Coming up:
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A CD Release with:
Ashley McMillen
Featuring:
Scott Tiernan
Shanna Hoar
Friday, January 27, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm/Show at 8:00pm
$8
Special Deal for Advance Sales Only:
$10 Ticket/2 CD Combo (includes both Ashley's new CD and Scott's CD)
Seated Show
Buy Tickets
Born and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, Ashley McMillen is a country-inspired singer-songwriter known for her "extraordinary vocals and powerful songwriting." Ashley was most recently described by Rapunzel's Coffee and Books as "one of the most intriguing new artists to cross our stage - a veritable country music legend in the making."
In the Spring of 2011, Ashley made a lasting impression when she performed her song, "Momma," at the C'ville Songwriter's Circle, then quickly became connected with Charlottesville's mind-blowing music scene. Her first radio play, "You DonŐt Need a Man," occurred in October of this year, thanks to Aer Stephens and WTJU, Charlottesville, VA. That same month, Ashley placed in the 2011 Songwriter's Competition at Rapunzel's Coffee and Books for her song, title track to her EP, "Now I Know." Ashley performs her original music in the Charlottesville area and is releasing her debut EP all with the help and support of her friends/band mates Bahlmann Abbot, Rusty Speidel, and Stuart Gunter.
For more info, please visit www.ashleymcmillen.com
Scott T. (Tiernan) has been writing uplifting, fun, optimistic songs since he was 14. His music consistently reflects his positive attitude and outgoing demeanor. He incorporates a variety of styles and sounds into his sets and plays guitar, ukulele and keyboard while performing.
Tiernan wears his heart on his sleeve, and his songs completely represent just that. His music is filled with passion and love for the world, the people in it, and the God that he adores. Tiernan doesn't believe in making music just for the sake of making music. He writes with the knowledge that songs have the profound ability to positively change the lives of those who truly listen. While his style is poppy and airy, one dedicated listen will show just how dense his music is with depth and meaning.
After finishing up his third album, "Hippies, Lovers, Lawyers & Fools," last spring, Tiernan has been playing consistently around Charlottesville and across the Mid-Atlantic region. The album has garnered Tiernan a lot of positive press. Brad Savage, voice of the popular Charlottesville indie rock station, 106.1 The Corner, summed up the album well calling it, "fun," and "really catchy."
If you walk out of one of her shows happier than when you came in, Shanna Hoar did her job. This charismatic, young songwriter writes inspiring folk/pop tunes and can effortlessly lift your spirits and put on an entertaining show.
Shanna grew up in northern Virginia, attended University of Virginia, and then emerged as one of Charlottesville's newest talents, coming onto the music scene in March 2011. With her clever wordplay and quirky style, Shanna has quickly garnered a large following in the Central Virginia area.
There's not many subjects that are taboo for Shanna. She'll sing about anything from falling for the bad boy to eating ungodly amounts of Chipotle to pirate love tragedies. In addition to being undeniably charming and fun, there's a breadth of soul and profundity in her songs that truly show off her lyrical and musical range. The release of her upcoming debut EP will showcase her limitless abilities.
At a Shanna Hoar show, you will find yourself laughing. You may find yourself crying. You are likely to relive beautiful memories of the past, but one thing is certain, you will undoubtedly leave with a smile on your face.
The Pietasters
Murphy's Kids
MusicBand
Saturday January 28, 2012 Doors at 8pm/Show at 8:30pm
$12
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
The Pietasters formed In 1990, while a group of friends were attending college at Virginia Tech in the mountains of Virginia. Among them were Stephen Jackson and Chris Watt who had previously dabbled in playing punk rock covers.
Soon after, a mutual friend, Tal Bayer, began attending nearby Radford University. He was very much into ska and reggae and suggested that they form a ska band. After recruiting a high school friend, Tom Goodin, and an Architecture classmate, Ben Gauslin, The Slugs were born. Soon, they were skipping classes, melding ska, reggae, R & B and punk rock while practicing for hours to learn songs by Madness, The Specials, Bad Manners, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, The Burial, The Skatalites, The Business, and others. Unfortunately, the name The Slugs was already taken and the band needed a new name. For a few months, the name was changed to the Dancehall Crashers. It was too similar to another ska band out west so the search for a new name continued. Some British neighbors used to refer to the heftier guys in the band as Pietasters, which is British slang for "fat guys". The name stuck and The Pietasters were born.
Murphy's Kids has been melting faces and shaking asses since 1999, with the goal of spreading good vibes and great music across state lines and narrow minds. Years of being a traveling favorite on the east coast, hundreds of club gigs, playing to sold out venues at home, and lighting up bars and dance halls in all points west have made them the finely-tuned high-intensity rock n' roll machine they are today. With captivating stage presence, melodic hooks and infectiously groovy beats, Murphy's Kids will be bringing their fiery brand of reggae and rock n' roll to your town soon!
Murphy's Kids has been seen at outdoor festivals and punk dives. They have been featured on bills with artists that range as widely as Alien Ant Farm, The Fray and Soldiers of Jah Army. They are a versatile group and you'll see them blazing through 40-minute rock sets and pulling 3+ hour reggae-dance marathons in any given club, college or festival where good music and great fun can be found. Murphy's Kids is coming to your town: get ready to feel the heat!
