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        <title>Cat&#039;s Cradle</title>
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        <link>https://catscradle.com</link>
        <description>Carrboro, NC</description>
        <lastBuildDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 10:41:21 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Cat&#039;s Cradle</title>
	<link>https://catscradle.com</link>
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                        <item>
                                <title>Deerhoof</title>
                                <eventupdate>20 hours ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/deerhoof-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[For a band that seems to thrive on collapse, it's simply amazing that this US/Japanese quartet is now celebrating their 31st year. Though Deerhoof long ago established itself as one of the greatest rock groups ever to stride the earth-and if you think that's hyperbole, you haven't seen them live-the furiously inventive quartet releases new albums on the schedule of a young band still hungry for its first break. Each one discovers some previously unknown combination of candy-coated hard-rock riffs and free-jazz percussive freakouts, sideways J-pop hooks and fearsome dissonance, trenchant social commentary and surrealist humor. Fronting it all is Satomi Matsuzaki's inimitable alto, whose plainspoken calm can seem strangely outside of the band's maelstrom. This music is joyful and foreboding, cybernetic and deeply human, carrying an implicit note of defiant optimism in their refusal to bow to convention or received wisdom. Deerhoof is defined by such paradoxes. Missive 3-19-25: Deerhoof today announced their new album Noble and Godlike in Ruin will be released April 25th (Joyful Noise Recordings), and took an unexpected turn by exclusively premiering its lead single "Immigrant Songs" via Craigslist-two days ahead of the song's official release at streaming services. In a series of Craigslist 'Services' posts advertising themselves for hire in their local communities, including Brooklyn, Tucson, Portland, and Minneapolis, the band shared a message directing readers how to hear their epic album closer alongside photos of the album artwork (front/back, insert, center label). This unconventional premiere serves to spotlight a tech platform that isn't blatantly supporting fascism. "Immigrant Songs" is an odyssey like only Deerhoof could dream up: beginning with an innocuous lyric about showing up to a party, set to a delicate ostinato for bells and sparkling guitar; and ending with a noise-rock blowout that sounds like reality coming apart at the seams. The band of Satomi Matsuzaki, Ed Rodriguez, John Dieterich, and Greg Saunier get from one extreme to the other through expertly managed tension and inventive juxtaposition, weaving four-on-the-floor beats through bossa nova guitar chords, following passages of tightly coiled rhythm with wide-open vistas. All the while, the narrative about the party gradually reveals the allegory hinted at in the title. (Which, given Deerhoof's encyclopedic relationship to music history, is probably also a Led Zeppelin reference.) "Kindness is all I needed from you," Matsuzaki sings to an unwelcoming host, "but you think we're in your house." Not long after, the song detonates, its tightly wound art-pop giving way to several minutes of howling noise. "This song is kind of a sequel to Satomi describing her immigration tribulations in 'Exit Only.' It's what it feels like to see the discourse around immigration get so twisted. The most criminal and barbaric 'migrant horde' to invade America was from Europe. There's a sector of racialized, underpaid immigrants, doing labor white people won't, who are getting deported and dehumanized in record numbers in recent years. They are really the glue keeping our society from collapsing. It's these heroic fugitives, not millionaire politicians holding little signs with one hand while sending out fundraising emails about 'strengthening our borders' with the other, who actually have a thing or two to teach us all about how to resist and survive." - Greg from Deerhoof &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Bandcamp &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Bring Out Yer Dead</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/bring-out-yer-dead/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
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                                <title>Hex Files</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/hex-files/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 08 Jul 2026 20:10:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Hex Files guyscrapers &#160; bullseye]]></description>
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                                <title>Protomartyr</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/protomartyr-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Since their 2012 debut No Passion All Technique, the Detroit post-punk band Protomartyr have mastered the art of evoking place: the grinding Midwest humility of their hometown, as well as the x-rayed elucidation of America that comes with their vantage. Protomartyr&#8212;vocalist Joe Casey, guitarist Greg Ahee, drummer Alex Leonard, and bassist Scott Davidson&#8212;have become synonymous with caustic, impressionistic assemblages of politics and poetry, the literal and oblique. The group&#8217;s sixth album, recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, is called Formal Growth In The Desert. And though frontman Joe Casey did have a humbling experience staring at awe-inspiring Sonoran rock formations and reckoning with his own smallness in the scheme of things &#8211; as recounted in the single &#8220;Elimination Dances&#8221; - the title is not necessarily a nod to the sandy expanses of the southwest. Detroit, too, is like a desert. &#8220;The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,&#8221; Casey says, &#8220;of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.&#8221; The desert brings an existential awareness that is ultimately internal. The &#8220;growth&#8221; came from a period of colossal transition for Casey, including the death of his mother. Now 45, Casey had lived in the family home in northwest Detroit all his life until 2021, when a surge of break-ins signaled that it was time to move out. As with all touring artists, the pandemic years also brought on other inner quandaries about the purpose and feasibility of a musician&#8217;s life. But life does go on, and Casey describes the great theme of Formal Growth In The Desert as an embrace and acknowledgment of that fact: a 12-song testament to &#8220;getting on with life,&#8221; even when it feels impossibly hard. &#8220;I was trying to find a way forward after some pretty heavy things, without lyrically resorting to, Oh my god, my life sucks,&#8221; Casey says. &#8220;I was trying to see what was beyond the trouble.&#8221; The titles of the two opening songs&#8212;the moody &#8220;Make Way&#8221; followed by the charging ennui of &#8220;For Tomorrow&#8221;&#8212;complete that thought. The band&#8217;s music&#8212;more spacious and dynamic than ever&#8212;pulled him up, too. Guitarist Greg Ahee, who co-produced Formal Growth In The Desert alongside Jake Aron (Snail Mail, L&#8217;Rain), knew what Casey was going through. Conceptualizing the music, he considered how to make it all &#8220;like a narrative film.&#8221; Having recently scored a pair of short films, Ahee found himself immersed in the cinematic Spaghetti Western music of Ennio Morricone. &#8220;I started to write at home on a piano and on a keyboard and then play along to short films, and watch how you can affect and heighten moods as you play,&#8221; Ahee explains. The filmic sensibility is manifest in Casey&#8217;s storytelling, too, whether he&#8217;s critiquing ominous techno-capitalism or processing aging, the future, and the possibility of love. Casey calls the centerpiece, &#8220;Graft Vs. Host,&#8221; written in the immediate wake of his mother&#8217;s death, the heaviest song on the record, but it is also among Protomartyr&#8217;s most beautiful. It opens with an ominous sprawl before Casey&#8217;s sweet, coiling melody buoys the subject matter: &#8220;Sadness running through my mind/She wouldn&#8217;t want to see me live this way,&#8221; he sings, an earnest inquiry into how grief manages to eventually make way for other emotions. &#160; Website &#183; Bandcamp &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Stephen Dawes Presents The Skin to Skin Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/stephen-dawes-presents-the-skin-to-skin-tour/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Stephen Dawes is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer whose music tells a coming-of-age story set against a backdrop of handcrafted alternative pop, rooted in loose beat-craft and breezy Stratocaster-spun riffs. Born in New York, Stephen spent his early childhood in a small town on Cape Cod before moving to San Francisco. He began piano lessons at 4-years-old, started writing original songs by fourth grade, and in high school joined jazz band and learned how to produce. Stephen was first discovered as a freshman in college when he recorded an acoustic rendition of Katy Perry&#8217;s &#8220;Teenage Dream&#8221; that exploded with over 200 million Spotify streams and over 50 million views on YouTube. Since then, he has released two EPs titled *Up At Night* and *The Day We Met* and a handful of tracks including &#8220;Reputation,&#8221; &#8220;Irregular,&#8221; and &#8220;Symptoms.&#8221; In early 2025, Stephen was the opening act for Matt Hansen&#8217;s European tour, and also opened for Griff in 2024 on the Vertigo Tour. Website]]></description>
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                                <title>L’Rain</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/lrain-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[L&#8217;Rain is the musical project of multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and curator Taja Cheek. Operating between the worlds of art and music, and outwards into film, fashion and cultural discourse, Cheek is forging a unique path that transcends disciplines to become one of the most vital and adventurous voices for this warped contemporary moment. Currently the artistic director of Performance Space NY and readying the release of L&#8217;Rain&#8217;s fourth album, fata morgana, Cheek&#8217;s creative impact resonates through her uncompromising commitment to community-building, navigating structural inequality while challenging musical conventions and expectations at every turn. L&#8217;Rain is its thrilling manifestation. Raised in Brooklyn and rooted in the city&#8217;s vibrant noise community, Cheek&#8217;s world was defined by a tension of contrasts from the off &#8212; classically trained yet steeped in DIY iconoclasm, drawn to lush orchestrations and gritty tape loops alike, finding cracks in established forms, taking risks and letting the light pour through. Fascinated by the schisms, feedbacks and distortions that emerge between identity and society at large, Cheek worked closely with collaborators Ben Chapoteau-Katz and Andrew Lappin to hone a sound for L&#8217;Rain that is intense, playful, seductive and deeply personal, deconstructing pop tropes with impressionistic flair and subverting the very notion of experimental music within the Black American tradition. Where the &#8220;psychic collage&#8221; of self-titled 2017 debut revelled in the collisions of hi- and lo-fi technology, it was 2021&#8217;s Fatigue that propelled L&#8217;Rain to a wider audience. Gaining critical acclaim from NPR, album of the year in The Wire and #2 in Pitchfork&#8217;s best albums of 2021, it set the foundations for 2023 album I Killed Your Dog, which skewed towards &#8216;90s RnB influences &#8212; a bold, bratty, diabolical anti-break-up record that untangled Cheek&#8217;s relationship with femininity and the formal musical conventions that others imposed on her. fata morgana is the daring and ambitious high point of this quadrilogy of L&#8217;Rain releases. A heady synthesis of sonic influences, from digi-dub, dream pop and gospel slow jams to tape meditations and crunched thrash metal, it is an album that effervesces in the messiness of life, interrogating power relations while reckoning with self-doubt, self-love and the mirages of belonging and alienation that shape Cheek&#8217;s lived experience of the United States today. This capacity to articulate emotional nuance within a wider societal critique has defined Cheek&#8217;s curatorial work with major institutions like Creative Time, the High Line, and MoMA PS1, where she reframed the music programme over several years. Challenging the systemic barriers to representation in the arts, Cheek&#8217;s accessible and community-centred approach defined her success as guest curator of the 2024 Whitney Biennial and extends to her current role at Performance Space NY, whose programming has shaped cultural, theoretical and political discourse over four decades. &#160; Website&#160;&#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Songs From The Road Band, Big Fat Gap</title>
