Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Grammy-winning fiddle virtuoso Bronwyn Keith-Hynes is stepping into the spotlight. After several years of wowing audiences as the fiddler for Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, the 2x IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year is striking out on her own – fronting a band for the first time and bringing her voice to the forefront. Known for her fiery fiddle playing and pure, rootsy singing, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes’ debut vocal album ‘I Built A World’ earned her a Grammy nomination this past February, and American Songwriter calls her “a world-class fiddler with a golden voice.” Now, as her own entry in bluegrass history expands from celebrated instrumentalist to bandleader and front woman, Bronwyn isn’t just crafting a career in the image of genre greats like Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas; she’s bringing them along for the ride. Both Bush and Douglas are featured as players on I Built a World, and they’re not the only of Bronwyn’s musically-inclined pals and heroes to make an appearance on this star studded album. Keith-Hynes’ music blends high octane bluegrass sensibilities with the soul of country and American Roots music. Backed by a powerhouse group of Nashville musicians hand picked from her tight-knit community, Keith-Hynes represents the next generation of top tier bluegrass musicians, who will be appreciated for generations to come. With a career that has already spanned collaborations with some of the biggest names in acoustic music, Bronwyn is now forging her own path—bringing her undeniable talent to audiences in a whole new way. Website | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify
CY&I
CY&I | Spotify Adam Xavier
Abbey Road LIVE! – Family Matinee
“One of the world’s premier Beatles cover bands” -US News and World Report “unquestionably expert at what they do” -Indyweek You loved Beatles music when you were a kid. Now YOUR kids have a chance to experience the magic of the Beatles LIVE in concert! Abbey Road LIVE! is well known in the Southeast for their energetic concerts at clubs, theaters and festivals. This time, the focus will be on the kids. Expect fun classics such as “Octopus’ Garden”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. Does your child have a a favorite Beatles tune? Abbey Road LIVE! loves to take requests, and has often been known to invite kids on stage to sing along. This rare event will be big fun for the whole family! **Special FAMILY PACK ticket available – admits 4 people for just $40!** Website | Facebook | YouTube
Abbey Road LIVE!
“One of the world’s premier Beatles cover bands” -US News and World Report “unquestionably expert at what they do” -Indyweek Since 2002, Abbey Road LIVE! has been rocking the music of the Beatles at clubs, theaters and festivals. Initially a tribute to the monumental Abbey Road album, the band has expanded its scope to include nearly 150 Beatles tunes, from all eras of the Fab Four’s career. From A Hard Day’s Night to Hey Jude to Here Comes The Sun, an Abbey Road LIVE! show will have you singing along all evening along! Abbey Road LIVE! is not your typical Beatle look-alike tribute act; don’t expect mop-top haircuts and vintage Rickenbacker guitars. Rather, this show is about bringing to life some of the more mature and complex Beatles material in a raw & spirited fashion, while remaining true to the original recordings. Combining attention to detail with a creative exuberance, the band always delights its audiences with its diverse repertoire of hits and more obscure favorites. Website | Facebook | YouTube Radio Free Athens brings to life the music that catapulted R.E.M. to the top of nearly every college radio chart in America. Featuring members of Beatles tribute Abbey Road LIVE!, Radio Free Athens are well versed in the art of delivering vibrant renditions of classic tunes. Focusing mostly on R.E.M.’s 1980s catalogue, Radio Free Athens strives to capture the magic and energy that led Rolling Stone magazine to dub R.E.M. “America’s Best Rock And Roll Band” in 1987.
