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        <title>Cat&#039;s Cradle</title>
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        <link>https://catscradle.com</link>
        <description>Carrboro, NC</description>
        <lastBuildDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 08:12:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Cat&#039;s Cradle</title>
	<link>https://catscradle.com</link>
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                        <item>
                                <title>Luna</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 day ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/luna/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Luna was a New York band formed in 1991 by singer/guitarist Dean Wareham after the breakup of Galaxie 500. The band made seven studio albums before disbanding in 2005. After a ten-year break, they reunited and toured in 2015, and in 2017 released a new LP &#8212; A Sentimental Education and an EP of instrumentals &#8212; A Place of Greater Safety. Other recent reissues include a deluxe 2xLP version of their classic Penthouse album (on Rhino) and another 2xLP set Lunafied that collects all the covers the band record-ed in the 1990s. Now scattered around the country (Los Angeles, New York and Austin) the band re-tains the same lineup that operated from 1999 to 2005: Dean Wareham on vo-cals/guitar, his wife Britta Phillips on bass, Sean Eden on guitar, and Lee Wall on drums. A Luna Timeline: 1992. Dean Wareham recruits Justin Harwood (ex-Chills) on bass and Stanley Demeski (ex-Feelies) on drums to record Lunapark for Elektra Records. After completing the al-bum, the band places an ad in the Village Voice and thus adds Sean Eden on guitar. Eden, who is Canadian by birth and a trained actor, plays lead guitar on the excellent Indian Summer EP (aka the Slide EP). 1993. The band records their second album, Bewitched, featuring &#8220;California,&#8221; &#8220;Tiger Lily&#8221; and &#8220;Friendly Advice.&#8221; 1995 Luna&#8217;s classic third album, Penthouse (1995) is recorded in New York City, fea-turing guests Tom Verlaine (Television) and Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab). The band signs to Beggar&#8217;s Banquet in Europe. Rolling Stone calls it &#8220;one of the essential recordings of the &#8216;90s&#8221; 1997 Lee Wall replaces the travel-weary Stanley Demeski on drums, and the band rec-ords Pup Tent, their fourth album for Elektra. 1998 Luna recorded their fifth album The Days of Our Nights. 1999 Justin Harwood moves back to his home country (New Zealand), and is replaced on bass by Britta Phillips. 2000 finding themselves between contracts, the band quickly records a live album &#8212; Luna Live! for the Arena Rock label. 2002 the band sign to Jetset Records, record Romantica, co-produced by Gene Holder (DB&#8217;s) and Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev). Romantica was followed by the mini-LP Close Cover Before Striking. 2004 Luna record their Rendezvous album in Brooklyn, NY. Produced by Bryce Gog-gin with minimal overdubs, it captures the band more-or-less live. 2005 After a farewell tour, on February 28 the band play their last show at New York&#8217;s Bowery Ballroom. 2015 After ten years away, the band announces a commemorative world tour. The lineup is the exact &#8217;99-&#8217;05 group: Dean Wareham and Sean Eden on guitar, Lee Wall on drums, and Britta Phillips (now married to Mr Wareham) on bass. 2016 Captured Tracks label release a vinyl box set comprising Luna&#8217;s five albums rec-orded for Elektra and a bonus LP of rarities. 2017 Double Feature Records release the band&#8217;s first new material since 2004, the co-vers LP A Sentimental Education and instrumental EP A Place of Greater Safety. 2018 Run-Out-Groove releases the double LP Lunafied &#8212; containing all the covers the band recorded during the 1990s. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Ax and the Hatchetmen: The Late Checkout Tour 2026</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/ax-and-the-hatchetmen-the-late-checkout-tour-2026/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Check out was hours ago, but Ax and the Hatchetmen aren&#8217;t leaving. The indie rock six piece, fronted by Axel Ellis, hit the road this fall for the &#8220;Late Check Out Tour&#8221; &#8212; a coast to coast run bringing their sunburnt guitars and jangly tunes to the masses. What started in high school hallways outside Chicago has grown into a band with millions of listeners, diehard fans, and nearly a decade of life on the road. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify &#183; Bandcamp &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Grace Enger &#8211; The Satisfied Girl Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/grace-enger-the-satisfied-girl-tour/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 19 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[&#8220;The story of my life has been telling myself I can&#8217;t do it, but then still doing it, and &#8216;it&#8217; working out way better than I thought,&#8221; says singer-songwriter Grace Enger. The 23-year-old has built a career on that paradox, and on songs that make others feel less lost in their own contradictions. Blending pop, folk, soul, and rock, she crafts songs that approach what she calls &#8220;stereotypically shameful emotions&#8221; &#8212; resentment, insecurity, the taboo of a forbidden crush &#8212; with the no-filter intimacy and levity of a heart-to-heart between besties. &#8220;I feel like I&#8217;m writing songs that I needed to hear when I was younger,&#8221; she says, &#8220;and maybe that I still need to hear now.&#8221; Enger&#8217;s Your Favorite Record EP is full of songs you might need to hear, too. Early single &#8220;Give A Little&#8221; is a bright, piano-driven bop with forceful guitar strums and horn flourishes. It&#8217;s also the kiss-off you wish you&#8217;d given an emotionally deadbeat ex, while the wistful &#8220;Running Back To You&#8221; explains why you can&#8217;t stop texting that dud back. Later, the floating &#8220;Track 7&#8221; trades tough love for self-acceptance: &#8220;Well maybe I&#8217;m a deep cut / But aren&#8217;t those the best ones? / Ones that stick with you forever ever?&#8221; By the end, &#8220;Falling For You Anyways&#8221; sees her opening up again to new experiences. &#8220;This project represents a metamorphosis,&#8221; Enger says, &#8220;my journey of growing up and realizing I don&#8217;t have to stick around in situations that don&#8217;t serve me.&#8221; It&#8217;s an arc that mirrors its creative process. Written in the months after her first headline tour in 2025 (she was back in the studio that Monday), the EP captures a &#8220;liminal&#8221; headspace, caught between the afterglow of achieving a dream and the anxiety of what comes next. Her support system gone, Enger faced a choice: wait for someone else to make things happen, or do it herself. She chose the latter, stepping into production work she&#8217;d always left to others and making demos of new songs &#8212; not voice memos, but expansive arrangements with harmonies and strings. &#8220;I was telling myself I couldn&#8217;t do things alone. You give yourself all the reasons why you shouldn&#8217;t: &#8216;girls don't produce,&#8217; &#8216;you should leave it to a guy,&#8217; &#8216;you need a creative director,&#8217;&#8221; she says. &#8220;But by the end of it, I took the reins on my own project and therefore my own life.&#8221; Enger also wanted Your Favorite Record to feel like the soundtrack of her childhood, listening to John Mayer, Sara Bareilles, Norah Jones, Stevie Wonder &#8212; everything her parents would put on in the morning car ride to school in Hoboken, New Jersey. She fell in love with songwriting at age 10 thanks to Taylor Swift&#8217;s Red. She was soon penning her own tunes, eventually attending Berklee College of Music&#8217;s teen summer program, where she was selected from a thousand applicants to play the institute&#8217;s esteemed annual student singer-songwriter showcase. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; TikTok &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Bebe Stockwell</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/bebe-stockwell/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 18 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Bebe Stockwell, the Boston-born singer, songwriter, and performer crafts folk anthems punctuated by an unapologetically and unfiltered Gen-Z perspective. Her life began in the neighborhood of Beacon Hill where she took piano, drum, and guitar lessons, and penning songs of her own served as an outlet as a kid. While attending the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University, she continued to write and record. She eventually caught the attention of GRAMMY&#174; Award-winning producer M-Phazes and together they collaborated on her 2022 breakout &#8220;Love Me Back,&#8221; which to date has amassed north of 7 million Spotify streams. &#8220;Love Me Back&#8221; paved the way for more music, including &#8220;Robbie,&#8221; &#8220;Frosty,&#8221; and &#8220;Helium,&#8221; as well as while along the way, she shared stages with the likes of Claire Rosinkranz, Stephen Sanchez, Rachel Chinouriri, and M. Ward in addition to gracing the bills of Newport Folk Festival and Boston Calling. In 2024, the songstress inked a deal with Columbia Records and she released her debut EP, Driving Backwards, to much acclaim in May 2025. &#160; Website &#160;]]></description>
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                                <title>Good Moon Festival</title>
                                <eventupdate>7 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/good-moon-festival/durham-performing-arts-center/durham-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 14 May 2026 16:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[We are excited to announce the return of GOOD MOON. After taking a year away we are back and in a new phase.  This year’s festival will function a little differently than in the past. We’re saying goodbye to our previous home at the ballpark and are spreading out to more venues across our beloved [&#8230;]]]></description>
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                                <title>West 22nd: Places To Be</title>
                                <eventupdate>7 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/west-22nd-places-to-be/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 14 May 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[West 22nd is an Austin-based rock band formed by friends at the University of Texas, united by one goal: to become the next great rock band. They define their sound as &#8220;carousel rock&#8221;&#8212;a genre-bending style that spins through emotion and energy while staying grounded in controlled chaos. Following a breakout EP and debut album that together have amassed over 75 million streams worldwide, West 22nd has made it clear they are here to stand out. Their lyrics are autobiographical, their live shows electric, and their ambition unmistakable. They&#8217;ve performed at ACL, sold out numerous dates on their debut headlining tour, and cultivated a devoted fanbase that sings every word back to them. Not chasing nostalgia or trends, West 22nd focuses on creating what comes next. Their music hits at exactly the right moment, leaving listeners both dizzy and grounded&#8212;a signature experience of carousel rock. Official updates, tour info, and more are available at west-22nd.com. &#160; TikTok &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#183; Facebook]]></description>
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                                <title>Son Little</title>
                                <eventupdate>9 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/son-little/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Son Little&#8217;s live show brings his music into a different kind of clarity - raw, expressive, and always evolving. Whether solo or with a full band, he moves fluidly between deep grooves, stripped-down intimacy, and moments that feel completely improvised yet emotionally precise. It&#8217;s a performance style shaped by instinct and connection, grounded in the richness of his voice and the depth of his songwriting. Over the past decade, he&#8217;s cultivated a sound that draws from soul, blues, folk, hip-hop, and R&#38;B - without ever settling fully into any one space. That spirit carries into the room when he performs, offering something that feels both familiar and entirely his own. Audiences are pulled into songs built on texture and vulnerability, delivered with equal parts grit and grace. It&#8217;s not just a setlist - it&#8217;s an experience. Following a run through the UK and Europe supporting Larkin Poe, Son Little is back with a new wave of music and a fresh stretch of tour dates for winter and spring. His new album CITYFOLK, released in March 2026, features recent singles &#8220;in orbit&#8221; and &#8220;be better,&#8221; offering a first look at what&#8217;s taking shape - onstage and beyond - in the months ahead.]]></description>
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                                <title>Theo Katzman</title>
                                <eventupdate>9 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/theo-katzman-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[A man walks barefoot through the snow, takes a long bath in an icy river, then searches Craigslist for new-in-box cassette tapes from the early 90&#8217;s.&#160; He lights a candle, loads the tape, and waits. He&#8217;s listening for something unknown, yet familiar: the edge. This is a man staring down midlife with a renewed sense of vision, a recently unearthed Tascam Portastudio, and a call to embody masculine vulnerability through rock and roll song. In other words&#8230;Theo Katzman is returning to his singer-songwriter roots, with a series of intimate solo performances across the globe. He aims to pierce your heart. His aim is true.]]></description>
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                                <title>Reverend Horton Heat</title>
                                <eventupdate>9 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/reverend-horton-heat-4/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Loaded guns, space heaters, and big skies. Welcome to the lethal littered landscape of Jim Heath&#8217;s imagination. True to his high evangelical calling, Jim is a Revelator, both revealing &#38; reinterpreting the country-blues-rock roots of American music. He&#8217;s a time-travelling space-cowboy on a endless interstellar musical tour, and we are all the richer &#38; &#8220;psychobillier&#8221; for getting to tag along. Seeing Reverend Horton Heat live is a transformative experience. Flames come off the guitars. Heat singes your skin. There&#8217;s nothing like the primal tribal rock &#38; roll transfiguration of a Reverend Horton Heat show. Jim becomes a slicked-back 1950&#8242;s rock &#38; roll shaman channeling Screamin&#8217; Jay Hawkins through Buddy Holly, while Jimbo incinerates the Stand&#160;Up Bass. And then there are the &#8220;Heatettes&#8221;. Those foxy rockabilly chicks dressed in poodle-skirts and cowboy boots slamming the night away. It&#8217;s like being magically transported into a Teen Exploitation picture from the 1950&#8242;s that&#8217;s currently taking place in the future. Listening to the Reverend Horton Heat is tantamount to injecting pure musical nitrous into the hot-rod engine of your heart. The Reverend&#8217;s commandants are simple. Rock hard, drive fast, and live true. And no band on this, or any other, planet rocks harder, drives faster, or lives truer than the Reverend Horton Heat. These &#8220;itinerant preachers&#8221; actually practice what they preach. They live their lives by the Gospel of Rock &#38; Roll. From the High-Octane Spaghetti-Western Wall of Sound in &#8220;Big Sky&#8221; - to the dark driving frenetic paranoia of &#8220;400 Bucks&#8221; &#8211; to the brain-melting Western Psychedelic Garage purity of &#8220;Psychobilly Freakout&#8221; - The Rev&#8217;s music is the perfect soundtrack to the Drive-In Movie of your life. &#160; Jim Heath &#38; Jimbo Wallace have chewed up more road than the Google Maps drivers. For twenty-five Psychobilly years, they have blazed an indelible, unforgettable, and meteoric trail across the globe with their unique blend of musical virtuosity, legendary showmanship, and mythic imagery. &#160; &#8220;Okay it&#8217;s time for me to put this loaded gun down, jump in my Five&#160;Oh Ford, and nurture my pig on the outskirts of Houston. I&#8217;ll be bringing my love whip. See y&#8217;all later.&#8221; - Carty Talkington Writer/Director &#160; Rev your engines and catch the sermon on the road as it&#8217;s preached by everybody&#8217;s favorite Reverend. Don&#8217;t forget to keep an eye out for the 11th studio album from Reverend Horton Heat, boldly titled Rev, due out January 21st. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; Soundcloud]]></description>
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                                <title>Devon Gilfillian &#8211; Time Will Tell Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>9 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/devon-gilfillian-time-will-tell-tour/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Forged through the extreme highs and lows that come with living, Time Will Tell is the albumthat Devon Gilfillian has been preparing to make his entire life. His third studio album wasrecorded in Nashville's legendary RCA Studio A, live to tape on varispeed, with mostly singlevocal takes.Gilfillian wrote and produced with a mighty team including longtime drummer and friendJonathan Smalt and Neal H Pogue (Tyler the Creator, OutKast) as executive producer.Gilfillian carries soul track to track through a sonic journey of rock, funk, and country elements,magnetically vulnerable about his own failure and frailty.No end is ever easy, and what else is there in life than to go through? To get to where we'regoing, we've got to suffer a little. Time Will Tell is the sound of Gilfillian doing just that whilerealizing what a blessing it is to be here at all. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Damien Jurado</title>
                                <eventupdate>9 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/damien-jurado/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[&#8220;Play on, there&#8217;s no such thing as better days,&#8221; Damien Jurado sings on &#8220;Roger,&#8221; the sweeping wash of a song that opens Reggae Film Star, his 18th full length album and second release from Jurado&#8217;s own Maraqopa Records label. But as he enters his 25th year as a recording artist, it&#8217;s clear these are, at the least, very good days for Jurado on the creative front. In these 12 songs, which evoke half-recalled dreams and overheard conversations, the cosmic rushes headlong into the autobiographical and specific moments on the clock fade from past to future to scenes set only in the eternal now. Playing out like a backlot documentary filmed on the location of an unnamed TV or film set&#8212;maybe a sitcom taping, or perhaps it&#8217;s a low budget science fiction B-movie, or could it be a talk show?&#8212;the album is populated by performers awaiting call times, camera operators praying for their shot, and studio audiences rapt with anticipation. The stars here eschew glitz and glamor. Instead, they wander grocery stores and parking lots in the verdant Pacific Northwest and the desert Southwest, looking for payphones and a sense of purpose. Produced by Jurado with multi-instrumentalist Josh Gordon and recording engineer Alex Bush at Sonikwire studio in Irvine,CA, Jurado&#8217;s home away from home and musical headquarters, the record&#8217;s compositions are among the most musically rich in his vast discography, encompassing romantic AM gold, &#8216;60s psychedelia, driving rock &#38; roll, Latin shuffles, and left of the dial ambiance. Strings swell, melodic bass bubbles, and piano sparkles, undergirding Jurado&#8217;s unmistakable voice, at once intimately present and ghostly, grounded in the here and now but capable, at any moment, of drifting off into the divinatory. Following threads established by 2021&#8217;s The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania, the album sees Jurado embracing his auteur era, penning vignettes that arrive with little fanfare and depart quicker than you might suspect, only to linger long after they wrap. Seeking a skeleton key to decipher the action is beside the point&#8212;Jurado&#8217;s songs are worlds meant to be lived in, not picked apart&#8212;but on the beatific single &#8220;What Happened To The Class Of &#8216;65?&#8221; the singer imagines himself as both the viewer and the viewed, the eye behind the camera and its subject. This emotional and spiritual transference animates Reggae Film Star. Like a masterful director, Jurado offers motivation to the listener, staring unblinkingly from the mise-en-sc&#232;ne in your mind. &#8220;Look into the camera,&#8221; he commands on &#8220;The Day Of The Robot,&#8221; &#8220;One more time with anger/And sadness/I believe you.&#8221; A quarter-century in, Jurado remains gripped by his visions and driven by an unmatched creative drive. Reggae Film Star is one of Damien Jurado&#8217;s finest works to date, a stunning new feature from one of indie rock&#8217;s most cinematic figures. Here on this sound stage, you are the camera, you are the scene, you are the setting, and you are the viewer. Please try not to blink. -Jason P. Woodbury &#160; Website &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Shoaldiggers Album Release Show, Hustle Souls</title>
