Western Carolina Writers Showcase V
– ALL AGES – SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEWESTERN CAROLINA WRITERS Here comes the 5th Western Carolina Writers Showcase since the first production in July of 2022! This showcase features these 9 incredibly talented local singer-songwriters: Whitney Mongé, Melissa McKinney, Ben Balmer, Jeff Santiago, Tina Collins (Tina & Her Pony), Siena Christie, Steve Taton, Hunter Andrus, and Jim Swayzee. There will be 3 rounds of 3 performers taking turns playing their original music with occasional spontaneous collaboration creating many magical moments that can only be experienced live. Western Carolina Writers was established in 2019 by Nick McMahon, along with Jesse Frizsell and Thomas Yon, as a traveling “Songwriters-In-The-Round” style show. The idea was to take turns performing original songs with fun moments of collaboration at venues all over Western North Carolina. After about a dozen increasingly successful shows, McMahon started inviting other area songwriters to participate. And now, after around 150 shows featuring close to 80 different local artists, the concept has become even more popular, fun and diverse. In 2022, Mcmahon and current project partner, Stephen Evans, decided to take this show into the listening rooms and out of the noisy bars and breweries so the songs could really be heard and appreciated. With four recent magical & successful songwriter showcases, three at The Grey Eagle and one at Ayurprana Listening Room, this decision has proven to be the right move. So join us for another magical night of music on Sunday, March 10th at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC.
PATIO: Company Swing
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVECOMPANY SWINGIntroducing Company Swing, an all-female swing, jazz, and blues band that is sure to captivate audiences with their soulful melodies and infectious energy. With a perfect blend of vintage charm and modern flair, Company Swing brings a fresh and dynamic approach to the classic sounds of swing, jazz, and blues. The band showcases the exceptional talents of each member, creating a harmonious synergy that is both mesmerizing and empowering. Each member is a seasoned professional with years of experience having performed at renowned clubs, venues, festivals, and private events. Their vibrant stage presence, impeccable musicianship, and undeniable chemistry make every show an immersive experience filled with tight rhythms and musical excellence. Whether they’re belting out blues ballads, swinging to upbeat jazz standards, or putting their unique spin on beloved classics, the band never fails to leave a lasting impression. Their passion for the music they play is evident in every note they play and every word they sing, making them a must-see act for fans of swing, jazz, and blues. Join Company Swing on a musical journey while embracing the power and talent of women in music. Get ready for some timeless tunes, infectious rhythms, and the sheer joy of live performance.
PATIO: The Discs
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVETHE DISCS Conceived years before their debut album was finally released in October 2020, The Discs officially formed in summer of 2021in Asheville, NC. The power trio is Allan Day (guitar, vocals), Mike Comparetto (bass, vocals), and Greg Radz (drums, vocals). All members are veterans of their respective music scenes. The Discs fuse the best elements of power pop and late 70’s new wave with the urgency and socially-conscious themes of early punk for a concise, compelling live experience. Having released their second collection “Bitter, Sweeter” in June 2023, the band is currently configuring brand new material to their set – more angular and melodic in their musical evolution – for a 2024 full-length release, and will be premiering some of these exciting new songs at this special performance.
PATIO: The Lads
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVETHE LADSClassic rock and blues. They call it classic for good reason. The Lads will make you want to dance, sing along, or both. Get classic with The Lads avl.
PATIO: Keturah Allgood
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEKETURAH ALLGOODNamed as one of the “Fifteen Best New Artists Of 2023” American Songwriter. The Soulful Americana Troubadour, Keturah Allgood is currently bookingshows for 2024. Her latest album “Shine” was released this past August to the delight of her fans who have been waiting several years for a new record and the press who had this to say: “Keturah Allgood’s album Shine is a horse pill of optimism against chaos and despair.” Rachel Cholst – Rainbow Rodeo “Allgood’s voice is honeyed, allowing her to dig in her teeth and deliver rich emotion. She bares her heart and soul, even if her scars still throb sore and red.” Bee Deloras – B-sides and Badlands “Thank God” we have artists like Keturah with the boldness to open our senses eyes to our deeper, higher natures so that we may, as she sings in another emotional centerpiece, the acoustic blues-driven anthem “Love, “Baby, it’s love that can show us a better way. . .Let it burn through the night/Lead us to a brighter day.” Jonathan Widran – The JW Vibe Keturah and her band have played many shows and festivals throughout the 20 plus years that she has been performing, including, The Grey Eagle, The Bluebird, 3rd & Lindsley, The Orange Peel, Sisters On Stage Festival, The Handlebar, Green River Festival, Apple Valley Festival and Preservation Pub to name a few. Born and raised in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Keturah Allgood is a soulful Americana, queer artist who draws on her myriad of life experiences for inspiration. While traversing the dusty back roads and often forgotten places, she gently taps into the heart and soul of our shared existence, believing that music has the power to bring us together, reminding us that love, kindness and compassion always shine through the darkness of these often-trying times.“I love to express the importance of kindness and compassion,” the Brevard, North Carolina native says. “I feel like it is insanely important, especially in today’s toxic and divisive climate, to promote as much love as you can.”
