NC Bands at SXSW

The web site for Austin's SXSW music festival lets you sort showcase artists by home town, so here's a list of the North Carolina bands that'll be playing. Loyal readers will recognize a number of Oak Room favorites, including the Rosebuds, the Comas, and the Moaners.

I think I'll spend the rest of the week checking out the bands I haven't heard yet and reporting back. In the meantime, here's some tidbits to get you started.

• I wanted to link to Chris Stamey's "14 Shades of Green" a long time ago, but Yep Roc took it off their web site. Happily, SXSW has it up. This is far and away my favorite song from last year's Travels in the South -- just enough jangle to make dBs fans happy.
  MP3: "14 Shades of Green"
  (from Chris Stamey, Travels in the South, Yep Roc 2004. Buy it here or download it here.)
• Here's a nice tune from Roman Candle, originally more of a shoegazer kind of band that's moving in an alt country direction, as I mentioned back here.
MP3: "The Wee Hours Review"
(I guess this is from their forthcoming album, a redone version of 2002's Get Pop.)

• Bluegrass band Chatham County Line has a new album out today. I'm looking forward to hearing it. SXSW features a track from their 2003 self-titled album.
  MP3: "Closing Town"
  (from Chatham County Line, Chatham County Line, Yep Roc 2003. Buy it here or download it here.)
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• I've never bothered to talk about Tift Merritt -- it's not like she needs the publicity; she was nominated for a Grammy, for crying out loud -- but her newest album Tamborine is great, adding some soul to her country/folk. You can stream some of her music at her web site.
• No audio for this, but the SXSW shows and forthcoming album bringing together Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell couldn't be anything but incredible.
• For a look at some of the other bands that will be playing at SXSW, check out the really well-done music blog See You In The Pit. They did the Comas just the other day.Great content and a slick design. Hey, ladies, if you haven't taken a look at the Rosebuds yet, give them a try!