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SUMMARY:Tennessee Shines - 2/11 - Shadowgrass / Asheville Mountain Boys / Tidalwave Road
DESCRIPTION:East Tennessee’s Own WDVX presents Tennessee Shines Live from the Bijou Theatre on Wednesday night February 11th at seven. We kick off 2026 with a jam from Shadowgrass\, Tidalwave Road  and Asheville Mountain Boys!  Be part of the live radio theatre audience for Tennessee Shines February 11th. \nTickets are on sale now and going fast. \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS! \nWhen their instrumental prowess earned them a vast following on social media\, childhood friends turned all-star act Shadowgrass found sudden success. But as a young band\, the expectations that went along with a large audience proved daunting. “We felt a lot of pressure to make something uniquely us\, because we had such a big following\, and we felt that they deserved more than what we had given them as of yet.” explains the band. The group dug deep into their own musicality\, and tried to block out the noise for their sophomore release All That Will (release date: Oct 4\, 2024). “It turned out that dropping those self-imposed expectations and just writing/making music for our own enjoyment was the key to finding our collective voice and making a record we are all proud of.” \nShadowgrass began in 2014 when Clay Russell (Banjo)\, Luke Morris (Mandolin)\, Kyser George (Guitar) were jamming at the Grayson County Fiddler’s Convention in Elk Creek\, VA. Sometime before their first real show\, the name Shadowgrass was suggested simply because they thought it sounded “cool”. Kyser\, Clay\, and Luke were 9\, 13\, and 14 years old at the time. Now in their early twenties\, their influences and listening habits have changed drastically\, but the group has always grown in the same direction musically. They have welcomed fiddle player Madison Morris\, who also lends vocals and songwriting prowess\, and bass player Evan Campfield. Luke and Madison trade off lead vocals\, and harmonies seamlessly with one another. Their commitment to and keen interest in songwriting brings additional dimensions to the band\, allowing the group to appeal to listeners outside of the expected jam-band community. \nAs a very young band that has already been playing together for a decade\, Shadowgrass has a unique bond. “We’ve grown up together and have watched each other evolve into the people we are today”\, they say. “It sounds cliche but we definitely act more like siblings than bandmates”. On All That Will\, the group explores themes of anxiety and uncertainty\, and questioning the people they want to become. Luckily\, they’ve had each other to share these experiences with\, and it seems that their companionship has only pushed their artistic and musical abilities to new heights. \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nTidalwave Road hails from Williamsburg\, KY in the heart of the Daniel Boone Country\, the “Gateway To The Cumberlands\,” and a hotbed for high energy\, foot-stomping bluegrass music. First formed in 2012\, the current members include Ben Parker (banjo)\, Carlie Parker (mandolin)\, Daniel Parker (bass)\, and Robert Sulfridge (guitar). \nAs winners of the 2023 SamJam Festival Band Competition\, sponsored by Pinecastle Records\, the band was launched with their grand prize recording from Pinecastle’s Bonfire Recording Studio in Piedmont\, SC. Recorded and Produced by Steve Wilson\, the BONFIRE SESSIONS became Tidalwave Road’s first professional collection to be released worldwide. \nNewly signed on to Pinecastle Records and industry agent\, Wilson Pickins Promotions\, with the success of their first effort\, the band began pre-production on their first full length project due out in 2025. SKIN AND BONE released October 24\, 2025 following three successful single releases that included a heightened level of airplay on SiriusXM Bluegrass Junction\, terrestrial and streaming radio. Tidalwave Road is excited looking forward to to the 2026 touring season. \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nBy their name\, you know where they are from\, and by their sound\, you know what they are about. The Asheville Mountain Boys are on a mission to capture not just the style but the spirit of traditional bluegrass. Asheville\, NC has long been known for great music and its roots in bluegrass go back to the founding of the genre (Bill Monroe’s first broadcast performance as the Bluegrass Boys was at Asheville radio station WWNC in 1938) A group that firmly stakes its claim to the tradition of the music from the area\, The Asheville Mountain Boys spring onto the scene with a thought\,” What happened to bluegrass?” It’s not a disparaging one that condemns current styles in the genre but rather asks\, “Why do we love this music in the first place” and answers with an approach that is true to the originators of the genre in the sense of both style and philosophy. Bluegrass is raw emotion\, excitement\, drive\, and authenticity. It is not sanitized or compromised but a reflection of the lives of those who play it. It’s storytelling that follows a throughline of tradition. With these priorities in mind\, they offer their first in a series of live-recorded singles. \nYour introduction to the band is “Another Day” a classic tune written and first recorded by Reno and Smiley in the late 50’s. This song choice and performance fit the ethos of the Boys showing the musical prowess of the group which includes John Duncan on banjo\, Zeb Gambill on mandolin\, Jacob Brewer on bass and vocals\, and Marshal Brown on guitar and vocals. The group plans to release more live music this year with studio recording to follow. \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\n 
