Satsang
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYSATSANG I just want to write and perform songs that touch the heart and help others”. Letting go of genre, expectation, and boxes, Satsang has leaned into the power of songwriting to drive their forthcoming release, Flowers From The Fray (the band’s 5th album in 6 years) due out Fall 2022. Recorded and self-produced with the help of bandmate and longtime collaborator Parker Brown, this record finds the duo tucked away in a secluded cabin in Southwest Montana digging back into the foundation on which Satsang was founded on. “These songs were all so personal to me” says Drew McManus. “Whether it was really sifting through the stage of life I had found myself in which was a kind of dark night of the soul, or leaning into the love of my wife. This record is truly me bearing my heart. I needed to seclude myself to find out where these songs wanted to go, and having Parker’s musical guidance had a big hand in that.” This record, coupled with the band’s last release All. Right. Now. is a maturing. A growing into the songwriter and musicians that the band was destined to be. A settled and firm foundation of influences and sound that brings every external aspect in and finds it internalized and distilled into “Flowers From the Fray”. TIM SNIDER Whether he’s playing alongside Trevor Hall and the Great In Between, performing his solo show, fronting his band, or jamming with the many artists he’s shared the stage with had the pleasure of sharing the stage with, Tim Snider’s passion for music always shines through. He brings his unique style and energy to the stage and has captivated the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide. Music runs deep for Tim, spanning back generations. His great-grandfather was a doctoral graduate violinist and composer from Harvard. His great-grandmother was an opera singer and his grandmother—a passionate violinist as well—prophesied that he would be the family’s next violinist while holding him on her deathbed when he was two months old. An Itzhak Perlman performance on Sesame Street became his earliest musical inspiration—at just three-and-a-half—and classical music first provided the impetus to learn his instrument. Over the years other influences have come into play: from exposure to the raw energy of rock music he picked up guitar, watching a Ben Harper concert turned him onto songwriting, and sojourns in Spain and Cuba introduced flamenco, salsa, and Afro-Cuban rhythms into his repertoire. Embracing these diverse influences, Tim’s musical odyssey took him to uncharted territories. Returning to college, he spent a year studying jazz and eventually rediscovered his love of classical music. With a career now spanning international borders, music has led Tim to tour throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. He has written and recorded countless string arrangements for artists across the globe including hip-hop Icon Talib Kweli, Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush, Kairo, Baby Fisher, Justine Sky, Hire, Satsang, and many more.
OUTPOST: The Ain’t Sisters + Brother Fat
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEThe Aint Sisters Musicfest News calls The Ain’t Sisters “A legendary must-see.” Described by Holler magazine as “A jolt of energy,” their sound is perhaps best summed up by Chat GPT: “The Ain’t Sisters’ music is so eclectic they can play you down the aisle at your wedding and fight your ex at the Waffle House parking lot all in the same night.”Brother Fat is a band formed as a tribute to the late Count M’Butu, a Grammy Award-winning member of The Derek Trucks Band. Their name honors Count M’Butu’s nickname from his youth, and the band’s formation, initially for his memorial show, has grown into a passionate endeavor dedicated to honoring his legacy. Prepare for some percussive FUNK and trippy blues!
Bermuda Search Party + Pocket Strange
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYBERMUDA SEARCH PARTY Since their inception in early 2018, Bermuda Search Party (formerly known as The Q-Tip Bandits) have emerged into the Boston music scene as an energetic and vibrant act that continues to touch audience’s hearts while getting them up on their feet. Their smooth yet powerful sound is backed by the raw energy of rock and the coolness and colors of R&B and funk — with palpable grooves coated with savory, soul-inspired riffs, anthemic horns and meaningful lyrics. In 2023, the band played stages across the country, touring the South and the Midwest and hitting festivals along the way including SXSW, Levitate Music Festival, and Boston Calling. In September, the band returned to the studio to record their sophomore LP with Eric Palmquist, known for his work with half•alive, Tate McRae, and Bad Suns. With singles coming in 2024, the record is a departure from the band’s previous work, putting a pop spin on their signature horn-driven indie rock sound. LURKY SKUNKPOCKET STRANGE Asheville-based Pocket Strange explores the chaotic balance that lies between solace and jubilance. A half-hearted “we should start a band” conversation during a 2019 road trip became a reality with the release of their first song, Carmel by the Sea – a track recorded in Haydon Welsh’s bedroom in Charlotte when the band was existing as a long distance duo, with Porter Watson making the trip from Asheville up I-26 to finish their first track in April of 2021. Since then, Pocket Strange has focused on songwriting and comradery – with founding members Welsh (Guitar, Vocals) and Watson (Bass, Vocals) tapping into a spiritual journey to a South Carolina farm to work on new material in July of 2021. Returning with a stronger creative connection and a handful of songs, it became apparent that they needed to grow their sound. A sonic evolution came to fruition with the addition of Harrison Sytz (Guitar, Vocals), Pierce Deason (Pedal Steel, Percussion), and Jeremy Bryan (Metal Drums) in early 2022, aiding in expanding the types of music they can explore, and fighting the lines drawn by the definitions of genre. Pocket Strange’s music will transport you somewhere between the tie-dyed side of southern rock and psych-rock indie… with a polite splash of spacy jamming that ties together the loose ends that exist outside the constructs of their songs.
