Haw River Ballroom
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Nov30 ThuCat's Cradle Presents
Sam Grisman Project presents the music of Garcia/Grisman
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore InformationTICKET PRICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
DAY OF: $25.00
TICKET SALE DATES
DAY OF Public Onsale: November 30, 2023 12:00 AM to November 30, 2023 8:00 PM
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
FOUR FRIENDS — Sam Grisman, Ric Robertson, Aaron Lipp & Chris J. English — PAYING TRIBUTE TO THE MUSICAL LEGACY OF DAVID “DAWG” GRISMAN & JERRY GARCIA
A Note From Sam: "The music that my father David Grisman and his close friend, Jerry Garcia, made in the early 90s (in the house that I grew up in) is not only some of the most timeless acoustic music ever recorded, it also triggers my oldest and fondest musical memories. What I find most inspiring about this material is the way their camaraderie and their love and joy for the music, simply oozes out of each recording. It is also impressive how deeply they get beneath their favorite songs—whether they are originals, covers or traditional/old time tunes—and how expertly that material was curated.
My goal in starting Sam Grisman Project is to build a platform for my friends and me to showcase our genuine passion and appreciation for the legacy of Dawg and Jerry’s music. By playing some of their beloved repertoire and sharing the original music that our own collective has to offer, we will also show the impact that this music has had on our own individual musical voices. Ultimately, there is nothing that makes me happier than playing great songs with my best friends and my hope is to share that happiness with audiences all over!”
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Get Tickets$25.00 -
Dec9 SatCat's Cradle Presents
Angel Olsen, with Sluice
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore Information
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
Last year’s Big Time brought Angel Olsen to a deeper, truer sense of self than ever before. Borne from the twin stars of grief and love, the album delivered a beautiful sense of certainty, the sure-footed sound of an artist fully, finally at home with herself. But within that wisdom comes the realization that there is no finish line, no destination or static end point to life while you’re living it, and Forever Means collects songs from the Big Time sessions that hold this common theme. They are, in Olsen’s words, “in search of something else.”
“I was somewhere traveling,” says Olsen, “stopped for a few days and wandering the city, and I was thinking ‘what does ‘forever’ really mean? What are the things I’m seeking in friendship or love, and how can ‘forever’ be attainable if we’re always changing?’” Sitting with the reality of that entropy, Olsen realized “maybe the secret to ongoing love is to embrace change as part of love itself, that forever must have something to do with playing, looking, constantly searching things out for yourself, never letting yourself think you’re finished learning or exploring.”
“‘Forever’”, says Olsen, “remains curious while trying also to be kind and honest.” And so it is with opener “Nothing’s Free”, a song that is, according to Olsen, “about that point when self-denial breaks, and you notice how long you’ve been restraining who you are.” It is as hypnotic and haunting as anything Olsen has ever written, backed by a sax and organ pairing that feel wholly new to her canon. “Holding On” stretches that endless curiosity even further, as Olsen leans into a song that is “rare in my music, not meant for singing, more for getting lost in.”
All this packs into the four precious songs that comprise Forever Means, songs from Olsen’s roads traveled and the ones ahead. “Nothing’s free / like breaking free” Olsen sings, comfortable with the costs of her clarity, her heart and voice fixed on the present, the future, the not-yet-known and the beautifully unknowable.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Bandcamp | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify
Public Onsale:12:00 AMDec 9, 2023 -
Feb2 FriCat's Cradle Presents
Town Mountain
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore InformationTICKET PRICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
ADVANCED: $20.00
DAY OF: $25.00
TICKET SALE DATES
ADVANCED Public Onsale: October 25, 2023 1:00 PM to February 2, 2024 12:00 AM
DAY OF Public Onsale: February 2, 2024 12:00 AM to February 2, 2024 8:00 PM
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
Raw, soulful, and with plenty of swagger, Town Mountain has earned raves for their hard-driving sound, their in-house songwriting and the honky-tonk edge that permeates their exhilarating live performances, whether in a packed club or at a sold-out festival. The hearty base of Town Mountain's music is the first and second generation of bluegrass spiced with country, old school rock ‘n’ roll, and boogie-woogie. It's what else goes into the mix that brings it all to life both on stage and on record and reflects the group's wide-ranging influences – from the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and the ethereal lyrics of Robert Hunter, to the honest, vintage country of Willie, Waylon, and Merle.
