Thursday, September 2nd
Delta Rae, Brett Harris, Birds and Arrows
Tickets: $10

From a simple, white house in the woods of North Carolina, Delta Rae brings together four unique voices to harmonize over songs born out of the rhythms and scenery of the coasts and country of America. Siblings Ian, Eric, and Brittany Holljes, along with their childhood friend, Elizabeth Hopkins, sing with a grit and soul older than their early twenty years would suggest. Harkening back to bands like Fleetwood Mac, the Mamas and the Papas, and Peter, Paul, and Mary, Delta Rae brings its own fresh sound and distinctive songwriting to a genre pioneered by such legends.

Friday, September 3rd @ 10:00pm (Doors at 10:00pm)
IgniteMindz ,Imagery, Carlitta Durand, King Mez, Live from The Balance, and Perseverance
Hip Hop for Charity! Proceeds to: Muscular Dystrophy Association

Sunday, September 5th
Shadowrealm, THE FEW, SORE EYES, NOVA, The Tempered Machine
Kyle's 30th Birthday Extravaganza!

Thursday, September 9th
Hopscotch Music Festival:Future Islands, Javelin. Double Dagger, Pictureplane, Ear PWR
Presented by the Independent Weekly!

Future Islands

In 2003, Art Lord and the Self Portraits formed out of East Carolina University’s art school. Three years later, it spurred off as three-fourths of Future Islands. The current trio—Sam Herring, William Cashion and Gerrit Welmers—has since conquered North Carolina’s electropop scene, buddied up with Dan Deacon and Wham City, moved to Baltimore, won over its scene, and signed a deal with Thrill Jockey Records. Thrill Jockey’s May release of In Evening Air will undoubtedly help Future Islands reach even larger audiences outside of local pockets, but the Islands’ calling card—ecstatic live sets that could compel a dead man to dance—will turn those listeners into devoted fans.

With all the dramatic flair of a hysterical soul singer during a marathon tent revival, Herring contorts his countenance as much as his voice on slow-burning ballads and triumphant odes. He demands attention as he enchants an audience, holding court of an entire room as one of music’s most captivating frontmen. Behind him, Cashion (bass) and Welmers (keys) shape dense instrumentals that offer much more than a dance floor-friendly beat. Whether they’re creating deliberate, glacial theatrics or a pulsing, insistent electrothrob, the pair’s layered soundscapes—full of shrill squeals, spacey atmospherics and bass thumps—give you plenty to remember long after you’ve enjoyed last call (if you haven’t already had too much fun, that is).

On the cusp of their first album for a big indie, Future Islands has indeed come a long way, but the trademarks that got them here—Herring’s immaculate crowd command and Cashion and Welmers’ adroit, continually rewarding backdrops—remain the same. —Spencer Griffith

Friday, September 10th
Hopscotch Music Festival: Fucked Up,Whatever Brains,Double Negative, Harvey Milk
Presented by the Independent Weekly!

Fucked Up

The first 45 seconds of Fucked Up’s 2008 breakout LP, The Chemistry of Common Life, are an epic bluff. A serene, meandering flute solo opens the record, a butterfly greeting a meteor. Fucked Up makes its proper entrance—the band’s burly, balding frontman howls. You can hear the spit-strings snapping in the back of his throat.

While Fucked Up’s sound is easily and aptly defined by its three-guitar wall of sound, bold-faced punk rock volume, and the sheer presence of growling frontman Damian Abraham (a.k.a. Pink Eyes, a.k.a. Father Damian), the flute says more about the band’s character.

Since forming in 2001, the Canadian hardcore band has made mischief. To be fair, they’ve made a recorded catalog expansive enough to count as a collection, too. But between the 18-minute, multi-part epics, sonic experimentation and self-made mythology, Fucked Up legendary well before the big indie label Matador inked its imprint on the back of Chemistry, Fucked Up’s second proper full-length album.

Since joining indie rock’s upper echelon, Fucked Up hasn’t relaxed. They even cut a charity single featuring guest spots from Nelly Furtado, AFI’s Davey Havok, GZA and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig. They’re as likely to cover The Ramones or Pennywise at a show as they are to morph a two-chord hardcore rager into a sprawling, psychedelic suite. Their records are ambitious, lush and repeatedly compelling. Their shows are ecstatic. They draw from deep catalogs of indie pop, punk, hardcore and psychedelic rock. The songs are tuneful and melodic, even when they sound like grinding shards of broken glass, and visceral, even when they’re at their most anthemic.

The only thing predictable Fucked Up ever did was get noticed. And that was more inevitable than predictable, anyway. —Bryan Reed

Saturday, September 11th
Hopscotch Music Festival: Kylesa Weedeater, US Christmas ,In the Year of the Pig (TK)
Presented by the Independent Weekly!

Kylesa

Savannah behemoth Kylesa takes its name from the Buddhist term kilesa, meaning defilement or poison, specifically those that cloud a mental state. I’m not sure how “poisonous” Kylesa’s music is, but it is certainly potent and mind-altering.

A hefty quintent boasting two drummers (Eric Hernandez and Carl McGinley), plus dual singer-guitarists Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants, and bassist Javier Villegas, Kylesa builds a powerful presence. But rather than levy its size as a blunt instrument, swinging harder but delivering nothing substantial, Kylesa wields a heavy blade able to spear, slice or bludgeon at will. Their latest recording, 2009’s acclaimed Static Tensions, marked a personal best for the band and showcased the versatility it brings. From the pensive, swamp-gas psychedelia of “Running Red,” to the hulking riffage that builds “Insomnia For Months,” to the conversing, polyrhythmic drumming that opens “Scapegoat,” Kylesa refuses to paint itself into a corner. It can be fast and nimble, or it can trudge with a sludge-laden mass. It can be spacious and atmospheric, or dense and claustrophobic.

