tilley's blog

Intergalactic Blam! - A high-octane old-time string band featuring musicians from Durham, Hillsborough and Boston, will be playing live on-air during "The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown" tonight (Tues) during the 7:00 hour.  Expect total chaos and destruction of stringed instruments as planets collide.

Mt. Airy, NC's own Sacred Steel Guitar gospel group "DaShawn Hickman and Steel Moven" will be playing live on your radio tonight (Tues) around 7pm on  "The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown" here on WXDU.

 Tune in to The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown during the 7:00pm hour on Tues April 20 to hear a live performance and interview with Chapel Hill's Mandolin Orange.  This exciting young folk/bluegrass duo has been burning up the club circuit and outdoor festivals with their fiddle and mandolin playing and their tight vocal harmonies.  Andrew Marlin and Emily Franz have been drawing large crowds wherever they play and have gotten a lot of attention for their wonderful duet singing and original songs, as well as covers of classic country and bluegrass tunes.     Last year they released an EP and are now about to release their first full-length album, "Quiet Little Room", with an album release party at Local 506 on May 1st.

Tune into The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown on Tues March 30th 6-8pm to hear live Flamenco guitar music played by Ed Stephenson and Craig Hilton of the Raleigh-based Paco Band.  They'll be playing flamenco classics from the likes of Paco de Lucia as well as tunes that mix jazz and flamenco styles.  The live music starts in the 7pm hour.

Tune in Tues March 16 6pm-8pm for The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown to hear two of North Carolina's finest harp slingers, Chris Turner and Bill Newton.  Chris is well known for his work in blues, folk and celtic music and has led such ragged Durham aggregations as The Nee Ningy Band, The Wompers and The Pesky Varmints. Bill Newton can be seen weekly with The Duke Street Dawgs or out in full force with Rebecca and The Hi-Tones, playing regularly in The Jon Shain Trio, or leading his own horn-heavy BBQ.

Tune into The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown on Tues Feb 9th from 6-8pm to hear a live performance by the Greensboro-based trio of women known as Amelia's Mechanics.  They blend old-time string-band music, fiddles, acoustic and electric guitars, beautiful vocal harmonies and play original country and jazz tunes.  This young trio is about to release their debut record, produced by Jim Avett (father of The Avett Brothers).  Their CD hits the streets on Feb 12th and they will be playing The Pour House on March 11 and Broad Street Cafe on April 2nd.  Tune in to hear them play live in the 7:00 hour Tues evening.

Sacred Steel Guitarist DaShawn Hickman will be playing live this Tues Dec 8th in the 7:00 hour during The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown.

DaShawn lives in Mt. Airy, NC, where he learned to play the pedal steel guitar from his mother who was the minister of the local House of God church. For years he has played his steel for church services, but recently he's been playing outside of the church, first with his cousins in The Allen Boys and now has formed a new group "DaShawn Hickman and Steel Moven".

Tune in Tues evening to hear this exciting music played live in the studio and for a conversation with DaShawn about his music and his new group.

Local writers and documentarians Richard Ziglar and Barry Yeoman visit The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown on Tues Dec 1st in the 7pm hour to discuss their new audio and photo documentary "Still Singing the Blues" on blues musicians from New Orleans and South Louisiana.  They'll be discussing their travels and interviews with both well known and not-so-well-known blues artists in Louisiana - we'll also be playing plenty of music from Louisiana.  You can read more about their documentary-to-be here:  http://stillsingingtheblues.blogspot.com

Tune in Tues from 6:30-8pm to hear Katherine Whalen's new band "Lucky" play live on The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown.

This group from Chapel Hill, lead by Squirrel Nut Zipper founder and singer, Katherine Whalen, features banjo and tenor guitar, steel guitar, upright bass and drums. The music ranges between country-rock, blues, surf, tight harmony singing and modern pop sounds.

Catch them playing Friday at the Cat's Cradle during Jon Shain's post-turkey-day-jam.

Tune in to The Bull City Cosmic Hoedown during the 7:00pm hour on Tues Sept 22nd to hear a live performance and interview with Chapel Hill's Mandolin Orange.

Andrew Marlin and Emily Franz make up the duo of Mandolin Orange.  THey met in Chapel Hill about a year ago and have been playing non-stop ever since.  Emily grew up in Chapel Hill and has been playing fiddle in Bluegrass bands since she was 14.  Andrew loves to write original songs and pick acoustic guitar.  Mandolin Orange combines original songs in a folk or swing vein along with covers of classic bluegrass and early country music favorites...