URL:https://wdvx.com/event/tennessee-shines-2-11-asheville-mountain-boys-tidalwave-road-shadowgrass/
LOCATION:Bijou Theatre\, 803 South Gay Street\, Knoxville\, TN\, 37902\, United States
CATEGORIES:Tennessee Shines,WDVX Featured Events
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SUMMARY:Tennessee Shines - 11/5 - East Nash Grass / A.J. Lee & Blue Summit / Alex Leach\, Wyatt Ellis / The Po' Ramblin' Boys
DESCRIPTION:East Tennessee’s Own WDVX presents Tennessee Shines Radio Show Wednesday night\, November 5th at 7PM at the historic Bijou Theatre in downtown Knoxville. It’s WDVX’s 28th Birthday Party!\, and to celebrate we’re bringing AJ Lee and Blue Summit\, East Nash Grass\, The Po’ Ramblin Boys\, Alex Leach\, Wyatt Ellis and your host Jim Lauderdale to the Tennessee Shines stage\, for a full night of live Bluegrass at the Bijou on November 5th. \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS! \nAJ Lee & Blue Summit are an award-winning\, energetic\, charming\, and technically jaw-dropping band — and one of the most exciting and fast-rising Bluegrass / Americana bands on the scene today. Based in the California Bay Area\, the group met as teenagers\, picking and jamming together as kids at local bluegrass festivals. Currently made up of AJ Lee on mandolin\, fiddler Jan Purat\, guitarists Scott Gates and Sullivan Tuttle (younger brother of Molly Tuttle)\, and bassist Sean Newman\, the band still carries that youthful\, festival-parking-lot energy with them\, yet there’s a genuine ease and confidence to their music making. A breakout year for the band\, 2024 saw them release their critically acclaimed album\, “City of Glass\,” their first label release on Signature Sounds recordings\, combined with becoming one of the most in-demand bands in the Bluegrass scene. In 2025\, the band continues to pack major venues around the country\, along with major festival plays\, and the release of “Cover to Cover V1\,” an EP of cover songs being released throughout the year. \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS! \nEast Nash Grass exemplifies the best of what bluegrass has to offer — as being named the 2024 IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) New Artist of the Year would suggest. But their talent as singers\, instrumentalists\, and composers is just the beginning. The secret to East Nash Grass lies in their unflinching ability to be themselves. It certainly helps that they are a veritable supergroup of award-winners who have been performing longer than some might guess they’ve been alive\, with experience working with Dan Tyminski\, Tim O’Brien\, Sierra Hull\, and Rhonda Vincent\, as just a start. After hundreds of sets (and countless late-night jams) in Nashville\, East Nash Grass has coalesced into the hair-raising ensemble of Harry Clark (mandolin)\, Cory Walker (banjo)\, James Kee (guitar)\, Maddie Denton (fiddle)\, and Jeff Partin (bass/dobro). Their love of both bluegrass and the absurd can be felt in both their live shows and on their new album “All God’s Children” (Mountain Fever\, 2025)\, which keep listeners on the edge of their seats\, marveling at irrefutable mastery and wondering just what might come next. \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS! \nIn 10 years as a band\, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys have covered a lot of miles. Their love of bluegrass — playing it\, sharing it\, growing it — has been the fuel for their remarkable journey through every corner of America and into the hearts of fans drawn to their hard-charging\, true-blue sound. \n“We live what we play and sing about\,” says bandleader C.J. Lewandowski. Indeed\, the band has weathered their fair share of the highs and lows that bluegrass songs are known for (except for the murders\, of course). They’ve been road-weary\, longing for home. They’ve felt the heartbreak of band members leaving and embraced the joy of welcoming new ones. They’ve worked hard to see their dreams come true\, playing on some of music’s most celebrated stages. And they’ve been nominated for a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album (2019’s Toil\, Tears & Trouble) and for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award. \nAmid all their travels\, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys have seen every nook and cranny of the country\, met people from all walks of life\, and kept a keen eye toward the truth\, which rings out loud and clear in the songs they write. “Wanderers Like Me\,” the title track from their most recent album and the band’s first No. 1 song on the Bluegrass Unlimited chart\, shoots straight from the heart: “Wanderers like me don’t settle down for no one / don’t mind being lonesome\, chasing dreams is all I ever need.” \nLately\, they’ve been chasing their dreams in a new configuration\, one that expands the band’s age span and geographical roots. Guitarist John Gooding from California and fiddle player Max Silverstein from “the great bluegrass state of Maine\,” as the band likes to say during onstage introductions\, are the newest additions\, both in their 20s. They join Lewandowski on mandolin\, Jereme Brown on