It’s easy to compare Kylesa to its regional peers in Mastodon and Baroness, and not altogether useless, either. But as similar as those bands can be, the differentiators are telling. Kylesa hoists none of Mastodon’s prog-tendency, none of its self-indulgent expanse. Where Baroness favors excursions into the blues and classic rock bombast, Kylesa lives for headbanging. Of Georgia’s three biggest and best metal bands, Kylesa is the leanest and most direct.

That doesn’t mean Kylesa is some kind of poor-man’s Mastodon. It means that Kylesa’s most liable to appeal to the gut before the strategy and intellect behind their songs becomes apparent. It’s about reaching the core of emotions and excitement. There’s no need to match Melville to blastbeats when the point is to stir up a circle pit. —Bryan Reed

Tuesday, September 14th @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Frontier Ruckus
and
Mandolin Orange Band

For Fans Of:
Felice Brothers, The Everybodyfields, Joe Pug

Tickets: $10 Advance / $10 Day Of Show

“They may hail from up north — Michigan, to be specific — but Frontier Ruckus sing the sound of the South: delicate, finger-picked banjos, aching, oaky violin and the haunting voice of frontman Matthew Milia, who conjures what might happen had Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum been raised in a log cabin. Their songs are full of rich, rural details: frozen lakes, swaying trees, highway lights glowing in the deep night. Add to the mix baleful brass and trembling percussion, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for Gothic Americana.” – Rolling Stone

Frontier Ruckus, led by the quavering vocals of Matthew Milia, creates white-hot folk music tailor-made to burn a hole through sunken porches...Milia's dank and smart turns of phrase grasp for a past that's not quite there. The sun bleeds onto the horizon and Milia's skeletons dance. Without knowing it, he owns you early on into a Frontier Ruckus song. His meticulous wordplay and the sumptuous choices of melody and the rising and falling undulations of his tree-top-pitched voice create a landscape that you get stuck in like a tar pit covered in discarded wads of chewing gum and thick, pine sap. The lead singer of this Michigan-based band of singing saws and old, abandoned tin shack aesthetics skillfully plots his storylines and still finds it possible to heap in all of the most minute details - colors, settings, scents, sighs and nibbles - and still make them all fitting and necessary. It hits like a weathered bit of observation, something former and metropolitan - as if it's dipped in sophistication. It has a different skin and it all sounds like a sad sweetness that we could never turn from, nor would we ever want to.

Last year, the pensive folk-rock quintet Frontier Ruckus signed to North Carolina’s Ramseur Records, recorded their second LP and all quit their day jobs to make music full time; in recent months, they’ve toured the U.S. and Europe and played Bonnaroo. Their new album, Deadmalls and Nightfalls (out July 20), is a sublimely melancholy catalog of ruminations on the city where he grew up, dreaming about white vans in the same house and attending the same school all the while. The songs evoke not just the shadow-slatted memories of a still-recent adolescence but also the ineffable sadness and beauty of time’s effect on a place; in his wry warble, Milia mourns “the shuttered deadmall and the Sears / where my mother worked for years” and a “thick-carpet-world where the / street lamps explode in the spring,” with banjo, singing saw and harmonica underpinning the shambling nostalgia.

Mandolin Orange Band

Mandolin Orange is Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz. The folk duo pairs guitar, violin, mandolin and the occasional electric guitar to compliment alluring lyrics and deviant harmonies. As a band, they are accompanied on bass and drums by Jeff Crawford and James Wallace. They will be playing with a full band at the Berkeley.

Mandolin Orange's debut album "Quiet Little Room" released May 1 to critical acclaim. The album reflects the influence of traditional music on their contemporary style & songwriting. Mandolin Orange's deviant harmonies intensify poems of the natural world, ornamented with violin, mandolin, and acoustic and electric guitars. Songwriter Andrew Marlin and vocalist/instrumentalist Emily Frantz pair their distinct roles to stylize lyrical tunes influenced by their folk, jazz and bluegrass predecessors.The duo's core sound revolves around pairings of violin, mandolin, and guitar, but Quiet Little Room features additional instrumentation from electric guitar, harmonica, electric and stand-up bass, organ, drums and viola, all played by Andrew and Emily. Quiet Little Room reflects the influence of traditional music on the duo's progressive style, providing a sound that’s uniquely their own yet somehow satisfyingly familiar.

Wednesday, September 15th @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Alvin Youngblood Hart's Mighty Muscle Theory

Grammy & WC Handy Winner

For Fans Of:
Cry Of Love, North Mississippi Allstars, Thin Lizzy

Tickets: $10 Advance / $10 Day Of Show

The Cosmic American Love Child Of Howlin Wolf and Link Wray!!!

Known as a "musician's musician", his praises have been sung by everyone from Bob Dylan to Brit guitar gods Eric Clapton & Mick Taylor. Since his 1996 debut recording, the all-acoustic BIG MAMA'S DOOR, Alvin Youngblood Hart has carried his musical message the world over. A devout follower of the 'no barriers' approach laid by veteran performers like Gatemouth Brown and the late great Doug Sahm, Alvin continues to defy the so- called purists.

