Fancy Gap, Lua Flora
Fancy Gap is a duo formed by Stuart McLamb (The Love Language) and Charles Crossingham, whose musical bond was forged during the pandemic in a mountain cabin in Fancy Gap, Virginia. Blending elements of country, pop, and classic rock, their sound draws from a wide range of influences, from ‘90s radio rock to timeless Americana. Their music captures the raw emotion of love, loss, and life’s fleeting moments, often with a nostalgic, free-spirited vibe. With an authentic, hands-on approach to songwriting and recording, Fancy Gap’s chemistry shines through in every note, inviting listeners on a heartfelt journey. Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Spotify Creating in a state of constant adventure, Asheville, NC-based Lua Flora has successfully unified sounds that typically don’t go together. Led by the expressive and intentional pen of songwriter Evan Button, the “roots pop” act seamlessly blends Americana, pop, and indie folk with the rhythmic undercurrents of Caribbean and West African traditions, crafting songs that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant. Taking the show from backyard parties to national stages, Lua Flora has supported artists like Satsang, Franc Moody, Arise Roots, and more, while appearing at festivals such as FloydFest, Rooster Walk, and Shakori Hills. Further cementing their reputation as a rising force in contemporary songwriting, Lua Flora recently released a collaborative single with singer-songwriter Brett Dennen, marking a milestone moment that underscores the project’s heart-first approach and growing influence in the modern folk landscape. “The musical embodiment of Asheville’s creative spirit” -Face The Current”…easy and melodic — a light, laidback recluse from the grind.” -Top Shelf Music Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube
Big Star Quintet – Celebrates Five Decades of the Influential Band’s Legacy
Featuring Big Star’s Jody Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Chris Stamey (the dB’s), Jon Auer (Big Star/The Posies), and Pat Sansone (Wilco) After many years celebrating the music of Big Star via the collective known as Big Star’s Third, Jody Stephens (the last surviving member of the original Big Star lineup) had an idea. “I truly loved touring the world and performing Big Star’s Third with a core group, a variety of special guests, and a chamber orchestra playing the beautiful orchestrations created by Carl Marsh and Chris Stamey. But when the idea of celebrating the 50th anniversary of #1 Record came up, it was time to pare the production down to a five- piece rock band. So I called a few close and like-spirited musical friends.” Enter some of the legendary group’s biggest fans, who have long been associated with Big Star and related projects. The band now includes Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Jon Auer (The Posies), Pat Sansone (Wilco), Chris Stamey (The dB’s) and Stephens. Dubbing themselves the Big Star Quintet, it’s a lineup that is both personal and close in spirit to #1 Record and Radio City. When the newly-minted Quintet gathered at R.E.M.’s rehearsal spot in November of 2022 to commune with the music and workshop as a five-piece for the first time, none of them could have foreseen the rapturous receptions they would receive over the next few years: sold-out shows in the US, playing abroad (including two tours of Spain), both #1 Record and Radio City 50th-anniversary tours, and stellar reviews of their live shows in Uncut, The San Francisco Gate, and beyond. To call the members of the Quintet versatile would be something of an understatement. All five take turns singing lead and harmony vocals and deftly fill the different musical chairs required to accurately perform the multi-faceted Big Star catalog. Stephens shines just as brightly singing at the front of the stage on numbers like “Thirteen,” “Blue Moon,” and “Way Out West” as he does propelling the group behind the drum kit with visceral grace. Now a well-oiled and well-traveled outfit, the Quintet’s unabashedly high-energy band vibe and mutual appreciation on stage is the way to experience the essence of Big Star’s music live. That said, it’s more than just the songs and sounds that the five musicians share in common. “Playing Big Star’s music with Mike, Pat, Jon, and Chris is a joy,” says Stephens. “We travel together as friends and have so much fun with this music and with our audiences. ABOUT THE BIG STAR QUINTET LIVE: “The enthusiasm of the five-piece was evident [at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass] in [San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park] as they seamlessly swapped instruments and vocal duties…at the conclusion of each song, the group grinned at one another like they shared a secret.”—The San Francisco Gate “The band treat the material with an enthused respect, like kids with golden tickets to a musical chocolate factory…the four-part harmonies gel like family, as if from a lifetime’s practice.”—Uncut
Never Ending Fall
