Southbound Turnaround was formed in 2011 through the friendship of Scotty Lanning (Crank County Daredevils) and Sam Gunlach, two singer/songwriters with a great respect for traditional country music. Scotty craved to mix his influence of the hard sounds of rock n roll/rockabilly/country music of the 60′s & 70′s of Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty and Freddy Fender, with Sams influence of the smoke filled bar room sounds of Merle Haggard, George Jones and Buck Owens. The two decided to split the spotlight and both front the extremely versatile and entertaining Asheville based Honky Tonk band.

Joined by a father/son team of Pedal Steel and Saxophone (Scott Murray & Logan Murray) and a thunderous dance hall rhythm section (Adam Kowalski & Rich Nelson), the Southbound Turnaround sound borrows from country, western, rockabilly,and early 1960 era RnB. Known for playing 3+ hour sets, this 6 piece dance hall Honkabilly band is sure to set the dance floor on fire with original classics that make you sing along, cut a rug and want to stomp a hole through your boot!

Southbound Turnaround has shared the stage with: Dale Watson, Junior Brown, Wayne Hancock, JP Harris, Billy Don Burns, Carolina Still, and has had rave reviews for their debut festival appearances in Winston Salem at Heavy Rebel Weekender and in Charlotte at the Cash Bash.

reverbnation.com/southboundturnaroundband

Hammond B3 virtuoso Ike Stubblefield is a music industry legend. With almost 50 years in the business, you may think he’s seen and done it all, but he’s just getting started.

He cut his teeth backing Motown legends like the Four Tops, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves, Stevie Wonder and Rare Earth. He lent his soulful R&B style to Al Green, Ike & Tina Turner, Curtis Mayfield, B.B. King, The Pointer Sisters and George Benson, and helped create the classic B3 sound that others would imitate for generations to come. In 2010, he collaborated with Grammy-winning Atlanta soul man Cee Lo Green, recording organ and keyboards on 9 tracks.

These days, the B3 icon and mini-Moog master stays busy jamming with Papa Mali in New Orleans, rocking with Big Hat in Nashville and producing out of his Atlanta studio.

ikestubblefield.com

Yoga practice with the kids. Find your center together.

$5 entry fee. Please bring your own mat. This will be a family oriented yoga practice aimed at relaxing and rejuvenating the whole family. We will practice basic asana (postures), pranayama (breathing) and meditation in a fun and engaging method.

Children under 2 free.

Mention folk music to the average listener and the list of usual suspects come to mind: Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Woodie Guthrie, etc. Talk to SOJA lead singer/guitarist Jacob Hemphill, however, and you’ll walk away with a different perspective. “To me, Rage Against The Machine, Wu -Tang Clan, Sade, Johnny Cash, Bob Marley – they’re all folk artists,” he says. “There’s no difference between Raekwon saying, ‘I grew up on the crime side, the New York Times side, where staying alive was no jive,’ to Bob Marley saying, ‘Cold ground was my bed last night and rock was my pillow, too,’ to Johnny Cash saying, ‘I know I had it coming, I know I can’t be free, but those people keep on moving (around) and that’s what tortures me.’ Folk is all about storytelling and passing on a legacy. It’s timeless, it’s limitless and it crosses all boundaries. That’s what this band is striving for. It’s a tall order,” he laughs, “but we’re making our way.”

They’re raising the bar with Strength to Survive, their fourth full-length album, an intoxicating mix of hot-rod reggae grooves and urgent, zeitgeist-capturing themes. The album, produced by John Alagia (Dave Matthews, John Mayer, O.A.R.), will be the band’s first for ATO, the label co-founded by Dave Matthews.

sojamusic.com

Originally from Maine, and now a resident of Austin, Texas, Patty Griffin has had a tremendous influence across all genres of music. After her sparse and acoustic 1996 debut, Living With Ghosts, artists began covering Griffin’s songs immediately. Among the many artists who’ve recorded her songs since are the Dixie Chicks, Bette Midler, and Emmylou Harris. Her latest album, Children Running Through (ATO Records), is her most successful to date, and continues the remarkable creative evolution that’s quietly established Patty Griffin as a vital and original force.

pattygriffin.com

After five studio albums and countless tours around the globe, the Dillinger Escape Plan has earned much respect among fans and critics worldwide. With accomplishments such as coverage in mass media from the Rolling Stone to the New York Times, Billboard chart status, and performances on net work television such as Late night with Conan O’Brien, the Dillinger Escape Plan is often named one of the most important bands to have emerged over the last decade.

