Bele Chere is back (not that you ever doubted it would be): The annual downtown Asheville street festival (the largest of its kind in the southeast) is set to run Friday-Sunday, July 27-29 and will include arts and crafts, food booths, vendors, dancing, street performances, kids activities and live music. You know, standard festy protocol. But what you’re really curious about is the live music part, right? The full lineup goes live today at noon on the festival website. Here’s what it looks like:
• ArtOfficial — hip-hop, jazz and funk from Miami.
• Aunt Martha — indie/folk-rockers from Wilmot, N.H.
• Balsam Range — bluegrass, gospel, folk and jazz from Appalachia.
• Blackberry Smoke — country/southern rock from Atlanta.
• BoomBox — producers/DJs/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists duo Russ Randolph and Zion Rock Godchaux (the later of Grateful Dead parentage), based in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
• Boys in the Well — folk, rock and pop from Charlotte, N.C.
• Brandi Carlile — alt-country singer.
• Crazy Horse & Colston — local hip-hop duo.
• David Holt — local storyteller, historian, TV host and old-time/folk musician.
• David Mayfield Parade — folk-rocker, guitarist, Cadillac Sky contributor, friend to Dan Auerbach and brother to Bele Chere headliner alum Jessica Lea Mayfield.
• David Wax Museum — high-energy roots, folk, Mexo-American fusion group.
• Delta Rae — rising sister-brother Americana act from Durham.
• Doc Aquatic — local psychedelic indie-rockers.
• Dr. Dog — Philly-based indie-rockers, frequent Asheville visitors and friends to Seth Kauffman.
• Eazy — local hip-hop artist aka Ethan Andrew McMahan.
• Grown Up Avenger Stuff — rock band from Charlotte that includes a dad, his two sons, and Charlotte’s 2010 best female vocalist.
• Inner Visions — reggae family band from St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Jody Medford & Cash Creek — Local country singer and the man behind the video “Moonshine” about Popcorn Sutton.
• Jonathan Scales Fourchestra — locally-based steel pan fusion.
• Kovacs & the Polar Bear — local indie-rock.
• Lacy Green — recent UNC Chapel Hill grad/soon-to-be Nashville-based country/bluegrass/gospel singer.
• Larry Keel and Natural Bridge — bluegrass picker from Virginia.
• Lorraine Conard Band — local blues/Americana singer-songwriter.
• Los Amigos Invisibles — acid jazz/disco/funk Latin GRammy winners from Venezuela.
• Lucero — country-punk outfit from Memphis.
• Lyric — local pop, rock and funk.
• Michael Reno Harrell — singer-songwriter/storyteller from southern Appalachia.
• Randall Bramblett — Georgia-born singer-songwriter and collaborator with the likes of Gregg Allman, Bonnie Raitt and Robbie Robertson.
• Spicy Moustache & the Flavor Saviors — local funk, rock, hip-hop and soul.
• stephaniesid — local indie-pop.
• Tenn Hollow — local Americana act formerly known as Tennessee Hollow.
• The Archrivals — local indie-rock/jazz collective with members of stephaniesid.
• The Buchanan Boys — country music from Sylva.
• The Critters — local psychedelic indie-rock.
• The Swayback Sisters — local Americana, country and soul.
• The Travis Smith Project — Christian r&b from Spartanburg.
• Whitney Moore — local Latin, world and jazz vocalist.
• Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band — local funk/rock/party band.
Looks like they are finally listening to people.
Lucero!!!!
I think you’re right Orbit, they’re catching on.
Thank goodness… a broad range of genres, hip-hop included, and strong local representation!
Looks good to me … except for the hip-hop … oh well … at lease jam bands are gone!
OK, it’s been a whole ten years now since the last time Foghat was the headliner. That’s just wrong.
I agree, looks like a lot of the lineup from the Soco stage at Montford Fest last weekend… Minus Pick Your Switch, but I guess they’ll be asked to play after their third Bonnaroo,
“OK, it’s been a whole ten years now since the last time Foghat was the headliner. That’s just wrong.”
And I bet that was the first time they’d headlined anything (outside of a Shriner’s hoedown) since, oh, the mid 1980’s.
I recall seeing the original band promoting their first album, opening up for Humble Pie. They were darned good, and had they opened for most any other band, they’d have stolen the show. As it was, they did hold their own. I saw them years later at some small club and they had not aged well. Of course, most of them are dead now.
I thought Bele Chere was canceled this year?
Bele Chere, where unknown bands go to be famous?