185 Clingman Ave. Asheville, NC 28801

OUTPOST: Quinn Sternberg’s Mind Beach + Danny Ianucci Trio

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-ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEQuinn Sternberg is an Asheville bassist, composer and bandleader recently relocated from New Orleans and originally from Bloomington, Indiana. His four albums “Weird World,” “Mind Beach,” “Cicada Songs,” and 2023’s “Walking On Eggshells” draw influence from Quinn’s Midwest musical upbringing, his decade performing in New Orleans, and contemporary musical elements. The result is a fresh perspective on the Jazz tradition that is simultaneously melodic and groovy, “complex but digestible” (DownBeat Magazine), and soulful while highly interactive. Quinn’s band has wowed audiences at venues ranging from listening rooms, to rock clubs, to festival stages with their intense live energy.Jacob Rodiguez: Sax Alex Taub: KeyboardJoe Enright: DrumsQuinn Sternberg: Bass and CompositionOpening the night is the Danny Ianucci trio performing a set of all original music. The trio features three of Asheville’s best and most in demand musicians: Jason DeCristofaro (keyboard), Micah Thomas (Drums), and Danny Ianucci (bass). 

PATIO: JM Stevens – “Nowhere to Land” Tour

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ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEJM STEVENS Hailing from Austin, Texas by way of West Point, Mississippi, critically acclaimed Americana and roots-rock/pop singer, songwriter, and producer, JM Stevens returns three years after his well-received solo debut, Invisible Lines. Releasing in April 2024, the 10-song Nowhere to Land is an overall mellower, more vulnerable record than its predecessor, though still speckled with some up-tempo rockers. It’s a thoughtful album further set apart by Stevens’ nuanced songcraft, intimate vocals, and organic production. DittyTV praised Stevens as, “In that sweet spot of pop-rock represented by guys like Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, John Cafferty, Tom Petty, [and] Don Henley,” while The Big Takeover noted how his “Supremely tasteful arrangements keep excess far at bay.” From contemplative, optimistic opener “Dry Creek” and the more jaunty but no less questioning title track, it’s a record that preserves the raw emotions of Stevens’ songcraft through admirably restrained production. “I wanted to keep it real open,” he said. “And it sometimes sounds bigger that way, because there’s more space to sink into, more room to breathe.”  Pangs of love, loss and loneliness punctuate Nowhere to Land’s bouts of doubt, jealousy, and recurring hope. Songs search for that old spark as lovers grow apart but often, tempered by empathy, resolve into acceptance and letting go. “After the Storm” came to Stevens almost fully formed while out running in the wake of Texas’ infamous 2021 ice storm, while fellow standout “Cherry Sunburst” takes doing whatever it took to acquire a coveted guitar as a metaphor for losing our senses in all manner of other situations.  Catch Stevens on tour in 2024 supporting Nowhere to Land. “Recalls records from the Jayhawks, Drive-By Truckers, and Uncle Tupelo, blending acoustic, electric, and pedal steel guitars around smooth, upper tenor vocals.” – Brian Standefer, Texas Monthly “The majority of these songs sound as if they’ve been lingering in the ethos forever, uncannily familiar yet edgy enough to catch immediate attention and resonate well beyond.” – Lee Zimmerman, Goldmine

PATIO: Roots and Dore

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ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEROOTS AND DORERoots and Dore is an American blues duo from Asheville. Riyen Roots and Kenny Dore have played music together for more than 16 years around the Western North Carolina mountains as well as touring overseas and are committed to keeping the blues alive “one show at a time.” Their album, “The Blues and Beyond” features a host of well-known musicians including Bob Margolin (Muddy Waters Band), David Holt (Longtime Doc Watson Sideman) and others. They are currently working on another album due later in the year. Always a good time when these guys are doing their thing. 

PATIO: Anything Goes Jazz Band

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ALL AGES LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEANYTHING GOES JAZZ BANDAnything Goes is not just your average quartet of musicians. Not content with playing a mix of pop, jazz and swing by some of the greatest songwriters, Anything Goes also specializes in fresh interpretations, song deconstructions and mashups. What does all that gobble-de-gook mean? You’ll hear songs played in different keys at the same time (tongue in cheek chaos!), songs played in pieces (with obvious parts missing). Funk versions of folk songs. Lounge-lizard versions of rock standards. And you’ll hear something like Why Pout, a song resulting from the merging of Wipe Out with Tubular Bells and the theme from 2001 Space Odyssey. But we can’t just let you enjoy all of this on your own, we feel compelled to make you laugh with dry humor and insane commentary, packaged in tuxedo-style formal attire. Think Victor Borge for today’s world.