dillingerescapeplan.org

The roller rink is cracked. Summer is seeping in. The lacquered floor boards are all warped, but the disco ball spins. Ladies and gentlemen, Black Moth Super Rainbow has left the woods, and the man called Tobacco lords over a gang of demon skaters from the DJ booth of some greased up auditorium in a lost corner of Pittsburg. The band’s fifth LP Cobra Juicy declares death to hippies, excising all things flower power and tightening up what sprawl there was into a nastily bright pile of fuzzed guitar, live bass, hot synths and stubby rhythms—eleven pieces of hard candy licked, dipped in dirt, and wrapped up for you.

blackmothsuperrainbow.com

Bring your own food and have a picnic! Great beer specials and bottles of wine available!

The Big Lebowski is a 1998 dark comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, nicknamed “The Dude.” After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named Jeffrey Lebowski. When the millionaire Lebowski‘s trophy wife is later kidnapped, he commissions The Dude to deliver the ransom to secure her release. The plan goes awry when The Dude‘s friend Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) schemes to keep the full ransom. Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore, Tara Reid, and John Turturro also star in the film, which is narrated by a cowboy known only as “The Stranger“, played by Sam Elliott.

Here’s how you know you’ve made it in the music business: You’ve stayed strong for three decades on your own terms, on your own time, by your own rules, and over that time your influence has only grown. Each of your albums has been stronger than your last. You’ve been brought onstage by Bruce Springsteen, because he wanted to play one of your songs. You’ve seen high times and low ones, good days and tragic days, but every night you give 100%, and every morning you wake up still swinging.

This is the short version of the Social Distortion bio — the long version could be a 10-part mini-series. But over the past 30 years, the punk godfathers in the band have all but trademarked their sound, a brand of hard rockabilly/punk that’s cut with the melodic, road-tested lyrics of frontman Mike Ness. Their searing guitars and a locomotive rhythm section sound as alive today as they did in ’82, as do Ness‘ hard-luck tales of love, loss and lessons learned. “The most common thing I hear is, ‘Man, your music got me through some hard times,’” Ness says. “And I just say, ‘Me too.’”

socialdistortion.com

Laughing Skull is the largest and best comedy venue in Atlanta. Nationally renowned, it plays host to the biggest names in the comedy scene.

laughingskulllounge.com

While the city of Los Angeles has been both an inspiration and a home to the four members of Dawes, they found themselves traveling East last fall to record their third album in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with newly enlisted producer Jacquire King.  It was a chance to hunker down and work each day for a month away from familiar landmarks and routines. The tracks they laid down at Asheville’s Echo Mountain Studio have yielded a 12-song disc of tremendous sonic and narrative clarity, book-ended in classic album fashion by two very different versions of the wistful “Just Beneath The Surface” – a misleading title, really, since the songs stacked in between dig so deep. Stories Don’t End is not so much a departure from the quartet’s previous efforts as a distillation of them. It spotlights the group’s maturing skills as arrangers, performers and interpreters who shape the raw material supplied by chief songwriter and lead vocalist Taylor Goldsmith into an artfully concise and increasingly soulful sound.

dawestheband.blogspot.com

Detroit. Willesden. Olympos, on the Greek island of Karpathos. “The inside of our skulls”. These are the places that make up Holy Fire, Foals third album, their most direct and fully realized album yet. Foals have stepped up from, as Yannis puts it, “songs for indie clubs” to something much, much bigger. Their third album might not sound like Depeche Mode or Nine Inch Nails, but it has much of the same ambitious spirit and grandiose aesthetic that led to those groups touching the lives of millions. This is the sound of Foals arriving.

