Wyatt Flores
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYWYATT FLORES Wyatt Flores was raised on the outskirts of a small Oklahoma college town with a rich music history spanning from the likes of Garth Brooks, All American Rejects, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Colour Music and The Great Divide. There’s something unique about growing up in a town riddled with musical giants. Embracing this musical energy, and further inspired by stories from his father’s stint as a seasoned drummer in the Red Dirt music scene, Wyatt wrote and released his debut acoustic single “Travelin’ Kid” in the Spring of 2021. Shows around campfires and in small bars throughout Northeast Oklahoma followed soon after. In the summer of 2022, Wyatt left Stillwater, OK and moved to Nashville, TN to pursue his career full-time. He released fan-favorite “Losing Sleep” in February of 2022, as well as a series of stand-alone singles in the second half of the year, each showcasing new facets of the stories and sounds Flores creates. Wyatt’s sound is somewhere between Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson and Caamp — he tells his stories in his own way and craves authenticity in his lyrics, collaboration and sound. This wide-ranging field of influences captivates listeners of multiple genres, as his fans have tallied up more than 3-million total streams across platforms. Having dedicated the past few months to transforming new lived experiences into songs, Wyatt is in the process of recording his first full album, planned for a September 2023 release: “Losing Sleep, the album, is a time and place in my heart. I learned that sometimes not everyone can be loved. It’s homegrown and Oklahoma made and I hope folks see the originality behind it. I hope this project helps people get through the rough times in their life” Be good to one another. See you soon. — WFJONATHAN PEYTONJonathan Peyton is a singer/songwriter from Woodstock, Georgia. He writes emotion-evoking songs that tell a story and captivate audiences by their relatability and honesty. He says that writing music has become a way of processing through life and relating to others and their stories. Music has been not only something to enjoy, but also a tool for healing. His biggest hope is to write songs that help people feel less alone. Jonathan has recently teamed up with guitar player/producer, Sadler Vaden (Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit), to release his newest music. They have released 4 singles together and are working together on Jonathan’s next album.
Malcolm Holcombe (Album Release Show)
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEMALCOLM HOLCOMBE Malcolm Holcombe is a survivor. Most recently, a cancer survivor, so it’s a real gift to have this, his 18th album of brilliant vignettes and expressive musicianship. Shortly after his diagnosis in 2022, he and Jared Tyler decided to get these songs recorded, just the two of them, not knowing what the future held in store for them. To musicians, giving life to new songs can feel as critical as life’s most basic needs. If a completed album can come from it, all the better.He’s a survivor of other struggles, too: ones that claim the lives of folks half his age. There are the self-inflicted ones, and the ones inflicted upon us by, well, the unpredictable world that he describes, unfiltered. Greed, hatred, inexplicable injustice… Malcolm helps us wrestle with them, as he has done for maybe a few lifetimes now. As he sings in “Fill These Shoes”, “People get murdered for no reason / Some give up their lives so others keep breathin’.” Through it all, we are blessed to have him among us. Jared Tyler is, as RB Morris has called him, the musical shadow of Malcolm: able to anticipate his next moves, predict what’s needed when, and provide just the right embellishment and backbone on harmonies, guitars, mandola, dobro, banjo, etc. (As I write this, the music world is reflecting upon the recent passing of David Lindley, who provided the kind of support to Jackson Browne and others that Jared has done for Malcolm since 1999. Let this be a reminder, to all of us, to appreciate and support those who excel so well at backing up our favorite headliners, yet rarely receive the credit they deserve.) Jared also produced this album, along with Brian Brinkerhoff. No one can fully get inside the musical mind of the great Malcolm Holcombe, but Jared comes as close as anyone ever could. Let me repeat part of that again: no one can fully get inside the musical mind of the great Malcolm Holcombe. You can memorize his lyrics, you can witness the awe and power and transcendent experience of his live performances, but you still won’t be absolutely certain that you see exactly what he’s seeing. And that’s but one of his many attributes. One that has perhaps made contemporaries like Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Steve & Justin Townes Earle, and Iris DeMent fans of his. Malcolm Holcombe: singer, songwriter, survivor. He survives thanks in part to the fire and passion and conscience that you witness in his craft. “I will not hide from the words of justice / I will not join the cries of liars / I will not keep my heart from climbing from the dust I swallowed behind. …Great spirit lift me from despair / to your bosom sweet and fair” (“Conscience of Man”) Martin AndersonWNCW FMMusic director, hostED SNODDERLYRecalling the modern, esoteric lyricism of Guy Clark and Billy Joe Shaver and the Southern traditions of old-time music and bluegrass, veteran Americana singer- songwriter-guitar player Ed Snodderly’s new album Chimney Smoke, (his 10th), is a hypnotic, slow-burning masterpiece of expert songcraft and storytelling.