After receiving the 1997 W.C Handy Award for Best New Artist, as well as 2 Living Blues Awards, Hart's 1998 release, TERRITORY, a rousing tribute to all forms of American music, received the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll Award for Best Blues Album (and it wasn't even a Blues album). In the summer of '99 Hart teamed up with producer Jim Dickinson to begin recording START WITH THE SOUL. This record would be hailed as a new breed Southern Rock classic & Alvin's return to the "sacred garage". START WITH THE SOUL was chosen in the New York Times top 10 releases of 2000 as well as the BBC's Blues record of the year. He also shared Living Blues Magazine's best guitarist honors with fellow road dog Big Jack Johnson in 2001.

2003 was a busy year. Not only was there a GRAMMY nomination, Hart also toured the world as a member of Job Cain, a hard rocking side project he put together with Cry Of Love/Black Crowes guitarist Audley Freed. In August of '03 Alvin was invited to fill in for Taj Mahal for five nights in Tokyo as a member of Kip Hanrahan's Conjure, the worlds longest running jazz poetry ensemble. Assembled to lend musical support to the words of Bay Area poet Ishmael Reed, Conjure featured the talents of tenor sax giant David Murray and also Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli. Alvin is still a member of the revolving cast and recorded with them on the BAD MOUTH CD.

In 2004 Mr. Hart received a Grammy for his contribution to BEAUTIFUL DREAMER :THE SONGS OF STEPHEN FOSTER. In the Summer of 2005 He released the self produced MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER, a rock guitar free for all, paying homage to fallen & missing rockers like Phil Lynott and Sly Stone. In 2006 Hart took time out to work on the film BLACK SNAKE MOAN .He served as a guitar tutor to star Samuel L. Jackson and recorded a duet with the film’s female lead Christina Ricci for the soundtrack. In the fall of that year Hart joined Austin dynamo Ruthie Foster and rock n roll legend Bo Diddley for a 2 month coast to coast US tour. Recently Alvin has thrown his talent into the educational arena. In April 2007 he participated on a tour of Mississippi high schools as a member of the Thelonius Monk Institute Of Jazz.

The Summer of ’07 saw Alvin hit the big screen as a juke joint musician in the Denzel Washington directed film THE GREAT DEBATERS

Alvin Youngblood Hart is staying busy - touring the world solo, with his band The Mighty Muscle Theory, and as a member of The South Memphis String Band.

Thursday, September 16th @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Great American Taxi
Featuring Vince Herman Of Leftover Salmon

For Fans Of:
Grateful Dead, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, The Byrds, and Little Feat

Tickets: $12 Advance / $12 Day Of Show

In the past five years, Great American Taxi has become one of the best-known headliners on the jam band circuit. Their uninhibited sound is a swinging concoction of swampy blues, progressive bluegrass, funky New Orleans strut, Southern boogie, honky tonk country, gospel, and good ol' fashioned rock 'n' roll. Great American Taxi was born when singer, guitarist, and mandolin player Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon joined keyboard player and singer Chad Staehly for a superstar jam to benefit the Rainforest Action Group in Boulder, in March of 2005. "We put together a dream band of the best local musicians for a one-off gig," Herman recalls. "It worked so well we had to do it again, and again, and again." Great American Taxi quickly evolved into one of the best country-, rock-, and bluegrass- influenced jam bands in the land, masterfully blending acoustic and electric instruments into music they call "Americana Without Borders."

Great American Taxi has been equated with roots rockers like the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Grateful Dead, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, The Byrds, and Little Feat. Herman finds the comparisons flattering. "We're definitely connected to all the acts in the country/rock spectrum, as well as the spirit of Gram Parsons and Woody Guthrie," he says. "We want to address the issues appropriate to our times, while making music that gets people up and moving."

They've made their reputation as an exciting live band, willing to invite the audience on stage for impromptu jams and sing-alongs. That loose, anything-can-happen feel is the hallmark of Reckless Habits, Great American Taxi's second album. The band - Herman, Staehly, Jim Lewin on electric guitar and vocals, Edwin Hurwitz on bass, and drummer Chris Sheldon - spent a couple of weeks at Backbone Studio in Loveland, Co, with producer Tim Carbone (from Railroad Earth) working together to bring the feel of an on-stage performance to the recording process.

Reckless Habits captures the rowdy exuberance of Great American Taxi's live shows with a timeless rock feel that music lovers of all ages can relate to. They fuse strong, focused songwriting with the freewheeling jam band vibe that's made them a major draw on the festival circuit.

The band's cryptic name refers to Herman's unique skiing style. "A friend of mine once said I came downhill looking like a great American taxi - a large lumbering object that's totally out of control and coming downhill towards you moving faster and faster. It seemed to fit the band's MO, so we adopted it."

Friday, September 17th
Scarlet Virginia, Lake Inferior, Monologue Bombs
SPARKcon Presents!

musicSPARK’s goal is to make sure that local musicians of all genres, levels of notoriety, and experience have a chance to let the community see what they bring to our diverse, creative table. musicSPARK works in conjunction with our wonderful local venues/restaurants/spaces to promote the Triangle’s talented musicians.
2010 SPARKcon will have a center stage in City Plaza as well as indoor and outdoor spaces for acoustic or amplified performances.
Whether it is a local band, an opera group, a drum circle or a national headliner coming to town, musicSPARK captures that energy and creativity on Fayetteville St and through the support of our local clubs and venues.

