They aren’t quite The Three Tenors, but the pedigrees of The Three Davids—David Holt, David Wilcox, David LaMotte—are still impressive. They’re all North Carolina residents that cut their own path through backwoods roots while nourishing folk’s storytelling impulse. Holt’s love of music once took him into the Appalachian Mountains with a dog and a friend […]
Chris Parker
Bio: After a fond stint in the Triangle, Chris Parker lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where he writes about music and politics for a variety of newspapers and magazines. He has written about music for INDY Week since 2002.
Posted inMusic
Living Colour dig back into their sources
Living Colour Monday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m., $22–$25 Cat’s Cradle, 300 E. Main St., Carrboro 919-967-9053 www.catscradle.com Corey Glover doesn’t seem to mind that he turned 50 last year, or that a quarter-century has passed since his band’s biggest hit, “Cult of Personality,” made them sudden pop stars. “Cult of Personality” lived on as the […]
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Two decades after breaking up, the Sex Police let their youth out on bail
The Sex Police Wednesday, Dec. 31, 9 p.m., $15 Cat’s Cradle 300 E. Main St., Carrboro 919-967-9053, catscradle.com It’s never too late to revisit not being a grown-up; for the Sex Police, one of the area’s most lively music institutions in the early ’90s, now is the perfect time. When the Sex Police initially convened […]
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Five words with Jason Ringenberg … or is it Farmer Jason?
Farmer Jason Jason Ringenberg Saturday, Nov. 29, 11 a.m. $7–$9 The ArtsCenter 300-G East Main St., Carrboro 919-929-2787 artscenterlive.org Once upon a time, Jason Ringenberg brought loud guitars to country music, long before they were standard accompaniment. And when Uncle Tupelo was not yet a twinkle in the eyes of Jeff Tweedy or Jay Farrar, […]
Posted inReviews
Record review: The Will McBride Group’s All In
THE WILL MCBRIDE GROUP If the idea of a hipster-savvy Steely Dan isn’t appealing, check out of this paragraph now. With the group that takes his name in tow, area guitarist Will McBride makes jazzy, soul-fusion pop, where sometimes-pointed lyrics play against the music’s energetic swing. The six-song EP All In is the Wake Forest […]
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Record review: Brett Harris’ Mr. Sunshine
BRETT HARRIS Impeccable melodies, a tenor-baritone coo, radio warmth: The Durham bandleader Brett Harris demonstrated a talent for heartfelt pop that recalls Burt Bacharach and Brill Building on his 2010 debut, Man of Few Words. Chris Stamey helped produce and mix that record, and, as a testament to Harris’ finesse, the two apparently hit it […]
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Willie Watson at Fletcher Opera Theater
WILLIE WATSON | THURSDAY, NOV. 13 FLETCHER OPERA THEATER, RALEIGHWhen Old Crow Medicine Show co-founder Willie Watson embarked on his solo career, he struggled to find the material he wanted to sing. It wasn’t so much that he couldn’t write songs as much as it was that the material he did pen didn’t compare to […]
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Michael Rank & Stag’s Deadstock
The older you get, the more tenuous rock’s obsessions with extended adolescence and rebellion can feel. That’s an implicit lesson of Michael Rank’s move from the grimy, Stones-heavy oomph of Snatches of Pink to the understated, circumspect acoustics of Stag three years ago. For Rank, the fight was suddenly less important than the feeling. The […]
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As charity work goes evermore viral, Farm Aid digs for deeper local roots
Farm Aid Saturday, Sept. 13, noon, $49–$175 3801 Rock Quarry Road, Raleigh Walnut Creek Amphitheatre Someone needs to throw a benefit concert for the large-scale benefit concert. A relic of a bygone era of swollen major-label budgets and old-fashioned superstars, spectacles such as Concert for Bangladesh and the Tibetan Freedom Concert once routed dollars and […]
Posted inArt
People Tales
Tift Merritt and Merle Haggard Memorial Hall Saturday, Aug. 23 8 p.m., $10–$129> Merle Haggard is a country artist, arguably the finest since Hank Williams when it comes to scratching the form’s eternal itches of simple hopes, truths and misgivings. But at his best, Haggard has made bona fide folk music, with everyday people at […]