Sat 5/30 Malcolm Holcombe at White Horse

Sat May 30

Malcolm Holcombe

at White Horse Black Mountain

8pm

http://www.malcolmholcombe.com/
http://www.whitehorseblackmountain.com/

"Not quite country, somewhere beyond folk, Holcombe's music is a kind of blues in motion, mapping backwoods corners of the heart." ~David Fricke- Rolling Stone Magazine

Born and raised in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, Malcolm Holcombe is being recognized by the contemporary U.S and European folk/americana community as a performer of national stature, and an uncommonly unique guitarist/vocalist about whom Rolling Stone Magazine says: "Haunted country, acoustic blues and rugged folk all meet [here]..."

A new 12 song Malcolm Holcombe CD, Gamblin' House, was released January 29, 2008. There is strong and positive press surrounding this CD, including feature articles in the January/February 2008 No Depression Magazine, and in The Wall Streeet Journal(2/14/08), and rave reviews from Billboard Magazine, Harp Magazine, and Paste Magazine.
Gamblin' House was in the top 20 of the Americana Music Association chart for 9 straight weeks.
As always, there are echoes of John Prine and Guy Clark and the lesser-known kindred spirit Bill Morrissey, but the total package is all Malcolm Holcombe. His is a sound that combines harmonica-blessed folk, acoustic blues, stringband country, and smalltown-bred soul.

The small town in question is Weaverville, North Carolina, a burgh of a couple thousand just 10 miles north of Asheville. That's Malcolm's Mom and Dad and two older brothers on the cover of his 2005 release I Never Heard You Knockin', standing in front of the Weaverville homestead.


His uncle played guitar, as did his neighbor. "He'd sit on the porch and play electric guitar," Malcolm recalls of that neighbor, adding, "And he had a couple of cute daughters." Perhaps with that added incentive, Malcolm started playing guitar. "I was just another kid with the Mel Bay chord book, and I only got through the first page," he says.


"....... you need to see Malcolm onstage; his legendary performances are intense and all out. "If you're gonna do something, do it," is his explanation. "If you're gonna dig a ditch, dig a ditch. If you're gonna shine a shoe, shine a shoe." In other words, if you're gonna stand in front of a crowd of strangers with just your guitar and your songs, make it worth their time. He does it by presenting those songs with a gospel fervor (call it half howl, half hosanna) and with a penetrating stare, aimed (thank goodness) at nothing and no one, that becomes almost as deeply ingrained as his songs. It's sinewy and unfussy, the man, the music, and the delivery.

"We all have our demons, and we all have our spirituality, whatever keeps us going," is how Malcolm puts it. "When it comes to the end of the day, it's God, family, and neighbors."

Sat 5/30 Scissormen at Town Pump

Sat May 30

The Scissormen

at Town Pump Tavern

8:30pm

http://www.myspace.com/scissormen
www.myspace.com/townpumpllc

“This isn’t just a band — it’s a mission,” says Scissormen’s slide guitar demon Ted Drozdowski. “We believe the blues is as blood and guts vital and relevant as it was when the music’s giants walked the Earth, if it’s played right. So that’s how we play it — respecting the music’s roots, but not at the expense of its future.” If that sounds audacious, you haven’t seen one of the Nashville-based group’s live shows, where just a guitarist and drummer harness up the spirit of the Mississippi hills and make it sound like a juke joint armada.

That approach has won Scissormen fans across the US and Europe, where they’ve played everything from jukes to coffeehouses to blues, rock and punk clubs to major festivals including Bonnaroo 2008 and France’s prestigious Cognac Blues Passions Festival.

“Our gigs prove that the blues can reach everybody — including people who think its music only their parents or grandparents would like,” says Ted. “Of course,” he adds, “our music also reaches their parents and grandparents.” And Scissormen’s live audiences reach back, challenging Ted’s unique, fiery slide guitar approach by passing him, well, just about anything to play with: shoes, straws, martini glasses, keys, a lit blowtorch, full dinner plates, a machete, a 9-mm pistol.

But the band’s story begins back in 1991. Ted was already a rock guitarist/songwriter and an internationally respected music journalist with a passion for blues when he was introduced to the sounds of North Mississippi’s juke joints by one of his mentors, the late musicologist Robert Palmer. “As a guitar player in punk, psychedelic rock and improv bands, I’d digested a lot of music by then, but when I heard R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Jessie Mae Hemphill — thanks to Robert — they totally blew my mind,” Ted recounts. “Their music had the deepest spirit of blues as well as the transporting qualities of psychedelic rock. It was a sound I’d wanted to hear my whole life, without even knowing it still existed. “I’m just a guy whose family crawled out of the coal mines in Pennsylvania,” Ted continues. “I still can’t believe how lucky I was to meet and to be befriended by R.L., Junior and Jessie Mae, and to have R.L. talk me into trying to play his music. I resisted for three years, because I revered R.L. and his sound.

But eventually I caved and after the first time I played with him on stage I guess I had the fever. It just took a while to spread.” Once it did, Scissormen began — with just two rules. “The first,” Ted says, “ is to always move ahead and blaze our own musical trail while honoring the musicians who’ve touched our lives and inspired us. And the second is to pack every gig we play with all the heart, soul and energy we can muster. Playing the blues for keeps is not a job for slackers.”
Scissormen are: Ted D., slide guitar and vocals, and some mean-butt drummer - and that's it!