Formed in 2009 by long time veterans of DC's punk scene and influenced by the styles of punk, garage, country, and political folk rock, MusicBand stands out with their acoustic guitar rhythms laced with aggressive electric guitar riffs and rasping vocals. Featuring past/ current members of The Goons, The Stabones, and The Electricutions, MusicBand has a lineup of musicians who have been playing punk, hardcore, and rock n roll for over 15 years. Featured regularly on 91.9 WNRN's Ska Punks No Losers.
Man & Machine: An Evening of Human-Machine Synergy
Film Screening, Discussion, and Human + Robotic Musical Instrument Performance
Sunday, January 29, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm/Event at 8:00pm
$5
Seated Event
Buy Tickets
Join Charlottesville's own robotic performance ensemble, Expressive Machines Musical Instruments (EMMI) and the EAR Duo for an intriguing evening of human-machine synergy. The evening kicks off with a screening of Man & Machine: A Naked Robotic Love Story.
Man & Machine is a documentary short created by filmmakers Jesse Roesler and Jonathan Nowak that received its world premiere at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival. It tells the story of Belgian composer/instrument builder Godfried-Willem Raes and his partner, sound artist Moniek Darge. Raes is the creator of the Man & Machine Robot Ensemble, which is likely the world's largest robot orchestra. Raes and Darge founded the Logos foundation, an organization in Ghent, Belgium devoted to experimental music, together in the late 60's. Among other art- and music-making activities, Raes, Darge, and other performers dance naked in a matrix of radar/sonar sensors to control the robot orchestra.
Following the film will be a Q&A discussion led by EMMI's Troy Rogers, who spent a year in Belgium apprenticing with Raes in the construction of robotic musical instruments. The talk will also feature EMMI's other members and the EAR Duo, all of whom have spent time at the Logos Foundation.
To close out the evening, EMMI's newest robotic instrument, MARIE (Monochord-Aerophone Robotic Instrument Ensemble) will make her local debut in a performance featuring the EAR Duo and EMMI's other robotic instruments. After being commissioned by the EAR Duo and funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, MARIE has travelled up and down the East Coast, to the midwest, and to the Low Countries of Europe. After all that traveling and performing, and plenty of further tweaking in EMMI's Belmont workshop, she's finally ready for an official unveiling for her rabid hometown fans.
Delta Rae
The Design
Thursday, February 2, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm
$8
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
From a quiet, country house nestled within the Durham, North Carolina woods, Delta Rae fuses its inspired four-part harmonies with a rich Carolina soul. Their music hinges on hope and a deep sense of meaning while their live show reflects the joy, passion, the unique bond they share, and the amazing fans and friends who join them.
They are Mumford & Sons meets Fleetwood Mac - an Alt-Pop Americana Rock band with four lead singers whose music incorporates all aspects of Americana - Gospel, Country, Rock, Blue Grass, and Blues. Having headlined shows to sold-out crowds on both coasts and played with Hanson, Carbon Leaf, Rooney, Vienna Teng, and Edwin McCain (to name a few), Delta Rae plans to release a new LP in Spring 2012 and tour all year.
The Design was started in March of 2007 by Jennifer Stuart, Jimmy Spitler, and Jacob Tal and the gigging ensued locally and regionally - The Downtown Pavilion for Fridays After Five, The Southern, Outback Lodge, and Fellini's in Charlottesville - Alley Katz in Richmond - The Rock & Roll Hotel in DC.
The Design has a fat, unique sound that sets them apart from other local acts and a new approach to playing and writing and they've been working tirelessly to write richly original music that has one simple goal: To make you feel good.
The Festy Presents with The Southern:
A First Fridays Experience of Art, Music, and Sustainability
Featuring the music and art of:
Wes Swing
and Sarah Siskind
and the art and multimedia of:
Bolanle Adeboye
Friday, February 3, 2012
First Fridays Reception starts at 6:00pm in the bar and is Free and open to the public!
The Show starts at 8:00pm in the venue and is $10 in advance/$12 day of show
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
Join us for a very special evening focusing on Art, Music and Sustainability. The evening features the music of Wes Swing, who is celebrating his campaign to raise funds to tour sustainably in a bio-fuel touring van, the music and art of singer-songwriter Sarah Siskind, who has written songs for the likes of Randy Travis, Alison Krauss, and Bon Iver (and has performed twice at The Festy Experience), and the art and multimedia of Bolanle Adeboye, who created art and video for Wes Swing's most recent album "Through a Fogged Glass". And you can expect the decor and vibe inspired by The Festy Experience.
"Beautifully swelling cello-folk...Wes Swing creates a rich and lilting soundscape that is a sheer joy to explore," writes Buzzpost. The classically trained Virginia based cellist, singer and multi-instrumentalist makes music of an alternative folk and pop variety and "pushes upon the boundaries of what defines the singer-songwriter genre". In live performance, Wes Swing loops his cello and violin, combining layered strings and lyrics imbued with poetry with a full backing band. "Like a cold fall night pierces a mountain hollow..." writes Stephanie Garcia of The Hook.
Wes and his bandmates most recent endeavor is a sustainable touring project. Having toured throughout Europe and the US, the band believes that touring should be neither cost prohibitive nor environmentally damaging. They are developing and sharing more environmentally sustainable and cost effective strategies for musicians to tour green and will purchase a bio-fuel touring van through a kickstarter campaign (wesswing.com/kickstarter). All profits from this kickstarter finale concert will go toward this sustainable touring project.