The Rolling Stone says “Call it an evolution or a revolution but its clear that Town Mountain is at the forefront.” Town Mountain features guitarist and vocalist Robert Greer, mandolinist Phil Barker, fiddler Bobby Britt, and Zach Smith on bass. Town Mountain's album New Freedom Blues (October 2018) is their second consecutive album to debut in the top 10 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart, and receive multiple mentions by Rolling Stone, No Depression, Music Mecca, and more. Full of new material and featuring several guest artists including Tyler Childers and Miles Miller (Sturgill Simpson, drummer), they prove they have staying power by regularly cranking out authentic hit albums. The impression the band has made on fans is clear through their engagement at top tier festival appearances, and those sweet Spotify streams (30+ million). And if you still can’t get enough of this hard working group, you can look forward to new music in 2022.
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Get Tickets$20.00 -
Feb3 SatCat's Cradle Presents
Chatham Rabbits
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore InformationTICKET PRICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
ADVANCED: $25.00
DAY OF: $28.00
TICKET SALE DATES
ADVANCED Public Onsale: October 4, 2023 10:00 AM to February 3, 2024 12:00 AM
DAY OF Public Onsale: February 3, 2024 12:00 AM to February 3, 2024 8:00 PM
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
This is a partially seated show.
There is something warm and instantly familiar about the beloved roots duo, Chatham Rabbits. Partners in music and life, Chatham Rabbits’ Austin and Sarah McCombie blend their personal histories through deft songwriting and a history that comes from building a life together. Leaning into each other's strengths, their songs present a congenial, collaborative spirit that has captured the pure adoration of fans along the way and earned them praise from Garden & Gun Magazine, American Songwriter, and No Depression.Their artistry hinges on a fervent desire to connect with others through the music that first brought the pair together. Steeped in the regional traditions of their North Carolina home, Chatham Rabbits’ musical pursuits represent a new age of roots music. Chatham Rabbits recorded and released their beloved debut album, All I Want From You in 2019. This set the standard for their sophomore release The Yoke is Easy, The Burden is Full—the centerpiece song “Oxen” was named “Top Folk Song of 2020” by Paste Magazine. Nurtured by central North Carolina’s fertile, influential music scene, Chatham Rabbits’ sound continues to evolve in their expansive third album, If You See Me Riding By (2022), which was simultaneously released with a television series, On the Road with Chatham Rabbits, on PBS-NC. The McCombies ingenuity during the Covid-19 crisis led to the creation of their mobile concert experience, The Stay at Home Tour, which took the duo to 194 neighborhoods in 2020-21. The pair is currently recording their fourth album of poignant original songs and continuing to foster their tight-knit fan community across the US.
Website | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube
Get Tickets$25.00 -
Feb9 FriCat's Cradle Presents
Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band - Hello Starling 20th Anniversary Tour
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore InformationTICKET PRICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
ADVANCED: $35.00
DAY OF: $38.00
TICKET SALE DATES
ADVANCED Public Onsale: October 20, 2023 10:00 AM to February 9, 2024 12:00 AM
DAY OF Public Onsale: February 9, 2024 12:00 AM to February 9, 2024 8:00 PM
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band - Performing the Album 'Hello Starling'Josh and band will celebrate the 20th anniversary of Josh’s 2003 breakthrough record, Hello Starling, with a very limited North America headline tour, playing the album in full (plus more music). This follows a sold out European autumn tour celebrating the album.
