The computerized origin of Carroll’s music is offset to a large degree by the organic feel of the songs on Flight Patterns. “I feel connected to Western North Carolina as a region and environment,” he says.

The computerized origin of Carroll’s music is offset to a large degree by the organic feel of the songs on Flight Patterns. “I feel connected to Western North Carolina as a region and environment,” he says.
Andrew Scotchie & the River Rats debut their third album, Family Dynamo, and Doc Aquatic launches Shadowless Man. Both shows are scheduled for Friday, June 29; the River Rats play Highland Brewing Co. while Doc Aquatic takes the stage at The Mothlight.
The band got its start when brothers Adam and Jonathan Clayton (on keyboards and guitar respectively) put the project together in 2015. After some personnel shifts, the band settled on its current lineup of the Clayton twins plus guitarist Tim Husk, drummer Cartwright Brandon and bassist Kenny Crowley.
Earlier this year, the dance-rock group took some rare time off from performing to record a new album, titled Natural Mind, which it celebrates with a hometown show on Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Asheville Music Hall.
Electro-soul group RBTS WIN commemorates the release of its fourth album, Sensitivity Kit, with a performance at The Grey Eagle on Friday, Aug. 25. Hip-hop artist Foul Mouth Jerk drops his latest effort, Scofflaw, with a Saturday, Aug. 26, show at Isis Music Hall.
The first of its kind, this album will be released on Sunday, May 21, at New Mountain.
Originally from Roosevelt, N.Y., Conner moved to Asheville about four years ago. His parents and sister now live here, too, but “when I came in just to visit, I liked the place, the idea that there’s no set way to do anything. Whoever wants to make their own way can play,” he says.
Currently a four-piece (banjo player Jim McCarthy and guitarist Dave Gilbert plus bassist Max Steel and Ween drummer Claude Coleman Jr.), Skunk Ruckus originally came together around the core duo of McCarthy and Steel. Gilbert describes that duo’s sound as “old-time ballads with electric bass.”
“One thing we really try to do is honor the fundamentals that are so important to old-time and bluegrass music: the timing, the tones, the hard-driving rhythms,” says Stickley. Despite the adventurousness of the trio’s arrangements, Stickley says that he still often feels the he’s “playing music that could be done around the campfire with a couple of other people who know the songs.”
It’s hard to choose just five favorite albums. From hip-hop to soul and roots music to lush dream-pop, the offerings are as varied as the fanbase.