                                <eventupdate>4 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/songs-from-the-road-band-big-fat-gap/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Songs From The Road Band is an award winning Asheville, North Carolina based bluegrass band featuring Mark Schimick (mandolin), Charles Humphrey III (bass), Sam Wharton (guitar), James Schlender (fiddle), and Gabe Epstein (banjo). Their most recent single 'Outside Of Omaha' went to number one on the Bluegrass Today Grassicana chart. They have 6 studios albums available at all musical outlets. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>The Rattletraps Album Release Party</title>
                                <eventupdate>7 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-rattletraps-album-release-party/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:25:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The Rattletraps are a band of songwriters based in Durham, NC, creating a culmination of roots rock, country and blues music. Come help celebrate the release their debut album, Cuff and Collar on August 1st at the Cat's Cradle back room! &#160;Website]]></description>
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                                <title>Jack The Songman</title>
                                <eventupdate>8 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/jack-the-songman/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 18:05:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[JACK THE SONGMAN &#160; Jack The Songman is a new artist from North Carolina determined to show you a good time straight from the heart. The man behind the song, Jack Carmichael, has been making music in the Triangle for more than a decade. Under the &#8220;Songman&#8221; moniker, he writes songs with a funky, classic pop sound that feels familiar but sincere. Love, togetherness, and celebration of the mundane are central motifs baked into the entire Songman catalog. Born into a family of musicians, Carmichael has been a member of various musical ensembles since childhood&#8212;however, it wasn&#8217;t until his mid-twenties that he stepped into the dual role of frontman and songwriter as Jack The Songman. With the support of lifelong friends and collaborators (known collectively as The Songman Band), Carmichael has forged a genre-melding, piano-driven sonic identity that weaves together elements of yacht rock, funk, and power pop while calling to mind musical forces such as Michael McDonald and Ben Folds. Since stepping onto the scene, the Songman has made a name for himself playing high-energy shows throughout the Triangle. Carmichael&#8217;s songwriting craft has made an impression on his hometown, generating a commission to write and record the signature jingle for Chapel Hill&#8217;s radio station, 97.9 The Hill WCHL.&#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; Bandcamp &#183; YouTube &#160; PINT NIGHT Conceived in the heart of Chapel Hill, Pint Night is a new indie rock band composed of five members: Jack Carmichael (keys), Reese McDonald (bass), Ryan Anderson (drums), Sameen Salam (aux keys), and Connor Luckey-Smith (guitar). The lineup originally met while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where they bonded over their shared love of tight vocal harmonies, serviceable pints, and making merry. After many years of hangs, jam sessions, and post-grad pints, all five friends had the exact same revelation in 2025: &#8220;We should form a band and call it Pint Night.&#8221; The five-piece is excited to share their catalog of soul-infused alt-rock headbangers across the Triangle for weeks, if not months, to come. Website &#183; Instagram &#160; LAURA IVY Laura Ivy is an independent singer-songwriter based in North Carolina.&#160;Her first debut Mansion of Rain focuses heavily on lyricism regarding internal thought processes one goes through in day-to-day life; the questions, validations, and related analogies of nature. Vocals, the background, and lead voices are the mediums for such questions and answers, mimicking the voice of human thought that plays throughout each day. Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#160;]]></description>
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                                <title>Southern Culture on the Skids</title>
                                <eventupdate>10 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/southern-culture-on-the-skids-6/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Southern Culture On The Skids has been consistently recording and touring around the world since 1983. The band (Rick Miller &#8211; guitar and vocals, Mary Huff &#8211; bass and vocals, Dave Hartman &#8211; drums) has been playing together for over 30 years. Their musical journey has taken them from all-night North Carolina house parties to late night TV talk shows (Conan O&#8217;Brien, The Tonight Show), from performing at the base of Mt. Fuji in Japan to rockin&#8217; out for the inmates at North Carolina correctional facilities. They&#8217;ve shared a stage with many musical luminaries including Link Wray, Loretta Lynn, Hasil Adkins and Patti Smith. Their music has been featured in movies and TV, parodied by Weird Al, and used to sell everything from diamonds to pork sausage. In 2014 the band was honored by the Southern Folklife Collection at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill with an exhibition featuring their music and cultural contributions. Their legendary live shows are a testament to the therapeutic powers of foot-stomping, butt-shaking rock and roll and what Rolling Stone dubbed &#8220;a hell raising rock and roll party.&#8221;At Home with Southern Culture on the Skids is the latest full length album from the band and is due to drop into stores on March 12th. The album consists of 11 tracks recorded and mixed in Rick Miller&#8217;s living room with some additional tracks recorded at his studio, The Kudzu Ranch.The first radio single off the album is &#8220;Run Baby Run&#8221;&#8212;a rocking number with deep garage roots. SCOTS bassist Mary Huff provides an urgent vocal while the band pulls back the throttle on a full race fuzz fest&#8212;cause she&#8217;s gotta to go fast! Run Baby Run!The other songs on the album are a combination of the band&#8217;s unique mix of musical genres: rock and roll, surf, folk and country&#8212;all a bit off-center, what Rick proudly calls &#8220;our wobbly Americana&#8221;. Rick goes on, &#8220;We put a few more acoustic guitars on this one, as you would expect if you recorded in your living room, but it still rocks like SCOTS. So put your headphones on, get in your favorite chair/sofa/recliner, put on &#8220;At Home With&#8221; and let&#8217;s hang out for a while.&#8221; Guitar riffs as lumpy as a camel, rough as a jackhammer or smooth and bright as Tennessee sippin&#8217; whiskey, all slung loose and loud over salacious beats - No Depression For over thirty years, Southern Culture On The Skids have played an eclectic range of Americana including rockabilly, surf rock, country and R&#38;B, with a punk edge and heaps of humor. They are known for their legendary live shows and wacky antics...But it&#8217;s more than just great fun; they are fantastic musicians to boot. - Elmore Magazine This Chapel Hill-based trio is flat-out amazing. Without resorting to needless flash or attention-hungry showboating, Miller in particular is one of the most spectacularly gifted guitar players I&#8217;ve ever seen. He juggles a lot of styles &#8211; country, garage rock, surf, rockabilly and soul to name just a few. - Stomp &#38; Stammer Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Popsicle</title>
                                <eventupdate>14 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/popsicle/cats-cradle-back-yard/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Featuring The Connells, Superdrag, Chuck Prophet, Young Fresh Fellows, The Mayflies USA, The Popes, Jonny Polonsky, Five Eight, Bass Battery. &#160; Taking place at Cat's Cradle Back Yard, Cat's Cradle, and Cat's Cradle Back Room.]]></description>
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                                <title>Ben Quad, Macseal</title>
                                <eventupdate>15 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/ben-quad-macseal/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The story of BEN QUAD is punctuated by moments of randomness: a chance meeting via Craigslist bonding over bands like Microwave and Modern Baseball. An out-of-nowhere name drop from indie tastemaker Ian Cohen lauding their debut album, 2022&#8217;s I&#8217;m Scared That&#8217;s All There Is. A one-off sonic curveball that somehow turned into their biggest song &#8211; and, without them realizing it at the time, a brand-new freedom to reinvent themselves.&#160; But serendipity has done more than bring Ben Quad here, to the release of WISHER, their first LP for Pure Noise Records: It&#8217;s taught them to thrive inside the unpredictable, to harness a no-limits musical mentality and self-effacing sense of humor and turn it into some of the most resonant, captivating emo of today. Well, actually, post-emo. &#8220;This is our love letter to the genre,&#8221; singer/guitarist Sam Wegrzynski says of the album. &#8220;It&#8217;s an amalgamation of all the shit emo kids like: screaming, synths, pop sensibilities all mixed with crazy emotional stuff. What&#8217;s post-emo if not the next evolution?&#8221; The Oklahoma City-based quartet have always been evolving. I&#8217;m Scared That&#8217;s All There Is cemented them as a force in the modern emo movement, landing them on bills with the likes of Hot Mulligan and Knuckle Puck. The standalone single &#8220;You&#8217;re Part of It&#8221; added a harder, screamo-tinged edge to their sound, while an outpouring of support to a social media shitpost declaring &#8220;If &#8216;You're Part of It&#8217; gets 10K streams by Wednesday, we'll put out a screamo EP&#8221; took them even further down that road with Ephemera, their 2024 EP. (The song currently boasts more than 4 million streams.) Now, with Wisher, the band deliver a true follow-up to their debut that fully embraces everything that&#8217;s followed it since. The 10 songs on Wisher find Wegrzynski, Edgar Viveros (lead guitar), Henry Shields (bass/backing vocals) and Isaac Young (drums) pulling from every corner of their record collections: jagged punk riffs, glassy math-rock, sticky pop hooks and glitchy production that push toward something futuristic. But rather than a scattershot collage, these elements recur as motifs &#8211; a melody here, a guitar line there &#8211; stitched together with purpose and intention. First single &#8220;It&#8217;s Just A Title&#8221; serves up a groove factory complemented by smooth vocals and lifting keyboards, while the frantic &#8220;Painless&#8221; rips through speakers with the ferocity and melodicism of They&#8217;re Only Chasing Safety-era Underoath, if their guitarists spent more time studying Midwest emo than metalcore. &#8220;Did You Decide to Skip Arts and Crafts&#8221; welcomes Treaty Oak Revival singer Sam Canty &#8211; and a well-placed banjo &#8211; onto a genre-blending Tumblr-era throwback, &#8220;Classic Case of Dead Guy on the Ground&#8221; ascends with a preposterously sublime falsetto hook, and the brooding &#8220;West of West&#8221; brings things full circle for the band with a cameo from Microwave&#8217;s Nathan Hardy. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; TikTok &#160; Macseal &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Bandcamp &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>The Jayhawks</title>
                                <eventupdate>16 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-jayhawks/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[For more than forty years, The Jayhawks have created music that embodies the enduring spirit and soul of classic American songwriting. &#160; The Jayhawks emerged from Minneapolis in the post-punk era of The Replacements, H&#252;sker D&#252; and Soul Asylum. They pioneered today&#8217;s Americana movement through a series of classic albums that introduced rock audiences to their unique musical stew of country, folk, soul, Britpop and rock 'n' roll.The band has played most every major music festival, from Farm Aid to Primavera Sound, Pinkpop to Wilco&#8217;s Sky Blue Sky. In the tradition of The Band and Tom Petty &#38; The Heartbreakers, The Jayhawks have toured with and served as backup band for many of music&#8217;s most acclaimed visionaries, including Ray Davies, Roger McGuinn, and Johnny Cash.Today, Gary Louris, Marc Perlman, Karen Grotberg and Tim O&#8217;Reagan continue to record and tour worldwide. Over 12 studio albums and three live albums, The Jayhawks are still building a legacy of music that stands the test of time.The band once again teamed up with legendary producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed) to create their upcoming album entitled Sanctuary Park, set to be released late summer 2026. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Frog</title>