A note from Josh:"When I wrote Hello Starling, I was playing coffee shops and open mics. By the time it came out, I was on tour with the Frames and Joan Baez. I was practically living on the road, hearing my songs on the radio for the first time, staying up all night, touring North America & Europe with my band, doing all these things I had only dreamt of. It was a grand time.For the 20th anniversary of the album, the band and I will be taking a swing through Hello Starling this February. We'll play the entire album in full, front to back, and then play a bunch more music.Thank you all for listening all these years!Love, Josh"Praise for Josh Ritter:“There have been plenty of highlights in Ritter’s 20-year (plus) recording career.” - AP“Harking back to Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and maybe a little Mark Knopfler, Mr. Ritter has always been a slinger of serious ideas and high-flown imagery.” - The New York Times
“Josh Ritter remains at the top of his game two decades into a highlight-strewn career. He’d be forgiven for loosening his grip, but his hand has never felt surer.” - NPR Music
“If you love music and have a device on which to play it, you should listen to Josh Ritter whenever you need sound.”—Mary-Louise Parker in Esquire
“Mysterious, melancholy, melodic...and those are only the M’s.”—Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Get Tickets$35.00 -
Feb16 FriCat's Cradle Presents
The Brook & The Bluff
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore InformationTICKET PRICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
ADVANCED: $22.50
DAY OF: $26.00
TICKET SALE DATES
ADVANCED Public Onsale: November 17, 2023 10:00 AM to February 16, 2024 12:00 AM
DAY OF Public Onsale: February 16, 2024 12:00 AM to February 16, 2024 8:00 PM
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
The Brook & The Bluff is perfectly poised between the past and the present, at an unexpected crossroads where indie rock and folk-rock have found new frontiers and possibilities online. Their new album Bluebeard feels like a modern classic, shaped by the past but very much of and for right now. The first song from the album titled “Long Limbs” is a song about the highs and lows of being in love and the work that goes into a relationship but also a reminder to just be present and let yourself be with someone that makes you happy.
In recent years, The Brook & The Bluff’s incandescent harmonies, winning arrangements, and observational acumen have unexpectedly put them upon a different on-ramp for success: streaming stardom. They are now, by far, one of the most successful young bands at folk-rock’s amorphous contemporary edge, fusing the craft of the past with the ideas and avenues of the present.
The Brook & The Bluff have already made a name for themselves on the live circuit playing electric sets at Bonnaroo, Hangout, Firefly and Wonderfront. Having previously toured with Mt Joy, Noah Kahan, Rainbow Kitten Surprise amongst others, this fall the band will embark on their most ambitious North American headline tour yet.
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube | TikTok
Get Tickets$22.50 -
Feb21 WedCat's Cradle Presents
Blonde Redhead
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore InformationTICKET PRICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
ADVANCED: $30.00
DAY OF: $35.00
TICKET SALE DATES
ADVANCED Public Onsale: November 17, 2023 10:00 AM to February 21, 2024 12:00 AM
DAY OF Public Onsale: February 21, 2024 12:00 AM to February 21, 2024 8:00 PM
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
“Life changes fast,” Joan Didion once wrote. “Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.”In the spring of 2020, Blonde Redhead singer and multi-instrumentalist Kazu Makino encountered this passage from Didion’s 2005 memoir of grief, The Year of Magical Thinking, in which the author reflected on the devastating experience of witnessing her husband’s sudden death at the dinner table. Amid the profound uncertainty of those early pandemic months, Makino was thinking of her own parents far away in Japan; the then-lost ritual of congregating for dinner with family; and the heavy, omnipresent feeling that life could change in the instant for any of us.With plainspoken language and incandescent melodies, Makino narrated these feelings on a pair of songs, “Sit Down for Dinner Pt I” and “Sit Down for Dinner Pt II,” which helped title the tenth full-length from Blonde Redhead. “Sit Down to Dinner Pt II” thematically transcends time: “It’s sort of about death, but the music is so alive and groovy,” Makino says. Yet, the title Sit Down for Dinner has a separate resonance for the Italian members of Blonde Redhead, the Milan-born twin brothers Amedeo Pace (singer / multi-instrumentalist) and Simone Pace (drummer). “Culturally, dinner is important to