Tank and the Bangas
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYTANK AND THE BANGASComing from New Orleans, Tank and the Bangas are surrounded by plenty of grand musical traditions. And the five-piece group has a rare knack for combining various musical styles—fiery soul, deft hip-hop, deep-groove R&B and subtle jazz—into one dazzling, cohesive whole that evokes the scope of New Orleans music while retaining a distinctive feel all its own.“It’s music that can’t really be put in a box,” says singer and poet Tarriona “Tank” Ball. She fronts the band with vivid charisma that helped Tank and the Bangas win NPR’s 2017 Tiny Desk Concert Contest by unanimous acclaim, standing out among 6,000 entrants because of what Bob Boilen called “the depth of their lyricism and the versatility of their players.” Those same qualities also attracted the attention of Verve Records, which has signed the band.Ball’s lyrical depth has been years in the making. She came up in the strong local slam poetry scene before meeting her bandmates: Merell Burkett on keyboards, Joshua Johnson on drums, Norman Spence on bass and synth keys and, eventually, Albert Allenback on alto sax and flute. “Growing up, I always could sing, but I wrote better than I sang, so I focused on writing,” she says. After her team won the National Poetry Slam Championship two years in a row, Ball turned her full attention to Tank and the Bangas.What started as a loose collaboration at an open-mic night in 2011 has grown into a mesmerizing musical force that’s only picking up speed. After a featured set at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival early in the band’s career, the musicians built a reputation outside their hometown by grinding it out on the road, honing their live show and releasing the 2013 album Think Tank, all the while converting audiences into passionate fans and garnering critical acclaim, from the New Orleans Advocate to The New York Times. “It made us work hard,” Ball says of playing Jazz Fest. “It made us want to feel deserving of it.”Their hard work is paying off: The Huffington Post says Tank and the Bangas defy description onstage, adding, “It’s music that you have to experience.” The experience is subject to change from one night to the next.“One show will feel very electronic, or hip-hop, and another show will feel slow and vibe-y and jazzy, and then another show will just be poetry and off-the-cuff riffs,” says Johnson. “As a band, we don’t like to hear ourselves do the same thing for too long, so we might change a small thing here or there, and if we change enough small things, it seems like a big change.”The band’s ongoing evolution involves more than just music: Ball continues to grow and develop as a performer and writer. Even back in the open-mic days, she was a force of nature. “I don’t know if there’s such a thing as too free, but it was totally uninhibited. She was inspired,” Spence says, laughing at the memory. More recently, Ball has become less of a dervish onstage—“I was running around so much I didn’t have time to sing at all,” she say—while finding new ways of expressing herself as a writer. “I don’t just think about myself when I write now,” she says. “Just being with my bandmates taught me to think more about other people. And when you have an audience of people ready to listen to you, you’re excited to connect with them, you really are.”McKINLEY DIXON
NIGHT TWO: “Dolly Days” – A Tribute to Dolly Parton (standing room only)
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- NIGHT ONE (2/13) IS A FULLY SEATED SHOW, IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO CHILL! It’s a Dolly Parton lovefest this Valentine’s with TWO BIG NIGHTS at The Grey Eagle, Feb. 13 & 14 in tribute to the divine Ms. Dolly. Night one (2/13) is a fully seated show and night two (2/14) is a standing room only show. Hosted by CyndiLou & the Want To with numerous special guests, the Coats of Many Colors winter coat drive, and a portion of proceeds going to the Buncombe Partnership for Children, Asheville’s chapter of Dolly’s Imagination Library!
NIGHT ONE: “Dolly Days” – A Tribute to Dolly Parton (fully seated show)
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE- NIGHT TWO (2/14) IS STANDING ROOM ONLY, IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO BOOGIE! It’s a Dolly Parton lovefest this Valentine’s with TWO BIG NIGHTS at The Grey Eagle, Feb. 13 & 14 in tribute to the divine Ms. Dolly. Night one (2/13) is a fully seated show and night two (2/14) is a standing room only show. Hosted by CyndiLou & the Want To with numerous special guests, the Coats of Many Colors winter coat drive, and a portion of proceeds going to the Buncombe Partnership for Children, Asheville’s chapter of Dolly’s Imagination Library!
