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DJ Mehdi

Hollywood Palladium Los Angeles, CA

Markus Schulz

Los Angeles Sports Arena Los Angeles, CA

Chromeo

Gaslamp Killer

Vega

Club Nokia Los Angeles, CA

Above & Beyond

Westin Bonaventure Hotel Los Angeles, CA

Brett Dennen

SambaDa

Fox Theater Oakland, CA

McCoy Tyner  

Yoshi's Oakland   Oakland, CA

The Mother Hips  

Marilyn's on K  Sacramento, CA

Jeff Chimenti

Bill Graham Civic Auditorium San Francisco, CA

Will Bernard

Wil Blades

Boom Boom Room San Francisco, CA

Ozomatli

an-ten-nae

Concourse Exhibition Center San Francisco, CA

Stanton Warriors  

Mighty   San Francisco, CA

Les Claypool  

The Fillmore   San Francisco, CA

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Zigaboo Modeliste

The Independent San Francisco, CA

The Roots

Orgone

The Warfield San Francisco, CA

Leftover Salmon  

Boulder Theater   Boulder, CO

The Motet

The Everyone Orchestra

Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom Denver, CO

Greyboy Allstars  

Ogden Theatre   Denver, CO

Melvin Seals & JGB  

Owsley's Golden Road   Denver, CO

Yonder Mountain String Band

The Lee Boys

The Fillmore Auditorium Denver, CO

STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9)

Virtual Boy

Wells Fargo Theatre Denver, CO

Ryan Montbleau Band  

Fairfield Theatre Stage One   Fairfield, CT

Max Creek  

The Warehouse   Hartford, CT

The Breakfast  

Daniel Street   Milford, CT

JJ Grey & Mofro

Snarky Puppy

Freebird Live Jacksonville Beach, FL

Phish  

American Airlines Arena   Miami, FL

Kid Cudi

James L. Knight Center Miami, FL

The Wailers

The Supervillains

House of Blues Orlando, FL

Amy Hendrickson & the Prime Directive  

The Nest   St. Augustine, FL

Bonerama  

Melting Point   Athens, GA

Widespread Panic  

Philips Arena   Atlanta, GA

Yonrico Scott

Joseph Patrick Moore

The Five Spot Atlanta, GA

Band of Horses

The Dynamites Featuring Charles Walker

The Tabernacle Atlanta, GA

Perpetual Groove  

Variety Playhouse   Atlanta, GA

Col. Bruce & The Quark Alliance  

The Hummingbird   Macon, GA

Public Property

The Uniphonics

Englert Civic Theatre Iowa City, IA

Umphrey's McGee

Prefuse 73

Aragon Ballroom Chicago, IL

Girl Talk  

Congress Theater   Chicago, IL

The Fiery Furnaces  

Lincoln Hall   Chicago, IL

The Infamous Stringdusters

Uncle Earl

Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago, IL

The Black Keys  

The Riviera Theatre   Chicago, IL

Pretty Lights  

The Vic Theatre   Chicago, IL

BeauSoleil

BeauSoleil Avec Michael Doucet

SPACE Evanston, IL

Brainchild  

The Landings at Henry Harbor   Henry, IL

Backyard Tire Fire  

Chord on Blues   St. Charles, IL

Strange Arrangement

The Max Allen Band

The Verve Terre Haute, IN

Eric Lindell  

D.B.A.   New Orleans , LA

Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk  

Howlin' Wolf   New Orleans, LA

Galactic  

Tipitina's Uptown   New Orleans, LA

The Indobox

Jimkata Middle

East Upstairs Cambridge, MA

Assembly of Dust   

Roots of Creation

Tupelo Music Hall   Salisbury, MA

SOJA

Fear Nuttin Band

Bourbon Street Ballroom Baltimore, MD

Dark Star Orchestra

The Bridge

Rams Head Live Baltimore, MD

The Macpodz  

Papa Pete's   Kalamazoo, MI

Greensky Bluegrass  

State Theatre   Kalamazoo, MI

The Pnuma Trio

Mimosa (SF)

