PATIO SHOW: Jesse James Deconto (The Pinkerton Raid)
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEJESSE JAMES DECONTO (THE PINKERTON RAID) Leading up to Independence Day, The Pinkerton Raid’s songwriter Jesse James DeConto will release “The Fight for Freedom was in VOGUE,” about Lee Miller, Solange D’Ayen and the Parisian artists who stood up to the Nazi occupation in the ways they knew how. “VOGUE” is among a series of narrative-driven resistance singles from his upcoming full-length album, IF YOU LOVE SOMEBODY, TELL THEM, singing his story as a dad trying to hold onto hope and imagine a future for his kids in the face of American fascism and climate catastrophe. Back home in Durham, NC, with partners like Indivisible, Jesse often leads singalongs of classic protest songs from Bob Dylan, NENA, Neil Young, 4 Non-Blondes, Crowded House and others. “The sane response to tyrants is to sing,” Jesse says on “VOGUE,” inspired by a famous quote by revolutionary painter Pablo Picasso. On Wednesday, July 1, he’ll bringing his “protest songs with Big Dad Energy” to the Grey Eagle patio in Asheville’s River Arts District.
PATIO SHOW: Jane Kramer + Hannah Kaminer w/ Jackson Dulaney
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEJANE KRAMER + HANNAH KAMINER w/ JACKSON DULANEY Lauded by UK music reviewer Three Chords and the Truth as sounding like she was “…born to bohemian poets and raised in the mountains by Emmylou Harris,” Asheville, North Carolina songstress Jane Kramer has garnered international recognition for the heartrending originality of her vocals and for the heavy-hitting lyrical eloquence of her songwriting. With deep roots in the musical traditions, culture and lore of her beloved Appalachia, Kramer’s songs are introspective, gracefully gritty andfiercely memorable. Her live performances are equally as poignant and engaging; artfully lifting the veil between audience and performer with bittersweet and even humorous recognition of our flawed human experience. Kramer has been touring and recording nationally and internationally for the last twelve years, playing for enchanted audiences in listening rooms, theaters, festivals, living rooms, prisons and arts councils alike. Three acclaimed solo albums later, this has gained her a loyal followingfrom the southeastern, U.S. where she calls home, to Portland, Oregon to Scotland, U.K to Florence, Italy. Kramer is set to release her fourth solo album, Moon & Mother, recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC, with her band including Chris Rosser and River Guerguerian of Free Planet Radio, Matthew Smith (Amy Ray Band, The Honeycutters), Duane Simpson and Jake Wolf (Dirty Logic) in October of 2026. A mother, former social worker, domestic violence crisis counselor and avid humanitarian, Kramer continues to perform and teach about the songwriting process in prisons, shelters for the unhoused, programs for at-risk youth, hospitals and even animal rescues, sharing her message of music as a powerful tool for healing, connection and compassion. Quoted as “…an artist on the rise” by acclaimed American songwriter Mary Gauthier and “One of the purest voices in modern Americana” by Blue Ridge Outdoors, Kramer has performed with Joan Osborne, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, Leyla McCalla, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Sarah Siskind, Gretchen Peters, Malcolm Holcombe, Josh Goforth, Verlon Thompson and Shawn Mullins.Hannah Kaminer is an artist and singer-songwriter writing songs about love, loss, and home. Raised in small towns in Western North Carolina, she fuses echoes of Appalachian and country traditions with wistful, Americana-style songwriting. She has released three studio albums: Acre by Acre (2015), Heavy Magnolias (2018) which was co-produced with GRAMMY-winning engineer Julian Dreyer, and Heavy on the Vine (2024) which she produced with her band,The Wistfuls. In 2024, she also completed her first international tour alongside Asheville-based acts The Moon & You and Amanda Anne Platt, leading one Americana UK writer to note, “At times reminiscent of Iris Dement, full of emotional honesty and intensity… [Kaminer] is a songwriter of the highest order. Hannah Kaminer is a name we should all be hearing a lot more of.” In late 2025, Kaminer joined forces with another Asheville-based act, The Moon & You, to produce Dark Turn of Mind: A Haunted Americana Tour. The show will return stranger than ever in 2026!
Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase
ALL AGES SEATED SHOW SONGWRITERS ROLLER DERBY SHOWCASE The Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase, presented by the Asheville Songwriters Association, is a quarterly music show with no roller skates included – just four performers “rollin’ out the songs, elbows-n-all.” Curated and hosted by Thomas Kozak and Jodi John Pippin, each “Derby Night” at The Grey Eagle will showcase the craft of songwriting in an intimate and welcoming setting. As an added element of the Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase, a surprise guest will join the performers on stage for interactive, on-the-spot commentary ~ a “look under the hood of the songwriting process” of sorts. The audience will have a chance to share comments as well, if they are inspired to do so. For most of the evening, the songwriters will perform finished songs, but they will also each share a brand new song that has not yet been performed on stage. Come support the songwriters as they show their vulnerable side and help nurture the art and craft of songwriting in the region and beyond. The performers for this 3rd Derby are:Chuck BrodskyChuck Brodsky is a storytelling, songwriting, modern-day troubadour, whose genuine warmth and quirky, finely-crafted songs touch hearts, funny bones, and a nerve or two. With irony and wit, his 13 CDs celebrate the eccentric, holy, courageous, inspiring, and the beautiful, while poking fun at what needs poking. Over the past 33 years he’s played concerts all across the USA and in eleven countries. Several of his songs have appeared in movies and on tv, and 22 of his Baseball story songs have been enshrined in the Hall of Fame’s sound recording library.Claire WhallClaire Whall is a songwriter who creates from the shadow realm of a 3 am mental breakdown and balances it out with the hope and certainty of a morning sunrise. She blends folk, grunge, and indie genres and has no concept of lyrical stoicism. There is nothing emotionally reserved in her work, all the cards are on the table, all the mirrors are pointed outward.Sun BrotherSun Brother is the musical moniker for Asheville based Billy Toulson. His songs are moments in life, captured in three minute durations. A personal tale here. An observation there. It’s all grist for the mill and an opportunity to create meaning.Michael FlynnMichael Flynn is an Americana-adjacent singer/songwriter from Saluda. His songs have been featured on shows like Grey’s Anatomy and he’s won a few awards for his songwriting, most recently the Newsong Music Grand Prize in 2021. He mostly releases music under the name Slow Runner and has a new album called ‘Dog Years’ coming July 2026.
Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase
ALL AGES SEATED SHOW SONGWRITERS ROLLER DERBY SHOWCASE The Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase, presented by the Asheville Songwriters Association, is a quarterly music show with no roller skates included – just four performers “rollin’ out the songs, elbows-n-all.” Curated and hosted by Thomas Kozak and Jodi John Pippin, each “Derby Night” at The Grey Eagle will showcase the craft of songwriting in an intimate and welcoming setting. As an added element of the Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase, a surprise guest will join the performers on stage for interactive, on-the-spot commentary ~ a “look under the hood of the songwriting process” of sorts. The audience will have a chance to share comments as well, if they are inspired to do so. For most of the evening, the songwriters will perform finished songs, but they will also each share a brand new song that has not yet been performed on stage. Come support the songwriters as they show their vulnerable side and help nurture the art and craft of songwriting in the region and beyond. The performers for this 2nd Derby are:Will Hartz – A born entertainer and a multi instrumentalist, Will Hartz has been putting on a show for all to see before he could speak. With Appalachian funk and southern soul pouring through his fingertips, Will is best known for his ability to grab the attention of any and all audiences with his refined stylistic performances. Will started playing piano at the age of 8, later translating into years of musical theatre and a BA in musical performance. Andrea Rosal – Andrea picked up a guitar at age 40, started writing soon after and was hooked. The 2024 winner of Womansong of Asheville’s inaugural songwriting competition, Andrea has written her way through a global pandemic, cancer, parenting two kids, Hurricane Helene, and all the ups and downs of everyday life. Jackson Grimm – Jackson Grimm is an accomplished and respected band leader, multi-instrumentalist and teacher in the Western North Carolina music community. His songs marry pop melodies with the lonesome sound of Appalachian music. Grimm won the 2025 LEAF Songwriting competition and has been a 2 year finalist for the Songwriter Serenade. He has shared the stage with and opened up for acts such as Molly Tuttle, Sierra Ferrell, Shadowgrass, the Wilder Flower, Arlo Guthrie, Tim Grimm, Ben Bedford, Ordinary Elephant, Nathan Evans Fox, and more.Jane Kramer – Jane Kramer has garnered international recognition for the heartrending originality of her vocals and for the heavy-hitting lyrical eloquence of her songwriting. With deep roots in the musical traditions, culture and lore of beloved Appalachia, Kramer’s songs are introspective, gracefully gritty & fiercely memorable. A former social worker, domestic violence crisis counselor and avid humanitarian, Kramer continues to perform and teach about the songwriting process in prisons, shelters for the unhoused, programs for at-risk youth, hospitals and even animal rescues, sharing her message of music as a powerful tool for healing, connection and compassion. Quoted as “…an artist on the rise” by acclaimed American songwriter Mary Gauthier, Kramer has performed with Joan Osborne, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Sarah Siskind, Malcolm Holcombe, Josh Goforth, and Shawn Mullins.
