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.

Thursday, November 2, 2023
Raffle: Private Catered Dinner w/ Asheville Art Museum
Nov 2 all-day
online

Enter to win a private catered dinner in the Museum’s Perspective Café by Celine & Company

Asheville Art Museum is celebrating its 75th Anniversary with a ’70s-themed dance party and silent auction Saturday, November 4.
To mark this special occasion, we have an exciting raffle offer! Enjoy an exquisite dining experience by Celine & Company at the Museum. With its stunning views and artistic ambiance, the Perspective Café is the perfect setting for a memorable evening with friends, family, or colleagues while enjoying Asheville’s finest catering cuisine.
Prize: Dinner for up to 8 people in the Museum’s Perspective Café by Celine & Company
Ticket Options: $100 for one or $500 for six. Certain restrictions apply.
Value: $11,000

The winner will be awarded on November 4. Attendance at our 75th Anniversary dance party is optional but not required to purchase this raffle item.

As a nonprofit organization, the Museum relies on the generous support of our community members. Without you, we couldn’t do what we do—offer exciting exhibitions and engaging programs throughout the year.

Purchase Raffle Tickets
Friday, November 3, 2023
Raffle: Private Catered Dinner w/ Asheville Art Museum
Nov 3 all-day
online

Enter to win a private catered dinner in the Museum’s Perspective Café by Celine & Company

Asheville Art Museum is celebrating its 75th Anniversary with a ’70s-themed dance party and silent auction Saturday, November 4.
To mark this special occasion, we have an exciting raffle offer! Enjoy an exquisite dining experience by Celine & Company at the Museum. With its stunning views and artistic ambiance, the Perspective Café is the perfect setting for a memorable evening with friends, family, or colleagues while enjoying Asheville’s finest catering cuisine.
Prize: Dinner for up to 8 people in the Museum’s Perspective Café by Celine & Company
Ticket Options: $100 for one or $500 for six. Certain restrictions apply.
Value: $11,000

The winner will be awarded on November 4. Attendance at our 75th Anniversary dance party is optional but not required to purchase this raffle item.

As a nonprofit organization, the Museum relies on the generous support of our community members. Without you, we couldn’t do what we do—offer exciting exhibitions and engaging programs throughout the year.

Purchase Raffle Tickets
Creekside Play @ Hickory Nut Gap Farm
Nov 3 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Hickory Nut Gap Farm

STATIONARY FUN – Creekside play area has a treehouse and wee slide ➤ The Big Barn has our Sound Silo full of instruments to play on and make noise, trikes on the trike track around a REAL tractor and cornhole boards(ask the staff for bags) ➤ On the grassy slope behind the Big Barn we’ve got our famous and fast culvert tunnel slides for all ages, hammocks on the hill and tetherball!

Availability: All stationary fun is available every day during business hours of 10-5, starting September 2nd, through the rest of the season- tetherball will be back in action starting September 6th!

ANIMALS TO SEE – We will have a brooder house full of chicks in various ages and stages all season, there will typically be mama pigs and piglets in agritourism pens on the hill, more rarely there will be grazing cattle in a nearby field.

FOOD TRUCK SCHEDULE

9/2 Sat  11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

9/16 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck – they will be serving HNG beef for their all-American burger!

9/24 Sun 11-4 *Big Barn Market* Root Down Farm Food Truck

9/30 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck

10/7 Sat 11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

10/14 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck

10/15 Sun 11-4 El Bodegon Food Truck

10/22 Sun 11-4 El Bodegon Food Truck

10/29 Sun 11-4 *Big Barn Market* Grush’s Cajun Dino Grill Food Truck

11/4 Sat 11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

FALL SEASONAL OFFERINGS

APPLES – Our partners in Edneyville, NC, Lyda Farms, bring some of the best in the region. Local and low spray, folks come every year to get the best of fall in NC by the bag to bake, stew, butter, sauce and of course, crunch into while sitting on the farm.

Availability: Apples will be available to buy starting September 9th, they will typically run out Mid to late October.

FRESH PRESSED CIDER – We press fresh apple cider every year, comprised of our historical orchard apples on the Old Sherrill’s Inn property and apples from our partner Lyda Farms. This is a raw, unpasteurized product – delicious and changeable as the season, no added sugar or seasonings.

Availability: 1st pressing September 13th, bottled cider will be in the store for purchase September 14th!

