Asheville live music best bets: Mipso, Thanksgiving shows, Kat Williams, more

There were definitely two opposing sides to what the band Mipso was forced to do during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On one hand there was an album that needed to be released and promoted.  

“The way it feels in our world is that albums come in cycles and we were at the phase of our cycle where we needed to promote and release an album that we'd already recorded. I think the pandemic made that promotional piece really difficult,” said guitarist Joseph Terrell, who added that doing strictly online promotion was “kind of demoralizing.” 

On the other hand, though, was the time off the road that the group was given. 

“But for the other phase of the cycle, like for the artistic mindset, I think it was a really super healthy year and a half,” he added. “We took time off the road and got a better relationship with the places we live and experiencing the seasons and deepening our relationships to people we love and writing music. So, I'm really grateful for that time, although I feel a little guilty saying something like that about a global pandemic.” 

Now the North Carolina-based band is heading back out on the road and will headline an 8 p.m. show Dec. 1 at The Orange Peel with Lowland Hum (a folk group from Charlottesville) as the opener. The Asheville show begins a run of 16 December dates for the group.  

Mipso, which is made up of Terrell, fiddle player Libby Rodenbough, mandolinist Jacob Sharp and bassist Wood Robinson, debuted as a four-piece band with 2013’s “Dark Holler Pop” and have continued to explore vocal harmonies and rich songwriting since. 

The group released a self-titled album in 2020, which was recorded at Asheville’s Echo Mountain Studio, and recently released a deluxe version of that album that included three bonus tracks. Those tracks, “Big Star (Alt),” “Name is How You Call Me” and “Every Drop,” were released as singles prior to the deluxe album being released. 

“We realized that we had a lot of material that we hadn't used because this was the first recording process where we took a step back, took our time, and wrote a bunch together. We weren't rushing through it,” Terrell said. “We recorded something like 14 songs and ended up loving some of the demos that we had leftover, too. We thought, especially since we didn't get a chance to release the record in a real touring way last year, when it technically came out, this was like both the one-year birthday and the chance to show a fuller picture of what the record was and actually to give out to people on next to play shows.” 

Annual Thanksgiving shows

Two North Carolina-based acts will return to The Grey Eagle for their yearly Thanksgiving shows. 

David Wilcox, a longtime Asheville resident, will host his annual homecoming show at 8 p.m. Nov. 26 at the venue. Wilcox is a veteran singer-songwriter with an award-winning pedigree and this yearly show is a chance for him to perform solo and with friends who are in town for the holiday. 

Another annual event, Acoustic Syndicate’s Thanksgiving Homecoming show, begins at 9 p.m. Nov. 27. This four-piece is led by cousins Steve and Bryon McMurry and has been delighting fans with a blend of bluegrass and rock since 1994.  

Local Emmy nominee plays Isis 

Kat Williams, who is billed as “Asheville’s Queen of Soul,” will perform with her friends at 8:30 p.m. on Friday, November 26.  

Williams, who was nominated for an Emmy award and was a singer on the third season of “America’s Got Talent,” has the voice and stage command that has endured her to her fans. Williams has the vocal ability to bring to mind the greats of soul and jazz like Ella Fitzgerald, Mavis Staples, and Etta James. She’s also an actress, songwriter and electric performer.  

Local Last Waltz event 

The Martin Scorsese-directed concert film, “The Last Waltz,” may be an essential part of some people’s Thanksgiving weekend. 

The concert was billed as the farewell show by The Band and was, after all, filmed on Thanksgiving night in 1976. Charlotte-based singer Josh Daniel has presented a tribute to this event, dubbed The Carolina Waltz, for almost a decade in Charlotte. He will bring the event to Asheville for the first time with an 8 p.m. show Nov. 28 at Salvage Station. Daniel and a stable of musicians will be on hand to perform the show and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Feeding The Carolina’s.