                                <eventupdate>16 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/frog/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Frog is a 2-3 person guitar band from the swamp in New Rochelle, NY. They issued their self-titled debut mini-album "Frog" on Brooklyn's now defunct Monkfish Records which Gold Flake Paint called "The best American guitar record of the year. Seriously. It's like every cult band from the past decade bottled into half an hour of music." The duo returned in 2015 with their highly acclaimed debut LP "Kind of Blah" on the UK's Audio Antihero Records which included the fan-favorite singles "Judy Garland" and "Photograph." Frog promoted the album with a tour of the UK, which was later documented in the 2018 film 'Kings of Blah'. In November 2018, they issued their long-awaited follow-up "Whatever We Probably Already Had It" mini-LP on Audio Antihero. This was followed in August 2019 with the freak-folk opus "Count Bateman," featuring the sleeper stoner hit single, "You Know I'm Down." &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Liana Flores</title>
                                <eventupdate>16 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/liana-flores/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Liana Flores' story is one of cultural cross-pollination, unlikely chances, and quite possibly a signpost for the evolution of folk music in the digital age. &#160; Raised in rural Norfolk pre-internet ubiquity, the bossa nova CDs belonging to Liana's Brazilian mother were a first glimpse into a musical world beyond Eleanor Rigby on cassette and Gilbert &#38; Sullivan in the village hall. &#160; At 19, she went from building an early listener base with showtune covers in the YouTube era, to penning her own songs. The influences all started coming together, in self-recorded songs combining the harmonic stylings of bossa nova guitar with personal lyrics - often gloomy but persevering, &#160;expressing anxieties and depicting the nature in her hometown. &#160; Three years later, one of these unassuming songs, &#8216;rises the moon&#8217;, was uploaded to TikTok without the singer's knowledge and became a surprise hit, spawning countless cover versions before the labels came calling. Nearly a billion streams later, it's arguably a defining folk song of its generation. &#160; After signing to Verve Records, a full-length record, Flower of the soul, followed in 2024. Drawing from sunshine pop, bossa nova and psych folk, and featuring newly polished studio production and a full band, the record marked a metamorphosis from DIY recluse to rising artist with records available in stores all over the world, and a tour spanning UK, Europe, the US, and Asia. &#160; Her latest single, "So it goes" is inspired by classic bossa nova in the vein of Burt Bacharach and Astrud Gilberto, reflecting the pace of city life since moving to London. &#160; Bandcamp &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Russian Circles</title>
                                <eventupdate>16 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/russian-circles-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Across the span of their previous seven studio albums, Chicago-based instrumental trio Russian Circles traversed a diverse topography of sounds, moods, and approaches with their limited armory of drums, bass, and guitar. It&#8217;s difficult to chart an evolution in their sound when their records have always felt like well-curated playlists. It wasn&#8217;t uncommon to hear drone-heavy meditations, dazzling prog exercises, knuckle-dragging riff-fests, haunting folk ballads, and tension-baiting noise rock all within the span of one album. Still, it&#8217;s difficult to ignore the progression from the pensive and intricate melodies of Enter (2006) to the layered distorted dirges of Blood Year (2019). It&#8217;s been a gradual sonic shift owing to the band&#8217;s rigorous tour schedule and a predilection towards playing their more authoritative material on stage. But with their latest album, Gnosis, Russian Circles eschew the varied terrain of their past work and bulldoze a path through the most tumultuous and harrowing territory of their sound. As was the case for so many artists in the age of COVID, the obstacles of geography and isolation forced Russian Circles to reevaluate their writing process. Rather than crafting songs out of fragmented ideas in the practice room, full songs were written and recorded independently before being shared with other members, so that their initial vision was retained. While these demos spanned the full breadth of the band&#8217;s varied styles, the more cinematic compositions were ultimately excised in favor of the physically cathartic pieces. Gnosis was engineered and mixed by Kurt Ballou. Drums and bass were tracked at Electrical Audio in Chicago to maximize the natural room sounds of the rhythm section. Guitar and synth overdubs were conducted at God City in Salem, MA to take advantage of Ballou&#8217;s vast inventory of amps and effects pedals. Despite the entirety of the album being written remotely, the songs were recorded with the full band playing together to retain the live feel of the material. Owing to the climate of the times and a new writing method, Russian Circles created their most fuming and focused work to date&#8212;an album that favors the exorcism of two years&#8217; worth of tension over the melancholy and restraint that often colored their past endeavors. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>HARBOUR</title>
                                <eventupdate>17 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/harbour-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Since their formation in 2014, HARBOUR has gone from packing rooms in their native Cincinnati, to selling out venues across the United States. Members Ryan Green (vocals/guitar), Jarett Lewis (guitar), Zack Lemons (guitar), Ryan Sulken (drums), and Devon Turner (bass) have curated an infectious high energy sound that transfers seamlessly into their live shows. During their tenure as a group, HARBOUR has delivered 5 full length albums &#8211; the latest of which, entitled Great, Big, Insignificant, was released in October 2025 after much anticipation. After supportings artists such as Bilmuri &#38; Wilderado, HARBOUR successfully completed their first multinational headline tour in 2025. With more shows on the way in celebration of the new album, and even more music in the works, the band&#8217;s future is sure to be anything but insignificant. &#160; Website]]></description>
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                                <title>The Hails &#8211; Duckpond Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>17 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-hails-duckpond-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Following a string of encounters too strange to be coincidence, Robbie Kingsley, Franco Solari, Dylan McCue and Zach Levy came together to form The Hails. Despite first playing in an insular Miami high school music scene, the band officially formed at the University of Florida in Gainesville, turning the tattered carpeting and beer bottle lined shelves of their shitty college house into a distinct, refined sound that is now synonymous with their name. After graduation, the group made the pilgrimage back to their home of Miami, the city that directly influenced the sound of their early shimmering singles &#8220;Younger&#8221; and &#8220;Stay,&#8221; debut EP He Seems Upset (2020), and the subsequent Alive in Strange Ways (2021).After releasing their debut album What&#8217;s Your Motive (2023) and gaining international praise, The Hails have created their own unique style of collaboration with band members living in Miami, DC and Brooklyn. Recent highlights of the road include holding court at festivals like Governors Ball, III Points and Okeechobee, interspersed between sold-out headline shows and tour support for The Revivalists, Quarters, The Beaches, flipturn and the moss. This year will see The Hails back out on the road as they ready for the release of their second full-length album later this year. &#160; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; TikTok &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>The Tubs</title>
                                <eventupdate>17 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-tubs/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Upon arriving in the United States for The Tubs&#8217; first tour of the country, frontman Owen Williams told The New Yorker, &#8220;We&#8217;re here to unite the country. We&#8217;re gonna come, like, three times. By that point, I think this place will start healing.&#8221; Then, joyously, they did just that, piling into a van and criss-crossing the States, bringing their literary, bleary-eyed, world-weary, night-of-your-life highwire act to the masses when it was needed most. Along the way, they signed to Merge Records, who will release The Tubs&#8217; third full-length album, Hard Life, on September 11, 2026. &#160; The Tubs have never lacked for ambition &#8212; on Hard Life, theirs is to complicate the Tub-ullar experience. Having perfected their sound across two albums and hundreds of shows, the London-based Celtic jangle boyband &#8212; Williams (vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass), Dan Lucas (guitar), Taylor Stewart (drums), and Max Warren (bass) &#8212; push themselves even further into the shimmering heart of virtuosic indie rock. They&#8217;re joined by frequent collaborators Lan McArdle (vocals), George Nicholls (guitar), and Rachel Kenedy (keyboards), all of whom have orbited various Tubs and Gob Nation-adjacent efforts dating back to Joanna Gruesome, but the secret to Hard Life&#8217;s lushness is the addition of fiddle player Chris Haigh, an instructor and session musician who left an indelible mark on British pop on Steps&#8217; &#8220;5, 6, 7, 8.&#8221; &#160; Mirroring Williams' use of trilling on vocal melodies, Haigh&#8217;s fiddle shades the vocalist's rueful croon like a bruise. On &#8220;Stoop to Me,&#8221; the folkiest, jangliest pop song on the album, Haigh&#8217;s licks complement Williams at his most self-deprecating, the lopsided smile of a guy trying not to let on how wounded he is in unrequited love. On album opener and title track &#8220;Hard Life,&#8221; it&#8217;s the sweetness of the ascending fiddle lines in the mix that weds the harshness of Williams&#8217; lyrics to The Tubs&#8217; fist-pumping anthemics. &#160; The hard line Williams takes here and elsewhere on Hard Life further troubles one&#8217;s idea of a Tubs song. The persona familiar to listeners of Cotton Crown and Dead Meat &#8212; to quote Williams, &#8220;navel gazing about romantic abjection, London squalor, and the indignities of grief and OCD&#8221; &#8212; is still present, but so too is a second voice, steelier and more experienced. &#8220;The second persona doesn&#8217;t have much time for the first,&#8221; Williams explains, &#8220;often haranguing him for his self-indulgence and immaturity; sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly.&#8221; &#160; It&#8217;s the scold who takes center stage on lead single &#8220;Who&#8217;s Gonna Love You Now?&#8221; His questions, from the titular one to more concrete concerns like &#8220;Who&#8217;s gonna pay the rent?&#8221; existing in mocking opposition to ideas like moving to the city and really starting to live. Though Williams plays the crank, the song is a raver, guitars ringing out over an organ-brightened horizon. &#8220;It&#8217;s your life,&#8221; Williams sings, the life chugging away beneath him sounding exceptionally keen. He wouldn&#8217;t have much sympathy for the lovelorn Williams of &#8220;If You Don&#8217;t Love Me&#8221; &#8212; hell, his whole existence seems like a warning that the kinds of romantic entanglements one suffers when they&#8217;re young will end in loneliness, failure, and an inbox choked with unread Substacks. &#160; Linktree &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Bandcamp &#183; Substack]]></description>
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                                <title>Karina Rykman &#8211; Late Checkout Tour 2026</title>
