Shakori Hills

Well, it really is festival season around here, no? I was all set to (finally) get around to talking about next week's Troika Music Festival, when I was prompted with the reminder that this week features the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, four days of assorted rootsy/folky/country/jammy music. It's worth a look.

There's a lot of good stuff here, and it would take a few days to really sort through everything. Instead, you'll get what you got for Sparklefest last week -- a fairly random sampling of some things that look and sound good at first glance, and a strong encouragment to go check it out for yourself. (Oct 5-8. See here for more info.)

Saludos Compay: I really enjoy Latin stuff like this in a Buena Vista Social Club vein. (A comparison I imagine they get sick of, but what are you gonna do? That's what it sounds like!)
"Pintate Los Labios"

The Biscuit Burners: a more-or-less bluegrass sound, but with a variety of contemporary influences. I love the silvery banjo tone on this song -- nothing like Bill Monroe!
"Cow and Sake"

DivineMAGgies: dunno about the typographical hijinx in their name, but they sound great. Two strong female vocalists, making music that ranges from the rockish end of the Indigo Girls spectrum to this, a lovely Celtic-inflected folk song.
"North Carolina"

Jennie Stearns: there's a good bit of singer-songwriter stuff on the bill here. This strikes me as a pretty good example of the form.
"Season of Dreams"

Luminecent Orchestrii: They've obviously put some work into this description, so it would be a shame not to quote it: "Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle, all eaten and spit out by two violins, resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonica and bass." This is cool stuff.
"Taraf Hijacked"

Quetzal: They don't even have anything available to download, but this is too good to leave out. Go to their MySpace and listen to this eclectic rock en Espanol. Such a party!

Finally, a selection of local folks I've written about before:

Bombadil (previously): Nice to see that my description of them as "a slightly less-redneck version of the Gourds" has gotten cleaned up a bit and put in their press material -- it was in an Independent article, and is on the Shakori Hill site!
"Jellybean Wine"

The Never (previously): Annuals, who might be blowing up, are taking the Never on tour, which can only be good. In addition the Shakori Hills performance, look out for a multimedia presentation of their ambitious concept album, Antarctica, on October 14 in Chapel Hill.
"Cavity"

The Old Ceremony (previously): their "pop noir" seems to have a bit more of the former and a bit less of the latter on their new release, Our One Mistake.
"Papers In Order"

The Two Dollar Pistols (previously): one of the bands I was excited about way back when, and I still love their honky-tonk sound.
"Runnin With The Fools"