Saturday, September 18th
Mosadi Music, Santos, Funkuponya
SPARKcon Presents!

musicSPARK’s goal is to make sure that local musicians of all genres, levels of notoriety, and experience have a chance to let the community see what they bring to our diverse, creative table. musicSPARK works in conjunction with our wonderful local venues/restaurants/spaces to promote the Triangle’s talented musicians.
2010 SPARKcon will have a center stage in City Plaza as well as indoor and outdoor spaces for acoustic or amplified performances.
Whether it is a local band, an opera group, a drum circle or a national headliner coming to town, musicSPARK captures that energy and creativity on Fayetteville St and through the support of our local clubs and venues.

Monday, September 20th

The Band Of Heathens

THIS SHOW IS POSTPONED TO A LATER DATE

Tuesday, September 21st @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)
Marian Call
$10

Marian Call is a trained composer and a spunky self-taught singer based out of Anchorage, Alaska. Her songs are eclectic and diverse, funny and light on their feet, powerfully honest, and grounded in the human experience. Call's compositions are half study and calculation, half improvisational instinct, and always full of unexpected musical twists and turns. She has written pieces by commission for film projects and events, and she has been known to write songs on dares or to surprise devoted fans.

Her live shows have been loudly applauded nationwide in homes, quiet coffee shops, noisy bars, churches, radio stations, bookstores, and concert halls, in and out of Alaska. In only eight months she went from a relative unknown to playing the main stage at several of Alaska's summer festivals. Marian released her first two albums plus fourteen singles in only fourteen months during 2007 and 2008. She is nearing completion on a new two-volume project titled Something Fierce.

Marian was born into a family of musicians and artists, and she was raised on a steady diet of Bach, Beethoven, Joni Mitchell, Tower of Power, and Ogden Nash in her hometown, Gig Harbor, Washington. Over twenty-odd years she has performed with chamber choirs, jazz combos, early music groups, rock bands, a gospel choir, and experimental music ensembles, and all of these influences (and more) meet and mingle in her own writing. She completed her bachelor’s degree in composition and vocal performance at Stanford University in 2004. After graduation, she spent two years pouring coffee, waiting tables, and listening to good music in Anchorage coffee shops, slowly learning about the craft of songwriting through osmosis and eventually through practice. Marian plans to travel and tour as much as possible, including the upcoming 49>50 fan-coordinated tour of the entire United States, but she remains committed to the development of a great arts scene in Anchorage. Marian looks forward to collaborating with friendly musicians, writers, visual artists, and filmmakers from all backgrounds.

Wednesday, September 22nd @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Marshall Crenshaw

No Opener

For Fans Of: Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Don Dixon

Tickets: $20 Advance / $20 Day Of Show

Over 25 years since breaking through to critical and commercial acclaim with his 1982 self-titled debut and its infectious, era-defining pop hit “Someday, Someway,” Marshall Crenshaw creates an incredible new chapter in his career with his 429 Records debut Jaggedland. Crenshaw’s first studio recording in more than six years is his most musically dynamic and lyrically intimate collection yet.

Classic Crenshaw attributes including an indelible sense of melody and tuneful essence combine to create a rich warmth and intimacy on every song of Jaggedland. The recording has a powerful vibe of immediacy thanks to Crenshaw’s warm vocals and riveting guitar work. He takes the production to its highest levels working with a roster of well known musical heroes and veteran producers. Crenshaw first recorded two tracks in Upstate New York with Stewart Lerman (The Roches, Dar Williams), the melancholy “Sunday Blues” and the fiery rocker “Someone Told Me.” Crenshaw did seven of the tracks at Sage and Sound Studios in Los Angeles with producer/engineer Jerry Boys (REM, Richard Thompson, Buena Vista Social Club), who had been his “wish list” since he heard the Mambo Sinuendo album Boys engineered for Ry Cooder and Cuban guitarist Manuel Galban in 2003. Highlights of these West Coast sessions are the sensual love song “Passing Through,” the hopeful “Eventually” and the powerful “Long Hard Road.”

The album title Jaggedland is a term Crenshaw says best describes the current state of his brain and consciousness. Simply put, the 12 songs are musical observations about the human experience, mortality, the state of the world and of course, love as viewed through the inimitable Crenshaw perspective. The sessions involved key contributions from legendary drummer Jim Keltner (whose credits include The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Brian Wilson and Joni Mitchell); guitarists Greg Leisz (Lucinda Williams, Robert Plant) and the MC5’s Wayne Kramer as well as legendary vibraphonist, Emil Richards (Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Frank Sinatra).

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Crenshaw began playing guitar at age ten, and after leading the band Astigafa (an acronym for “a splendid time is guaranteed for all,” from The Beatles’ “For The Benefit of Mr. Kite”), he received his first break playing John Lennon in the off-Broadway company of Beatlemania. In 1987, he played Buddy Holly in the Richie Valens biopic “La Bamba.”

Living in NYC, he recorded the single “Something’s Gonna Happen” for Alan Betrock’s Shake Records, which led to a deal with Warner Bros. His debut album, Marshall Crenshaw was acclaimed as a pop masterpiece upon its release in 1982 and established him as a first-rate songwriter, singer and guitarist. The record spawned the Top 40 single “Someday, Someway,” which rockabilly singer Robert Gordon scored a hit with a year earlier. Crenshaw’s second album, 1983’s Field Day, was another critical smash and led to a successful slate of 20-plus years of studio recordings that offered a fascinating evolutionary journey through an array of musical landscapes.