Sat 5/30 Dave Desmelik at Beacon Pub

Saturday May 30

Dave Desmelik

at Beacon Pub

9pm

www.myspace.com/davedesmelik

http://www.davedesmelik.com/
http://www.beaconpub.info/

Dave Desmelik has established himself as an accomplished and rising singer/songwriter whose music might best be described as Americana or Alt/Country. Drawing upon influences from country to bluegrass to blues to rock n' roll, Desmelik writes and performs a unique blend of songs.

Growing up in Alpharetta, GA, music affected Dave early. He started playing bass guitar in his high school jazz band, as well as cello in his high school orchestra, while also learning the guitar. Playing guitar, writing music, and singing songs became a part of Dave's life, but it wasn't until he moved west to Flagstaff, AZ that his songwriting would really take hold. Dave returned to his southeastern roots in 2003, and is currently living in Asheville, NC, where he has been performing regionally as a solo artist and with his band "the HillBilly Cadavers". At the present time, Dave Desmelik continues to write songs and play music that is consistent and identifiable to all of his growing fan base.

"An unpretentious approach to songwriting and performance, gritty and generic without being predictable, his songs show an excellent range."-www.americana-uk.com



"Dave Desmelik's brand of Americana is the kind that makes you neither cry in your beer nor suck it down at a grim pace. His is the kind that makes you stop drinking for just a moment to acknowledge it with an emotional nod, a shiver of recognition that touches your own experience."-Joe Sample(Focus Newspaper)

Fri 5/29 Jon Stickley Band at Town Pump Tavern

Fri May 29

Jon Stickley Band

at Town Pump Tavern

8:30pm

www.myspace.com/jonstickley
www.myspace.com/townpumpllc


Born and raised in Durham North Carolina, Jon Stickley got his musical start singing in Church choir. Influenced by bands such as NOFX and Nirvana, he deviated into the punk and rock scene during his teens developing a band mentality that would aid his musical developement in years to come. His band Strunken White made a mark on the Chapel Hill Indie rock scene. Jon moved to Raleigh to attend North Carolina University. He soon had a degree in Park Management. During these years his interest in bluegrass came to a head. Drawing inspiration from bluegrass greats such as Tony Rice, Tim O'Brien, and David Grisman, Jon began playing bluegrass guitar and mandolin with his brother Jeff and was soon noticed by the local bluegrass Big Fat Gap. Jon went through bluegrass undergrad with the likes of Andy Thorn, Miles Andrews, and Bobby Britt.


After graduating Jon moved to Durango CO and played with the band Broke Mountain. It wasn't long before Jon was noticed and taken on by the nationally touring band, the Biscuit Burners. Jon played mandolin with the Biscuit Burners for a year before leaving with lead singer and banjo player Shannon Whitworth in 2006. You can now catch Jon playing lead guitar and singing harmony vocals in the Shannon Whitworth Band. Aside from backing Shannon, Jon plays an annual tour with John Frazier (Hit and Run), Travis Book (Imfamous String Dusters), Andy Thorn (Larry Keel), under the band name the Colorado Playboys. He also teaches Mandolin/banjo/guitar in the Asheville area.
$5 cover


The Jon Stickley Band:


Jon Stickley/Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo
Andy Thorn /Bass
Travis Book/ Mandolin
John Frazier/ Guitar
Rebecca Frazier/ Fiddle
Bobby Britt/ Guitar
Shannon Whitworth/Vocals

Fri 5/29 Larry Keel at White Horse Black Mountain

Friday May 29

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge

at White Horse Black Mountain

8pm

www.larrykeel.com/
www.myspace.com/larrykeel
www.whitehorseblackmountain.com/



Opening night at the White Horse last November found a full house enjoying the electic sounds of Larry Keel and Natural Bridge. By popular demand, Larry and the band return to the White Horse on Friday May 29th for an evening of great acoustic music.

Batten down the hatches or prepare to be blown away in the perfect storm, a raging musical maelstrom of swirling innovations. The extended forecast is calling for tonal tornadoes of epic proportions made more dangerous by syncopated sound cyclones scattered with bursts of colossal chord changes and intermittent harmonies. For those in the direct path of this vast vortex of energy, expect to be further battered by sonic tsunamis fed by raging rhythms. Keel advisories will remain in effect until after the second set.


The audience at a Larry Keel performance is not simply being entertained; instead, they are having their hearts and brains happily steamed in a boiling cauldron of blazing instrumentation and BRAND NEW original sounds. Driven jamming is linked in flawless cohesion to brilliant and multiple variations—this band is anything but ordinary! A band of kindred spirits who share a common musical vision, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge is: the beautiful, cheerful steady backbone-Jenny Keel (bass fiddle, vocals), the atomic, off the chain fireball-Mark Schimick (mandolin, vocals), the charming, crescendo pickin’ stud-Jason Flournoy (banjo, vocals), and, of course, the MAD, marquee headlining maestro-Larry Keel (guitar, vocals).

12.00 in advance / 15.00 at the door ...............