JACKOLANTERN PUMPKINS – We work with several WNC veggie farmers in the area, including Hawkins Farms. We’ll have pumpkins arranged all around the Farm Store to display their beauty AND make sure you get *just the right one*. The seeds are dynamite when roasted, too…

Availability: Coming Mid-September, they will typically run out by end of October so make sure you get yours! 

EDIBLE SQUASH & DECORATIVE GOURDS – From Mr. Anthony Cole’s farms, we have some long-lasting festive gourds to decoarate for the season, and a broad variety of edible squashes and pumpkins perfect for pies, soups and pasta.

Availability: Coming Mid-September.

Community Engagement Market
Nov 3 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Fairview Library

Coming to our neighborhood: monthly Community Engagement Markets! The first Friday of each month, beginning Oct 6, Manna Food Bank and other service providers will be at Fairview Public Library, 1 Taylor Rd.
Rising grocery prices, along with rising housing, gas, and other costs are putting the pressure on Buncombe households. For many in our community, no-cost healthy meals and information about County and partner services and resources are a valuable lifeline. Buncombe County’s Community Engagement Markets offer free food, medical services, and information about mortgage, rental, and weatherization assistance, as well other resources directly to those most in need by meeting them in their neighborhoods.
Mark your calendar and bring your questions!

Citron Gallery Opening Reception – Evolving Visions: A Contemporary Collective
Nov 3 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Citron Gallery

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2023 | 5-8 pm
LOCATION: 60 BILTMORE AVE, #002 LOWER LEVEL, ASHEVILLE, NC 28801

FEATURED ARTISTS
Allison B. Cooke | Anna Carll | Dorothy Ganek | Eric Abrecht | Kento Saisho | Kieta Jackson | Lauren Betty | Rand Kramer | Ruth Hunter | Victoria Pinney

ADDITIONAL WORKS
Elliott Schuessler | Joshua Meyer | Kim Goldstein | Steven Seinberg

Citron Gallery is pleased to present the opening of Evolving Visions: A Contemporary Collective, a group show that celebrates the dynamic and ever-evolving nature of contemporary art. This captivating exhibition brings together a diverse group of talented artists, each with their unique perspectives and artistic voices.

Showcasing the evolution of artistic expression over time, the featured artists draw inspiration from various sources, including cultural and urban influences, personal experiences, and memories. This show serves as a snapshot of the current artist’s expression and vision of where they are now and a clue as to where to where they move creatively from here.

The collective will be exhibiting a captivating blend of abstract and figurative works, with traditional and experimental techniques. This eclectic mix invites viewers to engage in a visual and intellectual journey, fostering a deeper appreciation for the power of art.

Opening Reception: “Reckoning: Adornment as Narrative”
Nov 3 @ 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Tyger Tyger Gallery

Tyger Tyger Gallery is pleased to present Reckoning: Adornment as Narrative, a group exhibition curated by Asheville-based artist and curator Erika Diamond.

Reckoning: Adornment as Narrative is an exhibition of diverse practices, anchored at three points: methods of reckoning; the function of adornment; and the fusing of personal and cultural narrative. It features acts of glitz, embellishment, and homage by Shae Bishop, David Harper Clemons, Kashif Dennis, Annie Evelyn, Margaret Jacobs, Julia Kwon, Katrina Majkut, Heather Mackenzie, and Luis Sahagun. Through material language, each artist tells the story of their identity. Inherent to these stories are contradictions—between labor and value, feminine and masculine, natural and fabricated.

LAZOOM Tours: BAND AND BEER TOUR
Nov 3 @ 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
LaZoom Room

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.

  • Curated Live Music & Brewery Bus experience
  • 3 Hours long, includes three 30 Minute Local Brewery Stops
  • You Can Drink on the Funky Purple Bus! **Must be purchased at LaZoom or at brewery stop**
Funny Girl
Nov 3 @ 8:00 pm
Peace Concert Hall

WELCOME TO MUSICAL COMEDY HEAVEN!

Featuring one of the most iconic scores of all time by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, an updated book from Harvey Fierstein based on the original classic by Isobel Lennart, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and direction from Michael Mayer, this love letter to the theatre has the whole shebang!

The sensational Broadway revival dazzles with celebrated classic songs, including “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.” This bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened—she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

Saturday, November 4, 2023
Democratic Men’s Club Breakfast
Nov 4 @ 8:00 am – 10:30 am
Buncombe County Democratic Party

Join the Buncombe Democratic Men for a quarterly breakfast at headquarters on November 4.

Our featured guest will be Rachel Hunt, NC state senator and candidate for lieutenant governor.

Doors open at 8 a.m.

This event is free to dues-paying members; the guest cost is $15 for breakfast.

Despite the antiquated name of our group, the main goal remains to fund BCDP’s Get-Out-The-Vote efforts in 2023 and 2024, build community and eat good food.

Creekside Play @ Hickory Nut Gap Farm
Nov 4 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Hickory Nut Gap Farm

STATIONARY FUN – Creekside play area has a treehouse and wee slide ➤ The Big Barn has our Sound Silo full of instruments to play on and make noise, trikes on the trike track around a REAL tractor and cornhole boards(ask the staff for bags) ➤ On the grassy slope behind the Big Barn we’ve got our famous and fast culvert tunnel slides for all ages, hammocks on the hill and tetherball!

Availability: All stationary fun is available every day during business hours of 10-5, starting September 2nd, through the rest of the season- tetherball will be back in action starting September 6th!

ANIMALS TO SEE – We will have a brooder house full of chicks in various ages and stages all season, there will typically be mama pigs and piglets in agritourism pens on the hill, more rarely there will be grazing cattle in a nearby field.

FOOD TRUCK SCHEDULE

9/2 Sat  11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

9/16 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck – they will be serving HNG beef for their all-American burger!

9/24 Sun 11-4 *Big Barn Market* Root Down Farm Food Truck

9/30 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck

10/7 Sat 11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

10/14 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck

10/15 Sun 11-4 El Bodegon Food Truck

10/22 Sun 11-4 El Bodegon Food Truck

10/29 Sun 11-4 *Big Barn Market* Grush’s Cajun Dino Grill Food Truck

11/4 Sat 11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

FALL SEASONAL OFFERINGS

APPLES – Our partners in Edneyville, NC, Lyda Farms, bring some of the best in the region. Local and low spray, folks come every year to get the best of fall in NC by the bag to bake, stew, butter, sauce and of course, crunch into while sitting on the farm.

Availability: Apples will be available to buy starting September 9th, they will typically run out Mid to late October.

FRESH PRESSED CIDER – We press fresh apple cider every year, comprised of our historical orchard apples on the Old Sherrill’s Inn property and apples from our partner Lyda Farms. This is a raw, unpasteurized product – delicious and changeable as the season, no added sugar or seasonings.

Availability: 1st pressing September 13th, bottled cider will be in the store for purchase September 14th!

JACKOLANTERN PUMPKINS – We work with several WNC veggie farmers in the area, including Hawkins Farms. We’ll have pumpkins arranged all around the Farm Store to display their beauty AND make sure you get *just the right one*. The seeds are dynamite when roasted, too…

Availability: Coming Mid-September, they will typically run out by end of October so make sure you get yours! 

EDIBLE SQUASH & DECORATIVE GOURDS – From Mr. Anthony Cole’s farms, we have some long-lasting festive gourds to decoarate for the season, and a broad variety of edible squashes and pumpkins perfect for pies, soups and pasta.

Availability: Coming Mid-September.

Gatherings of Artists + Writers Coffee
Nov 4 @ 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Tryon Fine Arts Center

TFAC invites all artists: painters, sculptors, writers, performers & more — to a casual weekly drop-in gathering on Saturday mornings at 9 AM to share your works in progress, alert others, and chat about art and what’s happening in your community.

The first weekly Coffee is Saturday, August 20 at 9 am.

No RSVP needed, just drop by!

Free parking available on Melrose Avenue, behind and alongside TFAC.

Appalachia Day with Wicked Weed Brewing
Nov 4 @ 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Hickory Nut Gap Farm

Embrace the beauty and culture of the Appalachian Mountains at Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview, NC, in support of the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. Appalachia Day will be held on Saturday, November 4th as a celebration for everything “Appalachia.” Come out and celebrate what you love about the mountains – the raffle, food, music by The Holler Choir, crafts and more!