                                <eventupdate>10 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/shoaldiggers-album-release-show-hustle-souls/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 05:35:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The Shoaldiggers' nine pieces produce a one of a kind sound that is completely unique, yet familiar enough to embrace. From rolling seascapes&#160;to the hollers of the smokey mountains, Shoaldiggers shows are a swamp grass blast! &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; Bandcamp &#160; Hustle Souls, based in Asheville, NC, masterfully blend Retro-Soul, New Orleans Brass, and Singer-Songwriter Americana into a unique and captivating sound. Lauded by American Blues Scene as a "generation-jumping mashup of new school second line funk with old school vintage soul," and described by Bluestown Music as &#8220;intimate soul...with a Curtis Mayfield like warmth,&#8221; the band has earned a spot as one of Music Connection Magazine&#8217;s &#8220;Hot 100 Live Unsigned Artists &#38; Bands&#8221; and No Treble shared the band saying &#8220;I hadn&#8217;t heard them before, but I&#8217;m glad I have now... Must See&#8221; Overflowing with energy and spontaneity, Hustle Souls features roaring B3 organ and jubilant trumpet and trombone, balanced with three-part vocal harmonies and a passion for songwriting. Their music has been praised by Aldora Britian Records as &#8220;worthy of being included in that brilliant soul music canon, a heritage that features some of the greatest performers and writers that have ever graced this earth.&#8221; Hustle Souls are featured and endorsing artists with Santa Cruz Guitar Company and Seydel Harmonicas. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Slow Pulp</title>
                                <eventupdate>10 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/slow-pulp-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 16:15:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[When the members of Slow Pulp discuss Yard, their second full-length record and first for ANTI-, their vocabulary often defaults to synesthetic imagery and sensation. &#160; "We have so many visual cues for how we talk about music," singer and guitarist Emily Massey says as she stops herself in the middle of explaining how the album's second song, "Doubt," sounds like wakeboarding. "Doubt is quite dark lyrically, but it is found in this upbeat and almost campy environment." &#160; On Yard, the Wisconsin-bred, Chicago-based four-piece nestles comfortably into pockets of nuance, impressions, contradictions -- sonics and lyrics finessed together to bottle the specific tension of a feeling you've never quite been able to find the right words for. In that regard, listening to Slow Pulp can feel like being in a room with someone who's known you so long that they can read your every micro-expression and pinpoint exactly how you're feeling before you can. Perhaps this spawns from the band's own shared history and chemistry; in various ways, the four of them grew up -- are still growing up -- together. &#160; Guitarist Henry Stoehr and drummer Teddy Mathews attended elementary school together in Madison. Not long after, they met bassist Alex Leeds at the west side location of the now-closed local music program called Good'nLoud Music. And while Massey didn't enter the fold until later on in college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Mathews and Stoehr, it turns out she was in the same program on the other side of town at Good'nLoud's east side location. In fact, the chords to Yard's addictive track "Slugs" are from a song Stoehr wrote for his crush in the sixth grade. "Imagination," Mathews immediately chimes in with the name of Stoehr's original. The album's iteration of the song is, fittingly, also about a crush: "You're a summer hit, I'm singing it," Massey swoons over a warm wave of guitar fuzz and syrupy background vocals. &#160; With Leeds attending college in Minneapolis and the other members in Madison, the quartet started recording, playing shows around the Midwest, and eventually released their first EP as a four-piece, EP2, in 2017. It's an intimate, restless, and decidedly lo-fi 17-minute debut by a band with an obvious knack for creating sticky hooks that tend to stay in the space behind your eyes long after the songs are finished playing. So obvious that, without much promotion on the band's end, EP2 picked up traction across YouTube channels and blogs, and thanks to the power of the internet, Slow Pulp unexpectedly found themselves amid their first wave of buzz. &#160; In September 2018, the band relocated to Chicago and moved in together, writing and recording most of their Big Day EP at a cabin in Michigan the following January. As they put in the hours on stage and in the studio, the buzz continued to grow, they kept refining their work, and by 2019, they were touring with Alex G and working on their debut full-length record, Moveys. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram&#160;&#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#183; Soundcloud]]></description>
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                                <title>First Day Back</title>
                                <eventupdate>13 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/first-day-back/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2026 20:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Thundering out of Santa Cruz&#8217;s thriving and resurgent music scene, First Day Back have spent their final years in college solidifying their place in the emo revival revival. Heralded as the rightful torchbearers of second wave emo, First Day Back recalls the vocal exasperation of Cap'n Jazz, the twinkle of American Football, and the youthful exuberance of Braid, all while reinventing the sound with the organic additions of violin and harmonica. A love letter to the past, &#160; Their debut and sole album Forward, self-released in June 2025, was recorded utilizing the acoustics of their Empire Grade house living room, and a muted blue that graces the cover matches the outer panelling of this sentimental domicile key to to the band&#8217;s foundations and process. "Forward enchants on first listen, Pitchfork wrote in their 8.1 review "First Day Back play with a transparency usually reserved for private moments: screaming into a pillow in your bedroom, or putting your hoodie up to stress-cry on the bus." &#160; The quintet's DIY perspective continues in their live show, which began in houses and anarchist bookstores before blossoming with sold out tours opening for Algernon Cadwallader, Everyone Asked About You, and Jejune, where thousands of kids screamed along to every word, wax, and woo. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Hank Sinatra, Ramona &amp; the Holy Smokes, Charles Latham &amp; the Borrowed Band</title>
                                <eventupdate>14 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/hank-sinatra-ramona-the-holy-smokes-charles-latham-the-borrowed-band/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2026 05:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[After a few years on hiatus, Hank Sinatra&#8212;the high-octane rock-n-roll racehorse of the North Carolina music scene&#8212;is officially back in the stable and ready to run. The band has announced an upcoming performance in Chapel Hill, marking a bold new chapter featuring a refreshed lineup of Triangle music veterans and a gritty, reinvigorated sound. Known as pillars of the "twang-core" scene, Hank Sinatra has spent years blending hard Southern rock with a signature double shot of sarcasm. This return to the stage isn't just a reunion; it&#8217;s a rebirth. With a brand-new collaborations alongside such artists as Lenny Kaye and Tan and Sober Gentlemen, the band is set to debut music that fuses their classic edge with an exciting new energy. &#8220;There&#8217;s a different kind of fire in the room with this lineup,&#8221; says founding member Jeff Holshouser. &#8220;We&#8217;ve taken the time to sharpen the sound, and we&#8217;re ready to bring that electricity back to the fans who have been waiting.&#8221; &#160; Website &#160; Based in Central Virginia and with family roots in South Texas, Ramona and the Holy Smokes represent a new generation of honky tonk music. With powerful female vocals that cover an emotional range from determined to comic to vulnerable, and a talented backing band steeped in classic country and western styles of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the band exhibits a &#8220;clarity and sincerity that bring Patsy Cline to mind&#8221; (Nashville Scene, 2025). Fronted by Ramona Martinez, whose songwriting has earned her recognition from Wide Open Country as one of the "15 Latino Artists Shaping Country Music," this Charlottesville, Virginia-based band is rooted in the traditional sounds of country music but unafraid of pushing boundaries and highlighting the connections across border cultures. They have appeared at several Americana festivals including Red Wing Roots (2024), Rooster Walk (2025), and Bristol Rhythm &#38; Roots (2025), and has opened for touring artists like Margo Cilker, Colby Acuff, Willi Carlisle, Redd Volkaert, Joshua Hedley, Donna the Buffalo, and Kashus Culpepper. Their self-produced debut album, Ramona and the Holy Smokes, a collection of original songs about heartache and resiliency, was released on September 26. &#160; Website &#160; Charles Latham is a singular voice in the North Carolina music scene &#8212; a bold and imaginative songwriter whose sharp wit, emotional depth, and magnetic performances have earned him comparisons to legends like Bob Dylan, John Prine, and Robyn Hitchcock. After years of crisscrossing the U.S. and U.K., Latham put down roots in Durham, NC, in 2014. His 2017 album, Little Me Time, highlighted his talent for pairing razor-sharp lyrics with compelling melodies and expansive production. To bring his songs to life on stage, Latham formed The Borrowed Band, an ensemble of some of the region&#8217;s most respected musicians, including former members of Ben Folds Five, Shooter Jennings, and 6 String Drag. Together, they deliver a captivating blend of ballads and barnstormers, drawing on the chemistry of vintage duets like Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris while adding a modern twist. &#160; Website]]></description>
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                                <title>Rum Jungle</title>
                                <eventupdate>15 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/rum-jungle/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Hailing from the coastal backstreets of a steel city, Rum Jungle craft raw alt-rock anthems and late-night ballads that capture the haze of nostalgia, the chaos of youth, and the strange comfort of letting it all fall apart in style. Their sound pulls from surf-punk grit, indie sleaze swagger, and the kind of hooks that stick like salt on skin after a long summer. The story began with a hand-me-down name from Bennys dad&#8217;s 70&#8217;s band &#8212; a reminder that music was always going to be the family business, whether official or not. For Rum Jungle, being a band isn&#8217;t optional; it&#8217;s hard-wired into who they are. It&#8217;s how they process their world, tell their story, and chase the moments that only exist when you&#8217;re plugged in together, pushing the same noise out into the night. Since forming, Rum Jungle have grown from backyard parties to selling out rooms across North America, the UK, Europe, and Australia, while playing The Great Escape, Reeperbahn, and SXSW (Sydney). Their debut album Recency Bias landed at #1 on the ARIA charts, and with new music on the horizon, Rum Jungle are pushing deeper into their pretty-but-gritty world. &#160; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>The Takes</title>
                                <eventupdate>16 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-takes/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[At the intersection of rock riffs and earnest songwriting, you find The Takes, a folk-rock group hailing from Portland, Oregon. The band &#8211; composed of Sumner Rahr (guitar/vocals), Guido Rahr (guitar), and Phoebe Webb (bass) &#8211; weaves emotion and escapism through their songs, all while sticking to the roots of rock. On their 2024 EP &#8216;Lay Hold&#8217; The Takes delved further into their country/blues rock tendencies, led by Sumner&#8217;s raw vocals and backdropped by an organic four-piece sound of guitar, drums and bass. This era brought the band debut sets at Bonnaroo, BottleRock, Extra Innings Fest, and on two US headline tours, including sold out dates in NYC (Mercury Lounge), Chicago and Colorado Springs. Summer 2025 saw The Takes release anthemic, summery single &#8220;Take My Time&#8221;, produced by Jon Gilbert (Mt. Joy, Flipturn, Adam Melchor). The Takes are flipping to their next chapter with their third EP &#8216;Uprooting Roses&#8217; produced with David Baron (The Lumineers, Michael Marcagi, Matt Maeson) out May 1, 2026. It coincides with dates supporting The Runarounds across the US and sets at Treefort Fest, Calgary Stampede, and more. With over 3.5 million career streams and past support slots alongside Houndmouth, Wilderado, Briscoe, and Penelope Road, The Takes are creating music for the moment and community - wherever in the country that happens to be. &#160; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Son Volt</title>
                                <eventupdate>16 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/son-volt/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[After spearheading the alt-country movement with Uncle Tupelo, Jay Farrar pursued his vision with Son Volt, who recorded three landmark albums in the &#8217;90s before the groundbreaking artist put the band on extended hiatus and cut three solo LPs. Missing the free exchange of ideas and the surprises that inevitably occur when a group of simpatico musicians lock together, Farrar assembled a new lineup of Son Volt in 2004 and has since released nine albums. The latest album, Sound Signal Serenades, was released as a special 2026 Record Store Day limited edition LP. Jay Farrar&#8217;s work often seeks out the ghosts of America's discordant or forgotten past, converses at length with them, and writes songs that stake a claim to a better future. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#160;]]></description>
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                                <title>The Menzingers</title>
                                <eventupdate>16 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-menzingers-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Everything I Ever Saw finds the Menzingers entering a new era in what&#8217;s already been a storied career. The Philadelphia punk legends&#8217; eighth album chronicles moments of significant change&#8212;the personal, the political, and the universal&#8212;while returning to the core creative principles that first put them on the map with listeners the world over. Twenty years in, the Menzingers have discovered that the wisdom gained with time&#8217;s passing is even stronger than the emotional armor they once wore in their youth, and Everything I Ever Saw captures the quartet embracing the here and now while strengthening the bonds that have held them together. Work on Everything I Ever Saw started in earnest after touring behind 2023&#8217;s Some Of It Was True, as the group felt a re-energized urgency while their worlds changed around them. &#8220;It wasn't something that we initially set out to do,&#8221; vocalist/guitarist Greg Barnett says. &#8220;We started writing immediately after our last record in a very fun, casual way&#8212;but we were going through really special moments that we wanted to document.&#8221; &#8220;We've been doing this for so long that it&#8217;s routine,&#8221; vocalist/guitarist Tom May adds. &#8220;Between this record and the last record, however, so much happened in our lives, and we always write about what's going on.&#8221; Indeed, the last three years have been plenty busy in the Menzingers&#8217; world: while Barnett got married and welcomed his first child, May got divorced and navigated new emotional territory both in and outside of the band. &#8220;We're no strangers to writing about breakups, but divorce is different,&#8221; he says. &#8220;There's a weirdness to it that cuts so much deeper and hurts much more. The most devastating part is that you had a vision for your life that's gone now, and you have to figure out how to navigate that while growing as a person. But through that suffering, I definitely became a better person than I was before. When you're broken, you can put yourself back together in a way where you are who you truly want to become.&#8221; &#8220;It was sad for him, but he became the person that he always wanted to be, and he found so much happiness in this way his life changed,&#8221; Barnett adds. &#8220;I'll always look back on this record as living in the moment of these massive changes in our lives.&#8221; While working on the record in the band&#8217;s new studio space in the Port Richmond area of Philadelphia, the quartet&#8212;rounded out by bassist Eric Keen and drummer Joe Godino&#8212;engaged in some group camaraderie (and, yes, a couple of frosty beverages) to help their bandmate and lifelong friend navigate this particular era of growing pains in his personal life. &#8220;Those guys took care of me,&#8221; May says, &#8220;and I can't even put it into words how powerful that was. It solidified our creative relationship, because they&#8217;re some of the few people that I can talk about these things with.&#8221; It&#8217;s that sense of coming together that inspired Barnett&#8217;s lyrics on the charging &#8220;Nobody's Heroes,&#8221; which opens with the glowing tick-tock of a drum machine before launching into the type of passionate burn the Menzingers have long been known for. &#8220;It feels like the story of the Menzingers to me,&#8221; he says while talking about the song. &#8220;I wanted to write about my experiences of trying to be there for him through everything he was going through. Then, the approach became the whole band rallying around each other, and an anthem for everything that we've been through, while shining a light on the connection that we have together.&#8221; &#160; Website]]></description>
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                                <title>Michigander</title>
                                <eventupdate>16 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/michigander-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[$1 from each ticket will be donated to Headcount via GanderGives, the band&#8217;s 501c3 partnership with Plus1. Join the band in making a difference. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Night! Night!</title>
                                <eventupdate>20 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/night-night/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 16:50:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Night! Night! Sleazy Post-Hardcore from Chapel Hill. Bandcamp &#183; Instagram &#160; RIBS southern mobility meets uptown dentistry Bandcamp &#183; Instagram &#160; &#160; &#160;]]></description>
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                                <title>Crazy Chester: A Very Carrboro Tribute To The Band &amp; The Last Waltz 50th Anniversary Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>23 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/crazy-chester-a-very-carrboro-tribute-to-the-band-the-last-waltz-50th-anniversary-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Formed in early 2020 for a series of one-off events in the piedmont region of North Carolina, Crazy Chester is a homegrown tribute act to The Band, consisting of Carrboro musicians Jones Bell (Mellow Swells, Ravary), Charles Cleaver (Big Star's Third, Fancy Gap, Lemon Sparks), Rob DiMauro (Heat Preacher, Mixtape Grab Bag, One After 919), Justin Ellis (Slow Teeth, Ravary, Easter Island, One After 919), and Rafael Green (solo artist, Ravary, One After 919), respectively recreating and playing the parts of Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Robbie Robertson. &#160; For the sixth year in a row, Crazy Chester will be performing most of The Band's legendary farewell performance from Thanksgiving Day 1976, immortalized in the 1978 Martin Scorsese film "The Last Waltz" - complete with additional musicians and special local guests to play the songs originally performed in the film by Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and many more. But this time - they're taking the show on the road to celebrate 50 Years of The Last Waltz. &#160;A show that must be seen to be believed. &#160; Full list of guest performers TBD!]]></description>
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                                <title>Plays Well With Others: Justin Ellis&#8217; 35th Birthday Show</title>
                                <eventupdate>23 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/plays-well-with-others-justin-ellis-35th-birthday-show/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:35:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Local musician, multi-instrumentalist, music educator, and community event organizer Justin Ellis has been playing at the Cat's Cradle since his high school battle of the bands at age 15. Twenty years later, he's bringing it all back to where it began, bringing along bands, friends, bandmates, collaborators, and former students from the past two decades into one special night. Expect a few songs each from most of Justin's bands past and present, unique matchups and collaborations, and loads of Justin's favorite songs played by all of Justin's favorite people in a rotating superjam of some of the best players in North Carolina and beyond. See you there! Ticket proceeds will go towards local pro-immigration organizations. Featuring Performances from Slow Teeth Ravary Crazy Chester One After 919 The MothmenRafael Green The Color Exchange Clockwork Kids Flash Car Amelia Riggs + No Exit The Plays Well With Others Megajam Marc Allen Jones Bell Joshua Bosworth Robert Chamberlain Charles Cleaver Anna Cobb Kent Corley Asher De La Torre Jeff DeLuca Rob DiMauro Ripley Florek Lauren Francis Morgan Friedman Danlee Gildersleeve Rafael Green Jeremy Haire JJ Meacham Helbert Cole Ivester Hazen Johnson Nick Johnson Chesley Kalnen Will Kitchin Georgia Moon Amelia Riggs Conlan Sharp Asher Simon Kate Stokes Geoff Thomas Jake Waits Grant Watson John Wolfe Andrew Yesnick And more!]]></description>
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                                <title>Grrrlbands Showcase</title>
                                <eventupdate>23 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/grrrlbands-showcase-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Dance and sing along to songs by: Siouxsie and the Banshees Cyndi Lauper Rage Against the Machine My Chemical Romance Destroy Boys]]></description>
