![]() ![]() ![]() During this time she got a mix of reactions – some folks didn’t believe that those who were serious about their craft would take to the street corners, while others stood and awe and found themselves moved to tears by her lyrics. Lyric began busking with only two songs, an original titled “Stride”, and “Halo” by Beyonce. Which soon led to her to take the advice of her father, and start busking on the streets of Asheville. After going through the motions of college, she soon realized that it wasn’t the path she should be on, so she took to Youtube and taught herself how to play guitar. Upon graduation of high school in 2006, Lyric enrolled at Western Carolina University where she played piano and sang in the choir. King, and father, whom plays bass in her band has been playing in bands since his teenage years. It is safe to say that music is in her blood her grandfather played harmonica and guitar with the late blues legend B.B. She was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina. She is a Western North Carolina favorite and holds several Mountain Xpress “best of” awards including, but not limited to: best funk band,best vocalist, best lyricist, best r&b/soul, best singer-songwriter, all around favorite band and band that gives back to the community. Her latest EP titled “Perspective” was released in December of 2015. It’s also the venue of one of Asheville’s most popular nights: the Tuesday Bluegrass Sessions.Leeda “Lyric” Jones, best known as Lyric is a singer-songwriter, musician, and music teacher. Although many of the concerts are standing only, the hall hosts seated dinner shows too. Many top musicians have graced the concert hall, from Sam Bush to Taj Mahal, covering all genres, including jazz and Afrobeat. Today it is the home of the family-run Isis Music Hall & Kitchen. If that’s not enough, Citizen Vinyl also holds tours.īuilt in 1937 as a single-screen cinema, Isis Theater stopped showing movies 20 years later. One particular pleasure here is looking through the glass wall that separates the factory floor from the café and seeing the records being made. The social hub of the enterprise, though, is the Session Café & Bar, a coffee shop, bar and music venue that’s open from 09.00 to 21.00 daily and plays only vinyl – a music “menu” provides customers with a breakdown of the songs and albums of the day. Downstairs is the only record-pressing facility in North Carolina, as well as a shop selling vinyl, art and plants. Upstairs is a recording studio run by founder and producer Gar Ragland. Located in a 1938 building that was built as the home of local newspaper The Asheville Citizen-Times, Citizen Vinyl does many things at once. I’m a big believer in sharing the knowledge that you have and being part of the community. This includes performance and production as well as the business side. Inside/Out is about teaching the music business to urban artists. You also run the Inside/Out urban music workshop. It’s been amazing to see the range of the industry here, from musicians, recording studios and publicists to session players, graphic designers and lighting designers. Before the pandemic we hosted events every month and we do an educational programme. In 2015 you founded the non-profit Asheville Music Professionals (AMP).ĪMP has a database to help you find anything music related. And Michael Bublé’s saxophonist and trumpet player live here – two great musicians! We have people like Moses Sumney and Angel Olsen. Singer-songwriter Indigo De Souza is from here – she has an incredible voice. You can get a sense of that at Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center, an exhibition and performance space dedicated to preserving the history of its influential namesake college, founded in 1933. It feels like all of these artists who have been a part of this place have left their mark. Roberta Flack and Nina Simone lived here. Manchester Orchestra, The Avett Brothers, Zac Brown Band, Asheville Symphony, Flogging Molly, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. Which artists have recorded at Echo Mountain? It’s pretty rare that you can do that in a town of 100,000 people. Between the music venues, breweries, hotels and restaurants, you can survive playing music without having to spend eight months on the road. Asheville is also one of the few places where you can make a living playing music. Yes, we have that here but we also have great electronic music and a decent hip-hop/rap scene. When people think about Western North Carolina, they think of the traditional music of Appalachia: folk music and bluegrass. ![]()
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