From Watchhouse to Kooley High, and everything in between.

by Sarah Edwards, Lena Geller

Ibibio Sound Machine | Photo courtesy of Motorco Music Hall

Wednesday, Sep. 21 & Thursday, Sep. 22 | The Fruit / Durham Bottling Co., Durham

This lively two-day, free-to-the-public event, with support from the North Carolina Arts Council, celebrates the son jarocho community-based folk music tradition from Veracruz, Mexico. Wednesday night will feature a performance of Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music by Larry & Joe (Larry Bellorín and Joe Troop, whose collaboration was a recent INDY Week cover story) and music by Wendy and Tacho Utrera (part of the Los Utrera family band); Thursday, community members can learn the basics of son jarocho in a workshop.

Saturday, Sep. 24 | Coastal Credit Union Music Park, Raleigh

Farm Aid festivals, which are held annually to support American farmers, have a legendary past: the first event was organized in 1985 by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young and featured Bob Dylan, B.B. King, and Billy Joel as performers. Decades later, the festival is landing back in Raleigh (the last time it was held in the Triangle was in 2014), and Nelson and Mellencamp will perform alongside Margo Price, Sheryl Crow, Brittney Spencer, and numerous other musicians who straddle country, rock, and blues genres.

Watchhouse with Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves

Saturday, Oct. 1 | North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh

Watching Watchhouse (formerly known as Mandolin Orange) outdoors at NCMA has taken on the feel of an annual rite of passage as summer turns to fall. North Carolina’s favorite folk duo is joined this year by traditional banjo and fiddle musicians Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves (who was profiled in a recent INDY Week issue). With a recent sort-of-kind-of-fall chill now in the air, it only feels right to pack a blanket and bottle of wine and plan an evening on the museum lawn.

Kooley High Anniversary Show | Saturday, Oct. 1 | The Pour House Music Hall, Raleigh

North Carolina–based collective Kooley High has built a repertoire around sonic throwbacks to the golden ages of soul and hip-hop, and now, after more than a decade in the industry, the outfit is so established that it’s throwing it back to itself. The two-day anniversary show will commemorate the group’s 2011 album, David Thompson, with songs like “Dear Raleigh” that are sure to pull on the heartstrings of local listeners. Nance, Jalisa, and Luckyuno will complete the lineup.

Father John Misty | Saturday, Oct. 8 | Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham

Josh Tillman, who performs as Father John Misty, is known for giving charismatic performances charged with unexpected moments (at one performance I attended, he swaggered onstage with a bottle of alcohol and proceeded to read from an engaging, if unfinished, manuscript for 20 minutes; legend also has it that he once wandered off the street and into the INDY Week offices while in Durham for a concert). Luckily, that seems to be what audiences like most about him; for this tour, he returns with new album Chloë and the Next 20th Century, his first new material in four years. Anything could happen!

Ibibio Sound Machine | Wednesday, Oct. 26 | Motorco Music Hall, Durham

With songs that blend funk, disco, electronica, Afropunk, and about a dozen other styles of music, Ibibio Sound Machine has rejected genre limitations in favor of a sound defined primarily by movement. The band, fronted by London-born Nigerian singer Eno Williams, traverses decades of music with its boundless beats and existential refrains, serving up a sonic cocktail that will have folks of all ages breaking it down on the dance floor. Ibibio Sound Machine’s fall tour will feature songs from its latest album, Electricity, released this year on Durham-based label Merge Records. Pop duo Terror Jr opens at Motorco.

Plains | Monday, Nov. 7 | Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw

Plains—the brunette alt-country duo composed of musicians Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) and Jess Williamson—has only released two songs ahead of its multicity fall tour, but the strength of those two songs, and the tacit strength of both musicians’ soulful country rock prowess, has been enough to pave the way for a packed tour. Plains’ stop in the Triangle also has a bit of a hometown feel: Waxahatchee is signed to Durham label Merge, and Durham’s Brad Cook produced the duo’s debut album, I Walked With You a Ways, which drops October 14. 

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by Sarah Edwards, Lena Geller

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