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Alex grew up in the hills of Appalachia country and it shows in his music. With good ol’ country lyrics, he can melt your heart with a love song or get boots stomping with a country rock edge. A truly unique style that gets you locked into what he is doing and keeps you wanting more

Rock Out To Knockout Cancer '19 Featuring Ray Powers, Megan Pennington, Fetish Noir, Paul McGinty, Brian Genovesi, Carrie Collins. All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.

Formed in the summer of 2015, Illiterate Light transcend expectations of typical rock music through their limitations as a duo. Jeff Gorman elevates his gritty guitar melodies and honest lyricism by stomping out thunderous synth bass with his feet as Jake Cochran layers lush vocal harmony and explodes with body convulsing energy around his minimalist standing drum kit. Gorman and Cochran’s incessant writing, commanding live performance, and constant touring promise a bright future as they finish their debut album with Vance Powell (Jack White, Kings of Leon, Chris Stapleton) and Adrian Olsen (Foxygen, Natalie Prass). “Better Than I Used To” is the first taste of what’s to come from Illiterate Light.


Spanning the better part of a decade, the creative evolution between Gorman and Cochran is far from ordinary. The duo has run an organic farm in the Shenandoah Valley, toured the mid-Atlantic in bands by bicycle, and lived in small communities while pursuing modes of alternative education. Their eclectic background is mirrored in their sound and lyricism, floating between postmodern confusion and vibrant optimism. Though shaped by the DIY music scene of their hometown Harrisonburg VA, the duo has grown immensely through immersion in the thriving communities of both Richmond, VA and Nashville, TN.

Aaron Lee Tasjan’s music is most often identified as Americana while critics point to his rock’n’roll influences, dropping names like Tom Petty, The Beatles and David Bowie. The East Nashville based singer-songwriter and ace guitarist has made a habit of defying genre classification. As a teen, Tasjan won a scholarship to Berklee School of Music to study jazz guitar. He quickly dropped out to start a glam punk band with friends then hit the road as an in-demand sideman, playing guitar for several well-known rock bands before relocating to Nashville where he focused on his own songs. Tasjan’s early solo recordings showcased his thought provoking lyrics in relatively traditional acoustic settings. His first full length release, “Silver Tears” found him exploring new sonic landscapes and earned rave reviews from fans and critics alike. Tasjan’s latest release, “Karma For Cheap” finds him blurring the lines between genres even further. Rolling Stone calls the new album “...a trippy stunner full of swirling, immersive rock songs that evoke both the effervescence of the Sixties and the grit of today.” Touring relentlessly, Tasjan is known for his fiery live performances which combine blazing guitar work with first rate songcraft and witty storytelling.

For over a decade, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gunn has been one the American music’s most pivotal figures - conjuring immersive and psychedelic sonic landscapes both live and on record, releasing revered solo albums ranking high on in-the-know end of year lists, alongside exploratory collaborations with artists as diverse as Mike Cooper, Kurt Vile, and Michael Chapman (whose most recent studio album he produced). Gunn is known for telling other people’s stories, but on his breakthrough fourth album, The Unseen In Between, he explores his own emotional landscapes with his most complex, fully realized songs to date. The lyrics evoke voyages, tempests (actual and emotional), and a rich cast of characters met along the way—the work of an artist finding a place of calm in the midst of a storm. Produced by frequent collaborator James Elkington and engineered by Daniel Schlett, the immaculately recorded Unseen forces a reassessment of Gunn’s standing in the pantheon of the era’s great songwriters.

Getting to The Unseen In Between itself was not easy for Gunn. In the summer of 2016, Gunn released Eyes On The Lines, his winning and elliptical debut for Matador. It should have been a triumphant moment, but exactly two weeks later, Gunn’s father and namesake died following a two-year struggle with cancer. During his sickness, he and his son had connected as never before, listening to one another’s experiences and understanding one another’s perspectives; they became not father and son but real friends.

This experience yielded the emotional centerpiece of the album. “Stonehurst Cowboy” is a duet for Gunn’s raw acoustic guitar and spare basslines by Bob Dylan’s musical director Tony Garnier, whose featured throughout the album. The song distills the lessons Gunn learned from his father and it is a solemn but tender remembrance, a tribute to his father’s reputation as a tough, wise, and witty guy from far west Philadelphia.