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                                <title>Willow Avalon &#8211; Pink Pocket Pistol Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>24 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/willow-avalon-pink-pocket-pistol-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Originally from Georgia and now based in Nashville, Willow Avalon&#8217;s musical journey began with her first word, &#8220;Elvis.&#8221; Raised by her mother and grandmother in a small Southern town, she grew up playing piano in church and taught herself guitar at age 12, using songwriting as both an escape and a means of self-expression through a life-journey that has been anything but straight-forward. Her much-praised 2025 debut album, Southern Belle Raisin&#8217; Hell, cemented her as one of country music&#8217;s most compelling new voices, blending classic country, Americana, and pop influences. She has performed at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS Mornings, and the Grand Ole Opry, as well as festivals like Stagecoach, C2C, CMA, and Lollapalooza, bringing her electrifying presence to global audiences. With a sharp wit and rebellious spirit, she has shared stages with legends and rising stars alike, including Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Zach Bryan, Cage the Elephant, Paul Cauthen, Charles Wesley Godwin, and more. Solidified by sold-out headline tours in North America, Europe, and Australia, as well as hundreds of millions of views across social content, Willow Avalon is redefining what it means to be a modern Southern storyteller. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Bird and Byron</title>
                                <eventupdate>28 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/bird-and-byron-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Bird and Byron - rock &#38; soul duo - are based out of Nashville, TN. The duo have gained viral success from their "One TakeTuesday" weekly series reaching millions of viewers; translating into loyal followers worldwide. The raw video posts are of the duoperforming clips of original songs or covers in their own styling. Since the inception of the video series, Bird and Byron have garneredattention and reposts from the likes of James Taylor, Willow Smith, Coldplay, Noah Kahan, Mt. Joy, Brittany Broski, andmany others. &#160; The momentum created by the "One Take Tuesday" series permitted Bird and Byron to record their debut EP at the Bomb ShelterNashville. With the support of esteemed producer Andrija Tokic &#8216;producer of the Alabama Shakes debut record&#8217; the groupcreated an authentic first project that sealed them as an important part of the new rock and soul genre. &#160; Bird and Byron&#8217;s first EP released on October 15, 2021 - followed by festival appearance, sold out shows and growing radio support. &#160; Their authentic writing style stands out w/ Bird&#8217;s powerful melodic vocals to Byron&#8217;s electrifying blues soul guitar. &#160; Since moving to Nashville in May 2022, they have quickly assimilated into Music City and are creating valuable connections within themusic industry. The duo are currently collaborating with notable Nashville producers, Je Trott (Grammy-nominated for work withSheryl Crow) and Andrew Petro. &#160; The duo (w/ full band) have recently performed to packed audiences on a multi-city tour, including stops in Austin, Carolinas,Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, NYC and Mississippi. &#160; They released their second EP in early 2023 - which has pushed their Spotify streams to over 7,000,000+ and 220,000+ monthlylisteners. The EP release also earned them a global licensing deal to all Abercrombie and Fitch storefronts. Top listener cities:Chicago, Denver, London, Los Angeles and NYC. Top listener countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom and USA. &#160; Bird and Byron&#8217;s social media presence has amassed 96,000+ followers on Tik Tok nearing over 3 million total likes throughthe #birdandbyron tag , and a growing 11,400+ follower base on Instagram. The duo has delved into sync - landing deals with aLondon-based sync firm A&#38;G that represents artists Beabadoobee and The 1975. Bird and Byron&#8217;s self-produced debutalbum is out now. &#160; Instagram&#160;&#183; Facebook &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>The Milk Carton Kids</title>
                                <eventupdate>29 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-milk-carton-kids-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[On their seventh studio album, *Lost Cause Lover Fool* (due April 24 on Far Cry/Thirty Tigers), The Milk Carton Kids offer nine songs that, more than ever, invite listeners to lean in close and linger inside the small moments the record quietly magnifies. When Los Angeles&#8211;based singer-songwriters Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan first emerged in 2011, they did so with a sound as unassuming as their &#8220;marketing&#8221; plan. They recorded their ten-song debut, *Prologue*, with just their two guitars and two voices. They posted it online as a free download, sending the link to friends via email. Even amidst the foot stomps and hand claps carrying Folk into the mainstream, hundreds of thousands of people managed to find *Prologue* in that first year. From the beginning, The Milk Carton Kids were more interested in precision than volume. &#8220;We were very conscious back then of trying to make our two voices sound like one thing,&#8221; Ryan recalls. &#8220;And we wanted our guitars to sound like one instrument too.&#8221; That instinct toward unity and understatement became the foundation of a career that steadily expanded without ever losing its center. Fast-forward fifteen years, through chaotic world events, a global pandemic and its aftermath. Through Ryan&#8217;s two children and Pattengale&#8217;s move to Nashville then back to LA, his bout with cancer. The pair went from darlings of the Americana Music Association Festival to hosting its annual awards show at Nashville&#8217;s Ryman Auditorium. They started their own Sad Songs Summer Camp, helping songwriters dig deeper and darker through an intense workshopping process. They also founded the Los Angeles Folk Festival, spotlighting musicians and comedians in the broader Folk community. (In its first two years, the festival has featured performances by Emmylou Harris, Waxahatchee, Sierra Ferrell, Willie Watson, Valerie June, and more.) Along the way, the duo has received four Grammy nominations and their songs have been featured in numerous film and TV projects, from Gus Van Zandt&#8217;s *Promised Land* to Tina Fey&#8217;s goofball comedy series *Girls5Eva*. They&#8217;ve collaborated with a who&#8217;s who of players from Joe Henry and Rosanne Cash to Sara Bareilles and Josh Ritter. Through all of it, The Milk Carton Kids have remained committed to a deceptively simple idea: music can help turn down the volume on a chaotic world and make room for what matters most. *Lost Cause Lover Fool* is the clearest distillation of that idea yet. With roots-leaning arrangements and a deep trust in space, the album expands the duo&#8217;s signature minimalist sound while somehow making it even more focused. &#8220;This album is, at its core, a collection of songs about transformation,&#8221; Pattengale explains. &#8220;About the shifting terrain of consciousness and the stories we build to understand who we&#8217;ve been, who we are, and who we&#8217;re becoming. Each song takes a single moment, sometimes examined with microscopic closeness and sometimes viewed from a great distance, and lets it expand until it becomes an entire world. By enlarging small feelings until they&#8217;re inhabitable, the record looks for eternity not in the sweeping or monumental, but in the intimate specifics that usually pass too quickly to notice.&#8221; The record opens with &#8220;Blue Water,&#8221; led by the lonesome pluck of a banjo. Handled with restraint, the instrument feels less like traditional bluegrass and more like morning light cast across a stretch of grass. Lyrically, the song captures a fleeting image: a man walking along a river, thinking about the child who once lay on his chest and now shares his worried mind. &#160; Website]]></description>
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                                <title>Happy Landing</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/happy-landing-3/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Happy Landing is an American band formed in Oxford, Mississippi in 2020 by Matthew Hendley (lead vocals, guitar), Keegan Christensen (vocals, keys), Jacob Christensen (drums, vocals), Andrew Gardner (fiddle, vocals), and Wilson Moyer (bass/guitar, vocals). The group pioneers a new wave of folk music, captivating audiences internationally with their energetic live shows and fresh sound, blended from the roots of southern rock, punk and folk. After debut festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Summerfest, the band&#8217;s sophomore album, Big Sun, comes in 2026 paired with a major headline tour of the US &#38; Canada. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Black Country, New Road</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/black-country-new-road-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[There are few contemporary bands who can do musical reinvention quite as consistently as Black Country, New Road. From their Mercury Music Prize-nominated debut For the First Time, which touched upon everything from jazz to post-rock via klezmer music, to the art-rock meets chamber pop follow up Ants From Up There (both top 5 charting albums). Then when singer Isaac Wood amicably left shortly after, they wrote an entire set of new songs to tour which ended up on Live at Bush Hall, an album The Guardian claimed was a &#8220;magical resurgence&#8221; in a triumphant five-star review. Now, on studio album three, the band are once again building from the ground up in yet another miraculous musical transformation. &#8220;Bush Hall was a really fun project to find our feet in,&#8221; says Charlie Wayne. &#8220;But we toured it to death and we were done with those songs. This album is a new statement of intent for us as a six-piece.&#8221; The band have now settled into a new shape in which vocal duties &#8211; and most of the songwriting &#8211; is split between Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery, and May Kershaw. &#8220;It created a real through line for the album, having three girls singing," says Ellery. "It's definitely very different to Ants From Up There, because of the female perspective - and the music we've made also compliments that." The band&#8217;s ability to respond to changing circumstances is not only down to their close-knit friendship but due to their talent, adaptability and long-standing relationship together as musicians. A mix of classically trained and self-taught, the multi-instrumentalists gathered steam as a band in the late 2010s, regularly playing The Windmill in Brixton alongside friends and peers such as Squid and Black Midi, and soon found themselves being labelled "the best band in the world" by The Quietus. Despite moving swiftly on after each record, and never having conventionally toured in support of a studio album, the band&#8217;s fervent following has only grown and grown regardless. By the time they found themselves in front of an ecstatic audience to record their live album, they were singing songs that reflected on the profound friendship that had steered them this far through an unpredictable journey, as they hollered in unison: &#8220;look at what we did together / BC,NR, friends forever!&#8221; That deep-rooted attachment and connection are the foundations of their latest. And it&#8217;s also a hugely ambitious and singular record, which is glisteningly produced by James Ford (Fontaines D.C., Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur). &#8220;It's pretty big and bold,&#8221; says Wayne. &#8220;There's a lot of very full and rich creative decisions that went into it. Making this we were considering every single option and really opening up every possibility as we figured out how to operate in a totally different framework.&#8221; It&#8217;s a framework that includes everything from folk to prog via baroque pop and touches of alt rock &#8211; with nods to a variety of artists such as Joanna Newsom, Randy Newman, Fiona Apple and Janis Ian &#8211; yet all the while retaining that unmistakably unique sound that only this combination of musicians can come up with. Although hugely varied and expansive, the album also feels deeply cohesive and focused, as it takes three distinct voices and styles and seamlessly intersperses them into a new collective sound. &#8220;At the beginning, it was very random,&#8221; says Hyde. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Bandcamp]]></description>
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                                <title>Feyleux, Jaguardini</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/feyleux-jaguardini/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 04:15:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[FEYLEUX is a new dark alternative duo that emerged in mid-2023, seamlessly blending dream pop, darkwave, and post-punk to create their distinct sound. Their debut album, &#8220; Midnight Hearts&#8221;, released via the Swiss Dark Nights label, showcases cutting-edge bass synthesizers, cascading guitar melodies, and ethereal harmonies, drawing on the vibrant gothic synth-pop aesthetics of the 1980s as well as modern darkwave. &#160; Bandcamp &#160; JAGUARDINI treats music like a science project, manipulating synthesizers, VHS, gameboy, vocoder, guitar and fervid vocals to create a live blend of energetic Dark Wave and LOFI EBM &#8212; with a CRT TV on his head. Mickey Sharp taking the lead on this tour. Bandcamp &#160; TIGER KNIVES Darkwave &#38; Post Punk from Raleigh / Durham. Jake Craven. Brandon Howell. Glenn Miller. Mark Bettger. &#160; Bandcamp]]></description>
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                                <title>Kevian Kraemer</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/kevian-kraemer/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Carried by breezy waves of live instrumentation, buoyant production, and instantly infectious choruses, Kevian Kraemer&#8217;s music sounds a lot like an endless summer. His bright mix of alternative, indie, and pop alternates between the kind of excitement usually brought on by June&#8217;s final school bell, sparks of energy perfect for a July night sky, and a fleeting longing typically reserved for August&#8217;s last days. Growing up in New Jersey, music surrounded him from every angle. Taking drum lessons at Lakehouse Music Academy in Asbury Park, NJ, he recognized his calling. His arsenal expanded to include piano, saxophone, bass, and ukulele. In high school, he finally opted to write and record original tunes of his own on GarageBand. He initially gained traction with releases such as &#8220;Rug,&#8221; &#8220;Sweater,&#8221; and &#8220;Buddy.&#8221; In 2024, a snippet of &#8220;Fly&#8221; went viral on TikTok, leading to over 2M global streams. 2024 also saw the release of Kraemer&#8217;s debut EP, Seventeen, highlighted by his breakthrough hit single, &#8220;Attention,&#8221; which quickly amassed more than 15M worldwide streams and counting. Kraemer further continued the momentum in 2025 with the release of his sophomore EP, Jersey or Mars, and a sold-out debut headline tour&#8212;catching the attention of outlets like PEOPLE, which touted him as one of its &#8220;Talented Emerging Artists for Your Fall Playlist.&#8221;Now, with his recent single, &#8220;i just get worse,&#8221; and upcoming EP, only if it matters, Kevian Kraemer shows no sign of slowing down, captivating fans everywhere with an undeniable and unshakable style all his own. &#160; Website]]></description>
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                                <title>MAKE Album Release Show</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/make-album-release-show/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2026 18:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Website &#183; Bandcamp]]></description>
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                                <title>Billy Allen + The Pollies</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/billy-allen-the-pollies-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[There is a ferocious Southern engine inside of Billy Allen + The Pollies&#8217; debut album Black Noise. It thrums to life atop a classic rock chassis and expertly weaves in and out of gospel, grunge, funk and soul along its eleven-song journey. From the explosive top of the album (a liberating anthem of self-worth called &#8220;All of Me&#8221;) to the spiritually haunting final track (the wurlitzer fueled &#8220;Go on Without Them&#8221;) Black Noise is a genre-defiant haymaker that lands. &#160; The band is a hybrid of four piece rock outfit The Pollies and fellow Alabamian, and frontman, Billy Allen. The story of what fused Allen and The Pollies is one that begins in a bar 8 years ago. This particular bar was on Allen&#8217;s gig circuit and it just so happens to be where Jay Burgess (founder of The Pollies) was having a drink that evening. While there was intrigue and potential in that first chance meeting, the two would remain ships in the night, each building their own careers, until years later when the stars would align at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals. As the story goes, both Allen and The Pollies, who were all occasional session musicians at Fame, were finally in the room together and the track on deck was Little Richard&#8217;s &#8220;Greenwood, MS&#8221;. To hear Allen retell this part of the story is to hear a man talk about the beginnings of a priceless friendship. &#8220;There was an immediate romantic musical connection,&#8221; Allen said. &#8220;This is my band.&#8221; To hear Burgess tell it, the feeling was mutual. Over the subsequent year, the two groups rehearsed, toured, wrote, and gelled together under the moniker Billy Allen + The Pollies. The joining of Billy and Jay (along with the other charter members of The Pollies: Spencer Duncan, Jon Davis &#38; Clint Chandler) was like the clicking of a dislocated bone back into true. &#160; Named after a theoretical sound bomb with the power to destroy whole cities, Black Noise was written almost entirely during the pandemic, beginning as voice memos between Burgess and Allen. With the lockdown in full swing, the musicians became each other&#8217;s micro-community, and voice memos progressed to writing sessions in Jay&#8217;s garage, and continued to full band rehearsals at Jay&#8217;s Greenhill, Alabama, sanctuary Studio 144. When the time to cut the record arrived, they tapped long-time friend and Grammy winning musician Ben Tanner to produce and engineer. Tanner (co-owner of Single Lock Records and former Alabama Shakes keys player) brought the band to Sun Drop Sound in Florence where the bulk of the recording was done. The band was so deeply meshed that the album they captured between April and November of 2021, other than a small overdub section, was recorded fully live, without a click, and 3 takes or less per song. &#160; Listening to Black Noise feels like walking on the alien terrain of a new genre. It sounds like garage grunge by way of Jackie Wilson. The very same kerchief Billy Allen uses to wipe sweat from his brow on stage could be carrying DNA from Wilson Pickett, Joe Cocker, D&#8217;Angelo, Ziggy Stardust, or any of the Spiders from Mars. Theirs is a gritty and trailblazing sound. They are a band full of smiling time travelers, able to visit and draw from a multitude of eras and styles. Black Noise is an album that devastates you to the point of remembering why you love music. This is the type of band you root for. You can&#8217;t help it. They're that damn good. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Aaron Lee Tasjan</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/aaron-lee-tasjan-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Aaron Lee Tasjan was experiencing the worst bout of imposter syndrome of his career when he sat down and wrote Todd Snider a vulnerable email asking for advice. Tasjan, despite writing and recording some of the most astute Americana rock songs of the last decade and being nominated for a Grammy, just didn&#8217;t see a future for an independent singer, songwriter, and guitarist like himself. Snider read Tasjan&#8217;s email and immediately replied: &#8220;I think I have some ideas. I&#8217;ll write you back tomorrow.&#8221; The next morning, Tasjan awoke to a signature Todd Snider missive for how to move forward as an artist. It was a novel-length email that read like the battle plans for the Invasion of Normandy. Do this, Snider wrote. Then this. But never that. The specifics don&#8217;t matter&#8212;besides, that&#8217;d be giving away the secret&#8212;but Tasjan devoured his mentor&#8217;s words and took them to heart. He began writing feverishly, unbothered by expectations and immune to any pressure to match his acclaimed albums like *In the Blazes*, *Karma for Cheap*, or his most recent, 2024&#8217;s *Stellar Evolution*. When he was through, Tasjan had *Get Over It, Underdog*, his most inspiring LP to date. Produced by Tasjan and his longtime sound engineer Mark Miller, the album is a celebration of the power of songwriting, the unbreakable bond of friendship, and the determination of the dark horse. &#8220;I went to the ultimate oasis for a singer, songwriter, and troubadour: Todd Snider. And he said, in very Todd fashion, &#8216;You can find your path forward by going backwards,&#8217;&#8221; Tasjan says with a laugh. &#8220;But he was right. I set aside my ego, played shows solo without my band, and wrote a lot of songs. In that process, I found my confidence again.&#8221; Tragically, however, he lost his mentor. Snider died shortly after *Get Over It, Underdog* was finished, leaving a void in the folk-rock scene that will prove nearly impossible to fill. But Tasjan is committed to carrying on Snider&#8217;s unbridled spirit and lifting up underdogs everywhere. Over 11 tracks, Tasjan&#8217;s new album kills sacred cows and pokes holes in the dam, while leaning hard into the idea of perseverance. In the talking-blues of &#8220;Science Friction,&#8221; he tells an abridged origin story of civilization that culminates with humankind editing itself out of its own picture. &#8220;Man made machines/putting man out of business,&#8221; he sings with a knowing wink. &#8220;Lost &#38; Alone,&#8221; meanwhile, finds him feeling like a &#8220;stranger in this town.