2010 Artists

Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band

When the Booty Band hits the stage, everybody dances! Having fun and feeling good is the philosophy of this Asheville, NC based 6 piece band that has been hitting the road since 2002. Their mix of triumphant horns, laid-back grooves, and heavy backbeats is what has carried them back and forth across the nation, from club to club, smiling face to smiling face, day to day, note to note. Adding colorful costumes and interactive stage personalities is just part of the show,…Booty Band brings the FUNK!

Stephaniesid

Stephaniesid is indie pop revelry! The foundation is Stephanie (lead vox, guitar, synth) and Chuck (keys, bass pedals, backing vox), and a drummer (currently the fabulous Tim Haney), and sometimes we’re able to bring Matthew on vibraphone and Jacob and Justin on horns, or singers, or other folks we like to make music with. We always play with heart and lust and gusto, because there’s no point in doing anything else. We care about people and things. We often brood about them. But not for terribly long, as there is no gain in taking the human condition too seriously. The music, like life itself, is striving, searching, inconclusive, and (hopefully) beautiful.

Jonathan Scales Fourchestra

Steel pannist and virtuoso composer, Jonathan Scales, formed the ‘Fourchestra’ in 2007 as a means to deliver his musically complex, but somehow accessable ideas to anyone willing to listen.  Since then, Scales has released two well received full-length works (2007’s One-Track Mind and 2008’s Plot/Scheme) featuring the likes of Jeff Coffin, Joseph Wooten & Jeff Sipe.  Scales’ versatility and innovative nature has allowed him to share the stage with acts like The Wooten Brothers Band, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge, The Duhks, Everyone Orchestra, Toubab Krewe, Ben Sollee and Futureman.

Brushfire Stankgrass

Mixing Moog effects with bluegrass backbeats, the sound of Brushfire Stankgrass is instantly unique. The Asheville group was recently voted into The Mountain Xpress’ best of WNC for the second year running, tying with The Steep Canyon Rangers & Steve Martin in the bluegrass/oldtime category. While the music is certainly not straight bluegrass, the sound is undeniably derived from mountain musical traditions. The past few years have been exciting for Brushfire with shows at Downtown After 5, the Music City Brewer’s Festival, Brewgrass, The Mountain Sports Festival, The Orange Peel, French Broad River Festival, headlining spots at the Asheville Winter Warmer Beerfest and the Asheville Downtown 4th of July celebration to name a few. Their eclectically entertaining live performances have earned the band a loyal following.

RBTS WIN

Underhill Rose

Underhill Rose boasts a unique sound built of original songs and heartfelt singing in a genre they like to call country soul. Eleanor Underhill and Molly Rose Reed met at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC in 2002 and soon thereafter were co-founders of what was to become Asheville, North Carolina’s beloved all-female quartet the Barrel House Mamas.  Eleanor, named Asheville Songwriting Idol a few years ago, brings her prolific writing, soulful singing, and banjo playing to the plate, while Molly too sings straight from the heart, picking that guitar and captivating audiences with joyful stage presence. Look for an upcoming six songs in the spring 2010, which these roses have been working at steadily all year.

The Archrivals

We are the Archrivals.  We are the team that Teen Wolf beat to win the championship.  We are the 2 guys that Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson beat at the end of “White Men Can’t Jump”.  You know what I’m talkin’ about…

Do It To Julia

Do it to Julia is a five-piece folk-rock band formed in Boone, North Carolina in 2006. Named after the quote from George Orwell’s “1984,” the band consists of co-lead singer/songwriters Ryan O’Keefe (guitar, piano) and Halli Anderson (violin, piano), as well as Stephen Bush (guitar), Matt Rossino (bass), and Alex McWalters (Drums). With crisp male and female vocal harmonies and lyrics that range from narrative storytelling to ironic social and political statements, the band has become known throughout the south east for a sound that moves from melodic pop to experimental ambiance. In 2007 the band signed a one-album contract with Boone-based Split Rail Records. Since the release of their debut album, “Archie Carroll” in 2008, they have shared the stage with such national acts as State Radio, Keller Williams, Sister Hazel, Sam Bush and Tim Reynolds.

The Trainwreks

Trainwreks have been voted the number one Alt-Country Band in Western North Carolina three years in a row, 2007-2009, by the readers of Mountain Xpress.

Marley Carroll & The Melanaster Band

Producer and multi-instrumentalist Marley Carroll spent nearly four years perfecting his debut full-length LP, “melanaster,” a meticulously-crafted collection of melancholy pop songs that combines aesthetics from genres as diverse as indie rock, hip-hop, IDM, shoegaze, “world” music traditions (Indian, Middle Eastern, Balinese) and free jazz.

Kovacs & The Polar Bear

Vertigo Jazz Project

Vertigo Jazz Project is known for their compositions and performances through the jazz idiom. But people often ask “Is this Jazz?”   VJP has taken on the task of bridging the gap between multiple genres of music such as Jazz, Funk, Latin, Rock, Jam, Avant, Classical, World, and Country; while always maintaining a distinctively recognizable element of jazz. VJP takes their varied experience and creates original compositions of their easily recognizable form of music; paying homage to the aforementioned styles, with heavy emphasis on the jazz, soul jazz and world elements. A journalist once said of VJP, “I never knew jazz could make me feel this alive, this free and this sweaty!” (Jason Bugg, Mountain Xpress)

The If You Wannas

We play Minimalist Pop Music for Cannibals.

Open Windows

We finished our first album, Lanterns, and relocated to Asheville, North Carolina. We’re writing again and have this feeling like our best stuff is still ahead of us. The misty topped mountains have become home. We can smell the earth again. Time to fly.

Uncle Mountain

Each song in Uncle Mountain’s set is a marriage of vision and spontaneous collaboration.  Three distinct songwriters with their own styles steer tunes in different directions until they’ve reach a destination, often one that they had never expected.  The result is one that they are proud of both in headphones and on stage, blending the organic soul of rock and folk with the lively percussion, rich harmonies and colorful textures from all of their favorite music from around the globe.

Now You See Them

Now You See Them is exactly like you…and that’s what makes them special! Their sound can be described as super fun acoustic folk/pop, but their music is much more than a pigeonholed genre. It’s a reflection of three kind people who work hard and expect incredible things in return.

Tennessee Jed Band

Start with a strong dose of lyrical singer-songwriter acoustic folk. Add a helping of catchy hooks mixed with modern rock arrangements and searing, soulful vocals. Then package everything in a hot-rod Americana string band format featuring some of the Southeast’s finest bluegrass pickers and rockers. The finished product is Tennessee Jed.

Voodoo Wedding

Born in Chicago and raised in Florida, my travels have taken me across this great country, from New york to Mexico and all that lay in between. The music on this page was written by myself, along with occasional songwriting partner Mike Juliano, in Ormond Beach, Florida throughout the course of last year. These days I’m living in Asheville, North Carolina and developing a new style of music with my old friend, singer/songwriter Derek Matthew. Also, I am involved in various collaborations here in Asheville, and hoping to go on tour this spring . There will be much to come in the ensuing months, so please come back and check out the new songs as they’re posted. Thanks for your interest, and for all you weary travelers: “there’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where your meant to be, it’s easy…all you need is love”. – Steve Smith