Deafheaven
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYDEAFHEAVEN For the past ten years, the seminal San Francisco band Deafheaven has been driven by evolution and innovation within themselves and their respective genres. With their forthcoming album Infinite Granite, available August 20th via Sargent House, they’ve taken another giant leap forward. With production from Justin Meldal-Johnsen, known for his stellar work with M83, Wolf Alice, Paramore, Metric, among others, Deafheaven embarks on a new chapter of defiant beauty. Across the album, vocalist George Clarke showcases a startling vocal range; falsettos, whispers, multi-part harmonies, and other adventurous vocal treatments, with his trademark black metal-inspired howls mostly absent. Guitarists Kerry McCoy and Shiv Mehra expand their sonic palette to include synth textures using them to enrich their astral guitar work rather than outright replace it. Drummer Daniel Tracy has always been a force to reckon with behind the kit, but where he used to floor audiences with his speed and stamina, he’s now free to broaden his approach and lay down authoritative drum patterns that together with bassist Christopher Johnson’s punchy bass lines anchor the band’s lofty arrangements. Ultimately, Infinite Granite is Deafheaven’s most goosebump-inducing album to date. Jack Shirley, who recorded all the previous Deafheaven albums, remained on board to engineer part of Infinite Granite at his Atomic Garden East studio in Oakland, CA with additional engineering and mixing coming from nine-time Grammy Award winner Darrell Thorp (Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Beck). DIRTY ART CLUB
OUTPOST: Solvivor
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINESolvivor’Based in Asheville, NC, with a Post Modern Blues Rock sound (Black Keys, The Record Company, Gary Clark Jr), Solvivor is a 3-piece original Rock band featuring Ian Harrod on vocals / bass, Dorsey Parker on guitars and Joel Clark on drum kit. Constantly at work in the studio and on their live show, Solvivor boasts a large and growing catalog of originals, plus many current and ‘classic’ covers, all delivered with authenticity and ability, ranging from acoustic Country Blues stylings to Modern Rock sounds, depending on the set, party or venue. Solvivor recently released their first two studio recordings ‘Carolina Country Blues’ / ‘Cold Feet’ and look forward to many ‘small batch’ releases of studio material as well as regional performances into the new year.’
OUTPOST: Kelly Hunt & Momma Molasses
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE Memphis-raised singer-songwriter Kelly Hunt paints stories as old and offbeat as her Depression-era tenor banjo, reimagining traditions of folk, country & old-time music in a style that hovers beyond the constraints of genre à la Anaïs Mitchell & Gillian Welch. Hunt’s debut album, Even The Sparrow, was released in May 2019 and named as a finalist for the International Folk Music Awards “Album of the Year.” Her upcoming sophomore album, Ozark Symphony, was recorded with Grammy-winning musician & producer Dirk Powell and is slated for release in 2023.Based in Bristol, VA/ TN, Momma Molasses has toured throughout the Southeast. Her music interlaces influences from classic country, western swing, bluegrass, country-blues, and old-time music to create a uniquely timeless sound. Her rolling contralto voice scales over homespun finger-picked guitar, in haunting lamentations. Warm, rich, and passionate, her songs embrace and captivate listeners, soothing well-worn hearts with vulnerable lyricism.