Sarah Siskind has been called "the best female singer/songwriter in America today" (Steve Binder, legendary TV director/producer) and "an artist you must hear now" by Spin Magazine. She has toured with Bon Iver (he has also famously covered her "Lovin's For Fools") and The Swell Season, had songs recorded by Alison Krauss (the GRAMMY nominated "Simple Love"), Randy Travis, and many more. Armed with a striking vocal style and solid guitar-work, mostly on her beloved vintage electric Gibson, Sarah is a regular NPR performer with features on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, World Cafe with David Dye, All Songs Considered, Song Of The Day and most recently NPR's Mountain Stage.
Bolanle Adeboye is a designer/maker determined to find and appreciate the exquisite in the mundane. She is very often stunned by beauty lurking in the most unlikely places. She lives and works in Charlottesville.
The Infamous Stringdusters present The Festy Experience, a 3-day camping festival over Columbus Day weekend (Oct 5 - 7) at The Concert Grounds at Devils Backbone in Nelson County, Virginia (45 mi. from Charlottesville). Hosted and curated by The Infamous Stringdusters, The Festy Experience celebrates and combine the best in live music, outdoor sports and lifestyle, craft beer culture and raging good times.
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William Walter & Co.
DJ Williams Projekt
Saturday, February 4, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$8 in advance/$10 day of show
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
William Walter & Co. played over 250 live shows last year, entertaining fans in music rooms and festivals across the country. Four albums of independently released original material, a full bag of carefully selected cover tunes, and a bold sense of improvisation make for an exciting repertoire of live music.
A festival favorite, in 2008, William Walter & Co. won "Best Emerging Artist" in a vote of 14,500 Floyd Fest attendees. The song "When I Leave for California" received national radio airplay and was nominated for the International Songwriting Competition in 2009. The full band's unique sound combines high energy rock and roll with a special blend of funky twang. Solo shows deliver even more intimate moments from the singer/songwriter, and incorporate live looping jams with epic guitar wizardry. Whether solo, or with the full band, William Walter is a crowd favorite with music that reflects a common shared experience. Listening to William is like hanging out with good friends: intimate, energizing and fun.
The DJ Williams Projekt, hailing from Richmond, VA are one of the fastest rising bands one the scene right now. When you combine a tight groovin' rhythm section, sweet horn lines, and an amazing guitar player who plays with honest to God soul, you've got yourself a solid winner when it comes to entertaining a crowd. Complex or simple, Williams's lines become funk chops, picking up speed one minute and slamming a 180 on a dime the next with the "Projekt" backing it up all along and enhancing the ride.
The Festy Presents with The Southern:
The High Country Bluegrass Jam
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm
FREE
RSVP Now
Join us on the first Tuesday of the month for a bluegrass jam featuring members of The Infamous Stringdusters.
This event is free and open to the public and it's a JAM, so bring your instruments and get ready to pick!
In case you can't get your fill in just one night of pickin', head out to The Devil's Backbone in Nelson county where the jam will take place on the first Wednesday of the month.
106.1 The Corner Presents:
Scars on 45
Anya Marina
Saturday, February 11, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm/Show at 8:00pm
$10
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
Making music was the furthest thing from Scars on 45 co-founder Danny Bemrose's mind until the professional soccer player for England's Huddersfield Town F.C. broke his foot at 21 and his world came crashing down. "I was in limbo, without knowing what to do with myself," he says. It wasn't the first time that fate would intervene in the band's formation.
Danny put down the soccer ball and picked up for his father's guitar. "I'm quite an obsessive person. I became kind of addicted," he says. "I used to lock myself away to write songs and record on four-track recorder."
Those early years led to creation of Scars on 45, a quintet from Leeds, England, that combines the gentle melodic intensity of Snow Patrol or Keane with the added allure of co-ed vocals. Tension, often propelled by drummer Chris Durling's insistent beat, builds throughout the songs as the emotional ante rises. Hearts are broken and seldom rendered whole again before new wounds pierce through.
Magnus Music Presents:
This Will Destroy You
Mountains
Amen Dunes
Historic
Monday, February 13, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm/Show at 7:30pm
$10
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
This Will Destroy You began in earnest during the mid-00's in San Marcos, TX. In many ways, the initial sound of the band was the logical destination point for four friends (Christopher Royal King, Jeremy Galindo, Raymond Brown, and Andrew Miller) that had been playing in a variety of bands together throughout their teens. In 2005, the group began writing and recording what was intended to be a simple 6-song documentation of where they were at musically. Externally, Brown had been accepted into medical school, King was working on high profile graphic design gigs, and the four genuinely thought that they'd be moving into other fields, ultimately requiring the dissolution of the band.
This plan changed dramatically one fateful day when King sent the 6 songs (recorded by a 17-year old high school student) to Virginia's Magic Bullet Records as a "thank you" for releases he personally enjoyed over the years from the label's catalog. An immediate connection was established between the label and band. Within weeks, the 6-song demo became "Young Mountain," THIS WILL DESTROY YOU's first retail full length, and the band found themselves on their first tour.
From that moment on, the trajectory of This Will Destroy You became meteoric in arc and path. Acclaim from critics and fans alike came pouring in overnight (Rock Sound Magazine bestowed "Album of the Year 2006" honors on "Young Mountain"), the songs quickly found marriage to various licensing projects across film, television, web, and video projects the world over, and the album quickly shot up both indie retail and Apple iTunes charts. To fully illustrate the fever pitch of the moment, even the Pentagon was caught up in the hysteria, using two songs in a disaster preparedness presentation held before the nation's top military brass in the wake of New Orleans' catastrophic Hurricane Katrina. Suddenly, the choice between band and "real life" became not so clear for all involved.
