Rock ‘N’ Roll Quarterly: Sounds Good
Out with the old… | Cover charge | Sounded stories | Track list | Over the hill | Asheville, Charlotte & Greensboro

Asheville: On things growing on high

This ain’t your mama’s Asheville, that quaint, touristy mountain burg of yore. Nowadays Asheville (est. pop.: 72,000) gets likened to a culturally progressive, musically thriving cross between Austin and Portland. Just ask Gov’t Mule/Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes, who returns annually to his hometown to host his legendary Christmas Jam. Or Tom Waits, who made it one of only nine stops on his August Orphans tour. Or Jules Shear, John Brannen, Reigning Sound’s Greg Cartwright and Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous, all who relocated to the area in recent years.

Certainly, the infrastructure here shouldn’t be underestimated, starting with the broad range of venue options. The Civic Center Arena, home to the Haynes Jam, holds nearly 8,000, while the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, site of the Waits show, seats 2,400. Club-wise, there’s the Orange Peel (940), with standout 2006 shows including Mogwai, Sonic Youth, Broken Social Scene and Los Lonely Boys; and The Grey Eagle (610), with Okkervil River, Akron/Family, Rodney Crowell, Shellac, Black Angels and Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham. A healthy network of galleries accommodates still smaller bills.

Equally key: Two indiecentric community radio stations (WNCW-FM and WPVM-FM), several world-class studios and a slew of hipster record shops. Perhaps most notable is Harvest Records, whose second anniversary bash in August at the Grey Eagle with Reigning Sound and Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings was the soul shakedown of the year. Harvest recently launched the Harvest Records label, initially releasing the soundtrack to 6;14 Films’ Rank Strangers, a documentary about the local old-time music scene.

And then there’s the artistic brain trust. Among the best 2006 local releases: The Sunlight and the Sound, by hard-choogling shoegazers Nevada; Big Top Soda Pop, by psychedelic string band Mad Tea Party; Sports, by techno/hip-hop codeine guzzlers Sports; What You Will, by avant-garde math merchants Ahleuchatistas; and Not Forgotten, by folk-blues legend Malcolm Holcombe. In 2006, bluegrass outfit Steep Canyon Rangers won the IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year award, and twisted twangers the Blue Rags, a much-loved ’90s Sub Pop act, reunited. Let’s not forget newcomer Wooden Tit, the sinister blues-skronk demolition team whose head Tit-man is ex-Bassholes Don Howland. Yes, it’s the same Don Howland who teaches English at a local middle school. Parents, be very afraid. Strangers, don’t be. Fred Mills

Charlotte: Bands and labels came and went, but not necessarily together

Two young bands and their local labels highlighted the year in music for Charlotte. The Sammies and The Avett Brothersbacked by MoRisen and Ramseur records, respectivelyexpanded fan bases with new records and scads of live dates across the country. The Avetts’ acoustic country-punk sold out regional venues and New York’s Mercury Lounge, landing them a big spread in February’s Paste. Meanwhile, The Sammies released a self-titled debut to strong reviews, toured both coasts, played their first SXSW, headlined their label’s showcase at CMJ, and will be featured in Harp’s “Fresh Faces” in early 2007.

MoRisen also released Elevator Action’s Society, Secret, but it wasn’t all sunshine and light at the label. The Talk was dropped in October, several months after frontman Justin Williams got some unwanted notoriety when the band was kicked off their tour with post-punk legends The Fall. Williams heaved a banana at Fall frontman Mark E. Smith during a show in Phoenix. Meanwhile, Ramseur Records was adding acts, signing the Triangle’s Bombadil and Tennessee’s everybodyfields.

Regional road warriors Dave Childers & the Modern Don Juans kept chugging along, releasing a strong, straight-ahead rock ’n’ roll record, Jailhouse Religion, before putting the finishing touches on their next one. Scum punk pioneers ANTiSEEN received their own tribute double disc, Everyone Loves ANTiSEEN, from TKO Records. On the experimental front, octet Pyramid recorded the soundtrack to Sundance buzz film The Fist Foot Way and started work on a new record as the year ended. Angular-rock trio Calabi Yau recorded an EP and prepared a split 7” with Asheville’s Ahleuchatistas.

Several promising new bands emerged in 2006, ranging from dream-rockers Mula Xul to the R&B-flavored Soulganic, who won Creative Loafing’s critics’ poll as Best New Band. The new quintet Fence Lions also impressed, combining dusky, Calexico-like, minor-key laments with Tom Waits waltzes and early R.E.M. rock on their debut double disc, Evidence of the Giant.

There were a couple of nice comeback stories this year as well. The Houston Brothers returned to the Charlotte rock scene after an indefinite hiatus, having expanded from their two- and three-piece incarnations into a quintet. Anticipation built about the first new record in seven years from Lou Ford’s original lineup of rural rockers, who finished mixing with Brian Paulson in October and signed to local upstart Rocket 13 Records. John Schacht

Greensboro: Playing saviors

In the 1970s and early ’80s, when you wanted to go hear a national band in Greensboro, you only had to walk down the street. A cluster of clubs located near UNC-Greensboro and downtown provided live music seven nights a week. For decades, the centrally located Gate City had been a logical stopover on the cross-country musical corridor for acts touring the South.

But, in the mid-’80s, it all dried up. Regional college bands finally made a comeback when the Blind Tiger opened in 1988. Until this year, though, Greensboro’s approximately 241,000 residents had nowhere to go but Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem to get their national band fix.

Butwith the House of Blues now booking the N Club and the opening of the Flying Anvil in Aprilthe city’s nightlife is staggering back. It’s got a way to go yet. Since its development in Cambridge, Mass., in 1992, the nationwide House of Blues chain has not lived up to its name. Delbert McClendon has been the only act with any depth booked locally this year. The alternatives have been has-beens, rockers like Eddie Money, Jacky and Nantucket.

The Flying Anvil, though, is the town’s best hope for quality national music. “We don’t want to specialize in anything,” says Pete Scroth, who formerly ran the Green Bean. His club has featured hip hop (Dead Prez), bluegrass (Avetts, everybodyfields) and blues (Johnny Winter). “For survival purposes, we have to diversify.”

The other problem is that, since the death of national live music in Greensboro back in the ’80s, rousting residents for shows has been difficult. “I don’t want to make this sound negative,” Scroth says, “but we get more people from out of town than we do from Greensboro.”

Greensboro music fans have been given the venue. If they want the town to be more than a musical cemetery, dragging their dead asses out to support live music is the only chance for a needed resurrection. Grant Britt