Appalachia Day invites attendees to immerse themselves in the essence of Appalachia with an array of engaging activities. You can take part in a private farm tour guided by Farm Director Virginia Hamilton, offering insights into the workings of this regenerative farm.
While enjoying the festivities, you can savor delectable offerings from food trucks on-site and cold beers, including the Appalachia Session IPA by Wicked Weed Brewing. What’s particularly noteworthy is that the proceeds from beer sales and a raffle held during the event will also contribute to the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy.

Our partnership with Wicked Weed Brewing underscores their commitment to supporting the preservation of local farms, streams, watersheds, mountains, forests, and outdoor recreation areas. They do this through their #BeersThatBuild program, and your participation in this event acknowledges and appreciates their dedication to protecting the places we all cherish in the Appalachian region. We’re also grateful to our friends at Hickory Nut Gap Farm for donating the space for this event.  Their partnership over the years as landowners and as donors to the SAHC has been invaluable. Appalachia Day offers a unique and enjoyable way to immerse yourself in the vibrant culture, natural beauty, and community spirit of the Appalachian Mountains while actively supporting conservation efforts crucial to preserving this treasured region for generations to come.

“This is a great partnership event,” says Membership Director Cheryl Fowler. “The land at Hickory Nut Gap Farm was permanently protected by Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy in 2008 with a farmland conservation easement, and SAHC is grateful to Wicked Weed Brewing for supporting ongoing local conservation efforts as a corporate partner. We look forward to enjoying a great day on the farm with friends and neighbors!”

If you’re interested in being a vendor, there’s still time. Please contact Cheryl Fowler at [email protected] and join the many groups of like minded artists that are participating.

We will also host a hike as part of Appalachia Day – Details TBA!

OUTPOST: Tacos + Tequila Throwdown
Nov 4 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
The Outpost

– ALL AGES
– STANDING ROOM ONLY
– LIMITED VIP TICKETS AVAILABLE

It’s back! Tacos & Tequila Throwdown makes its triumphant return on November 4 at The Outpost. Enjoy live music and tacos from Asheville’s best restaurants + tequila of all varieties. Stay tuned for participating restaurants …

Funny Girl
Nov 4 @ 2:00 pm
Peace Concert Hall

WELCOME TO MUSICAL COMEDY HEAVEN!

Featuring one of the most iconic scores of all time by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, an updated book from Harvey Fierstein based on the original classic by Isobel Lennart, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and direction from Michael Mayer, this love letter to the theatre has the whole shebang!

The sensational Broadway revival dazzles with celebrated classic songs, including “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.” This bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened—she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

Asheville Dulcimer Orchestra in concert
Nov 4 @ 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
East Asheville Library

The Appalachian mountain dulcimer is a fretted stringed instrument of the zither family. It’s closest European ancestor is felt to be the German scheitholt. The mountain dulcimer was “born” in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1800s. It was, and remains, a major contributor to the development and spread of traditional music of the Southern Appalachians.

The Asheville Dulcimer Orchestra is a group of 18 Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer players. Come hear the group play a varied program that includes music from many classical periods, as well popular and traditional music.

Ritual of Remembrance
Nov 4 @ 5:00 pm
Dreaming Stone Arts and Ecology Center

Dreaming Stone Arts and Ecology Center is excited to announce “Ritual of Remembrance”, a performance and evening of remembrance for our loved ones that will take place on Nov 4th starting at 5pm. This offering features the Chicken Bank Collective, a group of six artists from the US and Mexico who weave communities across borders through the art of movement. After their performance, the Mexican members of the CBC will share cultural traditions associated with Día de los Muertos, including the delicious pan de muerto and Mexican hot chocolate. We will lift up the holy days within various cultures and traditions that dedicate these fall days to honoring those who have gone before.

The evening begins with a site-specific land based performance, “Memories and Murmurations”, where the audience migrates through natural terrain and encounters the land’s dreams, embodied. These murmurations echo legacies lodged within the land, within our bodies, and within our collective imaginations.

After sharing a potluck, our “Ritual of Remembrance” will be a collective act of beauty making, honoring those we have lost, and is an annual tradition of Dreaming Stone’s. All who gather are welcome to share stories of deceased loved ones. All are invited to add to a communal ‘ofrenda’, with pictures of those you want to remember. The evening encourages all to contribute to a practice of collective meaning making.

Space is limited, so you must register in advance. Participants are encouraged (not required) to bring a potluck dish and pictures of those you want to remember. Wear shoes for walking on uneven surfaces. Dress warm, wear layers, bring a chair.