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Wallice
In April 2023, Wallice found herself on stages in arenas full of strangers. The Los Angeles songwriter was on the other side of the world, playing shows to 10,000 or more people who had, in many cases, been standing in line for days to see their favorite band, The 1975. Wallice was the opener, playing the biggest shows of her life to crowds that mostly didn’t know her name. It was a thrill, of course, but there was dejection to it, too, to staring out at front rows of blank faces, struggling with the sleeplessness of a few days spent in line. So Wallice did what songwriters do: She turned the uncanny experience into “The Opener,” the six-minute gambit of her first LP, The Jester. As the track moves from tender ballad to defiant rocker, she considers all the bad things she might say about her own art — a Radiohead rip-off, too innocent, too determined — and moves forward, anyway. “Gonna get what I deserve/I’m still the opener,” she roars in the final seconds, balancing future hopes with present conditions across a razor wire of howling guitars. This push and pull between expectation and actuality animate much of The Jester, Wallice’s ultra-dynamic and charged 14-song debut. Though Wallice has been writing songs since she was a preteen playing cello and releasing them for almost as long, her career took shape during the last four years, when a series of singles and EPs suggested her as a new chronicler of early adulthood’s struggles and delights. Written while living with her mom and working in the eyelash extension business, that music — Wallice, 26, says now — was about coming of age. Now with a place of her own and a decade-long relationship, Wallice is making music that reckons with age and reality, that learns to find joy and meaning not in the life you wanted but in the life you have. As it pivots from soft acoustic waltzes to fluorescent electronic bounces, from warped piano drifts to unabashed rock anthems, The Jester holds fast to that thread: gratitude for what you’ve got and hope for what might yet come. A year before those shows across the globe, Wallice returned from her first substantial tour with similar questions about her path forward. Having first found widespread attention online, she struggled with the novel notion of putting on a show each night, of performing for a crowd no matter what else was happening. On April 1, 2022, during their first writing session together, she told Ethan Gruska & her longtime collaborator Marinelli about those feelings; together, they stumbled upon the concept of “The Jester,” or about sometimes having to mask what’s inside for the sake of entertainment. They hatched the first half of “Heaven Has to Happen,” a confession about suffering from imposter syndrome even while you’re living your dream. “How many more jokes can I make before the wool gets pulled out from over my eyes?” Wallice sings just before a brief, mid-song outburst of distorted bass. For the better part of two years, that’s where Wallice and Gruska left the track. Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | TikTok | Soundcloud | Spotify
Gatlin
Even when you try to outrun it, the past has a way of slithering out of the shadows and coiling up over your shoulders. Gatlin Thornton had long since left behind the conservative, religious upbringing in the American south and was living her life on her own terms as a young queer woman—but then there it was, inescapable. In combing through old memories, Gatlin unlocked something in her creative process. She had been writing and releasing music since high school, but actually wading through time and re-experiencing all those strong feelings helped catalyze what would become her debut album as Gatlin, The Eldest Daughter (due October TK). The result is a set of songs about rejecting the path laid at your feet and needing to build your own way forward, a record that both embraces nostalgia and knows its inherent pain. Gatlin spent her early years in Florida, fully entrenched in her conservative Christian private schooling—but her parents encouraged music as an outlet, where she excelled in guitar, piano, and singing. When it came time to start college, Gatlin had already begun bristling at the strictures of her upbringing and questioning how her burgeoning queer feelings would impact that life. She struck out to study songwriting, but after two years instead decided to drop out and work full-time in the heart of the music industry—first for a stint in Nashville, and then relocating to her current home in Los Angeles, while adding in frequent trips to London to collaborate with songwriters and producers. It was while packing for one of her trips to London when the past first caught up with Gatlin via an old journal she’d stumbled upon. In one entry, she detailed her first realization that she was having feelings for a girl: “If she was a boy I’d be in love.” Gatlin had been amassing tracks full of clever lyricism and grand emotionality inspired