An Evening With Ron Sexsmith
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLERON SEXSMITHRon Sexsmith is a three time, Juno award winning singer songwriter from St Catharines Ontario. Born in 1964, Ron was drawn to music from an early age by the melodic songs of the era, which he heard on the radio and by his Mom’s record collection. His earliest musical heroes were Buddy Holly and Elton John. He always loved to sing, but didn’t start playing guitar until age 14 when he formed his first band “Paper Moon” (named after the film of the same name). Although he tried to write songs throughout his teens, it wasn’t until he was 21 and living in Quebec with his partner and first child, that he truly became a songwriter.Ron eventually moved his young family to Toronto in 1987 to further pursue a career in music. He worked as a courier by day, while performing in the clubs by night. He formed the band ‘Ron Sexsmith and The Uncool’ and started gaining attention from music label executives, though all passed on signing him. In 1991 he released his first full length album on cassette called “Grand Opera Lane” produced by Bob Wiseman. The album was rejected by the Canadian music industry, although it found its way to Los Angeles where Ron ultimately signed his first music publishing deal with Interscope Records followed by a recording contract.With producer Mitchell Froom, Sexsmith released his self-titled label debut album in 1995. The melancholic tone and sparse acoustic arrangements of the album were met with disapproval from Interscope. However an enthusiastic endorsement from Elvis Costello drew media attention and the album was declared a critical success. In his Sept 7, 1995 review for Rolling Stone, Bud Scoppa wrote: “He just may be the most fluent balladeer to come along since Tim Hardin or Harry Nilsson.”Sexsmith’s songwriting style evolved into a unique and timeless blend of classic pop, contemporary folk, and roots-rock idioms. He has built a steadfast reputation with critics and with some of his own songwriting hero’s (Elton John, Ray Davies, John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen and Paul McCartney) for his characteristically honest, sensitive, and enduring approach to the songwriting craft. Ron has released albums on a consistent basis since 1995 and has recorded with noted producers Mitchell Froom, Daniel Lanois, Steve Earle, Jim Scott, Don Kerr, Brad Jones, Bob Rock, and Martin Terefe.His extensive song and album catalog has garnered Sexsmith a substantive cult following and an international touring career. His early years of touring included opening for established artists such as, John Hiatt, Elvis Costello, Sarah McLaughlin, Tori Amos, Squeeze, Aimee Mann, Coldplay, Nick Lowe, John Prine, Lucinda Williams and many others. His songs as well, have been covered by the likes of Rod Stewart, Nick Lowe, Emmy Lou Harris, Feist, and Michael Buble to name a few. In the past few decades as a headlining artist, Ron has performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the world, such as Massey Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and Carnegie Hall. In 2017, Ron penned his first novel ‘Deer Life, A Fairy Tale’ published worldwide by Dundurn Press Limited. Ron completed work on a brand new album which is scheduled to be released in early 2023 and is in keeping with his reputation for catchy but graceful melodies, drawing on love, and the trials of everyday life. He currently lives in Stratford, Ontario and continues to be inspired to write, record and perform live worldwide.
