SUSTO (solo)
A season of drastic change is what brought SUSTO frontman Justin Osborne to the band’s fifth full-length LP, My Entire Life [New West Records]. There was a divorce, difficulties re-building his band after the pandemic, and the pain and helplessness of witnessing family members struggle with addiction and mental illness. Despite these challenges, Justin ultimately found himself in a new landscape, with new love and a deeper perspective, all of which is masterfully projected into My Entire Life. While navigating some major life changes, Justin understandably experienced a surge of creative energy. He channeled this into writing and recording with the people closest to him, even as the tides of his personal life continued to shift. Primary collaborators included longtime producer Wolfgang “Wolfy” Zimmerman, SUSTO Co-founders, Johnny Delaware and Marshall Hudson, and his fiancé/co-writer Caroline Foyle. Much of the album was recorded at The Space, in Charleston, SC, but major sessions also took place at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, NC, and Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA. Johnny had moved to Mexico shortly after work on the album began, so some tracking was done at his home studio in Mexico City. The band also took a “recording pilgrimage” to the Mexican town of Tepotzlán (mythical birthplace of mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl), where they turned an airbnb into a remote recording studio, with help from members of Mexican Institute of Sound. The combined result of these efforts is a compelling blend of rock, folk and psychedelia, with vivid country-esque storytelling. It’s as raw and real as anything the band has done so far and everything you’d hope for from a modern rock ‘n’ roll record. The album’s namesake and lead single, “My Entire Life” is melodically tearful, with an urgency “to keep living.”
Grey Oakes with White Toledo
Virginia Man
Virginia Man is an emotional folk-and-roll band comprised of Kristian Lietzan (singer/songwriter), Stephen Amoruso (bass/vocals), and Jamaal Farrow (drummer). With poetic lyrics bellowing over the sounds of middle Appalachia, these gentlemen champion the sound of Virginia: a strange suspension between the cardinal directions, musical genres, and the changing of seasons. With lots of new music arriving in 2023, the boys have been out on the road! The live show has become a favorite amongst members and audiences alike, like a sonic rollercoaster, akin to the plot of a great American classic, with gripping performances and storytelling, and celebratory beverages to follow.
When We’re Sober with Matty Sheets
When We’re Sober is an indie-rock band out of Greensboro, NC. Its two frontmen & co-songwriters Grey Hyatt and Erich McPhail blend their diverse musical backgrounds and tastes into a wide range of sounds and complex yet catchy melodies. A true throwback to the heyday of 90’s grunge, When We’re Sober’s sound is raw & gritty, yet refined enough that their elegant and often vulnerable lyricism can still shine through. This duality in their sound is crucial to the folk-grunge genre they pioneer.Hyatt & McPhail released their debut 5-song EP ‘The Bottle’ in the summer of 2022 under the moniker of When We’re Sober, but the band did not begin to truly take shape until early 2023. With its current five-man lineup solidified, the band finally began playing shows- packing out local venues and making a splash that’s hard to ignore.When We’re Sober is currently working on a batch of around 25 new songs, with a debut full-length album slated for release in late 2023.
MELTDOWN RODEO + BLUE CACTUS
Kym Register + Meltdown Rodeo (FKA LOAMLANDS) is a transgressive and distorted country music outfit based in North Carolina that places queer storytelling at the forefront. Their music intimately grapples with identity, retribution, reconciliation and queer existence in both modern-day and historical (inclusive of mostly all) southern culture. According to NOISEY, our music is “written to directly address North Carolina, the people in the Durham DIY scene, and the area’s long history with LGBT communities and police violence, the themes Register… wrestle[s] with throughout—queerness, police violence, bigotry and general intolerance to those who refuse to adhere to any kind of binary—are poignant no matter where you live.” “It’s a narrative-heavy — and proudly queer — record, channeling both the South’s folksy past and the crunchy protest music of the modern Merge roster, sporting a genre-defying sound as courageous as the issues breached: institutionalized bigotry, body dysmorphia, the agonies of love and loss. ” “Even if you don’t know Register’s backstory, you can still hear that Sweet High Rise is a compelling, beautiful, and starkly political record.” -Bitch Media “…a lush guitar pop sound that pulls from the late ’70s rock and country.” – Brooklyn Vegan Blue Cactus, the North Carolina duo of Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, make Dream Country: a blend of grit, glitz, groove, and twang that evokes a celestial soundscape of mid-century heartbreak and harkens comparisons eclectic and iconic as Bobbie Gentry, Fleetwood Mac, and David Bowie. Their sophomore album, Stranger Again, released in 2021 on Sleepy Cat Records, nabbed enthusiastic attention from tastemakers including No Depression, American Songwriter, FLOOD Magazine, Talkhouse, and INDY Week among others. Following their critically acclaimed 2017 debut and a string of singles in 2020, Stranger Again saw the band taking their sound to an ambitious new plane, where country-rock and light psychedelia mingle, vocals soaring over twangy slide guitars and propulsive basslines. The North Carolina duo have performed at several beloved festivals including Nelsonville, Red Wing Roots, Rooster Walk, Muddy Roots and Hopscotch and shared the stage as support for an array of artists from The War & Treaty, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and Lilly Hiatt to Town Mountain and Junior Brown among others. Between the comfort of classic country and the glamor of 70s rock, Blue Cactus resuscitate a fleeting style of honest-to-goodness country music considered valueless to a “new” country music where songwriting is officiated by financial analysts and teams of marketing plutocrats instead of woebegone troubadours. With a high lonesome twang, an Emmylou-like southern drawl, and blistering guitar techniques, Blue Cactus exercises the honky-tonk muscles to firmly bear the flag for a new generation of country music.