&#8221; It&#8217;s a compact blast of indie-rock with a sing-along chorus that underscores Tasjan&#8217;s gift for writing infectious hooks. In &#8220;Twilight Zone Blues,&#8221; a shot of gritty T. Rex glam-rock, Tasjan wonders why we&#8217;re compelled to press the mysterious button just to find out what happens. &#8220;In society today, all this bad shit can become tempting, especially as the situation feels more and more dangerous as time goes on,&#8221; he says. &#8220;&#8216;Twilight Zone Blues&#8217; builds to that tension of, &#8216;What happens if I just give in to this or succumb to that?&#8217;&#8221; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; TikTok &#183; Youtube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Temples</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/temples/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 13:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Temples&#8217; name has become synonymous with a band with an adventurous spirit; constantly exploring new ideas. On their fifth album, Bliss, they shake up the perception of the Kettering-formed four-piece with a record that ventures into electronic territory while staying true to their core DNA. Euphoric and melancholic melodies of late &#8216;90s dance music blend with psych-tinged riffs and loops to create something fresh. &#160; After the 2023 release of Exotico felt overlooked, the band - James Bagshaw (vocals/guitar), Thomas Walmsley (bass), Adam Smith (keyboards/guitar), and Rens Ottink (drums) - hit a creative standstill. &#8220;There&#8217;s so much more to us as a band and as a group of people,&#8221; says Walmsley. &#8220;We&#8217;re completely reconnecting with why we started and who we&#8217;re making the music for - which is ourselves.&#8221; &#160; Reinvigorated, Temples signed with V2 Records and returned to working together in person. Unlike Exotico, Bliss was produced entirely by the band. Bagshaw explains: &#8220;It was very freeing. It felt like you could just improvise.&#8221; The album features self-sampling, creating a shared palette of sounds that could be lifted, reversed, or reimagined across tracks - &#8220;building up audio Pantones,&#8221; as Bagshaw puts it. &#160; Sonically, Bliss reinterprets dance music in Temples&#8217; style. Lead single Jet Stream Heart captures the thrill of being drawn into music, while Vendetta merges scuzzy riffs with lasering synths and dance melodies. Blue Flame, drawn from a chorus Smith had in his pocket for some years, explores disconnection with a slower, icier sound. Revelations nods to Gregorian chants, blending spiritual and matter-of-fact elements. Megalith tackles frustrations, surrender, and the fear of being stuck amidst a moving world. &#160; Though the band missed the late &#8216;90s rave culture firsthand, Bliss channels that era&#8217;s bittersweet euphoria, drawing inspiration from Faithless, Underworld, Prodigy, Air, R&#246;yksopp, Moby, Massive Attack, Orbital, Portishead, and more. Psych and dance share a natural lineage, with repetition, loops, and trance-like states forming the album&#8217;s foundation. &#160; For Temples, Bliss represents creative freedom and a shared sense of joy in making music. &#8220;We&#8217;ve just done exactly what we want to do in a purely selfish way, and that becomes not selfish when people connect with it,&#8221; says Bagshaw. Forward-looking yet aware of its roots, the album is unmistakably Temples: &#8220;People should throw out whatever they thought we were &#8211; this is what we are.&#8221; &#160; Website &#183; Facebok &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Eleni Mandel and Dawn Landes</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/eleni-mandel-and-dawn-landes/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Eleni Mandell is a Los Angeles&#8211;based singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose quietly influential career spans more than three decades. With over ten acclaimed solo albums, Mandell has carved out a singular lane blending folk, noir jazz, roots rock, and literate pop &#8212; music defined by emotional precision, dry wit, and an unmistakable sense of place. A true Los Angeles institution, Mandell is widely regarded as a songwriter&#8217;s songwriter and a cornerstone of the city&#8217;s independent music community. Her work has been praised by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and NPR, with critics consistently highlighting her sharp lyrical intelligence, understated authority, and timeless, lived-in voice. Mandell is also a founding member of The Living Sisters (with Becky Stark and Inara George), the beloved harmony-driven trio whose releases on New West Records reflect a deep reverence for classic songwriting and communal music-making. The Living Sisters appear on Mandell&#8217;s forthcoming album, further reinforcing the collaborative spirit that has long defined her work. On May 29, 2026, Eleni Mandell will release a new solo album, Tailspin, via School Kids Records &#8212; a label celebrated for championing enduring, artist-first careers and thoughtfully curated releases. Tailspin finds Mandell expanding her expressive range while staying rooted in the lyrical clarity and emotional depth that have made her catalog so enduring. &#160; Website &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#160; Dawn Landes is a Chapel Hill, NC based singer-songwriter who&#8217;s penned original songs for TV, film, and musical theater (ROW on Audible). Landes has toured internationally and supported Nick Lowe, Mary Chapin Carpenter and many more. She was a touring member of Sufjan Stevens band and the orchestral folk ensemble Hem. Her newest album The Liberated Woman's Songbook was produced by Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman) and highlights women's activism throughout history. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Morgan St. Jean</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/morgan-st-jean/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Morgan St. Jean has been deemed your &#8220;favorite up-and-coming angsty, feminist, socially aware pop princess&#8221; &#8212; but it&#8217;s her electric live show that&#8217;s turning buzz into a movement. Blending explosive pop production with raw storytelling, Morgan has quickly built a reputation as a once-in-a-generation performer. In the past few years, she&#8217;s been invited to support four major tours, including a European run with X Ambassadors. She has performed at SXSW, LA&#8217;s School Night, and the Lady Gaga x Global Citizen One World: Together At Home concert, and recently completed her debut North American headline tour &#8212; solidifying herself as a commanding live force. Beyond the stage, Morgan is a platinum-selling songwriter and artist. She co-wrote Chappell Roan&#8217;s critically acclaimed single &#8220;Casual&#8221; (produced by Dan Nigro), and her own viral feminist pop anthems &#8212; including &#8220;Not All Men&#8221; and &#8220;Do It Like A Girl&#8221; &#8212; have amassed hundreds of millions of streams while building a fiercely loyal global community. With a growing fanbase, undeniable stage presence, and songs that feel both personal and universal, Morgan St. Jean isn&#8217;t just an artist to watch &#8212; she&#8217;s an artist to experience live. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>The Format</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-format/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The Format will donate $1 from every ticket sold to help fight food insecurity, support marginalized communities and fund local animal shelters. This is a sponsored project of Catalyst Philanthropy Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity. &#160; The Format was beginning to think the stars were aligned against them. Just as Nate Ruess and Sam Means were finally able to sort through the aftermath of the 2020 pandemic&#8212;which first stalled, then completely wiped out their last attempt at a reunion&#8212;tragedy struck again. On the very first day of recording new music in nearly 20 years with Grammy-winning producer Brendan O&#8217;Brien (Pearl Jam, The Killers, Bruce Springsteen), the Los Angeles wildfires broke out, leaving devastation across the city. It was enough to inspire a little conspiratorial thinking. &#8220;It seriously felt like the universe was against us,&#8221; Ruess says, trailing off. &#8220;It was at least&#8230;&#8221; &#8220;It was testing us, for sure,&#8221; Means adds, finishing the thought. It&#8217;s no wonder that *Boycott Heaven*, their third album, is charged with there is no waiting on tomorrow energy. After all, if the universe was in fact putting you through your paces, how might you respond? Not on some far-off imagined judgement day, but right now? &#8220;Holy roller, don&#8217;t go wasting all your time,&#8221; Ruess sings in the boisterous single &#8220;Holy Roller.&#8221; In other words, the time for creating something more like heaven isn&#8217;t tomorrow or some other day, but today. A certain romantic fatalism has always coursed through The Format&#8217;s lyrics, which the more mature Ruess cops to in the heartland rocker &#8220;Shot in the Dark.&#8221; &#8220;Lived my whole life like I was ready to die,&#8221; he confesses over jangling guitars and stomping rhythms. But *Boycott Heaven* is filled with reflections on reasons to stick around this broken old world: family, life-long connections, distorted guitar riffs, and a stubborn belief that even as bad as it is, tomorrow could be better. Once it was safe to return, the duo got back to work at Henson Recording Studios. Sam and Nate both played electric guitars&#8212;Ruess having picked up the instrument in the years since The Format&#8217;s last album, in addition to launching a solo career, forming the chart-topping fun. with Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost, and collaborating with P!nk, Kesha, and Hayley Williams of Paramore. Their rhythm section was comprised of O&#8217;Brien on bass and drummer Matt Chamberlain (David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Soundgarden, Fiona Apple). Fans of *Interventions + Lullabies* (2003) and *Dog Problems* (2006) will recognize the hooks and retro-pop bravado, but *Boycott Heaven* signals a new era. It&#8217;s not a nostalgia play, even as it incorporates sonic nods to the alt-rock, grunge, and pop-punk sounds Ruess and Means first bonded over as Arizona teenagers. &#8220;We first bonded listening to bands like Weezer, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots,&#8221; Ruess says. &#8220;I&#8217;m a new guitarist, just enamored with power chords, so I&#8217;m listening to all this stuff we&#8217;d listen to back then and cross referencing&#8212;NOFX, Lagwagon. But you take that pop-punk stuff and slow it down, and then have Matt Chamberlain playing on it, and then it feels a little like grunge. All that&#8217;s in there.&#8221; &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Sincere Engineer: The Probable Claws Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/sincere-engineer-the-probable-claws-tour/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[When Sincere Engineer entered the studio to begin recording their fourth full-length album, they were already building on a foundation primed for success. Tracking the record entirely at Chicago&#8217;s Electrical Audio&#8212;the studio of the late Steve Albini and the origin of hundreds of revered independent releases&#8212;the band tapped into a space synonymous with unfiltered artistry. The result: Probable Claws (leave it to Sincere Engineer to pull a punny title out of the hat), a record that solidifies her punk-fueled catalogue as a formidable quartet. As Sincere Engineer frontwoman Deanna Belos continues to mine the deeply introspective terrain of her past work, the question remains: how does this latest chapter measure up? For starters, it leans into a thematic core that feels relatably universal, especially for anyone who has felt the pressure of life&#8217;s eternal ticking clock. &#8220;I think the overall theme of this record is being uncomfortable with the passing of time and how quick time passes,&#8221; Belos shares. &#8220;Not all the songs touch on that, there&#8217;s some songs about me moving too fast through life myself.&#8221; That sentiment pulses through the album&#8217;s lead single, &#8220;Cooler,&#8221; which landed on streaming platforms in March. The track stands as a quintessential example of Sincere Engineer&#8217;s signature brand of cathartic, angst-fueled punk&#8212;refined, yet no less urgent. And while Belos&#8217; audience now stretches to a global scale, her sound remains grounded in a gritty, blue-collar ethos, undeniably shaped by her Chicago, Illinois roots. &#8220;We set out to make a very straightforward pop punk record,&#8221; Belos says, before noting that fans can still expect a handful of Sincere Engineer&#8217;s characteristically poignant ballads woven throughout. Make no mistake: Probable Claws is a no-skip listen. Across 11 tracks, the album is meticulously sequenced to grip from the outset, kicking off with the commanding &#8220;Twist My Tongue&#8221; and closing on &#8220;Dynamite,&#8221; a finale that lands with emotional weight. A well-placed Bad Religion nod on &#8220;LOL&#8221; only deepens the record&#8217;s relatability level, bridging generational gaps within the punk community. Of course, every album has its emotional centerpiece, and here, Belos delivers it in &#8220;Arborvitae Evergreen.&#8221; &#8220;It&#8217;s my favorite,&#8221; she shares. &#8220;It&#8217;s kind of the song I&#8217;ve been telling people I wrote for myself. It&#8217;s about the backyard of the house I grew up in. When we recorded it, I was so stoked with how well it came out&#8230; it takes me back to that place.&#8221; All in all, Probable Claws finds Belos sitting in some of her strongest writing yet, wielding her sharpest pen and laying her heart out on the table. &#8220;I&#8217;m excited for the new chapter of SE. We&#8217;ve done so much touring with so many amazing bands that we all look up to. I can&#8217;t believe we&#8217;re on our fourth record and we&#8217;re excited to get on tour and play the new songs live. The recording process was a dream&#8212;Electrical Audio is an incredible studio, literally one of the best in the world. We were very excited and fortunate we got to make the record there!&#8221; &#160; Website &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Bad Cop Bad Cop</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/bad-cop-bad-cop/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[In the final moments of &#8220;Dead Friends,&#8221; the penultimate track of the new Lighten Up, Bad Cop Bad Cop guitarist-vocalist Stacey Dee sings, &#8220;So try to love your life, while you can.&#8221; These words serve as a powerful thesis for Lighten Up (out September 19, 2025 on Fat Wreck Chords/Hopeless Records) the SoCal punk group&#8217;s fourth full-length. The album paints a striking portrait of life's hard-won victories and hard-fought losses. &#8220;I think that's what I write my songs about,&#8221; Dee says. &#8220;Life is hard, but it's still beautiful. Stop picking the hard shit to look at&#8212;look at the beautiful stuff too. Lighten up.&#8221; Dee and her bandmates&#8212;bassist-vocalist Linh Le, drummer-vocalist Myra Gallarza, and guitarist Alex Windsor&#8212;know what it takes to persevere. Resilience surfaces throughout Lighten Up. In &#8220;Strugglinh,&#8221; Le confronts self-doubt and finds strength, and in &#8220;See Me Now,&#8221; she turns family loss into triumph. &#8220;Straight Out of Detox&#8221; details a transformational night in Dee's life, and&#8220;Note to Self" is her reminder to keep things in perspective, aided by iconic LA underground rapper 2mex. Playing like a big-hearted sibling to the Jim Carroll Band's iconic &#8220;People Who Died,&#8221; &#8220;Dead Friends&#8221; has been in the works for years. &#8220;This was the first time that I dug in to tell stories that I was too afraid to talk about prior,&#8221; Dee says. &#8220;We've made records that were unapologetically strong, but the way we got to be unapologetically strong was dealing with things like this.&#8221; Unapologetically personal best describes Lighten Up. &#8220;It started with having the girls over on Sundays. I would cook brunch, we'd drink tons of bottles of Prosecco, and we would write music together,&#8221; Dee says. &#8220;This was family the entire time. It was who we trusted, who we loved, who we knew we could work with.&#8221; That's why Bad Cop Bad Cop recorded at the Compound in Long Beach, home to veteran producer Antoine Arvizu (Sublime, Ryan Bingham). The band loved recording the singles &#8220;Shattered&#8221; and &#8220;Safe and Legal&#8221; there in 2023 with Arvizu and Dee&#8217;s partner, Migs (Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Long Beach Dub Allstars). &#8220;The way that Miguel produces, he lets you be you until something needs to be added or reeled in. He always says, &#8216;Never a dull moment on a record,&#8221; Dee explains. Bad Cop Bad Cop stretched their signature hooky, melodic punk into unexpected places, like the jazzy &#8220;Las Ventanas,&#8221; the dub-inflected &#8220;Note to Self,&#8221; or &#8220;Johnny Appleseed,&#8221; a reimagining of the Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros classic. After tracking the instruments, the band spent 10 intense 12-hour days recording vocals with longtime collaborator John E. Carey Jr. (Old Man Markley, NOFX, Get Dead). &#8220;The singing was&#160;the most important part for us. We really tried things out,&#8221; Dee says, adding that Gallarza stepped up to sing third harmony for the first time.Lighten Up also benefits from Windsor, an expert guitarist who not only shreds (check out the end of &#8220;I4NI&#8221;) but whose music theory knowledge proved invaluable. &#8220;Alex's guitar playing is just so fantastic and has really elevated our songwriting, truly,&#8221; Dee says. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Bandcamp &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Tommy Prine</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/tommy-prine/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Website &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; Facebook &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Man Man</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/man-man-2/motorco-music-hall/durham-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:00:55 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[When Man Man released its last album, “Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In Between,&#8221; frontman Honus Honus (né Ryan Kattner) was in a state of unrest, oscillating between hope and cynicism. Perhaps fittingly, the album ended up dropping during the pandemic. (We could all relate.) But much like that bizarre turn of global [&#8230;]]]></description>
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                                <title>Alcantara, Country Fetish, Snide</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/alcantara-country-fetish-snide/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Sat, 28 Mar 2026 03:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Formed in 2022 by transplants from the vibrant scenes of Brooklyn, Oakland, New Haven, Raleigh, and Salt Lake City, Alcantara is a riveting ensemble showcasing the talents of Brooke Suffridge, Justin Blau, Eric Bliss, Myles Peterson, and Adrian Drummond-Cole. These seasoned musicians converged in the Triangle and found a whole more than equal to the sum of its parts. Pulling in equal measures from indie, post-rock, punk, and post-hardcore, Alcantara specializes in off-kilter grooves and earworm melodies. Songs flow from wistful to wrathful, reflective to rebellious, always bursting with energy. &#160;Their live performances around the state have earned them a growing following as well as a spot on Raleigh&#8217;s Boared to Death Records. Alcantara recorded with Kei Mizobuchi and Chris Wimberly at Carrboro&#8217;s Night Sound Studios and mastered by Mike Westbrook. These first five songs capture a band brimming with potential, confident in their collaboration and hungry to create. &#160;The Bee EP released digitally on 02/21/2025. &#160;A recent interview with the band on The Daily Tarheel can be found here. &#160; Instagram &#183; Bandcamp &#183; Linktree &#160; SNiDE Is a four piece American rock and roll band from chapel hill, NC. Featuring Two suave guitarists in love, a hunky rhythm section with a brotherly bond. Topped by a big gay sparkling frontman whom will not be ignored. &#160; Slamming untamed self expression into mountains of reverb. Crafting concerningly personal songs With themes inspired by the sanctuaries and alleys of the queer human experience. &#160; Known widely for providing excellent value in dollar to entertainment ratio. Their music lies somewhere between Mot&#246;rhead and The Beach Boys. with a snarky attitude backed up with pure bop ass melodies. Delivered in a hardcore punk package. &#160; Linktree &#160; Persimmon &#160; Linktree]]></description>
