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.

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.

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.

The band’s first album — a free download that is also offered on cassette — is a compilation of tracks that feature dense textures created through found objects and improvisation. However, subsequent demos from Gross Ghost’s up-coming EP are more structured and exhibit sunshine pop qualities with a lo-fi charm.

But that’s befitting of frontman and music aficionado Mike Dillon who has frequented the local music scene in numerous bands, such as Spader and now Gross Ghost and Motor Skills. Dillon’s a unique character to say the least; and with only 26 years to his name, his life experiences provide enough fodder for a dozen albums and a dozen more bands.

The brainchild of Dillon and bassist Tre Acklen, Gross Ghost already has Miggaz under its belt and the band is currently working on two follow-up EPs — one with BJ Burton at Flying Tiger Sound and another in the home studio of The Love Language bassist Josh Pope.

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 band released it debut EP …Trust Us With Your Car with a troubadour-styled bar crawl that started at Orange County Social Club and finished up at The Cave. Following suit, New Town Drunks will celebrate the release of The Ballad of Stayed and Gone with a march from The Beehive Hair Salon in Carrboro to Local 506, where the band will meet up with John Howie & The Sweethearts and Taz Halloween.

The Ballad of Stayed and Gone was a labor of love that began after the birth of Koistinen and Cofresí’s child and finally finished a year later. What culminated was a work that spans many life changes and stages that are reflected in the album’s songwriting.

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.

One of the latest bands to begin to make its mark on the local music scene is the duo of Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz. Armed with an acoustic guitar, fiddle and of course mandolin, Mandolin Orange came to be when a hometown girl met a boy from the Upper East Side — of North Carolina, that is.

Playing an array of bluegrass, folk and Americana, Mandolin Orange is the story of a boy, a girl and the beautiful music they make.

Like most bands trying to make a name for themselves in a market overwhelmed with talent, Mandolin Orange tours relentlessly; which means there are ample opportunities to catch the duo in a live setting. Coming up, you can check them out at Nightlight on Aug. 19, The City Tap in Pittsboro on Aug. 28 and Open Eye Café on Aug. 29.

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.