Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
For this year’s Pritchard Park Songwriter Series, the Asheville Association is teaming up with Paloma Madre who are best known for bringing Asheville the wildly successful, international concept, Open Folk. Each week will feature two world class songwriters from our community playing introspective and honest tunes about life in the 21st century. Pritchard Park will once again be filled with the sweet sounding songs of heartbreak, true love, heavy loss, and lots and lots of goofin. It’s a guaranteed good time that won’t cost you a dime!!
Join us on select Thursdays from April through September for live Americana music from the Waverly front porch along with great southern fare and cold beverages. Bring a lawn chair and/or blanket from 6-8pm for a great evening in Hendersonville.
May 4: Jess Jocoy, Waverly Front Porch Series
June 1: Letters to Abigail, Waverly Front Porch Series
June 29: The Gathering Dark, Waverly Front Porch Series
July 27: The Last Full Measure, Waverly Front Porch Series
September 7: Angela Easterling, Waverly Front Porch Series
October 5: David Childers, Waverly Front Porch Series
2023 Waverly Live
Join us on select Thursdays from April through September for live Americana music from the Waverly front porch along with great southern fare and cold beverages. Bring a lawn chair and/or blanket from 6-8pm for a great evening in Hendersonville.
June 29: The Gathering Dark, Waverly Front Porch Series
July 27: The Last Full Measure, Waverly Front Porch Series
September 7: Angela Easterling, Waverly Front Porch Series
October 5: David Childers, Waverly Front Porch Series
Concert-goers are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets to each show. The 2023 series is made possible by the following sponsors: Pisgah AVL, Mark Kleive DDS, Cup of Jomo, Dough House, LEAF Global Arts, Greybeard Realty, Four Sisters Bakery, Acoustic Corner, The Red Radish, and Sarah Sunshine Pottery.
Our jazz trio with Thommy Knoles on keys, Felix Pastorius on bass, and Paul Gladstone on drums will perform an opening set from about 7-8:15 pm.
An open jam session follows. Drop-ins are welcome and encouraged for a suggested donation of $10.
Jazz Jam will feature a diverse array of music from jazz’s rich history, ranging from 1940s bebop up to 1970s jazz fusion, as well as material from prominent present-day composers. Bring your instruments and jam with us, or just come and enjoy!
– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY
– RAIN OR SHINE
A songwriter and music educator from Brooklyn, NY. His music draws on folk, bluegrass, and classic singer-songwriter styles from the 60s and 70s. Clifford’s debut record, On a Saturday Night, was featured on The Bluegrass Situation and received rave reviews from Bluegrass Today and Holler Country. Clifford will be performing as an official showcase artist at the IBMA conference in September 2023. He performed at the IBMA Songwriter Showcase in 2022 and has been selected as a finalist in the 2023 Rocky Mountain Songwriting Festival. Clifford’s upcoming record, slated for release in late 2023, was produced by platinum-selling artist Ron Pope and features Bronwyn Keith Hynes, Seth Taylor, and Jeff Picker.
Clifford works as an NYC elementary public school teacher in Brooklyn and leads a bluegrass ensemble at The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music.
~ ‘Rock and Roll’ is an an attitude that demands authenticity, strength, and success against the ‘mainstream doubtful mentality’. It is not a sole suggestion of any particular style of music. This RockNRoll Chorus does feature contemporary music that is not often crafted in schools (properly). However, our music is always executed through the vehicle of healthy, proper, ensemble singing while maintaining the feel and energy of each piece’s original intent.
~ Cantaff
It’s not collegiate a cappella. It’s not Glee, Pitch Perfect or The Sing-Off. It sounds like a nation of singers backed by a full-tilt rock band…but there’s no band! It’s high-energy, it’s unique, it’s amazing and you will find yourself singing along and rockin’ out like you’re in the middle of an arena concert! It’s THE ROCKNROLL CHORUS!
This talented act delivers all of your favorites, with a new edge. Enjoying high critical acclaim from 12 national tours, 6 full-length commercial CD releases, and working with legendary artists such as Bruce Springsteen, The Chieftains, Foreigner, Jefferson Airplane, and Kenny Loggins, New Jersey-based voices-only stage show, The RockNRoll Chorus (RNRC), is gearing up for their 2019 Summer Tour. A live arena-style show will explode across stages throughout the USA! Directed by Joe Cantaffa, and coached by Fredi Walker-Browne (RENT, The Lion King), Eric Thompson, Jessica Kolody, Lauren Ferguson, Courtney Kalafsy John Vines, and many other talented staff, these young professionals perform a high energy rock show with a focus on healthy vocal technique and high production values. AND….RNRC’s album “No Guilt Til Monday” is available on all major online outlets!
