High Cotton
Lisa Dames and Shawn Patch formed High Cotton out of their love for old school country music. Playing mostly as an acoustic duo, they perform country music from before country was cool. Rounding out the band are Mike Chiusano on drums and Jeff Mitchell on bass. Paying homage to artists like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Lynn Anderson, Buck Owens, and Gerry Reed… if you were a fan of Hee Haw, you’ll be a fan of High Cotton. In November of 1961 Patsy Cline made her first and only appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She remarked to the Grand Ole Opry band that they were in “High Cotton” now.
Dance From Above FT. GUM.MP3
DFA Sessions is coming back swinging in September featuring GUM.MP3! A ghost of the underground, Gum has been making waves lately both as a producer and taste maker who slips slips between genres untethered. So how does one describe his music? The shorthand would be house meets garage, but as he’ll tell you, he’s fusing regional flavors of dance music with elements of funk and jazz to assess different chunks of black music history and genealogy under a futurist agenda. Or, as Bandcamp said so well, “ a self-described noise machine, digital pirate, and technomancer — embodies the spirit of Akomfrah’s Data Thief in both his music and his persona, acting as a connector for different elements of Black dance music history.” Amidst all his output, 2022’s “The Question” officially put him on the map. Pitchfork described the song as “a funky slice of house music, incorporating guitar, bass, and drums to create a beat that wouldn’t sound out of place in a sweaty, blue-lit nightclub.” Rounding out the night we have Niervash, Alvin Shavers, Rahl, and 50ft, out with their crates to keep the dance floor cooking. This is a party you won’t want to miss so we decided to sell tickets in advance.
NIGHTBLOOMS EP Release show with Libby Rodenbough
NIGHTBLOOMS EP Release with Libby Rodenbough!Nightblooms is the search for meaning, connection, and hope in the face of uncertainty. Driven by despair but buoyed by common cause, our breezy, melodic songs tackle climate change, social decline, anxiety, and the grief of living through end times. Reading our isolated lyrics might be a real bummer, but the music is pretty fun. Hopefully our equal parts honey-and-vinegar approach leaves you with a taste of optimism. This is happy music for sad times; dark tunes that shine brightly; love songs for the apocalypse. Libby Rodenbough is from Greensboro, North Carolina, and has played with the four-piece folk band Mipso for more than a decade. Her debut album as a solo artist, Spectacle of Love—an intimate, inventive chronicle of heartache and abjection—was released in 2020; she has also built up numerous collaborations in the tight-knit North Carolina music scene. Her second release, Between the Blades, is eight tracks long, but most songs clock in long, at around four minutes, lingering in observant, character-driven storytelling and slipping between diametrics—light and dark, cynicism and optimism, land and sea—as Between the Blades makes its way toward the aching chords of closer “Waking World.” In that last song, Rodenough imagines “reaching out” through the veil between dream states and touching a loved one’s hand. Listening, it is easy to feel that you are in the same room, a hand reaching out to yours as it wades through the muck of the world we’ve been given, even as we look toward the possibility of another world.
(Flat Fest) Ashley Virginia, Kirstie Lynn & Galen Clark, Wild Roots Rising
Colin Cutler & Hot Pepper Jam, Wendy And Dashawn Hickman, and Rebekah Todd
Coyote Island + Certainly So
Coyote Island, the musical vision of Mike O’Hehir, explores a fresh blend of folk, reggae and pop with world music influences creating a playful global sound around stories embracing the human journey. His first single “Here Before” co-produced with trip-hop duo Dazy Park, has garnered over 2 million streams across platforms globally. The follow up EP “Origin Stories” attracted Ineffable Records (Shwayze, Surfer Girl, Anthony B). Coyote Island’s highly anticipated debut full-length album “Holy Illusion” was released on June 16, 2023 with singles featuring Grammy-nominated artists Matisyahu and Blvk H3ro, as well as guest collabs with Surfer Girl, Mihali & Ghanaian singer & songwriter Abitemi dropping monthly in the lead up. Hailing from Birmingham, AL, childhood friends Tanner Gray and Colby Wilson have been writing music together for over ten years. The pair have drawn inspiration from many genres and eras — The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Grateful Dead, Vampire Weekend, John Mayer, and Her’s to name a few. The music that comes from Gray and Wilson has always boasted blood harmonies as well as thoughtful, invoking lyrics. Post high school, Gray and Wilson took different paths. Gray attended Mississippi State University, while Wilson stayed in Birmingham. While at MSU, Tanner became acquainted with Chase Porter (bass) and Zach Corder (drums). Porter, Corder, and Gray would form and play in multiple ensembles while in school; always focusing on creating original music and developing a unique sound. After graduating in 2015, Porter made his way to Nashville to begin a career in a city he loved while playing in a few bands and many songwriter rounds in his spare time. Gray and Corder made their post-graduate home in the panhandle of Florida, forming yet another group: The Graytones. They toured extensively in the region over the next two years. Wilson remained busy in Birmingham with his own original music group, Smoking With The Bandit. In the Spring of 2019, Gray and Wilson were finally reunited when Gray found himself back in Birmingham as part of a career in craft beer. Corder’s path took him to the Music City, catching up with Porter. Gray and Wilson picked up right where they left off in Alabama, and they soon felt a new project starting to take form. As the duo recorded acoustic demos, they realized they needed a fuller sound, and the two kids from Birmingham reached out to their Mississippi-born rhythm section. The demos were shared north to Nashville, and once Porter and Corder heard what Gray and Wilson were doing, there was never a chance they could say no. In September of 2019, Certainly So was formed. Several months later, in January 2020, the group was introduced to producer/engineer Toby Hulbert. Hulbert had spent the last 8 years at Abbey Road in his hometown of London, England, and was currently in Nashville working alongside hitmaker Dave Cobb. Upon hearing the ‘Certainly So’ demos, he felt a similar sentiment as Porter and Corder did- he must be involved. Hulbert joined the team as producer. Certainly So and Hulbert gained access to East Avalon Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals through RCA’s Colin Lott during April 2020. Over the next two months, Hulbert and Lott teamed up to produce and engineer four weekend sessions, recording what would be the band’s debut album Future Self Only Dreams.
(Flat Fest) Leone And The Ascension w/ Alvin Shavers
CONTACT: FT MATTHEW CHA, TREEE CITY, THEFACESBLUR
(Flat Fest) Old Heavy Hands, The Bronzed Chorus, Night Idea, Toothsome
As a part of our yearly celebration we are happy to have Old Heavy Hands, The Bronzed Chorus, Bight Idea, and Toothsome on Saturday, September 16th at 7pm!
(Flat Fest) Totally Slow, Pipe, and 30 Is Dead
As a part of our yearly celebration we are happy to have Totally Slow, Pipe and 30 Is Dead on Friday September 15th at 9pm!