Songs for Candy Hearts - A Valentine's Day Show with:
Sarah White and the Pearls
Phillip St. Ours
Sally Rose
Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm/Show at 8:00pm
$8 in advance/$10 day of show
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
Born and raised in the two Virginias, Sarah White grew up with a love for rock and roll radio, dusty LP records, and the country music her father played on guitar. Her strong roots rock and country music influences are grounded in punk instincts, inviting comparisons to a wide spectrum of artists from Hazel Dickens and Chan Marshall to Kathleen Edwards and Jeff Tweedy.
Her band the Pearls features Ted Pitney formerly of bluegrass stalwarts King Wilkie on guitar, punk rock legend Michael Bishop of GWAR and Kepone on bass, and Stuart Gunter of roots rock faves Wrinkle Neck Mules on drums. Together this unlikely lineup helps draw out the force of rock and soul of country in Sarah's "gorgeous, catchy and ultimately moving songs (Richmond Times-Dispatch)."
Phillip St. Ours has played with two of the most successful bands to come out of Central Virginia, Old Crow Medicine Show and The Hackensaw Boys.
These days Phillip fronts his own band, Pantherburn, an Americana rock band hailing from Charlottesville, VA.
Sally Rose, a Nelson County native, was accredited by The News & Advance as a "true artist". Her original style of song-writing is a combination of indie-folk, soul, rock, and a little heart break. The C-VILLE called her, "Nelson County's sweet voiced singer-songwriter."
She released her first full-length album, "Home," at the age of 17 and her second album, "heat lightning," soon after. Sally Rose has shared the stage with such artists as Devon Sproule, Eli Cook, Critter Fuqua, formerly of "Old Crow Medicine Show" and Bobby St. Ours formerly of the "Hackensaw Boys." As Nelson County Life Magazine wrote, "...watch this girl, she's quietly, but aggressively, climbing the ladder in the music scene. And making quite the name for herself..."
Gregory Alan Isakov
Wednesday February 15, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm/Show at 8:00pm
$10 in advance/$12 day of show
Seated Show
Buy Tickets
Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Gregory Alan Isakov's song-craft lends to the deepest lyrical masterpieces. With hints of his influences, Leonard Cohen, Iron and Wine, Gregory Alan Isakov has been described as "strong, subtle, a lyrical genius" and has shared the stage with touring artists such as Calexico, Mumford & Sons, Fiona Apple, DeVotchka, and Brandi Carlile. He has performed throughout the United States and Europe and appeared at numerous music festivals such as South By Southwest, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Rocky Mountain Folks Fest. Gregory has toured solo and with his band "The Freight," and has released a quartet of albums.
The Festy Presents with The Southern:
Rubblebucket
The Founding Fathers
Saturday, February 18, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$10 in advance/$12 day of show
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
Rubblebucket's second studio album, Omega La La produced by Eric Broucek (LCD Soundsystem, !!!, Holy Ghost) @ DFA Studios & mastered by Joe Lambert (Animal Collective, Dirty Projectors, Herbie Hancock) came out June 21st.
Paste Magazine:
"Joyous jungles of worldly pop-funk, instrumentally rich but catchy enough to ass-kick Katy Perry off the pop charts (in a just world) mega-melodic without sacrificing an ounce of atmosphere or creativity."
CBS The Street Date:
"Very few bands of the hipster generation care to challenge the confines of a song structure as vigorously and successfully as Rubblebucket does throughout Omega La La."
Spin:
"A must-hear artist"
LA Music Blog:
"They sound like hippies who have taken over a city, hog-tied any uptight citizens, and painted all the yucky grey/brown buildings in acrylic colors and neon war paint."
SF Weekly:
"What it sounds like when eight different freak flags fly in perfect unison."
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The Infamous Stringdusters present The Festy Experience, a 3-day camping festival over Columbus Day weekend (Oct 5 - 7) at The Concert Grounds at Devils Backbone in Nelson County, Virginia (45 mi. from Charlottesville). Hosted and curated by The Infamous Stringdusters, The Festy Experience celebrates and combine the best in live music, outdoor sports and lifestyle, craft beer culture and raging good times.
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A Mid-Winterland Dance Party with:
Alligator
The Electricians
Sunday, February 19, 2012 Doors at 5:00pm/Show at 6:00pm
$12 in advance/$15 day of show
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
Alligator is an all-star Charlottesville band playing early vintage Grateful Dead. The band is composed of musicians from some of Charlottesville's most well-known groups, including Indecision, Skip Castro Band, William Walter, and The Casuals. The group focuses on the energy, instrumental interplay, and experimentation of the early days of one of the 20th century's most unique bands. Song selection includes such classics as Casey Jones, New Speedway Boogie, Lovelights, Scarlet/Fire, Truckin', and The Other One.
Alligator is Bob Girard - Vocals, Susan Munson - Vocals, Aaron Evans - Guitar, Charlie Pastorfield - Guitar And Vocals, Stuart Holme - Bass, Corky Schoonover - Drums, Craig Dougald - Drums, and Shep Williams - Keyboards.
The Electricians are a diverse group of creative artists who come together to celebrate an iconic American music through the prism of their own improvisational points of view. The Electricians bring a fresh energy and modern perspective to a particularly colorful set of pages from the pop songbook.
The Electricians are John Zias - Lead Guitar and Vocals, Billy Sokol - Bass Guitar, Jon Ezrine - Rhythm Guitar and Vocals, Michael Sokolowski - Keyboards, and Dan DeGregory - Drums and Vocals.