                                <eventupdate>17 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/karina-rykman-late-checkout-tour-2026/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 23 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Karina Rykman plays bass, sings, jumps around, and laughs a lot. In doing so, she has garnered rare attention and avid listenership. Straddling the worlds of jam rock and indie pop drenched in psychedelia, Karina&#8217;s effervescent presence comes to life in musical form. Born &#38; raised in New York City, Karina Rykman&#8217;s musical path began in her early teens playing in bands whenever she could while attending a veritable ton of live music as a fan. By the end of her senior year at NYU, Rykman&#8217;s virtuoso talent &#38; infectious spirit saw her invited to join pianist Marco Benevento&#8217;s band (as recommended by Ween bassist Dave Dreiwitz), with whom she&#8217;s performed countless shows including dates with Vulfpeck, Dispatch, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, &#38; many more. Rykman soon formed her own namesake band, accompanied by Adam November (guitar, loopers, effects) and Chris Corsico (drums). She quickly earned a reputation as an unmissable live act - a bombastic exposition that floats freely between dreamy indie pop and thick, distorted rock - &#160;with &#8220;fun&#8221; as its guiding light. Tearing up sold out headline performances to ravenous fans, show-stealing festival performances (including Bonnaroo, Peach Music Festival, and Sweetwater 420 Fest), opening for Khruangbin, My Morning Jacket, the Tedeschi Trucks Band (+ many more), plus recent appearances in the house band on NBC&#8217;s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Karina stays busy. Rykman released her debut album, JOYRIDE via AWAL in August 2023. Written &#38; recorded with childhood friend and producer Gabe Monro, the album serves as a vivid canvas for Rykman&#8217;s vibrant expression &#38; chameleonic songcraft. JOYRIDE features Trey Anastasio as co-producer &#38; featured musician, contributing guitar on five of the album&#8217;s nine tracks. The bassist/vocalist&#8217;s concerts are often packed with fans who feel more like friends&#8212;a testament to her undeniable charisma and her embrace of the live music community&#8212;and that circle continues to expand at alarming rates. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>The Wldlfe</title>
                                <eventupdate>18 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-wldlfe-3/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The Wldlfe, comprised of Jansen Hogan, Carson Hogan, &#38; Jack Crane, entered into the independent scene in 2016 with their smash EP "New, 2016" and have continued to grow one the most steadfast fanbases around through their consistent releases and relentless appetite for touring. An electrifying live act, The Wldlfe has toured sold-out shows across North America in 2023, 2024, and 2025 while cultivating an audience hungry for more. Frontman Jansen Hogan's magnetic stage presence and infectious charisma, paired with the skillful instrumentation of Carson Hogan and Jack Crane, leave fans with unforgettable experience. With over 100 million global streams to date, The Wldlfe released the Deluxe version of their highest streaming project yet, Heaven is a place, 2024. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>The War And Treaty</title>
                                <eventupdate>18 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-war-and-treaty-2/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[For the past decade, soulful duo The War And Treaty&#8212;the husband-and-wife team of Michael and Tanya Trotter&#8212;have released music that continues to elevate them beyond beloved industry favorites, as well as award-season and touring staples, capable of performing on stages worldwide with widespread acclaim and standing ovations. Every aspect of their new project exemplifies the pinnacle of the group&#8217;s ever-creative growth within these mentioned ideas. Twelve years after their founding, The War And Treaty have redefined themselves beyond Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, and GRAMMY nominations. Moreover, being lauded by the Rock &#38; Roll Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry, and the Americana Music Association, which named them Duo/Group of the Year for two consecutive years, cannot contain them as a group greater than the sum of their most successful parts. Immediately upon listening to their latest album, it&#8217;s clear that a more vibrant energy now guides a duo confidently shaping their own destiny. Album collaborators include titans of the arts who are as much friends, mentors, and trusted confidants as they are legends across multiple industries: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award winner Whoopi Goldberg (who provides the spoken word intro for &#8220;Litty&#8221;), Songwriters Hall of Famer Kenneth &#8220;Babyface&#8221; Edmonds (writer of &#8220;You Can&#8217;t Hurt Me Anymore&#8221;), Country Music Hall of Famer Wynonna Judd, and Grammy-nominated performer Valerie June (both on &#8220;Reclaim All Of Your Time&#8221;) all contribute as guest artists. Hall of Fame-caliber mentors and influential friends, now serving as relaxed collaborators, shape how powerhouse country-soul vocalists like Valerie June and Wynonna Judd influence The War And Treaty&#8217;s latest sound. The duo&#8217;s pairing is less unlikely than it appears at first glance: both grew up listening to classic country and Memphis soul records, among many other genres. As a result, on the song &#8220;Reclaim All of Your Time,&#8221; their styles blend seamlessly with Tanya Trotter&#8217;s veteran gospel-soul stylings. For nearly five years after writing the folksy, female-empowerment ballad, Michael Trotter, its creator, believed it should be presented as a conversational piece with layered harmonies. He was right. The song, both in its composition and vocal delivery, combines warmth and strength to forge a rare genre bridge. Beyond collaborations, The War And Treaty&#8217;s latest work also thoughtfully seeks to expand Ray Charles&#8217; 50-year-old idea that the best music exists in the tension between sacred sounds and secular desires. Given that Michael and Tanya Trotter are a married couple, their ability to explore that space is obvious. Yet, their decade-long efforts to meet industry expectations in folk, Americana, and country music left significant raw and romantic potential in their sound untapped. &#8220;We&#8217;re finally performing material that shows people how, beyond being mature and intentional, how sanctified and sexual we can be,&#8221; says Tanya Trotter. &#8220;For Michael and me, it&#8217;s important to show the combination of rawness and sweetness that underlies our soulful sound.&#8221; &#160; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Tiny Habits &#8211; The Keepers Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>18 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/tiny-habits-the-keepers-tour/lincoln-theatre/raleigh-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 13:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Tiny Habits were still students in Boston when they began gaining recognition for the harmony-focused song covers recorded in their dorm stairwell and posted to millions of listeners on TikTok. They released their first EP of original songs, Tiny Things, in April 2023 and soon earned a spot opening for Gracie Abrams on her ‘Good [&#8230;]]]></description>
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                                <title>Carrboro Indie Night</title>
                                <eventupdate>21 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/carrboro-indie-night-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
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                                <title>Six Foot Blonde</title>
                                <eventupdate>22 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/six-foot-blonde-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 19:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Chicago-based indie pop/rock outfit Six Foot Blonde delivers a dynamic sound defined by soulful, powerhouse vocals with lush indie rock instrumentation. This six-piece seamlessly blends infectious pop melodies with raw rock energy, cementing their reputation as one of the Midwest&#8217;s most exciting emerging acts. They burst onto the scene from Bloomington, Indiana, forming during the pandemic in 2020 as an IU college cover band. They quickly evolved into a tight-knit group of meticulous arrangers. Frontwoman Julia Rusyniak&#8217;s soaring voice and deeply personal lyrics backed by a dynamic fusion of indie-rock slide guitar, synth, and three-part harmonies. Their infectious sound and explosive performances are rapidly expanding their dedicated fanbase. "The rare combination of earnest and exciting, the synthesis of frontwoman Julia's tremendous vocal talent and heartfelt lyrics with a 90's-alt-washed take on soul pop that is lush, tight-knit, and brimming with energy." &#8212; MOKB Presents "Julia's voice and lyrics resemble a modern pop artist, backdropped by indie-rock instrumentation uniquely their own." - Melodic Magazine Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube &#160;]]></description>
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                                <title>Brian Fallon &amp; The Painkillers</title>
                                <eventupdate>22 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/brian-fallon-the-painkillers/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Brian Fallon is known far and wide for his elemental gifts as a songwriter, musician, and storyteller, including four acclaimed solo albums and his role as founding member and frontman of The Gaslight Anthem. Over the course of nearly three decades, the New Jersey-based artist has crafted a constantly evolving body of work, booming with insistent imagery, defiant romanticism, and an extraordinary emotional acuity that has marked all variations of his music from the very start. 2023 saw The Gaslight Anthem return from a long hiatus with History Books, their sixth full-length album and first new studio LP in nine years. The much-beloved band marked the acclaimed album with an epic tour schedule that saw sold-out headline dates and show-stopping festival performances around the world, confirming their ongoing place among the top ranks of American rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll bands. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Ak&#8217;chamel</title>
                                <eventupdate>23 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/akchamel/local-506/chapel-hill-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[For over 15 winters, the name Ak'chamel has drifted like smoke through the underground-a thing half-seen, yet impossible to forget. Wearing nightmarish costumes and engaging in hallucinatory ceremonies; their singular sound comprising desert-scorched psychedelia, post-apocalyptic shamanism, and lo-fi ritual-folk is as unique as the physical theater of their live performances. They have released dozens of cassettes, several vinyl records, and a handful of cryptic VHS tapes. Their ungodly reels have been seen by millions yet understood by few. The group remains veiled in mystery, yet they tour often-through the United States, Canada, and Europe; bringing their unearthly plague to the world. &#160; Instagram &#183; Bandcamp &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Carbon Leaf</title>
                                <eventupdate>24 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/carbon-leaf-4/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Carbon Leaf&#8217;s fifteenth studio album, Time is the Playground is both a call to action and an embrace of the moment. Marrying nostalgic storytelling to nuanced, folk-infused indie rock, the Richmond, Virginia band embroiders heartfelt melody and harmony with acoustic and electric instrumentation to create a 12-song rumination on time, love and personal growth that&#8217;s equal parts urgent epiphany and contented exhalation. &#8220;Everybody says people don&#8217;t listen to albums anymore,&#8221; mulled Carbon Leaf frontman Barry Privett, holed up in a coastal cottage. &#8220;So, the challenge for us was to make something that felt good to get through from beginning to end &#8230; to listen to like a story.&#8221; Originally formed as a college cover band in 1992 and with over 3,500 famously enthused live shows together, Carbon Leaf helped to define the aughts indie rock that they ultimately outgrew and outlasted. They first earned national recognition with &#8220;The Boxer,&#8221; a song that won the American Music Awards 2002 New Music Award and made Carbon Leaf the first unsigned band to perform before millions on the AMAs. &#8220;The Boxer&#8221; entered regular radio rotation, Carbon Leaf&#8217;s tours grew bigger and better, and within a couple of years they quit their day jobs and inked a record deal. The band&#8217;s fanbase snowballed, drawn to their infectious spirit of commitment, empathy, communion, and self-reliance &#8211; not to mention supremely crafted songs with ultra-relatable, thought-provoking lyrics. After a trio of charting albums for Vanguard Records, multiple songwriting awards and headlining shows, Carbon Leaf opted to return to the complete creative control of their indie roots. Guitarist Terry Clark, who co-founded the band with Privett and multi-instrumentalist Carter Gravatt, converted his garage into the band&#8217;s Two-Car Studio, where they&#8217;ve recorded releases for their own Constant Ivy imprint ever since. Carbon Leaf&#8217;s DIY spirit even extended to re-recording their three Vanguard albums in order to regain the rights. Due in September,&#160;Time is the Playground is Carbon Leaf&#8217;s first full-length album in a decade, during which they released two EPs and a 27-song live performance album and Blu-ray.&#160;Time is the Playground gathers the best of songs written, in fits and starts, over 15 years, alongside brand new ideas. Privett dusted off old demos and shut himself away for months to finish their stories, while also honing recent compositions. With Clark engineering, Carbon Leaf &#8211; completed by longtime bassist Jon Markel and drummer Jesse Humphrey &#8211; spent a year and a half recording and mixing the resulting songs. &#8220;Thinking about these disparate pieces of music, I began ruminating on time itself,&#8221; Privett recalled. &#8220;The band&#8217;s been together a long time. You mature a bit and see yourself in place on the timeline &#8230; rolling around the scenes of love and growth.&#8221; Masterfully melding saturated AC/DC guitar and squelchy Cars synth, &#8220;Backmask 1983&#8221; is a fun flipbook of evocative era emblems &#8211; Farah Fawcett, &#8220;Satanic Panic,&#8221; Time Life Books, Bigfoot and more &#8211; that traverses the simultaneous nexus of Privett&#8217;s childhood/adolescence and the world&#8217;s analog/digital ages. It&#8217;s about morphing into a new person and a new planet with wide-eyed wonder and a longing to believe. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>YHWH Nailgun</title>