OUTPOST: JLloyd Mashup

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– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINEThe JLloyd MashUp explores different genres of music including Acid Jazz, Funk, Soul, Afro Beat, Reggae, Break Beat, and Latin. They have established a solid musical community in Asheville by hosting weekly Monday night shows that feature special guests and different music every week. Led and curated by Jonathan Lloyd (The Fritz/Dubconscious/Cadillac Jones), the band is made up of some of Asheville’s busiest and hardest working musicians on the scene.

Greg Ruby, Don Stiernberg, Evan Price and Kevin Kehrberg

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– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE Greg Ruby, Don Stiernberg, Evan Price and Kevin Kehrberg will bring their unique tapestry of acoustic string swing to the Grey Eagle on Thursday, June 29, 2023. Performing work from their latest record “Rhythm Twist,” they will weave together elements of Hot Club jazz, mando-bop and old school swing – all on an acoustic guitar, mandolin, violin and upright bass. With Greg from New York, Don from Chicago, Evan from San Francisco and Kevin from Asheville, the four have collaborated every summer while in residency as teaching staff at the Swannanoa Gathering. In 2020 and 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented them from getting together so instead they created a remote record – “Rhythm Twist”.  Each musician composed one song and arranged two others. Passing charts, tracks and ideas between them, they created something unique and collective. Guitarist Greg Ruby states, “not only did this project help us maintain a sense of sanity and ground us in creativity, it kept us in touch with each other while riding out a very strange period of human history.” “Spontaneity, conversation, and swingin’ good vibes” – The Mandolin Café

HELLCRAB: Contemporary Jazz Octet

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– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEHELLCRABHELLCRAB is an acronym, as well as the name of a contemporary jazz collective, composed of the initials of its members’ last names: Dylan Hannan (woodwinds), Joe Enright (drums), Connor Law (bass), Andrew Lawniczak (trumpet), Jason Chrisman (tenor sax and EWI), Johnathan Reilly (alto sax), Steven Alvarez (guitar), and Jacob Bruner (keys).The group began in Asheville in the summer of 2022 as an informal jam session by 8 like-minded musicians. Playing mostly original compositions and on the spot arrangements of jazz standards, they realized that the resulting musical interplay was too special to not share with a wider audience.Fronted by a four-piece horn section, and backed by a four-piece rhythm section, HELLCRAB is capable of running the gamut of musical expression and intensity. The group strives to push their own understanding of jazz music and anyone willing to take the journey with them is sure to be entertained.

