Breaking Ground

“Asheville Fringe Festival is an invaluable resource for performers and writers,” says playwright and actor Julian Vorus, whose full-length show The Bog will premiere at The Bebe Theater during Fringe…

“Bela [Fleck] was very supportive when I told him what we were planning and essentially gave it his blessing,” says Blu-Bop band leader and banjoist Hank Smith. “He said those…

It didn’t work out that way, but the songs on Southeastern would have made for a fine acoustic album. Jason Isbell’s fourth effort since departing the Drive-By Truckers is all…

Austin-based songwriters Carrie Elkin and Danny Schmidt’s poetic-yet-relatable lyrics and raw-but-sweet vocals are a match made in country-folk heaven. The Austin Chronicle calls Elkin “an earthy combination of strength and…

When Sarah Addison Allen sat down to write Lost Lake, her first novel in three years, she began with an image: Spanish moss. “I knew I wanted to go someplace…

Far be it from The Grey Eagle to let an important birthday go unnoticed. For the fifth year running, jazz fans will put on their party hats, lace up their…

The term outsider art is most commonly used to describe visionary, untrained and self-taught artists. More specifically, those artists deeply rooted in a regional vernacular and operating “outside” of the…

RBTS WIN (pictured) is a chillwave, electronic and pop-influenced feast of synthesizers, beat machines, guitars and smooth-as-silk vocals. The two friends and musicians, Javi Bolea and Cliff Worsham, released full-length…

What Kristian Bush remembers from playing The Grey Eagle 10 years ago was that the green room was so cold, his mandolin kept going out of tune. He’d started playing…

In a series of stories, Xpress is exploring the cold-weather food traditions of some of Asheville's ethnic communities. This installment takes a look at the culinary customs of Asheville residents…

Elaine and Harry Hamil will soon move away from the Black Mountain community that they have devoted their lives to nourishing. In their wake, they leave a ripe legacy of…

Blogger, minister and globe-trotting coffee aficionado Elizabeth Reynolds McGuire spends her downtime checking out local coffee shops and promoting the idea of fika, a Swedish custom of relaxing and savoring…

Asheville Lyric Opera’s annual Taste of Opera Winter Gala happens Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Crowne Plaza Resort’s Exposition Center, beginning at 6 p.m. “The audience will be presented with…

It was one of her first assignments, and Rebecca Poulter was nervous. “When you’re first starting out, it’s like, ‘How can I do this and make this clear?’” she remembers.…

After nearly a year of debate, Buncombe County commissioners voted unanimously Jan. 14 to spend $40.5 million to build a new Asheville Middle School. City school officials have long pushed…

A citizens' activist group, People's Voice for Transportation Equality, presented an agenda for an overhaul of the Asheville Transit System to make it more responsive to its riders at a…

Rep. Tim Moffitt announces new road study in Asheville

My name is Tyshaun Johnson. I am a senior at Asheville High School, an employee at Ingles market and a part of the youth staff of the amazing nonprofit organization…