Mantra, Sweet Dream, and Kenny Wavinson
Mantra is a 4-piece indie rock band based in Charleston, SC formed by Ben Patrick (guitar/vocals) and Noah James (piano) in the summer of 2019. Their sound is a blend of rock, folk, and pop elements. From songs like “Lost Your Home” and “Waiting” you will hear the band’s unique ability to blend sounds and create a feeling within their music. Their debut album “Quarterlife”, recorded with Wolfgang Zimmerman (Susto, Brave Baby, Band of Horses) was released in September of 2024 and can be found on all streaming platforms. Sweet Dream is a Greensboro NC-based psychedelic power pop fusion group, a genre designation that is fitting of their recordings. On stage however, you never know what you’re going to get – virtuosic playing, extra jams, total improvisation, jazz standards, and sometimes even straight ahead power pop and rock n roll. Sweet Dream is the musical brainchild of guitarist, vocalist, and bandleader Julian Creech-Pritchett. Filling out the live band are Ramon Garcia on bass and Xavier Ware on drums. In the studio, Creech-Pritchett generally plays everything, aside from listed features on various songs. Their self-titled third album is available on all streaming platforms now. Kendall Daniels, better known as Kenny Wavinson, is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter from Greensboro, North Carolina. Kenny makes analog vibey melodic grooves under his own genre, “Lakewater Rock”. He has been creating music since he was only 7 years old. Wavinson began making music as just a producer, releasing a couple beat tapes in 2014. By the year 2015 Kenny started a new lane in his new music career by making a name for himself as an alternative Singer/Rapper. Kenny was able to push out an EP titled “Teal”, a collab effort with his producer and best friend Carolina Fiend. One Year after his best friends death in 2016, Jamile Adams gave Kenny Wavinson his first electric guitar to begin fully working on his first couple soft rock singles in 2017. By 2018 he was able to release his first solo album produced entirely himself titled “LonersRadio”, released April 20th, 2018. Since then Kenny Wavinson has been able to really get familiar with his unique sound he calls Lakewater Rock and earn a write up by BandCamp & UPROXX shortly after his first couple of releases. Currently He has just released his 6th single titled “Deja vu” on all streaming platforms.
Act Of Love, General Purpose, and 3-2-1
Hustle Souls w/ jAndr
Hustle Souls, based in Asheville, NC, masterfully blend Retro-Soul, Brass Band funk and singer-songwriter Americana into a unique and captivating sound. Lauded by American Blues Scene as a “generation-jumping mashup of new school second line funk with old school vintage soul,” and described by Bluestown Music as “intimate soul…with a Curtis Mayfield like warmth,” the band has earned a spot as one of Music Connection Magazine’s “Hot 100 Live Unsigned Artists & Bands.” Overflowing with energy and spontaneity , Hustle Souls features roaring B3 organ and jubilant brass, balanced with three-part vocal harmonies and a passion for songwriting. Their music has been praised by Aldora Britian Records as “worthy of being included in that brilliant soul music canon, a heritage that features some of the greatest performers and writers that have ever graced this earth.” In 2024, Hustle Souls released their vinyl debut and lead singer Billy Litz was invited to perform at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA, as an endorsing artist for the prestigious Santa Cruz Guitar Company. The band also represents Seydel Harmonicas as endorsing artists. Hustle Souls have been featured on major festival lineups such as Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion and Shakori Hills Grassroots Music Festival, and have shared the stage with legends including Kofi Burbridge and supported bands like Dumpstaphunk.
The Old One-Two, Killer Antz, and Dai Cheri
Totally Slow, LMI, and Snide
Singer Songwriter Series hosted by Abigail Dowd, featuring: Nicholas Edward Williams and Jack McKeon
Jack McKeon – A Nashville-based singer-songwriter with an honest, plainspoken vocal, an eclectic-roots sound and a knack for bringing crystalline characters to life, Jack McKeon harbors a deep love for the written word. First inspired by literary musical icons from Hank Williams and Guy Clark to Tom T. Hall and John Hartford, McKeon arrived in Nashville in 2021 and has since established a reputation for his own message-driven lyricism – a value which shows up in its full sonic serenity on his 2024 album debut, Talking to Strangers. Nicholas Edward Williams – Honoring and blending the American roots music spectrum in his own flair, Nicholas Edward Williams is a multi-instrumentalist, storyteller and preservationist who has spent the last 15+ years touring three continents. He’s opened for Taj Mahal, The Wood Brothers, CAAMP, Dom Flemons, Ballroom Thieves, John Craigie, John Paul White and Town Mountain, and his 2019 debut record, As I Go Ramblin’ Around, hit the Top 10 Folk DJ charts for album and song. His critically acclaimed sophomore release Folk Songs For Old Times’ Sake has been heralded by well-regarded figures such as David Holt, Oliver Wood and JP Harris, and his newest traditional record, titled Rags, Folk and Blues, Oh My! releases in the Spring of 2025. Abigail Dowd Our fearless host who still enjoys music most when it’s embedded in real life, sitting around a fire, singing harmonies around an old family piano, or every third Tuesday night at the Flat Iron. Each month Abigail invites musician friends to fall into space with her and the audience for what she describes as an evening in her adopted living room. They collaborate, share new songs, play old favorites, make things up, make you cry, make you laugh and most of all make you glad you came.
