Popular local band The Shoaldiggers stopped by Live & Local this week, ahead of the release of their new album “Choose Who To Believe.”
Classify their music however you like – swampgrass? roots rock? “acousti-lectric bomb squad,” as they sometimes describe themselves? – the Shoaldiggers have built a well-earned reputation as one of the best live acts in the Triangle. And with “Choose Who To Believe,” their fourth album, they’re also expanding their recorded sound into wider ranges and new territories.
“One thing we’re really proud of is all the eclectic members we have in the band, and all their expansive influences,” says Daryl White. “It’s that melding of everybody’s influences that make it so wonderful.”
The Shoaldiggers are now up to ten members – most recently Kayley Raskin, a vocalist and classical violinist-turned-fiddler who joined the band last year after a chance meeting at the Carrboro Music Festival.
“We got done playing our set and Kayley came up with her son and was like, ‘We really enjoyed your music,'” White remembers. “And immediately I said, ‘You play music, don’t you?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘You play violin, don’t you?’ And she said, ‘How did you know that?!’ I could just feel it. And it was beautiful magic, and we’ve had a great time ever since.”
Follow the Shoaldiggers on Instagram.
“Choose Who To Believe” officially drops on Friday, August 14, and the Shoaldiggers are celebrating with an album-release show that night at Cat’s Cradle Back Room – “one of our favorite places,” says Shoaldigger Stephen Beck – with Asheville band Hustle Souls opening.
Click here to buy tickets to Friday’s show.
Stephen Beck, Gary Larson, Kayley Raskin, and Daryl White of the Shoaldiggers stopped by Live & Local this week to discuss “Choose Who To Believe” and play three tracks: “Hook, Line, and Sinker,” “Yard Bird,” and “Honey Trap.” Listen:
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