To attend, RSVP at https://dreamingstone.org/events/chicken-bank-collective/. Donations from this event (suggested amount of $20 per person) go to supporting the Chicken Bank Collective’s local residency, which includes music and mural painting downtown, and offerings within Rutherford County schools.

LAZOOM Tours: BAND AND BEER TOUR
Nov 4 @ 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
LaZoom Room

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.

  • Curated Live Music & Brewery Bus experience
  • 3 Hours long, includes three 30 Minute Local Brewery Stops
  • You Can Drink on the Funky Purple Bus! **Must be purchased at LaZoom or at brewery stop**
Xiu Xiu
Nov 4 @ 7:00 pm
Eulogy

The project of Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo, Xiu Xiu confronts difficult emotions with music ranging from harsh to tender. Using an intense mix of post-punk, synth pop, folk, Asian percussion music, experimental music, noise, modern composition, and more, the group explores the complexities of love, sex, death, and injustice. From the beginning, Xiu Xiu combined these sounds in striking ways, whether on their brass and percussion-dominated 2002 debut album Knife Play or the hushed electro-acoustic experiments of 2003’s A Promise. Starting with 2004’s Fabulous Muscles, their pop elements became more prominent, but Xiu Xiu’s viewpoint — and Stewart’s impassioned vocals — remained uncompromising. While they often expressed alienation brilliantly, Stewart and Seo frequently worked with artists such as Mary Halvorson, Merzbow, and Charlemagne Palestine. Over the years, the band’s music spanned the rousing synth pop of 2012’s Always to the cathartic darkness of 2019’s Girl with a Basket of Fruit. In the 2020s, the empowering collaborations of 2021’s Oh No and the stark dualities of 2023’s Ignore Grief reaffirmed that Xiu Xiu’s emotional honesty was still as genuine as ever.

Ignore Grief is a record of halves.

Angela Seo sings on half of the record. Jamie Stewart sings on half of the record.

Half of the songs are experimental industrial. Half of the songs are experimental modern classical. Half of it is real. Half of it is imaginary.

The real songs attempt to turn the worst life has offered to five people the band is connected with into some kind of desperate shape that does something, anything, other than grind and brutalize their hearts and memory within these stunningly horrendous experiences. The imaginary songs are an expansion and abstract exploration of the early rock and roll “Teen Tragedy” genre as jumping off point to decontaminate the band’s own overwhelming emotions in knowing and living with what has happened to these five people.

Old friend and new member David Kendrick (Sparks, Devo, Gleaming Spires) joins Angela Seo and Jamie Stewart through whatever this may be and whatever it may mean and why ever it may have occurred. The point of aesthetic examination is to see if there is any way to come out the other side or if there is even any reason. In either case there may not be but to simply turn away would be yet a further act of destruction.

Secret Shame

The members of Secret Shame are driven by their collective passion for creativity, experimentation, and the understanding that some feelings can only be expressed through music.

They’re not decidedly comfortable with those feelings- but no longer afraid of them.

https://secretshame.bandcamp.com/album/autonomy

This is an 18+ event

R. Carlos Nakai + Peter Kater IN CONCERT
Nov 4 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Diana Wortham Theater

R.Carlos Nakai, of Navajo-Ute heritage, the world’s premier performer of the Native American flute, joins pianist/composer Peter Kater for two evening performances, possibly their last live performance together. Piano and Native American Flute, however an unlikely combination of instruments, when performed by two of the worlds most sensitive performers of those instruments, produces a powerful and profound musical chemistry, of an almost spiritual nature, and unlike any two instruments ever played together! Their music has been described to be of a sacred quality. Kater with two recent Grammy wins for best New Age album, produces a sound on piano often described as hypnotic and healing. Nakai approaches each performance in a ceremonial manner, singing ancient Navajo chants while playing his flutes and blowing his Eagle Bone whistle. “Every concert they have played together in Asheville, leaves audiences in absolute awe. The chemistry of these two musicians and their instruments does something to us all that is impossible to describe in words”. They have numerous recordings together over the last 30 years and have performed in Asheville 10 previous times to always SOLD OUT audiences. Their recording “Improvisations In Concert” was recorded live at their breathtaking 1995 performance at Diana Wortham Theatre. You can find samples of their music on Spotify and Amazon. Their award winning albums, Migration, Natives and Improvisations in Concert are great examples of the music you will experience at their performances.

