Woody Pines plays The LAB in Asheville Friday Oct 22nd // Recording a New LIVE Album

Woody Pines plays The Lexington Ave. Brewery (LAB)

Recording their “LIVE” LIMITED EDITION 12″ vinyl album
Friday, October 22, 2010

$6, 9:30pm
39 N. Lexington Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801

The night will be caught on film- so come get dressed up and party with Woody Pines!!!

Woody Pines (Jonathan Woods to his mum) had been writing and playing as well as any of his generation long before producing his debut solo album in 2005.

The material is rich in character and redolent of place, namely rural, real America. His style has been compared to Paul Burch and his presentation likened to Mark Olson, but he’d dug even deeper for his source inspiration, with a passion for the early ragtime and jug band greats.

Earlier, those leanings set him off on a musical journey which led him to form the highly-rated Kitchen Syncopators with Gill Landry (Old Crow Medicine Show) who performed everywhere from New Orleans to Seattle’s Folklife Festival and the Oregon Country Fair.

After striking out on his own and moving to Asheville, western North Carolina, his repertoire was re-shaped to create a pleasing blend of old-time/juke joint/country blues so authentic and evocative you’d swear they might be period pieces.

The 2007-issued Lonesome Shack Blues with its great pickin’ and just-right lightness of touch, won him an even bigger following among the kinda folks who seek their musical fix courtesy of Professor Longhair or Mississippi John Hurt.

Woody Pines Circa ’09 is now a person and a band, his playing companions – Zack Pozebanchuk (bass), Darin Gentry (fiddle) and Nathan Taylor (drums) – providing so much brotherly support and bonhomie they are now one and the same and have adopted the stage name.

In between a busy touring schedule that has taken them to venues and festival stages from Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon and Michigan to Indiana, Texas, Tennessee, West Virginia and Ohio, they recorded killer tracks for the widely-acclaimed new album, Counting Alligators which has been picking up rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

The album reunited Woody with Gill, who helped out on a bunch of the studio sessions in Nashville.

The Mountain Xpress, labelled Woody an “old soul and natural performer playing like an all-state champ who took to hopping trains and frequenting speakeasies”. _________________________________________________________________
The Salty Caramels will be opening for the evening: Molly Winters, Angela Perley, and Bree Frick, are a trio of singer-songwriters from Columbus, Ohio. Borrowing from a combination of influences spanning from the girl-group sounds of the 40’s through the 60’s and Folk Americana, the Salty Caramels bring nostalgia, whimsy, and sweetness to their audience, without ever losing their “salty” edge. The girls formed in September of 2010 and play a rotating variety of instruments which include the suitcase bass drum, resonator guitar, acoustic bass, washboard, saw, and kazoo, to name a few.

Certain talented musicians have the ability to transport the listener to a different place and time by just hitting some strings or directing the air that fills their lungs…

For Woody Pines, you find yourself in the Mississippi Delta when AM radio is king, sippin’ whiskey if you re fortunate and moonshine if you’re desperate.

The band; comprised of Woody on guitar, banjo, harmonica and lead vocals, Zack Pozebanchuk on upright bass, Nathan Taylor on drums, and Darin Gentry on fiddle; epitomizes the swinging ragtime and country sound and embraces a simpler time.

”New Orleans has music seeping out of the bricks in the old French quarter,” said Woody, who moved to New Orleans to steep in the city’s famous music scene, but now resides in Asheville, North Carolina. “We went down there to learn [the music] not just note for note, but also through the food and lifestyle that make New Orleans so special.”

Although the group has been playing together for two and half years, Pines is the driving force both creatively and on stage, which has lead to some very tall comparisons. “I m not really sure where the Bob Dylan associations come from,” said Pines. “But I love Dylan and I m honored to be alive when he is, so I take it as a compliment.”

Pines, who comes from a musical family and has been playing music since he can remember, describes the band’s sound as a ragtime rhythm and a swinging good time, and his songs reflect that belief. ”Reefer Man” immediately brings to mind a haunting, Halloween hootenanny that could have come straight out of vaudeville. “Pretty Blue Eyes” puts listeners straight into the backseat of a convertible, whipping around the back roads of the Delta on a crisp, autumn night. Several other songs by the band, such as “Nashville” and “Delta Bound”, evoke thoughts of a Southern gossip or a post-Civil War America where the blues weren’t just a style of music, but a way of life. “I pick and choose the best sounding stuff,” said Pines. “Everything from swing band to old country blues goes into our music, along with life’s influences.”   – By Max Bonem, Athens OH

Read Full Post »

Get Ready for Jen and the Juice with popular Charleston band Dangermuffin on Friday, September 17th at the LAB in Asheville

Get Ready for one of my absolute favorites, Jen and the Juice with popular Charleston band Dangermuffin on Friday, September 17th  at the LAB in Asheville. Show starts around 10pm, just after the Downtown after Five on Lexington Ave with Larry Keel and Natural Bridge!

JE N  A N D T H E  J U I C E wow audiences with a singularly hipster mix of swingy, bluesy, refreshingly original funk and folk. Together in Western North Carolina for more than five years now, their second CD “Meet the Hooligan’s of  Bohemia” in 2007 hit a home run with fans and earned a juicy spot in WNCW 88.7 FM radio’s top 10 best regional albums of 2007. Now the Juice is heading into wider territory with a newly released CD “Fruit”, an even more dynamic cast of characters and a step up to regional and national touring.

“We draw a lot of inspiration from folks like Sublime, Beck, The Beatles, Paul Simon, G-Love, and Taj Mahal”, says Jenny Greer, lead vocalist and songwriter for the Juice. Her songs are exciting audiences connect immediately at both the emotional and fun level, wanting to know her and become part of the groovin’ picture. A multi media wizard who juices websites, music, lyrics, guitars and cover art like Willy Wonka makes candy, Jen’s a powerhouse in the singer songwriter and arts community at large. If ever a person could make things work, rouse a crowd, organize a party, create a concert and art happening with a walloping big collaboration of sound/ fun/ art and anything else, it’s Jen.

