Pisgah Brewing Company

Fri. 9/3 – Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk w/ Sanders, Sipe, Cardine and Pond - Showtime 7:30pm, Doors 6:00pm

$15 in advance – Tickets  here - 

Formed in 2003, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk was initially put together by keyboardist Ivan Neville on a whim in order to perform a solo gig at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Ivan called in cousin Ian Neville (guitar), the double-bass bottom of both Nick Daniels and Tony Hall, and drummer Raymond Weber to round out the show. Named after a song Ivan had recently written, Dumpstaphunk’s informal performance became that of immediate legend. The project has since grown from chance side-project into what is now widely considered to be New Orleans’ most popular musical export. The band was recently voted 2007’s “New Orleans Best Funk Band” by both Offbeat Magazine and Gambit Weekly, and performs at some of the nation’s largest music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Voodoo Fest, 10,000 Lakes, and High Sierra.

Founders Ivan Neville and Ian Neville (sons of both Aaron Neville and Art Neville respectively), along with Nick Daniels, Tony Hall, and Raymond Weber, were brought up in an atmosphere of sounds that have arguably become the most defining in all of New Orleans music. But don’t let the pedigree of lineage from the Meters and Neville Brothers fool you either. Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk now stands on its own as the legitimate torchbearer of all things funky both in New Orleans and beyond with the release of their debut EP, Listen Hear. The band will release a new full length studio album “Everybody Want Sum” in late 2010.

This release not only marks the band’s official full length musical debut, but also serves as a group’s formal transformation from popular side-project to full-time occupation. For some that might seem trivial but with Dumpstaphunk’s collective resume it speaks volumes. The members of Dumpstaphunk have recorded and performed with a veritable who’s-who of popular music over the years including the Rolling Stones, Dave Mathews, Bonnie Raitt, John Mayer, Trey Anastasio, Emmylou Harris and, yes, even the Neville Brothers. And while the members of Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk will surely continue to get the calls to do such collaborations, it will become increasingly difficult to find the time as the band forges ahead creating a new identity and standard for New Orleans music.

Sat. 9/4 – Del Yeah Weekend feat. The Del McCoury Band, Emmit Nershi Band and more!  Showtime 3pm, Doors 2pm

$20 in advance, $25 at the door- tickets here

INAUGURAL “DEL YEAH” WEEKEND ANNOUNCED FOR LABOR DAY WEEKEND IN THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA - Breaking new ground in media and event promotion, roots music radio station WNCW and Del McCoury’s McCoury Music unveiled plans for the very first “Del Yeah” Weekend—a multi-day, multi-venue “happening” taking place over Labor Day weekend, 2010 in North Carolina.

Initial plans include shows on September 4th and 5th featuring the award-winning Del McCoury Band and their friends in the Emmitt-Nershi Band, along with a full complement of yet-to-be-named artists (including regional favorites), presented at the Pisgah Brewing Company (Black Mountain) and the U.S. National Whitewater Center (Charlotte) respectively. Shows will be programmed for a full afternoon and evening’s worth of music and entertainment, culminating in closing jam sessions that will have audiences on the edge of their seats—or dancing to the music—all night long.

“We’re really excited about the ‘Del Yeah’ idea,” said the Del McCoury Band’s manager, Stan Strickland. “And we’re especially excited to be working with WNCW, because it’s impossible to think of a radio station more attuned to the kind of bluegrass Del plays—or to the wide range of music that’s being played by his friends. For ‘Del Yeah,’ we want to create a festival atmosphere in an outdoor setting or otherwise non-traditional venue, and we think that the Pisgah Brewery and the U.S. National Whitewater Center are perfect locations to kick off the concept. The Pisgah has a large outdoor performance area that’ll hold up to 2,500 people, and the Whitewater Center is a great family destination that will allow us to mix music with their many sporting and outdoor activities, creating an event like no other.”

A half-century veteran of traditional bluegrass who was recently honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Del McCoury has also welcomed the flowering of a variety of new string music styles. His own DelFest, which recently concluded its third successful year, has served up everything from his own hard-core bluegrass to jam bands, sacred steel, old and new style string band music and more, paving the way for the still more innovative “Del Yeah” Weekend.

Joining The Del McCoury Band will be The Emmitt-Nershi Band, which exemplifies one of the most exciting strains of modern bluegrass and related music. Led by Drew Emmitt and Bill Nershi, linchpins of the legendary jam bands Leftover Salmon and String Cheese Incident respectively, both men have filled stadiums with high profile, ‘grass-flavored rock’n’roll. Together, they’ve blazed new trails with a high-powered, rock- and jazz-flavored brand of bluegrass that has earned them critical acclaim and legions of young fans around the country.

WNCW has regularly earned awards for its outstanding programming and involvement in North Carolina’s multi-faceted roots music community. Broadcasting from Isothermal College in Spindale, NC for almost a quarter of a century, the station’s signal has brought the best in bluegrass, blues, gospel, Americana and more to devoted listeners in Asheville, Boone, Charlotte, Greenville and other area markets.

Tickets for both events will be $20 advance, and $25 day of show. For more information, please go to www.delmccouryband.com/delyeah.

Thur. 9/9 – The New Mastersounds w/ East Ponce Soul Faction

$12 in advance – tickets here - 

In the late 1990′s, guitarist and producer Eddie Roberts was running a club night in Leeds called “The Cooker.” When The Cooker moved into a new venue with a second floor in 1999, there was space and the opportunity to put a live band together to complement the DJ sets. Simon Allen and Eddie had played together in 1997 as The Mastersounds, though with a different bassist and no organ. Through friends and the intimate nature of the Leeds music scene, Pete Shand and Bob Birch were added on bass and Hammond respectively, and The New Mastersounds were born. Though it was raw, and more of a boogaloo sound at first, it was powerful from the start. Their first rehearsal was hot enough for Blow it Hard Records to release on two limited-edition 7″ singles in 2000.