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                                <title>Subhumans</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/subhumans-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Subhumans are one of the most influential bands from the UK Anarcho-Punk scene of the 80&#8217;s, filed right alongside Crass and Conflict, and just as relevant today as they were during the darkest days of Thatcher&#8217;s Britain. Take your choice in how to label them &#8211; Punk, UK82, Crusty, etc, &#8211; there lies the attraction and consequent reason for their popularity, the band epitomizes non-conformity and connects with people in many different scenes. Forming in 1980, recording and releasing a series of live and demo cassette tapes on their own Bluurg label, they continued to release music throughout the 80&#8217;s &#8211; building a powerhouse of a back catalog that completely stands the test of time. Their debut LP &#8216;The Day the Country Died&#8217; (1983), with its Orwellian influence, is considered by many to be a classic and has sold in excess of 100,000 copies. The second album, &#8216;From the Cradle to the Grave&#8217;, came swiftly the following year (1984), and although the same frenetic pace is in evidence, this marks a significant musical development for the band. In 1985 Subhumans broke up, citing the usual musical differences, although had managed to release a third, maybe ironically entitled, LP &#8216;Worlds Apart.&#8217; A final EP was released posthumously in 1986, &#8216;29:29 Split Vision,&#8217; a further demonstration of how far the band had come musically from their initial leanings. Dick Lucas subsequently joined Culture Shock and then formed political ska-punk band Citizen Fish in 1990, both bands releasing many albums, and still playing today. Subhumans had a couple of reunion shows in the nineties, before a more permanent return for the 21st century, including 2 major tours of the US, the first resulting in the &#8216;Live in a Dive&#8217; LP. The Subhumans then released a further studio album in 2007, &#8216;Internal Riot,&#8217; again on Bluurg Records. The band is still passionate and angry, illustrated by Dick saying &#8220;Being in a band is the source of most of my passion and drive! The live experience of sharing it with people keeps it ongoing, the release of anger, frustration and initially negative/destructive states of mind is a release from the downward spiral of keeping it all bottled up and it feels positive/constructive as a result.&#8221; The band have recently written ten new songs, which Pirates Press Records are thrilled to be releasing, and are embarking on a year of touring in both Europe and North America! First a split with The Restarts before a 12&#8221; of their own comes out in October of 2019! The social and political commentary of bands like Subhumans forged a path, along with their contemporaries, for punk to change lives and opinions around the world. Sadly the things they sang about forty years ago are largely just as important now, sometimes more so in an age of Trump and Brexit. We can&#8217;t wait to hear more of what they have to say about the current political climate, the immense imbalance of wealth and power, and the causes they hold near and dear to their hearts. &#160; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Music for Mental Health</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/music-for-mental-health/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:25:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[NC Musicians Mental Health Alliance &#160; Caleb Caudle On his latest release, Sweet Critters, Caleb Caudle continues to mine both the brightest and murkiest corners of his imagination, finding that purest of points where tenderness and grit collide, inspired by musical heroes like Buddy Miller and Guy Clark, and mentors like Elizabeth Cook and John Paul White. It was White who Caudle tapped to produce Sweet Critters, along with Ben Tanner, at the duo&#8217;s Florence, Alabama studio Sun Drop Sound. "I was very excited to work with Caleb on this record. Iʼve been a fan for years and count him as a friend,&#8221; White says of working with Caudle. &#8220;Heʼs a stellar songwriter, so I knew heʼd bring the goods. And he did.&#8221; The album features Allison Russell, Aoife O'Donovan, John Paul White and Caleb's own touring band. He has played Stagecoach, Cayamo, Luck Reunion, Mountain Stage, Merlefest, Americanafest and recently supported Marty Stuart, Steve Earle, Hayes Carll, Elizabeth Cook, Brent Cobb, Charles Wesley Godwin and Ray Wylie Hubbard among many others. ------------------------------------ Laurelyn DossettSinger/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett lives and writes in Stokes County, NC. &#160;Her songs have appeared in films and television (Hell on Wheels, Ain't In it for My Health) and have been recorded by many artists including Grammy-winning Levon Helm (Anna Lee) and Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops (Leaving Eden).&#160; She has written the songs for seven plays, staged at Triad Stage and Playmaker's Repertory. &#160;Her song cycle, The Gathering: A Winter's Tale in Six Songs was commissioned by the North Carolina Symphony and premiered in Raleigh in 2011. She last performed it in 2019 with the Winston-Salem Symphony. Laurelyn has written songs for various protest movements in North Carolina including My Beloved Enemy and Vote Against Amendment One. She remains a voice for social justice and environmental activism in North Carolina and beyond. &#160;The River&#8217;s Lament is her testament to the devastation of the Dan River coal ash spill. She founded and continues to host the annual &#8220;Songs of Hope and Justice&#8221; at the North Carolina Folk Festival. ----------------------------------- The Vagabond Saints' Society has waited patiently for many years for the right time to pay tribute to one of their favorite cult albums - The Waterboys&#8217; 1988 classic, "Fisherman&#8217;s Blues.&#8221; The VSS will perform this timeless record classic in its entirety, featuring Doug Davis on lead vocals, as well as a selection of other Waterboys favorites featuring a selection of Triad &#38; Triangle singers! "Fisherman&#8217;s Blues" was the fruit of an intense reevaluation of the Waterboys&#8217; previous anthemic post-punk, filtered through a new fascination with traditional Irish forms and instrumentation. The result is neither rock &#8217;n roll nor authentic &#8220;trad&#8221; music, but something all its own, rooted in the deeply passionate and romantic writing of bandleader, Mike Scott.]]></description>
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                                <title>Squirrel Nut Zippers</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/squirrel-nut-zippers/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[When Hot first hit the airwaves in 1996, it didn&#8217;t just ignite excitement &#8212; it sparked a cultural bonfire. With its infectious blend of swing, jazz, Delta blues, and Southern storytelling, Hot rocketed Squirrel Nut Zippers from the underground scene of Chapel Hill, NC, to the national stage, going Platinum and defining a generation&#8217;s rediscovery of vintage Americana. &#160; The band&#8217;s breakout sophomore album captured lightning in a bottle. Recorded at the famed Kingsway Studio in New Orleans (owned by Daneil Lanois), the record radiated with authenticity. Featuring a warm, analog sound, paired with wry, vivid storytelling, the album topped the Billboard 200 charts for an impressive 51 weeks and included such standout tracks as &#8220;Put a Lid On It,&#8221; &#8220;Blue Angel,&#8221; and its biggest hit to-date &#8220;Hell.&#8221; &#160; &#8220;Hell,&#8221; which at the time, was considered an unlikely radio single, topped the Alternative Airplay charts at #13 and has become a pivotal piece of pop culture as it continues to heat up the radio and TV airwaves, appearing on alt rock and Americana stations and in such prominent television shows as Wednesday (2025) and Lucifer (2021).Now, 30 years later, the Zippers are celebrating the ever-lasting magic of Hot with the &#8220;In The Afterlife&#8221; tour, where the band will play the record in its entirety. The 30th celebration of Hot is not just a look back &#8212; it&#8217;s a salute to resilience, innovation, and the enduring power of a band that never stopped evolving.Formed in 1993 by Jimbo Mathus, Katharine Whalen, and a tight-knit group of musical misfits, Squirrel Nut Zippers defied genre from the start. Their sound &#8212; an intoxicating mix of prohibition-era jazz, big band bravado, and punk-rock irreverence &#8212; invited listeners into a world where vaudeville met voodoo and speakeasy swagger met Southern soul. &#160; Led by Mathus, and managed by original drummer Chris Phillips, the modern-day Zippers continue to honor that legacy while breathing new life into their beloved catalog. As the Squirrel Nut Zippers bring Hot back to the stage, fans old and new are rediscovering what made the album &#8212; and the band &#8212; so unforgettable. Music that swings, sings, and sizzles with soul. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Cheekface</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/cheekface-4/motorco-music-hall/durham-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[LinkTree · Bandcamp · Instagram · Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>The Bug Club</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-bug-club/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 13:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The Bug Club are back with a new album. It&#8217;s been a whole eleven months since their last. Where have they been? &#160; Every Single Muscle, the band&#8217;s fifth LP, arrives May 29th, 2026 via Sub Pop, making it a hat-trick for the Welsh duo and their esteemed Seattle-based patrons. Since Very Human Features, which emerged in June of 2025, the non-stop tour has seen the BBC 6 Music and KEXP favourites ping-pong across the Atlantic like they used to the Severn Bridge. Various festival slots in the summer kept them from having any sort of holiday - who needs one when you live in Wales anyway? - until it was time to head back to the writing room. &#160; So that answers that first question. Not that you&#8217;d have otherwise known. Ever self-effacing, songwriters Sam (guitar, vocals) and Tilly (bass, vocals) go as far as to claim that they&#8217;ve been sitting around &#8220;doing nothing at all&#8221; during track &#8220;It&#8217;s Our Manager David.&#8221; That&#8217;s clearly a lie. Every Single Muscle gets off to a full-throttle, chugging start with &#8220;Miss Wales 2012,&#8221; referencing a competition both Tilly and Sam have actually won. Dead serious. It&#8217;s the first of many sub-two-minute tracks on the album, setting the tone for The Bug Club&#8217;s punkiest offering yet and recalling both the short, sharp snaps of their very first singles and the grunt of recent releases. So packed is the album with wall-to-wall riffs and lyrical hooks rammed into tight confines that Sam actually asks permission to squeeze in a solo during second track &#8220;A Good Day for Dying.&#8221; He&#8217;s given two seconds. &#160; Not that we&#8217;re short-changed, though, because Sam asks again later on and is granted more. Across eighteen tunes there&#8217;s enough classic Sam/Tilly guitar interplay to satisfy even the most vociferous Bug Club club member and firmly refute the band&#8217;s own claim that they are only &#8220;just about technically proficient on our instruments.&#8221; &#8220;Full Range of Motion&#8221; has a choppy rhythm that sits atop drummer Tom&#8217;s tight beat and serves to remind us all of Minutemen, for a minute. &#8220;Make It Count&#8221; brings sweet melody and call and response, while &#8220;All My Clothes Fell Off&#8221; allows for a slower paced ballad that builds to a crescendo that would not be out of place in the world of classic rock. &#8220;Cut to Black&#8221; combines a Sparks-esque falsetto and Tilly&#8217;s melodic bass playing with a rhythm something close-ish to what Klaus Dinger used to do for Neu! And closer &#8220;My Uncle Warren Drives a Passat&#8221; sees them doing a bit of a left turn and swapping out guitars for keys. This record&#8217;s an exercise in efficient maximalism - the musical equivalent of your dad packing the car for a holiday. Bring what you like; space is tight but they&#8217;ll get it in there somehow. &#160; On to the words, because with these guys those are important. While Very Human Features did an excellent job of pointing at everyday things and highlighting their absurdity, on Every Single Muscle The Bug Club look more closely at themselves. Not so much in an introspective way, though. More in a way an alien might probe a captive specimen on an intergalactic gurney. Horror movies get their &#8220;body&#8221; subgenre, now garage rock albums get theirs too. Self-interested in an entirely new sense of the term, the human form and condition is prodded and inspected from every angle throughout the course of the album. &#160; Bandcamp &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>BALTHVS</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/balthvs/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[BALTHVS has grown in six years to become one of the most unique psychedelic groove acts in the world. With over 100 million streams, four albums, and twelve EPs, the band has established itself in the global touring circuit, performing across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. &#160; They have played in 26 countries and 94 cities worldwide, appearing at major events including Jam Cruise, SXSW, Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Outside Lands, Electric Forest, Lightning in a Bottle, Montreal Jazz Festival, SXSW Sydney, and Jazz Cafe Festival. The band has also made notable appearances on KEXP, Gilles Peterson&#8217;s Worldwide Cafe, and the BBC. &#160; Website &#183; Spotify &#183; Instagram &#183; Bandcamp &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Fruit Bats</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/fruit-bats-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The midwest, particularly the part of the midwest Eric D. Johnson hails from, is a largely flat expanse. Zipping through it on the highway, you&#8217;ll see cities and towns rise up in the distance, but blink and you&#8217;ll miss other man-made rejoinders to horizontal living dotting the landscape, hill after hill, built from the refuse of the past: landfills. Some of these hills make for great sledding spots, parks, and trails. Others turn organic waste into compost. The Landfill, Fruit Bats&#8217; June 12, 2026 album from Merge Records, is something else entirely: a mountain dominating the landscape of Johnson&#8217;s heart.&#160;This being a Fruit Bats record, one scales that mountain to take in the view, to see the future spread out as wide and endless as the midwestern plains. &#8220;But the mountain that gives us this vantage point,&#8221; Johnson says, &#8220;is made out of the trash that we&#8217;ve created, the collective weight of the past and where it&#8217;s taken us.&#8221; When he details that view on title track and lead single &#8220;The Landfill&#8221; &#8212; &#8220;a holy vision / of what could be / and couldn&#8217;t be / and could have been&#8221; &#8212; it&#8217;s thrilling to hear him sent soaring by a full complement of instruments. But what&#8217;s truly stunning is how, in his recontouring from could to couldn&#8217;t to could have been, he has lost none of the vulnerability that was brought to the foreground of his songwriting by 2025&#8217;s solo outing, Baby Man.&#160;Over the course of his now 25-year career under the moniker, most of Eric D. Johnson&#8217;s output as Fruit Bats has been the product of patience and fine-tuning. His songs, to borrow a phrase, are slow growers, given life on albums that encompass long stretches of time and memory. Baby Man changed that &#8212; he disallowed himself from referring to material he&#8217;d been working on before laying the album down, utilizing the morning pages technique of stream-of-consciousness, observational songwriting which flowed directly into his afternoon recording sessions. It was both a breathtaking document of Johnson&#8217;s skill as a singer-songwriter and an unvarnished account of the two weeks in which he recorded the album.&#160;Baby Man&#8217;s closeness to Johnson&#8217;s heart and the close attention to his voice and instrument its minimalist-maximalist ethos required uncorked something in him as he wrote towards a new full band effort. &#8220;That session was over,&#8221; he explains, &#8220;but there was way more to explore. I liked the immediacy of it, and I wanted to see how that would translate into a full-band Fruit Bats record.&#8221; Within weeks, he was back in a studio, this time with his band &#8212; David Dawda (bass), Josh Mease (guitars, synth), Frank LoCrasto (piano, synth), and Kosta Galanopoulos (drums) &#8212; with whom Johnson has spent over a decade building Fruit Bats into one of the most in-demand live acts in indie rock. Listening to The Landfill, it&#8217;s not hard to understand why: simply put, this band smokes.&#160;Producing the initial recording sessions in Washington&#8217;s Bear Creek Studios, Johnson set out to capture &#8220;the sound of this band I constantly marvel at, the feeling of being in a room with musicians you love and trust enough to let them cook.&#8221; They laid most of it down on the floor &#8212; no click tracks, no comped vocals, and minimal overdubs, with frequent collaborator Thom Monahan returning to provide additional production and The Landfill&#8217;s final mix. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Lynn Blakey: A Celebration of Her Life and Music</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/lynn-blakey-a-celebration-of-her-life-and-music/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 23 Mar 2026 02:25:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Lynn Blakey: A Celebration of Her Life and MusicFeaturing Chatham County Line, Tift Merritt, Skylar Gudasz, Caitlin Cary, Tonya Lamm, Sara Bell, John Howie Jr., Linda Hopper, Jeffrey Dean Foster, Caroline Mamoulides, Anne-Claire Cleaver, Rachel Kiel, Mary Johnson Rockers &#38; MoreBacked by an All-Star Tarheel Band:&#160;John Chumbris, Doug Davis, Wes Lachot, Will Rigby &#38; Robert Sledge Lynn Blakey, one of the most beloved singers North Carolina ever produced, died February 6. Those who knew Blakey speak of her kindness, beauty, and optimism, and the way she lit up any room she was in. All true. She was like a sun that never set, and a tireless warrior&#8212;an activist with North Carolina Music Love Army, and an unofficial advisor to friends trying to negotiate the intricacies of the Affordable Care Act. A spectacular vocalist and terrific songwriter, Blakey played in North Carolina and Athens, Ga., bands including Oh Ok (with Lynda Stipe), Let&#8217;s Active (with Mitch Easter), Holiday (with Linda Hopper), Glory Fountain (with John Chumbris), Tres Chicas (with Caitlin Cary and Tonya Lamm), and most recently, the indie-rock supergroup Salt Collective (including tracks with Mike Mills and Matthew Caws). Her Christmas shows with her husband, violinist Ecki Heins, were treasured local events as well. She was our scene&#8217;s Emmylou Harris, blessing scores of other friends&#8217; recordings with her voice for the ages. Yep Roc Records is releasing Dreams Are Lovers: A Retrospective, a collection of some of her marvelous songs, on May 29, and the concert is both a celebration of her life and a record-release performance for this release. &#8220;Anybody Lynn ever met immediately realized what a bright shining star she was,&#8221; said her Tres Chicas bandmate Lamm. &#8220;Not like a rock or movie star, but a brilliant light of kindness, happiness, and depth. A living angel. I can still hear her laugh and will hold that in my heart forever.&#8221; Blakey&#8217;s musical life began four decades ago at UNC-Greensboro, where she was a college radio deejay and avid concert-goer. When R.E.M. played Friday&#8217;s in Greensboro for the first time in 1981, she was one of perhaps 20 people in the room. Inspired, she began playing in bands herself, among them Broken Crayons and, later, Holiday with Linda Hopper. In 1983, she left school and toured with Let&#8217;s Active, eventually landing back in Chapel Hill and fronting a series of great bands over the years. &#8220;All I ever had to do was put a mic in front of her,&#8221; said Chris Stamey, who frequently recorded Blakey, &#8220;and the first take would always have magic in it. To us, she was family, even singing some of the Tres Chicas album with everyone around one mic while holding our young daughter, Julia, in her arms.&#8221; The May 30 concert will benefit Ecki Heins&#8217;s ongoing cancer treatment expenses, and sales from the Yep Roc release will benefit the NC Musicians Mental Health Alliance, a partnership between Be Good To Yourself, the SIMS Foundation, and Backline that provides grants up to $1,000 to help cover the cost of mental health care for North Carolina-based music industry professionals and their family members. Apply here: https://backline.care/case-management - excerpted from an article in INDYWEEK by David Menconi]]></description>
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                                <title>MC Chris</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/mc-chris-4/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[It was twenty-five years ago that most fans first came across mc chris when Adult Swim premiered September 2nd, 2001. The first album was free for download on a website most OG fans found in the credits of a random Sealab episode. After five years of working for Cartoon Network during the day and making mc chris music at night, mc took a chance, quit his job and headed out on the road. He found packed venues filled with nerdy kids who knew all the words. Twenty years later he&#8217;s still at it, playing the same venues, singing along with the same kids, who are now in their thirties. The only difference is now they&#8217;ve either brought their kids or given themselves a much-needed night off. This year mc celebrates 25 years in existence and a new Marvel inspired album, King in Black. &#160; mc chris is most widely known for his reoccurring character MC P Pants on Adult Swim&#8217;s Aqua Teen Hunger Force where he was also an animator and writer. He&#8217;s been featured in the Aqua Teen movie, the video game and most recently on a series of You Tube videos called Aqua Donk Side Pieces. He&#8217;s also starred on several Adult Swim series including The Brak Show and Sealab 2021. A pioneer of the hip hop subgenre Nerdcore, mc chris has worked with Talib Kweli, Andrew WK, and Donald Glover. His fans include the likes of Gerard Way, Post Malone and T-Pain and he was even sampled by Run the Jewels for the latest Aqua Teen movie Plantasm. He&#8217;s toured with Reggie and Full Effect, and Ninja Sex Party, performed on the Warped Tour and The Gathering of the Juggalos, appeared on a GWAR album, and even had his own Honda commercial. You truly never know where he&#8217;s going to pop up. &#160; He&#8217;s a full-time single father to his son, Tony, and lives in Los Angeles.]]></description>