banjo\, and Jasper Lorentzen on bass\, relative elders in their 30s. \nLewandowski describes this new chapter for the band as one of “expansion and growth.” There’s a new energy to the group onstage\, with appreciative glances and the occasional good-natured laugh between them as they play. They’re listening to each other and responding. And audience members feel like part of the conversation. \nThe Po’ Ramblin’ Boys have always been known for barreling bluegrass forward\, and as they move into their second decade as a band\, they’re maintaining that momentum\, both onstage and in the studio. Lewandowski envisions the band’s next project as “kicking it back to the beginning and cutting a record that is solid damn ’grass.” And then\, of course\, they’ll take it right back on the road\, living what they sing about and sharing it with others\, just the way they like it. \n“We take bluegrass and put it where bluegrass isn’t\,” says Lewandowski. “It’s not about putting music that is different into bluegrass music to attract more people.” \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS! \nAlex Leach and his band are redefining modern roots music and bluegrass\, bringing exceptional musicianship and high energy to every stage. Bluegrass Today praises them for their skill and exuberance\, marking Alex as a leading figure in the young bluegrass vanguard. \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS! \nWyatt Ellis has achieved more milestones in his 16 years than most musicians achieve in a lifetime. The teen multi-instrumentalist from East Tennessee is rapidly emerging as one of bluegrass music’s brightest stars. With a fiery passion and a profound respect for the genre’s traditions\, he skillfully blends the influences of bluegrass pioneers with youthful energy. Known for his virtuosic mandolin playing\, soulful vocals\, and original songwriting\, Wyatt has built a dedicated fanbase excited to support him as he grows up before their eyes. His band performances\, marked by raw energy and tight harmonies\, breathe new life into traditional bluegrass\, seamlessly fusing the rich traditions of Appalachia with a modern edge. \nWyatt and his bluegrass band are picking up steam as one of the most exciting young acts in bluegrass today. Each member brings their own authentic Appalachian flavor. Performing around a single microphone in the classic Appalachian style\, the band’s live shows echo with the sound of high-lonesome harmony\, powerful rhythm\, and blazing solos. Their stage presence and chemistry evoke the timeless spirit of bluegrass while offering something fresh and compelling. From the Grand Ole Opry to festivals like MerleFest\, Gray Fox\, and Big Ears\, Wyatt Ellis and his bluegrass band are gaining momentum and turning heads at every stop. With a debut band album on the horizon and a growing national fanbase climbing aboard\, Wyatt Ellis and his bluegrass band are rolling forward on a track laid by the legends\, bringing youthful energy to the heart of tradition. \nWyatt’s talent has earned him notable recognition\, including the title of Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year and an unprecedented nomination at age 15 for New Artist at the International Bluegrass Music Association Award Show in 2024. His virtuosity and understanding of the roots of traditional bluegrass have earned collaborations with bluegrass pioneers Peter Rowan\, Marty Stuart\, and Bobby Osborne. His rise to prominence has been featured in Rolling Stone and The Tennessean\, cementing his place in the spotlight. Wyatt’s innovative approach to traditional bluegrass has already begun to influence the next wave of acoustic musicians\, furthering his generational impact on the genre. \nIn 2024\, Wyatt made his solo debut at the Newport Folk Festival\, and his band became a fan favorite at major festivals such as Gray Fox\, MerleFest\, and Big Ears. That same year\, Wyatt was a guest of Dailey & Vincent at age 13 and became a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry after making his official Opry debut playing original music with his own band at just 14 years old. Wyatt’s debut album reached number one on Billboard’s bluegrass sales chart in its first month of release\, with multiple songs charting as bluegrass airplay number one hits. Ten of his twelve tracks charted in the Top 10\, with “Blue Smoke” holding steady there for most of the year\, solidifying his status as one of the genre’s most promising emerging talents. \nIn January of 2025\, Wyatt released Winds of Rowan County alongside bluegrass legend Peter Rowan\, a collaboration that honors Rowan’s legacy while passing the torch of the “old-school” to bluegrass music’s newest flame-keeper. Currently\, Wyatt is preparing to release a debut vocal album\, which will feature brand new original material. This album marks a significant milestone in his career and promises to showcase even more of his unique sound and growing artistry. With relentless dedication to his craft\, Wyatt is making a lasting impression on the bluegrass world and beyond. As he continues to push boundaries\, Wyatt is poised to captivate music lovers around the world. You won’t want to miss the next chapter in this unstoppable young artist’s journey. \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS! \n \n \n 
URL:https://wdvx.com/event/tennessee-shines-11-5-east-nash-grass-a-j-lee-blue-summit-alex-leach-wyatt-ellis-the-po-ramblin-boys/