It’s all a long way from the group’s early years in Oxford, where Yannis Philippakis, Jack Bevan, Walter Gervers, Edwin Congreave and Jimmy Smith convened after spells in various well regarded bands such as The Edmund Fitzgerald, whose intricacies were a league away from the Libertines-influenced indie skiffle and American garage rock that dominated at the time. Debut album Antidotes (2004) attempted to capture the live energy and sense of spontaneity that had made Foals one of the most sought-after live acts in the UK. 2007 follow-up Total Life Forever was a surprise to many (Foals never sit still for long) dealing in more expansive, eloquent sounds and a more mellow feel inspired in part by Foals‘ long-time enthusiasm for weed. Now, as they approach their 30s, Foals are moving on from the “kind of lost boys club element to how we’ve lived for the past six years” to make their best music yet.

www.foals.co.uk

It has been nearly two years since world-renowned guitarist John McLaughlin released To the One, his highly acclaimed, first studio recording, with The 4th Dimension. The veteran guitar aficionado celebrates his 70th birthday year with the announcement of Now Here This (Abstract Logix) set for release on October 18th as he ups-the-ante even further with greater fire, finesse and freewheeling interplay.

McLaughlin’s musical influences carry over to many of the musical elite also declaring him to be “the best guitarist alive,” as Jeff Beck mused in 2010. In 2003, McLaughlin was ranked 49th in Rolling Stone magazine list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and in the summer of 2007, McLaughlin performed at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival in Bridgeview, Illinois. Chick Corea remarked to DownBeat Magazine that “…what John McLaughlin did with the electric guitar set the world on its ear. No one ever heard an electric guitar played like that before, and it certainly inspired me. John‘s band, more than my experience with Miles, led me to want to turn the volume up and write music that was more dramatic and made your hair stand on end.”

johnmclaughlin.com

Kottke‘s 1971 major-label debut, “Mudlark,” positioned him somewhat uneasily in the singer/songwriter vein, despite his own wishes to remain an instrumental performer. Still, despite arguments with label heads as well as with Bruce, Kottke flourished during his tenure on Capitol, as records like 1972′s “Greenhouse” and 1973′s live “My Feet Are Smiling” and “Ice Water” found him branching out with guest musicians and honing his guitar technique.

With 1975′s Chewing Pine, Kottke reached the U.S. Top 30 for the second time; he also gained an international following thanks to his continuing tours in Europe and Australia.

His collaboration with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, “Clone,” caught audiences’ attention in 2002. Kottke and Gordon followed with a recording in the Bahamas called “Sixty Six Steps,” produced by Leo‘s old friend and Prince producer David Z.

Kottke has been awarded two Grammy nominations; a Doctorate in Music Performance by the Peck School of Music at the U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and a Certificate of Significant Achievement in Not Playing the Trombone from the U of Texas at Brownsville with Texas Southmost College.

leokottke.com

Since 2002, Abbey Road LIVE! has been rocking the music of the Beatles at clubs, theatres, festivals, and private events. Initially a tribute to the monumental “Abbey Road” album, the band has expanded its scope to include more than 100 Beatles tunes, from all eras of the Fab Four’s career. The band specializes in complete, start-to-finish album performances of masterpieces such as “Abbey Road“, “Magical Mystery Tour“, “Rubber Soul“, “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band“.

Abbey Road LIVE! is not your typical Beatles look-alike tribute act; don’t expect mop-top haircuts and vintage Rickenbacker guitars. Rather, this show is about bringing to life some of the more mature and complex Beatles material in a raw & spirited fashion, while remaining true to the original recordings. Combining attention to detail with a creative exuberance, the band always delights its audiences with its diverse repertoire of hits and more obscure favorites.

abbeyroadlive.com

“Shooter Jennings is the gifted creation of Waylon and Jessi Colter, two of the truest stars in Country Music. In his newest CD, The Other Life, he continues to go his own way and speak his own words as passionately and absolutely as original as his parents. Powerful, hard-rocking grooves on A Hard Lesson and The White Trash Song; heart and soulful Wild and Lonesome and The Other Life, the tough truthfulness of The Low Road and Mama, It’s just My Medicine, the proud self-portrait of The Outsider, to the in-your-face, Gunslinger … somewhere Waylon’s smiling.”–Kris Kristofferson

“Shooter is one of my favorite young artists. I am sure Waylon would be proud of him.”–Willie Nelson

shooterjennings.com

DVBBS’ inspired debut single, “DRVGS,” made waves and raves from the moment the single dropped in the spring. Since then DVBBS has had a momentous career packed with an explosion of live dates and North American festival performances supporting top artists and DJ’s such as Deadmau5, LMFAO, Calvin Harris, Rusko, Eric Prydz, Dada Life, Borgore, Adventure Club, Dragonette, Steve Aoki, Far East Movement, and Carnage.

