Ring in the new year with PineCone, Western North Carolina singer-songwriter Shay Martin Lovette, and The Honey Dewdrops! Lovette will perform at 7, 8, & 10 p.m., and The Honey Dewdrops will perform at 9 p.m.
Boone, North Carolina based songwriter and musician Shay Martin Lovette and his band won the 2019 Merlefest Band Contest; Lovette has also been a finalist in the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest. Lovette has been honing his craft on tour across the southeast and beyond in support of his latest album Swift Drifter since its release in the summer of 2018. With this impressive solo effort, we get a glimpse of Lovette’s life and those that have connected with him. Each song is full of joy, pain, yearning, triumph, and heartbreak—a relatable swath of emotional experiences that ties his sound to the listener. His music has also started to drift overseas where the Berlin, Germany based new folk music curator and playlister Songpickr referred to Lovette as an “undiscovered jewel” and selected Swift Drifter as one of the top albums of 2018. Public radio powerhouse WNCW also ranked Swift Drifter in their top 100 albums of 2018 as voted by their listeners. Lovette has performed at nationally renowned festivals like Merlefest and Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion in the past and recently began working on a new album at the Rubber Room Recording Studio in Chapel Hill, NC with Joseph Terrell of the band Mipso at the helm as producer.
Americana duo The Honey Dewdrops – Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish – have long felt the push-and-pull between their original roots in the Appalachian mountains and their current home in urban Baltimore. You’ll hear it in their harmony soaked songs and the mastery of their instruments’ acoustic tones, but also in their songwriting, which reflects the hard realities of today. With their fifth independent release, Anyone Can See, released earlier this year, they have primed the creative energy so prevalent on their previous releases. Each song sparkles with focused intensity and, with their new album, the duo shows that they’re growing rapidly as artists, enthusiastically exchanging an impossible quest for perfection for the compelling ebbs and flows that accompany an intimate, authentic kind of expression. Making the album in Baltimore, it was inevitable that the city would be reflected in the songs, and three of the album’s best tracks focus on different experiences in Baltimore today. “Rainy Windows” paints the scene for the many overcast and wet days the two have had there, and “Welcome to the Club,” is a somewhat ironic take on their changing neighborhood of Hampden. One of the most powerful songs on the album, “Going Rate,” is a sobering reflection on the protests and the curfew that surrounded the death of Freddie Gray in 2015 while in police custody. Not ones to shy away from difficult topics for songwriting, “For One More” speaks to a more humanist view on immigration based on welcoming rather than excluding. “We’re all better together,” says Parrish. Rounding out the album, the duo return to their American folk and country roots with the melodic instrumental “Ecola” and a clever cover of Hank Williams’ “Ramblin’ Man.”
This year will be the 29th Annual WRAL First Night Raleigh – with 20+ blocks of programming throughout downtown, WRAL First Night Raleigh is the way to ring in the New Year! Learn a new hobby for the New Year at our daytime Children’s Celebration from 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm at the NC Museums of History and Sciences. Bounce around music, theatre, and other performances after the Early Countdown at 7:00 pm. Ride the WRAL First Night Ferris Wheel and the Down Draft amusement ride! Just make sure you’re on Fayetteville Street at midnight for the WRAL Countdown to Midnight and the famous Raleigh Acorn Drop with special guest musicians! Other performers at the festival include:
- African American Dance Ensemble
- Barefoot Movement
- Bebop Blues & All That Jazz and Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble
- Boom Unit Brass Band
- Violet Bell
- Willie Farmer
Check out the complete festival schedule
Admission passes provide access to ALL First Night Raleigh venues, performances and activities – nearly 100 performances in more than three dozen locations across downtown Raleigh.
For more information about First Night Raleigh, including performance schedules; directions, parking, and shuttle information; and a list of places where you can buy your passes in person, visit First Night Raleigh’s website or call 919-832-8699.
Learn more about accessibility at PineCone events
Thank you Tharrington Smith, sponsors of the Traditional Stage at WRAL First Night Raleigh, and media sponsor WHUP Radio 104.7.
