The Krush Presents Rising Appalachia at Mystic Theatre

KRSH 95.9FM presents
Rising Appalachia
with Raye Zaragoza

Doors 7:30pm / Show 8:30pm
$28 General Admission / $33 Day of Show / $70 VIP Meet & Greet

Rising Appalachia:
Sisters Leah Song and Chloe Smith tear into sound with sensual prowess as stages ignite revolutions and words light up soul fires. Listen to their beautiful sound for banjo and fiddle duets and poetic harmonies like only sisters can do… Joined full-time by their beloved band, Biko Casini on percussion, and David Brown on stand up bass and baritone guitar, expect everything from folk standards to jazz, to New Orleans soul, to old mountain traditionals, to activist anthems, as their style redefines folk music as a truly living art. Using sound as a tool to spark a cultural revolution and birth a new movement, come join them as they create soul sounds for us all….

Having toured over 25,000 miles across the US, and graced many stages around the world, Rising Appalachia’s vision and sound is quickly proving to be contagious to everyone it touches. Their shows have included and array of community-run venues and collective events, as well as the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, NPR’s All Songs Considered, E-town, The School of America Vigil, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Emory University Shwartz Center, The Beacon Theater NYC, The Lake Eden Arts Festival, Radio Popular Verona, Italy, Guerilla Radio Amsterdam, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Highlander Center 75th Reunion, Burning Man, Urkult (Sweden), and Festa Del Fuoco (Stromboli Italy) and many more.

Their prolific self-sculpted career has included 6 independently released full length albums, including their brand new album Wider Circles, and has sculpted a path for a new generation of music aficionados. Having been raised in the American South with Appalachian lullabies at night and soul music for breakfast Sisters Leah and Chloe have drawn great inspiration from their global community. Their mother and father claimed art and music as a full part of their lives and the girls have been shaped by the sounds of the South. They have continued to use those powerful roots to find musical connections and community around the world..

“Music is the tool with which we wield political prowess. Melody for the Roots of each of us…spreading song and sound around the globe. Music has become our script for vision… not just for aural pleasure, not just for hobby-but now as a means to connect and create in ways that we aren’t taught by mainstream culture…we are building community and tackling social injustice through melody- making the stage reach out with octopus arms to gather a great family. It is taking its own personality, carrying us all along the journey down the damp and strange alley ways and cryptic coded pathways… to poetic observations, social change, lyrical messages, political rage, symphonic coercing, ferocious bantering, bicycles and train tracks, primal will, fresh air intoxicants, harmony and alliteration, noise and something sweeter than words can ever touch. ” Leah Song.

Rising Appalachia has been voted “Green Album of the Year” by the Huffington Post and Atlanta’s Best Folk Act by the Creative Loafing, and have been written up in Paste Magazine, The New York Times, The Performer Magazine, Dirty Linen, Sing Out, Anti-Gravity, Maverick and more. Their tours have taken them across Europe, through the Caribbean, into Central America, into the Indian subcontinent, and across the United States making sacred sounds and elaborate stages wherever they go. They are creatively committed to keeping their work accessible at the local, street level, as well as expanding to larger audiences abroad, and have continued to maintain autonomy by self- managing, recording, producing and creating, and directing their work. They are greatly honored to do the work that they do.
bless.

Raye Zaragoza:
Raye Zaragoza is an award-winning singer-songwriter who carries an acoustic guitar and a message. Her quiet yet powerful song “In the River,” written in response to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota, resonated strongly with listeners and went viral in late 2016, garnering half a million views on the video, national media coverage, and a Global Music Award and Honesty Oscar.

Raye’s debut album, Fight For You (independent, 2017), displays her compassion, dedication to justice and equality for all, and keen eye for the seemingly small daily moments that become our most meaningful memories. About the record, Raye says, “This album is about finding yourself and finding your voice. It’s about maturing and realizing that you can make a difference if you so choose.”

Writing about social issues comes naturally to Raye. “As a woman of color in America, social issues are things you deal with and see every day of your life,” she says. “I write about my experience and oftentimes my existence has been laced with injustice.”

Raye performs her music all over the United States as well as across Europe, where she spent five weeks touring in summer 2017. Her music has been featured on Billboard and Democracy Now! and on numerous lists of the best modern-day protest songs, including those by Paste Magazine, What Culture, and Overblown. She has also performed live sessions for Paste, Daytrotter, and FNX.

At SXSW 2018, Raye spoke about her loyal fanbase and maintaining an independent career on a panel entitled “Serving the Sacred Bond” hosted by PledgeMusic. This summer, she joined Dispatch and Nahko and Medicine for the People on their Summer Tour, which included dates at Red Rocks and two nights at Central Park Summerstage.