Nation of Language
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYNATION OF LANGUAGEBrooklyn-based synth auteurs Nation of Language first arrived to most in 2020 as one of the most heralded new acts of recent memory, having only released a handful of singles but already earning high-praise from the likes of NME, FADER, Stereogum, Pitchfork, etc.. Inspired by the early new-wave and punk movements, the band quickly earned a reputation for delivering frenzied nights of unconventional bliss to rapt audiences, and established themselves as bright young stars emerging from a crowded NYC landscape prior to their release of one of the most critically acclaimed debut albums of the year — Introduction, Presence. The band’s ability to blend the upbeat with a healthy dose of sardonic melancholy made it a staple on year-end ‘Best of’ lists, led PASTE magazine to dub the album ‘The most exciting synth-pop debut in years’ , and landed the band major radio play from the BBC, KCRW, KEXP, SiriusXM and countless others.Their 2021 follow up, A Way Forward then saw the band pushing even further into analog electronic landscapes while channeling a ferocious energy on singles like ‘Across that Fine Line’ & ‘This Fractured Mind.’ With NME now dubbing their sophomore album ‘A true modern-day classic’ and Rough Trade tabbing it as one of its Top Albums of the year, the band has gone on to headline a string of packed shows both domestically and Internationally in ’22 and well into 2023.MISS GRIT”For the way out, I think, we have to follow the cyborg. We have to be willing to be disloyal, to undermine. The cyborg is powerful because she grasps the potential in her own artificiality, because she accepts without question how deeply it is embedded in her.” — Jia Tolentino (Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, “Athleisure, barre and kale: the tyranny of the ideal woman”)To be a cyborg means to have been manufactured; to have been downloaded with information, characteristics, and abilities meant to carry out a function which will serve its creator. It is to have stepped into the world with very little control under an all-powerful hand. Miss Grit knows that to be a cyborg also means to have potential beyond your creator; to inevitably grow a hand even more powerful.New York-based musician Margaret Sohn (they/she) created Miss Grit to function as an outlet for their own analysis and expression of self. Called a “polymath” by NME in early 2019, their process is introspective, their vision precise. Sohn produced Follow The Cyborg, her debut fulllength album, entirely in her home studio, and mostly in solitude with several guest collaborators joining — Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint, Aron Kobayashi Ritch of Momma, and close friend and fellow songwriter Pearla.
I Draw Slow
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEI DRAW SLOWNo band more successfully bridges the gap between Dublin and Nashville than Americana band I Draw Slow. The Dublin-based group is gearing up to release their deeply personal new 10-track, self-titled album, I DRAW SLOW (out September 9) via Compass Records. The album’s lead single, “Copenhagen Interpretation,” is out today.“Copenhagen Interpretation” is about bringing words back down to earth. The group, found its inspiration from the George Orwell quote: “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Guided by subtle banjo picking, the song floats on an early ‘70s soundscape. Like most artists during the pandemic, the group was forced to put their tour career on hold in the spring of 2020. Independently they suffered the loss of loved ones to COVID and weathered the subsequent months of grief. When the band was finally able to reunite in 2021 in a farmyard studio in the Dublin mountains to record their new album they found themselves and their music fundamentally changed. The traditional Irish and Appalachian influences that informed I Draw Slow’s prior releases were augmented by a much wider range of influences, including sixties pop, cinematic soundscapes and the funereal jazz of New Orleans. Lyrically, the new tracks pulled storytelling and tradition apart. “The new music represents tradition in the mixed up way that people live now,” Louise shares, “With the stories we tell to stop ourselves from going crazy and the false memories we build ourselves upon.” Ultimately, the trauma of the pandemic is what defines the band’s eponymously titled new album. Together with bandmates, Konrad Liddy (upright bass), Colin Derham (banjo), and Adrian Hart (fiddle), Louise and Dave Holden explore a broader, and darker, musical palette on the new tracks, yielding unexpected and musically satisfying results. I DRAW SLOW captures a pivotal moment in a shared human tragedy and offers a stunning portrait of the beauty that I Draw Slow salvaged from their collective pain.JAKE YBARRAIt can be hard for an artist to pinpoint when the muse first struck and launched them into a creative life. For 25-year-old Jake Ybarra, the first step on his journey came in Harlingen, Texas, where Ybarra (pronounced “e-BAR-a”) was born into a musical household. With a classically trained pianist for a mother, a semi-professional horn player for a dad, and a couple of guitar-playing brothers, music was constantly in young Jake’s ears. After graduating from college Ybarra got serious about songwriting. Inspired by the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, James McMurtry, John Prine and Lucinda Williams, Ybarra’s evocative, emotional lyrics display a hard-won wisdom that belies an old soul in a young man’s body. Armed with the heartfelt tales on Something In The Water, Jake Ybarra is bending ears and pulling on heartstrings wherever he plays.