us,” Simone says of the nonnegotiable family ritual. “It’s a moment for us to sit down and have time with each other. We grew up that way. I know a lot of people eat and run, eat in front of their TV, or don’t care about it too much—and that’s OK—but we really do.” Dinner has long been a sacred ritual for Blonde Redhead as a band as well; when they’re on tour or rehearsing, they always share a meal, no matter what.Owing to that sense of persistent togetherness, the immersive, meticulously-crafted Sit Down for Dinner is a testament to the unique internal logic Blonde Redhead have refined over their three-decade existence. Formed in the 1993 New York indie underground, Blonde Redhead quickly found a place on Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley’s label, Smells Like, before releasing beloved records on Touch & Go and 4AD that traced an arc from angular indie-rock to cosmopolitan art pop. The trio might have been a quintessential ’90s band, if not for the fact that they continuously kept going, growing, never confined to any era but the present.On Sit Down for Dinner, the understated yet visceral melodies charging each song create a foil to lyrics about the inescapable struggles of adulthood: communication breakdown in enduring relationships, wondering which way to turn, holding onto your dreams. Going into the record, Makino had recently spent time living on a tiny Italian island and pursuing solo music—an experience that instilled in her new confidence to experiment and have fun. She returned to New York as the world was locking down, quarantining with Amedeo and his partner upstate, where they focused on the music in seclusion. Immaculately structured, imbued with sensitivity, clarity, and resolve, Sit Down for Dinner was ultimately written and recorded over a five-year period spanning New York City, upstate, Milan and Tuscany.
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube
Get Tickets$30.00 -
Mar1 FriCat's Cradle Presents
Yo La Tengo
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore InformationTICKET PRICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
ADVANCED: $30.00
DAY OF: $35.00
TICKET SALE DATES
ADVANCED Public Onsale: September 8, 2023 10:00 AM to March 1, 2024 12:00 AM
DAY OF Public Onsale: March 1, 2024 12:00 AM to March 1, 2024 8:00 PM
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World
Time keeps moving and things keep changing, but that doesn’t mean we can't fight back. Yo La Tengo have raced time for nearly four decades and, to my ears, they just keep winning. The trio’s latest victory is called This Stupid World, a spellbinding set of reflective songs that resist the ever-ticking clock. This is music that’s not so much timeless as time-defiant. “I want to fall out of time,” Ira Kaplan sings in “Fallout.” “Reach back, unwind.”
Part of how Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew escape time is by watching it pass, even accepting it when they must. “I see clearly how it ends / I see the moon rise as the sun descends,” they sing during opener “Sinatra Drive Breakdown.” In the séance-like "Until it Happens,” Kaplan plainly intones, “Prepare to die / Prepare yourself while there’s still time.” But This Stupid World is also filled with calls to reject time – bide it, ignore it, waste it. "Stay alive," he adds later in the same song. "Look away from the hands of time.”
Of course, times have changed for Yo La Tengo as much as they have for everyone else. In the past, the band has often worked with outside producers and mixers. Yo La Tengo made This Stupid World all by themselves, though. And their time-tested judgment is both sturdy enough to keep things to the band’s high standards, and nimble enough to make things new.
Another new thing about This Stupid World: it’s the most live-sounding Yo La Tengo album in a while. At the base of nearly every track is the trio playing all at once, giving everything a right-now feel. Take the signature combination of hypnotic rhythm and spontaneous guitar on “Sinatra Drive Breakdown,” or the steady chug of “Tonight’s Episode,” a blinkered tunnel of forward-moving sound. There’s an immediacy to the music, as if the distance between the first pass and the final product has been made a touch more direct.The songs on This Stupid World were still journeys, though. An example is the absorbing, three-dimensional “Brain Capers.” To construct this swirl, the band blends guitar chords, bass loops, drum punches, and various iterations of Hubley and Kaplan's voices into shifting layers. Simpler but just as dense is closer “Miles Away." A dubby rhythm lurks below Hubley’s vocal, which brushes across the song like paint leaving bright blurs. Throughout the album, these touches, accents, and surprises intensify each piece. It’s a rarity – a raw-sounding record that gives you plenty of headphone-worthy detail to chew on.