PATIO: Eli Kahn + Jordan Hamilton
ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEELI KAHNEli Kahn is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, & improviser from South Bend, IN, now living in Asheville, NC. After graduating from Indiana University of South Bend in 2010 with degrees in both classical guitar performance & music theory, he transitioned into jazz/fusion & improvisatory music & discovered his love for production. Through the use of looping, effects, & a 7-string hybrid guitar, he is able to paint landscapes of grooving bass lines & melodic guitar parts that work together seamlessly to create a unique blend & sound.JORDAN HAMILTON”Cellist and vocalist Jordan Hamilton is a mix of mastery and maverick musicality; hip-hop influenced, rhythmically layered, melodically robust. Avant garde, folk-soul music, a key to navigate space, time, and change, gracefully, for those who use it. Driven by diversity, drawn to the cello’s tone, cosmic strings calling souls home. “Plucking, sawing, pounding and caressing the cello to extract sometimes other-worldly sounds; melding live looping with classical music interludes, hip hop, and jazz.” (John Sinkevics, Local Spins). Shared truth, delivered and triggered by melodies, experienced as one, emanating from a deep, russet realm. Genres groomed together to represent and inquire the soul. A different kind of symphony, hopeful enough to grow our empathy, “part political activism, part hopefulness, part performance art, part soundscapes, and all entirely mesmerizing.” (John Sinkevics, Local Spins) Emotional energy crafted from integrity, immaterial and immortal, experienced at the speed of sound, with a bit of bounce, groove by the ounce, and all the jump you’ll need to move.”
Mikaela Davis
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYMIKAELA DAVIS Five years since her debut album Delivery, Mikaela Davis has moved away from her hometown of Rochester, shared the stage with the likes of Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Christian McBride, Bon Iver, Lake Street Dive and Circles Around the Sun and entered a new decade. But it’s the ever-evolving relationships between her closest friends and bandmates that has propelled the Hudson Valley-based artist onto her new album And Southern Star––a truly collaborative effort that ruminates on the choices we make, and the people we always come back to. Davis earned her degree in harp performance at the Crane School of Music, and has molded her classical music training to create an original and genre-bending catalog that weaves together 60s pop-soaked melodies, psychedelia and driving folk rock. She met her bandmates at pivotal moments in her life––drummer Alex Coté in childhood, guitarist Cian McCarthy and bassist Shane McCarthy in college, and steel guitarist Kurt Johnson in her early twenties. It’s the band’s collective step into adulthood that has informed much of And Southern Star’s thematic landscape. Navigating the periphery of past selves, the coexistence of isolation and excitement in a new environment and the tension of growing away from what we thought we wanted is tackled with a luscious, kaleidoscopic grace. And Southern Star picks apart the reflection we used to recognise, while trying to build a new one. “I finally feel like this album is more me than anything else that’s been released,” Davis says, adding that producing the album along with her four bandmates allowed them to carve out their own ideas, rather than someone else’s. Despite playing together for over a decade, it’s the first time the five-piece have appeared on a full length album together. The bones of And Southern Star was recorded at Old Soul Studios with Kenny Siegal, a person who was an integral part of Davis’ move to the area. The rest was recorded by Cian McCarthy at Horehound Mansion, adding to the album’s intimate nature. The album was mixed by Mike Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios, who is lovingly nicknamed as the ‘silent sixth member of the band.’ Davis describes the band’s bond as “meditative and telepathic,” adding that although many of the songs were written individually across the past few years, something instantly clicked once they were together. Opener “Cinderella,” written by Coté and Davis, begins with Davis’ distinctive harp plucks and ethereal vocals. It’s a sonic choice that directly points to Davis’ solo beginnings, before blossoming into the textural patchwork of the band’s contributions. The fairytale wanderings of the song peel back in the album’s dream-like canopy, where tracks offer an otherworldly escape from the constraints of reality.
