May 4: Wheeler Brothers

May 4, 2012 First Friday
5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

Formed in Austin, WHEELER BROTHERS have emerged as one of the most exciting bands breaking out of Texas. The five-piece act composed of Austin natives combines the gutsy indie vibe of the modern central Texas music scene with the longing strains of time-honored Texas folk. Brothers Nolan, Tyler and Patrick Wheeler met Danny Matthews at LSU where they spent their afternoons picking guitars and swapping stories in the bar rooms of Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Once back in Austin, the group rounded out their sound with the addition of a lifelong friend, guitarist A.J. Molyneaux. Each member brings his own musical direction and ideas to the group, and through precise vocal harmonies and a unique cast of instruments.  Wheeler Brothers have created a sound that has put their name in the forefront of the Austin music scene.

Wheeler Brothers’ debut album “Portraits,” released in late June of 2011, was met with rave reviews on a local and national level. The release was backed by Texas swing legend Ray Benson and his label Bismeaux Records. Support from Benson, as well as a commanding presence on college radio, helped pave the way for Wheeler Brothers to roll out their first national tour in the summer of 2011. While debuting on the festival scene, Wheeler Brothers have also gained recognition supporting national acts such as Bob Schneider and Drive by Truckers. Back home in Austin, Wheeler Brothers are constantly looking for venues to accommodate their growing fan base and consistently sold out performances.

June 1:Larkin Poe

June 1, 2011 First Friday
5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

We are sisters. We are music lovers. We are storytellers.

Every since we were little girls, we’ve been awed by the power of a story well told: from children’s books and bedtime yarns to figments and fairytales. Before we were able to read, we hounded our parents for “more stories!” and then, when at last we could; we began hounding the bookshelves.

Now, nearly a decade later, at 21 and 22, we’re still doing the same thing.

We’re still on the search for stories, and striving to learn how to tell them well. Now, we not only hound bookshelves, but also the people surrounding us. We search for stories of human experience, of love won and love lost, and of the million mundane things that make up everyday life. Larkin Poe: the name of our great-great-great-grandfather; a man who survives in the memories and hearts of succeeding generations; a legend, a tall tale, a truly everlasting story. Just the thing that we hope to become.

Our musical journey, which began for us as children playing classical violin and piano at the ages of 5 and 6, continued through our teenage years as we toured internationally from 2005 to 2010 as The Lovell Sisters. This incarnation, which included our eldest sister, Jessica, took us from the stage of the Grand Ole Opry to wonderful summer festivals such as Bonnaroo and Telluride, and even gave us the opportunity to collaborate with the likes of Elvis Costello. In January 2010, after saying ‘farewell’ to The Lovell Sisters, the musical story of our young

adulthood has begun in the form of our new band, Larkin Poe.

Larkin Poe released its debut EP, Spring, on February 17, 2010. As a brand new band, we were looking for a way to bring our friends, family and fans along with us on our musical journey as we discovered (and continue to discover) who we are as Larkin Poe. Looking for an answer – and always looking to do things in our own way – we decided to embark upon the quest of recording and releasing four seasonally themed EPs in 2010: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. What better way to let folks be a part of our development as a band than to record and release our newest experimentations every few months? After 12 months of non-stop work, all four EPs were successfully released in 2010 (and additionally compiled into a box-set: “The Band For All Season”) and continue to garner attention and good reviews internationally.

With nationally and international dates constantly being booked, we look forward to meeting you soon.

Come join us on our journey.

July 6: Sons of Bill

July 6, 2012 First Friday
5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

Bill Wilson is from Central Virginia. He is a professor of philosophical theology, a songwriter, an expert on southern literature, and a father of six.

His three eldest sons returned to Virginia to start a rock band in 2006 with long-time musical compadres Seth Green and Todd Wellons. As a tribute to the man who taught them how to play guitar, write songs, drive a stick-shift, and back up a trailer, the band decided to name themselves Sons of Bill.

In the summer of 2011 Sons of Bill entered Sound of Music Studios in Richmond VA, with producer David Lowery (Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven) to record their latest record “SIRENS.” The band describes this record as a musical arrival point, and will be released on March 26th 2012.

August 3: The Honeycutters

August 3, 2012 First Friday
5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

The Honeycutters are, at the heart, the musical collaboration of singer/songwriter Amanda Anne Platt and Lead Guitarist/ Producer Peter James. While their sound has drawn comparisons to such artists as Graham Parsons and Emmylou Harris or Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Platt and James produce a refreshingly unique blend of Americana music that is comfortingly familiar while being entirely original. Whether performing as an acoustic duo or a full fledged Honky-Tonk five piece, The Honeycutters leave smiles on the faces of the ears that they catch.

Their first full length studio release “Irene” (May ’09) was recorded at Asheville’s own Collapseable Studio, and mixed by Grammy Award winning sound engineer David Fergason (Nashville TN) . The album has garnered radio support across the USA as well as overseas, and landed them in Iaan Hughes’ (No Depression Podcast) top twenty of 2009, Fret Knot Radio Hour’s “Nine to Know from ’09?, and as number 32 in WNCW’s listener voted top 100.

