Melissa Carper
After the success of her critically-acclaimed 2021 release Daddy’ s Country Gold, Melissa Carper, dubbed “HillBillie Holiday” by friend and collaborator Chris Scruggs, was eager to get back in the studio. With co-producers Andrija Tokic (St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Hurray For The Riff Raff) and Dennis Crouch (The Time Jumpers) behind the boards again at Tokic’s analog paradise The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, Carper assembled that same crew of magical music makers – plus a few more – to embark on her newest effort, Ramblin’ Soul, out on November 18th via Thirty Tigers. “Carper finds power in using decades-old styles as a backdrop for narratives and melodies that feel more contemporary.” – Rolling Stone “ Carper’s relentless creativity spins our grandparents’ music into something immediate and familiar.” – No Depression ” Melissa Carper and her cohorts have crafted an exquisite work of audio goodness that mesmerizes with its wayback sound and style, stealing you to a simpler era in music when everything made more sense, and the very foundations of American music were set.” – Saving Country Music “Not unlike Loretta Lynn, Melissa Carper is giving us scenes and stories and vignettes that kind of play out between home and the honky-tonk.” — NPR “Listeners will break out in grins when pushing play and hearing the swinging sounds of the title track.” – American Songwriter “Melissa Carper writes simple, profound songs with a distinctly vintage sound palette.” – GRAMMY.com
Pony Bradshaw
North Georgia Rounder is strongly related to Pony Bradshaw’s last album (Calico Jim) but also stretches its legs into different territory. Place/region/localism/history has been a focus of Bradshaw’s over the past few years and he has continued that focus with North Georgia Rounder. But as the album title (Rounder) suggests, it’s also about life on the road: in taverns, in vans, sleeping on floors, meeting good folks, etc. Bradshaw notes how he longs for a well-ordered life and acknowledges the struggle to reconcile that instinct with spending half of it on the road. “But stories need to be told,” he said, “and somehow I’ve finagled my way into a position to tell a few.”
URBAN SOIL
Hailing from North Carolina, Urban Soil weaves Americana, rock and soul into their explosive live shows and polished recordings. Their studio albums reflect the uncompromising energy that Urban Soil consistently delivers live, and are a stimulating representation of the band’s skillful-yet–visceral sound. Urban Soil has the unique ability of capturing the energy of their live shows and translating it to their studio recordings, resulting in an electrifying experience with every listen.Influenced by early roots elements, Urban Soil uniquely fuses those sounds with a fresh take, delivering a blend of raw, nostalgic sounds with a modern and glistening slant. Sarah Reinke fronts the band on vocals, guitar and percussion including an occasional electrified washboard. Guitarist and vocalist, Eric Chesson, delivers forceful and driving components with every lick, and offers steadfast vocals. Greg Meckley’s skillful violin, vocals and percussion playing blends tight layers and bright sounds that solidify the band smoothly against driving guitars. Holding down the rhythm section, Jonathan Wilson and Leo Kishore provide a concrete foundation on drums and bass respectively.
Sam Frazier And The Side Effects
Sam Frazier and The Side Effectsdoors at 7pmshow at 8pm$10
Abigail Dowd, Laurelyn Dossett, & Caroline Cotter
Abigail Dowd is known for her storytelling and command of an audience. Her soulful voice and unique classical guitar style combined with the edgy bass of Jason Duff caught the attention of Acoustic Guitar Magazine, which described their latest album Not What I Seem as having “the guitar-driven introspective folk of the 1970s [as] a touchstone, but so are blues and roots rock ’n’ roll…Here, Dowd steps outside her own experiences to inhabit characters, and catapults past the personal to the universal.” Currently, the North Carolina-based duo are working on their third album, this time with Grammy nominated mixer/producer/engineer Jason Richmond (Steep Canyon Rangers, Dom Flemons).***Singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett lives and writes in the piedmont of North Carolina, and her songs tend to reflect the stories of the region, both traditional and contemporary. One of the most sought-after voices in creative collaborations, she co-founded Polecat Creek with singing partner Kari Sickenberger in 1997. Laurelyn is a frequent performer at regional music festivals such as Merlefest and has been a guest on the radio show Prairie Home Companion. She has toured with folk legend Alice Gerrard and songwriter Diana Jones, and premiered composer Kenneth Frazelle’s song cycle, “Songs in the Rear View Mirror,” in 2010, and has toured with the North Carolina Symphony in 2009 and 2011 and 2013.***With a captivating soprano voice and award winning songwriting, Caroline Cotter’s travel inspired songs take listeners all over the world and into the depths of the human heart. Since her debut album, “Dreaming as I Do”, released and reached #5 on the Folk DJ Charts in 2015, Caroline has performed over 500 shows in 43 states and 12 countries. Currently touring to support her second major release, “Home on The River”, No Depression calls it “sweet and smooth, and downright refreshing… raising spirits with one song, calming them with another.” Tom Wilk of Icon Magazine writes, “Her well-constructed songs bring to mind the early work of Mary Chapin Carpenter.” “Today’s folk scene has a new champion, one who encapsulates the sweetness, serenity and sophistication that has always made the genre so affecting in such a timeless manner. In that regard, ‘Home on the River’ is an absolutely essential record.” (Lee Zimmerman/Country Standard Time)
Holler Choir w/ Wes Collins Band
Artist from Western North Carolina Holler Choir out now!Relying heavily on vocal performance, stringed instrumentation and the use of Appalachian tonalities, Holler Choir was produced by Mike Ashworth of the Grammy Award Winning Steep Canyon Rangers. “I see this EP as a shift towards my strengths, which is the human voice and mountain music,” says Roberts. His experiences and influences from growing up in Western North Carolina near the Pisgah Forest bleeds into every track on Holler Choir. “The instruments played are ‘old familiar friends’ to me and I know how to arrange them in a way that is authentic.”
