The Rialto Theater in Raleigh’s Five Points neighborhood is having a BOGO sale over Labor Day Weekend that starts at 10 a.m. on Aug. 30 and ends at midnight on Sept. 2 for tickets to upcoming concerts including Joan Osborne, Cowboy Mouth, Jack the Radio, Phil Vassar, The Brothers Comatose, Jim Lauderdale and many more.
Purchase tickets at this link: https://therialto.com/events/
Here’s what I wrote at the time for The Huffington Post:
“Caudle weaves the richness of the tobacco leaves he grew up between into the flavor of his songs. The singer-songwriter plays acoustic guitar and harmonica, rockin’ it out one minute and switching to a haunting ballad the next. Think Steve Earle pre-heroin.”
If you haven’t heard Caudle play, don’t take my word for how talented he is, go see him for yourself this holiday weekend at the Wake Forest Listening Room on Saturday, Aug. 30. Tickets are $20 and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.
According to the Listening Room’s website, Caudle’s show is also the release of his sixth studio album “Sweet Critters.”
Through sometimes shadowy arrangements that creep and lurk, Caudle continues to mine both the brightest and murkiest corners of his imagination, finding that purest of points where tenderness and grit collide, inspired by musical heroes like Buddy Miller and Guy Clark, and mentors like Elizabeth Cook and John Paul White. It was White who Caudle tapped to produce Sweet Critters, along with Ben Tanner, at the duo’s Florence, Alabama studio Sun Drop Sound.
White is also performing at the Wake Forest Listening Room on Sept. 6 but the show is sold out, according to the website.
“I was very excited to work with Caleb on this record. Iʼve been a fan for Iʼve been a fan for years and count him as a friend,” White says of working with Caudle. “Heʼs a stellar songwriter, so I knew heʼd bring the goods. And he did.” The album features Allison Russell, Aoife OʼDonovan, John Paul White, and Caudleʼs own touring band.
These songs are a showcase of Caudle’s singular command of language. He sees the world through a hyperreal lens wholly unique to him, one that renders dank humidity “horsefly heat,” a moody sky “cast iron skillet” dark, or a loved one’s “wind chime of a smile.” For Caudle, details are the last frontier in a world where thousands of new songs are created every day. As such, he weaves his intricate tales of redemption, sacrifice, forgiveness, and loss with the colorful threads of living, breathing characters and all the rich idiosyncrasies and ephemera that fill out their worlds.
Caudle and his band have played Stagecoach, Cayamo, Luck Reunion, Mountain Stage, Merlefest, Americanafest, The Long Road (UK), AMAUK (UK), and recently supported Marty Stuart, Steve Earle, Hayes Carll, Elizabeth Cook, Brent Cobb, Charles Wesley Godwin, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and many more.
In other notable news, Caudle is headed to his Grand Ole Opry debut in Nashville on Nov. 23! You can learn more on his website at https://www.calebcaudle.com/
Labor Day weekend 2024 marks the 15th annual Front Porch Fest, held on the Front Porch of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Patrick County, Virginia. The festival will take place Aug. 29 – Sept. 1, 2024, at Spirithaven Farm and musical acts include Larry Keel’s Electric Larry Land, Yam Yam, Afrobeta, Big Daddy Love, Erin & the Wildfire, Into the Fog and The Judy Chops.
This four-day family-friendly music festival held in Stuart, Virginia, features local, regional and national touring acts. In addition to 30+ bands, Front Porch Fest offers an array of children’s activities, yoga, campsite jams, on-site camping, delicious craft brews and foods, and more!
No charge for children 12 years and younger, though children are required to have a ticket in their name.
For volunteer, vending, and sponsorship opportunities please visit www.frontporchfest.com.
Front Porch Fest is produced by One Family Productions, a nonprofit working to support community enrichment and growth. Proceeds from this event are donated to local charities such as the Patrick County Food Bank and Caring Hearts Free Clinic of Patrick County and others.
One Family Productions also produces the Patrick County Christmas Parade, First Friday Summer & Fall Jam Series and is a co-producer of Bushels & Barrels Local Food, Beer and Wine festival. Learn more at http://www.onefamilyproductions.org
The 2024 lineup features:
FRIDAY
Sierra Ferrell, Sam Bush, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, Crying Uncle
SATURDAY
Steep Canyon Rangers (with special guests Chatham County Line), Sierra Hull, Amythyst Kiah, Danny Paisley
In addition to the Red Hat Amphitheater, there are six more stages at IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC. Performers on those stages include:
Balsam Range; Barefoot Movement; Broken Compass; Compton & Newberry; Chris Jones & the Night Drivers; Country Current (US Navy Band); Dewey & Leslie Brown; Earl White String Band; Evans, Smith & May, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen; From China to Appalachia (Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer with Chao Tian); Golden Shoals, The Gospel Jubilators; The Gravy Boys; Hank, Pattie & the Current; Henhouse Prowlers; Jacob Jolliff Band; Jake Blount; Jake Leg; Jim Lauderdale; Junior Appalachian Musicians; Kaia Kater; Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands; Liam Purcell & Cane Mill Road; New Dangerfield; Nixon; Blevins & Gage; Raised in Raleigh All Star Jam; Sister Sadie; Songs From the Road Band; The Tan & Sober Gentlemen; Tray Wellington Band; Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers’ Convention 100th Anniversary; Unspoken Tradition; The Williamson Brothers; Wyatt Ellis; and more!