The Bad Plus + Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog

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– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYTHE BAD PLUS The Bad Plus are the ultimate originals. A democratic unit with a clear vision and a refusal to conform to convention. For the past two decades they have played with spirit and adventure, made their own rules and done so with a bold sense of creativity and intent. Avoiding easy categorization, The Bad Plus has won critical acclaim and a legion of fans worldwide with their unique sound and flair for live performance.Now in their 21st year, The Bad Plus continues to push boundaries as founding members Reid Anderson (bass) and Dave King (drums) embark on a new piano-less incarnation of the band with Ben Monder (guitar) and Chris Speed (tenor saxophone) – instigating a new wave of excitement and anticipation within the band that is re-energizing their sound and inspiration. The Bad Plus have constantly searched to bridge genres and techniques while exploring the infinite possibilities of exceptional musicians working in perfect sync. The Bad Plus is set to release their 15th studio recording and debut self-titled album as a dynamic new quartet via Edition Records on Friday, September 30th. “Evolution is necessary for life and creativity,” say Dave King and Reid Anderson. “We’ve evolved, but we’re still The Bad Plus.”MARC RIBOT’S CERAMIC DOG“I got a right to say FUCK YOU!!!” is how the new album from veteran guitarist Marc Ribot’s trio Ceramic Dog starts off, with Ribot howling in anger at corruption, tyranny, life in general, and nothing in particular. Ribot certainly isn’t the only one piling-on, but if you’ve got a serious case of outrage fatigue, Ceramic Dog’s explosive cocktail of balls-to-the-wall abandon, chameleonic disregard for style constraints, political commentary, and absurdist humor is just the shot in the ass you might need. In fact, Ceramic Dog’s new album — titled YRU Still Here?— directed in equal parts at themselves, the commander in chief, and the listening public — arrives just in time to remind us that now is a moment when anger is not only necessary, and unavoidable, but also good for house plants . Thanks in no small part to the fire, brimstone, and dextrous facility summoned by kindred spirits Shahzad Ismaily (Secret Chiefs 3, Will Oldham, Ben Frost) on bass and drummer Ches Smith (Xiu Xiu, Secret Chiefs 3, Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant), YRU Still Here? comes to the table armed with more than just sloganeering rhetoric. By way of stylistic explanation, Ribot comments: “Yes, we too are subject to the post-modern condition, but we see it as a kind of psoriasis.” Alongside his monumental career forging his peerless guitar style with the likes of Tom Waits, John Zorn, the Lounge Lizards, etc, Ribot has also worked for decades as a tenant union and artist rights activist, where he master ed the agit-prop skills used to such dazzling effect on hits such as “Fuck La Migra” and “Muslim/Jewish Resistance”. As much as it is a rallying cry, though, YRU Still Here? also further consecrates Ribot’s bond with Ismaily and Smith, referring to them as his “musical conscience” and to the band as a “family…although not always in a good way”. “After all the playing I’ve done,” Ribot explains, “there’s just something about this group that still manages to shock me.”

13th Annual Django Reinhardt Birthday Celebration

– ALL AGES- LIMITED SEATING IS FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED13TH ANNUAL DJANGO REINHARDT BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FEATURING:  Russell Welch & the Champaigniacs “Russell is not only the most sought after guitarist in New Orleans, he is also one of the finest Django style players in the world!” – Django a Gogo Festival 2022 RUSSELL WELCH is a jazz guitarist/composer based in New Orleans, and a native of Jackson, Mississippi. Russell is a New Orleans’ “Best Traditional Jazz Artist” and “Best Traditional Jazz Album” 2019 nominee. He was New Orleans’ “Best Guitarist” nominee, 2016. Russell’s first, all-original album, “Showarama Hot Trio,” was also a New Orleans’ “Best Traditional Jazz Album” 2012 nominee. Russell’s second album, “Pour Vous” featured original arrangements of traditional New Orleans jazz classics. His third, all-original album, Russell Welch Hot Quartet album “Mississippi Gipsy” (2015) was reviewed as “masterful” and a “tour de force” by Offbeat Magazine.  Russell was recently asked to teach and perform at two of the most prestigious Django festivals in North America – Django a Go Go (2022), and Django in June (2022). Russell’s fourth album, “Acetate Sessions” is a New Orleans’ “Best Traditional Jazz Album” 2019 nominee A mix of originals and classics, It was recorded using acetate masters and vintage recording equipment, to recreate vintage recording sounds, which, according to an Offbeat Magazine review, “crackle with the energy of youth discovering someplace magical…(and) sound as fresh as tomorrow.” Gustav Viehmeyer Gustav Viehmeyer Is an international Composer, musician and guitarist. Gustav has the rare gift of merging soulful pleasures through music. His playing is free spirited, wild, intensely passionate and executed with skillful precision. Gustavs guitar music is rooted in the style of Django Reinhardt, The Sinti Virtuosos and a love for film composition. Daniel Coolik & Jim Tanner Quartet A consummate musician’s musician, Daniel Coolik, originally from Atlanta, Georgia, swept into the Lafayette, LA scene in 2009 and quickly added his name to many respectable rosters, loaning his talents to such groups as Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, Les Malfecteurs, The Red Stick Ramblers, and helped found the GRAMMY nominated band The Revelers. Daniel was already an adept multi-instrumentalist in the Asheville, North Carolina scene where he focused on playing swing and jazz on guitar & mandolin as well as old time Appalachian traditional music, and has since emerged as a violoniste extraordinaire here in Acadiana. His abilities have taken him all over the globe, including Haiti, Thailand, most countries in Western Europe, and Canada. He is an in demand session musician who has played bass, guitar, mandolin, steel guitar, and fiddle on numerous recordings including the most recent release by Shovels and Rope (By Blood 2019).