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                                <title>Tank and the Bangas &#8211; The Last Balloon Tour &#8211; A Carrboro Juneteenth Celebration</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/tank-and-the-bangas-the-last-balloon-tour-a-carrboro-juneteenth-celebration/cats-cradle-back-yard/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[For Tank and the Bangas, music is a vessel for unbridled joy and transcendent connection&#8212;forces as integral to their essence as their wildly original sound. On their new album The Last Balloon, the New Orleans-bred outfit channel those impulses into something celebratory yet profoundly human, exploring themes of frustration, resilience, and self-realization with equal parts raw emotionality and playful exuberance. A shapeshifting collective helmed by lead singer Tarriona &#8220;Tank&#8221; Ball and multi-instrumentalist Norman Spence II, the globally beloved group completed the LP after winning a GRAMMY for 2024&#8217;s spoken-word powerhouse The Heart, The Mind, The Soul, moving from incendiary poetry to a euphoric collision of soul and hip-hop and forward-thinking R&#38;B. As the final installment in a trilogy of albums that began with 2019&#8217;s Green Balloon (a critical triumph that earned them a GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist), The Last Balloon ultimately solidifies Tank and the Bangas&#8217; legacy as one of modern music&#8217;s most steadfast voices of sublime exhilaration. Executive-produced by their frequent collaborator Austin Brown (Jamila Woods, Masego), The Last Balloon offers up a suite of songs designed to thrive in Tank and the Bangas&#8217; rapturous live set, where unified movement becomes crucial to the show itself. &#8220;We&#8217;re known for a very interactive experience, so I wanted to get the fans more involved and have even more fun with the crowd,&#8221; says Ball. &#8220;There&#8217;s lots of gang vocals, handclaps, all these intentional moments to let everyone know, &#8216;This is my part, but your part&#8217;s coming up next&#8212;so get ready.&#8217;&#8221; A highly collaborative band whose past work has featured luminaries like Big Freedia, Questlove, and Jill Scott, Tank and the Bangas created The Last Balloon with the help of Iman Omari (a multifaceted musician who&#8217;s worked with Kendrick Lamar and Mac Miller), pianist/producer Tane Runo (Brittany Howard, JID), esteemed soul singers Ledisi and Jelly Joseph, and many more. The result: a party-ready extravaganza that provides both ecstatic catharsis and communal elevation. &#160; Mainly recorded at The Complex Studios (an iconic L.A. spot once home to Earth, Wind &#38; Fire), The Last Balloon unfolds in a loosely woven storyline charting a journey from self-doubt and erasure to empowered self-reclamation. On &#8220;Ain&#8217;t That Deep,&#8221; Tank and the Bangas deliver a defiant refusal to let negativity penetrate their world, setting Ball&#8217;s larger-than-life vocals against a potent backdrop of hypnotic beats and velvety horns. Sprung from a punchy piano riff spontaneously composed by Spence, &#8220;No Invite&#8221; arrives as a fantastically explosive takedown of industry gatekeeping and shameless clout-chasing. &#8220;There&#8217;s a lot of parties and award ceremonies we don&#8217;t get invited to, even though we do a lot for our community and should really be welcomed into those spaces,&#8221; explains Ball, who conceptualized &#8220;No Invite&#8221; as a rock-trap track. Next, on &#8220;Move,&#8221; two-time GRAMMY-winning R&#38;B phenomenon Lucky Daye joins in for a pleading but powerful anthem lit up in lush grooves and jangly guitar tones. &#8220;I wrote that song about wanting my partner at the time to move to New Orleans to be closer to me, but you could interpret it as motivation to get moving in general,&#8221; says Ball. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been around people who let Monday go into Friday real quick, so &#8216;Move&#8217; could be a way of telling yourself, &#8216;Let me get up, get my body moving, start making things happen for myself before it&#8217;s too late.&#8217;&#8221;]]></description>
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                                <title>Larry.</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/larry-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 22:30:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Larry. &#160; On their new album Changing Size, produced by Casey Proctor of Verity Den, the Durham, NC band Larry. (@larry.theband) blends immersive atmospheric effects, distorted guitars, driving complex rhythms and cutting vocals. &#160; From slower reverb-soaked ballads to fast-paced pop-influenced diss tracks, the band weaves across tempos and style influences, bringing together straightforward, fuzz-laden indie rock and layered dreamlike bubblegaze. &#160; Songwriter Emma Bouck delivers hyperbolic and bratty lyrics that sneak vulnerability and heartbreak into undeniably infectious melodies. &#160; At a Larry show, only two things are certain - Larry is everyone, and we are all Larry. Bandcamp &#183; Instagram &#160; Jupiter 2 &#160; Jupiter 2 is the collaboration of Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based multi-instrumentalists Nicholas Cirone and Ian Campbell. The duo weaves their discography into hazy, starry-eyed, and hypnotic live performances - balancing an inclination toward sweet, psychedelic pop melodies and jangly guitars with thumping drum machines and blissed out layers of synthesizers, noise, and samples fit for a DJ mix. &#160; &#160; dreamscent &#160; dreamscent is a band from Raleigh that blurs shoegaze with indie rock. &#160; FFO: Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Ringo Deathstarr, Wishy]]></description>
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                                <title>of Montreal</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/of-montreal-5/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Led by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Barnes, of Montreal have spent nearly three decades redefining pop, with their kaleidoscopic blend of glam rock, psychedelia, funk, and synth-driven indie rock. Emerging from the Elephant 6 Recording Company in the late &#8217;90s, the band quickly built a cult following for their inventive songwriting and wildly theatrical live performances.&#160;From the breakthrough brilliance of Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? to a steady run of boundary-pushing releases, of Montreal have remained fearless sonic shapeshifters&#8212;equally at home crafting hook-laden anthems as they are exploring surreal, experimental textures. The band's prolific output has led to numerous late-night TV appearances&#8212;including The Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon&#8212;and brilliant collaborations with artists such as Solange, Janelle Mon&#225;e, and Jon Brion.&#160;On stage, they transform concerts into immersive spectacles of color, costume, and cathartic energy. The band has performed across the globe, gracing festival stages at Coachella, Primavera, &#160;Lollapalooza, Vive Latino among dozens of others and headlining countless marquee venues, while also amassing hundreds of millions of streams worldwide. With a new tour on the horizon, of Montreal continue to celebrate their legacy while pushing boldly forward&#8212;delivering a live experience that is as unpredictable and electrifying as ever. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Dua Saleh</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/dua-saleh-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[LA-based Sudanese-American artist Dua Saleh continues their ascent with Of Earth &#38; Wires, a resolutely warm, spiritual, and frenetic follow-up exploring notions of home, humanity, and renewal. Executive produced by Billy Lemos (SZA, Paris Texas, Tinashe), the album features contributions from Bon Iver, aja monet, Gaidaa, and others. Saleh threads and deconstructs indie, R&#38;B, and electronic pop with flashes of Sudanese folk, UK dance, and baile funk, sounds intrinsic to their story, all held together by ambitious, future-facing production and clear-eyed lyricism. Saleh&#8217;s soulful, gritty, shape-shifting style has found fans from The New York Times to NME, alongside their breakout role in the Netflix series Sex Education, making 2024's Ghostly International debut, I SHOULD CALL THEM, a proper arrival. The highly anticipated Of Earth &#38; Wires responds to the moment as both a watershed in their career and an urgent dialogue with struggles faced on a universal level. Beyond mythological references and planetary narratives, with their strongest, most immediate material to date, Saleh makes the case for love above progress and greed, for divine beauty and the enduring flame of the human spirit.]]></description>
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                                <title>Dex Fest Night One</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/dex-fest-night-one/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The second year of the music festival for musicians and the music-obsessed, celebrating the legacy of Dexter Romweber, a musical legend of Carrboro. The festival centers artists who have that wildfire stage presence, the passion and dedication that consumes them and ensures they must create, must perform, must share their visions. An intentionally connective experience brought to you by a team of all-female, townie music freaks. + There will be additional Dex Fest events at Local 506, The Cave, and Lapin Bleu. &#160; Lineup coming soon. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook]]></description>
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                                <title>Dex Fest Night Two</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/dex-fest-night-two/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 16 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The second year of the music festival for musicians and the music-obsessed, celebrating the legacy of Dexter Romweber, a musical legend of Carrboro. The festival centers artists who have that wildfire stage presence, the passion and dedication that consumes them and ensures they must create, must perform, must share their visions. An intentionally connective experience brought to you by a team of all-female, townie music freaks. + There will be additional Dex Fest events at Local 506, The Cave, and Lapin Bleu. &#160; Lineup coming soon. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook]]></description>
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                                <title>Deer Tick</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/deer-tick/motorco-music-hall/durham-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The ninth studio album from Deer Tick, Coin-O-Matic casts a bright light on a little-known facet of the American mythos: the hidden histories of the band’s home state of Rhode Island, where the everyday dramas of working-class families long collided with the menace of the mafia underworld. As they tapped into their infinite fascination with [&#8230;]]]></description>
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                                <title>Rostam &#8211; American Stories</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/rostam-american-stories/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Rostam is a GRAMMY&#174; Award-winning songwriter, producer, and composer. One of the founding members of Vampire Weekend and producer of their first three albums, he has been described as one of the great pop and indie-rock producers of his generation, having produced for some of the most important artists of the last decade including Frank Ocean, Clairo, Charli XCX, Maggie Rogers, HAIM, Solange, Lykke Li, Santigold, Carly Rae Jepsen, Hamilton Leithauser, and many others. In recent years, he has maintained an astonishingly varied and intensely busy career, releasing two critically acclaimed solo albums&#8212;2017&#8217;s Half-Light and 2020&#8217;s Changephobia&#8212;while also producing records for HAIM (2020&#8217;s Women in Music Pt. III, nominated for Album of the Year at the 63rd GRAMMY&#174; Awards, and 2025&#8217;s I quit, nominated for Best Rock Album at the 68th GRAMMY&#174; Awards), Clairo (2019&#8217;s Immunity), Vagabon (2023&#8217;s Sorry I Haven&#8217;t Called), Leith Ross (2025&#8217;s I Can See the Future), and Georgia (2023&#8217;s Euphoric), as well as composing for film and television, including 2016&#8217;s The OA and 2023&#8217;s The Persian Version. This year, Rostam released his original version of Vampire Weekend&#8217;s beloved single &#8220;Campus.&#8221; His third studio album American Stories arrives on May 15. The album&#8217;s first single &#8220;Like a Spark&#8221; is out now.]]></description>
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                                <title>Robyn Hitchcock “Live And Electric &#8211; Full Band Shows”</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/robyn-hitchcock-live-and-electric-full-band-shows/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[With a career now spanning six decades, Robyn Hitchcock remains a truly one-of-a-kind artist &#8211; surrealist rock &#8216;n&#8217; roller, iconic troubadour, guitarist, poet, painter, and performer. An unparalleled, deeply individualistic songwriter and stylist, Hitchcock has traversed many genres with humor, intelligence and originality over 30 albums and seemingly infinite live performances. &#160; From The Soft Boys&#8217; proto-psych-punk and The Egyptians&#8217; Dadaist pop to solo masterpieces like 1984&#8217;s milestone I Often Dream of Trains and 1990&#8217;s Eye, Hitchcock has crafted a strikingly original oeuvre rife with sagacious observation, astringent wit, recurring marine life, mechanized rail services, cheese, Clint Eastwood, and innumerable finely drawn characters, real and imagined. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; Bandsintown&#160;&#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Dylan LeBlanc</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/dylan-leblanc/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Dylan LeBlanc is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who often finds himself flirting with the edge &#8212; or &#8220;dancing on a razor,&#8221; as he calls it &#8212; as it is all he has ever known. A verdict vagabond since he was a little boy tossed between Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, LeBlanc thrives on the precipice, never staying in one place for too long. It is that nomadic spirit that drew him not only to a life as a touring musician, but also to the beast that titles his newest record: &#8216;Coyote.&#8217;LeBlanc says he has always related to the insatiable, scavenging nature of the wily coyote. Much like the animal, LeBlanc is a wanderer who knows when to trust his instincts, musically and otherwise. It is a spiritual kinship that runs deep, but he credits one particularly hair-raising face-to-face instance with solidifying his bond with the animal. LeBlanc was in Austin, Texas, climbing the face of a 100-foot cliff, gambling with Mother Nature&#8217;s good graces as he pulled himself up by tree branches. Once he reached the top, all that laid ahead of him was a lush treeline. There was a breath of stillness, then the sound of a thunderous rustling that drew closer and closer to him. In a blink, LeBlanc watched as a frenzied raccoon came speeding out of the treeline, trailed by an animal that stopped and stared at him with striking intensity: a coyote. &#8220;We&#8217;re looking at each other dead in the eyes&#8230;and I&#8217;m saying &#8212; out loud &#8212; &#8216;If it&#8217;s you or me, I am going to kick you off the side of this cliff. I&#8217;m not going down.&#8217; It was intense, this human-animal moment,&#8221; LeBlanc recalls. &#8220;I&#8217;ve never forgotten that&#8230; he was just trying to survive and so was I.&#8221; &#8216;Coyote&#8217; is LeBlanc&#8217;s first self-produced release, boasting a cherry-picked lineup of what he calls &#8220;killer session players,&#8221; such as drummer Fred Eltringham (Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow), pianist Jim &#8220;Moose&#8221; Brown (Bob Seger), and bass player Seth Kaufman (Lana Del Rey). Though &#8216;Coyote&#8217; covers familiar ground for LeBlanc of living on the edge of danger and its many consequences, the record is both autobiographical and a concept album built around the character of Coyote, a man on the run. The story of &#8216;Coyote&#8217; progresses linearly, opening with the dizzyingly declarative, strings-heavy title track which details Coyote&#8217;s arrival and quick departure as he crosses the border and gets involved with drug cartels. The trouble builds and dark waters rise until track six, &#8220;No Promises Broken,&#8221; a soaring, against-all-odds love song that marks when Coyote meets a girl, and his luck begins to change for the better. The song tells of how love heals, and places emphasis on lovers remaining open while maintaining their own freedoms, as LeBlanc believes that true devotion does not equal possession. He says that though both Coyote and his love each faced adversity, the hand of destiny put them on the same path and bound them together before they ever met: &#8220;&#8216;No Promises Broken&#8217; is an honest love song about two people who come from the same troubled past, and fate intertwines them together. It&#8217;s about acknowledging that there will be hard times ahead, but vowing to stick it out without making promises to each other that they know they can&#8217;t keep.&#8221; &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Caleb Caudle &amp; The Sweet Critters</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/caleb-caudle-the-sweet-critters/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Caleb Caudle&#8217;s body of work is shaped from the ground up. His artistry has emerged through endurance and the steady momentum of a life in motion, carrying him from small stages in the North Carolina foothills he calls home, all the way to the Grand Ole Opry. &#160;&#160;Now, Caudle is entering a pivotal chapter &#8211; one of a profound culmination where life and art converge in powerful ways. The recent discovery that he and his wife are going to be first-time parents has added a new perspective, full of the responsibility and wonder that welcoming a child into the world brings.&#160;On his new album, Heavy Thrill, this personal evolution mirrors his artistic journey. He takes full creative control, self-producing for the first time while recording at the storied Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tenn., where reverence for tradition meets his singular artistic vision.&#160;&#8220;For this record, I wanted to focus on embracing the patina of life,&#8221; says Caudle. &#8220;Our plans rarely shake out the way we want them to. This record is about doing the most with what you&#8217;re given and weathering the storms.&#8221;&#160;With the release of this album, Caudle is also launching his own label, aptly named &#8220;Handplow Records,&#8221; for the steel handplow painted a rusty red that sits in his great uncle&#8217;s yard, across the street from his home.&#160;The humble tool was used for generations of tobacco farming in Caudle&#8217;s family, its wooden handles worn smooth by years of use stretching back to his great-grandfather. It represents the toil and dedication it takes to do things the hard way &#8212; &#160;and the sweetness that can yield.&#160;&#8220;Much like farming, my career has been about putting in the work,&#8221; Caudle says. &#8220;You can&#8217;t always control the weather, but you can show up every day and give it your best.&#8221; His ascent has been gradual and steadfast, guided by experience rather than spectacle. The sound reflects where he comes from: the rich country traditions he was immersed in as a child, blended seamlessly with the indie music he grew up hearing on the radio. The result feels rooted yet restless &#8212; aware of its lineage but unafraid to wander.The 10-track album captures life as it leaves its mark, embracing patience and quiet perseverance, as embodied in &#8220;Slow Growth&#8221; whose lyrics tell the story of the constant gardener, waking up each day and finding the ways to become a better version of yourself.&#8220;The Ballad of Country Ham&#8221; reckons with the cost of chasing dreams and the aftermath when they slip away, while songs like &#8220;Anxious&#8221; turn inward, grappling with the dissonance of staying empathetic in a world that seems to have forgotten what the word means. Caudle extends compassion toward flawed, deeply human lives&#8212;whether it&#8217;s the ethical gray spaces of survival in &#8220;Fox Got the Chicken&#8221; or the quiet resilience of a toll booth worker hanging on in &#8220;Toll Booth,&#8221; penned alongside two-time Grammy winner Natalie Hemby.Together, these songs unfold as intimate portraits of individuals, moments, and moral crossroads, stitched together by empathy and hard-won self-awareness. At its heart, the record searches for meaning without certainty, dignity without recognition, and a hope that exists honestly within a fractured world. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Andy Hull</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/andy-hull-2/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Andy Hull is a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer, best known as the lead singer for the acclaimed Atlanta-based band, Manchester Orchestra. Over the past two decades, they&#8217;ve ascended beyond their Atlanta, GA, origins to national TV performances, playing main stages at major festivals like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, and reaching #1 at commercial AAA radio and the Alternative radio Top 15 (&#8220;The Gold&#8221; from 2017&#8217;s A Black Mile To The Surface). The sweeping and cinematic nature of the band&#8217;s consistently impressive catalog&#8212;inspired in part by Hull and producing partner Robert McDowell&#8217;s experience scoring movies, including 2016&#8217;s Swiss Army Man and 2019&#8217;s The Death Of Dick Long&#8212;has continually been synced across film, TV, and commercial campaigns. The band&#8217;s critically acclaimed sixth album, The Million Masks of God, debuted in 2021 on various Billboard charts with first-week sales, including at #1 on Alternative and Vinyl charts, and at #3 on the Top Current Album Sales and Top Rock Albums charts. It featured the Top 2 AAA and Top 20 Alternative radio hit &#8220;Bed Head,&#8221; which has been lauded as &#8220;an epic fit for sold-out venues&#8221; (Consequence). As a songwriter and producer, Hull has worked with artists including Logic, Paris Jackson, Briston Maroney, and Foxing. Beyond Manchester Orchestra, Hull's signature voice can also be heard across his solo project, fan favorite, Right Away, Great Captain!, and his collaboration with McDowell and Kevin Devine, Bad Books. &#160; Instagram &#124; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Leanna Firestone</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/leanna-firestone/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Leanna Firestone is an impressive artist and talented musician from Nashville, Tennessee. While attending Recording Industry school, Leanna entered the professional world of songwriting by fusing her writing with the community of anime stans she found when she first joined TikTok. Ultimately, this led to a short snippet of what would become her first release, &#8220;Strawberry Mentos&#8221; which reached 5M streams. Then, in 2021, her next track &#8220;Least Favorite Only Child&#8221; reached 4M streams, while her EP Y/N peaked at #8 on the US singer-songwriter iTunes Charts. One of her songs was also featured during an episode of Love Island UK. In early 2022, she released her first full album Forward / Slash, featuring &#8220;Diet Coke&#8221;, &#8220;Gambling Addiction&#8221; and &#8220;Smitten.&#8221; Currently, Leanna is signed to Frtyfve Records out of London. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify &#183; TikTok &#183; Facebook]]></description>