Singer/songwriter Jamey Johnson is just as comfortable mopping up the tears on the barroom floor with an old Hank Williams-style ballad as he is tearing the roof off with a honky tonk juggernaut. The Alabama native and former Marine rose to the top of the Nashville food chain through blood, sweat, and tears. Being raised in a devout and deeply musical family helped the new traditionalist find his voice, but it wasn’t until he moved to Music City that the world began to take notice. After laying low for nearly a year, he began appearing at songwriter nights, where he met other writers. As his peers began securing publishing deals, they would ask Johnson to sing on their demos. In 2002, mutual friend and songwriter Randy Hardison turned producer/songwriter Buddy Cannon on to Johnson — the two became close friends and allies after Hardison’s death later in the year. Johnson’s next convert was publisher Gary Overton, who signed the budding songwriter to EMI. In April of 2005, Johnson signed a record contract with BNA and released his debut, The Dollar, in January of 2006. After a tour supporting the album, he was dropped from the label. He and his wife separated, then divorced, sending Johnson into seclusion for a year before he re-emerged, renewed and ready to begin work on a new album. Two major labels showed interest, but it was the Universal imprint Mercury that signed the artist and released his album That Lonesome Song in August of 2008. The first single off the album, “In Color,” reached number nine on the Billboard Country chart, followed by “The High Cost of Living,” which peaked at number 34. The album was certified gold. At the 2009 Country Music Association Awards, Johnson won Song of the Year for “In Color,” and was nominated for various other honors. He followed up his success with an ambitious double album called The Guitar Song in the fall of 2010, preceded by the single “Playing the Part.” The album, its singles and videos, gained nearly universal critical acclaim and sold exceptionally well, particularly for a double album. Johnson followed it in the fall of 2012 with Livin’ for a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran, which featured a slew of guests including Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Merle Haggard, Leon Russell, and Kris Kristofferson.

jameyjohnson.com

To his point, Ice Cube has stood out throughout his remarkable career. His ability to adapt to new trends and styles and put his twist on them without losing his own identity puts him in an elite class of recording artists of any genre. With the bouncy “Sic Them Youngins On ‘Em,” he showcases an undulating delivery that counters his typically stoic, commanding flow.

That type of artistic alchemy also allows Ice Cube to craft a song like “The Big Show,” where he lets the world know that in the real world, he’s going to remain true to himself regardless of whom he’s interacting with. “I just be myself man, and you’ve just got to take it or leave it, whether you’re the homie in the hood or Obama,” he says. “You’ve just got to take me how I am. Where I come from, it makes me real equipped to deal with everybody.”

As a multi-media juggernaut, Ice Cube has built a career that remains robust, if difficult to categorize. “It’s hard to define,” he says. “My brand, if I could put it in a nutshell, is I believe that I’m a solid artist. I always go back to that word solid. Solid like a Harley Davidson is solid. I hope people trust that when I put my name on something that it’s not just garbage. I’m not just throwing it at you. I’m trying to give you an experience.”

And he’s excelled at that, time and time again.

icecubemusic.com

In 1996, arena rock superstars Journey put the band back together to record their tenth studio album, Trial by Fire. Shortly after the release of this reunion album lead singer and signature voice, Steve Perry injured himself while training for what was to be a high energy road show. With Steve Perry unable to perform, the Trial by Fire tour became “the tour that never happened”.   Imagine if Steve Perry had never injured himself on that fateful day. What would the Trial by Fire tour look like?

Flash forward to the present. TRIAL BY FIRE is born out of the hearts of five seasoned Charlotte NC – based musicians who have decided to answer that question. It is their vision to bring that 1996 tour to Journey fans across the country… to embrace the sound and visuals of the Steve Perry era of Journey.

Prepare to let TRIAL BY FIRE take you back to an earlier day when lighters were held high, and you couldn’t help but sing along to such powerful choruses as “Don’t Stop Believin’”, “Wheel in the Sky”, and “Lights”.

trialbyfirejourney.net

Bromelia is a small collective of dancers and aerialists exploring the intersection of land and sky. Rooted in both circus and modern dance technique, Bromelia‘s choreography is incredibly unique.

Bromelia Aerial Dance Collective is named after the plant family Bromeliaceae, which includes Spanish Moss and Pineapple. Many plants from this family are able to take their food and water directly from the air.