Lee DeWyze
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF VIP MEET & GREET TICKETS AVAILABLE- VIP TIX INCLUDE: A Ticket to the show, early entry into the venue, a 2 song acoustic performance by Lee, a polaroid photo with Lee (VIP takes place 45 minutes before doors open)LEE DEWYZEWith an earnest ability to create a delicate balance of harmony, melody, deep emotion and subtlety, Lee DeWyze’s depth as a songwriter call to mind some of his earliest influences like Simon and Garfunkel, Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens) and Johnny Cash. His last 4 releases Victims Of The Night (April 2020), and the EP Castles (Oct 2019), have garnered over 1M streams, while his latest 2 singles, Weeds (Oct 2020) is currently highlighted on the largest folk playlist Chill Folk, streaming 3500x per day, and Horizon (Apr 2021) was featured in the motion picture The Secret: Dare To Dream starring Katie Holmes and Josh Lucas.Over the last 10 years, Lee has released five albums, including his critically lauded Frames (Vanguard Records, 2013), which included the top 40 Billboard Hot AC hit “Fight.” In 2014, his song “Blackbird Song” (20M streams + ) was placed in the show “The Walking Dead.” After signing with Shanachie Records in 2016, Lee released the album Oil and Water, which hit Number One on the iTunes folk and singer/songwriter chart, followed by Paranoia (2018), which hit Number One on the Alternative chart.As the winner of American Idol Season 9 in 2010, he made his major label debut with Live It Up (RCA).Lee’s songs have appeared in over 70 movies, TV shows, and commercials. His latest synch was for his song Castles, which highlighted the season finale of Station 19 (#1 show on ABC). His video for Castles won 11 awards world-wide (Los Angeles, NY, and London) for best animated video with TIFF (The International Film Festival). FRANK VIELE Up until now, Frank Viele has been something of a regional secret throughout New England. His quadruple-threat reputation as a singer, guitarist, songwriter and performer is unrivaled there, as recognized by the New England Music Awards for Album of the Year, Male Performer of the Year, and Live Act of The Year he has stashed somewhere in his Connecticut home. Of course, musically tuned-in folks throughout the world have been hearing reports of Viele’s prowess for several years. No Depression might have piqued their curiosity with its praise for his “vivid storytelling.” Or maybe they read about his singing in The Alternate Root, which observed that his “street growl” could rivet passersby. Howl Magazine even called his shows “transcendent” and predicted that his music “will rattle your bones and penetrate to the core.” Truth be told, audiences around the country have begun taking notice as Viele plays in further-flung venues. Since his first album, Fall Your Way, dropped in 2015, he’s been called to open for Will Hoge, Blues Traveler, Lee DeWyze, Zach Myers of Shinedown, The Marshall Tucker Band, and in his somewhat wonderstruck words, “artists who have been on my personal playlists for years.” So all the pieces are in place to establish Frank Viele as a musical phenomenon far beyond his home base. All that’s needed is a spark to launch this rocket.
Chris Pureka
– w/ JOHN-ALLISON WEISS- ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLECHRIS PUREKA It’s rare for an artist to bridge the divide between critical acclaim and dedicated fan engagement. Chris Pureka is a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose body of work has resonated deeply with these seemingly disparate milieus. Her music has straddled the folk, americana and indie rock genres over the course of her 20 year career, and over that time, her bold vulnerability in processing the intimacies of life in song has struck a chord with those listeners who crave authenticity and depth. Chris’s elegant emotionality as a vocalist and her flair as a lyricist have garnered her favorable comparisons to Chan Marshall, Bruce Springsteen, and Patty Griffin. Over many years of touring on both sides of the Atlantic, she has shared the stage with such diverse and esteemed artists as The Lumineers, Gregory Alan Isakov, The Cowboy Junkies, Haley Heynderickx, and Ani DiFranco. She has had her songs featured on such television shows as Brothers and Sisters, Covert Affairs and Shameless and well as a song featured in the Sundance featured indie film, The Royal Road. Along the way, Chris has remained truly independent, selling nearly 50,000 albums through her own label, Sad Rabbit Records.JOHN-ALLISON WEISSKnown for their gritty, melodic indie pop songwriting, John-Allison Weiss emerged at the end of the 2000s as an early crowd-funding hero with a strong D.I.Y. ethos that has defined them throughout their career. After establishing themselves among the punk underground, they became a staple of the Warped Tour and released highly rated albums like 2013’s Say What You Mean and 2015’s New Love. Touring with everyone from Lou Reed to Letters to Cleo, Weiss has also collaborated as a songwriter with artists including Tegan Quin and Kevin Devine. Following a live album and 2021’s Death Valley Demos EP, they signed with Get Better Records and issued the singles “Different Now” and “Feels Like Hell” from their upcoming album ‘The Long Way’ out February 17th.
PATIO SHOW: Ashley Chambliss & Friends
– ALL AGES- PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEDASHLEY CHAMBLISS Originally from Merritt Island, FL, Ashley Chambliss has been part of Asheville’s music scene since 1996, with ebbs and flows as life happens, including some time at ‘Berklee College of Music’. She’s performed at Bele Chere, LEAF, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, and ‘The Grey Eagle Music Hall’ where she’s opened for acts including Ben Taylor, Duncan Sheik, and Ari Hest. Regionally, she’s made musical moments happen at ‘Eddie’s Attic’ (shootout top 3),and Charlotte’s ‘The Evening Muse’. Her songs have an audience on Spotify, YouTube, and other streaming services and have been placed in popular TV shows such as ‘Skins’ UK series, ‘The Hills’ ‘One Life to Live’, and ‘So You Think You Can Dance/Canada’, among others. Chambliss plays solo and as a group with River Guerguerian, Chris Rosser, and Jake Wolf. She describes her current work as 70’s inspired keyboard grooves, intimate vocals with blue notes.
