Hendersonville – Rhythm & Brews concludes its free summer series in Hendersonville on Thursday, Oct. 21 by featuring its most popular act — soulful, energetic rock band The Broadcast.
Friends of Downtown Hendersonville launched Rhythm & Brews in 2013 with The Broadcast as the initial headliner. The Asheville-based funky rock band recorded the first of its three CDS in that year.
The group regularly plays Rhythm & Brews and draws large crowds. The band often opens the family-friendly series. This time it concludes the four-month series and thus “bats cleanup” — to put it in baseball terms.
The concert site is South Main between Allen and Caswell streets. That area will be closed to traffic. Horizon Heating & Air is the music series’s main sponsor.
Human Ladder — led by singer-songwriter Ryan Price — opens at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 21. The Broadcast plays at 7:30-9:30 p.m. This is the band’s last scheduled gig in the Asheville area in 2021. Singer Caitlin Krisko said she will be “making a big announcement during the show.”
The band released their newest CD, titled Lost My Sight, last year. Its co-producers and sessionists are drummer Tim Lefebvre and bassist Tyler “Falcon” Greenwell of the Tedeshi Trucks Band.
Seven-time Grammy winner Jim Scott produced The Broadcast’s initial CD, Dodge the Arrow. It reached fourth on college radio charts and earned the band ‘Best New Artist’ and ‘Album of the Year’ runner-up from the Homegrown Music Network. Their CD From the Horizon was next.
The band plays mostly original songs live with some classic rock gems. Their own music mixes classic rock, soul, funk and R&B with hard-driving rhythms and explosive vocals. The group gained worldwide exposure on NPR’s “World Cafe” five years ago and played at LEAF.
The Broadcast returned to the outdoor stage in mid-June at Asheville’s Salvage Station, their first live gig in a year and a half due to the pandemic. Krisko said it felt wonderful to again feed off of a live crowd’s energy. Since then the band toured extensively.
Intense, Theatrical
Aaron Austin is frenzied on lead guitar. The prolific lineup includes keyboardist Michael W. Davis, percussionist Tyler Housholder and bassist William Seymour.
Caitlin Krisko belts out very powerful and soulful vocals.
“My soul is from Detroit,” the suburban Royal Oak, Mich. native told The Tribune. She said rock singing is quite “cathartic and therapeutic.”
In concert, “Artists are always striving to take it to that ‘holy moment,’ with energy for everyone to capture,” Krisko said. “We’re connecting to the music, and each other.”
The band is an audial and visual treat with Krisko’s expressive theatrics on stage and Austin’s flair.
Krisko noted “I grew up in musical theater,” and moved to New York City. Lanky Outer Banks native Austin praises Krisko’s intensity, to “get in deep” in a song.
Krisko’s energetic motion translates well on video. The Broadcast’s videos include their captivating songs “Steamroller,” “Every Step” and “Battle Cry!” The band won Music Video Asheville Awards.
As a lyricist, Krisko likes to “convey [her] life.” Krisko once told a concert crowd how “Eyes of a Woman” is “the story of my life.” The character goes “against the grain.” She flies away to “see the world, through the eyes of a woman…She’s so tired of the ‘push and pull’ of this life as a woman.”…You gotta step back, to see what you’ve done wrong.”
She is mystical and a tarot card reader on the side. She worried about “running out of time” when in her twenties. Now 36, she realized “time is on your side” and to trust in the future.
She learned to unwind with yoga and gardening.
“Off-stage, I’m much more laid back…I’m finding balance.” She added, “Accolades are really fun and exciting. But those don’t mean anything if you’re not happy on a daily basis – or at least in a good place with yourself.”
Krisko periodically philosophizes on Facebook. “One of the most underrated ingredients for having a good life is a clear conscience,” she recently wrote. “To know you aren’t out there doing people dirty, hiding who you are, or screwing people over…Karma is real. Energy is contagious. Live accordingly.”