When not creating and performing new and strange full length shows, the Collective is available for private, non-profit, and holiday performances. We love parties! And we love benefits too! Please contact us to find out how we can collaborate.

batty4.wix.com/bromeliadance

Bromelia is a small collective of dancers and aerialists exploring the intersection of land and sky. Rooted in both circus and modern dance technique, Bromelia‘s choreography is incredibly unique.

Bromelia Aerial Dance Collective is named after the plant family Bromeliaceae, which includes Spanish Moss and Pineapple. Many plants from this family are able to take their food and water directly from the air.

When not creating and performing new and strange full length shows, the Collective is available for private, non-profit, and holiday performances. We love parties! And we love benefits too! Please contact us to find out how we can collaborate.

batty4.wix.com/bromeliadance

Andrew McMahon‘s spirit always shined through in both Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin. However, audiences will get to know him like never before on his forthcoming solo EP, The Pop Underground.

McMahon remains a versatile and vibrant singer. With emo pioneers Something Corporate, he released an EP and two acclaimed full-length albums that served as cornerstones of an entire scene from 1998 until the outfit disbanded in 2004. The catalog was celebrated with a 2010 reunion that sold out numerous dates across the states as well as appearances at Bamboozle and other festivals.

Meanwhile, Jack’s Mannequin showed another side of this enigmatic songwriter, and fans and tastemakers immediately fell in love with their sound on the 2005 debut, Everything In Transit. However, 2008′s The Glass Passenger established the group as a powerful presence, debuting at #8 on the Billboard Top 200 and moving over 49,000 units first week. McMahon would go on to grace the cover of Alternative Press during the album cycle, with Twilight Saga author Stephanie Meyer co-directing the music video for “The Resolution“. Then, the final Jack’s Mannequin release People and Things debuted at #9 on the Billboard Top 200 rounding out this unforgettable triumvirate of albums.

andrewmcmahon.com

Voted one of Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch,” Ralphie May recently released his record-setting fourth one-hour special for Comedy Central titled “Too Big To Ignore,” proving that his relatable comedic genius is in higher demand than ever. The special is currently available on DVD from Image Entertainment. Later this year, he’ll be releasing a vintage recording on vinyl, taped in Houston, TX in 1998. He will also be coming out with his own line of barbecue sauce called “Fat Baby Jesus” timed for Valentine’s Day.

Since his debut on season one of “Last Comic Standing,” audiences can’t get enough of the larger than life comedian. Ralphie has a proven track record of selling out multiple shows in 1,500 to 3,000 seat venues. He has a no nonsense point of view and the ability to connect with a diverse audience by pointing out society’s hypocrisies. Ralphie doesn’t shy away from touchy topics or ethnic jokes, nor does he bite his tongue when society suggests, because he sincerely believes that as long as what he’s saying is true, people need to hear it.

ralphiemay.com

Souls of Mischief is a hip hop group from Oakland, California, that is also part of the hip hop collective Hieroglyphics. The Souls of Mischief formed in 1991 and is composed of emcees A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai.

hieroglyphics.com/site.php?id=/artists/souls-of-mischief

When Monty Python’s Eric Idle created the fictional band “Toad the Wet Sprocket” for the program “Rutland Weekend Television” in 1975, he never dreamed that anyone would actually use such a silly name. Fast forward to 1986, when four California teens desperately needed to come up with a name to call their band for an upcoming gig at a Goleta, CA watering hole called The Shack.

Since that day, “Toad the Wet Sprocket” has been the name of the four piece California rock band consisting of lead singer Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss. From 1989-1998, they made 5 studio albums which combined sold over four million copies, had five major radio hits, and won over audiences across North America and Europe.

After breaking up in 1998, Toad would get together sporadically to play shows on a casual basis, but their hard core fans never gave up hope for a new album. After successful tours in 2006-2010, the band finally decided to put the last piece of the puzzle in place, and committed to working together on new music. They also decided to update their classic catalog, and created a new Greatest Hits album “All You Want”, which came out in 2011.