by her new life, but that elegantly simple phrase brought a new depth and intensity to Gatlin’s songwriting on lead single “If She Was a Boy.” Not only was she able to recapture some of the most intense memories and feelings of her life, but to also then take those forward and see her fulfilled present and hopeful future in a whole new light. Co-written with Chloe Kraemer and Amanda Cy, the track opens on a shimmering rhythm section and a slinky synth progression, Gatlin quickly pulls her youthful self forward—the naive lines delivered with a healthy dose of sensual romance. “I’m too afraid of what you think and who’s above/ But if she was a boy/ I’d be in love/ I’d be in love,” she sings, the song recounting a time of tragic distance from one’s heart but also somehow dizzy with potential. “Writing this song in a room in the middle of London with two other queer women was incredible,” Gatlin explains. “It’s not often I’ve gotten to make a track with all women, and I’m addicted to that energy.” The Eldest Daughter brims with contributions from other talented women, including Jennifer Decilveo (writer and producer for the likes of Miley Cyrus, Lucius, and Hozier), singer-songwriter Liza Owen, and indie rocker Tessa Mouzourakis of English duo Tommy Lefroy. But at its core the album is truly a statement of Gatlin carving her own path and taking control of her narrative, both musically and philosophically. Website | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | YouTube | Spotify
Clover County
Clover County grew up under the sweet orange blossoms and the spiky palms of sunny Central Florida. She began songwriting at the age of 13, teaching herself to play from her dad’s collection of 1980’s songbooks. She drew inspiration from documentaries and interviews with influential women in music, such as Stevie Nicks, Carol King, Taylor Swift, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dolly Parton. The name “Clover County”, is a tribute to all the places she’s called home. After moving from Orlando to Denver, Atlanta to Birmingham, to Athens, Clover grew tired of seeking a sense of home and relying on the next city to be the “lucky one” where things would fall into place. “Clover County” represents a state of mind, no matter where you’re planted you have the choice to grow. With every open mic and backyard show, the Clover County following rapidly expanded, despite no official music releases or means to afford recording. Clover turned this to her advantage, performing weekly in Athens, building her audience the old-fashioned way. Website | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify
In Color
In and of itself, chemistry may be quiet, but you see, hear, and feel its impact. Such close chemistry drives the interplay of In Color. The Nashville band—Holden Clontz, Matthew Hastings, Val Hoyt, and Miles Laderman—lean on a silent bond sealed by years of friendship and a collective passion for pushing boundaries. They bring dimension to alternative pop, threading unshakable melodies through multi-layered soundscapes. After buzzing with millions of streams independently, the group simply transfix and invigorate on their 2025 debut EP, Snow Day [Big Loud Rock]. “To us, there’s definitely an unspoken vision for what In Color is,” observes Holden. “We don’t talk about it a lot. It comes from being friends for so long and listening to the same music. We’re all different in our own ways, but it works so well.” “It’s a special thing, because we trust each other’s instincts,” agrees Val. “We enjoy writing together. So, we’re able to authentically create and put out music that feels like we’re putting ourselves on the line.” Though the members’ paths had crosses over the years, you can trace the band’s genesis back to a particularly brutal snowstorm in early 2024. Val and Miles first met at an Atlanta middle school, attended the same high school, made their way to Belmont University, and lived together for a handful of years in Nashville. Holden had moved to Music City at 19-years-old and linked up with Matt through his roommate, hitting it off and “becoming best friends.” By way of this friend group, Matt eventually moved in with Val. Not to mention, the guys had separately played in various bands or released solo music. However, it took a blizzard to unlock the potential among them. “The four of us were hanging out every day,” says Matt. “Val and I lived together. Once the snow started, everybody just decided to stay over at our place. Musically, we had been doing different things, but getting snowed in was the catalyst we needed. A few days later, Val sent everyone a text, and it was a picture of all of us. He was like, ‘We would look really cool as a band’. That’s all it took!” “We all secretly wanted to be a part of something bigger,” notes Holden. “We had lived life as friends, so why not do this?” For the next year, the band operated “in private,” as they like to say. Under the radar, the guys got together, jammed, wrote songs, and tightened up a collective approach. They drew on inspirations as diverse as Coldplay, Kings of Leon, Switchfoot, The Beatles, U2, and Michael Jackson, cultivating a signature style. With the sound dialed in, the group started to record. “When you listen to the music, it’s multi-faceted,” says Miles. “We don’t abide by any confines of genre. We look and feel like a ‘rock band’, but it’s not traditional.” Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | Spotify
