Alexa Rose to play Franklin

Rising singer-songwriter Alexa Rose will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 9, at Yonder Community Market in Franklin. 

Love you madly: A retrospective on rock rebels Cake

In the vast annals of American rock music, alternative rock act Cake remains a beacon of eccentricity — this sonic love letter to quirky individuality and creative freedom. It’s a unique blend of rock, country and funk, the sum of which swirling around the spoken-word prose of lead singer John McCrea. 

Bryson City community jam

A community jam will be held from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at the Marianna Black Library in Bryson City. 

Carry this together: Zoe and Cloyd

With their latest album, “Songs of Our Grandfathers,” rising Asheville Americana/folk duo Zoe & Cloyd decided to take a different approach to this most recent musical endeavor. 

Henley named interim director of athletic bands at WCU

Matt Henley has been named interim director of athletic bands at Western Carolina University and will lead the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band this upcoming season while a national search is underway for a permanent director. 

Blurring the Lines: A conversation with Liam Purcell

Straddling the line between neo-traditional and progressive bluegrass, Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road are a fiercely ambitious and purposely elusive melodic force to be reckoned with in the live music scene of Western North Carolina and beyond. 

This must be the place: ‘I’m headed for the Bozeman Round and it’s goodbye to Old Missoula, sleepy town’

Hello from 26,982 feet above Southern Appalachia. Somewhere near southeastern Kentucky. En route to Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over an hour flight delay leaving the Asheville airport. Ground speed is 539 miles per hour. About 760 miles to our destination. One hour and 41 minutes left before touchdown in the Twin Cities. 

Reflections on lessons learned at Bonnaroo

Wednesday morning, June 12, I left my sister’s house in Sapphire for my very first music festival. 

I’d been to plenty of other concerts, raves and shows but had never dedicated more than a few hours to live music at any one time.

Scarred but smarter: A conversation with Drivin N Cryin

In the annals of American rock music, few storied bands have withstood the test of time and endured with such integrity and grit as Drivin N Cryin. Formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1985, the group is quickly approaching its 40th anniversary, another milestone along its melodic road of life, legend, lore and legacy — still rockin’, still rollin’. 

This must be the place: ‘Oh to live on Sugar Mountain, with the barkers and colored balloons’

Hello from the Merritt Parkway in south-central Connecticut. It’s bumper-to-bumper traffic and has been since we skirted New York City and headed east. Exit 60 is Hamden, Connecticut, a town that I called home during my years attending Quinnpiac University. 

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