Carolina Rock and Powerpop News – Jamie & Steve and A Fragile Tomorrow

News & Reviews: Jamie & Steve @ Evening Muse, Brendan Kelly and A Fragile Tomorrow

If the past five years have taught me anything, its that (outside of an exception or two) almost nothing of any musical worth happens in Greensboro, North Carolina. Not for pop fans, anyway.

Since it was the first weekend of Spring ’13, I did what any red-blooded powerpop fan would do. I high-tailed it back down to Charlotte. Jamie & Steve (Hoover & Stoeckel of The Spongetones) were playing again and, while I’d seen and heard them perform just a few weeks before, it promised to be the best pop show in the Carolinas. I’d never been to the venue, The Evening Muse, so that would be a new experience.

I’m pleased to say that I’ve found another great place to take in some live music, albeit a bit of a trek from Greensboro.

People trickled in a little at a time until the venue appeared to be near capacity by the time the guys started their set. It’s a smaller place than the Chop Shop where I’d seen Jamie & Steve just a few weeks ago. This was a more intimate space, a better room for listening to accomplished songwriters do their thing. While I don’t know if this show reached the level of the “imaginary cafe” that Jamie & Steve refer to in their last EP, I have no doubt that there was no better pop moment in the Carolinas this weekend.

If you’re a pop fan living in the region, check out Jamie and Steve’s website for future shows and, by all means, stop by The Evening Muse for a show. In April The Evening Muse will have Peter Case (of The Plimsouls!). You don’t want to miss that one.

Next Jamie & Steve show in the Carolinas: April 20 -@ Smokey Joe’s Cafe with Hannah Thomas, 510 Briar Creek RD @ Monroe RD, Charlotte, NC

Another excellent artist from this region will be touring and, although most of the dates they’ve booked at present are outside of the area, they’ll be coming back home this spring for additional live shows. A Fragile Tomorrow put out a very good new CD entitled Be Nice Be Careful, a review of which you can find here. A Fragile Tomorrow’s Brendan Kelly recently shared the following information with me regarding future dates in support of the new release:

“We’ve done a few SC shows since the album’s release (we’re doing some acoustic SC shows soon too!), but we’re planning to do some more southern touring in late spring/early summer.”

Be Nice Be Careful includes what is perhaps the best song of 2013, “Kernersville”, and Brendan was kind enough to share with me the reason for the track’s title:

“Since you were wondering, we named the song Kernersville because it was one of the last songs written for the record and it was title-less for a while. While we were in the Fidelitorium making the record, Sean said he wanted to name the song after Kernersville since “Heartbreak” or something would be way too cheesy of a name.”

Many thanks to Brendan Kelly for sharing that.

Stop back here at Power Pop News as we hope to have these dates posted as we learn of them. In the meantime, check out their YouTube video for the single “Kernersville”.