As a band, and as individuals, they have since clocked up collaborations with an impressive array of musicians DJs and producers, including: Lou Donaldson (Blue Note),Corinne Bailey Rae (EMI), Quantic (Tru Thoughts), Carleen Anderson (Young Disciples / Brand New Heavies), Keb Darge & Kenny Dope (Kay Dee Records), John Arnold(Ubiquity), Mr Scruff (Ninja Tune), Snowboy (Ubiquity), Fred Everything (2020vision),Andy Smith(Portishead), James Taylor (JTQ), LSK (Faithless), and Karl Denson (Lenny Kravitz / Greyboy AllStars).

Fri. 9/10 – Honey Island Swamp Band

$7 at the door, showtime @ 8pm

Wed. 9/15 – Great American Taxi

$8 at the door, showtime at 8pm

In the past five years, Great American Taxi has become one of the best-known headliners on the jam band circuit. Their uninhibited sound is a swinging concoction of swampy blues, progressive bluegrass, funky New Orleans strut, Southern boogie, honky tonk country, gospel, and good ol’ fashioned rock ’n’ roll. Great American Taxi was born when singer, guitarist, and mandolin player Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon joined keyboard player and singer Chad Staehly for a superstar jam to benefit the Rainforest Action Group in Boulder, in March of 2005. “We put together a dream band of the best local musicians for a one-off gig,” Herman recalls. “It worked so well we had to do it again, and again, and again.” Great American Taxi quickly evolved into one of the best country-, rock-, and bluegrass- influenced jam bands in the land, masterfully blending acoustic and electric instruments into music they call “Americana Without Borders.”

Great American Taxi has been equated with roots rockers like the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Grateful Dead, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, The Byrds, and Little Feat. Herman finds the comparisons flattering. “We’re definitely connected to all the acts in the country/rock spectrum, as well as the spirit of Gram Parsons and Woody Guthrie,” he says. “We want to address the issues appropriate to our times, while making music that gets people up and moving.”

Thur. 9/16 – Woody Pines

Showtime 8pm

Tues. 9/21 – Dirk Quinn Band

Thur. 9/23 – Punch Brothers w/ Sanders, McCurry and Cardine

$15 in advance, tickets here - 

Antifogmatic” is a bit of bygone slang that mandolinist Chris Thile and his bandmates stumbled across, “an old term,” explains the Punch Brothers founder, “for a bracing beverage, rum or whiskey, that one would have in the morning before going out to work in rough weather, to stave off any ill effects.” It’s an apt title for the Punch Brothers’ second Nonesuch disc. This ten-song set of collectively written material takes a clear-eyed view of those things less tangible than booze that can make us woozy: the pleasures and pitfalls of romance, the seemingly limitless possibilities and multifarious temptations of life in the big city.

“When we heard that term,” says Thile, “it was so easily applied to the bulk of the record. We want our music to be something that people can sink their teeth into, if not help make sense of all the various things happening to them. We want to pat them on the head and slap them in the face and tell them everything will be okay.”

The arrangements on Antifogmatic range from intimate to boisterous and back; genre-wise, the band once again ventures where no string band has ever gone before. The spare opening track “You Are” contrasts percussive guitar riffs with lyrical string parts that dance around Thile’s sweet upper register as he spins a tale of romantic emancipation; occasionally, the other instruments give way to reveal the throb of the bass. The band also engages in some unexpectedly beautiful harmony singing, smoothing out the compelling melodic twists and turns of “Welcome Home.” “Me and Us” and “Woman and the Bell” both have a dream-like quality; the former, in fact, was inspired by those jumbled, thought-filled moments before sleep sets in, and the instrumentation keeps pace with the ever-shifting imagery. In contrast, “Don’t Need No” and “Rye Whiskey” are foot-stomping barroom boasts and “Next to the Trash” is the closest the band gets to traditional bluegrass, even as the lyrics tug the piece in a more surreal direction.

Thile has earned the right to impart a bit of his own hard-earned wisdom in the lyrics he’s contributed to Antifogmatic, which the quintet cut live at Ocean Way in Los Angeles with producer Jon Brion and engineer Gregg Koller. At the heart of the Punch Brothers’ 2008 debut, Punch, Thile’s four-movement “The Blind Leaving the Blind” chronicled in cathartic detail the events and faith-shaking emotions surrounding the dissolution of his youthful marriage. The musically rigorous, personally revealing composition—carefully notated but allowing room for improvisational passages—came to vivid life in the hands of the former Nickel Creek singer’s old friends and newly recruited bandmates: guitarist Chris Eldridge, banjo player Noam Pikelny, violinst Gabe Witcher and bassist Greg Garrison, each of whom were already envelope-pushing figures in the forefront of modern bluegrass, folk and country. (After the departure of Garrison, Paul Kowert, a member of mandolinist Mike Marshall’s Big Trio, stepped in.) “The Blind Leading the Blind” was bracketed by four collaboratively conceived instrumental pieces from this freshly minted group, a foretaste of what was to come two years later onAntifogmatic. Upon the release of Punch, the Washington Post described this then-new band as “some of the best string-band pickers of the new generation, and Thile has given them rich, challenging music to wrestle with.”