While Jenny writes most of the songs, the bands help make the arrangements smart, smooth and funky. Rolling melodies gently cruise through a lyrically painted canvas and stories dot the landscape of their tunes. After five years, their sound and reputation have grown, there are a few new members and a more polished, vibrant sound. While Jen travels the guitar neck, deftly cruising the chords of jazz, swing, rock and folk, Jake Hollifield owns the keyboard in the Juice, adding juke joint/boogie woogie flare and sophistication. Mikie Gray (Firecracker Jazz Band) handles drums while Ben Bjorlie holds the groove together tightly on electric bass, Kether Ables sings beautiful back-up melodies. The sound is melodic, familiar yet new, with a sing-a-long-able feel most acts would long for. Be prepared for dancing, spontaneous singing, shouting, clapping, whimsical familiarity and even a little group introspection as the audience bonds with Jen and the Juice for a warmly refreshing and hip musical ride.

Read Full Post »

Afromotive & Josh Blake’s Jukebox play the Lab for the World Cup Celebration!

For more info visit: https://dreamspider.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/funk-and-world-beats-at-the-lab-for-the-world-cup-kickoff-on-saturday-june-12th/

You can also find this event on Facebook

Read Full Post »

Funk and World Beats at the LAB for the World Cup Kickoff on Saturday, June 12th

Daytime Big Screen airing of the USA v. England game
Late night dance-party with Afromotive and Josh Blake’s Jukebox

It’s time to get excited for the worlds biggest sporting event! Come and celebrate the kickoff of the World Cup at the Lexington Ave Brewery, the LAB, in Asheville on Saturday, June 12th.  There is a full day and night planned with Funk , World Beats, and Soccer!

The folks at the Lexington Avenue Brewery are showing the first USA game (USA Vs. England) on a projector screen in their main room for the soccer community and fans in Asheville! Kick off is at 2:30pm. This year, The World Cup  is being held in South Africa. Get into the spirit with halftime and post game entertainment in by the Asheville Manding. Asheville Manding is Ryan Reardon and Adama Dembele from Afromotive along with Tasana Camara, who is a singer/kora player/balafon player from Guinea. The band is named after the Manding people of West Africa, one of the largest ethnicities and the “keepers of the flame” if you will, of traditional West African music.

The daytime event is a “suggested donation” benefit for former ABASA president and player Jack Brown and his family. Jack recently was admitted to the hospital with flu-like symptoms and ended up having a serious infection. It turned out that he had to battle a life threatening infection which resulted in the loss of his right leg. We are calling out to all soccer fans to come enjoy this game with a great crowd and atmosphere, and to donate what you can to Jack and his family as they begin to tackle a mountain of medical bills. Members of the soccer league will be taking donations at the door. There will also be a raffle following the game with some pretty sweet prizes.

The late-night dance party features music by Afromotive and Josh Blake JukeBox in the back room at the LAB. The doors open at 9pm with JBJB starting around 9:30pm. Afromotive headlines and the music will go til 2am. The cost for the show is $7.

Adama Dembele. Photo by Jon Leidel.

Afromotive:
Afromotive is creating a new wave of high energy dance music fusing West African rhythms and instrumentation with and American funk and pop sensibility for an experience that can only be described as infectious. Proudly born as a multi-ethnic crew in progressive Asheville, NC, the band has earned a formidable reputation over four years of relentless touring and festival appearances. At their core is thirty-third generation djembe player Adama Dembele from Ivory Coast, West Africa. He has performed with many prominent world acts including Oumou Sangare, Salif Keita, and Sogona Djata, to name a few. Adama’s vast knowledge of West African rhythms and intercontinental touring experience combines with his American counterparts’ hook-laden song writing and polished production for a fresh new take on the world beat genre. With positive reviews and sales of their debut full-length studio album and appearances at various national and regional festivals, including Bonnaroo, Joshua Tree Music Festival, and Echo Project, Afromotive continues to share their passion and energy with the masses.

Josh Blake

Josh Blake’s Jukebox:
On route to Jamaica in January 1997, Josh stopped in Asheville, N.C. to visit some of his friends. Soon thereafter he moved to Asheville to help establish the musical force known as GFE. A multidimensional artist, Josh’s musical understanding is based on his 16 years as guitarist and songwriter. With a travelers knowledge of our world, Josh aims to use his talents to bring unity and jubilation, to spread earth consciousness and end social injustice.

Josh Blake’s Jukebox is composed of some of Asheville’s finest musicians. The drummer Patrick Thomas and guitarist Casey Kramer are from the funky Asheville powerhouse Strut. The band also features Kyle Colclasure on bass from the local hip hop band GFE and more recently Super Collider. Affectionately dubbed “The Hot Sauce” female vocalists Carolyn Smith and Marisa Albert spice up the show with beautiful harmonies. Keyboardist Frank Mapstone from Yo Mamma’s Big Fat Booty Band and The Big Old Nasty Get Down has been known to join in on the fun. Multi-instrumentalist, Matt Williams, adds to the diverse sound of Josh Blake’s Jukebox. It is not unusual for Josh to include any number of special guests during his performances. Along with packing local venues, Josh was honored to have a song selected for the 2008 Mooged Out album, and has been chosen to play many of Asheville’s special events and festivals. With songs that range from rock to ragtime, hip-hop to funk, Josh Blake’s shows deliver what most listeners crave…great diverse music with lyrics that emphasize proper intention.

Read Full Post »