YARN ft. Brock Butler of Perpetual Groove w/ support: Alan Peterson
Yarn’s ability to persevere ought to come as no great surprise, especially for a band that spent two years honing their chops during a Monday night residency at the famed Kenny’s Castaway in New York’s Greenwich Village. In effect, it allowed them to rehearse onstage, mostly in front of audiences that often ranged in size from five to a hundred people on any given night. 10 studio albums followed — Yarn (2007), Empty Pockets (2008), Leftovers Part One (2009), Come On In (2010), Leftovers Part 2 (2011), Almost Home (2012), Shine the Light On (2013), This Is The Year (2016), and Lucky 13 parts 1 & 2 (2019). The band then took to the road, playing upwards of 170 shows a year and sharing stages with such superstars as Dwight Yoakam, Charlie Daniels, Marty Stuart, Allison Krauss, Leon Russell, Jim Lauderdale, Amos Lee, The Lumineers and many more. They performed at any number of prestigious venues, Mountain Stage, Daytrotter, the Orange Peel, the Fox Theater, the 9:30 Club, South by Southwest, the Strawberry Festival, Rhythm and Roots, Floydfest and so much more. They have landed on the Grammy ballot 6 times, placed top five on both Radio and Records and the AMA album charts, garnered airplay on Sirius XM, iTunes, Pandora, CNN, and CMT, been streamed millions of times on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon, and also accorded the “Download of the Day” from Rolling Stone. and Shine the Light On found shared songwriting credits with John Oates.
The Wilson Springs Hotel
The Wilson Springs Hotel are rooted in folk music and hail from all parts of Virginia; bringing country, folk, bluegrass, and rock together. Based in Richmond, VA TWSH brings high energy music and cohesion to their live show.Their second album is slated for release on April 14th, 2023.
The Wildwoods
The Wildwoods are an enchanting Folk/Americana trio based in Lincoln, Nebraska, whose flowing songwriting tandem has been praised by Paste Magazine as “focused and charmingly human”. The Wildwoods’ delicate melodies and descriptive lyrics come from nature, love, experiences from the road, and growing up in Nebraska. Comprised of husband and wife team Noah (guitar) and Chloe Gose (violin), as well as long-time friend Andrew Vaggalis (bass), The Wildwoods draw inspiration from a wide range of influences including the styles of: Watchhouse, The Decemberists, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Peter, Paul, & Mary, Nickel Creek, Joni Mitchell, and Gregory Alan Isakov. The folk/Americana trio work to harmoniously and delicately blend their voices to create a sound so nostalgic that you may find yourself dreaming and longing for those sweet memories from your former days.
Willy Tea Taylor and The Turkey Buzzards
Willy Tea Taylor is a father, brother, and son. His remarkable ability to sing about profound subjects in a simple way makes his songs a great place to lose yourself. Much of that comes from his upbringing.Willy grew up surrounded by rolling hills and horses in the small town of Oakdale, California. Known as the “Cowboy Capital of the World” for breeding so many world champion rodeo cowboys, Oakdale is still Willy’s home and the setting for many of his songs.Despite coming from a long line of cattlemen – his grandfather Walt was one of the most respected of his generation – Willy’s first love was baseball. As a catcher, he had a gift for the nuances of calling a game from behind the plate. When a knee injury ended his ability to catch, Willy turned his attention to music. Willy has charmed fans at some of the best festivals in the country.Willy calls John Hartford, Roscoe Holcomb, Bob Dylan, KISS, Weird Al Yankovic and Willie Nelson his biggest influences, but is always quick to advocate for his favorite contemporary songwriters which include Tom VandenAvond, Nathan Moore, and his Good Luck partner in crime, Chris Doud. He and VandenAvond have travelled the country together on a series of tours they call “Searchin’ for Guy Clark’s Kitchen” where each evening’s show is just a precursor to an endless quest for the kind of serene late night scene depicted in the cult classic documentary Heartworn Highways.
