BRYAN ELIJAH SMITH
5:15 - 7:15pm
Bryan Elijah Smith is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter based out of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Smith’s innate songwriting ability and haunting voice leave you with a sense of timeless nostalgia. With over 1,000 songs penned & 11 independent releases, Smith is creating a self-produced legacy that began with his first song at the age of 18. Aside from touring the United States for well over a decade, Smith has also toured internationally in both Australia & Honduras. The music cradles all things ‘Americana’ at heart & at hand without shying away from a truly uninhibited pop sensibility. Crossing a wide array of genres, what gets produced has been compared to the likes of everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Kings of Leon. Smith recently won 2nd place in the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest 2019 where the title track to his new album, ‘In Through The Dark’, was 1 of 12 songs chosen out of 970 national entries. Smith has been a CASC finalist 2 years in a row (past finalist include Gillian Welch, Tift Merritt & Lera Lynn).
THE HACKENSAW BOYS
7:45 - 9:45pm
For touring musicians, the road is a harsh mistress. It takes an iron will to survive and a hard-headed love for music so deeply ingrained that the mere thought of a missed gig makes you nauseous. For 17 years, the Hackensaw Boys have plowed the asphalt, bringing their raw, gritty version of American roots music to the venues and streets that originally inspired them. Born in Virginia, along the same routes as fellow road warriors/street buskers Old Crow Medicine Show, the Hackensaw Boys have at times operated more as a collective than a band, sometimes boasting up to twenty members. What’s kept them together is a burning hot vision of American roots music brought kicking and screaming into a new age, fueled as much by a rowdy punk spirit as by the traditional masters that first inspired them. Now with their new album, Charismo (April 15, 2016 on Free Dirt Records)–their first studio album in almost a decade–the Hackensaw Boys have a new lineup and a new lease on life. Led by founding member, guitarist and songwriter David Sickmen, they’re back on the road with new songs, determined to get their fans back on the dancefloors they remember so well.