The Charlottesville Comedy Roundtable Presents at The Southern:
What the Yuck?! Open Mic Comedy Night
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm
FREE
RSVP Now
Come check out What the Yuck?! Open Mic Comedy Night, Charlottesville's oldest and funkiest comedy open mic night! The Ville's best comics take the stage to try out their new material and/or put some polish on their old material.
Doors open at 8 and comics can sign up till 8:30. The Funny stuff starts at 9pm. Bring your friends and your best five minutes and show us what you got. No Cover!
Other Lives
WIM
Thursday February 23, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$10
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
There's no point in trying to unearth an obvious "single" in Other Lives' second album, Tamer Animals. Here's a better idea instead: succumb. Let every last song wash over you like proper long players once did, from the swift strings and pulsating horns - a technique learned from old Philip Glass LPs - of "Dark Horse" to the richly orchestrated denouement of "Heading East," a cut that could have been cribbed from the early instrumental sessions of Other Lives' old band Kunek.
"The core of that band is still with me," says frontman Jesse Tabish, who founded Kunek with cellist Jenny Hsu and drummer Colby Owens. "In a lot of ways, it's still what I gravitate towards, songwriting wise."
Unlike their self-titled debut - a studio-bound effort that was produced by Beck's longtime drummer, Joey Waronker - Tamer Animals was tracked in the privacy of the band's own space in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Waronker eventually mixed the entire affair and sanded down its edges, but it took Other Lives 14 months to get to that point.
We're not talking about lazy Sunday sessions here, either. More like 11 songs that were carefully sculpted over time, with certain sounds creeping up when the record called for them, and nothing that's forced or rushed.
WIM have emerged on the scene out of relative obscurity. There have been whispers about them for years following their wondrous live shows; and now their haunting tunes will bring them into the limelight. Now Modular is proud as punch to announce their debut album to be released...
WIM's debut, self-titled record has been a creative meeting of minds, having been produced by local legend Tony Buchen (Andy Bull, Ray Man 3, Kid (Andy Bull, Ray Man 3, Kid Confucious) and mixed by industry aristocracy Bob Clearmountain (Springsteen, Roxy Music, INXS) in L.A. The result is an album that encapsulates the best of classic song writing and modern ideas, executed in a phenomenal fashion. The record itself doesn't ooze of a buzz band way ahead of itself but rather a gradually growing group of musicians doing what they do best.
A Double CD Release with:
Wrinkle Neck Mules
Tara Mills with Strings Attached
Friday, February 24, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$10
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
Born somewhere on I-64 between Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia in late 1999, the Wrinkle Neck Mules blend guitars, banjos, mandolins, pedal steel guitars, organs, kitchen sinks, drums and bass together with bluegrass-inspired harmony vocals to distill what The Independent of Raleigh, NC called a "righteous Americana mishmash."
"The five piece Wrinkle Neck Mules temper the roots racket of US forebearers Go to Blazes and The Bottlerockets with the more studious demands of bluegrass. Frontman Andy Stepanian has the throat tones of Steve Earle, shading these songs of old hounds, ditch weed and arsenic in the veins with the darkness they demand. And while there are traces of classic Bakersfield in "Ringing in the Days", it's the mandolin and banjo-picking that truly shine, particularly on "The Whistler Knows Best". "Swagger & Honesty" meanwhile sounds like a Southern anthem fit for Skynryd."
-UNCUT Magazaine
Inspired by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the rich musical traditions tied to them, Tara Mills describes her music as, "original blue ridge mountain folk."
Writing and singing most of her life, it wasn't long before Tara picked up a guitar and taught herself how to express the melodies in her head through her songs and hauntingly beautiful lyrics.
Influenced by bluegrass, old country, and traditional mountain folk, she creates an original sound that captures true human feeling and emotion.
Based out of Charlottesville, VA, Tara's current project, Tara Mills with Strings Attached, incorporates some of the areas most talented musicians performing original blue ridge folk and bluegrass.
Blue Dogs
Saturday, February 25, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$12
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
Bluegrass worthy of being blasted out of the windows of a Plymouth Barracuda with 451 Hemi engine, the Blue Dogs boast a personal history that has endeared themselves to the nascent "alt-country" scene with a whiz-bang melding of roots-rock rumble, bluegrass chicanary, and honky-tonk reverence.
Like mad cutural terrorists, they've taken the norm and fed it through a Americana blender. Youthful and deep-dyed bluegrass taken to the next level - and it is both timely and exciting!
Blue Dogs' fans are predominantly hard-working, twenty-and thirty-plus-somethings who have developed a fierce loyalty and deep love of the collective's conversion-by-force performances. The Blue Dogs' fierce work ethic - long tours and long sets - and enduring spirit both are genuine. With as big-as-the-room personas, an ability to rock the doors of the most jaded clubs, the heart to hold a room completely still, and a genius for arrangement, these merry makers are one of the most unique bands around. They are in favor of laying themselves at the feet of a rambunctious, freewheeling, unfettered sound, and wood-shedding it until so-called roots revivalists, snooty bluegrass purists, and alt-country poseurs are sent into paroxysms of self-doubt and years of expensive therapy.
Heartless Bastards
The Fling
Wednesday February 29, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$14
Limited Seating Available
Buy Tickets
The Heartless Bastards' story starts in Dayton, Ohio, where Erika Wennerstrom found the name on a multiple choice video trivia game at a bar.