Rita Hayworth: The Heat is On
Nov 4 @ 7:30 pm
Tryon Fine Arts Center

The Heat Is On is an explosive yet moving solo musical production which celebrates and reveals the woman behind the “Love Goddess,” Rita Hayworth.

Rita Hayworth: The Heat is On!
Nov 4 @ 7:30 pm
Tryon Fine Arts Center
The HEAT is On!
starring Quinn Lemley
A life in concert …
celebrating Rita Hayworth
“Spellbinding drop-dead gorgeous & a great performer”
– Village Voice
Funny Girl
Nov 4 @ 8:00 pm
Peace Concert Hall

WELCOME TO MUSICAL COMEDY HEAVEN!

Featuring one of the most iconic scores of all time by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, an updated book from Harvey Fierstein based on the original classic by Isobel Lennart, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and direction from Michael Mayer, this love letter to the theatre has the whole shebang!

The sensational Broadway revival dazzles with celebrated classic songs, including “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.” This bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened—she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

RAYLAND BAXTER
Nov 4 @ 8:00 pm
The Orange Peel

For the making of his fourth album If I Were a Butterfly, Rayland Baxter holed up for over a year at a former rubber-band factory turned studio in the Kentucky countryside—a seemingly humble environment that proved to be something of a wonderland. “I spent that year living in a barn with the squirrels and the birds, on my own most of the time, and I discovered so much about music and how to create it,” says the Tennessee-bred singer/songwriter. “Instead of going into a studio with a producer for two weeks, I just waited for the record to build itself. I’d get up and go outside, see a butterfly and connect that with some impulsive thought I’d had three months ago, and suddenly a song I’d been working on would make sense. That’s how the whole album came to be.”

The follow-up to 2018’s critically acclaimed Wide AwakeIf I Were a Butterfly finds Baxter co-producing alongside Tim O’Sullivan (Grace Potter, The Head and the Heart) and Kai Welch (Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull), slowly piecing together the album’s patchwork of lush psychedelia and Beatlesesque pop. In addition to working at Thunder Sound (the Kentucky studio he called home for months on end), Baxter recorded in California, Texas, Tennessee, and Washington, enlisting a remarkable lineup of musicians: Shakey Graves, Lennon Stella, several members of Cage the Elephant, Zac Cockrell of Alabama Shakes, Morning Teleportation’s Travis Goodwin, and legendary Motown drummer Miss Bobbye Hall, among many others. In an especially meaningful turn, two of the album’s tracks feature the elegant pedal steel work of his father, Bucky Baxter (a musician who performed with Bob Dylan and who passed away in May 2020). Thanks to the extraordinary care and ingenuity behind its creation, If I Were a Butterfly arrives as a work of rarefied magic, capable of stirring up immense feeling while leaving the listener happily wonderstruck.

Baxter’s debut release as a producer, If I Were a Butterfly bears a dazzling unpredictability that has much to do with his limitless imagination as a collector and collagist of sound. “Sometimes the bullfrogs in the pond outside would pulse in a certain tempo and I’d apply that to a song, or I’d hear a bird chirping and it would inspire me to add harmonica in a particular place,” he says. “I could be walking around this massive building in the middle of the night and the air-conditioning would turn on, and it’d give me the idea to include a synth part that holds a similar note. I’d wait for those moments to happen and whenever I tried to force anything, the music usually rejected it.”

A perfect introduction to If I Were a Butterfly’s elaborate sonic world, the album-opening title track begins with a recording of a Baxter singing at age four, then drifts into a delicately sprawling reverie ornamented with so many lovely details (lavish flute and cello melodies, radiant horns, the hypnotic harmonies of Lennon Stella and Baxter’s girlfriend, Sophia Rose). “I liked the idea of the first voice on the record being me as a little kid, not knowing where I’d be today,” notes Baxter, who embedded newly unearthed audio clips of himself and his older sister Brooke all throughout the album. Graced with the combustible guitar work of his bandmate Barney Cortez, “Billy Goat” kicks up a potent tension with its restless grooves and hot-tempered gang vocals. “It’s a breakup song about being with someone who’s on a different life path—one side wants to influence the other, and inevitably you part ways,” says Baxter. From there, the album takes on a feverish momentum with “Rubberband Man,” a delightfully frenzied track channeling a wild and giddy freedom. “There’s rubber bands all over the property at Thunder Sound—in the earth, in the concrete, used as insulation for the studio,” says Baxter. “I took a mishmash of images in my head and it turned into a song about staying flexible, rolling with the punches.”

