BEST AMERICANA ALBUM OF 2022

Florence was recently honored to learn that Highways and Rocketships was voted the best Americana album of 2022 over at Lonesome Highway Magazine. Check out their list here (Florence is keeping pretty good company). They also gave a great review of Florence’s show at Dee’s Lounge in Nashville during Americanafest, which came in #2 (behind Sierra Ferrel) for the best gig of 2022. Here is what they said: The surprise package of the week for us. When you have members of Son Volt  (Mark Spencer) and The DB’s (Will Rigby, Gene Holder)  in your band, you can expect a blistering set. That’s precisely what we got, an all-killer and zero-filler performance that had me first in the queue at the merch desk for Florence’s new album HIGHWAYS & ROCKETSHIPS. You can find that review here. Thanks, Lonesome Highway and Declan Culliton!

In other news, Florence is heading to the 30A Festival in Florida next week, band in tow, and to the Kilkenny Roots Festival in April. Catch her while you can; more tour dates coming soon.

Fall 2022 Kicks off 9/8 at PEEL GALLERY

Join Florence for this part-rock, part-talk tour, featuring straight-ahead rock shows but also public conversations about why rock and its roots matter. Catch Florence and her touring band—Will Rigby and Gene Holder of the dB’s & Mark Spencer of Son Volt—in rock venues and other spaces near you. Tour kicks off at PEEL GALLERY in CARRBORO with Max Owre of the CAROLINA PUBLIC HUMANITIES.

Florence’s book, The Ink in the Grooves: Conversations on Rock and Roll, is set to come out in October, but she will have copies with her on the tour. Be sure to check it out: The Ink in the Grooves

Since Dylan went electric, listening to rock 'n' roll has often been a surprisingly literary experience, and contemporary literature is curiously attuned to the history and beat of popular music. In The Ink in the Grooves, Florence Dore brings together a remarkable array of acclaimed novelists, musicians, and music writers to explore the provocatively creative relationship between musical and literary inspiration: the vitality that writers draw from a three-minute blast of guitars and the poetic insights that musicians find in literary works from Shakespeare to Southern Gothic. With writing by and interviews with the likes of Bob Dylan, Dom Flemons, Lucinda Williams, Richard Thompson, and Steve Earle--and on the literary side of things, by Jonathan Lethem, Rick Moody, John Jeremiah Sullivan, and Dana Spiotta--The Ink in the Grooves provides a backstage pass to the creative processes behind some of the most exciting and influential albums and novels of our time.

TICKETS AVAILABLE HERE

Made Possible by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Offices of the Chancellor, Provost, and Vice Chancellor for Research, Institute for the Arts and Humanities, College of Arts & Sciences, the Department of English & Comparative Literature, Humanities for the Public Good Initiative, and the Carolina Public Humanities.

Band well-rested courtesy of the Hampton Inn & Suites Chapel Hill-Carrboro Downtown, Hampton Inn & Suites Knoxville, Hampton Inn & Suites Pine Bluff, Arkansas; The Graduate Fayetteville; Buss & Dave Martin; and Jennifer Meares 

Trailer and other necessities: Kathie Russell & Jefferson Holt & Propeller Sound Recordings

Photography: insert Marie Killen, large photo Lindsey Metivier

Poster Design: Chris Eselgroth

Social Media & other crucial work: Karen Allison & Melissa Gillum at Propeller

Florence interviewed by Eric Hodge on Morning Edition, WUNC

Florence Dore dishes on her new record, growing up in Nashville

If you've heard of Florence Dore, it might be because she was your professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Or, you might have caught her at a recent album release show at The Cat's Cradle. Dore is from Nashville, where she grew up and made friends with an interesting array of characters from her own family as well as future musicians.

Dore's new record is called “Highways and Rocketships,” and was produced by Dore and Don Dixon with help from Mitch Easter. Her bandmates include alumni of The dBs, Bruce Springsteen and Son Volt. The album artwork is by Jon Langford from the Mekons.

Dore joined WUNC recently to talk about her new album, growing up in Nashville, her family and the meaning behind some of her songs.

Florence Dore Band to play NIVA Conference Cleveland 7/12

North Carolina-based Americana singer Florence Dore has announced a performance at the Beachland Ballroom on July 12 as part of the first annual National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) conference taking place in Cleveland, OH. Dore will be performing songs from her new album Highways & Rocketships out on Propeller Sound Recordings, the new imprint run by former R.E.M. manager Jefferson Holt and Music Geek Services founder Jay Coyle. 

 

Florence Dore is a fitting headliner for the NIVA conference’s gathering.  Because at seemingly the exact moment when the creators of NIVA were banding together to help independent venues nationally during the shutdown, Florence came up with an idea to help her local venue, Cat’s Cradle: make a benefit record that brings together some of North Carolina’s most notable artists to support the venue they love.  

 

Says Dore, “I started thinking, wow, is there even going to be a Cat’s Cradle to come back to when this is all behind us? What will happen to these venues that launch and sustain local music and make each town what it is?”

 

Dore joined forces Steve Balcom and Lane Wurster (formerly of Mammoth Records) as well as local entertainment lawyer Shawn Nolan—to make it happen, and together they created Cover Charge: NC Artists Go Under Cover to Benefit Cat’s Cradle. Cover Charge includes such NC notable acts as Superchunk, the Mountains Goats, Iron & Wine, and Southern Culture on the Skids. The record was a smash success: by the end of August 2020 Cover Charge had charted at #1 in compilations on the Billboard Charts.  Pitchfork described Cover Charge as “a whopping 25-song set with far more riches than a charity project requires.”

Cart (0)