Andy the Doorbum: Musical Reconstruction
By John Schacht Charlotte songwriter Andy the Doorbum defies Southern stereotypes by embracing some, rejecting others and creating new ones With his lawless mane of dirty-blond locks, the sort of facial kudzu familiar from photos of Civil War officers, and a penchant for posing wild-eyed with firearms in promo shots, Andy Fenstermaker has seen the
The Seeker: Hiss Golden Messenger
By Bryan Reed With Hiss Golden Messenger, M.C. Taylor searches for salvation — and maybe even finds it A boy named Elijah has left his tiny black canvas sneakers under my chair. In the warmly-lit living room where the boy’s father, 36 year-old M.C. Taylor leans forward on a couch, fiddling with a black mesh-backed
The Heads Are A’ight
Three Carolinas’ hip-hop artists step into the national spotlight, but does everyone benefit from the exposure they receive? By Kim Ruehl and Jordan Lawrence It’s the first Friday of October, and Pierce Freelon has just wrapped a night spent on the panel of a hip-hop summit at Raleigh’s Shaw University. He’s audibly tired, but there’s
Same As It Never Was
How area musicians bend without breaking from Southern tradition By Jordan Lawrence Over the phone, Tripp LaFrance is the embodiment of the Southern male. His drawl is thick and gruff, worn ragged by frenetic performances as the singer for Columbia’s Say Brother. His band, which revs up bluegrass and old-time structures with furious blues-rock energy,
Ponchos (From Peru): Port City DIY
By Corbie Hill When Wilmington’s Ponchos (From Peru) recorded their new LP, A Southern Gentleman Starts a War, they treated it like a job. For a solid week, drummer Will Brone and guitarist Adam Smith worked their 9-to-5s and then headed to the studio. “You work and then you get there at like 7:00 and
Dem Bones: Brendan Greaves On Musical Nostalgia
By Brendan Greaves “Why should we grope among the dry bones of the past, or put the living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe?” –Ralph Waldo Emerson On the eve of el Día de los Muertos, not coincidentally also the release date of Hiss Golden Messenger’s autumnal and spectral Poor Moon LP, I’m thinking
Regional Music — en Español!
By Mark Kemp Latin rockers and twangers reflect the Carolinas’ new diversity When I first heard the song “Raleigh,” by a roots band from the Triangle area, the words of love for North Carolina in the song sounded like they could have come straight from one of those ultra-patriotic ditties by right-wing Southern rocker (and
Naked Gods: To Jam or Not to Jam?
By Jordan Lawrence “Naked Gods are a ‘hapless burlypop prog-punk’ quintet based out of the mountains of western North Carolina.” This description starts off the self-penned bio of Naked Gods, a restless and thrilling Boone, N.C.-based band that has been making varied but familiar indie rock for just about four years. The genre tag is
Tyler Ramsey: Singing the Simple Sadness
By Alli Marshall There’s a delicious shiver of loneliness to Tyler Ramsey’s new album, The Valley Wind. From the grayscale artwork to the echoes of reverb; from the lingering late-night waltz of “Angel Band” to the plaintive lilt of the title track: The Asheville-based singer/songwriter and Band of Horses guitarist has always had a knack
Live, In Studio: Will music fans pay to see studio magic up-close?
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