LOCATION:Bijou Theatre\, 803 South Gay Street\, Knoxville\, TN\, 37902\, United States
CATEGORIES:Tennessee Shines
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SUMMARY:Tennessee Shines - 8/6 - Kelsey Waldon & The Muleskinners / Handsome & the Humbles / Redd & the Paper Flowers
DESCRIPTION:East Tennessee’s Own WDVX presents Tennessee Shines at the Historic Bijou Theatre in downtown Knoxville on Wednesday Night August Sixth at Seven.\nThis is a FREE SHOW featuring Kelsey Waldon & The Muleskinners\, East Tennessee’s Own Handsome and The Humbles and Redd & the Paper Flowers. This show is made possible by Tennessee Stone and Modelo Especial! \nIn the six years since she signed to John Prine’s Oh Boy Records\, Kelsey Waldon has earned wide praise for her “self-penned compositions [with] the patina of authenticity” (Rolling Stone). On her new album\, Every Ghost\, she confronts addiction\, grief\, generational trauma\, and even herself — and comes through it stronger and at peace. \n“There’s a lot of hard-earned healing on this record\,” Waldon says of the nine-song project\, recorded at Southern Grooves studio in Memphis with her band\, The Muleskinners. As she sings in the record’s title track and first song\, “Ghost of Myself\,” she’s put in the work not only to better herself and leave behind bad habits\, but also to learn to love her past selves. \nDoing so wasn’t easy\, Waldon admits. “It took time and experience\,” she says\, adding that she can now find compassion for her younger self. \n“I think you’ve gotta respect her\,” Waldon says\, “because she was trying as hard as she could for where she was at\, and she was doing a damn good job.” \nCompassion is a throughline on Every Ghost\, whether it’s for Waldon herself\, for the person in the throes of addiction in “Falling Down\,” or for a suffering world in “Nursery Rhyme.” The people in Waldon’s songs aren’t irredeemable — they’re struggling. \n“You’ve got to have compassion; you gotta stay humble and have gratitude\,” Waldon says. However\, she’s learned that you also can’t let people take advantage of an empathetic heart. “Comanche” — which Waldon jokes is her very own truck song — finds Waldon grappling with the loss of a loved one\, not to death but to boundaries she’s set for her own good. Waldon owns a 1988 Jeep Comanche\, and driving it serves as a kind of therapy for her. \n“I love the whole aspect of when design mattered\,” she says\, “and owning your car was an expression of yourself.” \n“Comanche” is deeply personal\, but Waldon’s most introspective reflections bookend My Ghost. Its penultimate song\, “My Kin\,” extends the idea of loving yourself in spite of yourself beyond the choices she’s made and the circumstances she’s put herself in\, to reckon with both the good and the bad that come from her family tree. Those traits\, Waldon concludes\, make her who she is. \n“As the song says\, ‘I’m the best and worst of my kin\,’ and I love that for myself\,” says Waldon\, who was born and raised in a hunting lodge at the end of a dead-end road in the rural\, unincorporated community of Monkey’s Eyebrow\, Ky. “And I’m also at a point where I’m willing to break these cycles\, I’m willing to grow\, I’m willing to evolve.” \nAmong those best parts of her lineage is Waldon’s grandmother\, who died in June 2024. “She was a remarkable woman. The women in my family have been rocks\, and they’ve all been colorful and full of character\,” Waldon says. \n“Her garden and her yard\, that might have been one of the things she took the most pride in\,” Waldon adds\, recalling how her granny would often stop to dig up roadside flowers\, then transplant them into her yard. A display of tiger lilies\, some of which now grow in Waldon’s yard in Tennessee\, was a particular point of pride. \n“Transplanting is such a tradition — it can teach you a lot\,” Waldon says. “Life goes on\, beauty can grow from anywhere\, and as long as a person is remembered\, they’re never gone.” \nWaldon honors her granny with the song “Tiger Lilies.” She didn’t want an over-the-top sentimental song\, so she instead leaned into the idea of traditions as a way to remember loved ones. “I’m sure Granny would love it\,” Waldon says. \nEvery Ghost concludes with a Hazel Dickens cover\, “Ramblin’ Woman.” Waldon covered two Dickens songs on 2024’s There’s Always a Song and had added “Ramblin’ Woman” to their live sets as well. While Waldon didn’t originally intend to include their cover on this album\, it served as “a sonic star” during the recording process and has a message Waldon feels is still relevant decades after Dickens wrote it. “Hazel was ahead of her time\,” Waldon says. “Our existence is more than just what society expects of us. We’re more than just somebody’s girlfriend or wife or mother\, and those are all beautiful things\, but we can have our own independence\, and we don’t have to do it for anybody else. We’re beautiful\, magical\, and powerful creatures.” \nThat’s certainly how Waldon sees herself after completing Every Ghost. “It feels like there’s a spirit of fearlessness throughout this album\,” Waldon says\, “and I’m really proud of that.” \nWaldon’s fearlessness is among the reasons she landed at Oh Boy Records in 2019\, as the independent label’s first new signee in 15 years. It’s attracted fans to her headline tours and her festival sets\, and prompted artists including Tyler Childers\, Charley Crockett\, Robert Earl Keen\, Margo Price\, and Lucinda Williams to invite her on