Stephen Wilson Jr. – SØN OF DAD TOUR 2025
Stephen Wilson Jr. is a singer/songwriter from rural Southern Indiana. Self-described as “Death Cab For Country,” Stephen Wilson Jr. draws upon indie rock, grunge and country to create a distinct sound that is influenced by artists as diverse as The National, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Nirvana. Wilson was raised by a single father who was a boxer and had him boxing from age seven through adulthood as an Indiana State Golden Gloves finalist. The self-taught guitarist moved to Nashville to pursue a degree in Microbiology at MTSU, where he started indie rock band AutoVaughn after finishing his degree. After five years of touring the world as lead guitarist with AutoVaughn, Wilson turned his creative focus toward songwriting and singing. After the band, Wilson relied back on his education where he worked for several years as an R&D scientist at Mars until signing a publishing deal with BMG Nashville in 2016. His songs were soon recorded by acts like Caitlyn Smith, Brothers Osborne, Old Dominion, MacKenzie Porter, Sixpence None the Richer and Leigh Nash. Wilson went on to self-release several songs of his own including, “the devil”, “Year To Be Young 1994”, “The Beginning”, “Holler From The Holler” – which won 6 independent film festival awards for its accompanying music video – and “billy”, which caught the attention of Billboard who featured the single in its ‘Makin’ Tracks’ column. Wilson went on to tour the US and Europe with acts like Brothers Osborne, Midland, and Cadillac Three developing a global base of music fans enamored by his emotive performance, skilled guitar prowess, and powerful vocals. In March 2023, he signed to Big Loud Records, and released his debut EP bon aqua. The seven-song collection compiles 6 previously released songs and the brand new single “American Gothic” (feat. Hailey Whitters). Wilson joined Whitters on road as direct support for her Raised Tour and is scheduled to support The Lone Bellow this Spring before performing at Bourbon and Beyond Festival, FairWell Festival and CMA Fest later this year. He is also scheduled to appear at London’s Black Deer Festival and Highways Festival at Royal Albert Hall this year. Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Soundcloud | TikTok
Jon Shain Trio
Hailing from Durham, NC, Jon Shain is a veteran singer-songwriter who’s been turning heads for years with his words, his fiery acoustic guitar work, and his evolved musical style – combining improvised piedmont blues with bluegrass, swing, and ragtime. Jon has released nine solo albums to date, along with two albums with duo partner FJ Ventre, a Jon Shain Trio live album, and one album of co-writes with Joe Newberry. Shain’s newest album, Restless Soul Syndrome, recorded at Good Luck Studio this past year, was released this spring and went to #5 on the folk radio chart. Shain is also the author of the music books Gettin’ Handy With the Blues – a Tribute to the Legacy of W.C. Handy and Jon Shain’s Fingerstyle Guitar Method, both published by Mel Bay Publications. In 2019, Shain won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN in the solo/duo category. Shain cut his touring teeth from 1989-1998 founding the Chapel Hill, NC folk-rock group, Flyin’ Mice and their spin-off group, WAKE. The band performed with acts such as David Grisman, Tony Rice Unit, Hot Tuna, and the Dixie Dregs, released four CDs, and played clubs, schools, and festivals up and down the East Coast, building a legion of fans. After the band’s breakup, Shain went solo, returning to his roots by touring in the folk and blues circuit. Shain has also become a sought after guitar teacher and studio producer. In 2021, he produced Donna Herula’s blues radio chart-topping album, Bang at the Door. Over the last several years, Shain has headlined listening rooms both as a solo and with duo partner FJ Ventre throughout the US and he’s done two solo tours in Europe. He has opened shows for John Hiatt, Keb’ Mo’, Little Feat, and many other roots legends. When Shain is not recording, producing other artists, or performing, he stays busy giving private instruction in guitar, and teaching group workshops in songwriting and blues guitar. FJ Ventre began playing music with Jon in 1982 when they met in high school and have developed a brotherly connection that continues to this day. Since relocating to Chapel Hill, NC in 2000, Ventre has performed with his own group The Swang Brothers, as well as with Chris Stamey, Wes Collins, Huzzah, and a who’s who of NC music groups. In addition to being a sought-after bassist, Ventre spends his time behind the mixing board, producing and engineering at his own Good Luck Studio as well as songwriting. Bill Newton began playing harmonica in 1971, buying a Marine Band for $1.75 in a Durham, NC pawn shop. From the first note, he was hooked. Since then, Newton has played with many great Triangle area bands, starting in blues and bluegrass, and branching out to swing and jump blues, and doing session work with artists such as the Indigo Girls. He plays blues harp, chromatic, and even the bass harmonica. He has played with Jon on and off since the 1990s. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Lazer Dim 700
