Illiterate Light + Liz Cooper
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY ILLITERATE LIGHT It’s dangerous to put Illiterate Light in a box, especially with the release of their new album, Arches. Are they a guitar-driven indie rock duo? Kaleidoscopic neo-psychedelia? Synth-kissed, harmony-laden folk? What does one do with an album beginning with “fake tits and diet coke,” then pivoting to train derailments in rural Ohio and never-ending black holes? These prolific farmers-turned-rockers have captured the energy of their live shows—fans crowd-surfing, moshing, crying, and crooning—and infused it into their latest release. Illiterate Light’s third album, Arches, is not a passageway but an arrival. “We’re no longer striving to define a sound,” said drummer Jake Cochran. “We’re leaning into sides of ourselves that have felt off-limits, sticking to what feels right rather than concerning ourselves with comparison.” Out November 1 via Thirty Tigers, the record is bursting with thunderous anthems, biting lyrics, and lush harmonies.. Arches was recorded in two very different locations: small-town Appalachia at Gorman’s home studio and Hollywood, CA at Sunset Sound with producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Strokes, Beck, The Killers). “We wanted the best of both worlds,” says Gorman. “We spent several days with Joe at Sunset. To record vocals in the same live room as so many of my heroes—Neil Young, Paul McCartney, Dylan—was unreal. I knew I was in a holy place.” The LA session was paired with sessions in Virginia, where Gorman and Cochran co-produced the bulk of the record with longtime collaborator Danny Gibney. In their hometown, they experimented with soaring instrumental journeys and had friends sit in on the sessions to keep things lively. LIZ COOPER On the porch of her one-time Nashville home, Liz Cooper had a multimedia project that combined two of her loves: lips and cigarettes. She painted her own lips with red paint and kissed a canvas two or three hundred times, later dotting them with the detritus left behind in ashtrays by her friends. An overlap of intimacy, indulgence, cheekiness, and sensuality, the piece complements Cooper’s roiling second record, Hot Sass. Over jagged, frenetic guitar parts, Cooper sets expectations aflame with the record’s title track. Her songs unfurl like smoke spiraling off an incense cone late in the afternoon, with Cooper pushing deeper into psychedelic openness, punk ferocity, and beyond.Hot Sass marks multiple departures for Liz Cooper: from her nine-year home of Nashville, from her band addendum of the Stampede, from any genre-burdened expectations she’d accumulated over the years. After heavy touring in support of 2018’s Window Flowers, where her songs stretched out in live settings, she felt constricted by the Americana-adjacent associations that the Stampede carried. So with her bandmates’ blessing, she dropped the moniker, pursuing sounds and songs that let her chase the inspiration lent to her by the likes of Courtney Love, Lou Reed, and David Bowie.
Yarn Holiday Ball
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY YARN You might expect a band that calls itself Yarn to, naturally, tend to spin a yarn or two. “That’s what we do, we tell stories, live and in the studio, truth and fiction”,singer/songwriter Blake Christiana insists. “We don’t always opt for consistency. There’s a different vibe onstage from what comes through in our recordings. There’s a difference in every show as well, you never know what you’re going to get.” Yarn’s ability to persevere ought to come as no great surprise, especially for a band that spent two years honing their chops during a Monday night residency at the famed Kenny’s Castaway in New York’s Greenwich Village. In effect, it allowed them to rehearse onstage, mostly in front of audiences that often ranged in size from five to a hundred people on any given night. 10 studio albums followed — Yarn (2007), Empty Pockets (2008), Leftovers Part One (2009), Come On In (2010), Leftovers Part 2 (2011), Almost Home (2012), Shine the Light On (2013), This Is The Year (2016), and Lucky 13 parts 1 & 2 (2019). The band then took to the road, playing upwards of 170 shows a year and sharing stages with such superstars as Dwight Yoakam, Charlie Daniels, Railroad Earth, Marty Stuart, Allison Krauss, Leon Russell, Jim Lauderdale, Leftover Salmon, Amos Lee, The Lumineers and many more. They’ve driven nonstop, made countless radio station appearances, driven broken-down RVs and watched as their van caught fire. They’ve paid their dues and then some, looking forward even as they were forced to glance behind. Indeed, the accolades