Get ready for another 13 city U.S. tour!
‘Rock and Roll’ is an attitude that suggests the ability to be unique and successful against the ‘mainstream doubtful mentality’. It is not a sole suggestion of any particular style of music. THE ROCKNROLL CHORUS does feature contemporary music that is not often crafted (properly). However, this music is always executed through the vehicle of healthy, proper, ensemble singing while maintaining the feel and energy of each piece’s original intent.
The RockNRoll Chorus—no instruments, just voices.
- Visit the The RockNRoll Chorus website
- Listen to the music of The RockNRoll Chorus
- Watch videos of The RockNRoll Chorus
The program will also include ensembles from THE ASHEVILLE ROCK ACADEMY. These young artists have played at White Horse many times and we never get tired of seeing and hearing the future of Rock and Roll. The future is in good hands.
The “One Singular Sensation,” A Chorus Line, is coming to Flat Rock Playhouse for the first time and we are thrilled to share this award-winning musical with everyone! A Chorus Line is a celebration of those unsung heroes of the American Musical Theatre: the chorus dancers. The show follows 17 would-be dancers in their quest to make the cut for a new Broadway Musical. One by one, the dancers come forward to share the stories of their lives, giving it their all and putting themselves on the line to make the cut. Only eight will remain. Capturing the spirit, tension, and hope of an audition, A Chorus Line is the musical for everyone who’s ever had a dream and put it all out there to make it come true!
A Chorus Line once held the record as the longest running show on Broadway with over 6000 performances, and heralds nine Tony® Awards including Best Musical, Best Director and Best Choreographer, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Conceived and Originally Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett. Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante, Music by Marvin Hamlisch, Lyrics by Edward Kleban. Co-Choreographed by Bob Avian. Original Broadway production produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, Producer, in association with Plum Productions, Inc.
Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Tony-winning triumph takes everyone’s favorite storybook characters and brings them together for a timeless, yet relevant, piece. With a book and score that are both enchanting and touching, the Brothers Grimm hit the stage and come to life in an epic fairytale about wishes, family, and the choices we make.
PERFORMANCE & ARTIST DETAILS
Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Music Center
Brevard Festival Orchestra
Craig Kier, conductor
STEPHEN SONDHEIM Into the Woods
Sung in English with English supertitles
Auditorium seating is reserved.
From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the six wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to remix five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st-century girl power! This new original musical is a global sensation that everyone is losing their head over! Featuring an all-woman cast and all-woman band, SIX has won 23 awards in the 2021/2022 Broadway season, including the Tony Award® for Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. The New York Times says SIX “TOTALLY RULES!” (Critic’s Pick), and The Washington Post hails SIX as “Exactly the kind of energizing, inspirational illumination this town aches for!” The SIX: LIVE ON OPENING NIGHT Broadway album debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard cast album charts and surpassed 6 Million streams in its first month.
– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY
The Nth Power believes in the healing power of music. This all-pro alignment of sharp and seasoned musical vets delivers a transcendent blend of soul, funk, rock and rhythm and blues with multi-part vocal harmonies and songs that inspire audiences to dance, groove, make love or just stand there with goose bumps.
The band’s electric live performances have been flooring audiences ever since the group formed in New Orleans during an impromptu jam during Jazzfest nearly a decade ago. After an EP, studio album and two live albums, the band returned in 2021 in support of their second full-length studio release, Reverence, which was featured on the first-round nominations ballot for the 2022 Grammy Awards.
The Nth Power hails from diverse musical backgrounds, races and creeds, but the universal language of love and its power to change lives is the thread that binds them. The trio features drummer Nikki Glaspie, whose credentials include Beyonce, Maceo Parker, Dumpstaphunk and countless more; guitarist and lead vocalist Nick Cassarino, known best for his previous work with Jennifer Hartswick and Big Daddy Kane; and bassist Nate Edgar of reggae giant John Brown’s Body.