PATIO: Wyatt Espalin
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEWYATT ESPALINIn 2022, Wyatt Espalin shakes things up with his new band the Riverstones and a collection of songs that invites his fans to examine his songwriting through a different lens. After returning to his roots to live at the rustic campground where he was raised by his grandparents in the North Georgia Mountains, he found a setting that would inspire “DIAMONDBACK”, a collection of mysterious songs released in 2020 that gave his audience a bird’s eye view of an artist rediscovering himself. Well, this fiddler/singer and champion clogger has discovered more and before the Year of the Rabbit, all may be revealed. Let the enlightenment begin! After releasing Songwriter/Singer” in 2015, Wyatt went on to win the 1st Annual New Song Songwriting Contest at North Carolina’s popular L.E.A.F. festival. He has also spent the last few years sharing the stage opening for some of his songwriting idols Indigo Girls, Jennifer Knapp, Kevn Kinney, Chely Wright, Michelle Malone, Shawn Mullins, Patty Loveless, to name a few. During his performances, the haunting, intimate songs juxtaposed with the hilarious stories that he sharesin the banter between them create a beautiful tension.
Tuba Skinny
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYTUBA SKINNYFor over a decade Tuba Skinny has grown steadily in popularity, releasing twelve albums and touring all over the world. They’ve attracted a wide variety of fans, young and old, neophytes and niche-enthusiasts, with the strength of their musicianship and the scope of their jazz and American roots music catalog. The band is composed of Shaye Cohn (cornet), Barnabus Jones (trombone), Todd Burdick (tuba), Craig Flory (clarinet), Gregory Sherman (guitar and vocals), Max Bien-Kahn (banjo), Robin Rapuzzi (washboard), and Erika Lewis (vocals and bass drum).While they’ve become known as world-class interpreters of traditional jazz, over the years they’ve branched out into jug band music, spirituals, country blues, string band music, ragtime, and New Orleans R&B. Their approach is a true reflection of Americana, encompassing the full genealogy of popular American music from an early 20th century perspective.No matter how well known they’ve become or how high profile their gigs have gotten, Tuba Skinny has always returned to the streets. “We continue to play in the street because it’s a public space,” says Shaye. “We get to play for everyone: old, young, rich, poor, people from all walks of life. It keeps things interesting because it’s organic and unpredictable.”
PATIO: Beth Snapp
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEBETH SNAPP The pandemic turned the entire musical community upside down, and Northeast Tennessee’s Beth Snapp had a story no different… for the most part. 2019 saw her participating in various Folk and Americana festivals and songwriting competitions (including Kerrville’s New Folk Competition, LEAF’s New Song Music, Songwriter Serenade Winner, TN Dept of Tourism’s Songwriter’s Week Winner). She had enjoyed a Folk Alliance Chart top 10 spot from her 2018 EP “Don’t Apologize.” Press and accolades were building. Then, cue 2020. While lucky to cling to a day job as a healthcare worker in Northeast TN, Beth soon found herself working in the throes of her local COVID unit. This, she reports, took her song away for a while. Some asked if it gave her songwriting fodder. Instead, there were no words, or music, for months. Some moments are too much for words. As the pandemic halt began to fade and music began to return, Beth emerged with a new sense of purpose and re-evaluated goals, highlighting both the messages she wanted to convey, and the human she wanted to be. Beth is finishing up her full-length project with Barry Bales at the production helm (Alison Krauss and Union Station, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, cowriter with Chris Stapleton, Grammy/IBMA/CMA Song of the Year winner). In the meantime, be on the lookout for upcoming singles and collaborations throughout the year. You can also hear Beth’s guest vocal spots with bluegrass super group Blue Highway, Grammy and IBMA winner Tim Stafford, Grammy nominated cellist Dave Eggar, and ‘The Voice’ Contestant Carson Peters.
