The Grey Eagle
w/ The Freight Hoppers
Friday, Dec 2, 2011
$10 adv/ $12 Dos, 9pm
185 Clingman Ave.
Asheville Bluegrasser’s Town Mountain are returning to The Grey Eagle on Friday, December 2nd. The Freight Hoppers will be joining them for the evening’s entertainment, bringing the bluegrass an old-time scenes in Asheville a little bit closer together.
A common thread that binds us to music is familiarity with tradition and the unexpectedness of progression. In a time when bluegrass music is all over the place with it’s predictability; whether it is the crisp clean sound of the contemporary side, the tones of a sixty-year tradition, or the jam band mentality, you can see it coming. It’s all great and Town Mountain is happy to be right in the middle of this bluegrass gumbo.
You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again, “Town Mountain’s not your grand daddy’s bluegrass”, or “Town Mountain is a great traditional bluegrass band”. Fortunately both of these statements are true and false all at the same time therefore canceling each other out and in turn making it hard to pigeonhole just what Town Mountain can be called. Newly signed with revered Pinecastle Records, Town Mountain is Phil Barker (Mandolin, vocals), Robert Greer (Guitar, vocals), Jesse Langlais (banjo, vocals), Bobby Britt (fiddle), and Jon Stickley (bass, vocals).
This year Town Mountain has teamed up with Pinecastle Records to release their third album, Steady Operator in the late spring. Now the band, more musically mature and honing in on a sound that suits them collectively as well as personally, is ready to show the acoustic music world that they are in fact on the cutting edge of old and new. A recognizable sound with youthful interpretation of a music that continues to evolve, this is Bluegrass.
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The Freight Hoppers play old time music with an emotional, raw excitement that keeps one foot planted in the past and the other in the present. Of course that’s only when they keep their feet still, for this is high energy dance music of an older day played like there’s no tomorrow. Finding their passion from a love of string band music of the 1920’s and 30’s, The Freight Hoppers have been entertaining crowds of fans at festivals and music halls alike as they travel around the country. The heart of the band is held together by the powerhouse fiddle and banjo combo of David Bass and Frank Lee, while the rhythm section of Isaac Deal on guitar and Bradley Adams on string bass keep the music driving. Add in the vocal duo of Frank and Isaac, and you’ve got yourself one of the most exciting traditional bands to come out of the woodwork. Based out of the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, The Freight Hoppers draw from a deep source of rural southern music for their inspiration.
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