Appalachian folk hero Tyler Childers returns with his neotraditional blend of country, bluegrass, folk, and honky-tonk. The Kentucky-born singer-songwriter has earned several Grammy Award nominations over six albums. On his seventh, Snipe Hunter, Childers rocks out, dabbles in ragtime, and connects with his interest in Hinduism. Ticket sales benefit Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund, as […]
Appalachian folk hero Tyler Childers returns with his neotraditional blend of country, bluegrass, folk, and honky-tonk. The Kentucky-born singer-songwriter has earned several Grammy Award nominations over six albums. On his seventh, Snipe Hunter, Childers rocks out, dabbles in ragtime, and connects with his interest in Hinduism. Ticket sales benefit Hickman Holler Appalachian Relief Fund, as […]
Charlottesville Opera celebrates the timeless works of Rodgers and Hammerstein with Oh, What a Beautiful, Enchanted, Impossible Evening. Featuring performers James Robinson, Nicola Santoro, Kristen Marie Gillis, Andrew Payne, and piano by Jeremy Thompson, the show weaves selections from the golden age of musical theater with the opera company’s history of performing favorites such as […]
Spotlighting Shakespeare at his most playful, The Two Gentlemen of Verona follows Proteus and Valentine, two young men who swear nothing can come between them—until amorous affections enter the scene. Loyalties are tested, disguises donned, and hearts broken as friendship tangles with romance and characters stumble through the beautiful, messy chaos of growing up. And […]
Here’s a failed movie pitch: A 1980s-era top 40 solo artist of some success finds his way into a time machine and emerges in 2025 with the songwriting and production knowledge of all the years he missed in between. Yet in spite of that new understanding, he stays comforted by the tastes that defined his […]
Chet’la Sebree is the author of Blue Opening, a poetry collection published earlier this month, as well as Field Study, winner of the 2020 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and other work. She is an assistant professor at George Washington University and teaches in Randolph College’s low-residency MFA program. She spoke […]
Some childhood interests turn out to be just a passing fancy. But that was not the case for Fiona Balestrieri when she was a young musician. “My first instrument was actually the fiddle,” she says. “I only played that for a year because I discovered the Irish flute. … The sound of the wooden flute […]
Ripley Johnson’s created such a specific body of work, his name’s been used as a song title to signify a sound. For more than two decades, the Portland guitarist has investigated various forms of psychedelia, ranging from metronomic minimalism to fuzzy freakouts. So when he started releasing country music a few years back under the […]
By Tami Keaveny, Ella Powell, and CM Turner | Photography by Tristan Williams For songwriters and musicians of all genres, going from the page to the stage can be intimidating. Participating in an open mic night is a natural first step in public performance for a fledgling musician, and for seasoned performers, it’s an opportunity […]
Reverberating walls of guitars, manic drumming, screeching vocals, and ponderous lyrics with obfuscated motives give a sense of Bay Area-bred Deafheaven’s typical touchstones. Beyond those descriptors, the band has expanded its repertoire of sounds and arrangements to provide a freshness that demonstrates growth without abandoning its roots. The latest release, Lonely People with Power (2025), […]
Ryan Calonder has a simple vision for something that’s become a sprawling enterprise: a music festival, but limited to two days and featuring nothing but bands from Charlottesville proper. “From where I’m standing, this town has so much good, original music coming out of it,” he says. “But over the last 10 years or so, […]