Toad the Wet Sprocket are currently in the studio with producer Mikal Blue, and fans can look forward to a new release and extensive tour in 2013.

toadthewetsprocket.com

AIA Asheville presents “Architecture between Mountain and Valley”, a talk by award winning architect, Marlon Blackwell, FAIA.  Blackwell practices in Fayetteville, Arkansas and is head of the School of Architecture at the University of Arkansas.  His firm in the Ozark Mountains creates exciting, and sustainable buildings. This event will inspire all who are interested in great design, and is open to the public.

aiaasheville.org

Zoso – The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience formed in 1995 to perform the most accurate and captivating Led Zeppelin live show since the real thing. For Zoso, it’s much more than just being a tribute. It’s about touching a golden era in music. Zoso embodies Page, Plant, Bonham and Jones in their spirit, tightly-wound talent and authenticity. Each band member has been carefully selected to portray both the appearance and playing styles of their Led Zeppelin counterparts. In eighteen successful years of touring, they have perfected their art. As one of the longest tenured Zeppelin tributes, Zoso‘s 2400 live shows around the world, including slots at major festivals such as Bonnaroo and Rib America Fest, have established them as the most traveled and successful band in the market. Zoso‘s live shows are not about simply playing the right notes, they are about aura and feeling, harkening back to the unique atmosphere Led Zeppelin created. It’s in the way they play: Each band member’s mastery of authentic vintage instruments coupled with spot-on vocals, guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, their compelling stage persona and distinct Led Zeppelin sound, with astounding visual imagery recreates the music, magic, and mystery of a Zeppelin concert. The impact is so powerful that band members constantly hear from young rockers that they were the catalyst behind turning them into new, die-hard Zeppelin fans.

zosoontour.com

Recreating the look, sound, and attitude of: Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler. Note for Note Re-creation of songs from the entire GnR catalog including: Sweet Child of Mine, Welcome To The Jungle, Paradise City, Patience, November Rain, Don’t Cry, Civil War, You Could Be Mine, Live and Let Die, Knockin on Heavens Door, Nightrain, Rocket Queen, Out to Get Me, Used To Love Her, Mama Kin, My Michelle, It’s So Easy, Mr Brownstone, You’re Crazy, and many more. notquitegnr.net

Recreating the look, sound, and attitute of: Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, and Mick Mars. Note for Note Re-creation of songs from the entire Motley catalog including: KickStart My Heart, Home Sweet Home, Girls Girls Girls, Wild Side, Dr Feelgood, Don’t Go Away Mad, Same Ol Situation, Smokin in the Boys Room, Shout At the Devil, Looks That Kill, Ten Seconds To Love, LiveWire, Too Fast For Love, Primal Scream, Anarchy in the UK, and many more. redwhiteandcrue.us

Recreating the look, sound, and attitude of: Bret Michaels, CC Deville, Rikki Rockett, and Bobby Dall. Note for Note Re-creation of songs from the entire Poison catalog including: Every Rose Has It’s Thorn, Talk Dirty To Me, Nothing But a Good Time, I Won’t Forget You, Ride The Wind, Fallen Angel, Something To Believe In, I Want Action, Cry Tough, Unskinny Bop and many more. poisond.us

You’re Welcome!  The Yacht Rock Revue™ is the Greatest Show on Surf and the finest tribute to ‘70s light rock to ever perform anywhere.  Ever.  Their spot-on renditions of Hall & Oates, Michael McDonald, Steely Dan, and the rest of the Time-Life Infomercial Catalog have enthralled fans across the United States.  It goes without saying they have taken their act to the high seas, performing showcase sets on music cruises with Weezer, Kid Rock, Train, Zac Brown Band, Sister Hazel, and fitness guru Jillian Michaels.

By blurring the lines between a tribute, an original act, and a comedic troupe, the Yacht Rock Revue™ has forged a unique niche market and a special bond with their fans.  The band attacks each song as if it were their own, and the energy exchanged between the band and the crowd has more in common with a stadium U2 show than that of a typical bar band.

pleaserock.com/tributes/yacht-rock-revue

Vocal sensations and winners of season 3 of NBC’s The Sing-Off, Pentatonix are taking instrument-free music far beyond anyone’s wildest expectations.  Named after the world’s most widely recognized five-note musical scale, this vocal quintet has transformed one of pop music’s purest and most soulful expressions into an exciting future, filled with limitless sonic possibility.  Pairing their intricate arrangements with cleverly re-imagined pop songs, Pentatonix have quickly cultivated a sound and style that is entirely unique and undeniably infectious.

