WNC Original Music

Billy Litz of Hustle Souls  stops by the podcast to talk about their new EP and solve most of the world's problems.

 

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Hustle Souls is an Asheville, NC based 4-piece who blend dust-covered-vinyl soul nostalgia with modern sensibility.; recently named one of "Music Connections" Hot 100 Live Unsigned Artists & Bands. Driven by a lust for songwriting, the band’s fervid live performance is heightened by undeniable instrumental prowess and 3 part vocal harmony. With relentless touring, sold out shows and major festival appearances the band has earned a reputation as one of the East Coast’s most promising acts.

 

LITZ is a power house of sound and soul blending retro vibes with a modern spirit.  Formed in 2013 in Montgomery county Maryland  by brothers Austin, Logan and Michael Litz, And named after the family music store, Victor Litz Music, LITZ has toured through most of the country and is a staple of regional jam and electronic festivals.

Bonus episode with extra silliness from The Ghosts Of Liberty

 

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The Ghosts of Liberty visit the podcast, bring a special guest, sing songs, and slap.

 

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The Americana roots duo that would evolve to become “The Ghosts of Liberty” got its start long before Emma and Tyler Millard knew they would eventually be married.

 

To tell that story, we must first roll back the clock to 2006. Tyler is 21 and sitting in a doctor’s office after having noticed that his peripheral vision had been giving him some trouble during a college game of ultimate frisbee. The news comes like a tidal wave when the doctor says, “You’re slowly going blind. You have RP. There’s no known cure.”

 

But it’s not in Ty’s nature to be held down. So he pivots. He picks up a guitar for the first time and begins playing o bsessively. Then singing. Then writing. He can no longer teach high school math, so he puts together a local blues-rock band in his small North Carolina town and begins playing full-time. Over the next several years, his musical chops get sharper as his vision slowly but surely continues to betray him. “It felt like a race against time.”

 

That Emma would end up singing for her supper was far less uncertain. She teaches herself how to wail and belt just like all the country greats as a little girl growing up in the heart of Texas. But this is just the beginning. As life goes on, from church choir to classical opera, musicals and fronting an alternative pop-rock band, she sees a lot of different audiences for a lot of different reasons, but one thing remains the same: how much she loves singing for every one of them. “Throughout my lifelong struggle with depression, and for all of life’s celebrations, music is my source of purpose. It’s my calling. It has always been what pulls me and pushes me when nothing else can.”

 

Fast forward to 2014. Emma meets Tyler for the first time at a “jam session” and they immediately hit it off as friends. She begins opening up for his band at local gigs, meanwhile spending hours offstage with him, writing and bonding over late night milkshakes and rural dive bar booths. Over time this bonding leads to the realization that each makes the other better in life and music. Tyler’s steady, funny and loving personality give Emma the confidence to believe in herself and to continue chasing her passion, while Emma’s spontaneous and sentimental nature provide Tyler with a ceaseless supply of inspiration and motivation. In 2018, under a giant oak tree, they make their union official in a beautiful late summer ceremony.

 

In January of 2020, six years after they met and hundreds of live shows later, “The Ghosts of Liberty,” their first child, was born. The name hails from a mutual fascination with the paranormal- (Emma believes, Tyler is a skeptic, but alas we digress) as well as a deep love for all things historic- and the abiding belief that all people are deserving of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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From the heartland of America, Mike Walsh has been playing music in Iowa and the midwest for some time now and has been able to fully craft his music into the soft rock, singer songwriter feel that it is today. Walsh has released three EPs and more than one music video and plans on getting back into the studio to record a full length album.

 

Lang Owen stops by the podcast to talk about his new album She's My Memory

 

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Website: https://langowenmusicepk.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/langowenmusic/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7DvGn0grwL0KHgPyTEcp1f
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/langowenmusic/
Bandcamp: https://langowen.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

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Growing up in Fairborn, Ohio, just outside Dayton, Lang Owen devoted much of his twenties to songwriting then set aside music to serve as a teacher and social worker. Over the years Lang’s professional work included teaching in the Japanese school system, managing an English as a Second Language program for immigrants, and providing mental health services at a major university. “All that getting around, including all the difficulties that came with it, helped me understand myself and others better, which has made me a better songwriter than I was in my twenties,” Lang comments. “Mostly, it’s opened my eyes to the resilience people demonstrate in getting through their lives. I want my compassion and respect for that to come through in my songs.”