A quote from Trouser Press sums up Marshall Crenshaw’s early career: “Although he was seen as a latter-day Buddy Holly at the outset, he soon proved too talented and original to be anyone but himself.” All Music Guide captured Crenshaw’s vibe perfectly: “He writes songs that are melodic, hooky and emotionally true, and he sings and plays them with an honesty and force that still finds room for humor without venom.”

As Crenshaw was developing Jaggedland’s mix of poignant and incisive love songs and musings on mortality, he ventured once again into the film world, co-penning the title track to the hilarious, critically acclaimed John C. Reilly film “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”; the track was nominated for a 2008 Golden Globe and a 2008 Grammy Award.

Over the last few years, Crenshaw has played 40 - 50 shows a year on what he dubs “the NPR singer-songwriter circuit.” Says Crenshaw, “This album took a lot of wear and tear on my emotions, but in the end I think it’s one of my best ever and I am so excited to have worked with so many of my favorite players on it. When people ask me why I keep making music after all these years, I have a simple answer: because I have to. For lack of a more colorful term, there is truly something magical to it and I never take it for granted.”

Thursday, September 23rd @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Greensky Bluegrass

For Fans Of:
Infamous Stringdusters, Yonder Mountain, Trampled By Turtles

Tickets: $10 Advance / $10 Day Of Show

GREENSKY BLUEGRASS is one of the most exciting bands in today’s music scene. Like a breath of fresh air, this five piece band plays traditional bluegrass instruments and uses them to create original songs and soundscapes that are unique and new, yet somehow feel comfortable and familiar. Though they have been likened to ‘70s era Americana acts like The Band, Greensky would prefer not to be compared to any other bands.

In June of 2006 Greensky Bluegrass won First Place at the 33rd Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest. Having been featured at Smilefest XII two weeks earlier, the band traveled west to Colorado where they proceeded to take the Telluride competition by storm as a last minute addition. Working on 3 hours sleep, GSBG wowed the judges on day one, and were the ultimate victors in the final competition the next day

On any given night, in addition to the myriad of excellent original songs, one might hear traditional bluegrass songs with an exploratory rock and roll jam or selections from the Talking Heads, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead or Bob Marley turned bluegrass. “We are as likely to play a three minute song as we are a ten minute song on any given night”, says dobro player Anders Beck, “and I think that keeps it exciting for the audience”. Perhaps this is the reason that Greensky Bluegrass is as equally embraced by the jam-band community as it is the bluegrass/Americana community and the band’s fan base is growing so rapidly.

Since winning the 2006 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest, Greensky has been touring constantly, playing over 170 shows a year, and all the hard work is certainly paying off. Recent highlights are too many to list, but include selling out venues in many parts of the country, sharing the stage with musical heroes, getting asked to play shows with the likes of Tony Rice and Peter Rowan, Sam Bush, Yonder Mountain String Band and Railroad Earth, and being asked to play the inaugural Rothbury Festival in their home state of Michigan.

Friday, September 24th
DJ DARA, Imperial Crew, Bossman, Numer1K

main room]

DJ DARA - breakbeatscience.brooklyn.ny
DJ Dara is considered one of, if not THE, best drum'n'bass DJ in the USA, but his presence is felt internationally. Orignally from Ireland, Dara moved stateside in the early '90s and quickly established himself in New York's underground dance scene. Furthering the movement, he helped open Breakbeat Science, the first drum'n'bass-only record store in the country, which lead to the development of two spin-off labels, Breakbeat Science Recordings and Orgone. Not to be outdone by his peers, Dara released his first full-length album, Rinsimus Maximus in 1997, which was quicly followed by Halfway Home on the same label (Sm:)e Communications) and the mix CD From Here To There on Moonshine Music. In addition to recording music and running his record store, Dara's also known for his Web-TV show, Velocity, on which he interviews drum'n'bass contemporaries from around the world.

TOMMY L/XAVIER/INDICA - imperialcrew.raleigh.chattanooga

BOSSMAN vs NUM3R1K - smoothrecordings.greenville.sc/ gruvglu.raleigh



[bar area]

SEVERE- gruvglu.raleigh

STARKEY - proper.charlotte

N.A.C - apocalyptic.burlington

CREWLESS - duhlatenite.greensboro

Saturday, September 25th
2010 TBS Blues Challenge

2010 TBS Blues Challenge
Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010
Berkeley Cafe www.berkeleycafe.net
217 West Martin St., Raleigh, NC
This is a qualifying event for the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge (IBC)) in Memphis, TN. Winners in the band and solo/duo categories will be eligible to compete in the IBC (Feb. 2011). The TBS Blues Challenge is a professionally judged competition open to North Carolina blues acts.

Sunday, October 3rd @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Kim Richey
with
Mando Saenz

Kim Richey For Fans Of:
Shawn Colvin, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Eliza Gilkyson

Tickets: $15 Advance / $15 Day Of Show

"[Kim Richey] would rule the charts in a land where Marshall Crenshaw was king, Aimee Mann queen, and the The Beatles never put out another record after Revolver." Steve Horowitz, popmatters.com

Two-time Grammy-nominated Kim Richey is a storyteller; a weaver of emotions and a tugger of heartstrings. Tender, poetic and aching with life's truths, Kim's songs transport you to her world, where words paint pictures and melodies touch the soul. And then there's her voice. Pure, arresting and honest, her voice makes you take notice; Kim has the kind of voice where if emotions were ribbons, they'd be streaming in rainbow colours from your iPod. Her voice gives you goose bumps.