In its searching reflection on love and loss and striving for transcendence, If I Were a Butterfly reaches a quietly glorious intensity on “Tadpole”: a piano ballad threaded with childhood memories at turns oddly tender (catching frogs and crawfish in a nearby toxic creek) and nightmarish (hearing the gunshot when an across-the-street neighbor took her own life). And on “My Argentina,” If I Were a Butterfly closes out with a piano-driven and painfully raw outpouring, its starkness intermittently broken by soulful strings and gospel-esque harmonies. “One time at the studio I stayed up all night and played that song maybe 100 times; we ended up using the last take, which was recorded at about five in the morning,” says Baxter. “It’s a song that represents the thoughts one might have about a perfect love life, and I love how it ends the album in a big angelic cloud of reverb.”

For Baxter, the act of self-producing such a sonically and emotionally expansive body of work proved both exhilarating and arduous. “It really wore me out to spend all that time alone at the studio, editing the hell out of this record; my heart definitely suffered,” he says. “But I also had the guidance of my dad, who was in my dreams all the time—if I was moving too fast, I’d hear him telling me to slow down.” Another profound influence on the album-making process: the 2018 deaths of Baxter’s close friends Billy Swayze (a musician whose parents owned the rubber band company that became Thunder Sound) and Tiger Merritt (the vocalist/guitarist for Morning Teleportation, who worked with Swayze in constructing the studio). “Billy and Tiger had been going up there since 2015, and finally they turned it into a legit recording studio,” he says. “It’s a very special place to me, so they’re two of the four angels I decided to dedicate this record to.”

Even in its most somber moments, If I Were a Butterfly wholly fulfills Baxter’s mission of imparting a certain purposeful joy. “It’s been a weird few years, but I think the big picture is for us to just exist and find love and be loved, and try to see that all the daily bullshit is simply bugs on the windshield,” says Baxter. “I hope that this album makes people feel the way I do whenever I listen to my favorite records, and that it gives them a platform to dream on.”

Sunday, November 5, 2023
Creekside Play @ Hickory Nut Gap Farm
Nov 5 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Hickory Nut Gap Farm

STATIONARY FUN – Creekside play area has a treehouse and wee slide ➤ The Big Barn has our Sound Silo full of instruments to play on and make noise, trikes on the trike track around a REAL tractor and cornhole boards(ask the staff for bags) ➤ On the grassy slope behind the Big Barn we’ve got our famous and fast culvert tunnel slides for all ages, hammocks on the hill and tetherball!

Availability: All stationary fun is available every day during business hours of 10-5, starting September 2nd, through the rest of the season- tetherball will be back in action starting September 6th!

ANIMALS TO SEE – We will have a brooder house full of chicks in various ages and stages all season, there will typically be mama pigs and piglets in agritourism pens on the hill, more rarely there will be grazing cattle in a nearby field.

FOOD TRUCK SCHEDULE

9/2 Sat  11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

9/16 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck – they will be serving HNG beef for their all-American burger!

9/24 Sun 11-4 *Big Barn Market* Root Down Farm Food Truck

9/30 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck

10/7 Sat 11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

10/14 Sat 11-4 Milk & Honey Food Truck

10/15 Sun 11-4 El Bodegon Food Truck

10/22 Sun 11-4 El Bodegon Food Truck

10/29 Sun 11-4 *Big Barn Market* Grush’s Cajun Dino Grill Food Truck

11/4 Sat 11-4 Fern Leaf CCS Food Truck

FALL SEASONAL OFFERINGS

APPLES – Our partners in Edneyville, NC, Lyda Farms, bring some of the best in the region. Local and low spray, folks come every year to get the best of fall in NC by the bag to bake, stew, butter, sauce and of course, crunch into while sitting on the farm.

Availability: Apples will be available to buy starting September 9th, they will typically run out Mid to late October.

FRESH PRESSED CIDER – We press fresh apple cider every year, comprised of our historical orchard apples on the Old Sherrill’s Inn property and apples from our partner Lyda Farms. This is a raw, unpasteurized product – delicious and changeable as the season, no added sugar or seasonings.