PATIO SHOW: Taylor Knighton
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEDTAYLOR KNIGHTONRaised on the Alabama Gulf Coast, Taylor has been singing since before she could talk, so when she picked up a guitar for the first time, it felt like the last piece of the puzzle falling into place. Since then, she’s found a true musical companion in the ukulele, after being given one as a surprise from a gracious group of friends and musicians that had come together for the open mic she ran for years in her hometown of Mobile. That little uke has now seen the world with her, and delighted listeners from Istanbul to Medellín. These travels are reflected in her music, as Taylor, an amateur linguist, frequently sings in languages other than her own.These days, she calls Western NC home, and loves to implement elements of the special Appalachian sound within her musical stylings. Her originals blend jazz, pop and folk, and her covers are thoughtfully selected and often quite nostalgic. She loves to play with unique compositions that really let her voice shine, especially after a fight with thyroid cancer in 2021 nearly robbed her of her ability to sing forever. Thankfully it did not, and the joy she feels in having it back is obvious and radiant whenever she performs.
David Wilcox Annual Thanksgiving Homecoming Concert
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLEDAVID WILCOX More than three decades into his career, singer/songwriter David Wilcox continues to push himself, just as he always has. Wilcox, by so many measures, is a quintessential folk singer, telling stories full of heart, humor, and hope, substance, searching, and style. His innate sense of adventure and authenticity is why critics and colleagues, alike, have always praised not just his artistry, but his humanity, as well. That’s very much by design. It’s the result of a man giving himself over in gratitude and service to something bigger than himself. An early ’80s move to Warren Wilson College in North Carolina set his wheels in motion, as he started playing guitar and writing songs, processing his own inner workings and accessing his own inner wisdom. In 1987, within a couple of years of graduating, Wilcox had released his first independent album, The Nightshift Watchman. A year later, he won the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Award and, in 1989, he signed with A&M Records, selling more than 100,000 copies of his A&M debut, How Did You Find Me Here. In the 30 years and more than 20 records since — whether with a major label, an indie company, or his own imprint — Wilcox has continued to hone his craft, pairing thoughtful insights with his warm baritone, open tunings, and deft technique. He’s also kept up a brisk and thorough tour itinerary, performing 80 to 100 shows a year throughout the U.S., and regularly deploying his talents by improvising a “Musical Medicine” song for an audience member in need. In recent years he’s taken that process a step further, carefully writing and recording dozens of his “Custom Songs” for long-time fans who seek his help in commemorating and explaining the key milestones in their lives. Lest anyone think that he’s lost his touch, Wilcox pulled no punches on his most recent release, 2018’s The View From the Edge. Not only does the song cycle find him delving into mental health, family legacies, spiritual contemplations, and topical concerns, the song “We Make the Way By Walking” also won him the Grand Prize in the 2018 USA Songwriting Contest. Wilcox’s honesty is why Rolling Stone has written that his “ongoing musical journey is compelling and richly deserving of a listen.” It’s also why Blue Ridge Public Radio has noted that, “The connection people feel with David’s music is also the connection they feel with each other.” As Wilcox himself puts it, “I’m grateful to music. I have a life that feels deeply good, but when I started playing music, nothing in my life felt that good. I started to write songs because I wanted to find a way to make my life feel as good as I felt when I heard a great song. I don’t think I’d be alive now if it had not been for music.” And we’re all grateful for the result.