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                                <title>Bayside</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/bayside-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[For the past 25 years, Queens-based Bayside has represented a lifestyle, a counterculture, and a deeply-held commitment to integrity and earnestness. At their core, Bayside is a band that has constantly proven that music is not about gimmicks and ephemeral trends, but a timeless reflection of our life and our times. It is through this authentic expression and creative spirit that the band has amassed a cult-following that lives and breathes everything the band creates.&#160;It&#8217;s a spirit that permeates an impressive and storied discography, including Sirens and Condolences (2004), Bayside (2005), The Walking Wounded (2007) and Shudder (2008). Covering the &#8220;Victory Records Years,&#8221; Bayside grew their reputation as road warriors with their impressive amount of touring. From basements to clubs to Warped Tour, the band led melodious sing-alongs everywhere they went, with fans flocking to Anthony Raneri&#8217;s personal, yet universal lyrics and story-telling. Fan favorites like &#8220;Devotion and Desire&#8221; and &#8220;Duality&#8221; continue to be staples in the bands&#8217; live show.&#160;While the band held strong to their punk roots, what set them apart from their peers was their musicianship. Diverse in thought and background, but united in a shared desire for authentic expression and immense musical talent, Bayside continues to push the boundaries of what a Bayside song could be. In the second half of their legendary career, covering the &#8220;Wind-Up and Hopeless Records Years,&#8221; Bayside embraced the heavier and grittier side of themselves, while keeping the anthemic choruses of the earlier years. With Killing Time (2011), Cult (2014), Vacancy (2016), Interrobang (2019), and There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive (2024), the band focused on creating songs that are relevant to people who want substance, rather than being relegated to one genre. In 2023, the band even collaborated with Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills on their rock anthem, &#8220;How To Ruin Everything (Patience)&#8221; - their first song charting at Sirius XM Octane.&#160;Having toured the world multiple times over, sold thousands of albums, and amassed millions of streams, Bayside has achieved a lot in their storied career. And while many bands would coast on their past success, Bayside has always rejected that premise and continues to prove time and again that the best is yet to come. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; YouTube &#183; Facebook]]></description>
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                                <title>Bixby</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/bixby/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Bixby is a Los Angeles&#8211;based singer, songwriter, and producer blending shimmering alt-pop, soaring falsettos, and emotionally charged hooks. His breakout single endlessly caught the attention of Dylan Brady of 100 gecs, leading to the release of his 2023 EP are you sleeping alone again?&#8212;a collection of sticky alt-pop anthems and intimate ballads&#8212;on Brady&#8217;s Atlantic Records imprint Dog Show. In 2024, Bixby released Distance, a euphoric summer track with a Power Rangers&#8211;inspired music video. The song became his fastest-growing release, topping a million streams in its first month and reaching #34 on Japan&#8217;s Shazam chart. He followed up with Desire (produced by Dylan Brady) and Darling He Lied (featuring Starfall)&#8212;a viral breakup ballad that sparked tens of thousands of TikTok videos across Southeast Asia. Following a pair of elevated R&#38;B bangers with longtime collaborator Joshwa (whyy, you know) in 2025, Bixby began rolling out his most fully realized music yet. After crushing his debut performance at 88rising&#8217;s Head in the Clouds and a tour in Asia, Bixby released Feel It On in early 2026&#8212;the first single off his long-awaited debut album. He will embark on a headline North American tour in Summer 2026. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Greg Mendez</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/greg-mendez/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Greg Mendez has always been an economical songwriter &#8211; he wields restraint and simplicity as tools, the core of his songs sharpened into simple, cutting truths. On Beauty Land, his new album and debut LP for Dead Oceans, we&#8217;re guided by a wry but forgiving narrator, an underdog who has learned to balance cynicism and faith. These songs are self-effacing without self-pity, carefully constructed altars of imperfection channeled through pop melodies, shimmering but urgent guitars, and a voice that reaches for choir boy innocence.The bulk of Beauty Land was recorded directly to tape, almost entirely alone in Mendez&#8217;s makeshift home studio in Philadelphia - a small room with no natural light. It&#8217;s his first full length since his unexpected self-titled breakthrough in 2023, which was a slow burn success following 15 years of writing and recording music in relative obscurity between Philly and New York. Beauty Land picks up where we left off three years ago &#8211; plumbing the depths of grief, love, and addiction &#8211; but its intense, quiet clarity shows Mendez at his songwriting best.Parts of Beauty Land feel like a lucid dream, dented characters carve their way through a world that&#8217;s cartoonish and warped &#8211; the broken-clock march of &#8220;I Wanna Feel Pretty,&#8221; the chiming toy piano on &#8220;Gentle Love.&#8221; &#8220;Mary / Dreaming&#8221; begins as a sparse, finger-picked lament before cutting abruptly to a deflated, Beach-Boys-but-make-it-fucked-up resolution that brings both melancholy and joy; a sense that all things can be true at once. None of the 14 tracks here break three minutes, but they tell stories that span lifetimes.Death floats through the record, whether it appears as a memory or a threat. Everything feels precarious. There&#8217;s a fragility to how these songs are built: the way the funeral organ hits alongside the morphine on &#8220;Looking Out Your Window,&#8221; the devastating simplicity of &#8220;Frog,&#8221; with its slowed-down keyboard and bare refrain: &#8220;Please forgive me for my faults.&#8221; Beauty Land feels, at times, impossibly lonely. Which makes it really count when it doesn&#8217;t &#8211; like when Mendez sings in harmony with his wife and bandmate, Veronica near the end of &#8220;So Mean&#8221; and it feels like a cherished reunion, a fleeting moment of redemption, a temporary parting of the seas. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; Bandcamp]]></description>
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                                <title>Haute &amp; Freddy&#8217;s Big Disgrace Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/haute-freddys-big-disgrace-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 02 Mar 2026 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Haute &#38; Freddy is the dazzling brainchild of Michelle Buzz and Lance Shipp. The duo released their first single &#8220;Scantily Clad,&#8221; sparking a devoted fanbase. The song has landed them on Spotify playlists *Lorem*, *Obsessed*, and the cover of *Fresh Finds*, paving the way for their second single &#8220;Anti-Superstar,&#8221; which has also been embraced with equal support and looks on multiple Spotify playlists, leading to them being named on Spotify&#8217;s Artists To Watch for 2026. Their third single &#8220;Shy Girl&#8221; is currently their most streamed track and has been licensed five times over for film &#38; TV projects. Fast forward to now, and the comment sections are buzzing with fans speaking in Ren Faire lingo, while their shows are filled with attendees crafting their own jester hats, as a mime clown joyfully twists balloon crowns for the rest of the Royal Court&#8212;aka H&#38;F&#8217;s loyal followers. With their debut album on the horizon and their sold-out Mini Grand Tour under their belt, Haute &#38; Freddy&#8217;s momentum is picking up speed. Fans devoured the recently released videos for &#8220;Shy Girl,&#8221; &#8220;Sophie,&#8221; and &#8220;Freaks.&#8221; More festivals and tour dates are in the works for 2026 when the album drops. Their latest single is a new anthem, &#8220;Dance The Pain Away,&#8221; out now, with their debut album *Big Disgrace* coming out via Atlantic Records on March 13th. Their love for theater, obscure synths, and underground club culture runs deep, infusing every track with an audacious energy. The duo moves through their music like runaway carnies, crashing through the veneer of polite society with all the flair of an 18th-century escapade. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>The Dear Hunter &#8211; The Road to Sunya Tour 2026</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-dear-hunter-the-road-to-sunya-tour-2026/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Die Spitz</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/die-spitz-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[When the Venn diagram of passion, friendship, identity, and artistry collide, it can feel as if fighting words are spitting from your veins. And as postmodern society crumbles, Die Spitz giddily bounce between a dozen different ways to push back. If the world of rock music were an ice cream shop, the Austin quartet have sampled each flavor, flipped the freezer over, and started dancing with the employees they helped unionize. On their debut album, Something to Consume (due Sept 12 via Third Man Records), Ava Schrobilgen, Chloe De St. Aubin, Eleanor Livingston, and Kate Halter fight against the inescapable consumption that surrounds life. &#8220;There&#8217;s a political side to it, but addiction and love can also be all-consuming,&#8221; Livingston says. And as the foursome trade off instruments, swapping songwriting and vocal duties, and generating powerful songwriting in concussive bursts, Die Spitz have created their own little pocket of the world where we can all stand on the edge together. That unity comes in part from the deep bonds between the 22-year-olds. All four are Austin natives, with Schrobilgen and Livingston having met in preschool, befriending Halter in middle school, and immediately bringing De St. Aubin into their inner circle when they formed the band in 2022. Though they&#8217;ve only been playing together a few years (not to mention Halter only learning to play bass to start the band), Something to Consume shows a maturity and technical prowess always wielded in service of their profound friendship. The group settled on the name Die Spitz over a &#8220;brown bag of Fireball,&#8221; opting for the feminine German definite article in place of the English. &#8220;It reminds me of the Grim Reaper spitting,&#8221; Livingston jokes. At their first live shows, they paired originals with covers from some of their inspirations: Black Sabbath, Pixies, Mudhoney, PJ Harvey, and Nirvana. The beguiling &#8220;Pop Punk Anthem&#8221; somehow encapsulates elements throughout that large musical swath, building from roiling verses to a growled chorus. &#8220;It may sound like a love song at first, but when the beat kicks in it&#8217;s the obsession that takes over,&#8221; Schrobilgen says. &#8220;The words &#8216;you&#8217;re a part of me&#8217; sound loving but it can be an insane emotion and privilege over someone else&#8217;s life.&#8221; As if their closeness as a band weren&#8217;t enough, the members of Die Spitz have also intermittently been roommates and still live near each other. &#8220;We call it sitcom life,&#8221; Livingston laughs. That said, the Die Spitz TV show would have a significantly different soundtrack to your usual sitcom fare. The Austinites express their ideas through a blend of classic punk, hardcore, metal, alt rock and more. The group have become known for their riotous live shows, where dueling cartwheels, Halter playing bass mid-crowdsurf, Schrobilgen unleashing a growling bark, and Livingston posing with the microphone on top of the venue&#8217;s bar or climbing into the rafters could happen at any moment. Pairing their mind-melting gigs with even more impressive songs has led to stints opening for (and rivaling the energy of) bands like OFF!, Amyl and the Sniffers, Viagra Boys, and Sleater-Kinney. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Cat Power &#8211; The Greatest Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/cat-power-the-greatest-tour/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 24 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Cat Power is celebrating the 20th anniversary of her milestone 2006 album, The Greatest, with Redux, a three-song EP arriving digitally and on 10&#8221; vinyl via Domino Recording Company on Friday, January 23, 2026.&#160;Recorded by GRAMMY&#174; Award-winning engineer and longtime collaborator Stuart Sikes (Loretta Lynn, The White Stripes) at Austin, TX&#8217;s Church House Studios with backing by &#160;Dirty Delta Blues &#8211; the all-star supergroup assembled for the world tour that followed The Greatest comprising guitarist Judah Bauer (The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), keyboardist Gregg Foreman (The Delta 72, Jesse Malin), bassist Erik Paparozzi (Lizard Music), and drummer Jim White (Dirty Three, Hard Quartet) &#8211; Redux includes a brand new re-recording of James Brown&#8217;s chart-topping classic, &#8220;Try Me,&#8221; premiering everywhere today. The track was among those first recorded by the singer-songwriter otherwise known as Chan Marshall during the original sessions that produced The Greatest but never completed.&#160;Redux also includes a stunning rendition of Prince&#8217;s iconic &#8220;Nothing Compares 2 U,&#8221; recorded in tribute to the late, great guitarist Teenie Hodges, a legendary member of The Memphis Rhythm Band that backed Cat Power on The Greatest and with whom she formed a close bond before his passing in 2014. The EP also includes a re-imagined version of one of the many standout tracks on The Greatest, Marshall&#8217;s own &#8220;Could We,&#8221; newly recorded in the arrangement that was performed live on The Greatest Tour with Dirty Delta Blues.&#160;Next year will see Cat Power perform The Greatest in its entirety with a very special series of 20th anniversary live shows beginning February 12, 2026, at Houston, TX&#8217;s White Oak Music Hall and then traveling North America, Europe, and the United Kingdom through early November. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>An Evening with Cowboy Junkies</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/an-evening-with-cowboy-junkies-2/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[This is a seated show. &#160; Watch the Tour Trailer here &#8220;One of the most unique and enduring bands in alternative rock&#8221;- All Music "Margo Timmins's voice is as melancholy and enchanting as ever&#8221;- The New York Times "There&#8217;s something that is nearly miraculous about the way Margo Timmins&#8217; beautiful voice fits with those pained lyrics written by her brother Michael Timmins&#8230;the result is some truly transformative music."- The Mercury News Cowboy Junkies will be performing a career-spanning show from The Trinity Session to their recent album, Such Ferocious Beauty! &#160; Sometimes revolutions begin quietly. In 1988, Cowboy Junkies proved that there was an audience waiting for something quiet, beautiful and reflective. The Trinity Session was like a whisper that cut through the noise -- and it was compelling. It stood out in the midst of the flash and bombast that came to define the late 80's. The now classic recording combined folk, blues and rock in a way that had never been heard before and went on to sell more than a million copies.&#160; Formed in Toronto in 1985 with siblings Michael Timmins on guitar, Margo Timmins on vocals, Peter Timmins on drums, and Michael&#8217;s lifelong friend Alan Anton on bass, the band has sparkled over the course of 29 albums. &#8220;I&#8217;ve known Alan longer than I&#8217;ve known Pete,&#8221; says Michael. &#8220;We were friends before Pete was born.&#8221; Unlike most long-lasting groups, Cowboy Junkies have never had a break up or taken a sanity-saving hiatus. There&#8217;s an appreciation of each other that keeps them constantly working. &#8220;It&#8217;s that intimacy and understanding of what each one of us brings to the table,&#8221; says Michael.&#160; &#160; &#160; Website &#124; Instagram&#160;&#124; Facebook &#124; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>An Evening with Cowboy Junkies</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/an-evening-with-cowboy-junkies-3/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[This is a seated show. &#160; Watch the Tour Trailer here &#8220;One of the most unique and enduring bands in alternative rock&#8221;- All Music "Margo Timmins's voice is as melancholy and enchanting as ever&#8221;- The New York Times "There&#8217;s something that is nearly miraculous about the way Margo Timmins&#8217; beautiful voice fits with those pained lyrics written by her brother Michael Timmins&#8230;the result is some truly transformative music."- The Mercury News Cowboy Junkies will be performing a career-spanning show from The Trinity Session to their recent album, Such Ferocious Beauty! &#160; Sometimes revolutions begin quietly. In 1988, Cowboy Junkies proved that there was an audience waiting for something quiet, beautiful and reflective. The Trinity Session was like a whisper that cut through the noise -- and it was compelling. It stood out in the midst of the flash and bombast that came to define the late 80's. The now classic recording combined folk, blues and rock in a way that had never been heard before and went on to sell more than a million copies.&#160; Formed in Toronto in 1985 with siblings Michael Timmins on guitar, Margo Timmins on vocals, Peter Timmins on drums, and Michael&#8217;s lifelong friend Alan Anton on bass, the band has sparkled over the course of 29 albums. &#8220;I&#8217;ve known Alan longer than I&#8217;ve known Pete,&#8221; says Michael. &#8220;We were friends before Pete was born.&#8221; Unlike most long-lasting groups, Cowboy Junkies have never had a break up or taken a sanity-saving hiatus. There&#8217;s an appreciation of each other that keeps them constantly working. &#8220;It&#8217;s that intimacy and understanding of what each one of us brings to the table,&#8221; says Michael.&#160; &#160; &#160; Website &#124; Instagram&#160;&#124; Facebook &#124; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Yasmin Williams</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/yasmin-williams/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[This is a seated show. &#160; Yasmin Williams is an innovative guitarist and composer known for her unique compositional approach and expansive instrumental style. Her latest album Acadia, released on Nonesuch Records, showcases her evolution from solo performer to collaborative artist, featuring partnerships with notable musicians like Aoife O'Donovan and Immanuel Wilkins.&#160; Williams' distinctive creative process involves "ruminating" on single notes until compositions naturally emerge. Beyond traditional fingerpicked guitar, she demonstrates mastery of multiple instruments including kora, harp guitar, banjo, and electric guitar. Her music, while rooted in folk traditions, transcends conventional structures to incorporate elements of progressive rock and experimental composition.&#160; Following her acclaimed 2021 album Urban Driftwood, Acadia represents a significant artistic expansion, featuring three distinct sections that move from traditional folk influences to atmospheric soundscapes and experimental arrangements. Williams' approach emphasizes sustained tones and intricate articulation, creating music that balances technical precision with ethereal, floating melodies.&#160; ABOUT YASMIN WILLIAMS&#160;Yasmin Williams, raised in Woodbridge, Virginia, grew up surrounded by music. Inspired by a wide range of artists&#8212;from Chuck Brown to Jimi Hendrix&#8212;she began developing her innovative fingerstyle acoustic guitar technique while studying music theory and composition at NYU. Williams has released two previous albums, Unwind (2018) and Urban Driftwood (2021), where she introduced unique approaches, such as playing kalimba and guitar simultaneously. She also incorporates instruments like the kora, harp guitar, and banjo. Despite her use of folk instruments, she resists being categorized within the genre, valuing creative freedom over conformity. Her latest record, Acadia, is out now via Nonesuch Records. &#160; Website &#124; Facebook&#160;&#124; YouTube &#124; Instagram&#160;&#124; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Ol&#8217; Joey Scrums</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/ol-joey-scrums/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 05:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Ol&#8217; Joey Scrums blends folk, rock, and bluegrass with authentic Americana storytelling, they&#8217;ve released two albums since forming in 2022. &#160; Website &#183; Bandcamp &#183; Spotify &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube The Rattletraps bring roots rock and country with songs about bar fights and dead-end jobs and just released an EP. &#160; Website &#160; Born out of the quiet corners of Carrboro, North Carolina, the Eric Lee Hardt Band crafts soulful, melancholy songs that linger long after the last note fades. Hardt&#8217;s weathered, honest songwriting sits at the center, surrounded by careful, purposeful instrumentation that illuminates rather than decorates. Warm, unhurried, and deeply felt. This is music for people who aren&#8217;t afraid to sit with their feelings.]]></description>