As a songwriting teenager during a time when GBV and Brainiac were packing local bars and three of the Breeders were still in town, Wennerstrom used to sneak into clubs to check out the scene. "I would just see those people - my music heroes-hanging out at the bar like everyone else," she remembers. "I could see myself in them. It gave me inspiration to do my own thing."
After doing the usual business of playing local shows, the trio set out the following year on a regional tour. One of the first gigs of the trip took them to a bar in Akron, where Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney just happened to be one of only a handful of people in the audience. This chance encounter led Wennerstrom and the Heartless Bastards to Fat Possum Records, with whom they released their debut, Stairs and Elevators, in early 2005.
The band moved on with critical praise in their back pocket, including a four-and-a-half star review from Rolling Stone, which took note that, when Wennerstrom "opens her throat on Stairs and Elevators she sounds like she's wailing on the shoulders of giants; her sad and angry vocals channeling all the swagger and spit of a young Robert Plant." By whatever yardstick you care to measure, it was high time for Erika to get out of Dayton.
In true ascetic discipline, she moved to Austin, Texas in 2007 for a change of inspirational scenery and a new recording project. With the help of producer Mike McCarthy (Spoon, Trail of Dead), she assembled a group of musicians with whom she gave the songs life and uncovered yet another layer of Wennerstrom and the Heartless Bastards. Two of the new Bastards aren't Texas ringers, but with fellow Dayton brethren Dave Colvin on drums, and Jesse Ebaugh on bass, who actually played on the original demo that hooked Fat Possum, and one Austin native on guitar, Mark Nathan - and you've got a new unstoppable force that according to the NY Times review of the Bastards' SxSW record release performance, "take the stage and literally knock everybody down."
Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin
Friday, March 2, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm/Show at 8:00pm
$12 in advance/$15 day of show
Seated Show
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Named to the Chicago Tribune's 50 Most Significant Songwriters in the Last 50 Years, Austin, TX-based singer/songwriter Danny Schmidt has been rapidly ascending from underground cult hero to being widely recognized as an artist of generational significance. With lyrical depth drawing comparisons to Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, and Dave Carter, Danny is considered a preeminent writer, an artist whose earthy poetry manages to somehow conjure magic from the mundane, leading Sing Out Magazine to tag him "Perhaps the best new songwriter we've heard in the last 15 years."
Performing solo almost exclusively, armed with just his voice, his words, and his acoustic guitar, Danny's an authentic timeless troubadour, one man sharing his truth in the form of songs, unadorned and intimate. The uderstated effect can be startlingly powerful. As songwriter Jeffrey Foucault put it: "Everything about the man is gentle, except for his capacity for insight, which is crushing."
After garnering unanimous critical praise for his self-released Parables & Primes album in 2005, Danny's follow up release, Little Grey Sheep in 2007 began an unbroken streak of albums that have charted at #1 on the Folk Radio Charts, internationally. After also winning the prestigeous Kerrville New Folk award in 2007, Danny won the notice of venerable Americana roots label, Red House Records, who began releasing his albums in 2009, starting with the critically acclaimed album, Instead The Forest Rose To Sing, thus exposing a much broader audience to Danny's music, alongside such notable artists as Greg Brown, Eliza Gilkyson, Jorma Kaukonen, and John Gorka.
Carrie Elkin is a soulful singer with a gypsy spirit, a songwriter with a keen eye. Inspired by her travels and the many places she has called home-- Ohio, New Mexico, Colorado, Boston, Austin--she documents the human condition with sensitivity and humor, crafting songs that have garnered attention at prestigious songwriting contests, including Mountain Stage NewSong and the Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist Showcase.
Carrie is a born performer, possessing an infectious energy that cannot be contained. As Maverick Magazine so eloquently put it: "We have never seen a performer so in love with the act of singing. Onstage Elkin was simply a force of nature." With her dazzling voice and unpretentious charm, she wins over new fans at every show, whether playing at a headlining club gig, singing the national anthem in front of 20,000 at a Chicago Bulls game or opening for artists like Jesse Winchester, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Greg Brown.
Anais Mitchell
Saturday, March 3, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$10 in advance/$12 day of show
Limited Seating Available
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In case you haven't met her, Anais Mitchell is not a man. She's a woman, quick
to laugh and to cry, a fan of Jane Austen and miniskirts. She came of age
reading the diaries of Anais Nin and blasting early Ani Difranco records. So it
may catch a few listeners off-guard when Mitchell cries out, in the opening
sequence of her latest album, "I'm a young man!" And it may come as a
surprise when, over the course of eleven songs, she seems to be channeling
spirits from the Old Testament to modern America - but mostly, well, from the
Y chromosome.
If there's a common thread in Mitchell's work - from her earliest ballads, to the
opera, to this new chapter - it's that she's as interested in the world around her
as the one inside her. She has a way of tackling big themes with the same
emotional intimacy most artists use to describe their inner lives. "That's why,"
as one journalist put it, "there's a sexual ambiguity about her work and why,
even in her most intimate moments, she never sounds like a confessional
songwriter." It doesn't matter whether the stories she tells are her own or
someone else's. "The emotions are my own," says Mitchell. "As for the Young
Man, he's in me too, I feel his restlessness a lot. He's a part of me like my
dad's old book or like something an old lover said one time. Those parts of
ourselves that haunt us, sometimes we have to appease them with an offering
of food and wine so they'll quit haunting us for a while. This album is that kind
of offering."
