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.
Sunny Sweeney With Carri Smithey
Sunny Sweeney, a genre-bending, songwriting spitfire who has spent equal time in the rich musical traditions of Texas and Tennessee, returns with Married Alone, the celebrated singer-songwriter’s fifth studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s critically acclaimedTrophy. Co-produced by beloved Texas musician and larger-than-life personality Paul Cauthen and the Texas Gentlemen’s multi-hyphenate Beau Bedford, Married Alone is Sweeney’s finest work yet, bringing together confessional songwriting, image-rich narratives and no shortage of sonic surprises for a loosely conceptual album about loss and healing.
Karly Driftwood, Mackenzie Roark, + Carri Smithey
Karly Driftwood: “Once in a while a record will come along and make the listener pay attention, whether it be by the songwriting, the playing, or by sheer force. On Karly Driftwood’s debut record, Too Mean to Die the Virginia-born singer-songwriter eschews country music stat quo and instead leans on the dark themes of life. Too Mean to Die is a country record that’s scarred, jagged like shards of a broken beer bottle but also sugary sweet – if your idea of puff pastry is laced with arsenic. The songs are just as much influenced by the Misfits or Danzig as they are Johnny Cash or Dolly Parton; to put a finer point on it, Karly Driftwood is a potent mixture of equal parts Sylvia Plath and The Drive-By Truckers. Even her stage name, “Driftwood” is a nod to Otis Driftwood from Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects.” – Farce The MusicMackenzie Roark: There are shades of blue that don’t wash away and those hues are perfectly captured in the songs of Richmond’s own Mackenzie Roark. Exploring the tragically beautiful narratives littered across the honky tonk heartbreaks of the South, her songs lull heartache through brutal yet honest truths. With her sound firmly planted in the distant past of country and folk music, Mackenzie Roark brings those antiqued tones to new life in her forthcoming debut full length album, “Rollin High, Feelin Low.”Carri Smithey: The debut album by The Carri Smithey Band – Midnight Ride, plays as a veteran effort; 11 songs steeped in classic country and finished with the accouterments of rock and roll. Recorded and mixed by Dynamic Soundworks in Wilmington, NC, the album portrays a rich modern vibe while still living in a world of rustic sensibility.
