Ep 171 Stephen Evans returns pt 1

WNC Original Music

Stephen Evans returns and apparently no hard feelings. Whew! Find Stephen Evans and the True Grits here www.stephenevansmusic.com www.facebook.com/stephenevansmusic https://www.instagram.com/stephenevansmusic/ https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/stephenevansandthetruegrits/buzz-of-bees Spotify Thanks to David C Warren for the closing song https://gringononsense.com/ https://www.facebook.com/gringononsense https://open.spotify.com/artist/5zqYalZIt9O3qzqseVLvsd https://music.amazon.com/artists/B0BJGDPHT7/david-c-warren?refMarker=null https://music.apple.com/us/artist/david-c-warren/1650157490 Subscribe to the podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wnc-original-music/id1378776313 https://www.iheart.com/podcast/wnc-original-music-31067964/ This link has all the other places to subscribe https://gopod.me/wncom Follow on Social Media https://www.facebook.com/wncoriginalmusic https://www.wncoriginalmusic.com https://www.instagram.com/wnc_original_music/ All music used by permission After many years of vacillating between being a professional musician and building a nest in Asheville, NC, Stephen Evans finally asked his friends, Brian Shoemaker (bass), Sam Hess (drums), and Woodstock (mandolin), to form the True Grits and make some music together in 2014. The very next year, Stephen Evans & the True Grits released their first LP "Something to Bleed". Inspired to release more music, they followed two years later with their EP "Under the Bridge." Both records have received local and regional praise for their passion and creativity. Stephen's strong melodic songwriting style is a blend of vivid imagery, darkness, and hopeful optimism. There's no denying the feeling that shines through with his evocative vocals and lyrics. Songs like ‘Ghost Among the Trees’, 'The Garden', 'Cherokee Hills', 'Shining Star', and '1000 Roses' are beacons of his folk rock song craft. With radio play on Western North Carolina radio stations, as well as shows around the region, Stephen Evans & the True Grits are becoming a local favorite. "Buzz of Bees" is their latest album, released in December of 2022, of folk rock with some songs dipping their toes into other styles like Americana, Latin Folk, and Vaudeville. Singles from the LP, ‘Ghost Among the Trees’, ‘Winning the Day’, and ‘Estefania’, are already receiving radio play on local stations as well as national online radio and music podcasts. Look for Stephen Evans & the True Grits playing fun live shows all around the area to support this beautiful album. Born on the cusp of a decade, David C Warren grew up in a house filled with music. There were always records playing and a stash of 45s to plunder. By age thirteen, he bought an electric guitar and amp after a year or so of hopelessly trying to rock out on his dad’s nylon string classical guitar. He started writing his own songs, tentatively at first and then with greater confidence when he started college at FSU and had added new sounds to his sonic palette - REM, The Smiths, Violent Femmes - the music of the time that pricked his ears and powered his first band, Mean Season. A stab at making it as a professional musician in Atlanta didn’t pan out, but coming through that experience, Warren gained a wife (after he moved back to Florida to woo her) and a career. Music took a back seat for a while and those songs he’d crafted so carefully began their long, low simmer. Warren slowly made his way back to music, and the songs on this album. In the time since he picked up a guitar and strummed his first chords, he has spent the years burnishing his musicianship, honing his craft as a songwriter, and learning how to capture musical lightning in a digital bottle. He’s calling the end result “Song of the Sinner,” after a song on the record that introduces listeners to Warren’s own inner struggle that plateaus at hope, rather than victory.