piled up quickly along the way. They have landed on the Grammy ballot 4 times, garnered nods from the Americana Music Association, placed top five on both Radio and Records and the AMA album charts, garnered airplay on Sirius XM, iTunes, Pandora, CNN, and CMT, been streamed millions of times on Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon, and also accorded the “Download of the Day” from Rolling Stone. Shine the Light On found shared songwriting credits with John Oates (the Oates of Hall & Oates fame), and when audiences expressed their admiration, it brought the band a populist cult following of diehard devotees, popularly known as “the Yarmy.” It’s proof positive that the Brooklyn and Raleigh based band have made their mark, and in dealing with their emotions, scars and circumstances, they find themselves in a position to share those experiences with others who have juggled similar sentiments The beginning of the journey to these 2 albums began around April of 2022 when Blake booked a solo show at The Down Home in Johnson City, TN (a nod to Townes Van Zandt’s 1986 live show there and ultimate release) with the intention of making a live record. But he wanted it to be songs none of the fans and attendees had ever heard before. The problem was he hadn’t written most of them yet. He was at his crossroads, uninspired, bored, exhausted and fairly insecure about his entire career up to that point. But he got to work, and got more inspired with each new song he wrote. These songs all tell a story individually but they also tell a story as a whole, a songwriter and musician ready to dive deeper into the music and the art for a greater result that he believes most anyone can appreciate, relate to and enjoy.
Half Waif
ALL AGES SEATED SHOW LIMITED NUMBER OF PREMIUM SEATING TICKETS AVAILABLE HALF WAIF In the deep Upstate New York winter of 2022, trees bare and taunting, Nandi Rose found herself searching for an apricitic clarity. She has always found the season difficult; its ruthless theft of birdsong and flora, heavy clouds low and smothering what little light remains. But the cacophonous silence of that winter was particularly brutal. It should have been stirred by the growth of life, a promise of a new chapter, a bright dawn, as Rose learned she was pregnant with her first child. That promise was broken in early December, when stillness took over the ultrasound screen; slow-motion mouths told her the life inside her had ended. Like a snapped branch weighed down by leaden frost, Rose lost a part of her future she thought would blossom. See You At The Maypole was originally intended as a departure from the darker works of Half Waif. Whereas 2021’s Mythopoetics dealt with familial traumas and the patterns we carry with us, Rose––armed with the anticipation of planning her own family––envisioned a new collection of soft and joyous odes to motherhood, and to new beginnings. That writing sparked in the summer of 2021 at a solo retreat in the Catskills, as melodies formed in a small cabin overlooking a luscious and rain-rippled pond. A month later, Rose found out she was pregnant and anticipated nine months of writing through a new, maternal lens, speckled with the verdure of certainty. But when that soundless morning arrived in December, See You At The Maypole took on a new life. One that would seize the uncomfortable reigns of uncertainty. NOIA Structured to unfold like a dream, the debut album by NOIA combines an array of languages – Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, English – and traditional sounds from her childhood in southwestern Europe to process her personal transformations over the past two years while living between NYC and Barcelona.Gisela Fullà-Silvestre formed the alias NOIA to create separation between her profession as a celebrated composer and mix engineer for film and TV, and her experimental pop productions. After graduating from Berklee in 2015, the Barcelona-bred artist relocated to Brooklyn and started writing music that channeled her early attachments to sound, which were formed osmotically as a child in the home of her activist parents. Shortly thereafter, she released her inaugural EP, Habits, which was a lush, romantic affair anchored by singles “Nostalgia Del Futuro” and “Itaca Tropical.” NOIA played shows across North America and Europe, and embedded herself deeply into NYC’s creative community. 2019 then saw the release of her second EP, Crisalida, a Catalan word for “cocoon,” that expanded on her international references to mine an increasingly leftfield palette. Dancehall and tropicalia radio fused with R&B and glitchy sound design to create an utterly placeless sonic world.
