John Vanderslice releases 'Dagger Beach,' coming to Chapel Hill

Singer-songwriter John Vanderslice just released his ninth album in June titled Dagger Beach and he has announced some new fall tour dates in support of it which will bring him back to the Triangle.

Vanderslice will play Local 506 in Chapel Hill on Friday, November 8. Tickets are on sale now via Ticketfly for $13.

Check out the music video for "How the West Was One" from Dagger Beach below. Also check out a review and a few photos of Vanderslice's show with Crooked Fingers at Kings last fall HERE.

John Vanderslice and Crooked Fingers charm Kings Barcade

Photos by Justin Weber

John Vanderslice and Crooked Fingers kicked off a 3 week tour together with a fun and friendly show to a small crowd at Kings Barcade in Raleigh Tuesday night.

Vanderslice opened the show by praising the quality of the backstage food and then proved his point by bringing out a giant bowl of kale to share with the audience. He played solo most of the night, but the gentle crunching of crispy kale from the audience provide some light percussion throughout the show.

Vanderslice paused between each song to tell stories and converse with the audience. Before “Convict Lake” he explained that the song was about the time he took too much acid and woke up in a hospital. He talked about the dangers of a rigid concept before singing “Scorpio Rising,” a song from a collaboration he did with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats.

Crooked Fingers & John Vanderslice announce fall tour

Two incredible singer-songwriters, Erich Bachmann (Crooked Fingers) and John Vanderslice, will team up for a fall tour that will kick off in the Triangle.

The bands will play Kings Barcade in Raleigh on Tuesday, October 30. Tickets will go on sale at noon on Friday, August 10 via Etix for $15.

Check out a video of Crooked Fingers performing "Your Apocalypse" from their latest album Breaks in the Armor in a bowling alley at Google below. Also, check out a video of John Vanderslice performing "Convict Lake" from his latest album White Wilderness on KEXP.

Hopscotch 2011 Day 2: John Vanderslice at Berkeley Cafe & Hospitality at The Union

All photos by Kevin Norris

During night two of Hopscotch, troubadour John Vanderslice took the stage at the Berkeley Cafe for a rousing solo set.

The opening lines of "Trance Manual" received a hearty cheer from the receptive crowd. He seemed to be in good spirits and asked that the venue's disco ball be turned on, which added a bit of sparkle to the fairly drab room.

He launched into "Pale Horse," prefaced by saying it is a "call to arms" written after George W. Bush was elected to his second term in 2004. After that killer performance, I left the venue to explore more music the festival had to offer.

Hopscotch Music Festival 2011 day parties announced

As you may remember from last year, the Hopscotch Music Festival extends far beyond the three-night festival itself and into the daytime. The speaker series was announced on Wednesday, and now we have the details of the many day parties going on September 8-11 (a day longer than the festival).

There will be tons of bands performing across downtown Raleigh during those days. Check out a alphabetical list of all the bands playing these parties below and view our streamlined PDF of the day parties and other events, which include a basketball tournament and bike race HERE.

2011 Hopscotch Festival lineup is here! Flaming Lips, Guided By Voices & much more

In case you didn't already know, the second annual Hopscotch Festival is hitting downtown Raleigh on September 8-10. We have the lineup, and somehow, the organizers have managed to make it bigger and better than last year.

This year's City Plaza headliners are none other than the wildly psychedelic The Flaming Lips and reunited indie legends Guided By Voices. Guided By Voices will headline September 9 with Drive-By Truckers and The Dodos. The Flaming Lips will headline September 10 with Superchunk and The Light Pines.

There are currently 136 bands on the docket for 2011, and like last year, include a wide variety of both national and local acts. There are only a few repeats from 2010 including local favorites The Love Language and Future Islands. Check out the full lineup below.

New music from John Vanderslice, tour dates

John Vanderslice has a new album coming out on May 19 titled Romanian Names. The album is Vanderslice's first album since leaving Barsuk Records for Dead Oceans Records. Check out two tracks from the album below.

