Victoria Victoria
Victoria Victoria’s new album, “To The Wayside,” was released on Sept. 9, 2022—completing a beautifully fresh and alluring musical masterpiece that’s been in the making since 2020. Each of the album’s nine songs is a gem, mined through a magical collaboration between Victoria Victoria front woman Tori Elliott, producer/engineer Stephen Lee Price, Jr., and virtuoso guitarist, Charlie Hunter, who plays guitar and bass on all of the tracks. Elliott, who brings an innate effervescence and joyfulness to her live performances, brings equally insightful lyrics and contagious melodies to this album, as she explores and dissects issues surrounding modern female identity. “Songwriting helps me untangle what’s going on emotionally,” said the Winston Salem, N.C.-based singer-songwriter. “It almost feels like doing a puzzle.” “By the time that I got in the studio with Charlie, it just felt like an arrival, musically,” she said. “It felt like my voice was sitting where I always wanted it to be sitting.” Hunter says Elliott’s music draws in people of all ages and walks of life with intriguing narratives, songwriting, singing and instrumentation. “Tori’s work is remarkable because it accomplishes the feat of being accessible but really honest and authentic at the same time, which is rare,” Hunter said. “I just loved being a part of her process.” Victoria Victoria will tour in January 2023 with Tori Elliot on lead vocals, Charlie Hunter on Hybrid guitar, drums, and two back up singers. Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Suki Waterhouse
Suki Waterhouse catalogs the most intimate, formative, and significant moments of her life through songs. You might recognize her name or her work as singer, songwriter, actress, and model, but you’ll really get to know the multi-faceted artist through her music. Growing up in London, Suki gravitated towards music’s magnetic pull. She listened to the likes of Alanis Morissette and caught Missy Elliott live as her first concert. Meanwhile, Oasis held a particularly special place in her heart. She initially teased out this facet of her creativity with a series of singles, generating nearly 20 million total streams independently. Nylon hailed her debut “Brutally” as “what a Lana Del Rey deep cut mixed with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides, Now’ would sound like.” In addition to raves from Garage by Vice and Lemonade Magazine, DUJOR put it best, “Suki Waterhouse’s music has swagger.” Constantly consuming artists of all stripes, she listened to the likes of Sharon Van Etten, Valerie June, Garbage, Frazey Ford, Lou Doillon, and Lucinda Williams. In late 2020, she finally dove into making what would become her full-length debut album, I Can’t Let Go [Sub Pop Records] with producer Brad Cook [Snail Mail, Waxahatchee]. Now, she introduces this chapter with “Moves” and “My Mind.”Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
G. Love & Special Sauce and Donavon Frankenreiter
“I’ve been in the game a long time, but I’ve always considered myself a student,” says G. Love. “Finishing this album with Keb Mo’ felt like graduation.” Recorded in Nashville with a slew of special guests including Robert Randolph, Marcus King, and Roosevelt Collier, ‘The Juice’ is indeed diploma-worthy. Co-produced and co-written with GRAMMY-winning icon Keb Mo’, it’s an electrifying collection, one that tips its cap to more than a century of blues greats even as it offers its own distinctly modern pop spin on the genre, mixing programmed beats and hip-hop grooves with blistering guitar and sacred steel. G. Love’s lyrics are both personal and political here, artfully balancing his appreciation for the simple joys in life with his obligation to speak out for justice and equality, and his performances are suitably riotous and rousing to match, with infectious call-and-response hooks and funky sing-along choruses at every turn. Easy as it is to succumb to cynicism these days, the songs on ‘The Juice’ refuse, insisting instead on hope and determination in the face of doubt and despair. “I’ve always tried to make music that’s a force for positivity,” G. Love explains. “It was important to me that this album be something that could empower the folks who are out there fighting the good fight every day. I wanted to make a rallying cry for empathy and unity.” Born Garrett Dutton in Philadelphia, PA, G. Love grew up equally enthralled with folk, blues, and rap, devouring everything from Lead Belly and Run D.M.C. to John Hammond and the Beastie Boys. After migrating to Boston, he and his band, Special Sauce, broke out in 1994 with their Gold-selling self-titled debut, which earned widespread critical acclaim for its bold vision and adventurous production. Over the next twenty-five years, G. Love would go on to release seven more similarly lauded studio studios albums with Special Sauce (plus four solo albums on his own), solidifying his place in music history as a genre-bending pioneer with a sound The New York Times described as “a new and urgent hybrid” and NPR called a “musical melting pot.” G. Love’s magnetic stage presence, meanwhile, made him a fixture on festival lineups from Bonnaroo to Lollapalooza, and his relentless appetite for tour and collaboration landed him on the road and in the studio with artists as diverse as Lucinda Williams, Dave Matthews, The Avett Brothers, Jack Johnson, and DJ Logic. While G. Love has covered considerable sonic ground during his prolific career, he’s always found himself drawn back to the blues, and to one bluesman in particular. “Keb Mo’ and I got signed to the same label at the same time back when I first started out, and we toured together early on in my career,” G. Love remembers. “He used to introduce me onstage as ‘a true American original,’ and I could tell that he got a kick out of what I did. We didn’t see each other for a while after that, but a few years ago we reconnected and did a co-headline tour, which was really special for me.”Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube
G. Love & Special Sauce and Donavon Frankenreiter Pre-Show Pop Off
Doors for GA Ticket Holders open at 7:00pm. G. Love & Donovan Frankenreiter’s Pre-Show Pop Off includes a general admission ticket with early entry, access to a pre-show performance and Q&A at sound check, group photo on stage and a limited edition poster autographed. You will receive instructions via email 4-7 days before each show with event information. Please note that this event will take place before doors are open so it will be just you and a few others for a very intimate and interactive performance with G and Donovan!!Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Soundcloud | YouTube