OUTPOST: Sister Ivy (ALBUM FUNDRAISER SHOW) w/ Danielle Angeloni
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE Sister Ivy: Sister Ivy is the voice of the vine that weaves in and out of roots and open air, mixes with the weeds, and climbs to lofty vistas on the limbs of grand trees. A quizzical poet with a voice brimming with turbulent emotion and heartfelt presence, she moves to join the juxtaposed, not only lyrically, but musically, with careful dissonance and timely resolve, blending the mundane with the magical, providing unexpected nourishment and plenty of food for thought. Sister Ivy fuses Neo-soul, Jazz, R&B, and Rock elements to carry poetic musings to the listener’s ear on a groove-able sonic vehicle with influences spanning from Badu and Glasper to Radiohead and Pink Floyd. Lyrical content spans a wide spectrum with emotional states ranging from sweet infatuation to righteous anger; content ranging from entomological curiosity to suspicions of an impending apocalypse. Danielle Angeloni: Danielle lives the life she’s always imagined- writing and performing music while inspiring others to embrace their innate creativity. Danielle has devoted over 15 years to studying and performing jazz, soul, and alternative pop. Her musical influences include Billie Holliday, Norah Jones, Feist, Emily King and many more. She has performed at venues such as Music Box San Diego, Quartyard SD, San Diego Made Markets, Books and Records Bar, YouBloom Festival Los Angeles, Hard Rock Cafe Boston, The Berklee Performance Center, Sidewalk Cafe NYC and more. Her debut EP Setting Fires was released in 2017 and can be found on all major streaming platforms. Danielle is currently San Diego based and willing to travel for exceptional experiences.
OUTPOST: Dust Box Band
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE Dust Box Band – A collaboration among four talented singer-songwriters from Interlochen Arts Academy, Dust Box Band is touring from New York to South Carolina in August of 2024. Each artist brings original songs backed up by their multi-instrumentalist band members. This tour will showcase a high energy performance by the group that includes their original music as well as creative takes on classic covers. Dust Box Band is made up of the artists Sebastian Dallisay-Hocket (@sebastianjdallisay), Eliza Prymak (@elizaprymak), Imogene Stevens (@imogenestevens.music), and John Teti (@johnteti_music).
OUTPOST: Panic Stricken
– ALL AGES- STANDING ROOM ONLY- RAIN OR SHINE Spirit moves in all things, but especially through great music. When music delivers you like that of legendary performance masters, and grandaddies of all live tour bands, the Grateful Dead, you stay delivered, for the rest of your life. Luckily for those of us who love this music, among us are a very small but highly talented few, who have become inspired to lovingly and meticulously perform the music in a way that honors the originators, and even more so sets out to reignite the magic of being there as it is fashioned out of the energy of an audience that loves it for how it moves them, how it connects them with others, and how it soothes if not heals them in a profound and singular way. Credit goes to Dark Star Orchestra as one of first groups to take on that tradition without the slightest bit of hesitation or reservation about their calling, to pay tribute and to meticulously give their talents to performing music that so many of us love as much as they do. The result has been thousands of days with thousands of joyful gatherings across the land, as so many people who never got to hear the Grateful Dead in person now get to hear seriously talented and devoted artists bringing it back to life with every bit of the energy and purity as anyone could hope to get from any band playing any kind of music. Great music inevitably gets reproduced and replayed and recreated, and great musicians will inevitably have many progeny to carry on their work. Widespread Panic is among these greats and now their Musical tradition, their sound, the experience they forged and the spirit it brings have inspired their musical progeny in the Austin-based band called Panic Stricken. And what an appropriate name because it is clear that this merry band of brothers, all talented musicians and highly skilled performers, are stricken with genuine love for everything that Widespread Panic brought to the world, including and especially the unbelievably brilliant, yet sadly cut short, musical genius and singular sound of Michael Houser, the late Widespread Panic guitarist lovingly known to all as the ‘lingering lead.’ Haters need not apply, Panic Stricken is a band for those who truly love the music and the spirit of Widespread Panic… and can never get enough of it. Panic Stricken, Austin, Texas, shares the music of Widespread Panic through faithful renditions and improvisational jams. Founded in 2014, the band quickly gained attention following a memorable fill-in performance at Empire Control Room and Garage in 2021. The group’s performances continue to captivate audiences across various cities by blending live shows with streaming sessions in 2023. Here’s to many more years of celebrating Widespread Panic’s music!
