May 3: Archbishops of Blount Street

Friday May 3, 2013 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

Archbishops of Blount Street play ska music unlike anyone from Roanoke Rapids to Wilmington, from Greenville to Greensboro. There are ten guys in the band! We have five gentlemen who play fiery horns, five who sing like nightingales, five that lay down a rhythm on top of which only a corpse could keep still and the whole is even greater than the sum of our parts.

Blount (pronounced, ‘blunt’) Street is a downtown thoroughfare running north and south through Raleigh, North Carolina in the US of A. We named the band Archbishops of Blount Street to give listeners an idea of our geographic origin. Ska, the mother of reggae music, was born in Jamaica and traveled over its half-century of waxing and waning popularity to the rest of the globe. But ska retains its Jamaican sense of rhythm, instrumentation and baudiness.

Some Archbishops are former members of The Jumpstarts, T-Rox & The Skankosaurs, 40 Ozs. and Dread34, all of Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill’s finest gone-but-not-forgotten purveyors of skank. Archbishops of Blount Street play ska music covering all its major movements including first wave, two-tone and third wave and will soon premiere original music, too. We’ve played every size of venue from small local bars to major music festivals and have shared the bill with national touring acts like The Pietasters, The Toasters and international stars Bad Manners.

Though we call ourselves a ska band we only build about a third of our set with traditional ska covers. The rest are pulled from five decades of more widely popular music and given the special Archbishops treatment. By our very nature those treatments emerge as identifiably ska, but our mad skills allow us to organically rework each song into a fresh but immediately recognizable take on the original.

June 7: American Aquarium

Friday June 7, 2013 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

American Aquarium’s six years as a band have been a fast-moving blur of rubber on road, touring coast to coast through the states and Europe. Most nights of the year are spent far from their Raleigh homes, squinting out from bright stages at a growing legion of passionate fans who’ve followed them through the release of six albums that reflect a whirlwind of too many whiskey soaked nights, nameless women in smoky bars and fast living while your youth is in full bloom. But what happens when it all stops feeling good?

Burn.Flicker.Die. is what has emerged from that scenario for this group of hard working players.  After two years of writing, they journeyed to the legendary recording hub which gave birth to some of the greatest blues, country and rock records of all time: Muscle Shoals/Sheffield, AL. Recorded in eight days under the precise hand of friend/tour buddy Jason Isbell, the record is an aptly named milestone for the band, and their most painstaking effort to date. As a long-time Southern rock artisan, Isbell provided a weathered know-how in producing the record American Aquarium is proudest of. Described as a “consequence record” by vocalist BJ Barham, the band spent that week pushing out everything that’s been haunting them: working for six years, watching buzz bands peak and die, and pining for their own payoff.

July 5: Megan McCormick

Friday July 5, 2013 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

McCormick’s musical family set the stage for a career in music. She grew up listening to the likes of Bonnie Raitt and Steely Dan, but her most essential influences were from her family. “Watching and listening to them was life-changing,” notes McCormick. She started singing and picked up her first guitar at age 9, delving into a variety of styles, from blues to folk to alt-country, until finding her own personal style. She also plays the lap-steel, mandolin and bass and writes all of her own music. McCormick has won two International Bluegrass Music Association Awards for Recorded Event of the Year in 2006 (“Back To The Well”) and again in 2009 (“Proud To Be A Daughter of Bluegrass”) — both for a special Daughters of Bluegrass project. This past year, she also landed her song, “Bullseye”, in the Emmy-Award nominated film, Prayers for Bobby, featuring Sigourney Weaver.

From pensive and intimate ballads to rock n’ roll to indie-pop, she describes her sound today as “unique, well-rounded and genuine.” McCormick adds “My songs reflect a deep look inward as well as the world around me. I find inspiration sometimes in my guitar, on a street corner, or even in a lover. The new album will touch on love, family, addiction and the never-ending search for self-understanding.”

From pensive and intimate ballads to rock n’ roll to indie-pop, she describes her sound today as “unique, well-rounded and genuine.” McCormick adds “My songs reflect a deep look inward as well as the world around me. I find inspiration sometimes in my guitar, on a street corner, or even in a lover. The new album will touch on love, family, addiction and the never-ending search for self-understanding.”

Aug 2: Desert Noises

Friday August 2, 2013 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

Utah based band Desert Noises has spent the last two years touring the country spreading their melodic beats and electric guitar to eager listeners. The four members that make up Desert Noises have come a long way from playing local Provo shows to performing sold out stadiums, and they do not seem to be slowing down.

Granted, Desert Noises is still opening for larger names, but that does not make the over 1200 crowd any smaller.