Jordy Searcy
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYJORDY SEARCYJordy Searcy is a Louisiana born, Nashville sharpened singer/songwriter, known across the country for jaw-dropping lyrics, stunning vocals, and intricate guitar work – all packaged in intimate authenticity and approachable hooks & production. With over 700 shows under his belt, over 1,000 songs written including cuts & co-writes with arena-sized artists, an appearance on The Voice, and over 51 million streams on his own music, Jordy has made quite the mark for an artist with only two album releases.In February 2020, one month before the world shut down, Jordy released “Love? Songs” – his debut full-length album packed with the lyrical and emotional depth of Randy Newman and the pop mastery and ingenuity of Olivia Rodrigo. Shows in major markets were selling out, and apromising album cycle was about to bloom. Then, as we know, the entertainment and touring industry came to a halt. Jordy responded in the only way he knew how, by converting his touring van into his home, and driving down the California coast from Oregon to San Diego to surf and write a new album.Three hundred and eighty-seven songs later, the resulting record “Daylight” is his most exciting, mature, and adventurous work to date-with influences like Paul Simon, Pinegrove, Taylor Swift’s “Folklore” album, and Phoebe Bridgers. The album maintains a theme of gleaminggoodness from hard situations. “This is the hardest I’ve ever worked on an album. I think this really is the record I’ve been trying to make since l first started writing songs, and I believe in these songs so much.”With the Tik Tok-viral lead single “Molly” earning over 100k streams and major Spotify playlist support in its first week, the upcoming album promises excitement with each new song. It’s not all internet hype though. Jordy played 40+ shows on his Fall 2021 tour, complete with pin-dropVIP experience acoustic sets and high energy light shows.Daylight will be out one song at a time, releasing in full in Spring 2022 accompanied by incredible live shows in most major markets. For Jordy, things seem to only look brighter from here.JULIANNA ZACHARIOUIt is not uncommon for Julianna Zachariou to hear something like “I am a giant music critic and am very hard to convince, and I just love what you do.” It’s kind of her M.O. — she can show up to any room and make strangers collect themselves into a focused and eager audience. Though she is an accomplished songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and music producer, Julianna boasts that her biggest gift is simply her ability to understand and connect with others. Julianna Zachariou’s newest record, “Hero of Your Heart” is joyfully disarming and now streaming wherever you listen to music. She is based in San Diego with her dog, Goose, and her partner Becka.
PATIO SHOW: Night Teacher
ALL AGESLIMITED PATIO SEATINGNIGHT TEACHERNight Teacher is the project of lead singer-songwriter Lilly Bechtel, whose haunting voice and poignant lyrics have combined with the sensibilities of producer and multi-instrumentalist Matt Wyatt to create a world that orbits between experimental folk, electro-pop, and alternative rock. Music writer Robb Donker writes of the group’s most recent single: “Wyatt’s percussive tones sort of feel like they are improvised, as if the group found things around the house to play with, which is what (for me) persists in making their texture so organic and interesting… Bechtel’s vocal aesthetic works perfectly as a storyteller; there is at once a sage presence in her powerful lilt, but it is also one that feels broken- as hopelessness and hope play a fierce game of tug of war.” Since the 2020 release of their debut record Night Teacher, the group has won the Music With a Conscience Series, been featured onWomen of Substance Radio, and noted by the music magazine Relix as an “artist to pay attention to.”
PATIO SHOW: AC Sapphire w/ Andy Dale Petty
– ALL AGES- LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEDAC SAPPHIRESapphire’s serpentine songs weave their way through dreamy desert landscapes. Simple subjects become complex observations in her poetic songwriting style. Reverb laden, densely layered rock ‘n’ roll -droning intricate guitar play and percussive drums make the album Desert Car as sensitive as it is exciting. Sapphire has been heralded in Pop Matters, Glide Magazine, Audiofemme, American Songwriter. She’s toured with Lauren Ruth Ward, recorded with Kyle Craft, and is always championing other women and non binary folks in the music industry. Her long awaited album Desert Car will be released July 16th on American Standard Time Records.ANDY DALE PETTY
PATIO SHOW: Mother Marrow
– ALL AGES- PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVEDMOTHER MARROW Hailing from the mountains outside of Asheville, NC, Mother Marrow is the musical project of Charity Cimarron (they/them). The sound is elemental, powerful, ritual folk music that can call up tears, or send shivers down your spine. Bewitching and poignant, Mother Marrow’s music and imagery capture the voices of the elements, and the creatures that dwell underground. A musical journey into the depths…these tunes have teeth and tenderness. Mother Marrow is born out of Cimarron’s deep love of the natural world, striving towards beauty and truth, and an understanding of the painful, and magical process of transformation.
