Where Tony Rice’s stunning Hall of Fame acceptance speech at last year’s International Bluegrass Music Awards Show moved the crowd so much that it was referenced onstage this year, there was no such singular moment at last night’s 25th edition. The evening’s biggest reaction arrived instead for the Canton, North Carolina-based quintet Balsam Range, who […]
Spencer Griffith
Bio: Spencer Griffith lives in Raleigh, where he teaches school and writes about bands.
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Hopscotch, Day Three: Tailgate or music festival?
Sunny September Saturdays with shirtless guys and sundress-clad ladies wandering through canopy tents while day drinking and devouring snacks usually means one thing in Raleigh: an N.C. State home football game. But while the Pack was in town Saturday—forcing fans to decide between an underwhelming victory or Hopscotch for the second year in a row […]
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Hopscotch, Night Two: Priests and St. (Vincent)
For the unfamiliar or somehow forgetful, Raleigh’s Deep South The Bar is the Hopscotch venue that sits behind Red Hat Amphitheater—home to the biggest area shows for indie rockers that have hit it the relative big-time—with red-clad walls covered in mostly famous rock lyrics hand-painted by the bar’s patrons. Friday night, as DC post-punk four-piece […]
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Hopscotch, Night One: Learning to dance in (and out of) the rain
I shouldn’t have expected the story of Hopscotch 2014 night one to have gone any differently. But when the skies opened up shortly before 10 p.m.—and the steady rain that started during De La Soul’s headlining set in City Plaza turned into a downright deluge—it seemed like the talk of the night would be as […]
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Hopscotch on the cheap
Let’s face it: Like most festivals, Hopscotch ain’t cheap, and many of us aren’t in a position to pony up $85 for a day pass or $150 for a weekend wristband. Fortunately, even as the size of Hopscotch has fluctuated over the years, the amount of free day partiesa few running concurrently with the actual […]
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Live: Old Crow Medicine Show really loves Raleigh
Old Crow Medicine Show, Shovels & Rope Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh Wednesday, August 20, 2014 North Carolina has been good to Old Crow Medicine Show. The Nashville-based string band—and newest members of the Grand Ole Opry—got its big break when Doc Watson’s granddaughter discovered them busking outside the Boone Drug Company, one of the late […]
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Party Lessons
Rebirth Brass Band and Dumpstaphunk Memorial Hall Friday, Aug. 22 8 p.m., $10–$49 Fat Tuesday had come and gone, but The Rebirth Brass Band’s 2013 performance at Carrboro’s The Artscenter turned into a makeshift Mardi Gras celebration nevertheless. The attendees wore masks and heaved beads at fellow revelers. During a holiday show in New Orleans […]
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Live: Iron & Wine gets comfortable on new home turf
Iron & Wine, Angel Olsen North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh Saturday, June 28, 2014 The last time I saw Iron & Wine—in the spring of 2008 at UNC’s Memorial Hall—it came on the heels of the release of The Shepherd’s Dog. At the time, that record was Sam Beam and company’s most ambitious effort […]
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Live: Chatham County Line completes a career circle in Durham
Chatham County Line Carolina Theatre, Durham Friday, May 30, 2014 Nearing the end of Chatham County Line’s Tightrope release show at the Carolina Theatre, frontman Dave Wilson reminisced about seeing the Del McCoury Band there in the late ’90s. He even pointed out where he sat in the balcony. Wilson recalled the impact of watching […]
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Live: Even at 81, Willie Nelson’s still got it
Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss & Union Station Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary Monday, May 19, 2014 It’s no surprise that the venerable country icon and outlaw Willie Nelson delivered an outstanding set Monday night at Koka Booth Amphitheatre. His rowdy energy belied his 81-plus years of age and forced many of the graying audience members out […]