Owen Beverly marks his return with 'Shooting the Bull,' show at Mansion 462

It's always interesting when a musician, well, disappears off the face of the earth for a little while. Upon their return, you never really know what to expect. Will they still play your favorite song? Will the music even sound the same?

Such is the case with Owen Beverly, who will be opening for Steven Fiore tomorrow night at Mansion 462 in Chapel Hill.

The last time I personally saw him perform was in late 2003, at a Halloween night show with Jump, Little Children somewhere in South Carolina (Spartanburg, maybe) on the way to see some friends in Chattanooga. If my memory serves me right, he wore old-school gym clothes (knee socks, headband and the whole nine), performing the hard-ish rock songs of his then-recent release, The Drunk Lover EP. (Entourage fans may recognize that EP's title track.)

Not too long after that, it was radio silence while Beverly went home to Mississippi and awoke with a new musical direction in alt. country. He's back with a full-length album, Shooting the Bull, and a lengthy tour taking him through the fall.

Beverly had proven himself a worthy songwriter in the past, but there's something different about these new tracks. It's not just the mellow pace or the inflection in his voice, but the stories that he tells.

Check out some of his songs on MySpace and see what I mean for yourself tomorrow night. Tickets to the show are $7 or $5 for students. Beverly goes on at 9 p.m. with our buddy Steven Fiore following at 10 p.m. And maybe, just maybe, he'll make a sappy old fan happy and pull out "For Mia."

On the road with Steven Fiore

Steven Fiore had church music on his mind earlier this week.

On tour with Jay Clifford, the Charleston-bred musician played Coffee Underground in Greenville, S.C., Monday night which has church pews for seating.

"It does make me want to play Jesus songs, but other than that it's cool," Fiore joked.

The duo is playing smaller, intimate venues on a tour that will bring them to Chapel Hill's Mansion 462 this Friday and Saturday.

Fiore recently recorded a full-length album, Etiquette, in a Raleigh studio.

"We went to this three story house in Raleigh with all this equipment. The nicest things you could imagine recording with," Fiore said.

He said he wasn't going for one sound or another on the album.

"I don’t really like going for anything when I write. When I try to go for a certain style … your manager will say 'Oh write songs like this,' then you try to gear yourself towards that style and it ends up coming out forced or contrived," he said. "The other stuff just came to me because it’s supposed to. The way I wrote this record was I took whatever came to me."

For a sample of music from the new album, check out "Why Do You Waste Your Time" on Fiore's MySpace page. Fiore said he expects to release Etiquette at a show at The Music Farm in Charleston on June 6 where he and his band, Steven Fiore and the Good People, will open for Slow Runner.

Tickets for the shows in Chapel Hill May 2 and 3 are $10 each and available through etix.

Music News + Ticket Giveaway = Happy Monday!

We told you about it first nearly 3 months ago, but now it's official — Zach Braff is looking for fan video submissions to create a new music video for Jay Clifford's song "Know When To Walk Away."

Go to jaycliffordmusicvideo.com for all the details on how to submit.

Jay and Steven Fiore (more on him later this week) will play two shows at Chapel Hill's Mansion 462 this weekend, May 2 and 3, and as a special gift to you, our lovely readers, we have two pairs of tickets to give away, one for each night.

Just email us at triangle_music@hotmail.com BY NOON ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, with "Jay Clifford tickets" and which night you want to attend in the subject line and we'll hold a drawing for the winners. Good luck!

If you don't like free stuff, or don't end up winning our drawing, you can purchase tickets here for $10.