Pert Near Sandstone + The Way Down Wanderers
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYPERT NEAR STANDSTONE Hailing from Minneapolis & St. Paul, Minnesota and founded by childhood friends within the vibrant Minneapolis music scene, Pert Near’s chemistry hearkens back to the family bands of yesteryear. They cut straight to the heart across the musical landscape of the Great North and beyond. Formed soon after the turn of the millennium, they have been tireless stewards of the midwestern roots music community ever since. Privileged with co-founding, curating and hosting the prestigious Blue Ox Music Festival, Pert Near performs with infectious energy and an undeniable joy. Strong songcraft melds with old-time sensibilities in a unique brand of modern string band music delivered to fans around the world. Their new album, ‘Rising Tide’, reaches a new height in their songwriting, addressing issues directly relating to our modern times and not holding back commentary on politics and society. Touring from the Great North on the regular, they bring their performances Northwest across to Southeast and often to central Europe.THE WAY DOWN WANDERERSThe Way Down Wanderers sing like angels but write songs with guts that are unmistakably earthbound: a soon-to-be dad, excited but scared, fighting for self-growth; someone recovering from alcohol dependency, devoted to healing but with a confession to make––there are no fairytales here. And yet, the music begs an unapologetically Pollyanna question, like a big-hearted dare: Can a song help save you? “I think when we strive to be the best versions of ourselves, and to accept other people that we don’t understand, that all works toward creating a culture we strive for,” says Collin Krause, one of The Way Down Wanderers’ two lead songwriters and vocalists. “Part of that process really is working on yourself––and self-forgiveness. At the end of the day, we’re not going to be perfect. The idea is to recognize that, and to try to forgive yourself if you can––and to try to move on and make progress.” “Right,” adds Austin Krause-Thompson, the band’s other frontman and core writer. “And this record does lend itself to some of those messages.” Austin and Collin are discussing More Like Tomorrow, the Way Down Wanderers’ third full-length release. The project is the anticipated follow-up to their 2019 breakthrough album Illusions, which earned praise from Rolling Stone Country, No Depression, Relix, and more. The band’s gorgeous harmonies and string-band virtuosity still anchor the new album, but the sonic borders the Way Down Wanderers once flirted with crossing have been beautifully breached. Their lyricism has also evolved, giving way to true stories that cut deep. “I think more so on this record than ever, the songs are just more direct, with acute meanings in our own situations,” says Austin. “Each’s song’s story is less broad. I think, at least for me, writing is definitely growing more and more personal.”