Sam Grisman Project presents the music of Garcia/Grisman
– ALL AGES- PARTIALLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLESAM GRISMAN PROJECT A Note From Sam– The music that my father David Grisman and his close friend, Jerry Garcia, made in the early 90s (in the house that I grew up in) is not only some of the most timeless acoustic music ever recorded, it also triggers my oldest and fondest musical memories. What I find most inspiring about this material is the way their camaraderie and their love and joy for the music, simply oozes out of each recording. It is also impressive how deeply they get beneath their favorite songs—whether they are originals, covers or traditional/old time tunes—and how expertly that material was curated. My goal in starting Sam Grisman Project is to build a platform for my friends and me to showcase our genuine passion and appreciation for the legacy of Dawg and Jerry’s music. By playing some of their beloved repertoire and sharing the original music that our own collective has to offer, we will also show the impact that this music has had on our own individual musical voices. Ultimately, there is nothing that makes me happier than playing great songs with my best friends and my hope is to share that happiness with audiences all over!”
Pierce Edens + Nicholas Jamerson
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYPIERCE EDENSOver the last ten years, Pierce Edens has been drawing on his Appalachian songwriting roots and blending them with the grungy rock and roll sounds that took him in his teenage years. The result is a haunting and fiery mixture that is notoriously hard to pin down. Allmusic.com classifies Edens as both “Folk-Rock” and “psychedelic-grunge,” and No Depression writer Bill Kopp says “[He] could just as easily- and accurately- be tagged with the singer/songwriter label; He’s a gritty troubadour who takes what he needs from each style, blending and bending it to suit the needs of his songs.” Or, as Fred Mills state in Blurt Magazine, “Somewhere up there in the hills of western North Carolina a lot of bodies are buried, and Pierce Edens is the man with the locations. There’s no evidence that a cop, D.A. or judge can bring forth, mind you, but he clearly knows something; you can hear it in his twisted, tortured vocal bray […] a soulful yet-serrated instrument that conveys far more than even its owner might intend.”Now, in his fifth fully independent album (Stripped Down Gussied Up), Edens has taken his singular voice back home to his studio in Western North Carolina to bury some more bodies. This album witnesses Edens stripping down the instrumentation to simply the vocals, percussion, and guitar, alongside his long time band-mate Kevin Reese accompanying with lead guitar, mandolin, and occasional banjo for a handful of genre bending songs. Stripped Down Gussied Up delivers Edens’ signature sound as it should be heard; intimate and atmospheric, glittery, gritty, and raw.NICHOLAS JAMERSON In the last ten years or so Nicholas Jamerson has put together a catalogue that reaches across broad spectrums in both substance and style. The eastern Kentucky native has endeared himself to fans in the region and beyond as a founding member of the duo, Sundy Best. In recent years Nicholas performed extensively solo and with his band The Morning Jays. Both with band and on his own Nicholas has made his mark on the most hallowed stages and events in the region. From the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman Auditorium to Americana and Master Musician Festivals. He is among an esteemed group of todays artists who have shaped , redefined, and expanded the notions of Appalachian and Southern music , and reminds people why they love it and enjoy its many splendors. Jamerson’s songs are known for their attention to the natural world, warm hearted characters , and the plight and triumphs of the modern day hillbilly.