The Festy Presents with The Southern:
The Wood Brothers
Whitehorse
Sunday, March 18, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$15
Limited Seating Available
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Two brothers decide to form a band, adapting the blues, folk and other roots-music sounds they loved as kids into their own evocative sound and twining their voices in the sort of high-lonesome harmony blend for which sibling singers are often renowned. While that's not a terribly unusual story, the Wood Brothers took a twisty path to their ultimate collaboration. Indeed, they pursued separate projects for some 15 years before joining forces.
You wouldn't necessarily gather this fact from listening to Smoke Ring Halo (Southern Ground), the duo's third full-length album - their musical chemistry has never felt more profound. Oliver Wood (guitar, vocals) and Chris Wood (bass, vocals, harmonica) refine their rich, spacious sound and with supple assistance from drummer Tyler Greenwell and a fleet of gifted guest players - not to mention Grammy-nominated producer-engineer-mixer Jim Scott (Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Lucinda Williams) - the brothers simmer, swing and soar, shifting moods and time signatures with aplomb. As ever, Oliver's lived-in, expressive voice and urgent fretwork bounce off Chris' propulsive stand-up bass lines, in-the-pocket harmonies and ghostly harmonica phrases.
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The Infamous Stringdusters present The Festy Experience, a 3-day camping festival over Columbus Day weekend (Oct 5 - 7) at The Concert Grounds at Devils Backbone in Nelson County, Virginia (45 mi. from Charlottesville). Hosted and curated by The Infamous Stringdusters, The Festy Experience celebrates and combine the best in live music, outdoor sports and lifestyle, craft beer culture and raging good times.
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Bowerbirds
Dry the River
Monday, March 19, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$10
Limited Seating Available
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Societies sometimes sing their best songs for centuries. Consider that antediluvian American lament "Goodbye, Old Paint," or the worn murder ballads of the Appalachians, which still send shivers down spines and inspire new renditions, variations and song cycles. Ancient as they may be, these tunes still resonate emotionally, echoing some feeling each of us has likely felt.
The best songs of North Carolina's Bowerbirds have always seemed equally eternal. Coruscated by Beth Tacular's bird song and Phil Moore's environmentalist empathy, "In Our Talons" was, at its core, a quest for solidarity in a world of closing shadows. "Northern Lights" painted a pained portrait of love shrouded in doubt as perfectly as Cash, Dylan or Cohen ever have. These felt like more than songs; they felt like treasures.
But those recordings were made on the quick and the cheap, with nylon-stringed guitars, fiddle lines and drum patterns that became comfortable. You could imagine these songs as old stateside standards, because, really, that's how they sounded--campfire anthems sung by a couple clinging to very deep love.
Jukebox the Ghost
Speak
The Elwins
Friday March 23, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$10
Limited Seating Available
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The appeal of a modern, on the rise indie band like Jukebox the Ghost is simple: They write catchy songs. On top of that, they're dynamic, skilled musicians. The band's records are carefully structured, yet wildly diverse affairs. And the live show? Energetic, crowd-pleasing, cathartic.
Originally formed during college in Washington D.C., Jukebox the Ghost (the name's an amalgam of Captain Beefheart and Nabakov references) won accolades for that first record, Let Live and Let Ghosts, which Spin called "a refreshing reminder that the lighthearted electricity of a fantastic pop song is still filled with live wires." The band - Ben Thornewill, Tommy Siegel and drummer Jesse Kristin - jelled quickly, despite their disparate musical backgrounds in everything from classical piano to prog to indie to 80s Brit-pop. Collectively, the group delivered an unabashedly upbeat, playful sound with a sly dark streak.
Since their 2008 debut, Let Live and Let Ghosts, a sunny, piano-led explosion of pop exuberance, JTG has logged hundreds of shows and thousands of hours on tour.
Reptar
Friday, March 30, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$10
Limited Seating Available
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From the greater Athens-Atlanta-Asheville area, the four members of Reptar have been playing music since the beginning of recorded history, but playing shows as Reptar since December 2008. Since then, Reptar has created quite a sensation around the Southeast and just wrapped up a 7" recording with producer Ben Allen (Sean P. Diddy Combs, Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Beastie Boys Matt and Kim) to be released on Allen's label Make Records Not Bombs.
Reptar likes to dance and have been likened to The Talking Heads, Animal Collective, Prince, Marky Mark, Lake, Air, and the Jackon 5. The band is made up of Andrew McFarland, a Brazilian native, classically trained snare drummer, and sophmore at UGA, Ryan Engleberger, who currently attends Dartmouth College in the Artic Circle majoring in Jaco Pastorius' fretless bass, Graham Ulicny, a hernianted African Soukous guitarist and AstroBioElectroPhysics student at the University of North Carolina in Asheville, and William Kennedy, great godson to Herbie Hancock's ARP 2600 and connosiour of fine chocolate (85% cocao or above) and sophmore at UGA. With Reptar's powers combined, they can topple small buildings, smaltzy restaurants, and shmuppy next-door-neighbors with our devastating wall of synthesizers and samples. Dig?
WNRN 91.9FM Presents:
Jonny Corndawg
Shovels and Rope
Robert Ellis
Saturday April 7, 2012 Doors at 8:00pm/Show at 9:00pm
$10
Limited Seating Available
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Jonny Corndawg is a country singer, not a singer-songwriter. Born in Montana, raised in rural Virginia, Corndawg has been touring on his motorcycle since he dropped out of school in 2001. He's played shows in every U.S. state, Canada and eleven European countries, Australia, Argentina and India. But you won't find him on CMT. His music is more in the vein of that obscure '70s gay country that housewives would discover on a Bear Family reissue in twenty years. In addition to pursuing the lost art of the Real Deal, Corndawg is an airbrushing, leather-working, marathon-running, truck-driving American. Born and Bred.