“It’s my dream team,” said Glaspie, “each one of us is a songwriter, so when we get together, everything becomes that much stronger.” Beyond raw skill, however, Glaspie cites a deep spiritual connection as the glue that binds them together. “Music is what brought us together, but it’s the spiritual bond that makes us play so in touch with each other,” she explained.
The Nth Power’s inspirational sets have floored audiences at music festivals like Electric Forest, High Sierra, Peachfest, North Coast Music Festival and Hulaween. They maintain New Orleans as their spiritual home, and the celebratory essence of that city’s music culture is audible in each performance – garnering high profile festival appearances and national acclaim from outlets like Relix, Modern Drummer, Huffington Post, Glide, Consequence, Okayplayer and Sirius XM.
Simply put, there is something pretty magical happening in this band, and they’re only just getting started. “Were going as far as you can go on the planet Earth and playing music,” explains Glaspie, “I don’t know how many times we’ve said it, we are so blessed.”
3.1 WEB – WebTrac Activity Search (vermontsystems.com)
Social Seniors
Grove Street Card Sharks
Senior Dining
Billiards
Exercise
Be Active Live Longer
A Cappella Alive
Square Dancing
Groove at the Grove
Pen to Paper Writing Group
Founded in 1991, we are Warren Wilson College’s educational program of summer folk arts workshops held on our campus in the Swannanoa Valley near Asheville in the heart of North Carolina’s beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.
Each year, we offer a variety of week-long programs in various forms of folk music and dance over a five-week period in July and August, taught by some of the finest folk artists and instructors in the world.
We invite you to join us.
This month-long Celtic music festival takes place on the campus of Warren Wilson College. The festival’s workshops and public performances are joyous celebrations of Scots-Irish music and dance and the many musical forms they have inspired. Check website for programs, location, dates and time.
July 9-15: Celtic Week
July 16-22: Old-Time Week
July 23-29: Contemporary Folk Week
Spectators are welcome to attend and admission is free. It is highly recommended to bring a chair. Please leave your dog comfortably at home.
Purebred and mixed-breed dogs, from throughout the southeast, will compete at various levels of difficulty, against each other and the clock.
The UKI trial includes the Agility Biathlon, Team Challenge and Masters Series Heat. These titling classes include Agility, ¬Jumping, Gamblers, Snooker and Speedstakes.
The best-scoring dog from each jump height is produced from the overall results in the Agility Biathlon and Masters Heat. The Winner will be granted a bye into Round 2 of the National Championship Class at the 2023 US Open plus an automatic Bye into the West Coast Open Agility Stakes Final.
UK Agility International is an organization that promotes the growth of agility and its standards. Reward-based dog training is encouraged in a competitive arena.
Dogs compete according to their experience level, as the rules and courses become more difficult at the higher levels.
Agility is a competitive team sport comprised of a handler and his or her dog. The object of agility is for the handler to navigate the dog through a timed obstacle course without the dog making a mistake. The agility course is comprised of jumps, weave poles, tunnels and climbing apparatuses. Agility rules focus on safety for the dog. The sport of agility combines control, training and drive into a challenging game for both the handler and the dog.
From the local favorites to new regional acts, all live from the river banks of the Nantahala. Raft, dine, then jam with us with Live Music every Friday and Saturday from 5pm-8pm between Memorial Day and Labor Day!
May 27th 5pm-8pm – Mama and the Ruckus
May 28th 5pm-8pm – The Lefties
June 2nd 5pm-8pm – Christina Chandler Trio
June 3rd 5pm-8pm – Laura Thurston
June 9th 5pm-8pm – Eddie Clayton
June 10th 1pm-4pm – Jacobs Well
June 10th 5pm-8pm – Natti Love Joys
June 16th 5pm-8pm – Rae and the Ragdolls
June 17th 5pm-8pm – Beer and Loathing
June 23rd 5pm-8pm – TBA
June 24th 5pm-8pm – Terry Haughton Trio
June 30th 5pm-8pm – Blue
July 1st 5pm-8pm – Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs
July 7th 5pm-8pm – Bayou Diesel
July 8th 5pm-8pm – Pioneer Chicken Stand
July 14th 5pm-8pm – Wyatt Espalin
July 15th 5pm-8pm – Christina Chandler Duo
July 21st 5pm-8pm – Terry Haughton
July 22nd 5pm-8pm – TG and the Stoned Rangers
July 28th 5pm-8pm – Blue
July 29th 5pm-8pm – Somebody’s Child
August 4th 5pm-8pm – Trial by Fire
August 5th 5pm-8pm – Andy Johnson
August 11th 5pm-8pm – Eddie Clayton Solo
August 12th 5pm-8pm – Eddie Clayton Band
August 18th 5pm-8pm – Big Deal Band
August 19th 1pm-4pm – Mckinney
August 19th 5pm-8pm – Funk N’ Around
August 25th 5pm-8pm – Wyatt Espalin
August 26th 5pm-8pm – Somebody’s Child
September 1st 5pm-8pm – TBA
September 2nd 5pm-8pm – Regatta 69
Wanna hear the best local music and drink the best local beers? Hop aboard LaZoom’s Purple Bus and rock out with a local band while we take you on a journey to Asheville’s premiere local breweries.
