String and bluegrass bands take over Pisgah Brewing Company, and the lineup — though steeped in tradition — boasts some new configurations. Namely, the collaboration between singer-songwriter Keller Williams and The Travelin' McCourys (the backing band for guitarist/vocalist Del McCoury). Williams released Pick with The Travelin' McCourys to instant acclaim; this will be the first […]

More than a year after a weekend-long film shoot at the Masonic Temple wrapped on Ben Lovett's Black Curtain, the music video/short film is set to screen during a night of live music performances at Isis. A preview of the lush, dramatic video reveals a slick, professional work of art. But it's also rife with […]

It was during a 2006 interview that singer-songwriter Dave Desmelik revealed his plan to someday release an instrumental album. The time has finally come, in the form of Instrumental Swim, the musician's new 16-song collection. Tracks range from poignant ("A Short Walk on South Leroux Street) to lush ("Waiting"), with layers of guitars, harmonica and […]

The Pure Heart Ensemble is the quintet of local visionary composers and musicians Richard Shulman, Adriana Contino, Kate Steinbeck, Dielle Ciesco and Bob Hinkle. The group has just released Bliss of Being, "a deeply relaxing and expansive music to dive into for your natural inner alignment," according to press. It's a collaborative work of piano, […]

Electronic/metal band Kings of Prussia got its start in Miami before relocating to Asheville in '06. According to the group’s bio, "The band’s show covers a wide range of territory, with beautiful melodic structures and movements intertwined with thrashing heavy explosiveness, an intricate visual display and lighting show and distinctly original artistic style." Kings of […]

"Ziggy played guitar / jamming good with Weird and Gilly / and the Spiders from Mars." We can't say for sure who, in this David Bowie tribute lineup, is Weird or Gilly or the Spiders from Mars, but we have it on good authority that Cheeksters frontman Mark Casson will be channeling Mr. Stardust himself. […]

At this year's Happening, new media artist Rae Whitlock decorated a cabin teenage-girl style, with QR codes placed around the //COMMENT!//SUBSCRIBE!// exhibition linking to internet videos. Her interactive installations "explore notions of gender identity, sexuality and social media." Whitlock's //COMMENT!//SUBSCRIBE!// will be on display at Apothecary on Monday, May 27, as part of Off the […]

Americana Burlesque & Sideshow Festival returns for the seventh year and, as press for the event boasts, "neo-Burlesque is only getting bigger." The Friday-Sunday, May 24-26 weekend-long extravaganza is dedicated to empowerment, innovation and information. There are also shopping opportunities, sideshow acts and a Friday Night Speakeasy (at The Grey Eagle, 8 and 10:30 p.m., […]

The Bus Driver Tour is not actually a musical project featuring those long-suffering schleppers of school children. It's the collaboration of three songwriters (Danny Freund, Ian Thomas and Paul Lee Kupfer) who met on the road and, according to their bio, "shared a common code of living that would find them around campfires late at […]

James McCartney took his time building his own recording career. He's currently in the midst of a 47-date U.S. tour in support of his new album, Me. The record is McCartney's first full-length, though he has previously released two digital-only EPs, Available Light and Close At Hand. But he's not exactly new to music: he […]

If you like your bluegrass a little bit rough around the edges, this Friday, May 17, brings a double bill of exactly that sort of sound. Love Canon, from Charlottesville, Va. describes its picking style as if “Rocky IV, Cyndi Lauper, ZZ Top, Aha and Dire Straits played with banjo, mandolin and high lonesome vocals.” […]

WNC-raised author Wiley Cash is the honoree at this year's Blue Ridge Bookfest. His 2012 novel, A Land More Kind Than Home, was mentioned in O Magazine's “10 titles to pick up.” Other authors appearing at the festival for readers and writers are 2013 Chautauqua Prize finalist John Wood, Greenville pastor Matt Matthews and award-winning […]

NPR listed Black Twig Pickers' Rough Carpenters as one of its most-anticipated releases for 2013, which is a pretty good way to start a year. But the Appalachian old-time band, whose members come from Virginia and West Virginia, has also been keeping busy touring in and out of the U.S., as well as playing and […]

The first time that Kelsey Kopecky and Gabe Simon played together, they were barely more than strangers and yet, "it felt like we’d known each other forever," says the Kopecky Family Band's website. And while the familial relations are spiritual rather than biological, the Nashville-based sextet claims strong ties to one another, along with a […]

The cello is kind of a secret weapon. It's smooth and orchestral, but effectively emotive and surprisingly versatile. Think: Ben Sollee, Pearl and the Beard and Rasputina. And add Asheville's own Polly Panic to that list — the cello rock band's show has been described as "an assaulting tenderness entangled with dark, odd metered theater." […]