Vanderslice is returing to the Triangle on June 17 to play Local 506 with Swedish artsit The Tallest Man on Earth. Tickets for the show are $10 and are available via etix.com. Vanderslice played Duke Coffeehouse in March with The Mountain Goats. Check out the rest of his upcoming dates below.

John Vanderslice - "Fetal Horses" (mp3)
John Vanderslice - "Too Much Time" (mp3)

[photo by Pete Ellenby]

John Vanderslice dates:
05.17.09 - Merced, CA - The Partisan
05.19.09 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop [Tickets]
05.21.09 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
05.22.09 - Seattle, WA - Easy Street Records
05.24.09 - Quincy, WA - Sasquatch Festival
05.27.09 - Provo, UT - Velour
05.28.09 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
05.29.09 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
05.30.09 - Omaha, NE - Slow Down
06.01.09 - Minneapolis, MN - Turf Club [Tickets]
06.03.09 - Iowa City, IA - The Mill
06.04.09 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall
06.05.09 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
06.06.09 - Chicago, IL - Metronome Celebration
06.06.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle [Tickets]
06.08.09 - Newport, KY - Southgate House [Tickets]
06.09.09 - Pittsburgh, PA - Warhol Museum [Tickets]
06.11.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's [Tickets]
06.12.09 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg [Tickets]
06.13.09 - New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom [Tickets]
06.14.09 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East [Tickets]
06.16.09 - Washington, DC - Black Cat [Tickets]
06.17.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 [Tickets]
06.18.09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
06.19.09 - St. Augustine, FL - Cafe Eleven
06.20.09 - Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds [Tickets]
06.21.09 - Orlando, FL - The Social [Tickets]
06.23.09 - Nashville, TN - Exit/In
06.25.09 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues [Tickets]
06.26.09 - Austin, TX - The Parish
06.28.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified
06.29.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour [Tickets]
06.30.09 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
07.10.09 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern
07.11.09 - Ottawa, ON - Ottawa Bluesfest
08.28.09 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
08.29.09 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
08.30.09 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival
10.03.09 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival

Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice "Go Primitive" for solo tour

The Mountain Goats mastermind John Darnielle and John Vanderslice will join forces in March and early April to play solo sets across the eastern part of the country. The tour has been dubbed "Gone Primitive." The two will play Duke Coffeehouse in Durham on March 19. Tickets are going to be $15 for the public and $12 for Duke students.

Darnielle is set to join Texas musician Jandek at a rare live peformance at Gerrard Hall in Chapel Hill on February 22. Darnielle will play keyboards in Jandek's band that night which will also include Brian Jones (of Agents of Good Roots) on drums and Anne Gomez (of Cantwell Gomez & Jordan) on bass.

Vanderslice recently announced that he has left his long-time label Barsuk and joined the Dead Oceans roster. He plans to release a new album via his new label later this year.

The Mountain Goats & John Vanderslice US dates:
03.18.09 - Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle
03.19.09 - Durham, NC - Duke Coffeehouse
03.20.09 - Norfolk, VA - The Atticus Theatre [Tickets]
03.21.09 - Washington, DC - Sixth and I Synagogue [Tickets]
03.24.09 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
03.25.09 - Somerville, MA - The Sommerville Theatre [Tickets]
03.27.09 - New York, NY - The Society for Ethical Culture [Tickets]
03.29.09 - Gambier, OH - Kenyon College
03.30.09 - Oberlin, OH - Oberlin College
04.01.09 - Chicago, IL - Epiphany [Tickets]
04.02.09 - Champagne, IL - Courtyard Cafe at the University of Illinois
04.03.09 - Iowa City, IA - The Mill (Mission Creek Music Festival)
04.04.09 - Richmond, IN - Earlham College
04.06.09 - Bloomington, IN - Buskirk-Chumley Theater