Phillip Phillips
It’s been 10 years since releasing his five-times-platinum debut single “Home” in spring 2012 on his debut album, The World From The Other Side of the Moon. Phillip Phillips has released two chart-topping albums and taken his expansive brand of earthy, guitar-fueled rock to stages across the globe. With his soulful vocals and ruggedly warm sensibilities, the Georgia-bred 26-year-old saw his freshman full-length effort, go platinum after debuting at #4 on the Billboard Top 200. In 2014 his second album, Behind the Light, offered up the lead anthemic folk-rock radio hit “Raging Fire.” Phillips released “Miles” in the summer of 2017 as he toured North America with the Goo Goo Dolls, as a precursor to his recent and highly anticipated third full-length, Collateral. Collateral was released January 19, 2018 and also includes the recent single, “Into The Wild” and fan favorite, “Magnetic.” The Where We Came From Tour is a look back on the 10 years of Phillip Phillips debut record as well as a look forward into new music and a new chapter leading to a special night of music for all.Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Billy Prine & the Prine Time Band Present: Songs of John Prine
This is a seated show.Billy Prine is a natural-born storyteller just like his late, great brother John Prine was a natural-born songwriter. John was a great communicator of the human experience whittled down to the best words. His big, little brother, owner of a rich, booming voice yet full of subtleness, is one of the finest orators you’ll ever hear – also choosing just the right turn of phrase. During these concerts celebrating John’s life in song, Billy will tell stories about or surrounding some of John’s most beloved songs before leading his band through his version of John’s timeless masterpieces. As an example, fans will get to hear the first time John played his classic song “Paradise” for their father as the family sat around the kitchen table. Songs are stories, novellas, if you will, and stories often become songs. It is only fitting that in the course of each show during this tour, that Billy relates – as only he can – the stories that surround the songs of his dear brother John.Links: Website | Instagram | Facebook
The Brevet
Nestled in between Los Angeles and San Diego lies Orange County, CA: a culturally, economically, and environmentally diverse community with an identity all of its own. The Brevet, hailing from the heart of Orange County, continues to create an ever-evolving sound that pushes stylistic boundaries. Just as Orange County is home to snow capped mountains, pristine beaches, and bustling city centers, The Brevet’s alternative rock sound draws authentically from folk, surf, and R&B influence, but doesn’t shy away from thundering rhythms, blistering guitars and progressive synths.Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Eric Sommer, Ken Stewart, Red Haired Girl
Eric Sommer does just about everything that can be done on a guitar to generate a blues groove, or any groove, for that matter. Which makes it a bit of a challenge to describe his sound, style & approach because no amount of words can communicate the explosive quality of his show. Does he use Open Tunings? Check. Slide Guitar? Check. Lap Slap? Check. Open tunings on the fly? Check. Neck bends? Check. About the only thing this guy and his guitars can’t do is make a drink, and serve it while he’s closing in on some wild hound dog lick from the night before. Not to be missed.Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Mightmare
Mightmare is the solo project of River Shook, a queer non-binary writer, composer, producer, and performer, most known for fronting punk country band Sarah Shook & the Disarmers. Mightmare’s debut album Cruel Liars showcases River’s versatility as an artist, writer, and singer, leaning hard into early influences such as Elliott Smith, Interpol, Belle & Sebastian, and Blonde Redhead.Cruel Liars is a riff-centric wading in the indie rock dark pop shallows with sleek hooks and a sense of unstoppability in the face of imminent danger. Mightmare makes you feel seen, heard, and indomitable.Links: Instagram | Facebook | Spotify
Leo Kottke
This is a seated show.Acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke was born in Athens, Georgia, but left town after a year and a half. Raised in 12 different states, he absorbed a variety of musical influences as a child, flirting with both violin and trombone, before abandoning Stravinsky for the guitar at age 11.After adding a love for the country-blues of Mississippi John Hurt to the music of John Phillip Sousa and Preston Epps, Kottke joined the Navy underage, to be underwater, and eventually lost some hearing shooting at lightbulbs in the Atlantic while serving on the USS Halfbeak, a diesel submarine.Kottke had previously entered college at the U of Missouri, dropping out after a year to hitchhike across the country to South Carolina, then to New London and into the Navy, with his twelve string. “The trip was not something I enjoyed,” he has said, “I was broke and met too many interesting people.”Discharged in 1964, he settled in the Twin Cities area and became a fixture at Minneapolis’ Scholar Coffeehouse, which had been home to Bob Dylan and John Koerner. He issued his 1968 recording debut LP Twelve String Blues, recorded on a Viking quarter-inch tape recorder, for the Scholar’s tiny Oblivion label. (The label released one other LP by The Langston Hughes Memorial Eclectic Jazz Band.)After sending tapes to guitarist John Fahey, Kottke was signed to Fahey’s Takoma label, releasing what has come to be called the Armadillo record. Fahey and his manager Denny Bruce soon secured a production deal for Kottke with Capitol Records.Kottke’s 1971 major-label debut, “Mudlark,” positioned him somewhat uneasily in the singer/songwriter vein, despite his own wishes to remain an instrumental performer. Still, despite arguments with label heads as well as with Bruce, Kottke flourished during his tenure on Capitol, as records like 1972’s “Greenhouse” and 1973’s live “My Feet Are Smiling” and “Ice Water” found him branching out with guest musicians and honing his guitar technique.With 1975’s Chewing Pine, Kottke reached the U.S. Top 30 for the second time; he also gained an international following thanks to his continuing tours in Europe and Australia.His collaboration with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, “Clone,” caught audiences’ attention in 2002. Kottke and Gordon followed with a recording in the Bahamas called “Sixty Six Steps,” produced by Leo’s old friend and Prince producer David Z.Kottke has been awarded two Grammy nominations; a Doctorate in Music Performance by the Peck School of Music at the U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and a Certificate of Significant Achievement in Not Playing the Trombone from the U of Texas at Brownsville with Texas Southmost College.