tour. It helped earn her both the title of “Kentucky Colonel” — an honor recognizing goodwill ambassadors of Kentucky’s culture and traditions — and a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s annual American Currents exhibit in 2024. \n“True outlaw shit is sticking to your guns\, and I feel like I’m doing that\,” Waldon says. “I’m not saying I’m unbreakable\, but I feel almost unbreakable. I’ve already hurt the worst that I could and lived to tell the story. We can be thankful for our ghosts.” \n \nRedd & The Paper Flowers is an Appalachian Folk / Livingroom Folk band from Knoxville\, Tennessee with members Katie Adams (upright bass)\, Colleen d’Alelio (cello)\, Gavin Gregg (mandolin)\, and Redd Daugherty (guitar). \nThe band met in 2022 through a local open mic and mutual friends\, and they just released their debut album\, Appalachian Bell Jar\, a record that is a testament to East Tennessee and greater Appalachia’s beauty\, struggles with government support\, and their experiences in the area. \nThe band has grown extremely close over the past three years\, particularly in touring: In 2025 alone\, they’re on the road for 22 weeks out of the year. The band also grew through the tragedy of Redd Daugherty losing her dear friend\, Jason Cooper\, who owned a local Knoxville music store named Rush’s Music\, which has been a staple of the Knoxville music community since 1958. From Coop’s tragic death\, Redd found out he willed her the business\, his estate\, and his dog\, Ando\, who passed in April 2024. Redd owns\, operates\, and works at Rush’s alongside Katie and Gavin during their off time from touring\, which services over 90 schools. \nTheir second album\, Dead Little Thing\, will highlight the struggles from this experience and is set to release January 2026. \nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU2Z91d6LuQ \nThe best songs\, the thinking goes\, are the ones written from real-life experiences\, but those experiences sometimes exact a heavy toll. \nJosh Smith\, the singer and songwriter for Handsome and the Humbles\, knows that all too well. “Draw Some Blood\,” the new album by the Knoxville-based Americana outfit\, is built on a foundation of loss that knocked the gregarious and affable frontman to his knees … but in so doing\, gifted him with a record that smolders like the orange coals of a once mighty conflagration. \n“None of these songs are really about my dad\, but the sadness I experienced from his death\, as well as the loss of my marriage\, is pretty much the foundation of this album\,” Smith says. \nIt’s a profoundly intimate affair\, evolving from the skeletal framework of scribbled lyrics in the dead of night and rudimentary chords on an acoustic guitar. Upon those bones\, Smith and guitarist Josh Hutson began to bring the record to life in Hutson’s garage (affectionately nicknamed “The Ding Don Den”) using an iPhone interface to record everything but drum tracks on three songs. \n“I’d lay down an acoustic track\, he’d do electric\, then I’d do bass and vocals\, and we’d go back and do background vocals\,” Smith says. “They started sounding better than we anticipated\, so we just decided that since it’s so hard to get everyone together\, we’d just release what we have.” \nAlong the way\, they migrated to professional studios and recording spaces\, adding band members (guitarist Marcus Balanky\, former-and-sometimes-fill-in drummer Lauryl Brisson) and friends (drummer Kris “Tugboat” Killingsworth\, organist Matt Coker) to sculpt the tracks into a fully realized new record. \nThe finished creation is both warm and familiar and a startling departure\, made evident by the opening track “Be Around.” Ruminations on friendships during those dark times buoyed his spirits and inspired the shimmering ambiance that owes as much to the Flaming Lips as it does to any alt-country touchstones to which Handsome and the Humbles compare. \nAnd yet those touchstones remain … polished in ways that are a direct result of the musical intimacy shared between friends who first shared a stage together as teenagers. On “Now I Know\,” Hutson plays a guitar-slinging foil every bit as adept as Nels Cline to Smith’s Jeff Tweedy\, stomping through a swirling maelstrom of regret over the end of the latter’s marriage: “When everything means so much\, nothing means anything\,” he sings\, bone-tired weariness hanging on every syllable\, regret tinging every chord. \nThat regret lingers on “Nice Things” – “you’d think by now I’d be better than this” are the words of a man still coming to terms with a profoundly life-changing experience\, and once again Hutson’s fretwork serves as Smith’s North Star through the foggy remnants of remorse. \nHere’s the thing about “Alt-Country\,” though: Smith’s stories might burn like straight whiskey\, but the music is the sweet fire of bliss that follows. Whether it’s Brisson on sticks giving “Fades Away” a “D’yer Mak’er”-style groove or Coker coaxing “Exile”-era Stones juju on a song like “You Walked Away\,” there’s joy to be found in this collection\, if for nothing else than the simple fact that pain fades and the sun always rises. \nLight\, Smith has learned over time\, is always on the horizon\, somewhere in the distance\, guiding a path through the darkness. That’s a theme that Handsome and the Humbles have championed since the band came together around an EP titled “Hallelujah\, Alright\,” the capstone of which\, “Knoxville Lights\,” was a shambling rock ‘n’ roll homage to the cityscape as seen from a weary traveler crossing the mountains. Two full-length records followed — “Have Mercy” and “We’re All the Same\,” along with another EP (“400 Cigarettes”) a couple of years ago. \n“Alt-Country” is a continuation of the band’s journey to places “both frightening and stunning\,” as Smith croons on the new record’s final track\, “Returning to You.” And as that song fades\, he assures us: “When I’m alone\, my heart keeps returning to you.” \nIt seems natural to assume he’s talking about the loved ones he’s lost along the way\, but there are greater forces at work here\, made evident in the beauty carved from the granite face of pain: \nHe’s returning to the light\, and the fans and bandmates and opportunities that music has always provided\, and we are all the better for it. \n-Steve Wildsmith
URL:https://wdvx.com/event/tennessee-shines-8-6-kelsey-waldon-band-handsome-the-humbles-special-guest/
LOCATION:Bijou Theatre\, 803 South Gay Street\, Knoxville\, TN\, 37902\, United States
CATEGORIES:Free Live Show,Tennessee Shines
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SUMMARY:Tennessee Shines - 2/5 - American Aquarium\, Lilly Hiatt & Zach Russell
DESCRIPTION:CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nFor nearly two decades\, American Aquarium have pushed toward that rare form of rock-and-roll that’s revelatory in every sense. “For us the sweet spot is when you’ve got a rock band that makes you scream along to every word\, and it’s not until you’re coming down at three a.m. that you realize those words are saying something real about your life\,” says frontman BJ Barham. “That’s what made us fall in love with music in the first place\, and that’s the goal in everything we do.” On their new album The Fear of Standing Still\, the North Carolina-bred band embody that dynamic with more intensity than ever before\, endlessly matching their gritty breed of country-rock with Barham’s bravest and most incisive songwriting to date. As he reflects on matters both personal and sociocultural—e.g.\, the complexity of Southern identity\, the intersection of generational trauma and the dismantling of reproductive rights—American Aquarium instill every moment of The Fear of Standing Still with equal parts unbridled spirit and illuminating empathy. \nRecorded live at the legendary Sunset Sound in Los Angeles\, The Fear of Standing Still marks American Aquarium’s second outing with producer Shooter Jennings—a three-time Grammy winner who also helmed production on 2020’s critically lauded Lamentations\, as well as albums from the likes of Brandi Carlile and Tanya Tucker. In a departure from the stripped-down subtlety of 2022’s Chicamacomico (a largely acoustic rumination on grief)\, the band’s tenth studio LP piles on plenty of explosive riffs and hard-charging rhythms\, bringing a visceral energy to the most nuanced and poetic of lyrics. “In our live show the band’s like a freight train that never lets up\, and for this record I really wanted to showcase how big and anthemic we can be\,” notes Barham\, whose bandmates include guitarist Shane Boeker\, pedal-steel guitarist Neil Jones\, keyboardist Rhett Huffman\, drummer Ryan Van Fleet\, and bassist Alden Hedges. \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nThe search for answers—where she’s been\, who she’s become\, what it all means—lies at the heart of Hiatt’s striking new album\, Forever. Written and recorded in Hiatt’s new home just outside Nashville\, the collection grapples with growth and change\, escape and anxiety\, self-loathing and self-love. The songs are intensely vulnerable here\, full of diaristic snapshots and deeply personal ruminations\, but they’re also broad invitations to find yourself in Hiatt’s unflinching emotional excavations\, to see your own humanity reflected back in her pursuit of something larger than herself. Hiatt cut the album with her husband\, Coley Hinson\, who produced and played most of the instruments on the record\, and the result is a raw\, unvarnished work of love and trust that walks the line between alt-rock muscle and singer/songwriter sensitivity\, a bold\, guitar-driven\, at times psychedelic exploration of maturity and adulthood from an artist who wants you to know you’re not alone\, no matter how lost you may feel. \n“I think of this album like a hand to hold\,” says Hiatt. “I wanted to open up the door and let people in on what I’ve been going through\, but I also hoped that by telling the truth about the joy and pain and love and grief I’ve experienced\, it might strike a chord with somebody else navigating their way through all those things\, too.” \nBorn in Los Angeles and raised in Tennessee\, Hiatt first earned buzz with a pair of early solo records before breaking out with 2017’s Trinity Lane. Produced by Shovels & Rope’s Michael Trent\, the record helped Hiatt earn dates with the likes of John Prine\, Margo Price\, Drive-By Truckers\, and Hiss Golden Messenger in addition to festival slots everywhere from Pilgrimage to Luck Reunion. NPR called the album “courageous and affecting\,” while The Independent raved that it showcased Hiatt’s “gift for unpicking knotty lyrical themes in a personalised blend of countrified rock music\,” and Rolling Stone hailed it as “the most cohesive and declarative statement of the young songwriter’s career.” Hiatt delivered on the album’s promise with her similarly well-received 2020 follow-up\, Walking