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Music Bingo featuring a variety of your favorite musical selections performed live by one of our local favorites, Craig St. John!
Come prepared to win prizes and sing along with ‘Craigy-oke’ while enjoying the best wine selections at the ‘World’s Edge’ premier location, Point Lookout Vineyards!
NO COVER CHARGE
– ALL AGES
– LIMITED PATIO SEATING IS FIRST COME FIRST SERVE
ROOTS AND DORE
Roots and Dore are an American blues, soul and roots duo from the music-rich mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. They are currently among the busiest performing acts in the southeastern US. Having played 150-200 shows annually for the past 15 years. They have made a name for themselves in the blues world by opening for national blues acts, (Eric Gales, Bob Margolin , Mac Arnold, Maria Muldaur, John Dee Holeman,
John Primer, Samantha Fish and many others) they’ve playing festivals nationally and internationally and their original music is being played on dozens of radio stations, locally and around the world. Roots and Dore released their last album The Blues and Beyond to a wave of awesome reviews. (Featuring special guest appearances by “Steady Rolling” Bob Margolin of Muddy Waters Band, along with Doc Watson’s partner and multiple Grammy winner David Holt and Tony Black, bass player for Marshall Tucker Band.) Always a good time had by everyone when Roots and Dore are doing their thing for folks at shows.
The beats of the Friday Night Drum Circle have been rocking Pritchard Park for decades and the circle has become so popular that it is featured in magazines and TV commercials.
These mountains are known as much for the music that comes out of them as they are for their picturesque vistas, cascading waterfalls and alluring trails.
Some of the world’s finest musicians have come from Western North Carolina and that rich tradition carries on today.
Here in Jackson County, the Town of Sylva, Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department and Jackson County Chamber of Commerce team up to produce the Concerts on the Creek series at the Bridge Park gazebo in Sylva every Friday from 7-9 p.m., typically from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
The 14th annual season will start on Friday, May 26 (Memorial Day weekend) and end on Friday, Sept. 1 (Labor Day weekend). That will be 15 Fridays of Concerts on the Creek, with the Fireworks Festivities and concert on Tuesday, July 4 sprinkled in for good measure.
- Friday, July 28: Lua Flora, folk/reggae (7-9 p.m.)
- Friday, Aug. 4: Tuxedo Junction, classic hits, (7-9 p.m.)
- Friday, Aug. 11: TLQ+2, classic rock and pop hits, (7-9 p.m.)
- Friday, Aug. 18: Get Right Band, psychedelic indie rock originals, (7-9 p.m.)
- Friday, Aug. 25: Maggie Valley Band, Appalachian/Americana folk rock, (7-9 p.m.)
- Friday, Sept. 1: PMA, roots/reggae/dub/fusion, (7-9 p.m.)
These events are free with donations encouraged. Everyone is welcome. Dogs must be on a leash. No smoking, vaping, coolers or tents allowed. Bring a chair or blanket. We will have food trucks available on select nights.
For more information, please contact the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce at 828-586-2155, visit our Facebook page, or visit us online at www.mountainlovers.com.
The Friday Night Music series will present the familiar 50’s and 60’s
classic rock and beach music from a host of different bands. Food vendors like Babbles Ice
Cream, Blue Ridge Hospitality and Eggs Up Grill will provide a some spice. The Carolina
Mountain Car Club will participate as in years past.
