As the vibration of cicadas began echoing along the French Broad River in Asheville, North Carolina, last week, the Americana/indie sounds of Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters began to join in. AVLfest, the annual celebration of Asheville music, was underway.
“It’s such a windy world out there/everybody keeps on blowing away,” Platt sang in her whimsical tone akin to Bonnie Raitt during “Mirage,” a cut from the Honeycutters’ latest release. “I try to tell myself that I don’t care/but I learn to love the ones that stay.” A longtime fixture on the AVL scene, Platt and her bandmates are the epitome of what it means to be a musician in Asheville, where creativity, collaboration, and camaraderie are not just talking points but beliefs.
“It’s not dog-eat-dog in this town,” Platt tells Rolling Stone afterwards. “It’s a little bit more of a pure artistic sentiment that goes on here. The people that move here to pursue their art want to do just that. And they know it’s a community of people also doing their art, and we facilitate each other.”
Presented by Wicked Weed Brewing and Worthwhile Sounds, AVLfest is 350 bands on 25 stages in 22 venues spanning four days. In its second rollout, AVLfest featured marquee acts Papadosio, Blitzen Trapper, Langhorne Slim, Washed Out, S.G. Goodman, Dylan LeBlanc, and the New Pornographers, with a bulk of the lineup focused solely on Asheville and Western North Carolina artists.
“Asheville is the one place in America where I feel people listen to music like Europeans do,” LeBlanc says. “They actually appreciate it. They’re only there because they dig the music, and the city has always had that reputation.”
“Asheville has one of the most unique and cohesive venue collectives in any town in the country,” says Jeff Whitworth, co-founder/CEO of AVLfest. “It’s a welcoming and open community to all genres of music, and we’ve got the facilities to pull that off in every capacity.”
Here’s the best of what we saw.
Gyasi is a glam-rock triumph.
The self-proclaimed “guitar wielding peacock from West Virginia,” Gyasi burst onto the stage at the Orange Peel to deliver a blitzkrieg of glam rock and cabaret-style antics à la David Bowie and T. Rex.
While Gyasi and six-string ace Leilani Kilgore traded licks throughout the performance, it was Kilgore who took the spotlight during “Teacher.” With her Gibson SG soaring over the crowd, the performance was a captivating mishmash of sequins, torn fishnet stockings, platform shoes, and searing guitar notes.
“[Glam rock] is a way to bring my creative ideas to life, and it feels like my most authentic self,” Gyasi says. “It’s the fantasy of it, the suspension of this world — if I had it my way, this is what [the world] would look and sound like.”
Blitzen Trapper cross the Mississippi.
Arguably the most anticipated set of the entire weekend, Portland, Oregon, indie-rockers Blitzen Trapper, who rarely tour on this side of the Mississippi River, appeared on the Outpost stage. The quartet pulled from the depths of its robust 25-year catalog with tracks like “So Divine,” “Fly Low,” and “Thirsty Man.”
“I think this is the first time in my life where I’ve really begun to appreciate performing on stages,” lead singer Eric Earley tells Rolling Stone. “It almost feels like I’ve sort of awakened to what I had all along, and I often wish I’d known things 10 years ago that I know now.”
Justin Wells celebrates the struggle.
Cranking up the amps and gliding down the fretboard of his Fender Telecaster, singer-songwriter Justin Wells rumbled across the Outpost stage, the sweat of a humid mid-summer afternoon dripping from his forehead.
“The blessings are all counted/the harvest is bound to get us through,” Wells bellowed (in a similar tone to the late, great George Jones) during “Walls Fall Down” from his 2020 album The United State. “And if I see the other side/there′ll be no rest until I find you.”
“I don’t make country music. I don’t make Americana music. It’s blue-collar music,” Wells says. “It’s for people who struggle day-to-day in this world. Ultimately, it’s about the human condition — distilling your story down to the common thread.”
Hannah Kaminer evokes Brandi and Paula.
Backed by her alt-country band the Wistfuls, the voice of rising Asheville singer-songwriter Hannah Kaminer swirled around Wicked Weed’s Funkatorium, spilling out onto the bustling South Slope district nearby.
“One more summer, a little more time, to see this flower blooming, heavy on the vine,” Kaminer sang during “Heavy on the Vine” from her acclaimed album of the same name released earlier this year.
Kaminer’s tone falls somewhere in the same wheelhouse as Brandi Carlile or Paula Cole, and she views her songwriting as a way to challenge herself as a lyricist. “For me, and for the band, these songs are about going to the next level of musicianship, collaboration, and artistry,” Kaminer says.
The Snozzberries mix up prog in the garage.
In a city well-documented for its thick roots in the origins of bluegrass, country, and folk music, rock unit the Snozzberries are adding another layer to the sonic palette of Asheville.
Overtaking the French Broad River Brewery stage in the heart of the Biltmore Village neighborhood, the jubilant rock act is an explosion of vibrant tones and textures. Offering up selections from its upcoming self-titled release, the melodies signal a new phase for the group, leaning into a more prog-rock and psychedelic sound than previous straightforward garage rock efforts.“
Being a rock band, you’re going against what’s popular right now, and you’re doing it because you love it,” Snozzberries guitarist Ethan Heller says. “It just hits you in the chest. You can’t ignore it. There’s just something about a string being plucked through a distorted amp and broadcasted over a speaker — that’s the real shit.”
Pleasure Chest cement their status as Asheville’s party band.
If there ever was an “Unofficial Asheville Party Band,” Pleasure Chest is just that. The outfit ripped through its set of old-school blues and soul renditions during a late-night Funkatorium set. The pinnacle came with a rousing take on Elvis Presley’s “Suspicious Minds.”
“There’s a deep tradition of talented musicians in this region,” says guitarist Erich Hubner, who held double-duty during AVLfest between Pleasure Chest and Wayne Robbins & the Hellsayers. “And the bands are treated really well in this town, where the local business owners know people want to hear live music — you could play 40 gigs a month here and not play the same spot.”
Malcolm Holcombe is remembered.
The influence of Malcolm Holcombe, a beloved Western North Carolina singer-songwriter who succumbed to cancer earlier this year at age 68, goes far beyond his native Blue Ridge Mountains. AVLfest wrapped up with a moving tribute to Holcombe at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.
“What made Malcolm so great was his believability. He was not pretentious, flashy or overproduced. He was a real troubadour,” says local singer-songwriter Darren Nicholson, who partook in the tribute. “Music poured out of him. He was the real deal, using his life and experiences to express so beautifully the human condition.”
Hailing from just up the road in the small mountain town of Marshall, North Carolina, Americana/indie artist Ashley Heath had the honors of performing Holcombe’s “Gone by the Ol’ Sunrise” and “October Mornin’.”
“[Malcolm] has been influential in my own path, in always staying true to yourself and to show up authentically,” Heath says. “He had a way about him that feels like home, and it reflects in his music — it’s like sitting on a front porch with family.”
Steve Cohen*
