With Love
With Love is the project of Carrboro-based songwriter Reilly Milburn. With Love melds elements of indie, rock, and emotional hardcore, backed by a powerhouse of multi-instrumentalists – Emmaus Holder, John DiSabito, Bradley Robasky, and Steve. Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify Folkknot is a seafaring quintet based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Never afraid to sail against the wind, Folkknot crafts enchanting indie-folk-pop-rock escapism that beats back against the mainstream current of our modern era, harking at the essence of folk storytelling elements from yesteryear. Captained by frontman Grey Hyatt’s vivid songwriting & lucid vision for his songs, Folkknot’s eclectic instrumentation provides a lush soundscape that brings their songs & stories to life. Website
The Early November & Hellogoodbye: 20 Years Young
There’s a palpable commitment to self that permeates every Hellogoodbye album, a fearless headfirst dive into one’s own inspiration. Where many bands who find success (“Here In Your Arms”, the first single from their debut record, is certified platinum) become beholden to the genre that first brought in their fanbase, Forrest Kline has always been more interested in following his own compass. The breezy ukulele folk-pop moments of debut album “Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!” evolved into joyous indie-punk on 2010’s “Would It Kill You?”. The band’s 3rd album “Everything is Debatable”, is a frenetic electro-dance anxiety practice in controlled chaos. The changes Hellogoodbye make from record to record aren’t attempts to divert expectations, though they undoubtedly do. The title track of “S’Only Natural” conjures up a celebratory vision of balloons falling from the ceiling. Illuminated by sweeping disco strings, the song grooves forward with unassuming confidence, like Meryl Streep sauntering back up to the podium to grab her third Oscar of the night. Each iteration gives Kline a chance to invite the listener into a whole new world, like an older sibling excitedly showing you a new band he just discovered. Now, as the band prepares to embark on a massive celebration of their breakout debut LP, “Zombies! Vampires! Dinosaurs! Vampires!”, they have in their pockets another set of unpredictable pop gems to add to their 20 years of making the world a more sweetly beautiful & humanly random place. Website After two decades, it would be all too easy for a band to just phone it in—capitalize on the fanbase they’ve built up in that time and just make a watered-down version of themselves. Not for The Early November, however. Ever since forming in New Jersey in 2001, the band, now consisting of frontman Ace Enders and founding drummer Jeff Kummer— have constantly been striving to find the best and most definitive version of themselves. With this self-titled record, the seventh studio album of their career, the duo have come as close as is possible to doing so. It’s an album that ties the past, present and future all together, and as such, it marks what Enders calls a “period or exclamation point in our sentence”. It’s not a new beginning, per se, but nevertheless something emphatic that signifies, in Enders’ words again, “a pivotal moment” for them both. “The initial spark of this record was frustration,” he says. “Although we are growing in many ways and it’s a beautiful thing to be able to do what we do, it was born out of feeling like you’re doing the same thing over and over again, and out of this ‘I don’t care’ mentality. Not ‘I don’t care about the world’, but really digging deep artistically and having the view that if this is it, then I want The Early November to finally have the album that’s good enough to be the self-titled album.” “There have been so many highs and lows throughout the career of this band,” adds Kummer, “but it got very dark. And a lot of this record is coming out of that. I feel more connected to where Ace’s mind is with this record than I ever have before.” Interestingly and ironically, that synergy sprang from a more negative place. Website
Indigo de Souza
Indigo De Souza has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 per ticket goes to support The Trevor Project, and their work providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth. TheTrevorProject.org There are moments standing on a high ledge where wild space beckons. In that moment, instinct stirs: “What if I just jumped?” It’s been described as “the call of the void,” an experience somehow more primal than even feeling or urge. On her new album, Precipice (due July 25th via Loma Vista), Indigo De Souza looks over the creative and spiritual cliff and just leaps. The North Carolina native is a prolific, poetic singer-songwriter who already has three albums and four EPs in just seven years, with her most recent full-length (2023’s All of This Wild End) earning rave reviews for her daring vocals and thrilling songwriting. But on her latest, De Souza hears the void calling and calls back, taking control of difficult memories and charged emotions via pop bombast and diaristic clarity, and finding a stronger self. “Life feels like always being on the edge of something without knowing what that something is,” the singer-songwriter says. “Music gives me ways to harness that feeling. Ways to push forward in new directions.” On the album’s title track, De Souza faces down the potential darkness of change, and finds hope in surrendering: “Coming to a precipice/ Holding on for dear life/ Looking out into the world/ Everything has gone dark.” That sort of emotional daredevilry is definitively not new for De Souza. Her catalog brims with unwavering honesty and unflinchingly personal songwriting, including most recently the familial excavation on the pained and mighty All of This Will End. “I feel constantly on the precipice, of something horrible, or something beautiful–something that will change my life for better or for worse,” De Souza muses. To that end, Precipice cracks De Souza’s world open. As a new challenge, the songwriter took on blind studio sessions in Los Angeles, reveling in the expanded pool of collaborators and ability to focus on music. “I’d been wanting to work on more pop-leaning music for a while, so when I came out to LA I made sure to meet with people that could help bring that to life,” she says. “I wanted to make music that could fill your heart with euphoria while you dance along.” In those sessions, she made a quick and deep connection with producer Elliott Kozel—a musician who has produced and collaborated with the likes of SZA and Yves Tumor, not to mention scoring TV with FINNEAS. The two quickly got to work on album highlight “Not Afraid”, the track setting the tone for the album’s bold defiance of the unknown. “What, what does it look like, when you are free?/ When you are being true?/ When you let go, the people you love are free when they’re with you too,” she sings. The track also signaled the start of a long and important collaboration. “Elliott is really good at allowing space for songs to reveal themselves, and I felt very seen and respected both musically and personally,” De Souza adds. “That song became a compass for what I wanted the album to be: pop songs with meaning and feeling, pop songs with lyrics that tap into raw humanity.”