Amanda Anne Platt has been hailed as “one of the best songwriters coming out of WNC these days” by WNCW programming director Martin Anderson, and her voice has been described as “perfectly unadorned” and “recklessly beautiful”.  Her song, “Little Bird,” won second place in the general category of the Chris Austin Songwriting contest in 2011. Her lyrics are as catchy and heartbreaking as her melodies. Dane Smith of Asheville NC’s Mountain Xpress writes “Her songs make you sad…in a good way!” In both her simple composition and honest delivery it’s easy to hear the influence of country legends such as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, or Loretta Lynn, and with this Miss Platt credits growing up listening to her Father’s extensive record collection every Saturday morning. Despite her love for classic country, she cites Bruce Springstein and Tom Petty as major influences and her songwriting carries a wit and an edge that plants her firmly in her generation.

Peter James is rapidly becoming one of Western North Carolina’s most sought after guitar players, known for both insightful solos and tasteful accompaniment. Having first held a guitar at age thirteen, he quickly started making up for lost time by delving completely into the instrument. His natural talent and attention to detail made him an asset to The Slant Six Cowboys, a New Hampshire based group founded by James and singer/songwriter Don Witcher out of their long time musical collaboration. In 2004 they released a self-titled album on 95 North records which reached number 14 on the AMA chart. Since moving to Asheville in 2006 James has played right-hand man to several of the region’s top acts, including Taylor Martin and Brian McGee.

Like so many of country music’s great duos, Platt and James have a musical chemistry that can be felt throughout the songs they play, from the sounds of their guitars to their vocal harmonies. Perhaps this is why they are frequently mentioned along with the movement to “Take country music back to it’s roots”. The Honeycutters are just doing what they know how to do: making music that feels as good to hear as it does to play. Their original brand of Americana has proven equally appealing to both the musician and the music lover, the country and the city, and the old and the young.

Tal Taylor on mandolin, Ian Harrod on bass, and Jon Ashley on drums round out Platt’s songs and create a sound that carries just as well across the bar room as the acoustic duo does in a church or a music hall.

Since releasing “Irene,” The Honeycutters have shared the stage with such Americana giants as Tony Rice, The Seldom Scene, Donna The Buffalo, and The Steep Canyon Rangers. They have been voted Western North Carolina’s favorite local Americana act (2011 Mountain Xpress reader’s poll) and delighted audiences from upstate New York to Seattle, Washington. They are currently planning the release of their sophomore effort, “When Bitter Met Sweet,” for May of 2012.

September 7: The SteelDrivers

September 7, 2012 First Friday
5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

Nashville, Tennessee is a nexus – a point where tradition and innovation intersect, where commerce collides with art. It may be the only town around where salaried songwriters and full-time session musicians are as common as accountants and schoolteachers. Music is the product, and the factories line the street, from the swank Music Row mini-high-rises to the low-slung Sylvain Park bungalows. And only Nashville could give birth to a band like the SteelDrivers: a group of seasoned veterans – each distinguished in his or her own right, each valued in the town’s commercial community – who are seizing an opportunity to follow their hearts to their souls’ reward. In doing so, they are braiding their bluegrass roots with new threads of their own design, bringing together country, soul, and other contemporary influences to create an unapologetic hybrid that is old as the hills but fresh as the morning dew. This is new music with the old feeling. SteelDrivers fan Vince Gill describes the band’s fusion as simply “an incredible combination.”

The SteelDrivers’ brand of bluegrass – intense, dark, poetic, and inescapably human – is a refreshing reminder of the timeless power of stringband music, and is captured perfectly on The SteelDrivers. Produced by Nashville ace Luke Wooten, The SteelDrivers was recorded mostly live on the studio floor, vocals and all. Its songs grapple with classic themes of regret, love, and redemption, from the escalating prison lament of “Midnight Train to Memphis” to the chilling murderer’s plea encapsulated in “If It Hadn’t Been for Love.” “East Kentucky Home” is a timeless traditional bluegrass lament, with its strains of homesickness, loss, and abandonment, but ingeniously reinvented with off-kilter rhythmic accents and a decidedly contemporary chord progression.

The willingness to set aside the unspoken rules that ruthlessly govern bluegrass set the SteelDrivers apart from the innumerable faceless acts vying for the bluegrass spotlight.

October 5: Yarn

Friday October 5, 2012
5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

Brooklyn-based Americana/Alt-Country band Yarn’s sound owes as much to Gram Parsons and Earl Scruggs as to Jerry Garcia and Exile On Main Street-era Rolling Stones. Following in a fine tradition that includes forward thinking roots bands like The Flying Burrito Brothers and New Riders of The Purple Sage, Yarn weaves roots music idioms into a fresh sound that turns on hipsters and fans of country music alike, with technically impressive song-crafting and universal tales from the road of life.

On Yarn’s latest release, Leftovers, Volume 1 you’ll hear vintage tracks recorded during the band’s first studio sessions back in 2006 and 2007. With this retro-collection, listeners witness the poignant emotion and emotive story-telling that has come to define the sextet’s sound, which straddles the genres of Americana and alt-country, with a dash of jam-band.

Their self-titled debut record reached No. 14 on the AMA and R&R Radio Charts, and ranked No. 79 on the AMA’s Top 100 Albums of 2007. Yarn’s 2008 follow-up, Empty Pockets, spent months in the top 5 on the AMA chart and was honored with eight first round 2009 Grammy nominations in several categories. Yarn’s third release, Come on In, held its own as the #25 record on the top 100 Americana chart of 2010.

Yarn is touring intensively and their impressive live shows continue to build the buzz and the fan base fueled by their first four records.