An Evening With Chris Smither
ALL AGES FULLY SEATED SHOW LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE CHRIS SMITHER The sound and imagery of the 20th release by Chris Smither, All About the Bones, (release date: May 3, 2024 on Signature Sounds/Mighty Albert, distributed by Redeye) is as elemental as the inky black shadows cast by a shockingly bright moon. The listener is welcomed into some gothic mansion on an imaginary New Orleans street, and there in the lamplit parlor confronts the band, a minimalist skeleton crew: Smither’s inimitable propulsive guitar and rumbling baritone are joined seamlessly to producer David Goodrich’s carpetbag of instruments, Zak Trojano’s rock-steady, primal drumming, BettySoo’s diaphanous harmony vocals, and the flat, mournful flood of Jazz legend Chris Cheek’s saxophone. Recorded at Sonelab Studios in Easthampton MA by Justin Pizzoferrato (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., the Hold Steady) All About the Bones has a feel that is somehow baroque and austere at once. Smither and his longtime producer David Goodrich have been refining their musical conversation for decades, both in the studio and onstage, and by now, their bond verges on the telepathic. Goodrich plays on nearly every track. His sound is by now so translucent that it seems to function as a swath of silence, allowing the songs to burn like ciphers in the crackling air. And oh, the songs on All About the Bones. Chris Smither, after six decades of sharpening his knife as a songwriter, can at this point open damn near anything with a flick of his wrist. God and the Devil are opened here. Mortality is too. Politics, consciousness, renewal, family, vulnerability, surrender… Smither has sat with these topics like so many Zen koans, for so long, that every line is a pearl. The title track, “All About the Bones,” kicks the record off with “Consider your high station/ think about your fame. All of your creation depended on your frame.” Irony, wit, the double meaning of “depended”… each verse is a master class in songwriting. Yet the stark, elemental sage always has a twinkle in his eye, a light touch at your elbow as he guides you along. From the wickedly funny defense of the Adversary in “If Not for the Devil” to the unsentimental open-heartedness of “Still Believe in You,” he is as human as we all long to be. The disjointed imagery of “In the Bardo” and the dystopian mirror of “Close the Deal” find Smither unflinchingly staring down the mortality of both individuals and republics, and yet he is at peace, among loved ones in his cover of Eliza Gilkyson’s “Calm Before the Storm,” and turning his gaze to the future in “Completion”. As noted by the New York Times, Rolling Stone, MOJO, NPR, and others, in the decades of travels to All About the Bones, Chris Smither has gone from up-and-comer to journeyman to veteran to icon, and yet the whole time his path has more closely resembled Joseph Campbell’s “Hero with a Thousand Faces”- an unblinking, fearless trek into the depths of struggle and revelation, and a return back to the land of the living, to share the hard-won treasures found along the way. His restlessness is long gone, and his eyes are fixed “where the moonlight falls on some never-to-be-seen horizon” (“Still Believe in You”). The light given off from his music casts our own lives into a sublime and welcome clarity.
Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase
ALL AGES STANDING ROOM + SEATING, FIRST COME FIRST SERVED SONGWRITERS ROLLER DERBY SHOWCASE The Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase, presented by the Asheville Songwriters Association, is a quarterly music show with no roller skates included – just four performers “rollin’ out the songs, elbows-n-all.” Curated and hosted by Jodi John Pippin and Thomas Kozak, each “Derby Night” at The Grey Eagle will showcase the craft of songwriting in an intimate and welcoming setting. Spending an evening getting folky in “the rink” is a good thing to do. As an added element of the Songwriters Roller Derby Showcase, a guest songwriter will join the performers on stage for an interactive, on-the-spot, feedback session for a portion of the show. The performers will spend most of the evening sharing finished songs with the audience, but for these special feedback rounds, they will share new songs that have not been performed on stage. The entire house will get to experience what it’s like at one of the Asheville Songwriters Association’s “Roller Derby Songwriting Meetings” where the layers of creativity are peeled back, revealing what works with the songs and what doesn’t. Come support the songwriters as they show their vulnerable side and help nurture the art and craft of songwriting in the region and beyond. The performers for this first Derby will be: Thomas Kozak Ben Mackel Evan Veasey Alex Krug
Jodi John EP Release Show + Asheville Songwriters Showcase