Pressing Strings and Driftwood
Hailing from Annapolis, Maryland, Pressing Strings is a powerhouse trio–led by guitarist and vocalist Jordan Sokel–has earned a loyal following with their genre bending blend of blues, rock, and folk, wrapped in soul-stirring storytelling and toe tapping grooves. Their music resonates with the emotional grit of blues, the laid back swagger of folk, and the urgency of modern rock.Whether delivering heartfelt ballads or energetic anthems, Pressing Strings weaves lyrical introspection and high-caliber musicianship that feels both fresh and familiar. Sokel’s smokey voice and intricate guitar work is complimented masterfully by a star rhythm section. Held down tightly by drummer Justin Kruger–an energetic and charismatic performer whose style mirrors his outside the box personality and unique approach to the instrument, along with bassist Nick Welker–a solid and stoic figure who picks melodic lines and chordal voicings that makes the trio sound full and lush. All three members sing, adding harmonies reminiscent of southern California in the 70’s. Together they push the limits of what a trio can do and provide an immersive, feel-good vibe that hits the audience’s heart as hard as it does the ears. Recently the band has been touring the US coast to coast headlining clubs and delighting festival audiences at such festivals as Palisade Roots and Bluegrass Festival, FloydFest, Annapolis Baygrass Music Festival, Firefly, Sweetwater 420Fest, Cavefest etc while sharing the stage alongside major artists like Gov’t Mule, Toad The Wet Sprocket, JJ Grey and Neil Francis. Website Music has guided Driftwood to hallowed ground many times since its founding members, Joe Kollar and Dan Forsyth, started making music as high schoolers in Joe’s parents’ basement. Whether the Upstate New York folk rock group—which today also includes violinist Claire Byrne, bassist Joey Arcuri, and drummer Sam Fishman—are converting new fans on a hardscrabble tour across the country or playing to a devoted crowd at hero Levon Helm’s Woodstock barn, the band’s shapeshifting approach to folk music continues to break new ground. And yet in many ways Driftwood’s latest work, the transformative December Last Call, finds the group coming home. Recorded in that very same basement where the Driftwood dream began, December Last Call lyrically reflects on the recent past, musing on the ways the group grew up, together and apart, through curveballs like new parenthood or pandemic shutdowns. But sonically, the band’s sixth album looks confidently to the future, experimenting with new sounds while staying true to the bluegrass roots that built them. Across the album’s nine tracks, the band often leans into hard-rocking electric guitars and driving percussion: On “Every Which Way But Loose,” we get a foot-tapping beat and a sweeping chorus, and on “Up All Night Blues,” the band shines with an ambling, sing-along-able reflection on the challenges of new motherhood. But other tracks, like standout closer “Stardust,” take a simpler route, allowing bare-bones vocals and acoustic instrumentals to underpin a deeper emotional message. Website
Coma Cinema
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Hudson Freeman
Hudson Freeman is a brooklyn-based Lofi-folk artist, inspired and forged by the DIY midwest. The 27-year-old Freeman continues to record and perform songs equal-parts resonant, reflective, and poignant. He has quickly emerged as one of indie’s most enthralling new voices. His recent full-length, is a Folk Artist, helped solidify his presence as the kind of songwriter unafraid to tackle life’s most draining contradictions: modern identity, digital disconnection, and faith. Born to Evangelical missionaries, Hudson started writing songs upon a radical break at the age of thirteen when his family suddenly moved from the suburbs of Dallas to The Kingdom of Eswatini. The profound influence of indie big-hitters like Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver as well as college years spent in Springfield, Missouri made a do-it-yourself midwesterner out of Hudson. Now, his new song “If You Know Me” has recently started drawing in attention from the masses, catapulting Freeman into a wider spotlight than ever. It’s a moody blend of bedroom pop, folk, slowcore, and post-emo, stitched together by a singular guitar riff and mantra-style lyrics, confirming Hudson’s undeniable knack for melody. Instagram | TikTok | Spotify
The New Pornographers – The Former Site Of Tour
