Drink The Sea
This is a seated show. Drink The Sea began three years ago in 2022, when Alain and Barrett jammed at Barrett’s studio in Olympia, WA just to see what kind of magic they could conjure together. Two years later, Barrett and Duke toured together in England and Iceland, before recording additional songs in Reykjavik. After that, Barrett, Duke, and Peter met in Sao Paulo to record more songs, which continued with Alain joining them in Joshua Tree, and then some additional recording at Alain’s studio in Santiago, Chile. Final production happened at Barrett’s studio in Olympia, WA, and mixing took place in Barcelona, Spain. The two debut albums the band recorded were literally recorded around the world. Taking their name from a lyric that Duke wrote, the albums are produced and mixed by Barrett and Alain and reflect the members vast experience as songwriters, arrangers, and singers. It also shows a strong world music influence that permeates the music, because although the songs are built around traditional guitar, bass, and drums configurations, the songs also shimmer with the sounds of Arabic oud, Indian sitar, Indonesian gamelans, and various exotic percussions like Brazilian surdo, frame drum, vibraphone, marimba, and kalimba. The band will begin touring in October of 2025, and the first single will be released on May 23rd with new singles following every two weeks. The two albums will be released on September 19th and October 3rd, respectively.
Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy and Friends play R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant
Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy And Friends are thrilled to announce a spring 2026 U.S. tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of R.E.M.’s iconic album, Lifes Rich Pageant. After the pair’s rapturously received run earlier this year honoring the band’s famed 1985 album Fables of the Reconstruction, which saw the four original members of R.E.M. join Shannon & Narducy on- stage at their two shows in Athens, GA, the extensive Lifes Rich Pageant tour will take Shannon & Narducy to stops in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, and more. Additionally, they will return for two shows in R.E.M.’s hometown of Athens, GA. Kicking off Wednesday, Feb. 11 at Summit in Denver, CO, the tour will see Shannon & Narducy— alongside Jon Wurster (drums), John Stirratt (bass), Dag Juhlin (guitar), and Vijay Tellis-Nayak (keyboards)—playing Lifes Rich Pageant in full each night in addition to many other beloved R.E.M. classics. Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
John Howie Jr. & the Rosewood Bluff
The Return of…John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff (Schoolkids Records, 2025) heralds the reappearance of North Carolina’s finest honky tonkin’, soulful country-rockers. 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of John Howie Jr.’s iconic career as a bandleader / singer / songwriter, from the legendary Two Dollar Pistols through to the Rosewood Bluff, with a 2018 solo album thrown in for good measure. Howie has built a legacy of authentic, roots-driven country music. The Rosewood Bluff’s five-piece lineup features Nathan Golub on pedal steel guitar, Tim Shearer on electric guitar, Mark Connor on bass, Dave Hartman (Southern Culture on the Skids) on drums, and Howie on rhythm guitar, with the whole outfit fueled by his rich baritone on lead vocals. Their sound shifts effortlessly between honkytonk shuffles, driving country-rock numbers, and deep soul ballads. The album’s 12 tracks explore the struggles and resilience of underdogs navigating life’s complexities. With heartfelt storytelling, The Return of… reaffirms Howie’s place as a master of honky-tonk, offering hope and grit for these challenging times. The album was released on April 18th, 2025. Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Love Plus One – An All Vinyl 80’s Dance Night
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 Saul Goode spent the better part of a decade navigating the music industry in Seoul, South Korea with rap duo Part Time Cooks. The international duo became the first foreign hip hop act to be signed to a major Korean label, and released music and performed alongside some of the biggest names in South Korea and Japan. Following a successful run to the semi-finals on Jay Park’s TV show ‘Sign Here,’ the pandemic landed Saul back in his hometown of North Carolina. It was there in Chapel Hill, NC where he began writing music in his native tongue again and finished recording his second solo album entitled ‘Sebastian.’ Bursting with introspective lyrics on the difficulties that came with returning home after things didn’t turn out quite as planned, the project is definitely his strongest to date. Produced by e.m.p.c, ‘Sebastian’ is one of the most complete offerings in recent memory. The album features New York emcee The Musalini, as well as instrumentation from Saul’s brother and father, talented jazz musicians also living in the triangle area.