The 15-year musical journey that has led Kim to her latest album, "Wreck Your Wheels" has been a dream run. Aside from her two Grammy wins, she has released five critically acclaimed albums; been listed in the Top 10 Albums of 1999 in US Time Magazine for her album "Glimmer", and been given 4 stars in Rolling Stone and named Alt-Country Album Of The Year in People Magazine for her album "Rise". She has written two Number 1s and four Top 10 hits in the USA and singles in the Top 50. She has had her songs recorded by the likes of Trisha Yearwood and James Morrisson among others; sung on albums by Ryan Adams, Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter and even appeared on a William Shatner record produced by Ben Folds. She's worked with producer legends such as Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow, Michael Jackson, Tom Petty) and Hugh Padgham (The Police, XTC, Peter Gabriel, David Bowie) as well as Giles Martin (The Beatles “Love”) and Steve Earl collaborator Richard Bennett, plus she's had her music featured in films and TV and has toured all over the world. Not bad for a girl from Ohio who was a teacher before realising she wanted to be a musician.

Kim's sixth album, "Wreck Your Wheels" is a return to her more Americana roots. Heading back to Nashville to record with her touring band, this album was all about getting an organic, real sound: no auto-tune, no studio tricks - just five musicians in a room, playing together. "The core band on this record went out on the road with me for my last record, "Chinese Boxes", and they are friends," says Kim. "We had a great time making the record – we recorded all in the same room at the same time, which was very cozy. It's a small studio. We used the front seat of the producer's Honda pulled up next to the door as an isolation booth for the electric guitar amp."

Lyrically driven and beautifully produced, "Wreck Your Wheels" is a record that gets into your head and heart and stays there. So does it matter whether it's Americana, Alt-country or Pop? We say, forget the labels. Just listen to the music. Decide for yourself.

Sunday, October 10th @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Asylum Street Spankers

Farewell Tour

For Fans Of:
The Gourds, The Meat Purveyors, Split Lip Rayfield

Tickets: $15 Advance / $15 Day Of Show

The magnificently indefinable Asylum Street Spankers stand as one of America's most distinctive live groups. With an all-acoustic mix of genres hailed by Rolling Stone as "inspired, lunatic brilliance," what other band can boast of appearances on both NPR's All Things Considered and The Bob & Tom Show?

For around fifteen yrs now, the Asylum Street Spankers extremities have been quite heavily plucking it down within their home-town area of the capital of Texas known to all as the Austin, as well as all across the entire country. The Asylum Street Spankers execute an unconventional conflate of really superb acoustical blues as well as string up band swing out jazz, folk music as well as e’en several of the children songs, altogether bordered on with witticism as well as style.

If you're going to call yourself "God's favorite band," you better be prepared to deliver the kind of musical divinity required to start a soul-shaking musical revolution. If any band is up for the challenge, it's Austin's Asylum Street Spankers. Started in 1994 by Wammo and Christina Marrs, the band have been resurrecting the sounds of 1920's and '30s blues, gospel, swing and country with their unique multi-layered instrumentation, blazing humor, social commentary and 30-something member changes. Their ninth album, aptly titled 'God's Favorite Band,' described as an "agnostic Gospel album," is a rousing and funny exploration into the joys of sinning.

Tuesday, October 12th @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Cory Morrow

For Fans Of:
Jason Boland, Randy Rogers, Reckless Kelly

Tickets: $15 Advance / $15 Day Of Show

An Austin legend, by way of Lubbock and his native Houston, Cory Morrow has been a consistent fixture on the Texas Country scene – establishing himself as a pioneer of the growth of the Lone Star State’s brand of Country music in the past decade. Now married and actively touring with a new band, with a renewed outlook on his life and career, Cory is set to release the latest volume of Red Dirt poetry in his musical tapestry.

In seventeen years, Cory Morrow has released nine full-length albums and an EP in Spring 2010, selling over 200,000 records, and has entertained audiences across the United States. His latest full-length album, Brand New Me, will be released August 31, 2010, on APEX Nashville/Write On Records. The album is produced by Lloyd Maines, and was recorded at Cedar Creek Studios in Austin. Its sound is anchored by the solid musicianship of Cory’s band – drummer Clint Litton, bassist Steve Cargill, keyboardist Jeff Bryant, and legendary lead guitarist John Carroll. Maines (steel guitar) and Brendon Anthony (fiddle) also added their own musical styling to the album.

Fresh off the success of the single, “Ramblin’ Man” (#1 on both the Texas Music Chart and Texas Regional Radio Report), from the Ramblin’ Man EP – a reflection on his musical past – Brand New Me showcases the “brand new” artist that is Cory Morrow.

Tuesday, November 9th @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

JASON BOLAND & THE STRAGGLERS

For Fans Of:
Randy Rogers Band, Robert Earl Keen, Reckless Kelly

Tickets: $15 Advance / $15 Day Of Show

Jason Boland & The Stragglers—acclaimed for their distinctive, hard-charging and rootsy brew of country and rock—achieve a new artistic peak with HIGH IN THE ROCKIES: A LIVE ALBUM.Due for release on April 20, the 80-minute, proudly overdub-free disc was recorded during four consecutive shows in Colorado and Wyoming in January 2010, and captures the energy and dexterity of a band who average over 200 shows a year and who have sold over 200,000 albums in their decade-long career (see tour dates below).