                                <eventupdate>24 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/yhwh-nailgun/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The quartet of Zack Borzone (vox), Jack Tobias (synth), Sam Pickard (drums), and Saguiv Rosenstock (guitar) display an innate ability to translate a primitive spirit into a modern form. Born during the lockdown as an experimental project between Borzone and Pickard in Philadelphia, the group expanded as the two moved to New York, adding Tobias for their debut self-titled EP, which was produced by Rosenstock, who was then integrated into the band. That first collection is one of self-discovery, of finding the tools necessary to make songs within the band&#8217;s own ecosystem. They honed in on their own world and their collaborative, close-knit writing process, discovering the essential structures and feelings that make YHWH Nailgun. &#160; Website]]></description>
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                                <title>Whitney</title>
                                <eventupdate>24 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/whitney-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Whitney return to the road in 2026 with a North American tour celebrating their forthcoming fourth &#160;studio album Small Talk (out November 7, 2025). Formed in Chicago in 2015 by Julien Ehrlich and &#160;Max Kakacek, the band has earned a devoted following for their soulful blend of tender melancholy &#160;and radiant warmth.&#160; Their debut Light Upon the Lake introduced Whitney with the beloved single &#8220;No Woman,&#8221; earning &#160;Pitchfork&#8217;s coveted Best New Music designation and praise for its &#8220;near flawless&#8230; low-key &#160;perfectionism.&#8221; Nearly a decade later, the band continues to evolve while preserving the intimacy &#160;and spirit that made them so cherished from the start.&#160; On this run, Whitney will share new songs from Small Talk alongside fan favorites, bringing their &#160;signature mix of laid-back charm and intricate musicianship to stages across the US and Canada, &#160;with stops in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Toronto, Montreal, and more.&#160; &#8220;If you&#8217;ve ever seen Whitney live, you already know what a treasure their performances are. The &#160;Chicago-based outfit, led by the effortlessly cool Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek, has a gift for &#160;crafting songs that feel both timeless and deeply personal - sunny yet melancholic, tender yet &#160;bold.&#8221; - We Write About Music &#160; Website &#183; Threads &#183; YouTube &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band</title>
                                <eventupdate>24 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/ryan-davis-and-the-roadhouse-band/motorco-music-hall/durham-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:00:34 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[New Threats from the Soul is a masterclass in reducing the sublime to the prosaic, immensity to infinitesimally, and vice versa (the trick can only work both ways). Everything in our universe is essentially flotsam or jetsam, rubbish heaps of fragments and shards. We, especially, are jerry-rigs of bubblegum and driftwood, inconsistencies and incoherencies, dead [&#8230;]]]></description>
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                                <title>The Arcadian Wild &#8211; Make It Out Alive Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>24 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-arcadian-wild-make-it-out-alive-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The Arcadian Wild is an indie folk/pop group from Nashville, TN, led by songwriters Isaac Horn, Lincoln Mick and Bailey Warren, The Arcadian Wild confidently inhabits and explores an intersection of genre, blending the traditional with the contemporary. Combining elements of confessional pop, folk, progressive bluegrass, and formal vocal music, The Arcadian Wild offer up songs of invitation; calls to come and see, to find refuge and rest, to journey and wonder, to laugh and cry, to share joy and community and sing along. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>School of Rock Chapel Hill House Band Senior Sendoff</title>
                                <eventupdate>25 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/school-of-rock-chapel-hill-house-band-senior-sendoff/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:50:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[FREE and Open to the Public, but $10 donations at the door are kindly requested and gratefully received to help cover fees for students with financial need. Thank you for your generosity. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook]]></description>
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                                <title>Two Runner</title>
                                <eventupdate>25 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/two-runner/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Amid the excitement and ambiguity of a new start, Paige Anderson of Two Runner poses poignant questions on Porchlight, her resolute and tenderhearted new record. Beautiful string arrangements, intimate confessionals, and rollicking hymns for the lost and determined, here is an artist who&#8217;s been on the road consistently since early childhood - with persistence and commitment to her craft clearly in no short supply. Porchlight offers tunes that are warm and steady, relatable nostalgia twinged with the ache of needing to move on. The result aptly links the uncertainty of letting go and simultaneous resolve of someone faced with no other choice. A destiny perhaps sealed from an early age, as Anderson began her touring career in a six-person family bluegrass band from the age of nine. Now nearly a decade into her own music career, she&#8217;s seen stages warming up for Sierra Ferrell, Watchhouse and Molly Tuttle. Although change often comes en masse, it is surreal and jarring to start again. Paige Anderson offers Two Runner as solace and escape for those needing to reset, with sage comfort and kindness from her own accounts, the way all great songwriters do. Porchlight is perhaps best summed up by the chorus in track five, &#8216;Mocking Crow&#8217;: &#8220;Wake up tomorrow, there&#8217;s no in between - your heart knows what you need.&#8221; A reckoning, a stark look in the mirror, hope, and forward movement against all odds. &#160; Website &#183;&#160;Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183;&#160;YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Rafael Green performs Pink Moon, Georgia Moon performs Blue</title>
                                <eventupdate>28 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/rafael-green-performs-pink-moon-georgia-moon-performs-blue/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[This is a seated show. &#160; Rafael Green is a progressive-folk/art-rock songwriter currently based in the Triangle area of North Carolina. He was born in Essen, Germany to musician parents and spent his early years in Wraysbury, England while his mother taught at the Guildhall School of Music &#38; Drama in London. After moving to Tucson, Arizona, Green began showing an interest in playing an instrument and acquired his first guitar. He discovered a love for performing and songwriting in junior high school and, after graduating from high school, attended Berklee College of Music where he studied guitar, voice, arranging, production, and songwriting. He graduated with honors in 2013 and shortly thereafter moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he performed in various bands alongside fellow alumni. His songwriting style borrows from English folk and rock bands as well as progressive rock and classical guitarists such as Andr&#233;s Segovia and Leo Brouwer. &#160; Instagram &#160; Georgia Moon is an artist, writer, and multi-instrumentalist from the foothills of North Carolina. She started on piano at age four with a classical teacher who thought ragtime was too contemporary, taught herself alto saxophone at age ten, but it was the hum of the guitar that truly drew her in. She has long confessed that singing Joni Mitchell songs in her childhood bedroom is how she found the courage to perform in front of others in the first place, and the importance of Mitchell&#8217;s excavating lyricism and melodic explorations cannot be understated in terms of understanding Moon&#8217;s own songwriting. &#160; She recorded her first demo of original songs in her hometown of Winston-Salem at age eighteen and she&#8217;s been playing gigs in bands and as a solo musician ever since, picking up more instruments in her travels around the American south, England, and western Michigan. Her self-titled EP was recorded and released in 2019, and several other musical offerings have additionally been birthed to the world including the full-band EP Linger Longer, which was released May 31st, 2026. A forthcoming solo album Fare Well is also due at the end of September 2026. &#160; Since her return to North Carolina in 2020, she has found camaraderie among the multitude of musicians who call the Triangle home - especially with Crazy Chester, Carrboro&#8217;s homage to The Band and The Last Waltz, with whom she has performed annually as Joni Mitchell and saxophonist. &#160; This performance of Joni Mitchell&#8217;s iconic 1971 album Blue is the culmination of thirty years of Georgia Moon&#8217;s devotion to music, and is a natural offshoot of her participation in Crazy Chester before the 50th anniversary celebration of the original Last Waltz concert this Thanksgiving. &#160; Website]]></description>