Blue Cup Riot
Forged in the chaos of pandemic lockdowns and virus variants, Blue Cup Riot brings classic and newer rock favorites to local venues throughout the Triangle. The band is an eclectic mix of seasoned east and west coast musicians, featuring vocalist Daryl Lubinsky, vocalist/keyboardist Peter Todd, guitarists Tim Rath and Joe Sanguedolce, drummer Adam Schoenfeld, and bassist Todd LoFrese. This arsenal of talented and passionate musicians incites a riotous combo of breathtaking harmonies and blistering guitar solos, as they deliver your favorite feel-good classics. Links: Website | Facebook
The Deer
The Deer have built a devoted audience for their uninhibited, cosmic indie folk the old fashioned way: playing their hearts out, night after night. The band formed in the college town of San Marcos, Texas; half an hour south of Austin, where the members attended Texas State University and where singer/co-songwriter Grace Rowland lived on a farm. They cultivated a fervent presence in Texas Hill Country, playing the likes of Kerrville Folk Festival and Old Settler’s Music Festival, and collaborating often with local staples like Bayonne’s Roger Sellers, players from Asleep at the Wheel, and fellow festival act Elephant Revival. The Deer expanded to the national stage with extensive headlining and support slots for Big Thief and The Head and The Heart. Their label debut Do No Harm, released in 2019, marked a set of career breakthroughs, topping the KUTX chart and earning a nomination for the Austin Music Awards’ Album of the Year. When live music took global pause, The Deer had momentum to sort. The five musicians took the energy historically reserved for tour into the studio, a pressure cooker not only for creativity, but newly, for existential contemplation. The result is two full albums, the first of which, The Beautiful Undead, will be released September 9, 2022 on tastemaking indie label Keeled Scales. It’s a rollicking collection reflecting upon what it means to lose your sense of purpose. The Deer, amidst turbulent assessment, transformed a paralyzing void into an empowering surrender of ego—an exuberant submission to the immense unpredictability of existing.Throughout the album, The Deer maintain the modern folk flutter and Mazzy Star melodiousness they’re known for, but infuse those delicate bones with emotional tension, and indulge a new sonic edge. Enlivened by multi-dimensional instrumentation—synths, fiddle, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitars, slide guitar, piano, upright bass, and even mellotron populate the record—The Deer’s full arrangements shift their sound to an impressive pocket between Fleetwood Mac and Big Thief. The Beautiful Undead is luminous, boisterous, and invigorating; a free-spirited album fueled by hard-earned revelation. On lead single “I Wouldn’t Recognize Me,” lyricist and frontwoman Grace Rowland writes to a younger self. She shares, “If I could go back and give my younger self some advice, she may not even realize it’s her. But I would tell her to care for herself like she does for the world, to take a stand for what she believes in, and to be ready for it all to change.” The song’s vibrantmelody and commanding lyrics (All in all is falling upon us) accept the endlessness of change and evoke an energized readiness for it. Says Rowland, “The self is a collective of different versions of the same person, and it will always be up to that little girl – and every person she decides to be at every time in her life – to set her future self up for success, and to be kind to and forgive her past self.”Links: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
The Glorious Sons
From their very start, The Glorious Sons have achieved the near impossible by sounding both familiar and unprecedented, offering a bold new idea of what it means to be a rock ‘n’ roll band in the modern era. Fronted by brothers Brett and Jay Emmons, the Kingston, ON-based quintet have resolutely manifested all of rock ‘n’ roll’s most positive principles – creativity and adventure, energy and expression, unbridled individuality and spirit of community. The past decade saw the band unleash three remarkable studio albums fueled by immense ambition and strikingly emotive songcraft, their stadium-sized hooks ringing out with an ardent, impassioned spirit that earned them two #1 Rock airplay smashes in the US and thirteen consecutive top 10 Rock radio hits in Canada.“I truly believe that, to use the old cliché, rock ‘n’ roll will never die,” says lead singer-songwriter Brett Emmons. “It’s not just a sound anymore. It’s more of an attitude, a freedom of expression that people will always believe in.”Founded in 2011, the Glorious Sons immediately caused a commotion with their indelible brand of 21st century rock ‘n’ roll, born of classic elements but made fresh through the band’s spirited musical slant and raw-boned songwriting. The band proved as imaginative as they were motivated, recording and touring near non-stop in an effort to drive their music ever further. 