HIGH IN THE ROCKIES marks the fiercely independent and acclaimed Texas Red Dirt band’s second live album and singer-songwriter-guitarist Boland’s second release on his own label, Proud Souls Entertainment, in conjunction with the Apex Nashville label and Thirty Tigers distribution.

Crackling with the raw outlaw voltage that has made them one of the fastest-rising forces in contemporary country, the quintet’s execution and delivery is uniformly impressive, and with material divided between Stragglers standards and fan favorites, the album rises to a profound new elevation that is reflected in a most fitting choice of title. Whether reveling in the Okie kickback groove of “Tulsa Time”—the album’s first single and video—or re-defining the epic despair of Boland’s classic “Bottle By My Bed,” their sound, characterized by ebullient musicianship and passionate vocals, links country music’s past to its future with admirable expertise. Illuminated by luxurious employ of dobro, fiddle and mandolin, HIGH IN THE ROCKIES is a perfect mix of the progressive and the traditional.

Friday, November 12th @ 9:00pm (Doors at 8:00pm)

Scott Miller
with
(tba)

For Fans Of:
Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hayes Carll, The V Roys

Tickets: $15 Advance / $15 Day Of Show

Scott Miller blends folk and rock like there ain’t no words for. Combining the emotional honesty and intelligence of a singer/songwriter with the swagger and enthusiasm of a rock & roller. He first made a name for himself as guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter with the superb pop/rock band the V-Roys, before establishing himself as a solo artist and bandleader of The Commonwealth.The V-Roys blend of Southern twang, power pop hooks, and rock & roll energy soon won them a wildly enthusiastic fan base in Tennessee and caught the ear of songwriter Steve Earle, who signed The V-Roys to his E-Squared record label and produced their two records. The V-Roys amicably agreed to call it a day with a Farewell Millennium concert at Knoxville's Tennessee Theater on December 31, 1999. Miller wasted no time launching a solo career, performing as an acoustic solo artist again. He scored a publishing deal with Welk Music and self-released a live album culled from his solo acoustic shows, entitled Are You with Me?

Miller next signed a recording contract with Sugar Hill Records, best known for their roster of bluegrass artists, but his first album for the label found him diving back into rock & roll. Thus Always to Tyrants, a loose concept album about his Southern roots and one man's journey to emotional maturity, faced a handful of Appalachian ballads against a healthy dose of full-blown electric rock. Following the release of Thus Always to Tyrants, Miller assembled a touring band called The Commonwealth to support the album.. An EP entitled Way arrived in 2003, followed by Upside Downside later in the year. Citation, Miller's third full-length release for Sugar Hill, dropped on March 14, 2006. The live Reconstruction arrived in 2007.

And now, like most artists with a brain these days,Miller has founded his own record label (F.A.Y. Recordings) and is released a brand new record for '09 titled FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. This new batch of songs are already causing quite a stir among fans and critics. And critics of fans. And fans who criticize critics. And fans who criticize other fans. And even the critics who critique the critics of criticizing fans...

Sunday, November 14th @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

The Belleville Outift

For Fans Of:
Hot Club Of Cowtown, Asylum Street Spankers,
Asleep At The Wheel

Tickets: $10 Advance / $10 Day Of Show

“… the sextet is one of Austin’s most musically accomplished and adventuresome, mixing gypsy swing, big-band jazz, a touch of bluegrass and some Walter Hyatt covers into a unique mix that flows like a whiskey river.” - The Austin Chronicle

“Mix hot-saucy Texas honky-tonk, city-slicker indie pop, jam-grass mischief, cool jazz and big-band swing, and you’ve about half-described this hot Austin band …” - The Boston Globe

The Belleville Outfit is a cross-genre American folk band based out of Austin,Texas. Their sound has been described as "a mix of gypsy swing, big band jazz and cross-genre Americana music.". In April 2007, after three days of practice, they performed their first gig at Merlefest. Members Rob Teter and Marshall Hood are fromSpartanburg, SC. Additional band members were recruited through connections Rob had made while studying music business at Loyola in New Orleans. Fellow students Jonathan Konya and Connor Forsyth left New Orleans for Austin to join the band that was to become The Belleville Outfit. Marshall Hood invited Austin’s darling Phoebe Hunt, who had been playing with the folk band The Hudsons out of Austin for four years. When the original bassist Jeff Brown retired from the Belleville Outfit, Connor brought in Nigel Frye, a talented bassist Connor knew from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The last three years have been a whirlwind of touring for the band, always known for their electrifying live shows. Between appearances at major festivals around the country including Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Merlefest, Floydfest, and the Strawberry Music Festival, the band has made fans out of heroes like Lyle Lovett (who, when asked recently on MSNBC to name his favorite new, young acts, responded, "The Belleville Outfit") had two albums chart in the top ten at Americana radio, and picked up an 2009 Americana Music Association award nomination for Best New/Emerging act - all while uniquely managing their own career, the true embodiment of an "indie" band.