Friendship
Music for sleeping and waking, walking and driving, hunting and fishing, for loitering outside a roadhouse on the haunted tundra. Okay in elevators, not great for dinner. On Caveman Wakes Up Friendship’s new album and second for Merge Records, the band’s historically capacious definition of country music grows wider still. Shambolic guitars are offset by flute pads, bleary poetry is set against a Motown rhythm section, a song about Jerry Garcia and First Lady Betty Ford fades out with a drum solo, like if Talk Talk came from a dingy Philadelphia basement, and was fronted by James Tate. Songwriter Dan Wriggins’ ragged baritone cuts through eleven murky, swirling country-rock songs with profound lyrical substance and sincerity. Like an alarm clock incorporated into the edge of a dream, Caveman Wakes Up belongs equally to the conscious and subconscious mind, fraught with background, steeped in reference and experimentation, delivered casually and as a dire warning, dedicated, above all, to music’s creative soul. Over the years, dedication has paid off. Friendship has become a kind of reverse supergroup, wherein the band itself and each individual member is located centrally in an increasingly prominent scene of young folk and country musicians and songwriters. Drummer Michael Cormier O’Leary leads the instrumental collective Hour and, along with bassist Jon Samuels, run Dear Life Records, home to friends and peers who count Friendship as a major influence, including MJ Lenderman, Florry, and Fust. (Samuels also plays lead guitar in MJ Lenderman and the Wind). Guitarist Peter Gill’s band 2nd Grade records prolifically. Wriggins began writing the songs of Caveman Wakes Up on a downtuned classical guitar of Lenderman’s, and finished on a barely-tuned piano in an apartment he shared with Sadurn’s G DeGroot. In the summer of 2023, Wriggins had just left the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where his love for poetry and mistrust for the academic poetry world grew in tandem. A relationship fell apart, and Wriggins crashed for several weeks at Lenderman’s and Wednesday’s Karly Hartzman’s home in North Carolina, where he recorded the first demos of “Resident Evil,” “All Over the World,” and “Love Vape.” Wriggins returned to Philadelphia, and the band got to work on new ideas, finally tracking the album in five days with engineer Jeff Ziegler (Mary Lattimore, War on Drugs). Wriggins recorded vocals with Love the Stranger engineer Bradford Kreiger, and organ, violin (Jason Calhoun), and flute (Adelyn Strei) were recorded by Lucas Knapp in a West Philadelphia church. Lyrically, Caveman Wakes Up covers familiar Friendship ground — the sacred is profaned and the profane sanctified. On “All Over the World,” a landscaper “[feels] the beating heart of God/ laying down a roll of sod.” Characters complain about work and marvel at love. Here, however, we get Wriggins’ first real confrontation with depression, in “Hollow Skulls,” “All Over the World,” and “Resident Evil,” where the soul wages its perpetual war against darkness and stagnation. It often loses. The verses of Hollow Skulls are punctuated by passages of musical emptiness, a single suspended chord and brushes on a snare drum. When Wriggins complains about a roommate, shouting “who’s that shithead in my living room/ playing Resident Evil,” it’s abundantly clear there is no roommate, that the evil resides within. Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram
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
Model/Actriz
Like their name suggests, Model/Actriz seek to channel raw emotions into striking new forms. The band’s surface glamor is supported by nerves of steel, leveraging their focus into moments of wild abandon. Since their songs roar to life off the back of blistering guitar, relentless drums, and pummeling bass there’s an expectation that Model/Actriz aim first and foremost to be shit-starters. But their instrumental muscle couches a searching heart and the Brooklyn quartet have long made a mission to reconcile undefinable feelings by charting a ferocious new path through sound, one that brings jagged emotions back into full, sweaty alignment with the listeners’ bodies. Their debut record Dogsbody was sexy, dark, and humid, full of eerie passages and veiled menace. Songs like “Amaranth” and “Mosquito” were hot house scenes cast in foreboding half-shadow, with frontman Cole Haden as the hero at the center of its shifting, sultry gloom. The figure he cut was reassuring and ominous, both an experienced guide who could light up the music’s dim corridors and a haunting presence who was inextricably bound to them. The lyrics found him fumbling around in its darkness to become the person he is today – scarred, but made stronger in pursuit of its seduction. Model/Actriz’s sophomore album Pirouette, which was co-produced and mixed by Seth Manchester and mastered by Matt Colton, their collaborators on Dogsbody, swerves out of the maze and directly into the spotlight. It is Dogsbody’s equally accomplished, but much more self-possessed sister record – thumping and immediate rather than dark and obscure. The light it casts off originates from within, and reflects a band that’s not only grown into its strengths but conquered its demons. Haden no longer vamps from the shadows but at the very front of the stage – and often in the very thick of the crowd – commanding the music’s chaotic center with a poise that channels Grace Jones and Lady Gaga. After much critical acclaim and an exhausting tour to support the record, the band sought to reinvigorate their visceral live shows that invite that audience into a shared room of carnal ritual. Pirouette is both a natural progression and a calculated reset, a move toward reasserting their command as artists by peeling away the smoke and mirrors to become brighter, heavier, and more direct. The pop thread running throughout the album allows the crowd to witness thumping club music in the spirit of cabaret and manifest the catharsis that comes with hitting the dancefloor. The word “Pirouette” literally dances on the tongue and few lyricists delectate in the flavor of words as expertly as Haden does. “Like ‘matinee’ or ‘seraglio’” he pouts on “Departures,” “all I want is to be beautiful.” The beauty Haden pines after on Pirouette is the kind that’s forbidden until you give yourself permission to indulge, and even then, it’s an enjoyment that’s tempered by a history of shame. On standout track “Cinderella,” the singer’s strutting bravado suddenly gives way to crushing vulnerability – as he stares into a love interest’s eyes, he recounts the childhood shame of backing out of having a Cinderella-themed birthday party, a psychic scar that he’s still able to trace over years later. Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube | Facebook | Soundcloud