Ruston Kelly – The Too Chill to Kill Tour
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- ACOUSTIC SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF VIP TICKETS AVAILABLE (click here for 237Global legal disclaimer)RUSTON KELLY In the past few years alone, Ruston Kelly has established himself as an essential songwriting voice, capable of transforming his unsparing and often-painful self- examination into moments of sublime catharsis. With a lyrical sensibility that constantly shifts from candid to poetic, the South Carolina-born singer/songwriter/guitarist imbues his songs with equal parts nuanced confession and punk-rock irreverence, mining inspiration from such eclectic sources as the Carter Family, transcendentalist philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, and seminal emo act Dashboard Confessional. His third full-length album The Weakness – his most personal and intimate collection of songs to date — was released to tremendous critical acclaim in early 2023. The New York Times hailed it as his “most assured and expansive studio album.” NPR Music noted, “Ruston Kelly’s torn it all down on his new album, The Weakness, so he could build something better,” while Rolling Stone lauded it as an “emotionally daring statement.” Based in Nashville, TN, Kelly first started playing guitar under the guidance of his dad, Tim “TK” Kelly, a pedal-steel guitarist who frequently performs and records with his son. Because his father worked for a paper mill and often changed job locations, Kelly grew up moving nearly every two years, residing everywhere from Alabama to Belgium. At 17, he took off for Nashville to live with his sister, and in 2013 landed a publishing deal with BMG Nashville. Along with penning songs for artists like Tim McGraw and Josh Abbott Band, he continued working on his own music and later made his debut with the widely praised EP Halloween (a 2017 effort produced by Mike Mogis, who’s also worked with Bright Eyes, First Aid Kit, and Jenny Lewis). Soon after signing with Rounder Records, Kelly released Dying Star: an album that closely details his experience with addiction—including time in rehab and a 2016 overdose—and ultimately captures all the chaos and heartbreak on the way to redemption. The follow-up to Dying Star, 2020’s Shape & Destroy arrived as an up-close look at his experience in getting sober and finally facing the demons that led him to drug abuse in the first place, each revelation presented with an unvarnished honesty. Kelly’s most full-realized work to date, The Weakness is a blisteringly honest but profoundly hopeful album revealing our vast potential to create strength and beauty from the most trying of experiences. Made with producer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Nate Mercereau (Sharon Van Etten, Leon Bridges, Maggie Rogers), Kelly’s third full-length album emerged as he began processing a number of life-altering changes he’d endured over the previous year, including a very public divorce as well as immense upheaval in his immediate family. A bold departure from the elegant simplicity of his first two albums, the resulting body of work matches its kaleidoscopic sound with some of Kelly’s most illuminating material to date. Buoyed by recent stints opening for Maren Morris and Noah Kahan, Kelly is looking ahead to his headline acoustic tour in support of Weakness, Etc, an all-new EP collecting seven songs recorded in tandem with Kelly’s much-admired third studio album, 2023’s The Weakness. Weakness, Etc arrives via Rounder Records on Friday, March 22.
OUTPOST: Fruit Bats
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY – LIMITED NUMBER OF VIP TICKETS AVAILABLE FRUIT BATSEric D. Johnson rarely lingers at one location too long.“There’s always been motion in my life between one place and another,” says the Fruit Bats songwriter. As a kid growing up in the Midwest, Johnson’s family moved around a lot, but it wasn’t until he became a touring musician years later that motion became a central part of his identity. That transient lifestyle stoked an enduring reverence for the world he watched pass by through a van window.“It weighs heavily on me—the notion of place,” Johnson says. “The places I’ve been and the places I want to go.”A sense of place is a unifying theme he’s revisited with Fruit Bats throughout its many lives. From the project’s origins in the late ’90s as a vehicle for Johnson’s lo-fi tinkering to the more sonically ambitious work of recent years, Fruit Bats has often showcased love songs where people and locations meld into one. It’s a loose song structure that navigates what he calls “the geography of the heart.”“The songs exist in a world that you can sort of travel from one to another,” says Johnson. “There are roads and rivers between these songs.”Those pathways extend straight through the newest Fruit Bats album, aptly titled A River Running to Your Heart. Self-produced by Johnson—a first for Fruit Bats—with Jeremy Harris at Panoramic House just north of San Francisco, it’s Fruit Bats’ tenth full-length release. The album finds the project in the middle of a people-powered climb leading to the biggest shows, loudest accolades, and most enthusiastic new fans in Fruit Bats history! It’s hard to pinpoint a single reason for this mid-career resurgence. But after two decades of making music, hard-earned emotional maturity has clearly seeped into Johnson’s already inviting songs, resulting in a sound that’s connected with audiences like no other previous version of the band.A River Running to Your Heart represents the fullest realization of Johnson’s creative vision to date. It’s a sonically diverse effort that largely explores the importance of what it means to be home, both physically and spiritually. And while that might seem like a peculiar focus for an artist who’s constantly in motion, for Fruit Bats, home can take many forms—from the obvious to the obscure.Lead single “Rushin’ River Valley” is a self-propelled love song written about Johnson’s wife that clings to the borrowed imagery of the place where she grew up in northern California. Then, there’s the gentle and unfussy acoustic ballad “We Used to Live Here,” which looks back to a time of youthful promise and cheap rent. But the wistful “It All Comes Back” is perhaps the most stunning and surprising track on the album, Johnson’s production skills on full display. Built upon intricate layers of synths, keyboards, and guitars, it’s a pitch-perfect blend of tone and lyricism that taps into our shared apprehensions and hopes for a post-pandemic life.TORRESTORRES is the pseudonym of Mackenzie Scott. She was born January 23, 1991, and lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her wife Jenna, stepson Silas, and puppy Sylvia. She has been releasing albums and performing as TORRES since 2013. What an enormous room is TORRES’ sixth studio album (her third with Merge).
Turnover
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYTURNOVERThe title track of the band’s new album, Myself in the Way, speaks to this mindset. “I can’t put myself in the way of love again,” sings Getz, “I promise I’m going to go all the way with you,” is specifically about Getz getting engaged to his longtime partner, but applies to the general outlook he had toward life in lockdown. “I was living in Sebastopol, California at the time and felt like I truly lived there for the first time since I wasn’t leaving for tour. I was able to go meditate at the Zen Buddhist dojo down the road, run and bike around the hills in Sonoma county, learn about plants and gardening, take some Spanish and arboriculture classes, and get involved with the volunteer fire department. Just do a bunch of new things to challenge and inspire me in a natural way.” Turnover’s other members also used the time to deepen interests they hadn’t been able to fully explore before covid. Bass player Dan Dempsey was in New York City and responded to lockdown by spending more time practicing his visual art in drawing and painting. He painted the album’s cover during this period and developed a style that has become a central theme for the band in its current iteration. Drummer Casey Getz found work at a Virginia Beach state park as touring continued to be postponed. He was in search of and inspired by having a work-life balance different than he’d experienced since he was younger. Through this, he was able to nurture current relationships more and find new ones, something touring made much more difficult. This led to Casey playing drums with a group of longtime friends in Virginia Beach and further developing his drumming style – adding a new prowess for fluidity and improvisation through lengthy jam sessions with the group. Guitarist Nick Rayfield was focused on sharpening his guitar and piano playing and was able to devote energy to skateboarding and his retail business more than he had been able to for the last few years. This was also the band’s first album with Rayfield making songwriting contributions after touring with them for years as a live member, adding a new creative element to the songs. MSPAINTIt’s exceedingly rare to hear something truly original. Something that’s actually breaking new ground, something that maybe we don’t even have words for just yet. Something like MSPAINT. In a time when so much musical territory feels well-trodden, MSPAINT are the exception. On their debut full-length Post-American, the Hattiesburg, Mississippi-based four-piece draw on everything from hardcore, to hip hop, to synth-punk, and beyond to make an unabashedly weird amalgam that sounds as fresh and compelling as it is instantly satisfying.DROOKDrook is a pop band from Richmond, Virginia. Formed in 2019, the group splices together elements of indie, rock, and electronica, focusing them all to a single point on their recordings. Drook’s live show puts this synthesis on full display, bringing energy and dynamism to the band’s musically diverse catalog.LAWN ENFORCEMENT
Flight Attendant w/ ¿WATCHES?
