Fans of Asheville favorites Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters have been given an extra dose of music in recent months.
Longtime local singer-songwriter has released two singles each month since April, including “Saint Sebastian” and “This Night” which were released on July 19th. The songs were all released by the band’s label, Organic Records.
“The label kind of pushed us to do singles, because a lot of the music industry is all about streaming and the singles format makes a lot of sense,” Platt said. “I’m an album lover, I know I’m not alone in this case, so I was willing to try singles as long as they were going to eventually get a home in a bigger project. Considering we’re not quite back on tour this year, it also seems like a fun way to stay engaged with fans. ”
The biggest project is underway, in the form of a double album, she said. This album, titled “The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea”, will contain 20 songs and include all previously released singles, including two that the band sneaked last September.
Platt said the plan is to release the remaining 12 songs two at a time through December.
Fans will have the chance to hear some of these new tracks live when the band performs at 7 p.m. on July 24 at Salvage Station. The opener will be Clint Roberts.
The songs have different origins for this project, Platt said, some of which were written from 2014 to 2018 and five that she wrote during the COVID pandemic. Most of the recording was done remotely, which, Platt said, “made the process even more collaborative in one way or another, because everyone was sort of in their own space. and brought more of himself to the table. ”
The lack of live shows (the band has only played three full shows since the pandemic) as Platt hasn’t received many responses on the new material.
“Yeah, I never really know if a song was well received unless I got feedback from people at shows. I’m not a social media person so I don’t see a lot of numbers or streaming comments or so on, ”she said. “I’m pretty much in the dark unless there’s someone in front of me telling me they think something is right.”
And, more than likely, fans will express their love for these tracks at Salvage Station at the next show.
An energetic group from Charlotte is coming to town
Pluto Gang, a self-described “high energy soul group”, will debut in Asheville on July 24 at 9:30 pm at One Stop.
The six-piece group formed in 2019 and had big plans to tour the Southeast in 2020, until the pandemic put an end to those plans. Instead, the band decided to record their debut album and completed the eight-song album “Better Out Here”.
Now Pluto Gang is back on the road sharing these new songs and is ready to introduce Asheville to his music.
Indie-pop artist comes to The Orange Peel
Korean-American musician and writer Michelle Zaunder has had a busy year so far. This spring, his memoir, “Crying In H Mart,” debuted at # 2 on the New York Times bestseller list.
In June, the indie rock band she leads, Japanese Breakfast, released a new album titled “Jubilee” to a wonderful release.
Now she’s on the road with her band, and Japanese Breakfast will be playing July 23 at 8 p.m. at the Orange Peel.
His pop music on “Jubilee” has a lot of synth sounds, big symphonic sounds and a lot of honest lyrics.
Gravely country with gray eagle
Justin Wells spent several years at the helm of a country rock band called “Fifth on the Floor” which broke country charts and performed dates with Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell and Blackberry Smoke. .
Since the band split in 2015, Wells has released two solo albums and toured. He’s coming back to Asheville with a 9 p.m. show on July 23 at the Gray Eagle.
His latest effort, a single titled “Hard Out Here,” was recently released and tells the story of isolation, which seems to be a hot topic even though it was written before the pandemic.
Songwriter and orchestral musicians make their Asheville debut
Charlotte singer-songwriter Mike Ramsey takes a unique band with him on the road.
He recently performed with a five-piece orchestral ensemble aptly titled The Five Ensemble, consisting of Chelsea Karpeh (clarinet), Andrew Llamas (cello), Malik Johnson (violin), Danielle Dameron (flute) and Matt Postle (trumpet).
The group, which released a live album, “Live at Visulite Theater,” in 2020, will perform at 7pm on July 25 at Isis Music Hall.