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Gang of Four
2025 will be the 45th anniversary of the release of ‘Entertainment!‘ in the US, and will be our final year as a band. It’s been wonderful, but all things must end. We want to go out with a bang and celebrate with our fans and friends. So, on what will be our last US tour, we’ll play two sets at each show: ‘Entertainment!” from start to finish in the first, and the best of the rest in the second. Come and join in, it’ll be a blast! Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Speed Stick
The Carrboro, NC supergroup Speed Stick is an ever-evolving project among a group of friends—Ash Bowie (Polvo), Charles Chace (The Paul Swest), Laura King (Bat Fangs), and Thomas Simpson (The Love Language)—whose musical achievements reach back as far as the 1990s. But as its live shows attest, the band does not want to rehearse old accomplishments. On stage, Speed Stick wants to shatter epochs. Step into a world of thunder where lighting strikes rewire nervous systems. Ride waves with peaks that precede disquieting calms. Float in spaces where dark and light collide to set blood afire. To participate in a Speed Stick show is to enter a space of bodily and psychological endurance. Off-kilter guitar riffs shadow the raging intensity of drums; blistering drum beats dance to the feedback of guitars.The songs for Volume One were created in unusual fashion over the course of a year. Initially, Speed Stick only consisted of two drummers. They distributed nine studio tracks and a single live track to select musicians. The musicians’ task was simple: draw inspiration from the beats in order to create music that spreads laterally and horizontally like a rhizome. Indeed, Volume One has utterly discarded the yoke of genre by instead tethering intricate, interlocking drums to myriad creative personalities: Mac McCaughan (Superchunk), Kelley Deal (The Breeders, R. Ring), Mike Montgomery (R. Ring), Stuart McLamb (The Love Language). But no one can stop with just the album. Your ears will yearn to see the shapes of sound and your eyes will beg to taste color. For what Volume One heralds is that the supergroup Speed Stick is the super show of shows.Bandcamp | Facebook
Knock on Wood – A Stax Records Tribute
Proceeds will go to help benefit the victims of Hurricane Helene With Special Guests John Howie Jr., Armand Lenchek, Thee Tim Smith, Lance White, Joe Bell, Willie Painter, Whiskey Honeys, Rob Sharer, Kimmie Wilson, Glenn Jones, Emma Davis, David Burney, Rebecca Newton, Nancy Middleton, Carter Minor, Michelle Belanger, Todd Jones, Alison Jones, Becky Lenchek, Julia Vo, Doug Guild, Teeyum Smith, David Shore, Mike Rosado, Larry Duckworth, Rob Mcintire, Kris Whitenack, Greg Bell, Tim Shearer, Alan Wilson, Luis Rodriguez, Jeremy Boomhower, Arch Altman, Tom Anderson, Danny Gotham, Crystal Bright
The dB’s
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Blind Pilot
The first Blind Pilot album in eight years, In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain emerged from a period of artistic crisis and the radical transformation of their creative ecosystem. “I went through a few years where I wasn’t able to write—I tried therapy, I read books on writer’s block, I went on writing trips, but nothing was helping,” says Israel Nebeker, frontman for the Oregon-bred band. After stepping back and reimagining his songwriting approach, Nebeker challenged himself to write an entire album in a month, then brought those songs to his bandmates with a newfound sense of receptivity. “I told myself that whatever songs came through in that month would be for the love of the band and music we make together,” says Nebeker. “Instead of being controlling in the studio, I wanted to let the songs live and breathe with the band as an entity. By the time we finished, it was the most joy we’d ever had in making an album together.” Produced by Josh Kaufman (The Hold Steady, David Wax Museum), In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain brings a potent new energy to the elegantly composed folk/indie-rock of past LPs like 2016’s And Then Like Lions. In a profound step forward for the band—whose lineup also includes drummer/co-founder Ryan Dobrowski, bassist Luke Ydstie, and multi-instrumentalist Kati Claborn—Blind Pilot’s fourth full-length unfolds with an exquisite fluidity, fully harnessing the undeniable chemistry. “In the past we’ve always been very serious and intentional about the process, but Josh often encouraged