If you’ve ever spent time in New Orleans, Louisiana, you know all too well the grandiose nature and immense splendor of the rollicking metropolis. 

It’s a place where you can experience the organized chaos of the French Quarter, and yet also find yourself amid a serene silence along the Mississippi River or down some side street of breathtaking architecture where history comes alive right before your eyes. 

Hailing from the Southern Appalachian backwoods of Castlewood, Virginia (population: 2,045), 49 Winchester is a rapidly rising alt-country/rock act. 

For the better part of the last decade, the band has been relentlessly working its way through the Southeastern music industry — playing every stage and festival that’ll have ‘em — where now the raucous group is whispered in the same breath (of raw talent and sincere passion) as the Drive-By Truckers, Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson, to name a few.

At just 27 years old, singer-songwriter Andrew Scotchie has already become a beloved fixture and voice of reason in the Asheville and greater Western North Carolina music scene.

Coming into this spring, Executive Chef Kaighn Raymond was looking forward to his restaurant hitting the 10-year mark. What he didn’t expect was for Frogs Leap Public House to be closed to the public. 

For a group whose core mission is to promote positivity and compassion, The Get Right Band has found its ideals tested and pushed to the brink during the current Coronavirus Pandemic. 

Sitting on his side porch in West Asheville last Thursday morning, guitarist Jon Stickley strums his 1958 Martin acoustic. Sunshine cascades onto his large backyard filled with the sounds of birds and wind chimes hanging nearby. 

And though the scene is serene and relaxing, Stickley would rather be on the road and onstage in the midst of the organized chaos that is the annual festival circuit. 

In its 20 years together, Chatham County Line has organically grown and blossomed into one of the most distinct and progressive acts in the realms of modern traditional string and acoustic music. 

In any rock-n-roll band, the unsung hero is the drummer. With a soaring singer and whirlwind guitar solos, the person behind the kit is the anchor for the group — holding up the light at the end of the tunnel of a melody in motion.

For the better part of a quarter-century, Umphrey’s McGee has remained one of the most fundamental and innovative acts on the live music scene. 

Originating at the University of Notre Dame (South Bend, Indiana) in 1997, the band soon called nearby Chicago, Illinois, home. But, the group’s reach has unrelentingly extended in seemingly every direction — geographically and sonically — from the Midwestern musical hub. 

K.M. Fuller isn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve, onstage and off. And it’s that exact honesty and sincerity that has made him one of the most electric singer-songwriters in Western North Carolina in recent years.