Search results for

It’s the 4th album from this wonderful singer/songwriter, this time tackling topics like sexism in the music industry and the looming dread of climate grief…. But also with a twinkle of self-deprecating humor, and joy for the natural world’s beauty. This album will be released on April 21st, and she’s got a few shows in our area a few weeks later. Looks like she’ll join us in Studio B on May 11th, too!

We’re excited to introduce to you this new all-star roots project featuring Andrew Marlin of Watchhouse, Noam Pikelny and Chris Eldridge of Punch Brothers, bassist Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon) and fiddler Alex Hargreaves (Billy Strings), available March 31 on Free Dirt Records! Though Pikelny, Eldridge, Garrison all knew each other from their early work with Punch Brothers, impromptu backstage jams with Marlin at festivals across the country were the key that unlocked the project. A lifelong song collector, Marlin selected and sang lead on most of the songs here, which include traditional roots artists like Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerard, John Hartford and Norman Blake, as well as more contemporary songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Martha Scanlin, Marlin reveals to us the (not so) simple secret of making that high lonesome Bluegrass sound among these: “You take sad songs and make them sound a little happier, and you’ve got yourself a Stanley Brothers album all of a sudden.”

It’s impressive how much raw energy, punch, and emotion this duo of acoustic guitarists pack into their all-instrumental albums. Their latest here is the follow-up to their 2019 GRAMMY Award-winning Mettavolution album, which was self-produced by Rodrigo y Gabriela at their studio in Ixtapa, Mexico.

Welcome to this trio’s eighth studio album, recorded analog to 16-track tape. Oliver Wood, Chris Wood, and Jano Rix have written all of these tunes (along with a co-write with Maya DeVitry), and some sax and trombone are added to some of these tunes.

For those not familiar with Fruit Bats, it’s mostly the songwriting, singing, and musicianship of Eric D. Johnson, who has also been busy lately with the trio Bonny Light Horseman. This is the 10th Fruit Bats full length album, and the first in which Johnson has produced it (along with Jeremy Harris.) Rounding out Fruit Bats on this one is Josh Adams on drums, percussion, pump organ, and synth; David Dawda on bass, Frank LoCrasto on pianos and synths, and Josh Mease on guitars, synths, and bass.

The Hackles are Kati Claborn (vocals/guitar/banjo/clarinet) and Luke Ydstie (vocals/guitar/bass/keys) of Blind Pilot, and Halli Anderson (vocals/violin) of River Whyless and Horse Feathers. In 2017, Halli moved from Asheville to Astoria, Oregon, serendipitously just houses away from Kati and Luke. Their musical lives were already intertwined, Blind Pilot and River Whyless having toured together, but their newfound proximity led to collaboration on several fronts. Get to know this exciting new experimental folk trio!

With inspiration ranging from Green Day to Duran Duran to Tony Rice to Nirvana, Grateful Dead, David Grisman and beyond, the Trio, which features violinist Lyndsay Pruett and drummer Hunter Deacon joining Stickley and his guitar prowess, is making waves with their unique sound. They are certainly one of the pinnacles of Asheville’s music scene. Stickley says, “The Trio feels fresher and hotter than ever, we’ve hit our stride in terms of creating tunes that are uniquely us and that’s a really exciting place to be musically.”

Banjoist Greg Cahill founded this band back in 1975, and though they hail from Chicago, this latest album is comprised of all Canadian songs. Leonard Podolak (The Duhks), April Verch, Pharis & Jason Romero, and a few Americans join them for songs from Bruce Cockburn, Fred Eaglesmith, Gordon Lightfoot, and others.

We have two albums in a row of new Bluegrass covers for New Tunes at 2 this week. First up: this more Newgrass-oriented collection, from one of our favorites. The band is joined by Billy Strings, Oliver Wood, and Darol Anger on this tribute they pay to festival favorites they’ve played over the years from the likes of Dylan, Garcia/Hunter, David Bromberg, Link Wray, and Doc Boggs.

It might sound contradictory, but the latest one from Iris DeMent is both jubilant and tragic, hopeful and dire. As Pitchfork magazine says, “Workin’ on a World is like a parade on a stormy day, a celebration beneath increasingly ominous skies”. What a wondrous thing it is to have one of the Midwest’s – one of the nation’s – greatest songwriters back with a whole album of new original material: her first in over a decade. Those familiar with her might also know her husband is singer/songwriter Greg Brown, who has some songwriting contributions here. Brown’s daughter, Pieta Brown, co-produced the album with Richard Bennett and Jim Rooney.