Most people might recognize the powerful and beautiful voice of Lizzy Ross as the lead singer of Chapel Hill’s own Lafcadio. With  booming success within the Triangle and a recent performance at Shakori Hills Grassroots Fall Music Festival, it’s a wonder how Ross, a full time philosophy and music student at UNC-Chapel Hill, has time to embark on her solo career. However, the future looks bright for this young musician who recently received praise for her tracks Maria, Slave to the Muse, and No Man on Lafcadio’s self-titled LP. She also plans to graduate this December.

Be sure the check out the interview and live in studio performances from Lizzy Ross this Friday at 2 p.m. with yours truly, DJ Special K.

Listen streaming online.

This past weekend marked the 7th Annual Spring Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance (they also hold one in the fall).

The Shakori family was kind enough to throw some press passes at WKNC so that we could do a little exploring, and we had a great time!

It’s four days of camping and music in a very laid back, family atmosphere. When the MC took the stage he made a short announcement to the effect of “We don’t care what you drink, just put it in a cup so the kids can’t see. Also, we don’t care what you smoke, just please don’t do it within 25ft of the stage, we have a lot of children up here”.  Good enough for me!

There were some incredible acts, including the legendary Dr. Ralph Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys. The good doctor has been touring since 1946 and won three Grammys for his contributions to the soundtrack to “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”.  I was lucky enough to meet the Father of Mountain Soul at a filming of PBS’s Mountain Stage in Bristol, TN/VA in 2006 and seeing him again in this personal setting was the highlight of my weekend!

Other acts included folk artist Des Ark, ambient world-grass The Overtakers (another highlight for me), The New Familiars, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Big Fat Gap and of course the festival-founders themselves, Donna the Buffalo. Music of all types was present; folk, bluegrass, jazz, soul, reggae and hip-hop.

The festival had plenty of other activities aside from the concerts as well. A poetry slam, morning yoga classes, and an African drum workshop entertained fans of all ages. Stella and I even got our grooves back at the Elikem African Dance Worshop,  (I was definitely the least rythymic person out there).

Overall, a fun time for anyone who had the chance to come out. The perfect weather didn’t hurt either.

To learn more, peep the site..    http://www.shakorihills.org/

Ol’ River Haynes – The Hippie Hour Sundays 2-4

Wow, what a day.  We started off the Local Beat with an interview and in-studio performance by one of my favorite bands around, Bombadil.  They played previously unreleased “Kate and Kelsey” and were also kind enough to let us spin a few tracks off of their yet-to-be-released album, Tarpits and Canyonlands (see video below)
http://www.vimeo.com/3382352.

We talked about the imminent loss of Stuart, Daniel’s injured hand, the NC State Brickyard preachers, and how none of these things will stop the momentum that Bombadil has with new album to be released soon.

Lastly, they provided a hint as to their concert garb for the evening (see pictures below).  Check out the interview.

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As Bombadil was leaving the studio, we were shuffling Double Barrel Benefit 6 band Lost in the Trees (2/13 of them, anyway) into the studio.  They also played a previously unreleased track called “A Church that Fits our Needs,” a stunningly beautiful song with, as we noted, a touch of folk.  We also talked about their upcoming date at the Shakori Hills Festival and some work the band is doing in schools (promoting rock, or pop, or whatever it should be called). Finally, we talked about the band’s next album, which should be released sometime this fall (check the Trekky Records website for more info).  They also spoke a little about the show that night at the Lincoln Theatre.

Check out the Lost in the Trees interview below.

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The lineup for that show was as follows:

Lost in the Trees

Benji Hughes (who put on just about the drunkest, most hilarious act I’ve seen in a while)

Bombadil

Our last guest of the evening was Ryan Richardson of the Kingsbury Manx, who joined us by phone.  We talked about the band’s label, Odessa Records (owned and managed by band member Paul Finn).  Odessa was having its “label release” party at Cat’s Cradle that night, which included all 3 bands on the label:

Americans in France

Impossible Arms

Kingsbury Manx

Check out the interview below.

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Check out the pictures from the Lincoln Theatre show below and visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/not_a_photographer/ for more of the same.

Break out your chain belts, leather vests, and peace symbols and join WKNC at the Shakori Hills Grassroots music festival on Saturday April 18th. We’ll be broadcasting live all day and to celebrate, we’re giving away 5 pairs of day passes for the festival this week. Make sure to tune in for your chances to win and don’t forget to check out the live interviews with some of the performing bands.

The Line Up:

Wednesday April 8th, DJ Chuck will be kickin’ it with Holy Ghost Tent Revivial from 1-3pm

Monday April 13th, DJ Special K will be hanging with the guys from Butterflies from 4-5pm

Interviews with Lost in the Trees, New Familars, and The Old Ceremony are TBA

Fellow WKNC lovers,

Here’s what we got for you this week:

The Presets playing @ Cat’s Cradle Tuesday, March 31st

North Mississippi Allstars playing @ Lincoln Theatre Friday, April 3rd

Rocco Deluca playing @ Cat’s Cradle Saturday, April 4th

Listen on the radio at 88.1 or stream online all week for your chances to win!

SNEAK PREVIEW:

Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival tickets giveaways! More info to come soon!