Friday Night Concerts
Super 60’s June 9
Gotcha Groove June 16
It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere June 23
Marsha Morgan June 30
Shades of Gray July 7
Thomas Brown July 14
Emporium July 21
Johnnie Blackwell Band July 28
Rock and Roll Reunion August 4
208 Army Band August 11
Night Moves Band August 18

Bat Boy: The Musical
Book by: Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming; Music and Lyrics by: Laurence O’Keefe
A rock musical, Bat Boy: The Musical expands on a June 23, 1992 Weekly World News tabloid story about a bat boy – half-boy, half-bat – found in a cave and forced into society. The musical – at turns both haunting and hilarious – deals with themes of racism and revenge, hypocrisy and forgiveness. This darkly quirky, compelling musical is not to be missed!
Content Warning: Bat Boy: the Musical contains violence, drug use, and sexual references. Viewer discretion is advised.
Accessibility:
All performances: Accessible wheelchair/scooter seating available.
Saturday, Aug 5, 2023: ASL-Interpreted Performance
Maestro Ken Lam leads Brevard’s talented high school orchestra in a program of solo and orchestral showpieces. Tchaikovsky’s lush and poignant setting of the story of the star-crossed lovers opens the program. Maestro Lam then welcomes virtuoso flutist Anthony Trionfo to perform two seminal works in the solo flute repertoire. The program closes with Rimsky’s brilliant suite based on Spanish folk melodies that provides excitement and flash for every member of the orchestra.
PERFORMANCE & ARTIST DETAILS
Brevard Concert Orchestra
Ken Lam, conductor
Anthony Trionfo, flute
P. I. TCHAIKOVSKY Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy
CHARLES GRIFFES Poem
FRANÇOIS BORNE Carmen Fantasie Brilliante
NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Capriccio espagnol
Auditorium seating is reserved. Lawn seating is general admission.
The “One Singular Sensation,” A Chorus Line, is coming to Flat Rock Playhouse for the first time and we are thrilled to share this award-winning musical with everyone! A Chorus Line is a celebration of those unsung heroes of the American Musical Theatre: the chorus dancers. The show follows 17 would-be dancers in their quest to make the cut for a new Broadway Musical. One by one, the dancers come forward to share the stories of their lives, giving it their all and putting themselves on the line to make the cut. Only eight will remain. Capturing the spirit, tension, and hope of an audition, A Chorus Line is the musical for everyone who’s ever had a dream and put it all out there to make it come true!
A Chorus Line once held the record as the longest running show on Broadway with over 6000 performances, and heralds nine Tony® Awards including Best Musical, Best Director and Best Choreographer, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Conceived and Originally Directed and Choreographed by Michael Bennett. Book by James Kirkwood & Nicholas Dante, Music by Marvin Hamlisch, Lyrics by Edward Kleban. Co-Choreographed by Bob Avian. Original Broadway production produced by the New York Shakespeare Festival, Joseph Papp, Producer, in association with Plum Productions, Inc.
George Porter Jr. & Runnin Pardners will be performing LIVE on the Indoor Stage at Salvage Station on Friday, July 28th, 2023 with Marvelous Funkshun! Doors open @ 7PM and the music starts @ 8PM. This is a General Admission, 18+ ONLY show! FREE ON-SITE PARKING! George Porter Jr is a founding member of legendary funk band, The Meters. Porter has accompanied the stage as a band member or special guest with the likes of David Byrne, Dead & Company, Jimmy Buffet, Warren Haynes, Widespread Panic, Tedeschi Trucks Band, John Scofield, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart and various members of Phish, to name a few. Bottom line, this is a show you don’t want to miss!
Jody Carroll is a blues & Roots performer and songwriter who effortlessly creates bold interpretations of old Blues and American Folk music, his own songs, stories and improvisational musical journeys. He is a Finger style/slide guitar master and amazingly soulful singer blending flavors of old Blues, Folk, Mountain music, Jazz and Rock all together into a true power packed gumbo.
JC Has toured with or shared the stage with legends such as Buddy Guy, Honey Boy Edwards, Louisiana Red, R.L Burnside, Johnny Winter, John Mayhall, George Thorogood, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeski, Leo Bud Welch, Robert Cray, Eddie Kirkland, Robyn Trower, John McEuen , Ural Thomas, Charlie Musslewhite, Canned Heat, Robert Earl Keen, Sonny Landreth, Shameka Copeland, Paul Geramia, Sonny Landreth, Roy Bookbinder and even members of Metallica once back in 1987 (strange story).