Pentatonix is comprised of lead vocalists Scott Hoying (21), Kirstie Maldonado (20) and Mitch Grassi (20), vocal bass Avi Kaplan (23) and beatboxer Kevin “K.O.” Olusola (24) and, while the individuals would maintain that each of their fellow band members is irreplaceable, the fact remains that 24-hours before their audition for The Sing-Off they still hadn’t all officially met.

ptxofficial.com

How many times have you heard someone complain that contemporary rap music lacks its modern day Public Enemy equivalent? You’ve probably said it yourself. We all have. But we need to stop. Yeah, Public Enemy is inviolate and irreplaceable, but Killer Mike’s R.A.P. Music is the closest we’re going to get to an ideal soundtrack for a Do the Right Thing remake.

It’s no surprise that the beats come from Brooklyn, courtesy of El-P, a hip hop artist, producer and entrepreneur who is the borough’s resident laureate of urban apocalypse. Snares crash like abandoned buildings being blown up. Synthesizers ooze with a diseased glow of something dying in a toxic water supply. The effect is like a futuristic junkyard come to life. In the midst of the decay of post-industrial New York, Killer Mike, hip-hop inferno, pours fuel on the already inflamed.

definitivejux.net

adultswim.com/music/killer-mike-rap-music

Twenty five years after winning a Best New Artist Grammy and launching one of contemporary music’s most diverse and collaborative careers, Bruce Hornsby is still, blissfully, making joyful noise—and finding clever, expansive ways to chronicle the dynamic musical snapshots along the journey. Now comes the release of Bride Of The Noisemakers–an ambitious 25 track, double CD chronicling 2007-2009 live performances of some of the singer/songwriter and pianist’s hand-picked songs of the past 20 years.  The songs are recorded live capturing the playful, freewheeling spirit and unique chemistry of his longtime band The Noisemakers.

The Noisemakers consists of bassist J.V. Collier (who has played with Hornsby 17 years), keyboardist/organist John “JT” Thomas (21 years), saxophonist flutist Bobby Read (18 years), guitarist/mandolin player Doug Derryberry (13 years) and drummer Sonny Emory (the relative newcomer of the bunch, nine years).  Released eleven years after Here Come The Noisemakers, a double-CD live document of the group’s early years (with original drummer Michael Baker), Bride Of The Noisemakers is a powerful expression of how the group sounds today.

brucehornsby.com

Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt met on a Saturday night in February 2009. It was, Aino says quite reasonably, “the best thing that ever happened”. So the day after the best thing that ever happened happened, these two girls from the Stockholm suburbs formed a electronic pop duo band, and on the Monday – when the hangovers had cleared and it still all seemed like the best thing that had ever happened – they booked their first gig – Icona Pop was born. This felt all very well, but then they realised they had four weeks until their gig, but no songs.

Autumn of 2011, Icona Pop moved from Stockholm to London, and with an album ready to go the tunes are in no short supply. Icona Pop says: “We like galloping drums, and synthesisers, but we still like the classical pop melodies. And that’s ‘what we are’. We don’t have to decide, because there’s no decision to be made. We just have to do exactly what we want.”

In the intervening years they’ve working with The Knocks (voted one of NME’s hottest production outfits of the hour), Patrik Berger (Robyn), Elof Loelv (Niki & The Dove), Fredrik Berger (The Good Natured) and Style of Eye, as well as sessions with UK producers like Starsmith (Kylie, Ellie Goulding) and Burns. Their Neon Gold-released double a-side single ‘Manners’ / ‘Top Rated’ prompted journals like NME and The Guardian say things along the lines of “effortlessly cool” and “all the makings of a 24-carat pop hit”, and the duo have perfected their live show, too – that first performance back in 2009 went rather well, all things considered, while their first London gig was impressive enough to bag them a management deal with Artist Company TEN, the team behind Niki & The Dove and Erik Hassle.

iconapop.com

Mastodon have never really done anything the “conventional” way. The Atlanta-based band formulated their own brand of highly-skilled hard rock over a decade ago when others were rehashing 80s metal, and went on to mastermind a string of complex concept albums while much of the music world was centered on making digestible singles. The fact that Mastodon has received an outpouring of critical kudos along with public praise from respected icons from Metallica to The Melvins, The Flaming Lips and CeeLo Green and back, they’ve been humbled by the magnitude of appreciation. But rather than taking time to revel, they prefer to focus their attention on pushing musical boundaries even deeper by exploring their own creative process to the fullest.