Availability: 1st pressing September 13th, bottled cider will be in the store for purchase September 14th!

JACKOLANTERN PUMPKINS – We work with several WNC veggie farmers in the area, including Hawkins Farms. We’ll have pumpkins arranged all around the Farm Store to display their beauty AND make sure you get *just the right one*. The seeds are dynamite when roasted, too…

Availability: Coming Mid-September, they will typically run out by end of October so make sure you get yours! 

EDIBLE SQUASH & DECORATIVE GOURDS – From Mr. Anthony Cole’s farms, we have some long-lasting festive gourds to decoarate for the season, and a broad variety of edible squashes and pumpkins perfect for pies, soups and pasta.

Availability: Coming Mid-September.

Live Music for Brunch at The Exchange
Nov 5 @ 10:30 am – 1:30 pm
The Restoration Hotel Asheville

Join us for a soulful new tradition in The Exchange every Sunday with emcee, vocalist, and drummer, Lyric Jones. Savor new and classic brunch dishes to the tune of soul, jazz, and hip-hop beats from 10am to 1:30pm.

Funny Girl
Nov 5 @ 1:00 pm
Peace Concert Hall

WELCOME TO MUSICAL COMEDY HEAVEN!

Featuring one of the most iconic scores of all time by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, an updated book from Harvey Fierstein based on the original classic by Isobel Lennart, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and direction from Michael Mayer, this love letter to the theatre has the whole shebang!

The sensational Broadway revival dazzles with celebrated classic songs, including “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.” This bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened—she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session
Nov 5 @ 3:00 pm
Jack of the Wood

 

Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session 

Sundays

1 till who knows when?

Traditional Irish music is kept alive at Jack of the Wood with our unplugged Sunday session.

Jack of the Wood

95 Patton ave

Asheville, NC 28801

(828) 252.5445

http://www.jackofthewood.com/

Funny Girl
Nov 5 @ 6:30 pm
Peace Concert Hall

WELCOME TO MUSICAL COMEDY HEAVEN!

Featuring one of the most iconic scores of all time by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, an updated book from Harvey Fierstein based on the original classic by Isobel Lennart, tap choreography by Ayodele Casel, choreography by Ellenore Scott, and direction from Michael Mayer, this love letter to the theatre has the whole shebang!

The sensational Broadway revival dazzles with celebrated classic songs, including “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “I’m the Greatest Star,” and “People.” This bittersweet comedy is the story of the indomitable Fanny Brice, a girl from the Lower East Side who dreamed of a life on the stage. Everyone told her she’d never be a star, but then something funny happened—she became one of the most beloved performers in history, shining brighter than the brightest lights of Broadway.

R. Carlos Nakai + Peter Kater IN CONCERT
Nov 5 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Diana Wortham Theater

R.Carlos Nakai, of Navajo-Ute heritage, the world’s premier performer of the Native American flute, joins pianist/composer Peter Kater for two evening performances, possibly their last live performance together. Piano and Native American Flute, however an unlikely combination of instruments, when performed by two of the worlds most sensitive performers of those instruments, produces a powerful and profound musical chemistry, of an almost spiritual nature, and unlike any two instruments ever played together! Their music has been described to be of a sacred quality. Kater with two recent Grammy wins for best New Age album, produces a sound on piano often described as hypnotic and healing. Nakai approaches each performance in a ceremonial manner, singing ancient Navajo chants while playing his flutes and blowing his Eagle Bone whistle. “Every concert they have played together in Asheville, leaves audiences in absolute awe. The chemistry of these two musicians and their instruments does something to us all that is impossible to describe in words”. They have numerous recordings together over the last 30 years and have performed in Asheville 10 previous times to always SOLD OUT audiences. Their recording “Improvisations In Concert” was recorded live at their breathtaking 1995 performance at Diana Wortham Theatre. You can find samples of their music on Spotify and Amazon. Their award winning albums, Migration, Natives and Improvisations in Concert are great examples of the music you will experience at their performances.

Monday, November 6, 2023
Give Local for Early Education
Nov 6 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Ginger's Revenge Craft Brewery & Tasting Room

Support young children and their families! Join us for a celebration of early education, early literacy, and community. We’re collecting donations through MountainXpress’s Give!Local campaign. We’ll be at Ginger’s Revenge with door prizes, camaraderie, and delicious beverages