An Evening with Rick Price
Audiences all over the globe are moved by Rick Price’s amazing voice and soulful songs. A multi-instrumentalist, he is the consummate performer and master storyteller. From his humble beginnings as a child performer with his family band in country Queensland dance halls this fan favourite is known for his classic hits “Not a day Goes By,” “Heaven Knows,” “Walk Away Renee” and “River of Love.” As a self-taught Australian singer/songwriter he has multiple gold and platinum selling albums and won numerous music industry awards. Including the prestigious APRA Song Of The year award for his song “Heaven Knows” and both the APRA, Global APRA Music Awards 2020 and Export Music Australia awards for his outstanding achievements abroad. In 2009 a move to the United States sparked not only new influences and a broader style for Price but also a return to his childhood musical roots in country, rhythm and blues, though the ever-present pop influence of Price’s songwriting still rings through his albums and EP such as ‘The Water’s Edge’, ‘Tennessee Sky’, ‘Soulville’, ‘Wayfairing Stranger’ and his latest album, ‘Hometown’. Price has worked with numerous artists as a vocalist, songwriter and record producer including Tina Arena, Tommy Emmanuel, Mitch Grainger, Regine Velasque, Jack Jones and Dami Im. Currently Price resides in Nashville, Tennessee where he continues to write and record his music. His 12th studio album “Hometown” is due for release in 2024.
Taylor Hunnicutt w/ Carri Smithey Band
Taylor Hunnicutt makes old-school southern music for the modern world. She’s a proud daughter of Alabama, writing songs that nod to the state’s tradition of country storytelling, rock ‘n’ roll rebellion, and guitar-driven grit. Sharpened by a touring schedule that’s kept her on the road for roughly 200 days a year, she makes her full-length debut with Alabama Sound — an album that unfolds like a love letter to the American South, written by a road warrior who’s spent most of the decade far away from home. “It’s a little country, a little singer/songwriter, a little Americana, and a lot of soulful southern rock,” says Hunnicutt, an opera-trained vocalist who began writing songs after dropping out of music school, landing a waitressing job at a blues juke joint, and sitting in with the bands that came through town. She’s no longer the guest artist, though — she’s the main act, and Alabama Sound showcases her high-energy, hellraising brand of southern stomp, country-rock twang, and amplified attitude.
Conner Kelly And The Time Warp w/ Jacoozy
BJ Barham (American Aquarium Solo)
For nearly two decades, American Aquarium have pushed toward that rare form of rock-and-roll that’s revelatory in every sense. “For us the sweet spot is when you’ve got a rock band that makes you scream along to every word, and it’s not until you’re coming down at three a.m. that you realize those words are saying something real about your life,” says frontman BJ Barham. “That’s what made us fall in love with music in the first place, and that’s the goal in everything we do.”On their new album The Fear of Standing Still, the North Carolina-bred bandem body that dynamic with more intensity than ever before, endlessly matching their gritty breed of country-rock with Barham’s bravest and most incisive songwriting to date. As he reflects on matters both personal and sociocultural—e.g., the complexity of Southern identity, the intersection of generational trauma and the dismantling of reproductive rights—American Aquarium instill every moment of The Fear of Standing Still with equal parts unbridled spirit and illuminating empathy. Recorded live at the legendary Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, The Fear of Standing Still marks American Aquarium’s second outing with producer Shooter Jennings—a three-time Grammy winner who also helmed production on 2020’s critically lauded Lamentations, as well as albums from the likes of Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker. In a departure from the stripped-down subtlety of 2022’sChicamacomico(a largely acoustic rumination on grief), the band’s tenth studio LP piles on plenty of explosive riffs and hard-charging rhythms, bringing a visceral energy to the most nuanced and poetic of lyrics. “In our live show the band’s like a freight train that never lets up, and for this record I really wanted to showcase how big and anthemic we can be,” notes Barham, whose bandmates include guitarist Shane Boeker, pedal-steel guitarist Neil Jones, keyboardist Rhett Huffman, drummer Ryan Van Fleet, and bassist Alden Hedges. Mixed by four-time Grammy winner Trina Shoemaker (Queens of the Stone Age,Emmylou Harris),The Fear of Standing Still shares its title with one of the first songs Barham wrote for the album—a soul-baring look at how raising a family has radically altered his priorities and perspective. In the process of creating what he refers to as “a record about growing up and growing older,” Barham also found his songwriting closely informed by his ten years of sobriety, as well as his ever-deepening connection with American Aquarium’s community of fans. “Whenever someone tells me that one of our songs helped them in some way, it encourages me to be more and more open—almost like peeling a layer off an onion,” he says.“This album is a writer 18 years into his career, peeling away the next layer and seeing just how human we can make this thing.”