Perhaps that fact is deeply rooted in North Carolina’s Appalachia traditions, or maybe its just because ol’ time music is flat out fun to play and listen to.

In either case, Carrboro’s The Whiskey Smugglers embody just that: Americana.

Everything from three guitars, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, cow bell, accordion and even clogging is brought to the table at the band’s live shows. And with The Whiskey Smugglers’ debut album, Clear Strong Dreams, the band delivers a polished representation of their raucous performances.

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After critical success from their self-titled debut and being named to the News & Observer’s Great 8 in 2008, the quintet signed on with Portland, Oregon label Greyday Records in 2009 to release a double EP and, in September, their long-awaited sophomore LP.

Horror Vacui was unleashed Sept. 28 and shows a band that has grown into itself and embraced the ethos of power pop.

“Horror Vacui pushes I Was Totally Destroying It beyond the bounds of a return to innocence and youth, into the territory of a mature band capable of crafting a great record,” Grayson Currin with Independent Weekly wrote. “Compositionally smarter and structurally more diverse than you might’ve imagined, I Was Totally Destroying It bests their past on Horror Vacui by wrapping willful growth into irrepressible pop songs.”

Following the release of the album, IWTDI hit the road for a guerrilla trip through America’s heartland that landed the band with a side swiped van and a hefty repair bill. Regardless, the band carried on with its tour without missing a beat — exhibiting an ethic that has undoubtedly carried the band where it is today.

You can check out photos from this performance and others at the Music.MyNC Facebook Fan page. And while you’re there, become a fan and get the latest updates on upcoming Studio B performances.

Florida singer-songwriter Jayne Kelli built a local following in Tampa Bay by performing her original tunes throughout the area, making appearances on local radio programs and working with fellow musicians.

But for the release of her latest EP, Promises and Dead Ends, Kelli began her push for international recognition by taking her music to Northern Italy.

When she returns to Florida, she plans to return to Hideaway Recording Studio to continue work on her full-length release, Jack for a King.

You can check out photos from this performance and others at the Music.MyNC Facebook Fan page. And while you’re there, become a fan and get the latest updates on upcoming Studio B performances.

The album was recorded over the summer of 2007 with Jay Murphy (Des Ark, Black Taj, Hammer No More the Fingers) and mastered by Carl Saff (The Kingsbury Manx, Americans in France, Fin Fang Foom).

As Trekky explains, Community / Exploitation “covers a lot of ground, from the anthemic nostalgia of ‘Details’ to the brutal throbbing of ‘I Thought I Was Bleeding…’ to the experimental pop palettes of ‘Corner’ to the thrashing energy of ‘Go There,’ all the while retaining a common voice.”

With an LP, EP and split EP already under their belt, Embarrassing Fruits are gearing up to re-enter the studio to record the follow-up to what Independent Weekly describes as the band’s “magnetic debut.”

Coming up, the band has a show at this year’s Troika Music Festival on Nov. 6 at The Marvell Event Center. Embarrassing Fruits will be joined by The Proclivities, Wembley and Ryan Gustafson.

You can check out photos from this performance and others at the Music.MyNC Facebook Fan page. And while you’re there, become a fan and get the latest updates on upcoming Studio B performances.

Conceived in early 2000 by frontman Seth Church and songwriter Jason Jones, it took six years and a revolving lineup of musicians for Burlington-based Instant Jones to get off the ground.

But since then, Church has recruited what he describes as an “all-star lineup of musicians,” including drummer Dean Parker, guitarist Nathan Arizona and bassist Jeremy Wyrick. Church rounds out the lineup on vox and a level of songwriting that Chris Parker of Independent Weekly explains is  “born to be sung by thousand-large crowds drinking appropriately down-market beer.”

The band was ready to release its debut full-length, Laugh Track, in the spring of ‘09; however a storm caused a tree to fall on their recording space and the album’s completion was pushed back. Church says, however, that Instant Jones is back at work and the album should be out in early 2010.