IAs in years past, events during IBMA World of Bluegrass will take place at the Raleigh Convention Center, the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, the Red Hat Amphitheater and at various venues in town.
“This is our favorite time of year. I just love seeing everyone coming down to Raleigh with guitars and banjos slung over their shoulders,” said David Brower, festival producer and executive director of PineCone, in a press release. “In addition to all the bands playing the big stages, there’s also something special for the everyday pickers. We’re dedicating a stage to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers Convention. We’ll have contests for fiddlers, banjo, mandolin and guitar players, plus a great big square dance to cap off the afternoon each day. Lifting up North Carolina’s musical traditions is something we’ve been proud to do with the festival over the last decade.”
For the 12th year, PNC Bank returns as the presenting sponsor of IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC. “Since helping bring this festival to Raleigh during the early days of PNC’s local growth story, all of us at PNC have been committed to making this event a success for visitors, residents and local businesses,” said Jim Hansen, PNC regional president for Eastern Carolinas, in a release. “We look forward to this year’s event, the community togetherness it will foster and the economic impact it will create.”
IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC is part of the five-day IBMA World of Bluegrass event, billed “The Most Important Week in Bluegrass,” which also includes the IBMA Business Conference, the IBMA Bluegrass Ramble showcase series and the 35th Annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, Sept. 24-28.
Tickets and hotel reservations will open for IBMA members May 8 and to the general public May 15. More information is available at the IBMA World of Bluegrass website, worldofbluegrass.org.
ABOUT IBMA
IBMA is the non-profit music association that connects, educates, and empowers bluegrass professionals and enthusiasts, honoring tradition and encouraging innovation in the bluegrass community worldwide. IBMA Bluegrass Live! powered by PNC, featuring the best of the best in bluegrass today, helps benefit the IBMA Trust Fund—a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that assists bluegrass professionals during financial emergencies—and introduces the music to thousands of new fans every year.
ABOUT PINECONE
PineCone is the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music. It is a Raleigh-based nonprofit that serves as the official local host and festival producer for IBMA’s World of Bluegrass. It was founded in 1984 by a group of friends looking to preserve, present and promote music and dance that’s rooted in the Piedmont. PineCone hosts year-round events that highlight rich and diverse musical traditions that’ve been passed down informally for generations. There’s more about PineCone’s concerts, jam sessions, workshops, camps, youth programs and weekly radio show at pinecone.org.
Due to weather risks caused by Hurricane Debby, the planned outdoor concert featuring Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) at the North Carolina Museum of Art at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 8, has been moved to the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts, an indoor venue located in downtown Raleigh. The show, which is presented by First Citizens Bank, is also sponsored by Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro.
Starting over a decade ago playing coffee shops and local restaurants around North Carolina, Watchhouse, led by Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, is a bona fide folk music sensation and one of 21st-century indie music’s biggest grassroots success stories. They sell out iconic venues (Red Rocks, Ryman Auditorium) and attract hundreds of millions of streams while producing exploratory music that “redefines roots music for a younger generation,” according to The Washington Post.
TICKETS
Please bring your original ticket (digital or printed). Log into your online account to access tickets and print or add them to your mobile wallet. Questions? Please contact help@ncartmusum.org.
SEATING
Former premium reserved, reserved, and general admission seating will be designated in Raleigh Memorial Auditorium and available on a first come, first serve basis. Ticket holders will be directed by ushers to the appropriate sections upon entry.
TRAFFIC AND PARKING
Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts is located just 12–14 minutes from the North Carolina Museum of Art. Directions and parking information can be found here.
ACCESSIBILITY
Visitors with wheelchair-accessible tickets will be given accessible seating at Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts. For questions related to accessibility, please visit the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium’s Accessibility webpage or email pacfrontofhouse@raleighnc.gov.
The popular International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) World of Bluegrass annual conference and music festival has announced it is moving to Chattanooga, Tennessee, after a decade in downtown Raleigh thanks to a $25 million incentive from The Volunteer State after this fall.
But that doesn’t mean the Oak City is going to stop hosting a bluegrass festival. Instead, Pinecone announced last fall it would partner with the City of Raleigh to introduce the Raleigh Wide Open Bluegrass Festival, which will debut in downtown Raleigh on Oct. 3-4, 2025.
PineCone, the Raleigh music organization that has coordinated much of the free music at IBMA’s event, plans to resurrect the branding of a previous street festival with the help of the City of Raleigh, the Greater Raleigh Convention & Visitors Bureau and the State Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The new name is a tribute to a 2005 Raleigh festival that was launched to bring life to downtown at the time, PineCone says.
The goal, organizers say, is that festivalgoers won’t feel like Raleigh Wide Open is a completely new festival. The plan includes a mix of performances along Fayetteville Street and other downtown areas, with sights on keeping it a primarily free event. The festival will focus on bluegrass but will also include genres like Americana, alt-country and other folk music, especially those with North Carolina ties.
For more information, visit https://pinecone.org/
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