Indigo Girls & Del McCoury Band to headline spring Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival

The spring installment of the biannual Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Pittsboro is a little over a month away and the festival has just announced the lineup that includes two big headliners.

It will all happen on April 17-20 and will feature headline sets by folk rockers the Indigo Girls and legendary bluegrass group the Del McCoury Band. Other performers will include Donna the Buffalo, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Des Ark, Jim Lauderdale, Phil Cook and the Guitarheels, Morning Brigade, Greg Humphreys Trio, Tonk and many, many more. Check out the full lineup HERE.

Tickets for the festival are on sale HERE for a variety of price points ranging from $23 (single day Thursday or Sunday ticket) to $100 (a four-day pass).

Schoolkids lines up five Record Store Day in-stores including Aoife O’Donovan & METZ

Earlier this we already told you about some of the great exclusive releases coming your way on Record Store Day this weekend and now we have a bunch of Schoolkids Records in-stores to tell you about.

The Raleigh store will host five acts on Saturday, April 20 starting at 1 p.m. with Yep Roc artist Aoife O’Donovan. She'll release her debut solo album, Fossils, on June 11.

Next, at 2 p.m., Greg Humphreys (of Hobex and Dillon Fence) will perform at the store.

Album Review: Greg Humphreys - Realign Your Mind

While some musicians struggle to keep one band together, others seem to flourish as their number of projects increases. Local musician Greg Humphreys is one of the latter. On his second solo record, Realign Your Mind, Humphreys proves that he can't be pinned to the funkiness of Hobex or the pop-rock of Dillon Fence.

Just as it sounds like you can predict the album's general direction—soft acoustic rock—Humphreys turns you on your head with "Way Over Yonder." The track has much more of a bluegrass feel, with a banjo and fiddle forming the tune's backbone. Emily Frantz and Andrew Marlin, of local folksy favorites Mandolin Orange, provide backing vocals.

Mandolin Orange shakes it up at Local 506

Local duo Mandolin Orange is growing up and out. Their Saturday night set at Local 506 showed that since coming together last July, Emily Frantz and Andrew Marlin have kept themselves busy with writing and re-writing songs new and old.

Greg Humphreys opened the show with some gentle acoustic songs. His songs were simple, but not boring. Humphreys kept the crowd's ears with his neat blend of folk and jazz, a far cry from the funk-rock he usually creates with Hobex. Frantz and Marlin joined him for a few songs at the end of his set, but he did quite well on his own.

Big Alex Chilton tribute show to happen at Cat's Cradle

The passing of songwriting icon Alex Chilton last month dealt a blow to a great number of musicians who were deeply influenced by his music. On Friday, May 28 at the Cat's Cradle, an impressive line-up of local musicians will gather to celebrate Chilton's music for a night dubbed "Thank You, Friend: A Tribute to Alex Chilton."

Among the performers are Greg and Ann Humphreys, Tom Maxwell (of Squirrel Nut Zippers), John Howie, Jr. Stu McLamb and Missy Thangs (of the Love Language), Mitch Easter and the Able Hands and many more. Check out the full list below.

Tickets info is not available yet, but we'll keep you posted (be sure to follow us on Twitter for updates).

Billy Bragg to play Chapel Hill early voting event

This just in from the Portastatic blog: Billy Bragg will play a set at this Saturday's early voting concert in support of Barack Obama. Just another reason to get your butt up early and head out to Morehead Planetarium.

The concert will start at 9am and go until 1pm. And if you live in Orange County you can early vote on site. And if THAT weren't enough, we hear there will even be free donuts. The concert will take place at Graham Terrace, adjacent to the planetarium.

Here's the full lineup, updated with times:
9am Portastatic
9:30 Regina Hexaphone
9:50 Greg Humphries
10:15 Bowerbirds
10:35 I Was Totally Destroying It
11 Megafaun
11:30 Ivan Rosebud
11:50 Superchunk
12:15pm Billy Bragg

Earlier: dBs, Superchunk, Ivan Howard and more to rally for Obama