us to throw away our preconceived notions of what the songs were supposed to be,” says Nebeker. “So much of the album came from all of us playing live together, listening to each other and trusting our instincts, and really getting to the core of the song,” Dobrowski adds. The result: the most revelatory expression yet of Blind Pilot’s palpable reverence for music as a connective force. While Blind Pilot intends to tour principally as a quartet in support of the record, the album includes contributions from longtime trumpeter/keyboardist Dave Jorgensen and vibraphonist Ian Krist. In bringing the album to life, the band worked with a rich palette of instrumentation, handling each track with equal parts extraordinary care and unbridled spontaneity. For both Dobrowski and Nebeker—who formed an early iteration of the band as college students in the mid-aughts—those moments of ineffably closeness serve as the lifeblood of Blind Pilot. “For me making this album felt like celebrating being together and still feeling that deep connection that’s been a throughline for our entire adult lives,” Dobrowski says. “One of my very favorite things about music is the way it not only connects us as bandmates, but allows us to connect to an audience—and then within that audience, people end up connecting with each other. It’s this powerful thing that’s unlike anything else, and in a way it’s kind of like magic.” Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy and Friends Play R.E.M.’s ‘Fables of the Reconstruction’ and more
Today, Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy And Friends announce a 2025 U.S. tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s iconic 1985 album, Fables of the Reconstruction. After the pair’s acclaimed, sold out run honoring R.E.M.’s famed debut album Murmur, which saw the four original members of R.E.M. come together for the first time in 17 years at the tour’s Athens stop, the Fables tour will take Shannon & Narducy to nearly three times as many cities across the country, including shows in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, and more, along with two nights in R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, GA. Kicking off Friday, Feb. 14th at Pappy & Harriets in Pioneertown, CA, the tour will see Shannon & Narducy—alongside Jon Wurster (drums), John Stirratt (bass), Dag Juhlin (guitar), and Vijay Tellis-Nayak (piano)—playing Fables of the Reconstruction in full each night in addition to many other R.E.M. songs. Shannon, an actor/musician known best for his film/series/stage work, and Narducy (Bob Mould Band, Superchunk, Sunny Day Real Estate, Verböten, Split Single) have been collaborating for the last eleven years, playing entire albums by some of their favorite artists such as Neil Young, The Modern Lovers, Bob Dylan, The Smiths, and T. Rex at various Chicago clubs. In July 2023, they performed Murmur at Chicago’s Metro to a full house, with a guest appearance from R.E.M.’s own Mike Mills. Initially planned as a one-off performance to honor both the album and venue’s 40th anniversary, the show’s success inspired Shannon and Narducy to take the project on the road. “I had never done a tour before. Jason nudged me after the Murmur set in Chicago at Metro. Now it’s all I want to do,” Shannon says. “I’m happy this one is twice as long. The last one was too short. This music is beyond comprehension and I cherish every chance I get to deliver it, even second generation. R.E.M. means the world to me. And this band led by Jason is stone cold ridiculous. Even if I never walked onstage, you would get a hell of a show.” Narducy adds: “After Michael and I took the band on the road playing Murmur, we discussed possibly trying something again in 2025. It will be the 40th anniversary of Fables Of The Reconstruction so we will open with that album, in sequence. Then we will dig deep into the R.E.M. catalog to round out the performance. Each show will have unique setlists. We love celebrating the music of this great band.” Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Rubblebucket
Rubblebucket’s seeds were sown when Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth, the group’s front persons, co-writers and co-producers, first began a friendship as jazz students at the University of Vermont. Soon after, they formed Rubblebucket, using the project to delve into pop, funk, dance and psychedelia; performances have spanned Bonnaroo to Glastonbury to their self-curated Dream Picnic Festival, and they’ve collaborated with kindred genre-blenders including Arcade Fire and Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears. Their latest full-length LP ‘Year of the Banana’ is perhaps their deepest and grooviest work yet. It speaks to the power of transforming and adapting relationships in a time when the world needs it most. Website | Facebook | Instagram | Spotify