PATIO: Todd Cecil & Dirt Yard Choir
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVETODD CECIL & DIRT YARD CHOIR Genre-bending Americana Blues-Rock trio from Asheville North Carolina. Todd Cecil & Dirt Yard Choir is a mixture of music medicine ranging from Appalachian Swamp Rock to thought provoking Americana singer/songwriter. The trio has a dynamic range to please any crowd, and when it’s time to dance at the show, it’s hard to sit still. The members consist of Todd Cecil (songwriter vocal, guitar, guitar/bass cigarbox) – a Nashville songwriter scene transplant. Todd has traveled the world promoting his music and positive thinking through creative art and the belief in oneself. Mike Fore (Harmonica) – a South Carolina transplant Scott Harte: (Drums, Washboard and Spoons) – true-blue Asheville Together the three make a monstrous sound with fun quirky and uplifting live performances that is uniquely their own.
Brent Cobb: Livin’ the Dream Tour
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYBRENT COBB The American south isn’t just Brent Cobb’s home. It’s his muse, too. A Georgia native, he fills his Grammy-nominated songwriting with the sounds and stories of an area that’s been home to southern rockers, soul singers, country legends, and bluesmen. Cobb has a name for that rich tapestry of music — “southern eclectic” — and he offers up his own version of it with his newest album, Southern Star. “Down here, there’s a lot going on and there’s nothing going on at the same time,” he says. “You’ve got all these different cultures in the south, and everything is mixed in together. Otis Redding and Little Richard were from the same town in Georgia. So were the Allman Brothers. James Brown and Ray Charles grew up right down the road. All these sounds reflect the South itself, and that music has influenced the whole world. It’s definitely influenced mine.” Filled with country-soul songwriting, laid back grooves, and classic storytelling, Southern Star distills the best parts of southern culture into 10 of the strongest songs in Cobb’s catalog. He began writing the material after leaving Nashville — where he spent a decade releasing solo records like 2016’s Shine On Rainy Day (which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album) while penning hit songs for Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, and dozens of others — and returning with his family to Georgia. It was a time of change. Not long after celebrating the arrival of his second child, Cobb found himself mourning the death of his longtime friend, Jason “Rowdy” Cope of The Steel Woods. “Rowdy was like my older brother,” says Cobb, who named Southern Star in part after a small-town bar that he and Cope used to frequent. “He loved the music that came out of Georgia, and he helped me appreciate it even more. A lot of artists like to branch out and become experimental as their career continues, but I sort of go the opposite way. I feel like I can never go wrong if I continue to get closer and closer to the core of who I am and what I love, musically. Coming back to Georgia helped me with that. Southern Star is the sound of me getting closer to the source.” Don’t let Cobb’s breezy songs about rural life fool you. There’s some serious complexity lurking beneath the surface. At first glance, “It’s a Start” unfolds like the soundtrack to a leisurely afternoon in the south, with Cobb singing the praises of crawfish, barbecue, and day-drinking. Dig deeper, though, and the song reveals itself to be something more universal: a reminder to appreciate the small things in life, stay mindful, and chase down new horizons at your own pace. To Cobb, there’s something distinctly southern about that message, too. “Sometimes, there ain’t shit going on down here,” he says with a laugh, “but since there’s nothing else to do, you learn to be laid back. You learn to use your imagination, and you wind up imitating your surroundings. These songs sound like the place that inspired them. On ‘It’s a Start,’ when the organ comes in, it reminds me of the sound of the cicadas and frogs you hear in the springtime.” Caleb CaudleForsythia, the latest studio LP offering from Caleb Caudle out now via Soundly Music, isa portrait of his truest self, of the artist at his most solitary and reflective.Thematically, it meets anticipation for the unknown future with nostalgia for the past, and reconciles both with meditation in the present.The album was recorded at the legendary Cash Cabin during the pandemic, and inspired by the solitude and symbols Caudle found in nature during that time.