ALL AGES STANDING ROOM + LIMITED SEATING, FIRST COME FIRST SERVED JODI JOHN EP RELEASE SHOW + ASHEVILLE SONGWRITERS SHOWCASECelebrate the release of Jodi John’s debut EP, Sybelia – a collection of true coming-of-age songs. Jodi leads the Asheville Songwriters Association, whose mission is to nurture the art and craft of songwriting in Western North Carolina and beyond. Most of her songs reflect a narrative lyric style on top of strong melodies. She believes that stories lead us to understand others and ourselves alike, both when we are the teller, and the listener. The second half of the evening will be a showcase of Asheville area songwriters involved in the Sybelia project, who will each share songs of their own. Come enjoy an evening of creative performances and joyful collaboration. FEATURING: Thomas Kozak Thomas Kozak is a singer-songwriter based in Asheville, NC. With a focus on lyricism and structure that stretches convention, he looks to bend an ear beyond the expected. His writing pulls myth and religion through the split-open skull of an obsessive-compulsive, anchoring the past to a new body and giving it voice through and beyond the conventions of folk and Americana. Old Sap Old Sap, poet from Chicago, rambled out to Montana, cut a banjo from a tamarack, strings across the country, foot like a freight train, voice rushing down over lush Appalachia, sings a thrush tune through the rush hour and into your long-forgotten prairie dreams. Melissa Hyman Melissa Hyman is a multi-instrumentalist and educator calling Asheville home since 2007. She plays in several local bands including The Moon and You, Tina and Her Pony, and Cowboy Judy. Will Hartz Will Hartz is best known for his ability to grab the attention of any and all audiences with his refined stylistic performances. Raised in a rural farming town south of Asheville, you can almost hear the mountain thunder and sweet streams rolling through his southern drawl. Will started playing piano at the age of 8, later translating into years of musical theatre and a BA in musical performance. https://www.willhartzmusic.com/ Jack Victor Jack Victor is songwriter, recording musician, and music educator based in Asheville, NC. He writes songs for the band Slow Packer (2018-present), and wrote songs for the band Midnight Snack (2011-2017). As an active member of the Asheville music scene since 2015, Victor also collaborates with many other bands and songwriters in the western NC area.
PATIO: Bobby Frith
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BOBBY FRITH Bobby Frith is a Carrboro, NC-based singer-songwriter, composer, guitarist. His single release, Eastern Continental Divide, tells the story of two falling rain drops, whose paths diverge atop a mountain near where he grew up in Western NC. In his current era, you can find him on weekends performing at breweries, bars, and venues in NC and beyond. During the week, he brings his music to elder care facilities, hospitals, and health clinics in the local triangle area.
David Wilcox Annual Thanksgiving Homecoming Concert
ALL AGESFULLY SEATED SHOWLIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEDAVID WILCOX There are songwriters who chronicle life, and then there’s David Wilcox—an artist who metabolizes it. He has long been a quiet force in American folk music; a musician’s musician, a writer’s writer, and a seeker whose gift lies in making the personal feel universal. With the upcoming release of The Way I Tell the Story (2025), Wilcox proves, yet again, that resilience isn’t just a survival skill—it’s an art form. The record shimmers with musical sophistication but leaves just enough space for the listener to feel what Wilcox has always done best: tell the truth, gently but without apology. The music he’s creating now comes from a place that can’t be faked. In recent years, Wilcox’s life has been shaped by his wife’s Parkinson’s diagnosis—a shift that reordered his priorities and redefined his sense of time, love, and presence. But rather than retreat, Wilcox leaned in. “Times get tough, and music gets good,” he says, and means it. These songs don’t dramatize. They don’t resolve neatly. They sit in the complexity of living—open-eyed, unafraid, quietly brave. Wilcox’s career began in earnest in the late 1980s, when his self-released debut The Nightshift Watchman caught the attention of A&M Records. His major-label debut, How Did You Find Me Here (1989), became an unexpected hit, selling over 100,000 copies largely by word of mouth and live shows alone—an unheard-of feat for a debut folk record. Critics took note of his deft guitar work and emotional clarity, but it was the unassuming wisdom threaded through his lyrics that truly set him apart. Rolling Stone praised his “soulful insight,” while The New York Times called his music “a kind of open-hearted therapy.” Wilcox’s music still resonates, especially now, because it doesn’t try to outpace the moment. It meets it. In his world, craft is a form of care. Introspection is a public offering. And staying soft in a hard world isn’t a liability—it’s a kind of leadership. For audiences seeking something more than noise, more than nostalgia, Wilcox’s songs remain a rare kind of company. Not flashy. Not loud. Just deeply, generously alive.
PATIO: McKinney
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE MCKINNEY McKinney is a singer/songwriter/musician living in Asheville, NC. A bass player at heart, McKinney is also at home playing her songs acoustic. Don’t miss your chance to enjoy this evening of genuine connection through lyrics that anyone can relate to, humorous conversations amidst the music, and a voice that will make your chill bumps have chill bumps.
