A crowd of about 40 have come out to BoBo Gallery on this windy April evening. It is the usual eclectic scene one expects at this art gallery of a meeting place at the top of Lexington Ave. Some sip wine, others swill beer, while I snag a pint of water and duck into the […]

The coffeehouse circuit thrives on the nerve bundles of the ultra sensitive. Folks who stop just short of intravenous caffeine drips hang on every fluffed word from the solitary singer balanced atop the gratuitous stool. How would this scene mutate if, perhaps, it moved to a spot where beer ran rampant and idle conversation grazed […]

There are few places on the planet where, in 2009, should you want to catch a vintage-styled swing band, you’d have to take your pick. Asheville happens to be one those places. There’s the ragtime swing of Woody Pines, the Gypsy Jazz of One Leg Up and the Western swing of Vollie Mackenzie’s Western Wildcats. […]

Drawing inspiration from the ancient wisdom of the 13 Moon Mayan Dreamspell Calendar (a modern application of the Mayan calendar of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica), self-described “cosmic reggae” band Crystal Kind has established a musical niche of its own. At a recent Hookah Joe’s show, the band wove Mayan mysticism with Rastafarian philosophy and principles of Cosmic […]

The vibe at the French Broad Brewery is “work in progress,” what with the bags of barley stacked behind what passes for a stage, the serve-yourself-pretzels and giant brewing vats standing sentry. But “work in progress” is not a bad thing. You’ll find some of Asheville’s finest craft brews at French Broad, and the general […]

Each has its own unique voice and none could be classified as bluegrass or old time, yet all use mountain music as a jumping-off place—and arrive at very different destinations. Trunk Songs by Greg Humphreys These dozen tracks by Durham songwriter Greg Humphreys comprise a teasingly lovely collection that comes on like a gentle breeze […]

Singer/songwriter Eliza Rosbach recently performed for an intimate crowd at BoBo Gallery, marking the beginning of a new female-dominated singer/songwriters gathering to be held on the first Wednesday of every month. These showcases will be hosted by Rosbach and will feature various guest artists. “Yay, female vocal musicians,” cheered Rosbach at the show. “If you […]

Angi West is a musician with such purity, both personally and professionally, that it is evident in her recordings and her live show, harnessed with the ease of sharing a glass of tea with a friend. She finds a rapport with her audiences where an infinite exchange is possible, feeds off her viewers as much […]

In his bio, Silas Durocher says that he aims to combine “classical music with funk and rock n’ roll” to create “music for the head, the heart, and the hips.” It’s a noble pursuit, and on his new debut album, Thesis Statement, he’s largely successful. The young songwriter weaves together astoundingly complex compositions that call […]

How many artists, besides the late Johnny Cash, open with a prison song? Roots and blues musician Woody Pines probably found himself in an exclusive club when he started off a recent Orange Peel set with the song “99 Years.” The thing about Pines (whose band borrows its front man’s stage name) is that he’s […]

To get a feel for the Old Horsey Slideshow, picture the group as statues that come alive and start playing for dancing ghosts, goblins and creepy trees inside a forgotten graveyard in an old vampire movie. Their act is impressive—complete with clear, trained, just damn pretty voices singing three part harmonies, several instruments played in […]

DJ music, perhaps more so than any other concert experience, requires a fairly extensive pre-existing knowledge to get what’s happening on stage. There are musical genres (like drum and bass), subgenres (darkstep, drum funk), fusion genres (Raggajungle, Raggacore); the lineages of which are convoluted and highly debatable. Unlike “genre-defying” bands, DJs seems fairly comfortable with […]

If women are under-represented in the mainstream music industry, they certainly aren’t when it comes to Western N.C.‘s music scene. Female performers take local stages in every genre, from indie-pop to post-punk. Proving that the sisters are doing it for themselves, these three very different recordings by Miriam Allen, Laura Reed and Valorie Miller each […]

The French Broad Brewery and Tasting Room is a pretty innocuous establishment. Children, pets and Brews Cruise tourists pack the cozy space. Even so, singer/songwriter Lyndsay Wojcik—she of the Noxzema complexion and shiny locks—looks like she might be more at home at a horse show than on stage at a bar. And then she starts […]

It would come as no surprise that crowds would fill local venues to peak capacity simply by a band’s name alone—especially if that band happens to be Michael Burgin’s cleverly monikered The Drinker’s Union. While the name brings to mind the Oscar Wilde quip, “Work is the curse of the drinking class,” there’s much more […]

Plot/Scheme by Jonathan Scales The mention of steel drums in most circles elicits thoughts of umbrella-topped danger drinks and portly men stuffed inside batik shirts. Asheville musician Jonathan Scales quells these unfair stereotypes by taking his Caribbean-born instrument on a globe-trotting spree through jazz, funk, reggae, Latin and even bluegrass. Scales’ sophomore release, Plot/Scheme, reveals […]