Studio B

Statesville, NC singer-songwriter Matt Walsh's music has one of those genre-blending sounds that combines so many different styles, we just refer to it as "good music." He and his band have a new album "The Midnight Strain" that officially releases this Saturday - Shows this week include performances in Salisbury, NC Friday, Charlotte, NC - AND, Lexington, NC on Saturday. They'll pile into Studio B for our first live session there since our successful Fall Fund Drive.

We are happy to announce that the future of Bluegrass is strong with impressive bands like Cane Mill Road! These past few years, they've criss-crossed the country, plus represented the U.S. overseas, putting their hometown of Deep Gap, NC on the international map (hmm, does that sound familiar?) One look at their tour schedule shows you how in demand they are these days, and we are pleased they've etched out a Saturday afternoon to pay us a visit during "Goin' Across the Mountain."

Soul/rock/dance band The Fritz settled in Asheville in 2011, after forming in college in Florida. They have a new EP out Friday, and a show in Asheville Saturday night the 13th, and we're glad to have them serve up a funky, soulful lunch in Studio B  on Wednesday. Check out this new video of theirs here.

Singer/songwriter Vanessa Peters seems to be really hitting her stride with a new album called Foxhole Prayers. "I'm a literature geek at heart and for years I've wanted to do an album somehow influenced by The Great Gatsby, but the idea seemed much to nerdy and abstract. But after I re-read it last year, it dawned on me that we were literally reliving the Gatsby years."  She plays Wednesday in Charlotte, and Thursday in Knoxville (and Italy a week later!)

Asheville's "Hard-drivin' Carolina String Band" likes to take their strong bluegrass roots and branch out into influences from the likes of Waylon, Willie & Merle, great covers from the Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen, and contemporaries like Tyler Childers, Railroad Earth, and Jim Lauderdale. We're pleased to report Town Mountain has a great new album on the way called New Freedom Blues, and we'll catch up with them Friday amidst their shows in Boone on Thursday, Charlotte on Friday, and Asheville on Saturday.

Cahalen Morrison, Jim Miller, & Ethan Lawton unite to help keep country music relevant and real with their band Western Centuries, or as they describe themselves, "George Jones meets The Band meets Motown." The Seattle-based band plays Knoxville Wednesday, Black Mountain Friday, and Charlotte Saturday.

The Charleston-based band The Artisanals has a great new self-titled release that draws on inspirations from George Harrison, Tom Petty, & Ryan Adams, and they play Asheville on Thursday and Charlotte on Friday. Fun fact: they recorded some of their tracks at 432 Hz - the frequency of the universe. Singer Johnny Delaware says he's aware of the ethereal bond between human beings and the cosmos that surrounds us. “You have to be awake in this life,” he says.

Yes she's the Texan fiddler married to Jason Isbell with her latest album recorded in Nashville by producer Dave Cobb. But throw out all your presumptions of what she'll sound like, because Amanda likes to keep you on your toes, which is one of the things we love about her. "I wanted the songs to have atmosphere,” Shires says. “That the album was going to be sort of poppy, and that I was doing that to bring some sunshine into the world, cause it’s pretty dark right now.” Her busy tour schedule rolls her through Asheville on Friday night.

She's from Kentucky, but you might hear influences of a variety of places in Dawn Landes' Americana sound: the first few years of her music career were spent in France, and she now lives in Brooklyn. She's currently on a radio station tour in support of her new release "Meet Me at the River", from which we've been spinning a number of great tunes.

Our friends Jens, Uwe, & Joel return for a live session, this time in Studio B with Joe Greene. They're excited about this weekend's "Carolina In the Fall" festival in Wilkesboro that they started in 2015, and we'll get up to date with their various other projects, including the Roan Mountain Suite and collaborations with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.

This Sunday, mark your calendar to stay home, stay out of the storm and listen to amazing music from Samantha Fish and Cicada Rhythm on WNCW. If you like blues and great harmonies... this session is for you! Members from both groups are professionally trained musicians. We are thrilled to bring these amazing sessions to you. Listen to WNCW. Stay home. Save gas. Eat hurricane snacks. Look out for your neighbors. Join Host Kim Clark every Sunday at 7pm for Studio B Rewind, brought to you by Sierra Nevada.

Regardless of where they're from, this trio's sound caught our attention with their beautiful, engaging Americana/country/folk blend. But also intriguing is that Mari Sandvaer Kreken, Tor Egil Kreken, and Kjetil Steensnaes hail from Oslo, Norway. It's not every day you hear a sweet banjo tune sung in Norwegian...but why shouldn't it be, if it sounds like this? Darling West plays the Grey Eagle in Asheville Wednesday night, before heading to AmericanaFest in Nashville.

We're glad to hear one of our favorite exports out of Knoxville has a new album on the way (September 28), and glad they're into stopping by WNCW in between gigs in Kentucky and Winston-Salem. Cruz Contreras founded this band about ten years ago following Robinella & the CC Stringband, and it's now a quartet featuring Sam Quinn, formerly of The Everybodyfields. They play "Live on the Green" in Charlotte's First Ward Park on 9/15.

Rod is a Rutherford County native, now living in Winston-Salem, with a new double-disc recorded in Charlotte. Wyatt has extensive experience in Nashville's music scene, as an executive with the likes of Keith Urban and Paul Thorn, which probably adds to his reputation as a great storyteller. They both are accomplished singer-songwriters and acoustic guitarists, and they both perform Wednesday evening at Isis Restaurant & Music Hall.

It may have been the name that first caught our attention, but it was their wide variety of styles we love here at WNCW that really drew us in (which they list here.) And there's the passion and sentiment on the title track to their new album "Get Us Out of Fearland."