WHAT: Town Mountain’s fifth annual benefit concert for MANNA FoodBank, featuring The Honeycutters
WHERE: The Grey Eagle
WHEN: Friday, Dec. 16, at 8 p.m.
WHY: “A lot of people that I see out on the road are like ‘Oh, I’ve heard about Asheville. I’d love to get there,’” says Town Mountain banjoist and vocalist Jesse Langlais. “So, why not try to take a little piece of Asheville to some other folks?”
Town Mountain’s new event series — the Asheville Hang — aims to do just that, promoting “some of the killer musicians here” and the city itself through a traveling, all-local lineup.
Depending on the level of success, Langlais plans to build the concept in several ways: adding more bands, venturing beyond the Southeast and booking multiple tours per year, for instance. For the Hang’s maiden voyage, though, Town Mountain and country opener The Honeycutters will keep to the Carolinas with a holiday theme.
“We’ll certainly be doing collaborations amongst the two bands,” Langlais says, noting that members from the acts comprise the on-and-off band Asheville Country Music Review. He and Honeycutters frontwoman Amanda Platt have also discussed coming together for some Christmas tunes at the hometown show.
Town Mountain and The Honeycutters both have 2016 full-length albums (Southern Crescent and On the Ropes, respectively) to draw from. “And there’s definitely some new music that we’ve been working on this summer, so look for that in our set,” Langlais adds.
In total, funds from Town Mountain’s four previous benefit concerts for MANNA FoodBank have covered the cost of an estimated 12,500 meals, according to the band. Proceeds from this year’s fifth iteration at The Grey Eagle will also go to the nonprofit.
Visit thegreyeagle.com for tickets ($12/$15) or more information.