Madison Cunningham – The Ace Tour
Depending on the game, an Ace can be the highest or lowest card, zero or infinity. A breakup feels similar—one path crumbles, while all others remain infinitely possible. How do you write about heartbreak when you’re going through it? Ace, GRAMMY award-winner Madison Cunningham’s third record for Verve Forecast, tracks every part of it: falling out of love, having your heart broken, and then falling in love again. Co-produced by Cunningham and Robbie Lackritz (Feist, Rilo Kiley, Bahamas, Peach Pit), the fourteen-track album is honest and full of heart, even as it breaks. Ace builds off of the success of Revealer (2022), a darkly funny portrait of an artist that won Cunningham her GRAMMY for “Best Folk Album,” but it is a different record. A slow burn until it wasn’t. It follows a period of writer’s block. On Revealer and her debut album Who Are You Now (2019), Cunningham says that she was writing songs about heartbreak, but they weren’t about her heartbreak. They were sketches, observations. Cunningham wanted Ace to be emotions first. Heartbreaking and lush and bold. Cunningham’s first single from Ace, “My Full Name,” was released to praise by PASTE who calls the lyrics, “simultaneously sprawling and intimate,” recalling “an ancient work of poetry.” On Ace, which Cunningham serves as co-producer, she wanted piano to move into the foreground. “I wanted it to feel like a mountain peak,” says Cunningham, “I wanted Ace to feel like a mountain we built together.” Ace is a record that feels alive and lush in all the ways Cunningham hoped for when she started writing. It is a record of mastery and honesty. Cunningham loves every single song on it. You can tell. Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | YouTube | Spotify
Dr. Bacon
Founded in the streets, bars, and wild house parties of Boone in 2013, Dr. Bacon is an Appalachian Funk Rock group currently based in Asheville, NC. The Dr. Bacon live experience is truly a spectacle to behold—bringing audiences on a musical journey that lulls and spikes in energy and caresses ears with lush beauty that whips crowds into a tribal romp, shakes booties, and sheds inhibitions. This manic versatility ensures that no matter what genre of music audience members identify with most, everyone will hear something that resonates. MEMBERS:Myles Dunder: Lead Vocals, Saxophones, GuitarsBen New: Percussion, VocalsMatthew Gornto: Bass, VocalsJohn Kirby: Lead Guitar, Vocals Website | YouTube | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram
Winyah
Hailing from a small South Carolina beach town, Winyah emerged onto the music scene in early 2023 and has swiftly made their mark. They’ve shared stages with acclaimed artists such as The Red Clay Strays, The Vegabonds and The Stews, while also shredding festivals like Bonnaroo. Winyah’s live performances are a testament to their distinctive blend of indie and southern rock, featuring electrifying guitar solos and soulful vocals reminiscent of icons like Led Zeppelin, The Backseat Lovers, and flipturn. The band draws its name from Winyah Bay, a cherished landmark in their hometown where all five members spent their formative years. Their music is a reflection of the five rivers that converge into Winyah Bay, capturing the eternal summer vibes of their coastal upbringing. On the surface, Winyah delivers youthful energy and raw power, but their music also delves into themes of nostalgia and the bittersweet longing for childhood memories and cherished places. Website | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify
Jake Xerxes Fussell
This is a partially seated show. Reared in Georgia and now settled in North Carolina, Jake Xerxes Fussell has established himself as a devoted listener and contemplative interpreter of a vast array of so-called folk songs, lovingly sourced from a personal store of favorites. On his latest album, When I’m Called—his first LP for Fat Possum, and his first as a parent—Fussell returns to a well of music that holds lifelong sentimental meaning, loosely contemplating the passage of time and the procession of life’s unexpected offerings. The album was produced by James Elkington and mixed by Tucker Martine. In addition to Elkington, it features the playing of Ben Whiteley (The Weather Station), Joe Westerlund (Bon Iver, Califone), and others. Blake Mills contributes guitars on several tracks. Joan Shelley and Robin Holcomb provide backing vocals. “…Fussell is the rare contemporary to approach folk in its pure form, shunning self-penned compositions about bummer relationships to concentrate on material handed down from bygone, hardened times.” – The New Yorker “(Fussell) is one of the great magpies of American song, collecting forgotten, tarnished gems with a folklorist’s zeal… his renditions aren’t so much cover versions as composites…” – The Guardian “…maybe the leading interpreter of American folk music right now.” – Ann Powers, NPR Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | Tidal
Lamont Landers
When Lamont Landers steps up to the microphone, he doesn’t just sing—he commands the room. His songs are filled with raw, undeniable truth, shaped by a quiet rise from small-town Alabama to the spotlight—on his own terms. With a powerhouse voice that soars sky-high, he pours every ounce of himself into each note, channeling pain, passion, and poetry through waves of booming soul, electrifying rock ‘n’ roll, and smoldering R&B. Hailing from Decatur, AL, music shaped his earliest memories. A natural-born performer, Lamont first picked up a guitar as a teenager. His breakout came with a viral cover of Ray Charles’ “Hit The Road Jack”—racking up over half a million views overnight. From there, his rise was swift: electrifying audiences on America’s Got Talent and Showtime at the Apollo while amassing a loyal following of over half a million fans on TikTok. A repost of his cover of “Rubber Band Man” by Questlove caught the attention of GRAMMY® Award-winning producer Dave Cobb, leading to an invitation to record in Savannah, GA—and ultimately, a deal with Cobb’s Republic Records imprint, Lucile. With millions of streams on original tracks like “Love and Happiness,” “Piece of Me,” and “Into The Fold,” Lamont is ready to officially introduce himself with new music in 2025. Website | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube