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLYFLIGHT ATTENDANT “Flight Attendant delivers an experience.” – RollingStone Magazine Frequently called a “sonic unicorn” in a city that is celebrated for its bustling – albeit crowded – music scene, Flight Attendant is the kind of band that has listeners getting out of their seats and into their full, upright positions. With their power-pop hooks and infectious energy, this Nashville-based foursome isn’t just ready for take-off; they’re already at cruising altitude, preparing to penetrate the bounds of the Earth’s stratosphere. Serendipitously coming together through similar interests – not the least of which is fine wine – Flight Attendant is comprised of Karalyne Winegarner (Lead Vocals, Keys); Vinny Maniscalco (Vocals, Guitar); Nikki Christie (Vocals, Viola); and Derek Sprague (Drums). A certified sommelier originally from Kansas City, Karalyne met Vinny – an award-winning bartender – while the two were working at a popular Nashville restaurant. Nikki soon joined the team, bringing a new sensibility from her hometown, Los Angeles. It didn’t take long before the three decided to form a band, discovering their shared love of playing music over late-night wine tastings. They soon recruited Derek – their Boston-born, lager-loving drinking buddy to play drums, and the lineup was complete. Often compared to bands like Haim or Florence and the Machine and influenced by many of their favorites from Christine and the Queens to Trent Reznor to Cage the Elephant – , Flight Attendant continues to reach new heights, particularly when they perform live. “Karalyne commands your attention like Freddie Mercury working the crowd in an arena,” proclaimed Glide Magazine. In 2022, Flight Attendant released their self-titled debut album, produced by Grammy Winning engineer and producer, Charles Yingling. As the band is quickly ascending on the global stage, they continue to release new music in 2024. “We just want to put out better and better stuff,” shares Karalyne. “The more we do it, the more elevated the whole process becomes. We are finally strong enough in our image, sound, and brand that we are ready to take it to the next level.” ¿WATCHES? WHO IS ¿WATCHES? -The musical equivalent of a razor blade haircut. -David Lynch and Mike Watt engaged in a palm-spit handshake. -Satan in a short dress and an Orioles hat. -A fast and animated weirdo punk duo out of Asheville, NC. FANTOMEX Fantømex is an indie punk, post-harcore band from Western North Carolina. Influenced by bands like mewithoutYou and At the Drive-In, Fantømex’s music is fast, loud and full of angsty femme empowerment. The band released February 2024, they are set to have their third release with their EP, “Chimera”, the sister EP to 2022’s “Terraformed”. Fantomex’s live shows are a hypnotic and high energy performance that borders on theatrical. They are a performance not to be missed.
Aaron Lee Tasjan
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYAARON LEE TASJANSinger, songwriter, guitarist, producer, band leader, activist, and Grammy nominee. Aaron Lee Tasjan has been and continues to be all of these things. Over his past decade plus of writing, recording, producing, Tasjan has released four excellent and critically acclaimed solo albums, toured the world over on his own and as the guitarist in the New York Dolls. He co-founded and co-wrote all of the material for the band Semi Precious Weapons. In 2021 he was nominated for a Grammy for his writing on Yola’s “Diamond Studded Shoes” and most recently, Tasjan produced Mya Byrne’s album Rhinestone Tomboy (Kill Rock Stars Nashville) which helped to establish her as one of the first openly trans artists in Americana Music. He’s cultivated a brilliant and outstanding career to date already. But his forthcoming album Stellar Evolution (Blue Élan Records) is just what the title says. Tasjan’s new album is truly the sum of all of the parts of his diverse accomplishments to date while clearly heading in a brand-new direction. You can’t put any labels on Stellar Evolution except for it being a career defining work and a major leap forward for someone who’s never been afraid to push the boundaries of any and all expectations. As he set out to work on Stellar Evolution, Tasjan knew better than ever what was important to him. He’s been working his way towards a record like this since he first started making solo albums, with 2015’s In the Blazes. He stuck to an alt-country paradigm early in his career, though he knew that all of his favorite artists were the ones who broke out of their own boxes. His approach to that changed when he began to be more open about his queer identity. “The record became a sort of rallying cry for being who you are in a time when people literally wanna try to make it illegal to do that.” There’s not a wasted word on Stellar Evolution, and that’s deliberate. After everything he’s been through and everything he’s learned, Aaron Lee Tasjan is a more intentional artist than ever before. “When you’re a touring artist, songs are like mantras; you have to say them every night. And so I really wanted those words to be affirming, and for the energy that’s gonna come out of them to create more of what I hope to foster,” he says. It’s another grasp towards the community and connection that matters most to Tasjan. “The role I feel like I can occupy is to say, okay, I’m gonna be in these rooms where people are gonna be paying attention, and somebody’s gonna get lifted up; who’s it gonna be?” That’s an attitude that harkens right back to the 11-year-old Aaron Lee in Orange County, a throughline that Tasjan never loses sight of for a minute across this album. With Stellar Evolution, he honors that kid and every other version of himself — past, present and future.MOLLY MARTIN