For Shovels and Rope necessity is the mother of invention. Less is more. Make it work with what you've got. 2 Guitars, a junkyard drum kit (harvested from an actual garbage heap- adorned with tamborines, flowers and kitchen rags), a handful of harmonicas, voices, and above all.. songs. Cary Ann Hearst & Michael Trent prefer to keep it simple. They have cleverly managed to take 3 separate recording projects and co...mbine them into 1 cohesive, folk rock, sloppy tonk, harmonized, loose but tight, streamlined audience killing machine.
The New York Times recently proclaimed that Houston, Texas native Robert Ellis sounds "equally inspired by Jackson Browne and George Jones." Not a bad reference point for an artist only twenty-two years old. Ellis cut his teeth performing the songs of similar luminaries around town, most notably at the neighborhood beacon, Fitzgerald's. His "Whiskey Wednesdays" at that club are regularly packed with punkish newcomers and graying locals sharing a mutual interest in artists ranging from Ray Price to Buck Owens to the Rolling Stones.
WNRN is a public radio station in central Virginia that is supported by donations from listeners and by business underwriting. There are no commercials. We invite you to explore our site, to listen to our live broadcast, to participate in the listener survey, and to send us any comments or questions you have about our program or web site.
WNRN 91.9FM
The Boxer Rebellion
Canon Blue
Sunday, April 22, 2012 Doors at 7:00pm/Show at 8:00pm
$10 in advance/$12 day of show
Limited Seating Available
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In an industry replete with egoism, showmanship and self-aggrandisement, The Boxer Rebellion have always remained refreshingly understated, whilst producing a musical output that is anything but. Comprising a line-up that neither eschews nor basks in the spotlight, what you get with this band more than any other is a sense of shared purpose - a unity impervious to external influence or critical sloganeering, which divides itself into equally vital parts of a greater whole.
"We've always been a band that's had a sense of seclusion, which has helped us extract the essence of what we are as a unit," guitarist Todd Howe reveals of their working process, a point succinctly and wryly punctuated by frontman Nathan Nicholson: "I think if we were solo artists, we'd have all quit by now."
It's this sense of alliance that has allowed The Boxer Rebellion to navigate a path beset with industry indifference and financial hardship to forge a career that has set industry landmarks from the base materials of undeniable talent and a cast-iron will.
Rumspringa is the 11-song orchestral pop marvel from Canon Blue, the solo project from American singer-songwriter Daniel James. The record was written while touring the world with Danish indie rock band Efterklang, and primarily recorded in the off-hours at their Copenhagen studio. A tour de force if there ever was one, Rumspringa is a classical exploration of emotions, with nuanced arrangements of woodwinds, brass and percussion lending a unique tenderness to modern melodies and lyrics.
After recording the record's skeleton in Copenhagen, James traveled to Iceland to record orchestral arrangements with renowned string quartet Amiina (most famously recognized as Sigur R—s' string section). The expansive, gleeful result is an ingenious combination of the old and the new, a lush minimalism that allows James' graceful lyrics to float through the air as if time is suspended. Rumspringa's songs combine the soulful intimacy of Jeff Buckley and the playful whimsy of Sufjan Stevens with the stately meditation of Steve Reich and Philip Glass.
Canon Blue's auspicious beginnings are rooted in the 2007 debut album, Colonies, a bedroom electronic folk collaboration with Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. Rumspringa sees James fully realizing his role as both composer and songwriter, something he has learned through his years on the road. Having explored the world and explored his own musical potential and desires, this is the result - a record that is neither new nor old, neither completely contemplative nor completely giddy, but certainly complete, and certainly a wonder to behold.
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Just Announced:
Sunday, April 22, 2012
The Boxer Rebellion
Canon Blue
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Saturday, April 7, 2012
WNRN 91.9FM Presents:
Jonny Corndawg
Shovels and Rope
Robert Ellis
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Friday, March 30, 2012
Reptar
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Friday, March 23, 2012
Jukebox the Ghost
Speak
The Elwins
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Monday, March 19, 2012
Bowerbirds
Dry the River
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Sunday, March 18, 2012
The Wood Brothers
Whitehorse
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Saturday, March 3, 2012
Anais Mitchell
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Friday, March 2, 2012
Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin
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Wednesday, February 29, 2012
The Fling
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Saturday, February 25, 2012
Blue Dogs
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Friday, February 24, 2012
A Double CD Release with:
Wrinkle Neck Mules
Tara Mills with Strings Attached
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Thursday, February 23, 2012
Other Lives
WIM
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Sunday, February 19, 2012
A Mid-Winterland Dance Party with:
Alligator
The Electricians
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Saturday, February 18, 2012
The Festy Presents:
Rubblebucket
The Founding Fathers
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Gregory Alan Isakov
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Songs for Candy Hearts
A Valentine's Day Show with:
Sarah White & The Pearls
Phillip St. Ours
Sally Rose
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Monday, February 13, 2012
Magnus Music Presents:
This Will Destroy You
Mountains
Amen Dunes
Historic
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Saturday, February 11, 2012
106.1 The Corner Presents:
Scars on 45
Anya Marina
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Saturday, February 4, 2012
William Walter & Co.
DJ Williams Projekt
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Friday, February 3, 2012
The Festy Presents:
Wes Swing
Sarah Siskind
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Thursday, February 2, 2012
Delta Rae
The Design
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