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                                <title>The Brook &amp; The Bluff: The Werewolf Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>28 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-brook-the-bluff-the-werewolf-tour/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[The Brook &#38; The Bluff return to their rock &#38; roll roots with Werewolf - a high-voltage, live-inspired album that turns up the amps, pushes the tempo, and howls in four-part harmony. Fueled by the sharp songwriting and stacked vocals that have defined their catalog, the collection captures the raw, supercharged energy of the band&#8217;s concerts.After nearly a decade of nonstop touring - earning hundreds of millions of streams with fan favorites like &#8220;Halfway Up&#8221; and &#8220;Everything Is Just a Mess&#8221; - the band regrouped in Nashville, meeting every morning to write and rehearse like their early days in Birmingham, Alabama. Life unfolded in the background: weddings, divorces, real-world growing pains. Inside the room, it was all music.The band channels the swamp rock spirit of legendary artists like Creedence, Petty, and The Eagles, delivering loud, melodic, deeply human songs like lead single &#8220;Super Bowl Sunday&#8221; - a crashing, introspective anthem about ego and emotional blind spots. &#8220;The goal was to treat the record like a live set,&#8221; says frontman Joseph Settine. And that&#8217;s exactly what they&#8217;ve done.Armed with a new album and an unflinching spirit, The Brook &#38; The Bluff are ready to hit the road again to continue their 2026 Werewolf tour. The band boasts a history of sold out headline tours across the continent, a number of major festival performances, and have supported artists like Noah Kahan, Mt. Joy, The Avett Brothers, Ashe, and Rainbow Kitten Surprise. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Evan Honer: It’s An Even Longer Road Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>28 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/evan-honer-its-an-even-longer-road-tour/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 15:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[$1 per ticket will go to The Cloverdale Project, which supports organizations taking care of people, animals, and the world around us.A cross-country move to Nashville. An international touring schedule. A record label with 25 artists and more than 100 releases, all operating out of his living room. A recording studio built into his four-car garage. Evan Honer spent 2024 in a blur of momentum, expanding his life in all directions, playing nearly 100 shows in support of his second album, Fighting For, while writing new songs for its follow-up. Only two years earlier, his cover of Tyler Childers' "Jersey Giant" had become a viral juggernaut, earning more than 200 million streams and launching his music career. He was busy then, too, balancing his college classes with nighttime gigs as a solo act and daily practices with the school's Division 1 swimming team. Things only intensified as school came to a close. Honer released the debut album West On I-10 on graduation day and quickly remade himself into a road warrior, balancing the challenges of early adulthood with an unbending commitment to music.Then, one day, he learned to look around him and take stock of the present. Everything I Wanted finds Honer planting new roots in Nashville, his adopted hometown after a multi-year stint in Southern California. Recorded over 18 days in a garage studio that he built himself, it's a homemade record with big-studio sparkle, its 13 songs emphasizing the indie and alternative-pop influences that have always lingered on the outskirts of his sound. Here, they're moved to the forefront, pushing Honer beyond his roots as an acoustic Americana act and into something more eclectic and electrifying. There are string arrangements courtesy of a talented neighbor, Kate Stephenson. There are horn arrangements, pedal steel swells, and contributions from his roommates, too. At the center of that sound is Evan Honer himself: an acclaimed songwriter, storyteller, and bleeding-heart vocalist who, after years on the move, has learned to slow down a bit and appreciate the moment."My life completely changed this past year," he says. "I'm learning to be happy with where I'm at. I'm grateful that I get to stand onstage and sing songs I wrote in my bedroom, and people know the words and sing them back to me. How can you be upset about that?"It's true; there's a lot to be grateful for. 500 million streams, for starters. An RIAA gold certification for his "Jersey Giant" cover. Sold-out shows alongside headliners like Wyatt Flores. The ongoing success of his own label, Cloverdale Records. With Everything I Wanted, though, Honer turns his gaze inward, writing autobiographical songs about romance, resilience, roots, and his relationship with his audience."When the going gets tough, I'll stick through the season," he promises during "Maybe For Once." On the surface, it's a love song to a woman he met on the road, her memory lingering in the rear-review mirror every time his van pulls away. For someone who's used to living life at 80 miles per hour, though, the song is something more: a self-made promise to focus not only upon the destination, but on the journey itself. "These songs are about me not getting in my own way," he clarifies. "I've stopped looking for reasons not to commit. I'm pushing myself to just let things happen." The rest of the record is similarly personal. On the cinematic piano ballad "It's a Home," Honer whisks himself back to childhood to unpack some traumatic family baggage. &#160; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Margot Sinclair</title>
                                <eventupdate>28 days ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/margot-sinclair/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Margot Sinclair is a 5 piece band made up of Kyle Mix, Carson Baer, Owen Rice, Donny Hess,&#160;and Luke Sutherland. Margot Sinclair formed in 2023 in San Luis Obispo, California. &#160; Margot Sinclair is releasing their debut album, &#8220;Free Margot.&#8221; &#160; Margot Sinclair makes real music for real people. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Luke Borchelt</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/luke-borchelt/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Luke Borchelt is a country singer, songwriter, and proud Maryland native whose music tells the story of his roots and influences. A self-taught guitarist, Luke picked up the instrument at 23 and soon began writing songs to share with those closest to him. His sound is a unique blend of classic country storytelling and the rhythms of DMV hip-hop, shaped by a diverse range of influences. Luke's music is a reflection of his upbringing in Maryland-honest, heartfelt, and always grounded in the experiences of real life. By capturing the soul of country and city, his work stands as a testament to the power of blending genres and staying true to his roots. &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Militarie Gun</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/militarie-gun/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Militarie Gun&#8217;s new album, God Save The Gun, starts with a confession. &#8220;I&#8217;ve been slipping up&#8221; frontman Ian Shelton roars on the opening cut &#8220;B A D I D E A.&#8221; It&#8217;s real vulnerability tucked amongst distorted bass and blown-out drums, and the perfect introduction to one of the most exciting records of the year. This isn&#8217;t just a sonically daring, massive swing of a rock album, it&#8217;s also a very human document of being at your worst when you should be on top of the world &#8211; an absurdist guide to the intersection of self-destruction and self-belief.&#160; "I&#8217;m well aware that being this vulnerable turns my personal trauma into a marketing hook for this album,&#8221; Shelton says. &#8220;But I&#8217;m fine with it, if not provoking it. Over the past couple years, as I spoke about addiction from the perspective of someone affected by it, I became the one struggling with it. There&#8217;s a farcical logic to entering a situation, fully knowing the consequences, and doing it anyway&#8211;but that&#8217;s where my head was when I started leaning on drinking.&#8221; Militarie Gun&#8217;s 2023 debut album, Life Under The Gun was centered around lifelong cycles of hurt, with the singer looking back at growing up with family members struggling with addiction, and while God Save The Gun is still tethered to that history, this time, he&#8217;s not the witness&#8212;he&#8217;s the protagonist. It wasn&#8217;t until the band was scheduled to enter the studio in early 2025 that Shelton realized he was the one who needed to hear God Save The Gun&#8217;s message. &#8220;I thought I was playing a character, but it was becoming my reality,&#8221; he explains. "Right before recording, it hit me that I was really losing control and needed to do something about it. I looked at the record as a whole and could see that it was a note to myself &#8211; when I read back those lyrics, I could clearly see they&#8217;re saying &#8216;yeah man, you&#8217;re fucking up.&#8217;&#8221; Despite all of the inner turmoil leading to God Save The Gun, Shelton and his bandmates &#8211; guitarists William Acu&#241;a and Kevin Kiley, bassist Waylon Trim, and drummer David Stalsworth &#8211; more than rose to the challenge of following up Militarie Gun&#8217;s acclaimed debut. Stalsworth, Trim, and Kiley all joined during Life Under The Gun&#8217;s extensive touring cycle after a series of member shakeups that would hobble most bands, but only made Militarie Gun stronger. &#8220;It took us a long time to find the right people to be in this band but it feels like all the pieces have finally fallen into place,&#8221; Shelton says. &#8220;It&#8217;s like we&#8217;ve had a fast car for a while but we just now figured out how to drive it. We wrote for three years consistently because our intention was to make a classic record&#8212;full stop. The songs need to be as emotional as possible but the music needs to fully hit too. Big ideas need big songs.&#8221; &#160; God Save The Gun certainly lives up to that credo, and to do it, the band recruited a village of new and old collaborators. Shelton continued his creative relationship with songsmith Phillip Odom, co-wrote with longtime conspirator and frequent harmonizer James Goodson of Dazy, and newly tapped Nick Panella of MSPAINT, among others. &#8220;Phil really taught me how to sing, he knows my voice better than anyone,&#8221; says Shelton. &#8220;Or sometimes it&#8217;s about bringing in a fresh perspective &#8211; I call someone like James or Nick because those guys write songs in a totally different way than I do.&#8221; &#160; Bandcamp &#183; Instagram]]></description>
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                                <title>AJ Lee &amp; Blue Summit</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/aj-lee-blue-summit-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[AJ Lee &#38; Blue Summit are an award-winning energetic, charming, and technically jaw-dropping band quickly rising on the national roots music scene. Based in Santa Cruz, California, the group met as teenagers, picking and jamming together as kids at local music festivals and jams until one day, they decided they would be a band. &#8220;Our roots go really deep,&#8221; explains de facto band leader Lee. &#8220;We met when we were young kids&#8230; We definitely decided to choose each other as a chosen family band later on in life, but in a lot of ways it was naturally just like that in the beginning.&#8221; &#8220;It was like one of those late at night things,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;We were sitting on a trailer at Grass Valley&#8221; at the annual Father&#8217;s Day Bluegrass Festival held in the Sierra Nevada foothills &#8211; &#8220;Someone said, &#8216;All of us right here, we're a band now.&#8217; We kind of didn't take it seriously, but we were like, okay, we'll be a band!&#8221; &#160; Website &#183; Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183;&#160;YouTube &#183;&#160;TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Sawyer Hill</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/sawyer-hill-3/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Sawyer Hill began playing bars as a teenager, sneaking through the back door so he wouldn&#8217;t be carded by bouncers. Eventually, he&#8217;d graduate to national stages, thanks in large part to his breakthrough single &#8220;Look at the Time.&#8221; He has since racked up over 130 million streams and nearly a quarter billion video views, and left Arkansas for the first time to bring his music across the United States and Europe. Those gigs, including sold out stops at LA's Troubadour and NYC's Bowery Ballroom, and an extensive tour supporting Yungblud informed the way his new LP, Everybody&#8217;s Home, Nobody&#8217;s Happy, sounds. He was also moved by a revelation he wasn&#8217;t expecting: Every time he left Arkansas for a California writing session or string of tour dates, he found himself longing for home. To hone in on the sonic and lyrical identity of the album, Hill worked with a few different collaborators throughout Los Angeles, like Mike Crossey [The 1975, Arctic Monkeys], Chris Greatti [Poppy, Yungblud], and Ryan Linville [Olivia Rodrigo, Dermot Kennedy]. He quickly began to triangulate the philosophy of the record, using these peers and role models as sounding boards. It&#8217;s part of the reason Hill sounds more assured than ever on the new album. With Everybody&#8217;s Home, Nobody&#8217;s Happy, Sawyer Hill wants to be that guiding presence that his favorite rockstars were for him when he was sitting in his childhood bedroom, teaching himself chords. He wants to be a voice for the loners and the doubters, the Southern kid who doesn&#8217;t understand why he&#8217;s meant to shut up about his feelings. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; TikTok &#183; YouTube &#183; Soundcloud &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Kevin Atwater &#8211; Blush Red Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/kevin-atwater-blush-red-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Kevin Atwater is a Chicago-born singer-songwriter based in New York City. Kevin started posting his music online in early 2022 and quickly built a fanbase drawn to his uniquely honest and intimate songwriting. A video of him performing his single &#8220;star tripping&#8221; was posted to TikTok in July 2022 and went viral, accumulating over 2.1 million views. Kevin continued posting his demos in full, each receiving at minimum hundreds of thousands of views and gaining the attention and support of notable artists like MUNA, Lizzy McAlpine, and Noah Kahan. &#160; Kevin released his debut EP Downers Grove on April 26, 2023, which has since garnered over 15 million streams across platforms. His follow-up single &#8220;why did you invite me to your wedding&#8221; gained significant demand from his audience on social media after several videos on TikTok reached over 3 million views collectively and has streamed over half a million times across platforms. During this time, he also spent time on the road supporting Jeremy Zucker, Leith Ross, and Searows on their tours. &#160; In 2025, Kevin released his debut album Achilles, which garnered more than 10 million streams across all DSPs, sold out his debut headline North American tour, and premiered a short film inspired by his viral song &#8220;why did you invite me to your wedding&#8221; in New York City. 2026 is poised to be a breakout year for Kevin as he works on his second full-length project, Blush Red, coming July 10th. &#160; Website &#183; Spotify &#183; TikTok &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Margaret Glaspy &#8211; The I Am Both Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/margaret-glaspy-the-i-am-both-tour/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[In an era of excess and endless distraction, the New York-based singer/songwriter Margaret Glaspy rejects the noise in favor of something far more essential. On the self-possessed title track for her new album I Am Both, Glaspy offers an ardent refusal of any outside pressure to compromise her multidimensionality. &#8220;I wrote &#8216;I Am Both&#8217; a while ago; the story is based on a female character that I look up to deeply&#8212;a woman who contains multitudes while seeing reality very clearly,&#8221; says Glaspy. &#8220;It can feel safer to try to fit myself into a category, but I find that embracing my own complexity is much healthier for me.&#8221; That embrace of complexity runs throughout the album&#8217;s eleven tracks. In the making of I Am Both, Glaspy stepped away from social media and soon discovered a clarity of mind she hadn&#8217;t experienced in years, followed by a sustained burst of creative momentum. As she penned her lyrics in longhand and then polished them up on a typewriter, Glaspy assembled a selection of songs that span from fictional vignettes to unguarded self-revelation to empathetic observation of the troubled world around her. Produced by Joe Henry (the three-time Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer known for his work with luminaries like Aimee Mann and Joan Baez), I Am Both ultimately stands as a striking new statement from one of the modern music canon&#8217;s most formidable songwriters. &#8220;When I started writing for this record I had a goal of getting my practice back&#8212;to walk the walk in terms of how I envision myself as a songwriter,&#8221; says Glaspy, a Northern California-bred artist who made her debut with 2016&#8217;s lavishly acclaimed Emotions and Math. &#8220;At first it was really hard to break that addiction to social media, but after a while something shifted. It felt like I&#8217;d gotten back to original thought instead of being under the influence of so many outside opinions. It was life-changing.&#8221; Her fourth full-length album, I Am Both, emerged from three days of sessions at New York City&#8217;s Reservoir Studios, where Glaspy recorded live with drummer/percussionist Jay Bellerose (Bonnie Raitt, Robert Plant, Alison Krauss), keyboardist Patrick Warren (Tracy Chapman, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen), and bassist Ross Gallagher (Paula Cole, Grails). &#8220;I always think of myself as more of a photographer than a sculptor in the studio&#8212;it&#8217;s about capturing the moment rather than layering and building things up over time, and Joe has a similar mentality when it comes to recording,&#8221; says Glaspy, who first connected with Henry at a T Bone Burnett-curated tribute to Bob Dylan at New York&#8217;s Town Hall in 2022. &#8220;There was an incredible chemistry with the band and the whole process felt electric, so a lot of what you hear on the album is the first take.&#8221; The follow-up to 2023&#8217;s Echo the Diamond (hailed by Uncut as &#8220;songs that glint like shards of glass yet brim with love, grief, courage, existential doubt and all the stuff that makes us human&#8221;), I Am Both brings Glaspy&#8217;s disarmingly direct vocals and eloquent guitar work to a cathartic form of folk-leaning indie-rock. In a potent introduction to the LP&#8217;s luminous immediacy, the album opens on &#8220;Michigan&#8221;&#8212;a lush and lacerating piece of storytelling that imagines a post-breakup escape to the Midwest. &#8220;I was in Michigan a couple years back and had a really beautiful time, and thought about how New Yorkers sometimes fantasize about the countryside as a retreat from the intensity of the city,&#8221; Glaspy says. &#8220;It turned into a song about someone going through a bad breakup, and then deciding to just leave the city behind.&#8221; &#160; Website]]></description>
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                                <title>The Afghan Whigs</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-afghan-whigs-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Dana and Alden</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/dana-and-alden/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Jazz duo Dana &#38; Alden have always had a wanderlust, something they credit to their maternal grandfather. Affectionately known as Papa, he was the kind of person others naturally gravitate towards. It was a photograph from one of his trips to Asia that inspired the Eugene, OR duo&#8217;s new album Papa&#8217;s Boat. In the image Papa is looking out across the horizon and stood next to his boat Sŵn y M&#244;r (Welsh for &#8220;Sound of the Sea.&#8221;) &#8220;I think so much of what Alden and I are doing comes from just watching him live his own unique life,&#8221; says Dana. Alden agrees. &#8220;His emboldened, passionate personality gave us permission to be our own selves, to be unconventional and draw outside of the box.&#8221; Recorded with Malcolm Catto in London in March 2025, Papa&#8217;s Boat combines all their childhood love and global experience to create an ecstatic sound built on Dana&#8217;s saxophone and Alden&#8217;s drums. Recorded with the duo&#8217;s backing band, Ebba Dankel (vocals and keys), Andrew Mitchell (bass), Eli Torgersen (vocals and guitar) and Salim Charvet (sax and synths), Papa&#8217;s Boat is rooted in jazz but pulling influence from indie, pop, rap, bossa nova, and beyond. A hypnotic combination of sax and buzzing synths on &#8220;Lighthouse&#8221; sets the tone for an album that uses water as both a reflective surface and a body to get lost in. Elsewhere there are collaborations with Mei Semones, Melanie Charles, and legendary Brazilian songwriter Marcos Valle, a hero figure to the band who appears on &#8220;El Gaucho&#8221; and &#8220;Friendship Is A Boat.&#8221; Throughout its runtime Papa&#8217;s Boat sails purposefully between memories of the past and visions of a brighter future. It doesn&#8217;t just commemorate their Papa as a beloved character, but shares him with the world. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>Evening Elephants</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/evening-elephants-2/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Facebook &#183; Instagram &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Circle Jerks &amp; Municipal Waste</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/circle-jerks-municipal-waste/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Circle Jerks emerged from the punk underbelly of LA&#8217;s South Bay in 1979. After serving as a co-founder and lead vocalist of Black Flag during the recording of its essential Nervous Breakdown EP, Keith Morris joined forces with former Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson to form what would become Circle Jerks, along with bassist Roger Rogerson and jazz drummer Lucky Lehrer. Unlike much of the unapologetic hardcore that seeped through the cracks of American suburbia, the music of the Circle Jerks was thoughtfully steadfast, yet relentless and ferocious in nature. Bringing together a potent, articulate rhythm section with earnest yet oftentimes derisive lyrics and themes, the band was thereafter heralded as a leader of the pack - and a force to be reckoned with. Plowing forward with a relentless, tooth-cutting work ethic and a rousing stage presence, the band would soon find itself headlining shows at LA&#8217;s 5,000-capacity Olympic Auditorium and emblazoned in cult video classics like Decline of Western Civilization, Repo Man, New Wave Theatre, and The Slog Movie. Over the decades, Circle Jerks would release six studio albums, including the acclaimed Group Sex (1980) Wild in the Streets (1982), Golden Shower of Hits (1983), Wonderful (1985), and IV (1987), where they would become a major headliner during the alternative music explosion of the 80&#8217;s and 90&#8217;s. During hiatuses, Morris fronted bands like OFF! and FLAG, while Hetson played guitar in Bad Religion. Bassist Zander Schloss (The Weirdos, Joe Strummer) has been a member since the 1980&#8217;s and veteran drummer Joey Castillo (The Bronx, QOTSA, Danzig, BL&#8217;AST!, Wasted Youth) completes the lineup as its newest member. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#160; Municipal Waste Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook]]></description>
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                                <title>Julia Jacklin</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/julia-jacklin-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Julia Jacklin is celebrated for her emotionally direct lyricism, captivating performances, and commanding voice. Since the release of her acclaimed debut Don&#8217;t Let The Kids Win (2016), Jacklin has become one of the most respected artists in contemporary independent music, with follow-up albums Crushing (2019) and PRE PLEASURE (2022) &#8212; the latter debuting at #2 on the ARIA Charts. Across her career, she has earned two ARIA Awards and had thirteen nominations and widespread international critical acclaim, with both Crushing and PRE PLEASURE landing on numerous year-end best-of lists and receiving universal praise from outlets including Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NME, MOJO, and Uncut. &#160; A formidable live performer, Jacklin has built a substantial global touring audience through sold out headline shows at venues including London&#8217;s Roundhouse, Melbourne&#8217;s Forum, and Brooklyn Steel in New York, alongside appearances at major festivals such as Glastonbury, Primavera Sound, Austin City Limits, Pitchfork Music Festival, and Laneway. In addition to extensive headline touring, she has shared stages with artists including Mitski, Lana Del Rey, Courtney Barnett, and Faye Webster, with whom she has also collaborated musically. &#160; Following previous partnerships with Polyvinyl, Transgressive, and Liberation Records, Jacklin recently signed her first-ever global record deal with 4AD, marking a new chapter for one of Australia&#8217;s most internationally celebrated songwriters. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Saxsquatch</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/saxsquatch-2/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Love Spells &#8211; LOVE IS THE LAW WORLD TOUR</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/love-spells-love-is-the-law-world-tour/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Thu, 28 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Love Spells is the mystic lovechild of 21-year old singer-songwriter Sir Taegen Harris. Born and raised in Houston, TX, Harris marries ethereal vocals, delicate percussion, and soothing guitar riffs into a dreamy &#38; nostalgic fusion of indie rock, psychedelia, and dream pop. Love Spells is defined by passionate romanticism, his songs revolving around themes of love, intimacy, and heartbreak. &#160; Instagram &#183; TikTok &#183; Facebook&#160;&#183; Youtube]]></description>