He appeared to great critical response at Merlefest 2018 & 21
Jody Carroll McMurrian was born on April 5 1968 in an area called the San Joaquin Delta of California. It’s a vast water filled area where the Antioch River, the Old River, The San Joaquin River and the Sacramento River all meet up to pour into the San Francisco Bay. His family hails from the hills of Buffalo Valley Oklahoma via Arkansas on his fathers side and Amarillo Texas on his mothers side.
Jody Carroll grew up hearing whispers of old American music on the radio or from his fathers guitar. His father started him off with a couple Willie Nelson songs and plenty of AM country radio. His grandfather, who also played guitar when he was young, had come from the remote rural Buffalo Valley hills of Oklahoma 20 years earlier with his family in tow. He and his brothers had been running whiskey in those hills one to many times and had been effectively asked to leave the state by the law. JC’s grandfather left town and made his way over to California and then up to the bay area for work in the ship yards of Port Chicago. Jody grew up in the 70’s and 80’s working on the families Northern California farm, building barns, riding horses, drawing, learning music from old blues, folk, Rock and Soul records.
His first guitar was his father’s steel guitar that had languished for many years up in the attic until he found it. After secretly playing it for a while, he asked his father to teach him some old folk tunes that he had played in his early years and some lap slide licks. He took to it like a fish devouring all he could learn from the family record collection. After many years of playing in garage rock bands, he happened upon the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music and the recordings of Robert Johnson. That sealed the deal as it where, he took off into the back woods of old weird America and never looked back.
You Tube Links:
From Tudor Queens to Pop Icons, the six wives of Henry VIII take the microphone to remix five hundred years of historical heartbreak into a Euphoric Celebration of 21st-century girl power! This new original musical is a global sensation that everyone is losing their head over! Featuring an all-woman cast and all-woman band, SIX has won 23 awards in the 2021/2022 Broadway season, including the Tony Award® for Best Original Score (Music and Lyrics) and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. The New York Times says SIX “TOTALLY RULES!” (Critic’s Pick), and The Washington Post hails SIX as “Exactly the kind of energizing, inspirational illumination this town aches for!” The SIX: LIVE ON OPENING NIGHT Broadway album debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard cast album charts and surpassed 6 Million streams in its first month.
– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY
HORSEGIRL
Horsegirl is a noisy rock trio from Chicago composed of Penelope Lowenstein (she/her), Nora Cheng (she/her), and Gigi Reece (they/them), all 17-18 years old. Horsegirl draws inspiration from shoegaze and post-punk, in the realm of ‘90’s American and UK indie underground. Together for just over a year, they have played contemporary art museums, all ages venues, open mics, and house parties.
LIFEGUARD
Lifeguard is a punk-band-power-trio. Emerging out of the young and exciting windy city DIY scene with the likes of Horsegirl, Post Office Winter, and Friko, Lifeguard have become a part of a cultural moment. Though the members are all still in high school, they are on the forefront of a younger generation taking old music, understanding what made it great, applying it to their art and pushing it in the future. This isn’t a nostalgia act, this is a band for now, distilling lessons learned from SST, Dischord and Sub Pop and channeling it into fury and anxiety for the modern world. – Joe Trainor
After some folk/country directions on their 2021 EP, Big Fall, Philadelphia country band rock band Florry is back with their Dear Life debut, the four song Sweet Guitar Solos. Whoever gave them those directions did a pretty good job because on their new EP they definitely seem like they’ve gotten to where they needed to be.
Culled from various outtakes recorded between 2021 and 2022, the band slips and slides from a four-piece lineup to a seven-piece band with two- three guitars, fiddle, pedal steel, and vocal accompaniment. The band does a lot of things, such as raggedy alt country, cowpunk, and country rock, but mostly they have fun.
On an electric version of 2021 track Big Fall is frontwoman Francie Medosch, bassist Jared Radichel, second guitarist John Murray, and drummer Joey Sullivan. When I Kicked You Out of the Band (I Wasn’t Kicking You Out Of My Life) sees the band add vocal accompanist/acoustic guitar player Victoria Rose and fiddle player Will Henriksen, with Murray on lap steel. The band finally lands on their current lineup with Cowgirl in a Ditch, with Murray back on guitar and Sam Silbert on pedal steel. The band also covers Lisa’s Birthday from the Drive-By Truckers.