Skylar Gudasz with Riggings
With her luminous voice and captivating songcraft, Skylar Gudasz has won the admiration ofsome of the most distinguished artists in music. The Durham-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has shared stages with the likes of Ray Davies, Cat Power and Sharon VanEtten as part of the Big Star’s Third tribute concerts, opened for the likes of Television,Teenage Fanclub, and Mountain Goats, and appeared as a background vocalist on albums bySuperchunk and Hiss Golden Messenger, including a TV debut with the latter on Late Nightwith Seth Meyers.Gudasz released her full-length debut Oleander in 2016 at which point The Bitter Southernerdubbed her “the Joni Mitchell the South never had.” On the eve of pandemic lockdown in 2020,Gudasz delivered her sophomore album Cinema, recorded between famed April Base in EauClaire, Wisconsin and in the lush forests of the rich NC music scene. The release summonedpraise from the likes of Pitchfork, NPR’s All Songs Considered, and MOJO who described itmost concisely as "a career-making star turn.” Gudasz’s highly anticipated third album, recordedwith Ari Picker (Dante High, Lost in the Trees), is due later this year.In addition to her solo career, Gudasz is active in collaborations, including an “Ask Me Anything”tour with Kate Rhudy and Libby Rodenbough, an event at which the songwriters answeraudience questions about love and play songs in response. The trio was recently featured aspart of Southern Songbirds: The Power of Women in Country Music series at the NorthCarolina Museum of History, a collaboration with PBS and the Grammy Museum
Tyler Ramsey with Darren Jessee
Praised by NPR, Stereogum, WNYC and The Huffington Post, Tyler Ramsey is a multi-instrumentalist equally at home playing guitar, piano, keyboards, bass and percussion, but is best known as a talented finger-style guitarist and singer-songwriter. In addition to having released three acclaimed solo albums, Ramsey is perhaps most immediately recognizable, until his recent departure, as the guitarist and a co-writer in Band Of Horses, having played with them since 2007, prior to the release of their breakthrough album, “Cease To Begin.” A well-established and acclaimed guitar player and singer in the burgeoning western North Carolina music scene, where he calls home, he first learned to play music on piano before moving to the guitar. Ramsey grew up listening to and studying country-blues guitar players like Mance Lipscomb and Mississippi John Hurt, and American finger pickers like John Fahey and Leo Kottke, absorbing their sound and making it all his own. His fourth solo album, which was recorded in Louisville, Kentucky, during tour downtime and completed this past summer, is set for release in 2018. The new songs are lush and full, and realized with help from a list of friends old and new, adding gorgeous vocal harmonies, strings, and guitar counterpoints.