The Loft @ Barfly Minneapolis, MN

Speakeasy  

Patton Alley Pub   Springfield, MO

The Avett Brothers  

Asheville Civic Center   Asheville, NC

Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band  

Emerald Lounge   Asheville, NC

Toubab Krewe

State Radio

Orange Peel Asheville, NC

Keller Williams  

Neighborhood Theatre   Charlotte, NC

The Mantras  

The Blind Tiger   Greensboro, NC

Annuals  

Raleigh City Plaza   Raleigh, NC

Yarn  

The Pour House Music Hall   Raleigh, NC

Mad Tea Party  

Garage   Winston-Salem, NC

The Brew  

The Stone Church   Newmarket, NH

Turbine  

Donegal Saloon   Kearny, NJ

Mike Doughty  

Mexicali Live   Teaneck, NJ

DJ Z-Trip  

Moon Nightclub @ Palms   Las Vegas, NV

Blue Turtle Seduction  

Great Basin Brewing Company   Sparks, NV

Antibalas  

Knitting Factory   Brooklyn, NY

Soulive

Revision  

WildFire Lounge   Ithaca, NY

The New Deal  

B.B. King Blues Club   New York, NY

Gov't Mule  

Beacon Theatre   New York, NY

Mike Stern Band

Mike Stern

Iridium Jazz Club New York, NY

The Disco Biscuits  

Nokia Theatre Times Square   New York, NY

Rebirth Brass Band  

Sullivan Hall   New York, NY

Fischerspooner  

The Fillmore at Irving Plaza   New York, NY

Hot Day at the Zoo  

The Waterhole   Saranac Lake, NY   

John Brown's Body

Nautilus (NY)

Revolution Hall Troy, NY

Buddy Guy

Kristine Jackson

House Of Blues Cleveland, OH

ekoostik hookah  

Newport Music Hall   Columbus, OH

B.B. King  

Mabee Center   Tulsa, OK

Flying Lotus  

720 Club   Portland, OR

Railroad Earth  

Aladdin Theater   Portland, OR

Rusted Root  

Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead   Munhall, PA

Lotus

MSTRKRFT

Electric Factory Philadelphia, PA

Brothers Past

Orchard Lounge

Theatre of Living Arts (TLA) Philadelphia, PA

jazzam  

Rex Theater   Pittsburgh, PA

Poogie Bell Band  

Thunderbird Cafe   Pittsburgh, PA

Gregg Allman  

Twin River Events Center   Lincoln, RI

Sol Driven Train  

The Pour House   Charleston, SC

Holy Ghost Tent Revival  

Market Square   Knoxville, TN

Moon Taxi  

Exit/In   Nashville, TN

Donna The Buffalo

The Believers

Loveless Cafe Nashville, TN

Old Crow Medicine Show

Chuck Mead

Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN

The Gourds  

The Independent   Austin, TX

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals  

Higher Ground (Ballroom)   Burlington, VT

Flowmotion

Acorn Project

The Wild Buffalo Bellingham, WA

Steez

Natty Nation

Shoeless Revolution

Intelescope

Barrymore Theatre

Madison, WI

Freekbass  

The V Club   Huntington, WV

Acoustic Syndicate, one of "North Carolina's best kept secrets" is returning this holiday season for a very special post-Thanksgiving show at the Lincoln Theater on Friday, November 27th.

Known for its high-energy, positive sound, Acoustic Syndicate delivers a genre-defying performance, masterfully blending its eclectic influences with trademark finesse that only 17 years of cohesive teamwork can bring.

Acoustic Syndicate is the product of Cleveland County's McMurry clan. Guitarist Steve "Big Daddy" McMurry is joined by his cousins, Bryon McMurry on banjo and Fitz McMurry on drums. The three McMurrys also bring a trademark vocal trio that only a lifetime of singing together can deliver.

Joining the McMurrys in 1998 on bass, Jay Sanders has become part of the family. A long time resident of Asheville, NC, his seamless blending of musical genres and driving style brought a completion to the band's sound that continues to characterize and define. When not with Acoustic Syndicate, Jay can now be seen playing with Donna The Buffalo or his own group, The E.Normus Trio.

Formed in 1992, Acoustic Syndicate has had a long and storied career. They spent well over a dozen years on the road, playing at the original Bonnaroo, MerleFest, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Memphis in May and many many other clubs, festivals and events.

The band had the distinct honor of being invited to perform as a part of FarmAid in 2001, a significant occasion in respect to their family's agrarian history. The McMurry family are farmers, and continue to cultivate the same land their family has for generations.

In 2005, the band decided to hang up the towel for a little while. They put their touring career on hold with a legendary five hour performance at SmileFest. In a recent interview with Frank Ruggiero from the Mountain Times in Boone, NC, Steve McMurry said "With the music industry in dire straits, the band would have had to commit to another five years of heavy touring to sustain itself. None of us really could see being gone from our families and people for that long a period of time... We had a great run of it, and thought we'd just call it quits and be regular people for a while."

But the band's audience felt otherwise. "People wouldn't let us quit playing," McMurry said. "They'd keep calling and calling, so after a couple years we decided we'd get together and see if we still knew how to play." The results speak for themselves, and McMurry said the band is now performing without the pressures touring so often brings, and rather playing for the fun of it.

In 2009, Acoustic Syndicate was honored by being voted the 6th top artist of the last 20 years by the listeners of Western North Carolina's WNCW radio station.