Reminiscent of The Lumineers or The Shins, Desert Noises is nostalgic and comfortable. The steady drums will not bring any surprises to the listener, nor will the background bass, but Boyer’s guitar chops might surprise some. His creative melodies are unique and classy, with an occasional unrestrained break into a rock ’n’ roll solo that characterizes Desert Noises as distinctive and fun.

Sept 6: The Revivalists

Friday September 6, 2013 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

Since forming in 2007, The Revivalists have rightfully earned their reputation as the next breakout band from the music capital of New Orleans. The group’s blend of soulful, syncopated rock and earnest songwriting comes to life through a meticulously crafted and ever-evolving live performance. In 2011 they were named Best Emerging Artist at Gambit Magazine’s Big Easy Awards, and were nominated for Best Rock Act in 2012.

With the seed being planted during jam sessions at Tipitina’s Sunday Music Workshops, where drummer Andrew Campanelli and guitarist Zack Feinberg first met, the band found its frontman by pure luck when Feinberg heard David Shaw singing on his Birch Street porch. Fueling the rhythm section, Campanelli’s college friend, George Gekas, became the bassist. Feinberg later invited saxophonist Rob Ingraham, the two realizing their incontestable dynamic while taking music classes at Tulane University. After a fortuitous meeting at French Quarter Fest, Ed Williams joined on the pedal steel guitar. The newest addition to The Revivalists’ cross-generational rocking goodness comes from multi-instrumentalist Michael Girardot. Having played sporadically with the band since 2009, he has grown into an integral part of their live show.

The Revivalists incessantly tour on the national level, often times supporting giants like Rebirth Brass Band and Galactic. They’re also proud to have opened for notable acts JJ Grey & Mofro, Dr. John, and Trombone Shorty. Additionally, they have established themselves as an engaging festival act, gaining notoriety at CMJ (NYC), DeLuna Fest (Florida), Voodoo Music Fest (New Orleans), Hangout Music Festival (Gulf Shores, AL), The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage Series (Washington, DC) and the legendary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. At the latter they grabbed the attention of Rolling Stone Senior Editor, David Fricke, who later called their performance, “a Crescent City-rhythm spin on jam-band jubilee.”

Oct 4: Sean Hayes

Friday October 4, 2013 5:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Admission: Free with food donation

Sean Hayes was born in New York City, raised in North Carolina, and came of musical age in San Francisco. “I remember going to sleep listening to the radio next to my bed,” he says, listening to a wide variety of music from the get-go. It was not until I went to college for a year in east Carolina that I heard a banjo and a fiddle and bluegrass.” He began to play a mix of traditional old-time music, bluegrass, Irish music, and original songs in Asheville, NC and Charleston, SC.

On a whim, Hayes threw some clothes and a guitar into the back of his friend’s car and made his way to San Francisco. “I spent a few years in a great little folk scene in San Francisco with Jolie Holland being the queen bee. She is an amazing talent.” Later, he would open tours for Holland. “San Francisco has always felt like a do-it-yourself town,” he says, continuing, “There’s not a lot of music industry, but there is a lot of spirit.”

Hayes cites various influences from the soul, folk, R&B, reggae, and gospel worlds, such as Otis Redding, James Brown, Joni Mitchell, ‘The Anthology of American Folk Music,’ ‘American Primitive, Volumes 1 and 2′ (pre-war gospel compilations), and Nina Simone. He adds, “I also  love Bob Marley and his rhythm section. I think of him as more folk than reggae.”

Over the years, Hayes’ songs have been re-mixed by DJ Mark Farina (“Dream Machine”), covered by folk group The Be Good Tanya’s (“A Thousand Tiny Pieces”), been featured on HBO’s “Bored to Death”, and used in a TV ad campaign for Subaru (“Powerful Stuff”). He sang a duet on Aimee Mann’s latest record and has toured with acts such as Ani DiFranco and the Cold War Kids.

His hometown SF Weekly has raved, “Take him anywhere, play him for anyone, and the response is always the same: People want more. They’ll write down the name if they don’t know it already… an impressive treat in your pocket. Hayes’ music succeeds on the tension between warm, resonant soul and dirt-road folk, all laced with a wandering troubadour’s coo…. the danceable folk singer… Hayes gets his groove on, laying his buttery, quavering voice over swinging drum patterns, mellifluous piano, and funky horn parts… what sets him apart is his voice — a wounded, wavering tone that sounds like a fragile creature, very crushable.”

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle called him “a singular urban/backwoods sound and vision… extraordinary… Hayes achieves… a certain intimate rapport between the performer and audience…”