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                                <title>Hiss Golden Messenger &#8211; I&#8217;m People Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/hiss-golden-messenger-im-people-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[A limited number of Two Night Passes are available here. &#160; Hiss Golden Messenger is the long-running musical project led by North Carolina-based singer, songwriter, and producer M.C. Taylor. The project has evolved over the last decade into one of the most respected and celebrated in contemporary Americana, blending folk, country, soul and gospel influences with deeply introspective, poetic, and conscious songwriting. &#160; Across multiple critically acclaimed, Grammy nominated albums, Hiss Golden Messenger has become known for its warmth and emotional clarity, as well as Taylor&#8217;s ability to connect the personal and poetic with the political without losing intimacy or musical grace. &#160; The forthcoming I&#8217;m People continues this trajectory, offering a reflective collection of songs that speaks to resilience, community, radical hopefulness, and the quiet human moments that animate and illuminate the everyday. It is among Taylor&#8217;s greatest and most profound work.&#160;Hiss Golden Messenger sits naturally alongside artists and releases that value craft, storytelling, and authenticity, and aligns well with audiences attuned to indie, folk, Americana, roots, and contemporary country music. &#160; Website &#124; Facebook&#160;&#124; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Hiss Golden Messenger &#8211; I&#8217;m People Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/hiss-golden-messenger-im-people-tour-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[A limited number of Two Night Passes are available here. &#160; Hiss Golden Messenger is the long-running musical project led by North Carolina-based singer, songwriter, and producer M.C. Taylor. The project has evolved over the last decade into one of the most respected and celebrated in contemporary Americana, blending folk, country, soul and gospel influences with deeply introspective, poetic, and conscious songwriting. &#160; Across multiple critically acclaimed, Grammy nominated albums, Hiss Golden Messenger has become known for its warmth and emotional clarity, as well as Taylor&#8217;s ability to connect the personal and poetic with the political without losing intimacy or musical grace. &#160; The forthcoming I&#8217;m People continues this trajectory, offering a reflective collection of songs that speaks to resilience, community, radical hopefulness, and the quiet human moments that animate and illuminate the everyday. It is among Taylor&#8217;s greatest and most profound work.&#160;Hiss Golden Messenger sits naturally alongside artists and releases that value craft, storytelling, and authenticity, and aligns well with audiences attuned to indie, folk, Americana, roots, and contemporary country music. &#160; Website &#124; Facebook&#160;&#124; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>The Beths</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-beths-3/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 10 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA["One of the greatest indie-rock bands of their time." - Rolling Stone&#160;New Zealand indie rock heroes The Beths&#8217; latest album Straight Line Was A Lie is a catchy, instant classic. Written in Los Angeles and self-recorded in the band's hometown of Auckland, Straight Line Was A Lie (their first release for ANTI-) follows 2022's critically celebrated LP Expert in A Dying Field. Lead singer and songwriter Liz Stokes delves deeper into her psyche to address everything from roundabout progress to physical and mental health challenges, and fraught family dynamics. Inspired by The Go-Go's, Olivia Rodrigo, filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and Stephen King's On Writing, amongst others, Stokes' songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability. Fans will agree that Straight Line Was A Lie is the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date. &#160; Website &#124; Instagram&#160;&#124; Facebook &#124; Spotify &#124; YouTube &#124; Soundcloud &#124; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Carrboro Bluegrass Festival</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/carrboro-bluegrass-festival-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[MUSIC WITH A MISSION: We&#8217;re proud to name Be Loud! Sophie as our non-profit beneficiary. Your ticket helps support adolescent and young adult cancer patients and their families. &#160; The Po' Ramblin' Boys Mason ViaLaurie Lewis and The Right Hands&#160;Trenton Wagler and Eric BrubakerJon StickleyCody SistersHolland Brothers Carolina Bluegrass EnsembleSix More Miles Redbud &#160; VIP Festival Patron Pass &#8212; $85 Limited to 100 tickets Support the festival and secure the best experience of the day VIP Festival Patron Pass holders receive: Guaranteed early entry &#8212; doors open 30 minutes before general admission Reserved seating in the first 10 rows, clearly marked and held exclusively for VIP Limited-edition festival poster, exclusive to VIP ticket holders The peace of mind of knowing your seat is waiting &#8212; no lines, no stress VIP tickets are limited to 100 tickets and will not be expanded once sold out. &#160; Reserved Seating &#8212; $70 Enjoy the festival with the comfort of a guaranteed seat. Reserved Seating tickets include: Reserved seating in the designated section Standard entry at door time Access to all festival performances Ideal for attendees who want a great view without worrying about arrival time. General Admission &#8212; $55 Be part of the Carrboro Bluegrass Festival. General Admission tickets include: Access to all performances Entry to the general admission area Seating availability on a first-come, first-served basis]]></description>
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                                <title>Geordie Greep</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/geordie-greep/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Is The New Sound a tonic for these times? Let&#8217;s ask Geordie Greep. &#8220;Music can be so much more than learning to play the same as everybody else. It can be anything you want. With recording The New Sound, it was the first time I have had no one to answer to. Being in a band (black midi), we often have this &#8216;we can do everything&#8217; feeling, but you are also kind of limited in that approach, and sometimes it's good to do something else, to let go of things.&#8221; Geordie&#8217;s debut solo album boasts a brand of high quality, all-embracing alternative pop fun not heard in a very long time, walking the line between the ridiculous and brilliant with a teflon-coated aplomb. How the record came about is a thing to marvel at. Over thirty session musicians were involved in its making, on two continents. Greep says, &#8220;Half of the tracks were done in Brazil, with local musicians pulled together at the last minute. They&#8217;d never heard anything I&#8217;d done before, they were just interested in the demos I&#8217;d made. The tracking was all done in one, maybe two days.&#8221; The spirit of Greep&#8217;s increasingly febrile and furtive soliloquies simultaneously calls to mind both Frank Zappa and Frank Sinatra, with a healthy dash of Scott Walker sprinkled throughout. The instrumental title track is a jazz-funk workout that could double as a soundtrack for a TV series or the intro music for a Broadway musical. Brass, wah-wah pedal and bass stabs, choruses and polyrhythms, all fizz and tumble around the place creating a sense of excitement and expectation. Tracks often oscillate from whispers to shouts, and start and end on a bang. The stories themselves act as a shopping list of the Active Male Imagination. A series of vignettes, where Geordie Greep plays the role of emcee and conductor. The characters we hear from are engaged in wild fantasies and situations in which they inevitably falter. &#8220;The main theme of the record is desperation; someone who is kidding themselves that they have everything under control, but they don&#8217;t.&#8221; Here Greep gives color to a set of imaginings which include cannibalism, being boiled alive, and a woman giving birth to a goat. Street life is all around The New Sound: the listener is thrown into a world of cafes, bars, rented rooms, cabarets and strange museums. Here we see our heroes carry out a series of naughty assignments, military cosplay or socio-economic triumphs. The lines between parody and sermon are often blurred. The urbane romantic fantasy of single &#8216;Holy Holy&#8217; tells the story of an imaginary liaison in a nightclub, soundtracked by &#8217;noughties indie chords and bravura Latin big band arrangements - including a three-piano attack. What next? &#8220;My plan is to &#8216;do a Keith Jarrett thing&#8217;, have a different group of session musicians in a different place and lean into the fact that we&#8217;re not going to get it the same.&#8221; How can anything ever be &#8216;the same&#8217; with Greep at the helm? &#160; Website &#124; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Sluice</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/sluice/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[When Justin Morris moved to New York City in 2019 after a lifetime in North Carolina, he was planning to do the opposite of what people usually move to the city to do: give up on his dream. Since childhood, that dream had been simple&#8212;write songs, play in bands, live inside &#8220;indie rock.&#8221; But a run selling merch for one of the era&#8217;s biggest indie stars unsettled that conviction. From his vantage point on the bus, the everyday grind of touring felt out of step with the spellbinding shows; encores gave way to a working reality that showed him the job-like side of something he&#8217;d only ever romanticized and left him wondering where the glow had gone. To his green worldview, the gap between the fantasy of &#8220;making it&#8221; and its reality was jarring. If this was &#8220;the dream,&#8221; he thought, maybe it needed to be reconsidered. New York was meant to be a clean slate, maybe even the place he&#8217;d learn another trade and leave music behind. Then, less than a day into his Bushwick sublet, a man with a gun kicked in his bedroom door, forced him to the floor, and tied his hands with TV cables. In the days after the robbery, unable to make sense of anything except through song, he started writing again. Those songs became the beginning of a new project he called Sluice. Sluice, now a four-piece band from Durham, North Carolina&#8212;with Morris on guitar and vocals, Oliver Child-Lanning on bass and various instruments, Avery Sullivan on drums, and Libby Rodenbough on fiddle&#8212;return with Companion, their third album and Mtn Laurel Recording Co. debut. It follows 2023&#8217;s Radial Gate, the quietly beloved record Morris made after fleeing New York for a Craigslist house in Hillsborough with then-stranger Child-Lanning, tracking songs at Sylvan Esso&#8217;s studio Betty&#8217;s while working carpentry jobs and wondering, as he sings on &#8220;What The Fuck?,&#8221; if he should do something else like &#8220;go back to school.&#8221; Radial Gate caught him halfway out the door of music, steeped in a hermit-like loneliness of rivers, dams, and floodgates. Instead, its release brought the dream back, but it looked different than it did to the &#8220;kid reading in a bunk&#8221; on a tour bus, crying and asking, &#8220;what happened to it all feeling so good?&#8221; that he sings about in &#8220;Vegas.&#8221; Companion begins where that disenchanted loneliness leaves off. Recorded with producer/engineer Alli Rogers at Betty&#8217;s in the winter of 2024 and slowly tended over two years, it sounds like someone deciding there may yet be a dream of music worth struggling for&#8212;and that the point of that dream isn&#8217;t stardom or escape, but companionship. That struggle is written into the songs themselves. &#8220;Vegas&#8221; returns to the era he was on tour with Angel Olsen, whose music he loved, watching the indie machine from the loading dock and feeling, as a younger musician, quietly overwhelmed by it, before fast-forwarding to the full-circle twist when Olsen later asked Sluice to open shows for her. &#8220;Now I&#8217;m at the 40 Watt with my old friends,&#8221; he sings, as if the old dream and the new dream finally collide in a joyous scream-along. Elsewhere, songs like &#8220;Torpor&#8221; and &#8220;What The Fuck&#8221; reach back to the robbery and that period of spiritual whiplash, now re-recorded after years of being played live to show how time can turn personal crisis into determination. &#160; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>The Beths</title>
                                <eventupdate>4 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-beths-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 13 Jan 2026 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA["One of the greatest indie-rock bands of their time." - Rolling Stone&#160;New Zealand indie rock heroes The Beths&#8217; latest album Straight Line Was A Lie is a catchy, instant classic. Written in Los Angeles and self-recorded in the band's hometown of Auckland, Straight Line Was A Lie (their first release for ANTI-) follows 2022's critically celebrated LP Expert in A Dying Field. Lead singer and songwriter Liz Stokes delves deeper into her psyche to address everything from roundabout progress to physical and mental health challenges, and fraught family dynamics. Inspired by The Go-Go's, Olivia Rodrigo, filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and Stephen King's On Writing, amongst others, Stokes' songwriting has achieved startling new depths of insight and vulnerability. Fans will agree that Straight Line Was A Lie is the most sharply observant, truthful, and poetic Beths project to date. &#160; Website &#124; Instagram&#160;&#124; Facebook &#124; Spotify &#124; YouTube &#124; Soundcloud &#124; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Diggy Graves &#8211; The No Vacancy Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>4 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/diggy-graves-the-no-vacancy-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 12 Jan 2026 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Raised in the PNW, Diggy Graves likes to describe his music as a melting pot of genres that ranges from Rap to Horror Core. Diggy has been making music for most of his life and decided to create his persona behind the mask in 2020. You might know him from his most popular songs Red Vineyard and Circus Psycho. You can usually find him hidden in the woods making music in his cabin but in his free-time he enjoys long walks on the beach, hanging out with his son and digging graves. He always looks forward to performing live and seeing all his loyal fans. &#160; Website &#124; YouTube &#124; Spotify &#124; TikTok &#124; Instagram &#124; Facebook]]></description>
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                                <title>Vundabar &#8211; ‘Gawk’ 10 Year Anniversary Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>4 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/vundabar-gawk-10-year-anniversary-tour/motorco-music-hall/durham-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 12 Jan 2026 17:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[&#8220;Following the overwhelming response to their sold-out Gawk 10-year anniversary shows in Los Angeles and Boston, Vundabar will take the celebration nationwide. Kicking off this May, the Gawk 10-Year Anniversary Tour will see the band perform the album in its entirety, alongside fan favorites and new material. Expect a set that’s loud, raw, and joyfully [&#8230;]]]></description>
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                                <title>Benjamin Tod &amp; Lost Dog Street Band 2026 Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>6 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/benjamin-tod-lost-dog-street-band-2026-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 14 Nov 2025 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Sitting at a corner caf&#233; table, Benjamin Tod's eyes light up when asked what it's like to finally embrace happiness and accept love. With a slight grin, he sips his coffee and leans back, one arm draped casually and comfortably over the chair. "I'm kind of settling into my age, into allowing myself to be happy," the 33-year-old says. "For years, I led myself and the people around me into a lot of unnecessary darkness. And now, I've learned how to give and receive affection &#8212; it's helped heal a lot of parts of myself." Tod's demeanor is a far cry from his usual stiff posture stance with arms folded, this permeating sense of trepidation and scrutiny for what trouble may be coming down the pike. The relaxed, calm aura is a sign of a human being who has overcome lifelong personal demons, one who has finally become liberated &#8212; not only in his personal life, but also his music. "This latest record is so unusual for what I do," Tod says. "It's almost a spite album, to prove what I can do as a writer in whatever medium I step into." Titled Shooting Star, the album carves a fresh creative path for Tod, a storied singer-songwriter and frontman of Lost Dog Street Band. The self-proclaimed "proprietor of misery," Tod finds himself transcending into a life of gratitude, patience, and stability. "People evolve and change. You're growing as a person," Tod says. "If you want to get healthier, you have to start intentionally behaving like a healthy person. You have to look around you and adapt to those things &#8212; if you don't change your identity, it's hard to change yourself." For this latest solo endeavor, Tod tapped some of Nashville's finest to conjure country gold. Shifting from his signature somber tone of struggle and survival, Tod and his coal fire throat radiate a feeling of clarity and new beginnings in the face of adversity. The result is this intrinsic, musical crossroads &#8212; more Hank Williams than Bob Wills, more Marty Stuart than George Jones. "Most of my career has been laser-focused on poetic, piercing songwriting in mainly a folk tradition." Tod says. "I wanted to prove to myself and the industry that I could write an elite country record with ease. Either way, if I didn't accomplish that goal, I sure as hell came closer than anyone on pop country radio." The inspiration for the project struck in the summer of 2022, with Tod penning the opening track "I Ain't The Man." From there, it became this unrelenting, internal thirst for Tod to begin "imagining what all I could do within a genre slightly outside my comfort zone." With a thick thread of honkytonk woven into it, the album leaves fingerprints on seemingly every style of country, from outlaw to red dirt, folk to indie, the culmination of which being a happily welcomed challenge for Tod &#8212; the ethos of his life and career at this juncture howling loudly "obstacles are opportunities." Shooting Star is also a full-circle moment for Tod. Coming of age in Music City, he found himself squarely in the midst of rough-n-tumble Lower Broadway. Busking on street corners playing Woody Guthrie and Jim Ringer tunes for spare change. And getting kicked out of Robert's Western World or Layla's Honky Tonk "more times than most regulars had been before the age of 20." &#160; Website &#124; Instagram &#124; Facebook &#124; YouTube &#124; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>The Church THE SINGLES: 1980-2025</title>
                                <eventupdate>10 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-church-the-singles-1980-2025/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2025 21:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Few bands enter their fifth decade of making music with all the fierce &#160;creative energy of their early years. Even fewer bands are like The Church. Experiencing a renaissance of sorts with their worldwide critically-hailed 26th album The Hypnogogue and its companion 27th album (that also serves as a &#160;worthy standalone) Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars, The Church has &#160;witnessed their continued impact to astonishingly grow exponentially in &#160;audience size and media attention through not only their new albums but a &#160;world tour that took them through North America, the UK, Europe and back &#160;home to Australia. Coupled with the 2024 vinyl re-issues of their first four &#160;albums &#8211; Of Skins &#38; Heart, The Blurred Crusade, S&#233;ance, and Heyday &#8211; their most recent Australian tour was one of their most successful tours to &#160;date. The band also launched an exclusive fan community via a partnership &#160;with The Chorus, aptly named nightfriends. It is a first for this storied band &#160;&#8211; an online experience where fans can receive first dibs on concert and new &#160;release presales, have access to unreleased songs/demos/live cuts, never before-seen live show video content and concert films, behind-the-music &#160;essays about the creation of pivotal albums, exclusive band Q&#38;As and Forum &#160;interactions, and much more. 2025 is turning into a banner year for the band, getting ready to turn the &#160;page and both explore new music and celebrate their impressive catalog &#160;with a slew of live dates. Kicking off with their first-ever &#8216;Singles-centric&#8217; tour this Summer in North America, they will be digging into their catalogue and &#160;playing the songs that launched them into mainstream consciousness, including &#8220;Metropolis,&#8221; &#8220;Ripple,&#8221; &#8220;C&#8217;est La Vie&#8221;, and of course, &#8220;Reptile&#8221; and &#160;&#8220;Under the Milky Way.&#8221; They also have a new album &#8211; their 28th! &#8211; planned &#160;for release later this year. &#160; The renowned five-piece line-up is made up of bassist, vocalist and founder &#160;Steve Kilbey, along with long-time collaborator, drummer, and producer Tim &#160;Powles (a member since 1994), guitarist Ian Haug, multi-instrumentalist &#160;Jeffrey Cain, and guitarist Ashley Naylor. The Church continue to remain a &#160;treasured creative force. &#160; Website &#124; Facebook &#124; Instagram &#124;&#160;Spotify &#124; YouTube]]></description>
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