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The Steel Woods (Website)

Like their name, The Steel Woods are a hybrid musical force, part hard-edged, part Americana roots country folk, man-made, yet organic, rock but also bluegrass, R&B, blues, gospel, soul and heavy metal, “the materials which America is built on” according to co-founder Wes Bayliss. The Nashville-based band is also steeped in the ethos of Southern rock, with the music on its debut Woods Music/Thirty Tigers release, Straw in the Wind, both timeless and indefinable, sounding like it could’ve been recorded at any point during the past half-century. “That’s kinda the idea,” nods Bayliss.

The Steel Woods trace an unbroken line from Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams through Willie and Waylon, then the Allmans, Blackfoot, The Band and Tom Petty up through contemporaries like Kings of Leon and the Avett Brothers.

Jive Mother Mary (Website)

The first time you see Jive Mother Mary live it’s like a musical breath of fresh air—a gust of excellent songwriting and skilled musicianship. Hailing from Burlington, NC, Mason Keck (guitar, vocals), Tyler Schulz (guitar, vocals), Seth Aldridge (drums, vocals) and William Sanders (bass, vocals) bring to the table qualities rarely found in today’s music: four guys playing instruments and singing harmonies. Firmly rooted in American music with a tinge of it’s British brethren, seeing the band in-person truly allows you to appreciate the intensity of their performance.