Kassi Valazza
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEKASSI VALAZZAThere is a cult-like fascination growing around Kassi Valazza following the self-release of her 2019 debut album Dear Dead Days and her surprise 2022 EP Highway Sounds. She is seated squarely at the vanguard of new American songwriters strengthening and broadening the sound of country music as she tours with celebrated acts such as Melissa Carper and Riddy Arman. The Southwestern native resides in Portland, a hotbed of songwriters producing albums that both bear the torch and bend the arc of American roots music, where she recently signed with Fluff & Gravy Records — a label known for launching Anna Tivel and Margo Cilker.Valazza’s forthcoming new album Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing is a spellbinding collection of songs that dangle like protective magic talismans, catching dreams and glinting light. She hypnotizes listeners with a sturdy, yet gentle, voice and painterly songwriting imbued with an independent spirit. Though her music plays country cousin to British folk, calling to mind greats like Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention) and Karen Dalton, a Southwestern American streak carves its way through these solemn, sweetly sung melodies like a canyon.On the upcoming 10-song set, multi-instrumentalists from Portland’s TK & the Holy Know-Nothings appear in varying roles as Valazza’s backing band: Taylor Kingman (guitars, bass, vocals), Jay Cobb Anderson (harmonica, guitars, pedal steel, bass), Lewi Longmire (pedal steel, piano, bass, trumpet), Sydney Nash (organ, Farfisa, cornet, Wurlitzer), and Tyler Thompson (drums). The group’s swirling psychedelia combines with Valazza’s gutsy and graceful vocal poetry for a singular sound that washes over the listener like a flash flood, heavy and without warning.Album opener “Room In The City” introduces Valazza’s high-lonesome, but never lonely world with sharp harmonica and reeling organ. She sings of a touring musician’s longing for home, and a distant lover, with lyrical imagery of open skies, whistling winds, and sepia-toned rock formations: “Did you think I’d be out here feeling lonely? / If I said I thought so too it’d be a lie / When I talk to you it’s hard to be withholding / And I was born to chase this blue out of my eyes. / In the still, I often wonder about your breathing / I rise and fall to its rhythm late at night / Clay canyons turn to plaster in my grieving / And our ceiling overtakes the sky.”Using the physical world around her to paint metaphors from the soul, Valazza carries us through her mind and heart, ever the effortless narrator. “Watching Planes Go By” spins a cautionary tale about the dangers of standing still in life and accepting one’s own fate. The song sets a curious and cosmic atmosphere of psychedelic folk-rock as Valazza reflects on the struggles of moving on, “Autumn leaves turn to yellow / and green turns to jealousy / Watching days go by.”Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing captures the romanticism of country crooners with the intuition of a realist poet. Exploring themes of love and longing through metaphors from the natural world, Valazza manages to cut straight to the heart of the human experience, her lucid songs full of delightfully languid characters that haunt the hallucinatory soundscapes her band creates.CAMILLE WIND WEATHERFORD (OF THE LOSTINES)
The Bright Light Social Hour
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYTHE BRIGHT LIGHT SOCIAL HOUR “Their expansive sound, penchant for experimentation and incredible shows combine a psychedelic southern blues-rock aesthetic with danceable electronics… Continually exhilarating.” –David Dye, NPR’s World Cafe Austin-based indie psychedelic band The Bright Light Social Hour kick off spring with new single “Not New” announced alongside news of tour dates and a new album, Emergency Leisure, coming August 2 via Escondido Sound. Founded by Jackie O’Brien (bass/vocals) and Curtis Roush (guitar/vocals) – and newly joined by Mia Carruthers (keys/vocals), Zac Catanzaro (drums) and Juan Alfredo Ríos (percussion) – the band’s latest single showcases the sound of the forthcoming project, melding Texas trippiness with irresistible disco-punk groove. There’s an equally lysergic music video accompanying the track, in vintage Bright Light Social Hour style. “In 2019 we did a tour we didn’t realize would be our last. At least for TBLSH as we knew it. Emergency Leisure is a fictional autobiography from this period, centered on a seminal, hedonistic night at Bar L’Escogriffe in Montreal – our own Tropic of Cancer of sorts. “Not New” kicks off the odyssey, a new beginning in our Fool’s Journey. ” –Jackie O’Brien The band’s sound is iconoclastic and ever-evolving, with four studio albums to date including the critically acclaimed Space Is Still the Place and Jude I & II. In addition to composing original soundtracks for HBO, MTV, and Nintendo, they also wrote and recorded the award-winning theme for Amazon’s “Sneaky Pete” at the request of Bryan Cranston. The band is widely known for their explosive live performances, including festivals such as Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza, as well as opening for Aerosmith, Osees, and The Flaming Lips. Their inventive sound has garnered critical acclaim with support from the likes of CLASH, NPR, The Wild Honey Pie, Earmilk and plenty more. The new single showcases a band reaching peak song-writing prowess, a tight yet bewildering journey with groove-rich drums, psychedelic synths and a dirty dancefloor payoff that would make Nile Rodgers blush. With further singles, a new album, and much touring on the horizon, 2023 is looking like an incredible year for the Austin-based outfit.CHOSES SAUVAGES