Lang returned to music-making in 2017, releasing his debut album Welcome To Yesterday, which South Carolina Music Writer Kevin Oliver hailed as “evocative storytelling at its finest.”

 

The Post & Courier Free times included Welcome to Yesterday on its “But What About THIS Album” list in their Best South Carolina Music 2019 edition.

“Songs about something that seems like nothing but feels like everything” is how Lang describes She’s My Memory, set for release in June 2022. Exemplifying Lang’s comment “There’s always a story,” the album’s title track tells of a man with Alzheimer’s who glimpses his life through anecdotes of humble but defining marital moments told by his wife. This ten song collection will strike a chord with listeners who endeavor to live with love and purpose in a swirling world of relentless change.

 

Hello London is the solo project of musician James Froese. Hailing from Buffalo, NY, his sound is influenced by many indie, alternative and punk bands from The Smiths to Mayday Parade. In 2021 he released two EP's, At The End of The World and Stay That Way, and in 2022 Hello London will be releasing their debut LP.

Derek Piotr discusses his field recordings of authentic Americana and folk music spanning the decades of Western North Carolina

 

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Rooster joins the podcast to talk about their new album, their partnership, old houses, and storage units

 

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Asheville-based band, Rooster, is made up of Erin Kinard on drums and Annie Myers on guitar and was formed by two strangers around a campfire in the summer of 2016. Annie and Erin recorded their debut album, Bloodroot, in February 2019 in Swannanoa, NC with recording engineer and producer Matt Lohan. Rooster's first release was an eponymous collection of five original songs in 2017. Since then they have performed throughout Western North Carolina, creating both new songs and arrangements of beloved Americana. Annie and Erin thrive on the impact of powerful vocal harmony that blends into lush organic sounds like honey from the hive. In any configuration, the orchestrations are clean and uncluttered, but with a raw, gritty edge. They seem right at home in a wine bar, brew pub, honky-tonk or at a backyard barbecue. Rooster's Bloodroot made it onto WNCW's top 100 albums of 2020. 

 

New Age Americans - These Young Adolescents from the Chicago suburbs formed in middle school when best friends Tyler “T-Hodg” Hodgett and Jake “From NAA” Smith wanted to melt faces. The boys found RJ “Caveman” McGaw as the missing piece to fulfill their live experience. The band had a successful tour of the Midwest performing with various artist such as iHeartRadios rock artist of the year, lovelytheband as well as former members of Lynyrd Skynyrd/Blackfoot with their group named Skinny Molly. After the tours the band took a short hiatus to graduate from college. As the band recharged, they released a series of singles and welcomed the talent of Alexander "Mississippi King" James for guitar and songwriting. The band is currently getting ready to tour again and working on their next studio album that is set to release summer of 2022.

 

Derek Frye returns to talk about all kinds of things, including religion but not religion

 

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After 7 years fronting the angsty Asheville rock band The Dirty Badgers, Derek Frye finds himself more eager than ever to showcase those same foreboding sounds through the haunting old time style of his Southern Appalachian ancestry. Born and raised in East Tennessee, Derek is a songwriter with deep rooted ties to the music born in the area. In the hyperbolic style of murder ballads, his songs are historical tales of heartbreak, trouble, strife, and ideas about the true nature of humanity. Derek's performances will take you on a journey through his life and those of his mountain ancestors.

 

Derek has taken the stage at some of Asheville’s most prominent festivals such as Downtown After 5 and Pridefest and has shared stages with artists like Cracker, Low Cut Connie, and Marcus King.

 

 

Lua Flora is the soundtrack of your favorite daydream. The Asheville, NC-based group’s sun-kissed melodies are rooted in the harmonies of Appalachia, rhythms of the West Indies, and lyricism of American folk. Releasing a collection of singles, Lua Flora has collaborated with Sons of Paradise, Richard Vagner, Victor Rice, and Karl Vincent Roth (of Satsang). With stellar reviews from publications such as Face the Current and Top Shelf Music, the outfit has established its unique yet home-like voice.

 

Kendra and Zack "BMLB" Harding, the duo that make up The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs, return to the podcast with some tall tales that seem sort of true.

 

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The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs, known to their friends as Kendra and Zack Harding, began gig-swapping as solo artists in 2014. They bonded over these shared gigs, their common love of dogs, and an enthusiasm for hiking. They decided to tie the knot in the fall of 2015. The Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs officially formed in early 2016, and they’ve been bringing songs of joy, pain, and dogs to audiences ever since.

