sound work in the studio, particularly on 2003’s raucous Motherfuckers Be Trippin’ and 2008’s (relatively) thoughtful Get It Together.THE RUMOURSThe Rumours are a rock band based out of Waterloo, IA. The once, straight-up Rock N Roll band finally made-out with Punk — leaving you beggin’ for more with their Kick-In-The-Face look & sound. It’s all about HOOKS, LOOKS & LOUD GUITARS. The Rumours are the hottest three-some you’ll ever see.
OUTPOST: Sufi Brothers
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEThe Sufi Brothers are Aaron “Woody” Wood on vocals and guitar and Jason Krekel on vocals, mandolin, guitar, and fiddle. We represent over 15 years of Americana from Asheville – as true locals that have played a diverse collection of venues from revivals to dive bars. The Sufi Brothers play an improvised set that starts with a tribute to country roots, blues, gospel, and folk, then travels a path unknown guided by an openness and sensitivity to each other and the universe. Like our namesake the Sufis – we let love and a higher power determine the course the music takes.
Chris McGinnis and Mamaw’s Angels
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYCHRIS McGINNIS AND MAMAW’S ANGELS North Carolina musician Chris McGinnis writes songs that exist somewhere in between a hiccup and a heartache. His last EP, 2019’s Songs For You, touches on the absurdity of your hometown morphing beyond recognition. It tells a story of two Baby Boomers drifting together from across the US into the Golden Gate City, then drifting apart, and then together again. It is about connection and disconnection alike. With his debut full-length album, Mamaw’s Angel, Chris veers deeper into these familiar themes. “I think this album is largely about manic loneliness. These songs are ultimately about people who are afraid of losing their relationships. They refuse to accept that they may have already lost these relationships, and they refuse to accept that they are to blame.” The manic aspect of the “manic loneliness” manifests itself in the album’s refusal to rest in one genre. “What If We Went to the Moon?” is what Chris describes as “a cosmic country song with a countrypolitan foundation.” Heartland rocker “Home Away From Home” has all the stomp and 12-string firepower to park a Wilbury. Other tracks like “Mailman’s Son” and “Old Chestnut” teeter between lo-fi indie folk and roots freak out. Tying all of these styles together are the lyrics and the characters at the center of them. Overbearing grandparents and stubborn grandchildren, washed-up fraternity brothers yearning for the New Year’s Eve parties of yesteryear, a missing Winnebago, a tree that just won’t quit, and other wild personalities run throughout the ten tracks found on Mamaw’s Angel. More than just a few are inspired by people and stories Chris had met and heard back towards his home in Western NC’s Linville Gorge Wilderness area. Mamaw’s Angel is a collection of sensationally-delivered tales about characters struggling on the sidelines of their own realities. “The characters in these songs are all incredibly flawed. I wanted to write songs that expressed truly ugly emotions. Loneliness, anger, denial, regret. The characters are all being eaten away by these feelings, and it motivates their words and actions. But I also think that that is how some of the absurdity is palatable.” Mamaw’s Angel was recorded at Clubmen Studio in Blairsville, GA, and produced by Atlanta-based artist Jacob Davis Martin. Among the musicians heard throughout the album are Asheville, NC’s Carly Taich, members of Asheville’s Jack Marion & the Pearl Snap Prophets, Atlanta-based strings trio Me Me Me, and Will Easter of Boone, NC.BOAT COMMANDBoat command consists of four main components: bass, keys, guitar, and drums. Occasionally accompanied by horns and/or vocals. Described by some as ‘post-lofi yacht hop’ the sound is founded in jazz and fusion roots yet sustained by the methodologies of more modern genres such as hip hop and electronic music. The philosophy is expressiveness through low volume and allowing space to be a fundamental piece of our delivery. The message is to embrace what boating can do for you.