This Stupid World gives your brain a lot to digest, too. All the battles with time drive toward some heavy conclusions. In the gripping “Aselestine,” Hubley sings about what sounds like a friend on death's door: “The clock won’t tick / I can’t predict / I can’t sell your books, though you asked me to.” In “Apology Letter,” time turns simple communication into something fraught and confusing: "The words / Derail on the way from me to you.” Not everything is so serious, though. The absurdist “Tonight’s Episode" helps McNew learn to milk cows, steal faces, and treat guacamole as a verb. And somehow Alice Cooper, Ray Davies, and Rick Moranis show up in “Brain Capers,” all telling us time isn’t finished yet.
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Get Tickets$30.00 -
Mar2 SatCat's Cradle Presents
Yo La Tengo
Saxapahaw, NCUnited StatesDoors at 7:00 PM, Show at 8:00 PMMore InformationTICKET PRICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
ADVANCED: $30.00
DAY OF: $35.00
TICKET SALE DATES
ADVANCED Public Onsale: September 8, 2023 10:00 AM to March 2, 2024 12:00 AM
DAY OF Public Onsale: March 2, 2024 12:00 AM to March 2, 2024 8:00 PM
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World
Time keeps moving and things keep changing, but that doesn’t mean we can't fight back. Yo La Tengo have raced time for nearly four decades and, to my ears, they just keep winning. The trio’s latest victory is called This Stupid World, a spellbinding set of reflective songs that resist the ever-ticking clock. This is music that’s not so much timeless as time-defiant. “I want to fall out of time,” Ira Kaplan sings in “Fallout.” “Reach back, unwind.”
Part of how Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew escape time is by watching it pass, even accepting it when they must. “I see clearly how it ends / I see the moon rise as the sun descends,” they sing during opener “Sinatra Drive Breakdown.” In the séance-like "Until it Happens,” Kaplan plainly intones, “Prepare to die / Prepare yourself while there’s still time.” But This Stupid World is also filled with calls to reject time – bide it, ignore it, waste it. "Stay alive," he adds later in the same song. "Look away from the hands of time.”
Of course, times have changed for Yo La Tengo as much as they have for everyone else. In the past, the band has often worked with outside producers and mixers. Yo La Tengo made This Stupid World all by themselves, though. And their time-tested judgment is both sturdy enough to keep things to the band’s high standards, and nimble enough to make things new.
Another new thing about This Stupid World: it’s the most live-sounding Yo La Tengo album in a while. At the base of nearly every track is the trio playing all at once, giving everything a right-now feel. Take the signature combination of hypnotic rhythm and spontaneous guitar on “Sinatra Drive Breakdown,” or the steady chug of “Tonight’s Episode,” a blinkered tunnel of forward-moving sound. There’s an immediacy to the music, as if the distance between the first pass and the final product has been made a touch more direct.The songs on This Stupid World were still journeys, though. An example is the absorbing, three-dimensional “Brain Capers.” To construct this swirl, the band blends guitar chords, bass loops, drum punches, and various iterations of Hubley and Kaplan's voices into shifting layers. Simpler but just as dense is closer “Miles Away." A dubby rhythm lurks below Hubley’s vocal, which brushes across the song like paint leaving bright blurs. Throughout the album, these touches, accents, and surprises intensify each piece. It’s a rarity – a raw-sounding record that gives you plenty of headphone-worthy detail to chew on.
This Stupid World gives your brain a lot to digest, too. All the battles with time drive toward some heavy conclusions. In the gripping “Aselestine,” Hubley sings about what sounds like a friend on death's door: “The clock won’t tick / I can’t predict / I can’t sell your books, though you asked me to.” In “Apology Letter,” time turns simple communication into something fraught and confusing: "The words / Derail on the way from me to you.” Not everything is so serious, though. The absurdist “Tonight’s Episode" helps McNew learn to milk cows, steal faces, and treat guacamole as a verb. And somehow Alice Cooper, Ray Davies, and Rick Moranis show up in “Brain Capers,” all telling us time isn’t finished yet.
Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Get Tickets$30.00
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