Proof\, and\, unable to tour due to the pandemic\, quickly returned to the studio again for 2021’s Lately\, which The Boston Herald said showcased her “knack for plainspoken\, poetic lyrics” and Uncut proclaimed to be “captivating.” \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nEach year\, thousands of people flock to the city of Nashville with hopes of “making it”. Ironically\, it wasn’t until Zach Russell made the decision to leave Music City\, USA that he inked his first record deal with Thirty Tigers. The drive back home may have only been three hours long\, but Russell’s journey back to old haunts in Eastern Tennessee isn’t quite that cut and dry. \nIn the 7 years preceding that trip down I-40\, there were stints as a manager at a shoe store and a karaoke host. He calloused his hands installing irrigation systems and working as a carpenter. He traveled the US and Europe as Tyler Childers’ merchandise manager and got to witness firsthand what it takes to chase down greatness. Through it all\, one thing that remained constant was his belief that he could chase it down as well. \nMusic has always played a pivotal role in Russell’s life. A background in Baptist and Hymnal music as a youth and a taste for hip-hop\, rock\, and country music informed his musical style between 2016 and 2020 as he found his footing. In 2021 the world received its proper introduction to Zach Russell as a fully formed artist with the release The Creek. This five-song EP proved not only to be a landmark release in Russell’s career\, but with its lyrical depth\, soaring instrumental jams and infectious melodies\, it served as proof that this landmark was merely the first of many to come. \nSince moving home and finding clarity\, the past 18 months have been busy for Russell. He spent those months writing music\, touring with The Alex Leach Band\, and delivering a guest appearance on Adeem the Artist critically acclaimed album\, White Trash Revelry. That wave of momentum has culminated to this moment\, and the release of his highly anticipated full-length debut\, Where the Flowers Meet the Dew. \nOnce again joining forces with up-and-coming producer Kyle Crownover (Adeem the Artist)\, this ten-song effort never takes its foot off the gas pedal. Dominant themes of wrestling with mortality\, pondering reincarnation\, and finding that ever elusive feeling of contentment in this life weave gracefully through.
URL:https://wdvx.com/event/tennessee-shines-2-5-america-aquarium-lilly-hiatt-zach-russell/
LOCATION:Bijou Theatre\, 803 South Gay Street\, Knoxville\, TN\, 37902\, United States
CATEGORIES:Tennessee Shines
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241113T190000
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SUMMARY:Tennessee Shines - 11/13 - Andrew Marlin Stringband / Rachel Baiman / Robinella
DESCRIPTION:CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nRachel Baiman  Common Nation of Sorrow\, Baiman’s 2023 LP\,  was called one of “The Best Albums of the Year (So Far) by The Boston Globe\, awarded 4 stars from American Songwriter\, and deemed a “Tremendously and remarkable record” by The Amp.  On the heels of an album release year that saw her play more than 130 shows across the globe\, Baiman in making 2024 her “Year of collaboration” with a series of A Side/B Side mini release projects featuring some of her favorite songwriters including Pony Bradshaw\, Caroline Spence\, and Nicholas Jamerson. If Common Nation of Sorrow was a novel\, this year’s releases feel more like short stories\, just long enough to make you want more. \nRaised in Chicago\, Baiman made her way to Nashville at 18 with the dream of being a professional fiddle player and has since released three solo records and an EP\, alongside session and side-person work with Kacey Musgraves\, Kevin Morby\, and Molly Tuttle among many others. As a songwriter\, she has garnered a reputation for her specific brand of political and personal lyricism\, which Vice’s Noisey described as ‘Flipping off Authority one note at a time”. \nIn contrast with her previous work\, (Watchouse’s Andrew Marlin produced her debut album\, Shame)\, Baiman was the sole producer of Common Nation of Sorrow. After recording for twelve days in Nashville with Grammy-Award-winning engineer Sean Sullivan\, Baiman traveled to Portland\, OR\, where she spent two weeks mixing the record with famed engineer and producer Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket/The Decemberists/First Aid Kit). For her new collaborative singles\, she turned to friend and indie-pop writer and producer Clare Reynolds\, known professionally as Lollies.  “One thing I learned from producing my own record is that I love producing\, as long as it’s not my own parts”\, she laughs.  “I thought it would be great to have another kind of collaboration included in these new songs\, on the production side. \nThe first In Collaboration single release\, “Dominoes”\, with Pony Bradshaw\, was the result of months of musical collaboration. “I’d been playing and singing in Bradshaw’s band some\, and on his upcoming record\, and we’d always talked about writing something together.  So this felt like a natural progression.”  