Melt
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY MELT Pulsing with the energy of their hometown New York City, ‘If There’s a Heaven’ (out 9/13/24) is the debut album from indie band Melt. The band formed in 2017 and cut their teeth touring on the heels of their viral single “Sour Candy” over weekends in college. Called “one groovy superorganism” by NPR, they are known for their ecstatic live set. In 2021, Melt released their ‘West Side Highway’ EP and toured nationally, further developing their intuitive connection as players as well as cementing their status as a band to watch. ‘If There’s a Heaven’ presents Melt simultaneously at their most airtight and freewheeling – evoking the raw, communal spirit of Fleetwood Mac as well as the modern, danceable hooks of MUNA. Recorded live to tape with producer Sam Evian (Big Thief), the eleven tracks span existential, feel-good pop (“Plant the Garden”), classic love ballads (“Your Name”) and lush, soulful rockers (“Heaven”). Melt’s debut is a joyous, timeless soundtrack for coming of age and finding oneself and one’s community. As emotionally stirring as they are groovy, Melt will move listeners in every sense of the word. MARIS MARIS hitched a ride on a comet to Los Angeles in 2021, and decided to stay and become a pop music sensation. Her mission on this planet is to connect with listeners through her candid experiences as a queer and emotionally vulnerable songwriter with an ‘80s-inflected pop universe and beats you can’t help but dance along to. In 2023, MARIS released a celestial six-song EP, Gravity, and accompanying short film, Gravity: The EP: the Movie (Black House, Best Friends Music), followed by new singles, “Voicemail”, “Hot Guitar Player”, and “GOING YET!.” She supported the releases throughout the solar system, opening for acts including Anna Of The North and The Wrecks. She performed at Boston Calling and Missoula Pride this summer. Fans can catch MARIS Earth-side this fall opening for Melt on their North American tour. Best experienced live, MARIS and her music have a riveting aura that ensures all in attendance are in a safe place to be their happiest, truest, and most out-of-this-world selves. Her newest singles, “The Fight” and “Julia Roberts,” are available everywhere now!
M. Ward
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY M. WARD For Beginners: The Best of M. Ward is a collection for M. Ward fans of any vintage. Gathering together 14 tracks from across his Merge Records discography, including the newly recorded song “Cry,” For Beginners is both a primer and a mixtape of favorites sequenced in a way that gives them new life. Beginning with “Chinese Translation” and “Poison Cup” from 2006’s Post-War, For Beginners drops in on Ward as he expands his prowess in the studio. His singular cover of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” from 2003’s Transfiguration of Vincent, breaks out into the exuberant “Never Had Nobody Like You” from 2009’s Hold Time. Rather than the neat evolutionary line suggested by a chronological arrangement, what holds For Beginners together is Ward’s impeccable skill as a songwriter, which remains in focus as his sound expands from low-fi home recordings to electric, radio-ready stompers. Serendipitously timed for release during Merge Records’ 35-year anniversary, this celebration of one of the label’s most beloved artists includes “Cry”—his first new recording on Merge since 2018—a stripped-down cover of the Godley & Creme pop classic featuring Melbourne, Australia’s Folk Bitch Trio. “Cry” was recorded in a Tasmanian modern art museum called MONA. I sat at the end of a long hallway a few feet away from Anselm Kiefer’s sculpture of a 20-foot-high stack of lead books, and standing to my left and right around a single microphone were Melbourne’s Folk Bitch Trio; we rehearsed and recorded “Cry” in about 30 minutes. A pleasure to add this song to a collection of some of my favorite memories of music-making during the first decade of record-creating with my friends at Merge. The song is the perfect capstone for a collection of this nature, summing up much of Ward’s power as a musician: the richness he’s capable of achieving in sparse recordings, his knack for collaboration, and his ability to see through to the soul of a meticulously crafted pop song—as much a means of looking forward to what’s to come of his own work as it is a callback to his past. FOLK BITCH TRIO Folk Bitch Trio are a band born out of a mutual love for songwriting, rocking and the truth. Their new singles, ‘Analogue’ and ‘I Heard’ are quintessential Folk Bitch Trio, combining confessional lyricism of what it feels like to be young and crave control with unpretentious instrumentation and buttery three part harmony. A side Analogue serves as a reminder to keep on stumbling forward, employing powerful harmony and a bright sound in hand with a beat that will push your feet and heart along, while B side I Heard is an ode to the startling realisation you’re in control of your own life sung against an ominously sparse nylon-string guitar.