A sense of musical renewal and emotional complexity fits the new songs perfectly; “Luciano” seems to be about the chemistry between a bodega owner and his cat, an unspoken romance of gentle obedience and quiet gestures. But Gunn peers below the relationship’s surface and wonders about the owner’s lonely future once the cat is gone, a devastating meditation wrapped in soft strings. And then there’s “Vagabond,” Gunn’s graceful attempt to humanize a rich cast of characters whose lives have gone astray, wanderers who live outside of society’s modern safety net, who pursue “a crooked dream” in spite of what the world expects. Supported by the perfect harmonies of Meg Baird, Gunn finds something lovely in the unloved.

Inspired by contemporary artist Walter De Maria’s Dia Art Foundation-affiliated installation of 400 stainless steel poles atop the high desert of New Mexico, “Lightning Field” considers what we get out of art when it doesn’t work, when lightning does not light up the night for visitors. Opener “New Moon” may begin in the mode of a deep track from Astral Weeks or Fred Neil, with its upright bass and sparse tremolo guitar. But during the song’s final minutes, strings double the melody, and then the guitar rushes headlong, pulling ahead in a wave of ecstatic deliverance. It is a brief but liberating solo, an instant release of tension from the fraught scene Gunn has built, complemented by one of his most arresting vocal performances.

In a final contrast, “Morning is Mended” is an acoustic beauty so resplendent it ranks alongside Sandy Denny or Jackson C. Frank. Buoyed by a melody that sparkles like sunlight on still water, Gunn acknowledges the hardships around him, the feeling of being a “nothing sky,” and then moves forward into the world, walking tall into the fresh morning. The song is an apt encapsulation of The Unseen In Between, a gorgeously empathetic record that attempts to recognize the worries of the world and offer some timely assurance. It is a revelatory and redemptive set, offering the balm of understanding at a time when that seems in very short supply.

There are many different opinions as to what the future of the blues harmonica will be. International touring vocalist and harmonica player Brandon Santini is undeniably a worthy player to keep an eye on as the latest surge of young blues artists leave their footprint in blues history. His name is worthy of conversations that include James Cotton, Kim Wilson, Dennis Gruenling, Charlie Musselwhite and other frontline harmonica players by combining his love and respect for traditional blues with a present, colorful style of playing that is often compared to James Cotton or Paul Butterfield. Raised in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, Santini purchased his first harmonica in 1997 at the age of fifteen when his mother took him to the local music store upon his request. He founded the Blues Music Award nominated band Delta Highway in 2003 and relocated to Memphis where he absorbed the sounds and culture of the Delta and North Mississippi Hill Country, honing his craft night after night, sweating it out in local Beale Street clubs just like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King did decades before him. Now playing over 100 shows per year throughout the world, Santini has garnered five Blues Music Award nominations, festival headlining slots and even performing on stage with the likes of Buddy Guy and Gary Clark, Jr.

Brandon Santini’s latest release, The Longshot, from the American Showplace Music label takes listeners on a slight detour from the traditional blues highway he has logged many miles on. One may not be surprised that the 36 year old vocalist and harmonica player is influenced and inspired by legendary rock artists such as The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Allman Brothers Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival just as much as Little Walter, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. From the ferocious opener, “Don’t Come Around Here” to the embattled acoustic American driven, “Broken Bones,” Santini ties his blues and rock influences together to deliver an energetic album of introspective heartbreak and lament.

Chicago-based Andrew Belle has made a name for himself as one of our more compelling songwriters since releasing his debut album The Ladder in 2010. Though that album held strong at number one for several weeks on iTunes's singer-songwriter chart and earned dozens of television and film licenses, Belle boldly followed a new muse on the album's electronic, alternative follow-up, Black Bear. His third and latest album Dive Deep doubles down on the ethereal electronic sound of Black Bear, and sees Belle pushing himself to new depths as a songwriter, a vocalist, and a composer. Soaring choruses and moody arrangements abound on Dive Deep, a thoughtfully crafted and deeply felt album that deserves consideration among peers like James Blake and Bon Iver.

Live By Request
The show where the audience picks the songs! Put your name on the "request" form and throw it into the guitar case up on stage when you enter the club. The set list is up to YOU - and a surprise to Bill!
Bill Deasy is the former lead singer/songwriter of the Gathering Field, whose regional hit "Lost in America" led to a deal with Atlantic Records. Performing Songwriter Magazine says: "He calls to mind Paul Westerberg and many of the finest rock songwriters who mix poetry and drunken bluster, yet somehow sound macho and sensitive at the same time"...