School of Rock Fall Midseason Showcase
Free Show / $10 Suggested Donation1 pm: Epic Albums: The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street1:30 – Best of Black Sabbath vs Ozzy Osbourne2:00 – House Band2:10 – Rock 1012:30 – Best of Pearl Jam vs Soundgarden3:00 – Best of My Chemical Romance3:30 – House Band3:40 – Rock 2014:00 – Best of Peter Gabriel4:30 – Best of Madonna vs. Lady GagaLinks: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Westerman
UK artist Westerman returns with his first offering in two years with the song “Idol; RE-run” out via Partisan Records. The new track, produced by James Krivchenia and Westerman, juxtaposes gentle and celestial sonics with an aggrieved disposition and features artwork by renowned New York via Portugal Graphic Designer and Illustrator Bráulio Amado. The song was written after Westerman emerged from a period of disenchantment with making music, and with the future of his career feeling abstract, it seemed unclear to Westerman whether the material he was recording would ever be heard. Creatively, this offered a strange kind of freedom, and accommodated some of the most adventurous and unselfconscious songwriting of his career. Finding textures became a central concern taking programming and looping into his own hands in a way he never had before, creating polyrhythmic grooves to lend urgency to his inner dialogue. “Idol; RE-run” is the first taste of songs written in this period and provides a hint for what’s to come from Westerman in the coming year. The track features James Krivchenia, Mikel Patrick Avery and Booker Stardrum on drums, Ben Reed on bass, Luke Temple on synth, Mat Davidson on piano, Robin Eubanks on the trombone and of course Westerman on vocals, guitar and synth. Speaking about the new song, Westerman shares: “The lyrics to the song were written around the same time as the storming of the Capitol. The compulsion towards the pedestal is strong. The need to scapegoat and revere without logic. Our populists actively celebrate their being people who don’t know anything other or better than anyone else, yet these spectres with their failings conduct our anger and resentment as if they were gods. They are nothing more than the shadow of something else, the face fronting a need to be loved or revered present in everyone. And there will always be another face to front.”Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
¡Tumbao!
¡Tumbao! is a high-energy Latin Fusion band formed by 7 seasoned musicians from various genres and backgrounds — and we mean all different types — that creates a sound reflecting the many flavors, los sabores, of Latin America. ¡Tumbao! offers a taste of Salsa, Bossa, Funk, Cumbia, Latin-Rock, R&B, Jazz, and Brass. Formed in 2019, the band has taken to new heights and popularity rapidly throughout venues in the South Eastern circuit and beyond. Most recently featured on PBS, the NCMA, with performances in festival circuits such as Shakori Hills (and returning Spring 2022) and multiple publications, the electric sound of ¡Tumbao! keeps crossing more and more barriers captivating listeners of every age and every background.“…it’s fun, fast-paced, uplifting and would make even the shyest person in the room want to dance the night away to their rhythmic beat.” -WKNC“Tumbao refers to a clave-based rhythm. It’s also a slang word in the Caribbean and Latin America, meaning vibe, sexy, and swing.” – NC Department of Natural & Cultural ResourcesWebsite | Instagram | Facebook
Jim White
Jim White gets around. When he’s not releasing his own critically acclaimed solo albums he splits time producing records for other songwriters, exhibiting his visual art in galleries and museums across the US and Europe and publishing award winning fiction.His sixth solo studio album, Triangles & Jesus, is a mind-bending joy ride of sonic influences featuring a bevy of his hometown Athens’ roots musicians, plus west coast indie darlings Dead Rock West, and rock and roll maverick Holly Golightly.Prior to Waffles, Triangles & Jesus, White (born Mike Pratt) released five eclectic albums plus side projects.Numerous songs from his back catalog have appeared both in film and television, with his Primus-esque Word-Mule being featured in Breaking Bad, and more recently his cautionary rocker Crash Into The Sun appearing in Ray McKinnon’s highly praised Sundance Channel series Rectify.UK fans may recognize White as the narrator and defacto tour guide for the award winning BBC documentary, Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus, a road movie set in the rural South, which the LA Times described as “Decidedly strange, delightfully demented.”Prior to becoming a musician White led an aimless, diverse life, working countless menial labor jobs: dishwasher, landscaper, lifeguard, cook, surfboard laminator, road builder, culminating with thirteen long years driving a taxi cab in New York City.White is presently at work completing a memoir, Incidental Contact, based on a series of uncanny coincidences that befell him during his days driving that taxi in New York City. Two chapters of Incidental Contact, The Bottom and Superwhite, have been published in the literary music journal Radio Silence, with Superwhite being awarded a Pushcart Prize.White was a pro surfer. He served as literary commentator for the National Endowment of the Arts. He was a European fashion model. Samuel Beckett once played a practical joke on him. There’s lots more non linear information that doesn’t really fit the usual bio format. But that’s Jim—he gets around.Website | Facebook | Twitter
Don Dixon
Don Dixon on Allen Toussaint, Michael Jordan, and his Least Favorite Part of Life as a Musician
The 8:59’s Album Release Event
The 8:59’s, a North Carolina based band formed in 2014, blend a range of influences to create a unique yet familiar sound. Based around the songwriting, harmonies, and guitars of Christian Fisher and Neville Handel, the band is rounded out by bassist Mike Beck and drummer Brad Goolsby. Echoes of Nashville, Athens, and Chapel Hill can be heard in the band’s songs, which draw from and cover genres from Americana and Alt-Country to Indie Rock.Facebook