Remember Sports
Remember Sports have always sounded like a band in motion—chasing a feeling, chasing each other, sometimes running from themselves. Over the past decade, the Philadelphia-based band has built a cult following on the strength of bruising live shows, emotionally honest lyrics, and an ever-evolving sound that refuses to be pinned down. With their newest album, The Refrigerator, out February 13, 2026 via Get Better Records, the band captures the messy, cathartic energy of transformation: it’s a record born from uncertainty, grief, growth, and ultimately, love—for the music, for each other, and for the many past selves colliding into the present. Website | Instagram | Bandcamp
Tobacco Road
Take your art seriously, not yourself. That’s the motto emerging blues-rock band Tobacco Road lives by – whether they’re on the road, in the studio, or in practicing their East Nashville garage. Playful, energetic, and equal parts modern and soulful, the band’s spirited personality turns a room full of strangers into a group of friends in minutes. With a little central Texas spunk, old-school Louisiana blues, and roots in North Carolina’s Piedmont, the past lives of Tobacco Road’s members blend into a sound that moves seamlessly between beltable diary entries, Southern-rock storytelling, and indie-rock groove. They draw from the nostalgia of Creedence Clearwater Revival, the soul of Susan Tedeschi, and the dynamics of Fleetwood Mac, while taking cues from modern role models like Maggie Rogers and Marcus King Band. In their first year as a band, Tobacco Road released their six-song debut EP All in Time and shared the stage with rising contemporaries like Marlon Funaki, Winyah, and Liam St. John. Tobacco Road’s quick development stems from a live show that’s both high-energy and disarmingly intimate – despite the sweeping vocals and wailing solos, they make you feel like part of the band, whether it’s your first or fiftieth show. The shifting moods of the band’s sound reflect the uniqueness of its members as five twenty-somethings learning to navigate love, loss, joy, confusion, and identity. Tobacco Road captures the chaos of growing up and the peace that comes with finding your people. Website | Instagram | TikTok | Spotify | YouTube
Nothing
Nothing have always been rule-breakers. Shoegaze renegades who’ve rebuilt the stereotypically lightweight genre in their own bloodyknuckled American image. Outlaw poets spilling existential dread on mile-wide canvasses of fuzz and reverb. Beginning as a Philly-born bedroom solo project in 2010, Nothing’s music has always captured the full scale of the human condition, both the blaring anger and the whispering sadness. A Short History of Decay, Nothing’s fifth solo album and first for Run For Cover Records, widens that aperture even further, providing the most hi-def rendering of Nothing to date. The band have never sounded this colossal, never felt this intimate, never been this honest. With the strongest arsenal in Nothing’s ever-shifting lineup locked in — guitarist Doyle Martin (Cloakroom), bassist Bobb Bruno (Best Coast), drummer Zachary Jones (MSC, Manslaughter 777), and third guitarist Cam Smith (Ladder To God, also of Cloakroom) — singer-songwriter Domenic “Nicky” Palermo knew he had the manpower to make the band’s most ambitious record yet. Co-written and produced with Whirr guitarist Nicholas Bassett, and with additional production and mixing work from Sonny Diperri (DIIV, Julie), A Short History of Decay is the most evolved musical statement in Nothing’s catalog. Songs like “Cannibal World” and “Toothless Coal” are cataclysmic lashings of mechanized industrial-gaze that sound like My Bloody Valentine — except more extreme. On the other end of the spectrum, the ornately morose “Purple Strings” boasts a beautiful string arrangement that includes harpist — and two-time Nothing contributor — Mary Lattimore. That baroque delicacy permeates other A Short History of Decay highlights, particularly “The Rain Don’t Care,” a lilting ballad that channels the worn-down elegance of Mojave 3, and also “Nerve Scales,” a pattering bop that resembles Radiohead in its marriage of otherworldly atmosphere and mortal precision. Palermo calls the new record “a final chapter.” Not the end of Nothing, but the conclusion of a story that began with Nothing’s 2014 debut, Guilty of Everything — another album about time, regret, and confronting uncomfortable truths — and now resolves with A Short History of Decay. As much a snapshot of Palermo’s past as it is a leap into Nothing’s future. Website | Instagram | Facebook