Deaf Andrews with Galloway
Dead Andrews with Galloway, Live at Flat Iron!July 8, 2023Doors 7:30pm$10 Conceived in the daydreams of adolescence, Deaf Andrews is more than a collection of passionate musicians. It is the product of five long-time friends making music that means something to them, and hopefully anyone else listening. Consisting of Nick Hayes (Vocals), Mike Sherrard (guitar), Ross Schumann (bass), Andrew Kingsley (guitar) and Braedon Nelson (drums), the group has blossomed from their roots, into a unique sonic flower of indie pop rock. From their 2019 single, “Justified” to their debut album “Saturday on Saturn”, Deaf Andrews has continued to push the limits of their creativity and emotional tuneness. Making it a priority to capture some of the magic energy that fuels their live shows, the sound is organic, direct, and channels the essence of true rock and roll while also exploring the experimental freedom of modern indie pop. “Saturday On Saturn” strives to capture the human element that makes music so special. Focusing on themes of escapism, mental sanity, and personal relationships, there is something very genuine about the songwriting on this release because it borrows from personal experience while also connecting with the audience in an infectious way. Deaf Andrews is based out of Charlotte, NC and is actively booking for 2023. “Saturday On Saturn” is available on all streaming platforms. w/ Galloway Galloway — comprised of Lawson Galloway (vocals), Robert Redfield (guitar), Travis Hayes (guitar/keys), Sam Huntley (Guitar), Nick Williams (bass/keys), and Daniel Crump (drums) — is an alternative pop band based out of Boone, NC, that combines aspects of pop, rock, indie, and alternative music, striving to deliver songs that are rife with memorable, well-crafted instrumentals, smooth and vibrant vocals, and lyrics about love, mental health, queerness, and existentialism.
Illiterate Light w/ Airpark
Illiterate Light thrives on subverting expectations. Though just a duo, the Harrisonburg, Virginia-based singer-guitarist Jeff Gorman along with Nashville, Tennessee-based drummer Jake Cochran make surprisingly pummeling and thoughtful alternative rock. Since the band’s 2015 inception, they’ve intently focused on their unorthodox live show with Cochran standing behind his kit and Gorman playing synth bass with his foot as he sings and strums his guitar. Fiercely egalitarian and independent, the two not only split up songwriting duties and arrangement ideas, they even built bike-powered stages: bringing the fans into the live experience and envisioning a greener future for shows. But with their latest album Sunburned, out January 27 via Thirty Tigers, Gorman and Cochran have turned their attention inward to their songwriting and studio craft. It’s their most fully-realized and ambitious LP yet, one that’s full of immediate songs that update and revolutionize the band’s approach to making music. There are rich keyboard and programmed percussion textures now populating their songs, as well as soaringly anthemic choruses, and hefty doses of fuzz. “On our first record, we were very live-focused and wanted to make sure whatever we were writing was translated in person,” says Gorman. “Without that crutch, we could be more adventurous and take more risks. We definitely weren’t timid in the studio.”
Liz Hopkins + Azul Zapata
Liz Hopkins has been singing since she could talk, and probably sings more than she talks–.in choirs of all kinds, musical theater productions, open jams, sitting in with all kinds of bands, and as a proud member of North Carolina-born DELTA RAE. She started harmonizing with Ian Eric and Brittany Holljes during her high school years — and they are still harmonizing today. But now, Liz is coming at you with her own distinct flavor. As a vocalist with Delta Rae has toured all over the US, and internationally, released 4 full-length albums, played music festivals including Bonnaroo, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, and more- performed on National TV (Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Seth Meyers), and had the honor of meeting Michelle Obama, and shared the stage and had a sign off with Melissa Etheridge. She was really nervous. After 2 rounds with labels. In 2019, Delta Rae left the label they were on (again) and set out on their own and became the most-funded independent band in the history of Kickstarter. It has been a wild ride and 13 years into full-time musician life, she hasn’t slowed down. She remains proud to be part of Delta Rae, who just released 2 albums in 2020 and 2021 – and is back on tour this year!When Liz is not on the road or in the studio with Delta Rae, she is singing in professional musical theater productions, leading shows of her own around North Carolina, practicing piano, teaching kids and adults to sing, and now finally starting to write her own songs and put together plans for an album of her own. We’ve only just begun… + Azul Zapata: AZUL’s sound is as multicultural as her background. Her music is enriched by her Argentinian roots, travel, and global studies degree, while influenced by jazz, broadway, soul, gospel, blues, disco, Latin folk and Latin rock. She is emotional, empathetic, and empowered. She is driven to amplify opportunities for femme/queer/POC individuals in her band and on stage. After releasing her debut original EP in 2021 “The View From Here,” Azul has played all over NC and opened for several nationally touring acts. The INDY Week said about her debut single, “Magic,” “Magic” feels like a true pop song—lush, catchy, persuasive, and full of the kind of pent-up drama that makes the quest for greater belief and optimism feel fresh. Zapata’s voice is bold and reaching; this is a single with the thrill of a big beginning.” For AZUL when mental health, trust, government, and her relationships fail, AZUL’s music speaks; loudly. The authentic aspiration that overcomes her life is for you to listen; (and for her to be heard).