Over the past 20 years, The New Pornographers have proven themselves one of the most excellent bands in indie rock. They have released nine studio albums, including their classic debut Mass Romantic and their latest 2023’s Continue as a Guest, which marked their debut for Merge Records. They’ve constantly offered new sonic surprises with every album, and have established themselves alongside modern luminaries like Yo La Tengo and Superchunk when it comes to their ability to evolve while still retaining what made them so special in the first place. Of the newest record, New York Magazine lauded, “The New Pornographers are a massive unit bursting with unique and intersecting talents…the band’s ninth album serves another helping of their signature dish.” The band’s new single “Ballad of the Last Payphone” is out now with a new full-length album slated for release in 2026 – more details to come. Critical acclaim for The New Pornographers: “Over the course of their 20-plus-year career, the New Pornographers have often specialized in catchy ambiguity. If leader Carl Newman was just a machine cranking out power-pop tunes, it would get boring. But there’s also a lot of mixed emotions going on under the surface of their studiously nuanced pop-rock formalism—like if Cheap Trick was as quick-witted as Steely Dan, or the Romantics were as thoughtful as R.E.M.”- Rolling Stone “Pure, blissfully irresistible power pop”- NPR Music “[The New Pornographers] make catchy, sophisticated alternate-universe hits.”- Stereogum Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok | Threads | Spotify
Philstock ’25
More Cowbell, Rattletraps, Honey Pumpkins, Wyatt Easterling Proceeds will benefit the ALS United North Carolina
Martin Sexton – Live Wide Open Tour 2026
This is a seated show. Martin Sexton tours in support the 25th anniversary of Live Wide Open – the critically-acclaimed double vinyl live album. The show will include these fan-favorites as well as some new material and surprise covers. “The real thing, people” —Billboard “Soul-marinated voice” —Rolling Stone “Mr. Sexton as an impassioned performer can bring women and men to tears when they see him live” —Wall Street Journal “The best live performer I’ve ever seen.” —John Mayer “Master of dynamics, reducing a room to silence with his blustering baritone, then teasing that silence with a fluttering falsetto.” —Acoustic Guitar Website | Facebook | YouTube | Soundcloud
Benjamin Tod and the Inline Six 2026 Tour
Sitting at a corner café table, Benjamin Tod’s eyes light up when asked what it’s like to finally embrace happiness and accept love. With a slight grin, he sips his coffee and leans back, one arm draped casually and comfortably over the chair. “I’m kind of settling into my age, into allowing myself to be happy,” the 33-year-old says. “For years, I led myself and the people around me into a lot of unnecessary darkness. And now, I’ve learned how to give and receive affection — it’s helped heal a lot of parts of myself.” Tod’s demeanor is a far cry from his usual stiff posture stance with arms folded, this permeating sense of trepidation and scrutiny for what trouble may be coming down the pike. The relaxed, calm aura is a sign of a human being who has overcome lifelong personal demons, one who has finally become liberated — not only in his personal life, but also his music. “This latest record is so unusual for what I do,” Tod says. “It’s almost a spite album, to prove what I can do as a writer in whatever medium I step into.” Titled Shooting Star, the album carves a fresh creative path for Tod, a storied singer-songwriter and frontman of Lost Dog Street Band. The self-proclaimed “proprietor of misery,” Tod finds himself transcending into a life of gratitude, patience, and stability. “People evolve and change. You’re growing as a person,” Tod says. “If you want to get healthier, you have to start intentionally behaving like a healthy person. You have to look around you and adapt to those things — if you don’t change your identity, it’s hard to change yourself.” For this latest solo endeavor, Tod tapped some of Nashville’s finest to conjure country gold. Shifting from his signature somber tone of struggle and survival, Tod and his coal fire throat radiate a feeling of clarity and new beginnings in the face of adversity. The result is this intrinsic, musical crossroads — more Hank Williams than Bob Wills, more Marty Stuart than George Jones. “Most of my career has been laser-focused on poetic, piercing songwriting in mainly a folk tradition.” Tod says. “I wanted to prove to myself and the industry that I could write an elite country record with ease. Either way, if I didn’t accomplish that goal, I sure as hell came closer than anyone on pop country radio.” The inspiration for the project struck in the summer of 2022, with Tod penning the opening track “I Ain’t The Man.” From there, it became this unrelenting, internal thirst for Tod to begin “imagining what all I could do within a genre slightly outside my comfort zone.” With a thick thread of honkytonk woven into it, the album leaves fingerprints on seemingly every style of country, from outlaw to red dirt, folk to indie, the culmination of which being a happily welcomed challenge for Tod — the ethos of his life and career at this juncture howling loudly “obstacles are opportunities.” Shooting Star is also a full-circle moment for Tod. Coming of age in Music City, he found himself squarely in the midst of rough-n-tumble Lower Broadway. Busking on street corners playing Woody Guthrie and Jim Ringer tunes for spare change. And getting kicked out of Robert’s Western World or Layla’s Honky Tonk “more times than most regulars had been before the age of 20.” Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify
