“I had an epic journey to get here,” SeepeopleS front man and multi-instrumentalist Will Bradford says from a studio in Boston. Now you see them: Although SeepeopleS frontman Will Bradford (far right) and drummer Tim Haney (second from right) are based in Asheville, the rest of the group isn’t exactly local. Keyboardist Peter Keys (far […]

In the view of legendary Canadian singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, the folk-music revival was “really only in vogue for three years” before The Beatles burst on the music scene. And by the time folk superstar Bob Dylan hit, folk was already over. If you could read his mind: Gordon Lightfoot has long been one of Canada’s […]

Dan Whitney, better known as his alter ego, Larry the Cable Guy, insists that he’s “very deadpan, very serious” before chortling into the phone. “I like telling jokes and doing what I do, so I’m pretty much always in a good mood,” he says. “Let’s just say I don’t sweat the small stuff.” Blue-collar, and […]

Since their 2003 debut Gallowsbird’s Bark, The Fiery Furnaces have left listeners swooning in a state of confused delight as they repeatedly trounce genre boundaries and make each record radically different from the last. Consisting of siblings Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger and a rotating cast of support musicians, the Furnaces have veered from lo-fi, skeletal […]

Maceo Parker is the last of a dying breed. As one of music’s last true superstar sidemen, Parker has played his signature stuttering and stammering saxophone lines all over some of soul music’s most beloved songs. That’s him accenting James Brown’s grunts on classics such as “I Feel Good,” “Out of Sight,” and “Papa’s Got […]

The funkiest man in Asheville, it seems safe to say, is Otis Ware. But for the founder of legendary local bands The Innersouls and Bite, Chew & Spit, you might think that what drove him in the days of tour busses, sold-out shows and fending off groupies is a thing of the past. After all, […]

Saturday nights are not supposed to be spent like this: I’m lying on a cold concrete floor, hands around my head, feigning pain from a forearm shot to the face. Life’s a drag: Teen sensation El Chupa Rosa takes down Aaron Vaughn with an arm drag. Photos by Jonathan Welch. Just seconds ago, a 6-foot-3-inch, […]

With a name like the Asylum Street Spankers, preconceptions are almost impossible to avoid. And in this case, they’re probably accurate. From the wry humor and social commentary of their breakaway YouTube hit “Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV” to Mommy Says No!, their award-winning children’s album, the Spankers have made a career of defying […]

“Independent bands have a hard time getting clout,” says Victoria Karol, who’s organizing the first Music Video Asheville event (in addition to her work handling publicity for local pop group SeepeopleS and managing new movie-and-dining venue Cinebarre). Silver screen sounds: Stephanie’s Id (pictured), SeepeopleS, The Makeout Room and other local bands will present their music […]

It used to be that the widely held American conception of Irish culture culminated in leprechauns, green beer and a penchant for belting out choruses of “Danny Boy.” Along came Michael Flatley, and all that changed. Well, not exactly, but it is true that despite the fact that the number of New York City residents […]

Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains: A Guidebook (University of North Carolina Press, 2007) by Georgann Eubanks is a revelation. In turns historic tome, travel guide, Southern-heritage volume and trivia collection, the book is exactly the sort of thing that’s so obvious it’s a wonder no one wrote it sooner, and such an ambitious […]