mastodonrocks.com

The Hurry and The Harm is Green’s fourth release as City and Colour and follows 2011’s Little Hell, which received widespread critical and commercial praise. The album debuted at #1 on Canada’s Top 200 Chart, #28 in the U.S., #2 in Australia and top 40 in the U.K. and went on to be certified RIAA Platinum in Canada and RIAA Gold in Australia. Moreover, Spin magazine asserts, “Just as his piercing voice and languid tunes echo Neil Young’s rustic side, a Neil-like tough-mindedness runs through Green’s stark meditations,” while NPR’s “World Café” praises, “blends folk, country and blues to create a mood designed to commiserate and uplift.”

cityandcolour.com

Deeply rooted in Funk and fully committed to the ongoing evolution of the genre, the Booty Band has a sound that is unique yet has the power and soul to create lasting melodies and seismic rhythms.

The group has been together for a full decade, performing well over 150 shows and completing three to four national tours each year. With a new album in the works at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC (projected release date: March 2013), a remix album entitled Re-Doin’ It Hard debuting this August, and Fall tour in full swing, they are certainly artists to watch. Re-Doin‘ It Hard features some of the band’s favorite DJ‘s including Agent 23 (GFE and Secret Agent 23 Skidoo), DJ leSpam (Spam Allstars), and Lee “InstaFunk” Allen (Booty Band and Eymarel) adding their distinctive perspectives to select tracks from their new album.

Doin’ It Hard, their sophomore studio release, is a reflection of the Booty Band’s approach to music, touring, performing, and to life in general. Recorded at City of Progress Studios in Miami, FL under the cultivated ear of DJ leSpam, Doin’ It Hard is Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band – next-generation, redefined for a new decade. Doin’ It Hard hit the streets on March 27th 2012 and is available in 12” vinyl, compact disc, and digital download.

nu.bootyband.com

After 20 years in the music biz, self-described “Little Folksinger” Ani DiFranco is still technically little, although her influence on fellow musicians, activists, and indie-minded people the world over has been huge. She still proudly identifies as a folksinger, too, but her understanding of that term has always been far more expansive than a bin at the record store or a category on iTunes, with ample room for soul, funk, jazz, electronic music, spoken word, and a marching band or two. Over the course of more than 20 albums, including the live double-CD Living in Clip (1997) and the two-disc career retrospective Canon (2007), as well as her latest, ¿Which Side are You On? (2012), Ani has never stopped evolving, experimenting, testing the limits of what can be said and sung. Her lifelong tribe of co-conspirators includes everyone from Pete Seeger and the late Utah Phillips to a new generation of twentysomething singer-songwriters who grew up with her songs and shows—and then there’s the motley crew of folks like Prince, Maceo Parker, Andrew Bird, Dr. John, Arto Lindsay, Bruce Springsteen, Chuck D, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Gillian Welch, Cyndi Lauper, and even Burmese activist and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, with whom she has crossed paths in a myriad of ways.

righteousbabe.com

Everything Walk The Moon does is infused with a playful spirit, from their radiant live shows, where the crowd often coalesces into one joyful, pogo-ing mass, to the songs the band are currently recording for their debut album. The music brims with sparkling synth-heavy pop hooks, chanted melodies, sunny harmonies, and agile polyrhythmic grooves — a sound influenced by the New Wave stylings of their favorite artists Talking Heads, David Bowie, and The Police. “We started describing it as an ‘indie-pop fiesta’ and that kind of stuck,” says singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Nicholas Petricca.

Launched in 2008 by Petricca, Walk The Moon has steadily made a name for itself as an unsigned band over the last few years, attracting a broad mix of fans who have happily submitted to a pre-show face-painting ritual conducted by band members to get everyone into the communal spirit of the event. “Sometimes it’s like, ‘Dude, what are you doing here? How have you heard of us?’” marvels guitarist Eli Maiman. “But they’re there, they’ve got face paint on, and they’re playing air guitar. It’s awesome. We just create the music we love and hope that other people love it, too.”

walkthemoonband.com

Irony is a part of life. Though the music business may at times have nothing to do with “real” life, irony is a part of the biz. Just ask singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis. Shuggie Otis, for those not familiar with him through David Byrne’s heroic disinterment of his 1974 album, Inspiration Information or through his authorship of the wonderful Strawberry Letter 23 – is the son of legendary R ‘n’ B bandleader Johnny Otis. A musical prodigy he was playing with his father by the time he was 13 and from the word go displayed an uncanny mastery of the blues guitar.

shuggieotismusic.com