Tuesday, November 23rd @ 8:00pm (Doors at 7:00pm)

Alex*Cuba

For Fans Of: Ry Cooder, Jason Mraz, Lenny Kravitz

2-Time Juno Winner

'He’s like Marvin Gaye, singing soul to a new generation…' - Boston Globe

Tickets: $12 Advance / $15 Day Of Show

Though he was raised in Artemisa, an hour outside of Havana, Alex Cuba’s artistry is as far-flung as the place he settled and has lived in for over ten years: Smithers, BC, 14 hours north of Vancouver. His music at once incorporates his roots in these vastly divergent places and is a unique amalgam of styles: He’s a ringer for the Afro-sporting Sly Stone of the `60s, collaborates with peers ranging from Nelly Furtado and Jason Mraz to Ron Sexsmith, and brings together melodies, pop-soul hooks and rock chords in songs that bear little resemblance to any traditional Cuban form. His aptly self-titled new album perfectly reveals his singular sensibility: Although sung mostly in Spanish, the new tracks are as accessible as the most popular American music. Having passed up major label deals to remain independent, Cuba will release the album, which just garnered him his third Juno Award nomination, on his own Caracol Records June 8, 2010.

Remaining independent and working with a handpicked team of music and business collaborators, Cuba has organically amassed a steadily growing following among critics and fans around the world. As Billboard has said, “Staying true to his Spanish-language folk-funk-rock hybrid has paid off.” His 2007 album, Agua del Pozo, earned him his second Juno Award (the Canadian equivalent of a GRAMMY). Cuba has had four iTunes Singles of the Week (Canada, U.S., Japan, Netherlands), has charted on various iTunes charts in Canada, the U.S. and Japan, has built an impressive online community and has had major content features on Myspace, Yahoo!, AOL and other portals. The Boston Globe says, “He’s like Marvin Gaye, singing soul to a new generation,” The Miami Herald calls him “a fantastic guitarist, like Jimi Hendrix with island spice,” and The New York Post says, “Even if you don’t understand a lick of what he’s saying, you’ll feel him.”

Cuba recorded the new album at Baker Studios in Victoria, B.C. and released it last October in Canada. Featuring surprising new grooves, innovative electric guitar inflections and varying tempos and structures, the album is a natural but bold step in Cuba’s ongoing musical revolution. The first single, “Caballo” (Horse), a Cuban-funk-rocker, was also made into video conceived and produced in Smithers. Other highlights are “Solo Tu” (Only You), a moving, mid-tempo rock ballad; “Tierra Colora” (Red Soil), a samba-rock-surf-punk sizzler; and the funk tune “If You Give Me Love,” Alex’s first song in English.

Cuba recently collaborated with Nelly Furtado on her Spanish language debut, Mi Plan (My Plan), which was released to acclaim in September 2009. He co-wrote a number of the album’s songs, including the #1 single “Manos Al Aire” (Hands in the Air) and the title track, where he joins her on vocals.

Cuba’s high-energy music translates especially well in live performances. He will begin a U.S. tour in New York City in early June; dates will be announced soon. He just played three shows at the 2010 Winter Olympics in (relatively nearby) Vancouver. He was featured in the BMI-presented panel "How I Wrote That Song," April 28th at the Billboard Latin Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Saturday, December 18th @ 9:00pm (Doors at 8:00pm)

Southern Culture On The Skids
with
(tba)

NEW RECORD! THE KUDZU RANCH

For Fans Of:
Rev Horton Heat, Unknown Hinson, The Gourds

Tickets: $15 Advance / $15 Day Of Show

Long the bards of downward mobility, Southern Culture on the Skids have always embodied a sleazy, raucous, good-natured, good-time take on the culture of the South. Recently described by Dwight Yoakam (in Filter) as "really on the outside, like Dick Dale meets Hank Thompson," SCOTS have mixed high and low culture for decades, endlessly touring, serving up moonshine martinis and poultry picking for fans everywhere.

Since 1983, when they formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, SCOTS have played their unique hybrid of Americana, surf, R&B, rockabilly, and swamp pop (the band describes their sound as "toe sucking geek rock - kinda weird, but it feels good when you're doing it"), all the while driving fans into ecstatic, sweat-drenched paroxysms of joy. Assisted by his cohorts in chaos — drummer Dave Hartman and bassist/singer/heartbreaker Mary Huff — Miller and crew have been prolific and ubiquitous for over twenty years. From their 1985 debut Voodoo Beach Party, to the international smash, 1998's Dirt Track Date (featuring the hit single "Camel Walk"), and up to 2007's gender bending album of cover tunes - Countrypolitan Favorites, Southern Culture on the Skids have continued to throw what Rolling Stone dubbed "a hell raising rock and roll party." Their 2005 live outing, Doublewide & Live!, captured all of this on tape, dirty, rough, wild and above all fun!!

Southern Culture on the Skids have been busy in 2010 — recently remastering their classic 1991 album, Too Much Pork For Just One Fork. TMP features the original versions of classic SCOTS songs like, "Eight Piece Box" and "Voodoo Cadillac" plus some of the very first songs ever recorded by Dave, Rick and Mary direct to cassette in the basement of their old band house. TMP will be available soon at scots.com.

Also in the oven is SCOTS new album The Kudzu Ranch. "Pig Pickin'" — a song from the new album, is available now as a digital download to folks who sign up on SCOTS new email list. The new album is named after the band's studio/hangout in rural NC where the songs were recorded. "The Kudzu Ranch is collection of 10 originals and a couple covers," Rick says, "songs about people, places and things — like good friends and crazy neighbors, dry dirt and pompadoured flirts, busy roads and horny toads — all of them motivatin', salivatin' and procreatin' to their own crazy beat!" Look for it soon available in all formats - download, CD and LP!!!