Bit Brigade performs “Mega Man II” + “DuckTales” LIVE
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYBIT BRIGADEBit Brigade performs rock covers of full NES game soundtracks as their gamer speedruns the game live on stage.”When was the last time you attended a live music performance with a genuine element of risk involved? And no, going to a Gwar show with a white t-shirt on doesn’t count. When Bit Brigade takes the stage your mind will frantically oscillate between “Oh! Agh!! Please don’t die!!” and “YES! He’s doing it!!” Combining the dread and daring of a live video game speed run with the spot-on technique of a live band covering the musical accompaniment to everything you’re seeing on-screen in real time, Bit Brigade will have you swinging between the two mediums. From thrashing about to live renditions of your favorite stage themes, fingers yearning to the sky in a rock ‘n roll parody of sea anemones seeming to silently plead, “Please, feed us more fretboard pyrotechnics!,” to being locked in stock-still rapture as the infallible maestro of the d-pad, Noah McCarthy, takes on the final boss and risks his video game life under the threat of intense peer scorn (or the reward of night-long glory and a credits score). No matter the outcome, Bit Brigade must play on until the deed is done – which it always is – on the first (and last) try. Once Noah’s NES buzzes on, there’s no turning back.” – Metalhead Mike of The Shizz, summer 2011.CARTRIDGE FAMILYfour who grew up on the same console video games that you did are now applying their combined musical experience and training to recreating some of your favorite songs from those very games. using electronic instruments, the cartridge family performs deep cuts and time-honored classics alike, taking you back to the days of soda-chugging and button-mashing.
The Gibson Brothers
– ALL AGES- SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLETHE GIBSON BROTHERSThere’s a reason why Ricky Skaggs pulled Eric and Leigh Gibson off the stage at the Ryman two decades ago and offered to produce their debut record. The same thing that led David Ferguson and Grammy Award winning producer and Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach to co-write and produce their 14th album “Mockingbird” (2018) and release it on his own label Easy Eye Sound alongside cultural icons such as Hank Williams Jr. and Dr. John: the Gibson Brothers are the real deal. They can pick. They can sing. And they can write a damn good country song. They’ve won about every bluegrass award you can name and released albums on almost every premier Americana label you can think of including Sugar Hill and Rounder, and, if that’s not enough, their songs have been recorded by bluegrass legends no less than Del McCoury. It’s a resume almost anybody in country music would be proud to have. But despite all of this, the Gibson Brothers are not yet household names. Their latest album, “Darkest Hour,” produced by dobro master Jerry Douglas might just change that.As soon as you hear Leigh singing with Alison Krauss [“I Feel The Same Way As You”] on the new project you realize that his voice is as good as anyone in music today. Add the brother harmony to that and they have something truly unique. While “Mockingbird” featured gorgeous production, recreating the sound on stage was difficult. “We put together a little band to go out and try to recreate it,” Eric told me, but we couldn’t. We would have to have such a huge band to try to recreate that record, but we did the best we could.”Douglas—who has won 14 Grammy awards and backed up everyone from Ray Charles to Paul Simon and George Jones—wanted to make a record they could actually play on the road. So he picked the best songs (out of dozens) and squirreled them away in Sound Emporium’s Studio B.But then the pandemic hit. “We did our last shows in March of 2020,” Eric told me. “We were in Nashville the week everything was shutting down. It was surreal, but Jerry was like, ‘Guys, the world’s going crazy. Let’s let this be our little cocoon.’ And we did. We cut all of the acoustic stuff and then went home and didn’t play any more gigs until things started opening. Then we went back and finished the record with Jerry in February of 2021.”The result is arguably the strongest record The Gibson Brothers have ever made. The songs recorded in the first recording period featured Mike Barber (bass), Justin Moses (mandolin), Eamon McGloughlin (fiddle), and of course, Jerry Douglas, adding in John Gardner (drums), Guthrie Trapp (electric guitar), and Todd Parks (bass) for the final tracks, “Darkest Hour” showcases just how easily Eric and Leigh move from what Dan Auerbach dubbed “country soul” (“I Go Driving”) to high octane bluegrass (“What a Difference A Day Makes” and “Dust”) with Douglas always keeping the spotlight on the songs themselves. “That’s what I love about those guys,” Douglas told me, “they are just great songwriters.”
ASHEVILLAINS: Local Comedy Showcase
– ALL AGES- FULLY SEATED SHOW- LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE ASHEVILLAINS is a local comedy showcase produced by Modelface Comedy featuring a group of ashevilles favorite comedians. Hosted by Marlene Thompson Featuring Mario Trevizo, Ryan Cox and more announce soon!!!