Combining their unique backgrounds that range from classic rock to classical guitar, they create a blend of original music with deep roots in the past and a contemporary twist here and there.

The Bugs have played extensively throughout the Southeast, including performances in The Crown at the Carolina Theatre, The Grey Eagle’s Patio Show Series, Ol’ Front Porch Music Festival, and at Awendaw Green. They completed their first cross-country tour in early 2020, before going on a virus-mandated hiatus for a couple months. Their sophomore album Folk(ish) came out on April 9, 2021.

 

Originally from Philadelphia, Cosette Gobat has devoted her entire life to music. A songwriting talent from a very young age, her career took off upon the signing of a record deal with Decapolis Records at age 14. She began touring the East Coast in high school, a move that projected her reach even further. Writing music for documentaries and playing festivals with big artists such as Sheryl Crow, Cosette was signed to another label, KBM Productions, with the release of an electronic EP called ‘Blindside’. After performing on ABC in 2015, she took her career into a different direction studying at Temple University and working as a mastering engineer under Michael Jackson’s ex-producer at Arctic Records in Philadelphia. The release of her debut album ‘Couteau’ in 2020 offered an introduction of her wide- range artistic ability and knowledge, a well-produced blend of folk, classical, and dream pop. Cosette’s music is described as an honest soundscape with poetic lyrics and drowned reverb, evoking a scenery into nostalgia and a sonic dimension.

Part 2 with Stevie Tombstone. More great stories and music.

 

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Stevie Tombstone is a quintessential troubadour, a veteran musician who crafts powerful folk songs tinged with classic country and vintage blues influences.

 

There are many different species of the Music Artist. Various combinations of singers, songwriters and entertainers.  But it’s the ones that wear their art that get to us the most. The ones that don’t know how not to tell the truth in their music and reveal the raw and ragged triumphs that in the end are more beautiful because of the honesty of the struggle. These are the Artists that get in our bones and shake loose our demons by slaying their own with chords and words. Artists like Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin…and Stevie Tombstone." Outlaw Magazine

 

After a chance meeting with Roy Acuff, Stevie (then a young man) was certain he would always be a musician. Georgia born relation of the legendary fiddler, Clayton McMichen, Stevie immersed himself in the world of rock and the underground music scene of the 80s in Atlanta, but never lost the twang of his childhood. Almost three decades later he has become an accomplished performer, songwriter and guitarist, as well as an integral the Atlanta and Austin Music Scenes at various points in time. He now hangs his hat in Western North Carolina.

 

In addition to his published works with his 1980s swampabilly band, The Tombstones, Stevie has released five solo albums and half a dozen music videos. The Tombstones song, Nobody, became a college radio anthem. The roots punk song about the Carolina Lights and was later recorded by rock icon Stiv Bator.

 

Tombstone's debut full length release, 730 AM, featured performances by members of Wilco, Jason and the Scorchers, The Bad Livers, and The Georgia Satellites, and offered tracks that peaked on the Satellite Radio charts. After several comps and EPs, his 2011 release, Greenwood, reintroduced Stevie to Americana and folk listeners with the autobiographical tale of his journey to Greenwood to mark the grave of then un-honored Robert Johnson.

 

Over the years, Tombstone’s bandmates and co-conspirators have been a veritable who's who of underground and nationally recognized players. Priding himself in his ability to cross genres, he has also had the honor of sharing the bill with the likes of Leon Russell, The Stray Cats, Greg Allman, Willie Nelson, Drive By Truckers, Kevn Kinney, Johnny Bush, and The Ramones.

 

In addition to producing and writing for other artists, Stevie still performs over two hundred nights a year, enjoying a grassroots following that's kept him on the trail for the last three decades. His latest release, Raised on Roots a compilation of singles and EPs, is available now and enjoying growing airplay.

 

 

Julia Sanders joins the podcast for part 2, recorded a year ago so it's like one of those photos siblings create from their childhood

 

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All music used by permission

 

Asheville based songwriter Julia Sanders believes in letting life be your art supplies. With a soulful voice and moving melodies, her music draws inspiration from time living in New Orleans, Montana and the mountains of North Carolina. She winds the journey of heartbreak, love and self-searching into poetic songs that will have you shuffling across the dance floor with a tissue in hand.  

 

Reilly Downes is an Alt Country/Americana singer/songwriter originally from the Texas Hill Country and now residing in Chicago. She has been compared to the likes of Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and June Carter Cash with the flare of Nikki Lane. She will be releasing her debut album May of 2020.