You can check out photos from this performance and others at the Music.MyNC Facebook Fan page. And while you’re there, become a fan and get the latest updates on upcoming Studio B performances.

Looking for a new outlet to focus Katharine Whalen’s creativity, former Squirrel Nut Zippers members Whalen and Will Dawson turned to Katharine Whalen’s Lucky to take on americana rock.

Joining Whalen and Dawson are Ken Johnson on guitar, Darrell Young on bass, Nathan Golub on pedal steel and Steve Newton on drums.

Although best known for her work as the frontwoman for SNZ, Whalen’s work extends to a solo album — 2006’s Dirty Little Secret — and a jazz project known as Katharine Whalen’s Jazz Squad.

You can check out photos from this performance and others at the Music.MyNC Facebook Fan page. And while you’re there, become a fan and get the latest updates on upcoming Studio B performances.

Arthurs shot the video while Inflowential was recording the track at Flying Tiger Sound with BJ Burton for the Hear Here: The Triangle local music compilation.

The live studio footage is interlaced with news clips covering various crimes against everyday citizens by law enforcement. Included is the January 2009 murders of Oscar Grant by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer and Adolph Grimes by New Orleans police officers, and the 2006 murder of Sean Bell by New York Police Department officers.

“Sheriff” appears on the Hear Here compilation along with exclusive tracks from Lonnie Walker, The Love Language, The Rosebuds, Birds of Avalon and many more. Sales from the album benefit Raleigh’s Visual Art Exchange.

“If you were there that night, then you remember being drunk — epic drunk — and laughing and crying and the dust and the boys kicking in the walls, tearing the Sheetrock down, destroying the club we all loved from its insides,” Kelly Crisp of The Rosebuds described. “And for some reason, that was necessary.”

The film premiered at this year’s SPARKcon during filmSPARK at Artspace and features a soundtrack of “Life Like” by The Rosebuds.

The final nights at Kings included the long-traditioned wrestling on April 4;  The Longshoremen, Maple Stave, The Men and Alias Smith & Jones on April 5; The Hard Lessons, The Magic Babies, TV knife, The Vicious, Double Negative and Cloak/Dagger on April 6; Birds of Avalon, Black Taj, The Greatest Hits, The Loners and Dynamite Brothers on April 7 and finally a kids show featuring Mommie on April 8.

Boat Burning is exclusively a live band, and each performance is completely unique. As guitarist Andy Fekete explains, what the audience hears as new is just as new to the band.

The band describes itself as “an experiment in live music composition using amplified guitars, cello, drums and chance. Each performance is unique, as there are no predefined pieces: all compositions are created live.”

Fekete and fellow Amps Do Furnish A Room visionary Pete Gamble formed Boat Burning “after a year-long study of Television’s art-punk masterpiece Marquee Moon.” As such, Boat Burning developed as a non-traditional musical introspection, while Thee Dirtybeats takes on the task of performing obscure, gnarly garage tunes from the ’60s.

You can check out photos from this performance and others at the Music.MyNC Facebook Fan page. And while you’re there, become a fan and get the latest updates on upcoming Studio B performances.

With more than 30 years under his belt performing in local bands from The Fabulous Knobs to The Woods and supergroup-of-sorts The Yayhoos, Terry Anderson is showing no signs of slowing down any time sign.

Testament to that fact is the recent release of National Champions with Terry Anderson & The Olympic Ass-Kickin Team. The album is marked by unabashed rock ‘n’ roll and Anderson’s signature songwriting for which he is a master of his craft.

Terry Anderson & The Olympic Ass-Kickin Team needs no qualifiers, nor does it need an introduction. The band defines its reputation and lives up to the expectations that are set by its moniker.

National Champions was released April 21 through Doublenaught Records, which serves as home to fellow Triangle bands The Bleeding Hearts, The Cartridge Family and The T’s.

You can check out photos from this performance and others at the Music.MyNC Facebook Fan page. And while you’re there, become a fan and get the latest updates on upcoming Studio B performances.