Duster w/ Widowspeak
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYDUSTERGather your loved ones, Together is here. Duster’s fourth album is a 13-song exploration of comfortable, interplanetary goth. A sonic vaseline of submerged guitars, solder-burned synths, and over-driven rhythm tracks. “I know people say, ‘Oh Duster music so sad, we’ve even said it ourselves before,” Clay Parton said. “But it’s a lot more like absurdism than nihilism.”WIDOWSPEAKToday, Widowspeak announce their sixth studio album, The Jacket, to be released March 11 via Captured Tracks. Along with the announcement, the duo (singer-songwriter Molly Hamilton and guitarist Robert Earl Thomas) share a propulsive, spirited song about shifting perspectives in increasingly complicated situations. In the music video directed by OTIUM, Hamilton croons “learned to love the ropes when you were caught, see they could be braided a better way and sinking into nothing – you learn to stay” fittingly in front of bulls being wrangled at a rodeo. Watch the “Everything is Simple” video here. Quote from Widowspeak on “Everything is Simple” – At the beginning of something (a relationship, a project, a job, a new place) you have this very pure feeling toward it. Everything feels less complicated because you’re oriented wholly toward that potential. It’s undefined, and that makes it easier to understand, because you can’t see the problems yet. As time goes on, you learn more, you experience more, and you see where the limitations exist: not even necessarily ones imposed upon you, but where you draw your own lines. Maybe you can’t see what was holding you back until it’s in the past, and by then others’ perspectives contradict your own. Everyone is constructing their own versions of reality. The song was originally going to feed into the drama of the imaginary band, but it’s about our own band too. I was thinking about how I’m an inherently unreliable narrator about my own life, and at the same time maybe there are no “true” stories.
Vancouver Sleep Clinic
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLYVANCOUVER SLEEP CLINIC Vancouver Sleep Clinic is the lustful, ambient guise of 26-year-old singer-songwriter and producer Tim Bettinson. Across his catalogue, elements of anthemic indie rock, intimate R&B, and sophisticated folk provide a sweeping film soundtrack for Bettinson’s gentle vocal and expansive storytelling. Emerging from his native Brisbane, Australia on the strength of a series of singles including “Someone To Stay,” “Middle of Nowhere,” “The Wire,” and the bedroom-produced viral cover of “As It Was,” Vancouver Sleep Clinic is poised to shift from under the radar success story to 2023 global headline mainstay.GHOSTLY KISSESMusic has always been around Margaux SauveĢ, born in Quebec to a family of musicians; she picked up the violin at the tender age of five. Moving on to the Conservatoire in Quebec, she quit due to“missing the fun part of it” but still loved music so started to play violin in local bands. Singing came a bit later as she thought that “to be a singer you had to have a powerful voice and be loud”, something that doesn’t come naturally to her as a quiet, thoughtful person. Alongside this, the pop music on the radio whilst growing up in Quebec wasn’t connecting with her, so it wasn’t until she started to write music whilst studying psychology at University that the creativity and desire to express revealed itself: “it just opened a completely new path for me”. Writing music as Ghostly Kisses arrived at a moment where Margaux was in “a living situation I was not able to get out of. A toxic relationship where I had a hard time understanding what was happening.” With this knowledge, it is understandable that most of her early music has a sorrowful but exploratory mood; knowing there were things she needed to express, but not understanding quite how instinctively she was writing until years later it became apparent what she was singing about. And now, with ‘Heaven, Wait’, her mesmeric debut album ready for release, her songwriting has developed to the point that this is the first time she has written and felt like she was part of the conversation. Able to view herself with an external eye, the album reflects transitions and rebirth – still talking about difficult situations, but with the ability to cast someone else in the lead role, giving the music a deeply personal yet starkly universal appeal. One which Margaux feels has come from “a more mature, adult way of looking at it.”Identifying key themes of the album, Margaux frames the album artwork within the context of the songs as being “from water towards the air, there’s a lot of dark around me and I’m just going through to the light.” And that feels like the crux of the album, that nothing is perfect – there are always difficult situations, but it is about trusting the process and working hard towards something positive.
