One of the great singer-songwriters of the past four decades, Steve Earle bridges the genres of rock and country music. A guitarist, actor, playwright, novelist, memoirist, and political activist, Earle, has released over 20 albums. At a young age, his grit and gristle got him up on stage with idols Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. Playing alongside these country music “outlaws” gave Earle the hard-edged stamina to press on through years of hard times to win 3 Grammy awards and earn 16 nominations. Earle brings a rare and unforgettable 2 night solo acoustic show to the stage.
Florence Dore:
Nashville-born, Chapel Hill-based Florence Dore has just finished recording her second record, Highways and Rocketships with Mitch Easter and Don Dixon. Even not counting the pandemic, the road from her first record Perfect City to Highways and Rocketships has been anything but straight. She spent a lot of time between then and now riding around on Steve Earle’s tour bus, catching up with her Dukes-drumming husband Will Rigby, wrote a book, put on a conference at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, took a seat on the board at the Bob Dylan Institute--and had a kid. Florence has a long musical career: the Posies covered her song “Christmas” for a 1994 Geffen release, and just last year over the pandemic, she co-created Cover Charge, a charting compilation of NC artists to benefit the legendary Chapel Hill venue Cat’s Cradle. She looks forward to the release of Highways and Rocketships in Spring 2022.