Nick Shoulders and The Okay Crawdad: “All Empires Fall Tour”
ALL AGESSTANDING ROOM ONLY NICK SHOULDERS AND THE OKAY CRAWDAD All Bad, the latest album from Nick Shoulders, ultimately encapsulates everything that makes Shoulders’ inimitable form of country music so vital: a heady balance of dazzling musicianship and punk defiance, coupled with gritty eccentricity and a generational connection to the roots of the genre. With a singing style inherited from his family’s vocal lineage, Nick’s songs achieve the rare feat of imparting difficult truths while inciting a certain joyful abandon, balancing a sound forged by years of hard travel with a heartfelt reverence for the origins of country music. In the spirit of Hazel Dickens and Jimmy Driftwood, the incisive yet wildly jubilant All Bad vocally objects to the reckless destruction of the natural landscape and development run rampant, while still offering plenty of joy and dance-ready rhythms. Spanning a variety of early country styles, the album’s infectious harmonies shine alongside everything from jangling cajun waltzes to surf-rock infused bluesy ballads–all tied together by a voice seemingly out of place in this century, yet ever ready to speak up about its problems. Released via Gar Hole Records (a label founded and co-owned by Shoulders), All Bad marks the first LP made with his longtime band, the Okay Crawdad, since 2019’s premier full-length Okay, Crawdad and their subsequent pandemic-imposed hiatus. After writing most of the album from the front seat of a tour van, the Fayetteville, AR-based musician and bandmates Grant D’Aubin (harmonies/bass), Cheech Moosekian (drums) and Jack Studer (lead guitar) recorded the album in a home studio on the banks of the Mississippi River with New Orleans collaborators Ross Farbe and Sam Doores. JACK STUDER Jack Studer is your neighbor. He’s your buddy sitting on the porch picking tunes with a smile on his face, flipping over an old bucket for you to pull up a seat. Jack’s music is as welcoming as the man himself, but don’t let its easy-going nature fool you. He has been honing his singular voice for over a decade, and after traveling endless miles and countless stages, he still makes time to sing a song all his own. Jack’s prowess as a guitar player has earned him a place as the newest member of Nick Shoulders and The Okay Crawdad and he continues touring with his long time friends the West King String Band. HEARTS GONE SOUTH Hearts Gone South plays original, old style country and honky tonk full of heart and soul, laced with wit and woe. Bringing fire and feeling to the age old stories of love, loss, heartache, and victory for the underdog. Entertaining audiences from Asheville to Alaska, Hearts Gone South has a “vintage sound with modern production values” Their catalog is a range of barn burners with smoking leads, to tear soaked ballads, and everything in between.Hearts Gone South is JP Parsons – tele, acoustic guitar, and harmonies, Ian Wade – electric bass, upright bass, and harmonies, Scott Thomas- Drums, Silas Hamilton – pedal steel, Tricia Tripp – lead vocalist and song writer. The band is based in Asheville, with members living in Asheville, Bristol and Shelby. They ride back and forth across the mountain range to bring their absolute best to the stage.
Magenta Sunshine
ALL AGES STANDING ROOM ONLY MAGENTA SUNSHINE Magenta Sunshine is a horn-driven, hard-hitting roots fusion band from Asheville, NC. Lacing danceable rhythms, brassy soundscapes, and poetic lyricism into genre-defying arrangements, Magenta Sunshine is an all-original, six-piece unit composed of instrumentalists from some of Asheville’s most respected ensembles. Since 2018, the band has earned a dedicated following and a valid reputation for “blistering” live performances that place the audience at the intersection of psychedelic improvisation and well-crafted songwriting.