The song hit 100\,000 streams on Spotify in it’s first month\, and Wide Open Country called it “a gut wrenching tale that catalogs the tension between two people acting on their worst impulses\, leading to a domino effect of fallout.” \n“I’ve been looking for a new well of inspiration\, something outside of myself\,” Rachel Baiman told Wide Open Country in early 2024. “Every time that you work with someone you admire\, there’s a lot of growth that happens from being around their creative process and seeing how they approach a song. It brings a new energy and perspective to my own work.” \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nRobinella’s career began with a sort of luck that rarely comes to most artists within their lifetime. What started out as a simple husband-and-wife duo fresh out of college quickly grew to a full-fledged band that blended Bluegrass\, Country and Jazz. The combination of Robinella’s honey-sweet vocals with violin\, mandolin\, bass\, drums and piano captivated audiences\, thus creating the ever popular Robinella & the CC Stringband. \nThey released their first album\, self-titled Robinella and The CC Stringband\, in 2000\, which quickly followed\, No Saint\, No Prize in 2001. Both were on the independent label Big Gulley Records. With a few simple twists of fate\, what followed was a whirlwind of rapid success – Columbia Records liked what they heard and signed Robinella in 2002. The label took seven songs from the band’s two prior albums and released them as the CD Blanket for My Soul and then released a full album in 2003\, Robinella and the CC Stringband. This led to a national tour including opening for such artists as Bob Dylan\, Willie Nelson\, Earl Scruggs\, Nickel Creek\, Robert Earl Keen\, Kasey Chambers\, Del McCoury and Rodney Crowell as well as an appearance on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and a music video on CMT for their hit single\, “Man Over”. She also performed on NPR’s “Mountain Stage\,” appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and performed on PBS’s “SoundStage.” In 2006\, Robinella was nominated for “Emerging Artist of the Year” at the Americana Music Awards and released her fourth album\, “Solace for the Lonely”\, on Dualtone Records in Nashville. \nBut then life\, as it has a tendency to do\, threw a few curveballs her way. She became a mom and a couple of years later\, she and her husband/musical partner split up with a new record almost completed. Exhausted and somewhat disillusioned with the industry and its promises\, it was time to regroup\, redefine and get back to her roots. So she returned to her home\, the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains\, and got back in touch with what she truly wanted – love\, family\, friendship\, music\, art\, truth. \nWith that comes her latest release\, “Fly Away Bird”\, her most mature work. However\, within the melancholy and touches of sadness there is not true despair. For such a voice — that dazzling\, warm\, bright-as-summer-sunshine soprano — to even communicate it would most likely defy certain laws of emotional physics. No\, instead\, this album\, beneath the disappointments\, she is brimming with optimism — with hope. You can feel it\, and even more important than that\, you believe — because she believes\, and because her music is so honest and so genuine and so forthright that you just can’t help but knowing that this is an artist who still finds life to be magical. \nArtist’s Statement\n“The more things change the more they stay the same.” The longer I live the more I see the truth In this statement. And the truth I see is that as the day to day passes\, while the years roll on\, our lives are full of repetition — repetition in choices\, repetition in words\, repetition of body and mind. \nAs an artist\, and a singer and songwriter. I see this repetition in paint\, in color\, and in song rolling off my lips. I’m from East Tennessee this means a lot of things to different people. To me\, it means a big family\, a mild climate\, an accent\, a thank you and your welcome. It means part of an old hymn. “Lord lead me on from day to day I want to walk the holy way though friends forsake me all alone\, I ask the Lord to lead me on…” \nIt means modesty. \nIt means character. \nWhat can I say about my music but that it is intertwined with my life. The songs I have written\, the songs I will write… These words I know because I have either lived them or seen them or felt them over and over\, over and over\, over and over again. I’ve seen many things. Some people would say I was naive. Maybe naive is a choice. I believe in beautiful\, beautiful\, beautiful. Can you see it? \nWant me to try and show you? \nI will. \nWith repetition\, with a country song\, with a smile\, with a jazzy phrase I heard in a movie\, with some fancy chords a man showed how to play. With some truth. With some lies. \n“Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely\, O Lord you hem me in Behind and Before”-Psalm 139 \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nAndrew Marlin is a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based out of Chapel Hill\, NC. He’s known for his captivating songwriting\, presented both lyrically with his band Watchhouse\, in roots group Mighty Poplar\, and under his own name. His latest solo record\, Phthalo Blue is out now! \n \nCLICK HERE FOR TICKETS!\nSupport for Tennessee Shines comes from Tennessee Stone & Visit Knoxville.
URL:https://wdvx.com/event/tennessee-shines-11-13-andrew-marlin-rachel-baiman-robinella/
LOCATION:Bijou Theatre\, 803 South Gay Street\, Knoxville\, TN\, 37902\, United States
CATEGORIES:Tennessee Shines,WDVX Featured Events
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