Their discography includes six official releases including two for Sugar Hill Records. Their 2004 effort "Terra Firma" was voted the number one album of the year by the listeners of WNCW, and 2005's "Long Way Round" placed number seven. But it is not going to end there. Acoustic Syndicate plans on cutting a new record. The band will visit the studio this winter to craft an album of all-new material.

When Ruggiero asked about the music of Acoustic Syndicate, Steve McMurry replied "It's high energy with a definite rock 'n' roll vibe, but acoustic."

"I don't like getting pigeonholed, because we do so many things - bluegrass, soul, funk - whatever feels good," McMurry said. "And the music we write is not typical of what you hear on the radio, either. We try to stay away from that mainstream cookie-cutter variety, and, honestly, I think people appreciate us doing that. I think there needs to be an alternative."

Acoustic Syndicate's all about making sure it's an honest alternative, a sound that's 100 percent its own, but steeped in a rich musical history each band member appreciates. McMurry said the band's influences span the musical gamut, including the Grateful Dead, Little Feat, The Police, The Who, Peter Gabriel, Steely Dan, John Hartford and Bill Frisell.

"I know all this stuff seems weird to be lumping in on top of a bluegrass ensemble, but it works - this is the stuff we grew up listening to," he said. "Some of the class rock 'n' roll is there, but also the more traditional music. We grew up singing in a church, and mountain music, ballads that our parents and grandparents taught us ... that comes out in there, especially with the harmonies we put together. It's a veritable melting pot of different influences."

McMurry's quick to assert, though, that the music's never been about the band, but rather for the audience.

"The material we've written has consistently had a positive message to it, and very little of it is centered toward the individual," he said. "We try to send a good message in a very joyful manner, a very pleasant, uplifting manner. People recognize that, and I think that's why they like it. It's not about any one of us in the group; it's about the relationship in the group and the people who listen to our music, and we're just going to try to keep that conversation going."

"The dynamics come from 12 years of traveling on the road together," McMurry said. "We've been playing together long enough now to pretty much know what everyone else is doing. It's more of a reflex action now than anything else. We love to get together and play together, so we've been very fortunate in that regard."

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"Too bad most contemporary pop music doesn't have the organic elegance of Acoustic Syndicate."  -Vintage Guitar

"North Carolina's best kept secret" -Star Maker Machine

In the midst of issuing a pair of new EP's (Feather on Wood and Oil on Glass) and also in the midst of a full-on tour, instrumental electronic band Lotus - have found themselves part of an interesting remix project. Lotus member Jesse Miller has remixed a track of Big Gigantic (an alias for Motet saxophonist/producer Dominic Lalli and drummer Jeremy Salken), "Thinking Out Loud," off of the album 'Fire It Up,' while Lalli returns the favor, remixing the Lotus track, "Simian," off 'Oil on Glass.'

"Dom's compositions always feature strong melodies, so I wanted to keep that element mostly in tact for this remix while using a different tempo and beat than the original," explains Miller. "I spent a day bouncing tracks to an old 4-track tape machine to get some analog grit and manual EQing on the mix, hence the Cassette moniker in the title."

These two exclusive remixes can be streamed online or download at lotusvibes.bandcamp.com/album/lotus-big-gigantic-remixes. Downloads can be in MP3 format or other formats - including full quality .wav files - and fans will set their own price for the downloads. All proceeds will be donated to Musicopia (www.musicopia.net). Musicopia is a non-profit organization that brings educational music enrichment programs to schools and communities throughout the Delaware Valley.

In addition to this Lotus/Big Gigantic cross-pollination on these two aforementioned remix tracks, both bands will be touring together in November for several shows - see the list of dates below. What better way to get prepared for these upcoming shows than to check out these beat-heavy remixes.

For their epic fall tour, Lotus broke new ground in a way that no other rock band has done prior, it allowed their legion of fans to pay-what-they-want for tickets. The Pay-What-You-Want-Tour featuring Lotus was an eight night run of shows in western U.S. states, sponsored by Ticketweb, that let the fans decide how much their show ticket would cost. At the $15.00 Pay-What-You-Want level or higher, fans received free digital downloads of Feather on Wood and Oil on Glass. The Pay-What-You-Want-Tour was part of a larger fall tour that still finds Lotus crisscrossing the United States.  In addition, Lotus recently announced a New Year's eve run in Pennsylvania that will culminate with an epic New Year's Eve Show with MSTRKRFT at Philadelphia's Electric Factory. Leading up to the big night, the band will stop at Mr. Smalls Theatre (Pittsburgh, PA) on 12/29 and The Note (West Chester, PA) on 12/30, both with support act Tigersapien.

 

Look for Saltwater Grass on the road in early 2010 in New Orleans La. , Atlanta , GA. Charleston , SC. and Asheville , NC . as they tour in support of, as yet untitled second album.

www.myspace.com/saltwatergrassband
www.saltwatergrass.com

www.reverbnation.com/saltwatergrass