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                                <title>Schur</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/schur/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Schur is an indie-rock musician blending raw rock energy with the rhythmic influence of hip hop and a touch of reggae. Based out of Connecticut, he writes and records as a nomad, using the globe as his inspiration. &#160; Linktree &#183; Spotify &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Gilla Band</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/gilla-band/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Giraffe is the first new music from Gilla Band in nearly 4 years. This follows their critically acclaimed 3rd album Most Normal which Pitchfork described in a best new music review as &#8220;a masterpiece of panic and deconstruction&#8221;. Live The Guardian described the band&#8217;s set as feeling &#8220;genuinely dangerous, like one last rave before the apocalypse, and as perfect an expression of rock&#8217;n&#8217;roll&#8217;s essential auto-destructive impulse as this writer&#8217;s ever heard.&#8221;For over ten years now, the Dublin quartet &#8212; vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan Borges, bassist Daniel Fox, and drummer Adam Faulkner &#8212; have been redefining what you could loosely call &#8220;rock music&#8221; in the 21st century, influencing a wide swath of similarly forward-thinking guitar acts along the way. The band perfected a vision that wasn&#8217;t quite post-punk, wasn&#8217;t quite noise-rock, wasn&#8217;t quite anything besides an idiosyncratic, ground-breaking hybrid that could only come from the four of them - Giraffe is their bold new offering. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; Spotify &#183; YouTube]]></description>
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                                <title>Robert Lester Folsom</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/robert-lester-folsom-2/motorco-music-hall/durham-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Sunshine Only Sometimes: Archives Vol. 2, 1972–1975 continues Anthology Recordings’ excavation, and exploration, of southern singer, songwriter, and psychedelic serviceman Robert Lester Folsom’s bountiful archives. Recorded across Georgia in various bedrooms, a barn, and a motel room with a reel-to-reel and a revolving cast of whip smart studio musicians in the first half of a [&#8230;]]]></description>
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                                <title>The Bends</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-bends/cats-cradle/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[You&#8217;ll encounter all kinds of relatable, yet colorful characters in the music of The Bends. There&#8217;s the over-&#160;bored hipster chick in ripped jeans and a tight t-shirt, the friend who&#8217;s only there for the party, the dude&#160;who&#8217;d rather smoke in his room than pay attention to his girl, and so on and so forth. These personalities&#160;come to life between the group&#8217;s hypnotic hooks and garage-born production. The Baton Rouge-bred&#160;and Nashville-based quartet&#8212;Hayden Field [vocals, guitar], Ian Marmande [guitar], Jacob Rhodes&#160;[drums], and Chase Perkins [bass]&#8212;craft the kind of undeniable alternative rock that could just as easily&#160;soundtrack a scene in your favorite Reality Bites-style nineties flick or a TikTok trend. It&#8217;s as quotable as it&#160;is quixotic, lacing fuzz-ed out power chords with unapologetically candid lyrics. It&#8217;s also resonated with&#160;fans worldwide, leading to millions of streams and even the applause of megastars like Zach&#160;Bryan. Meeting at LSU, the band seized any opportunity to perform in front of an audience, gigging&#160;marathon cover sets at college bars and frat parties. By the time senior year rolled around, the four-&#160;piece cut their first original &#8220;Makeup.&#8221; It organically exploded online once Zach Bryan shared it on his&#160;Instagram story, calling it &#8220;the song of the year.&#8221; It eventually amassed over 6.2 million Spotify streams&#160;and paved the way for &#8220;Fair Weather&#8221; and 2025&#8217;s Leeward Drive EP. Along the way, they notably&#160;captured the ear of Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin who jumped at the chance to produce and&#160;co-write &#8220;Virginia&#8221; and introduced them to Warner Records. Now, The Bends&#8217; raw and real sound that&#160;powers a series of 2026 singles and their forthcoming debut for Warner Records. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify &#183; TikTok]]></description>
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                                <title>The Tallest Man On Earth</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/the-tallest-man-on-earth-2/haw-river-ballroom/saxapahaw-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2026 13:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA["Matsson has made some of the best and most-compelling folk songs of the 21st century.&#8221; &#8212; Paste &#160; &#8220;The Tallest Man on Earth has released some of the best modern folk music of this century. He writes elegant, homespun ballads that draw you in toward the proverbial campfire.&#8221; &#8212; GQ &#160; Swedish singer-songwriter The Tallest Man On Earth aka Kristian Matsson is announcing a 2026 US fall tour today and the song &#8220;Colors&#8221;, his first new music in nearly three years. Recorded by Matsson in his home studio, the song whirls and swirls with his violin, guitar playing and signature croon. Yearning for the verdant inspiration of summer, head below to listen and watch the song&#8217;s new video featuring handheld camera footage from Kristian and his crew on a recent run of European shows. &#160; Watch/Listen to &#8220;Colors&#8221;: https://thetallestmanonearth.ffm.to/colors &#160; The Tallest Man On Earth has captivated audiences using &#8220;every inch of his long guitar cord to roam the stage: darting around, crouching, stretching, hip-twitching, perching briefly and jittering away&#8230;&#8221; (The New York Times). His tour this fall begins October 15 in North Carolina and snakes through the East and West coasts, ending in Phoenix on November 15. Head below to check out all upcoming tour dates. &#160; Critics often draw comparisons between The Tallest Man on Earth and Bob Dylan, citing similarities in both songwriting and vocal style. Matsson himself has acknowledged Dylan's influence, revealing that he started listening to him at the age of fifteen. Fascinated by Dylan's covers, he delved into their origins, which gradually introduced him to early American folk artists like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. However, Matsson is quick to distance himself from being part of any specific tradition, stating, &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to be part of a tradition. I just want to do what feels natural to me. This is how I play, and this is how I write songs.&#8221; &#160; His 2023 album &#8216;Henry St.&#8217; marks the first time Matsson recorded an album in a band setting. As described by Matsson, it&#8217;s the &#8220;most me album yet, because it covers so many of the different noises in my head. Having been away from it taught me that making music and performing is what I&#8217;m doing for the rest of my life, and I&#8217;m so grateful for it. It has given me new confidence and playfulness. This is what I do. It&#8217;s unconditional.&#8221;&#160; &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; Facebook &#183; YouTube &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>Renee Christine</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/renee-christine/cats-cradle-back-room/carrboro-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[Referencing landmark literature, modern headlines, and their own coming of age, Ren&#233;e Christine crafts powerful, stirring protest music without apology. Raised outside of Philadelphia, PA and now based near Phoenix, AZ, Ren&#233;e forged relationships with people across the political spectrum as a backpacker, both informing and enforcing their desire to write about what they believe in &#8211; from climate justice to calling out abuses of power. Across their discography, Ren&#233;e Christine speaks to the crises of a young generation that has been dealt a losing hand by its predecessors, but maintains hope for a better future. &#8220;I want to be bold in ways that my younger self could never imagine.&#8221; Their debut album is set to release fall 2026. &#160; Website &#183; Instagram &#183; YouTube &#183; TikTok &#183; Spotify]]></description>
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                                <title>King Buffalo</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/king-buffalo-2/motorco-music-hall/durham-north-carolina/</link>
                                <pubDate>Fri, 22 May 2026 14:25:29 +0000</pubDate>
                                <description><![CDATA[King Buffalo is the trio of vocalist/guitarist Sean McVay, bassist Dan Reynolds, and drummer Scott Donaldson. Since forming in 2013, the self-proclaimed “heavy psych” band has made its name via 4 Full-lengths, 4EPs, and tours with Clutch, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, All Them Witches, The Sword, and Elder.]]></description>
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                                <title>Luna</title>
                                <eventupdate>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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 album that Devon Gilfillian has been preparing to make his entire life. His third studio album was recorded in Nashville's legendary RCA Studio A, live to tape on varispeed, with mostly single vocal takes. &#160; Gilfillian wrote and produced with a mighty team including longtime drummer and friend Jonathan Smalt and Neal H Pogue (Tyler the Creator, OutKast) as executive producer. &#160; Gilfillian carries soul track to track through a sonic journey of rock, funk, and country elements, magnetically vulnerable about his own failure and frailty. &#160; No end is ever easy, and what else is there in life than to go through? To get to where we're going, we've got to suffer a little. Time Will Tell is the sound of Gilfillian doing just that while realizing 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>1 month 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>2 months 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>2 months 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>2 months 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>2 months 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>2 months 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>Michigander</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months 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>The Menzingers</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months 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>Crazy Chester: A Very Carrboro Tribute To The Band &amp; The Last Waltz 50th Anniversary Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months 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>Grrrlbands Showcase</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months 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>2 months 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>2 months 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>2 months 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>2 months 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>2 months 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>Kevian Kraemer</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months 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>Aaron Lee Tasjan</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months 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>2 months 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 Mandell and Dawn Landes</title>
                                <eventupdate>2 months ago</eventupdate>
                                <link>https://catscradle.com/event/eleni-mandell-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>The Format</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months 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>3 months 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>Cheekface</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months 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>Fruit Bats</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 months 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>Dua Saleh</title>
                                <eventupdate>3 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>Deer Tick</title>
                                <eventupdate>4 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>Greg Mendez</title>
                                <eventupdate>4 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>The Dear Hunter &#8211; The Road to Sunya Tour 2026</title>
                                <eventupdate>4 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>4 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>4 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>Hiss Golden Messenger &#8211; I&#8217;m People Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>4 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>4 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>Diggy Graves &#8211; The No Vacancy Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>5 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>Benjamin Tod &amp; Lost Dog Street Band 2026 Tour</title>
                                <eventupdate>7 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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