2014’s debut album, The Union, earned them breakthrough success as well their first Juno Award nomination for “Rock Album of the Year,” fueled in part by such singles as “Heavy,” “Lightning,” and “The Contender,” the latter of which proved the band’s first ever #1 at Canadian Rock radio.2017’s Young Beauties and Fools more than delivered on The Glorious Sons’ promise, this time taking home the Juno for “Rock Album of the Year” amidst worldwide airplay and increasing critical acclaim. The album includes the #1 singles, “Everything Is Alright” and “S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun),” the latter proving the band’s US breakthrough, reaching #1 on Billboard’s “Mainstream Rock” chart.Like any rock ‘n’ roll band worth its salt, The Glorious Sons spent most of their time on the road, lighting up sold out crowds on an ever-growing series of headline tours, support runs, and showstopping festival sets, even a pair of unforgettable stadium gigs supporting The Rolling Stones. The band has made sure to capture its robust live power for posterity by recording each and every performance, presented in an on-going series of in-concert archival releases that includes 2018’s Little Prison City: Live at Rogers K-Rock Centre and the following year’s An Unplugged Evening with the Glorious Sons: Live at Longboat Hall.Hailed at their most mature work to date, 2019’s acclaimed third studio album, A War On Everything, showcased The Glorious Sons at their ingeniously inspired best by instilling a contemporary gleam on their traditionally naturalistic sound. Marked by its striking sonic diversity and searing emotional depth, the album earned the band a second straight Juno Award for “Rock Album of the Year” and second consecutive US #1 “Mainstream Rock” hit in “Panic Attack.”Links: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
aldn
When an artist like Alden Robinson, aka aldn, emerges from the void, it’s imperative to follow their lead. While growing up in the urban jungle of Reston, Virginia, he was exposed to the work of The Smiths, Radiohead, Skrillex, and deadmau5 through his brother and father. At the age of 11, he taught himself how to use an Ableton launchpad and imitate lo-fi beats. From there, he began making lo-fi and rap beats for friends in high school, preferring to be in the background until his prepubescent vocals dropped. Ever since, he’s been writing, producing, and performing his own music, but never anticipated it turning into a full-time job.It was only in 2020 that aldn began releasing his songs to SoundCloud while quarantining with friends in Richmond at Virginia Commonwealth University. As the whole world transitioned to a virtual existence, he turned to Discord for a sense of community which is where his breakout hit “glittr” gained massive traction — the remastered version now racks up over three million plays on Spotify. In 2021, he dropped the greenhouse EP which saw collaborations with glaive (“what was the last thing u said”), midwxst (“happy ever after”) and renforshort (“dog eat dog”). But for his major label debut, aldn switches gears in favor of being even more experimental in a lane of his own.On the forthcoming predictable EP, aldn captures the angst of being a young and stuck in messy situations while also confined in isolation. At the time, aldn often heard that he was a “predictable sadboy trope” and undeserving of all his success. Instead of letting all the anxiety get to him, aldn used the conflict as fuel to create and the title track “predictable” is a direct rebuttal that speaks for itself.As a tastemaker, aldn has a wide range of influences that he channels directly into his music from the filmmaker Gaspar Noé to shapeshifting artists like Crystal Castles, Yung Lean, and Bladee. Not wanting to be pigeonholed in the realm of hyperpop, fans will be hit with an arson of stimulating soundscapes that leave you in a dizzying state of shock, awe, and wonder. “I never go into making a song with the idea of a genre,” he says. “It’s whatever sounds cool to me and then it just comes out as something completely different.”The raw and abrasive energy on tracks like “forget u” and “m box” is intense, but the acoustic instrumentals of “glass words (outro)” keep you grounded. There are also heartfelt moments like “go away” which tells the story of a faded romance. Instead of building expectations for his career, aldn would rather maintain a cult following that is actively engaged with his every move and views him as a versatile solo artist. He’s always craving more and in his own words, “I don’t think I’ll feel successful until I’m successful off of my own success.”Links: Website | TikTok | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | Soundcloud
