Galen Kipar Project Headlines RiverLink’s Riverfest on Sat, August 11th
Also Performing are Nikki Talley and Mountain Feist
Music, Crafts, Food, Beer, and a Parade of Floats!
Saturday, August 11, 2012 in French Broad River Park 1-7pm FREE!
The Park is located at Amboy Road at Riverview Drive. Click for a Map
RiverFest is RiverLink’s biggest party of the year and is back at French Broad River Park in Asheville, NC on Saturday, August 11, from 1-7pm with an exciting lineup of music with Galen Kipar Project, Mountain Feist, and Nikki Talley. RiverFest is a fundraiser for Riverlink to continue their work in revitalizing the French Broad River as a place for everyone to live, work and play. The days event will be filled with crafts, food, beer, and of course, the Anything That Floats Parade of rafts. (seriously- click that link for more on the parade– this is a fun and creative contest for people to make their own wacky floats and ride down the river!)
Galen Kipar Project. Photo by Gary Reckard
Headlining RiverFest is the Galen Kipar Project, who effortlessly crafts a fusion of folk, classical, jazz, and blues. The Galen Kipar Project has been hailed as “complex yet accessible” and “cohesive and poignant” with “experimental folk masterpieces.” Joining vocalist Galen Kipar on guitars & harmonica is Lyndsay Pruett on violin & vocals, Ben Portwood on bass, and Aaron Ballance on the dobro. In addition to being a great musician, Kipar is a big fan of WNC’s rivers and streams, making the band a perfect fit for the occasion!
Galen’s other endeavor keeps him on the water as he serves as a “trout ninja” (aka. fly fishing guide) with Curtis Wright Outfitters to Western North Carolina which has over 3000 miles of trout waters and streams. He gets much of his inspiration for songwriting while standing waist deep in a river. Galen states in an interview with the WVGazette, “Water, particularly rivers, have many different currents. Music is the same way,” he says. “Music has many different currents, and they all work together. Maybe that’s a little far-fetched, but it’s something that’s always fascinated me.”
True to his inspiration, Galen sings in the song Riversong, “Headin’ on down to the waterside, gonna take some time, to rest my mind. Gonna break there, gonna stay there. For a moment there, I’ll sigh.” Water is a consistent theme in his uplifting music. “I could easily picture myself finding a secluded stream high on the mountain and lying in the warm sun as the Galen Kipar Project played softly in the background,” states writer and online radio host Jeremiah Greer in Magazine 33.
To Celebrate the Occasion, GKP is offering a FREE DOWNLOAD of “RIVERSONG” Live From The Grey Eagle
“I was hooked right away… Strange, slightly other-worldly acoustic music sung in a sweet, slightly distracted voice. I think of it as a sort of American Primitive, with hits of Sandy Bull in the guitars, Brett Dennen in the voice, Donna the Buffalo in the rustic simplicity, and something altogether new in the wonderful orchestrations… In the words of Tina Fey, when I hear the sounds of this nearby world, I want to go to there,'” says songwriter and host of the Grateful Dead Hour David Gans about Galen’s Music.
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Mountain Feist
Mountain Feist is a groove oriented and high energy progressive bluegrass band, inspired by traditional bluegrass and shaped by music from around the world. The band plays a fast paced, interactive show supported by tight four part harmonies, instrumental features and an eclectic repertoire of original music as well as fresh covered material.” Members Justin Eisenman (guitar and vocals), Matt Dufon (bass, vocals), Neal Crowley (fiddle, banjo, vocals) and Jesse Iaquinto (mandolin, vocals) count among their influences Doc Watson, Waylon Jennings, Junior Brown, Jerry Garcia and Bela Fleck.
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Nikki Talley
Leading off the afternoon of live music will be Asheville’s own Nikki Talley, a hardworking, energetic, mountain girl with a big voice! Raised in North Carolina and hailing from Asheville, it’s only fitting that her music is as eclectic as the state that boasts the mountains and the sea. Trying to pin down Nikki’s style, critics and reviewers alike have compared her to an early Liz Phair and Gillian Welch, but to leave the comparisons there would be doing a disservice to her fiery stage performance, hauntingly seductive and raw gritty lyrics, lifted by a voice that harkens back to the Appalachian roots from which she was born, and shores up on the edges of contemporary southern rock, country, blues, and jazz.
Nikki’s most recent release Beautiful Charmer has definitely upped the ante production-wise and has a decidedly more country feel. For this project she had a lot of help from a number of collaborators including Grammy-winning alt-country icon Jim Lauderdale. It garnered the #7 spot in WNCW’s top 20 regional releases of 2010 and #23 in top 100 releases
Special Float for the Riverfest Parade!
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