HOLLER CHOIR

06/15/2024

Visulite Theatre (16+ (Must have ID) - Under 16 with Parent Only)

Doors open at 07:00 PM / Show starts at 08:00 PM

Tickets are $15.00 advanced / $20.00 day of show

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Led by the lyrical craftsmanship of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Clint Roberts, the distinctly Appalachian, old-time sound of Asheville’s Holler Choir combines haunting harmonies, stirring string compositions, and heart-wrenching ballads, yet hardly conforms to a stereotypical genre. Call it a confluence of old-time, Americana, and bluegrass, but, by its own exceptional design, the sound and atmosphere of Holler Choir are singular. Robert’s wordcraft and explosive vocal range is met with the dulcet clawhammer banjo plucking of long-time collaborator Helena Rose and the sturdy timekeeping of upright bassist Norbert McGettigan. With a rotating cast of gifted musicians featured on Holler Choir’s recordings and electrifying live performances, it’s no wonder they are the band to watch in 2023.

The band's inception began when recording Robert’s 2022 solo release, entitled “Mountain Air”. That fortuitous collaboration of gifted roots musicians at Asheville’s Crossroads Studios proved to be the genesis of an unmistakable new sound built on that shared experience. Produced by Grammy award-winning multi-instrumentalist, Michael Ashworth, of The Steep Canyon Rangers, the five-song EP lit the fuse and Holler Choir was well on its way to delight audiences throughout the southeast and beyond.

For their debut full-length record, “Songs Before They Write Themselves,” Holler Choir again teamed up with producer Michael Ashworth. Set for release in summer of 2023, the album was tracked in the historic Echo Mountain Studio’s church room and boasts the engineering prowess of Jason Richmond (Avett Brothers, Rising Appalachia), and was mastered by Grammy Award- winning engineer, Kim Rosen.

According to Roberts “Holler Choir” could be a double entendre. A choir that hollers, or a choir from the hollers of western North Carolina. What their sound and vision exude leaves the meaning up to you.

hollerchoir.com

ROSE HOTEL

Rose Hotel’s label debut A Pawn Surrender sees Atlanta-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Reynolds claiming her agency with a 10-song set of nuanced indie-rock songcraft that pulls from a palette of psychedelic shimmer and folk influence via her Southeastern roots. With a drive to pay homage to the legends of the art form, she uses the trappings of psychedelic rock not as source material, but as ornamentation, as she explores relationships, feminine rage, lust, temptation, blissful ignorance, frightening apathy, delusions, and illusions.

Where 2019’s I Will Only Come When It’s a Yes presented a coming-of-age tale, A Pawn Surrender nourishes the garden of adulthood with a cohesive but genre-spanning approach that Reynolds was empowered to achieve through a chess metaphor: “I was playing a lot of chess when I wrote this album, so I started to think about these songs as if they were all different pieces on the board representing varying aspects of my songwriting, personality, and experience. Each piece has its own specific purpose and its own strength to utilize, but you can't play the game with only your queen or your knights, or whatever. That became such a comforting idea and ethos to operate within – not just accepting variety but finding its inherent value. I went into the studio without any fear of being all over the board. I wanted to be limitless in letting my influences shine through the music in different ways. The throughline of Rose Hotel is my lyricism and my voice, but musically, I wanted to stretch out."

A Pawn Surrender is set to release on June 7, 2024 via Strolling Bones Records.

rosehotelmusic.com

SPENCER THOMAS OF FUTUREBIRDS

Start time: 08:00 PM

The songs on Spencer Thomas’ new LP, The Joke of Life, (out May 17, 2024), much like a good joke, are many-layered. His talent is immediately obvious, with sleek composition and production throughout. There’s a nostalgic, everyman flair to his music that doesn’t hang on the influences of the past, but uses them as a guiding light to elevate his voice.

Songwriting reminiscent of Warren Zevon’s later work takes the helm as Thomas examines the gap that can be left between the expectations of life and the sometimes tenuous reality. Songs like “Misty Eyes”, “Fake Rain” and the album’s title track “The Joke of Life” present light-hearted, even laughable, acceptance of the often undesirable cards we’re dealt. The album chronicles a period of change and rebirth for Spencer, who is no stranger to the open road. Beneath the album’s more obvious virtues is a wit and longing borne from the experiences and struggles of a working-class musician.

“The Joke of Life”, was recorded over the last three years with the help of a veritable “who’s who” of the Athens music scene and beyond, including members of My Morning Jacket, Drive-By Truckers, Reptar, Heffner and Futurebirds, for which he is the current touring keyboard player.

spencerthomassongs.com