Ben Kenney
Ben Kenney Website / Instagram / Bandcamp / Spotify Ben Kenney is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, best known for his work as the bassist in the American rock band Incubus, as well as playing guitar in the American hip hop band The Roots.
Owen & The Smokes with Dune Blue and Celler Dwellers
Owen & The Smokes An indie/alternative rock group based out Winston Salem, NC. Owen & The Smokes blends a heartfelt, meaningful sound, into a catchy delivery, a unique and memorable experience. Dune Blue Indie surf from Brooklyn, NY Celler Dwellers A Richmond based indie rock band, developed and bred down in a old disheveled basement. That place they all hold dear to their hearts inspired their name, the “Celler Dwellers”. 5 fellas on a mission to cover as much ground as possible in the short time we got. Hop on the wagon and lets see how far we go.
Pressley Laton
Pressley Laton Facebook Instagram TikTok YouTube Spotify Amazon Apple Bandcamp SoundCloud Winner of the 2026 MerleFest Band Contest, Pressley Laton is an independent alternative-country and roots-rock artist based in Boone, NC, whose music is shaped by Appalachian culture, small-town stories, and a lifelong love of outlaw country and rock and roll. She blends bold, soulful vocals with gritty music and unfiltered storytelling to create a hard-hitting sound that’s raw and real, which Terry Hudson of rBeatz Radio described as “Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Jo Dee Messina.” She and her band leave a lasting impression with high-energy performances that connect just as strongly at festivals as they do in intimate listening rooms. As a rising North Carolina artist, Pressley has performed at festivals and venues across the Southeast, including MerleFest, Boonerang Music & Arts Festival, Antlers & Acorns: The Boone Songwriters Festival, Amos’ Southend, The Evening Muse, Bird’s Nest Listening Room, and The Appalachian Theatre of the High Country. Pressley Laton grew up singing in church with her mama in Stanly County, NC, writing her first song at age 10. Inspired by the powerful female vocalists she watched on country music award shows, she gravitated toward artists who commanded the stage with both conviction and vulnerability. After graduating from Appalachian State University, she stayed in Boone, initially settling into a career in higher education until jumping ship in pursuit of a music career. She has refined her art through years of live performance, songwriting, and collaboration, combining country roots with a fresh perspective. Following her 2024 EP, Pressley will release her next full-length album, Wandering Kind, in the fall of 2026, produced by Jason Scavone of Sioux Sioux Studio in Charlotte, NC.
Wolf And Bear – ‘A Hill To Die On’ Tour
Lineup: WOLF & BEAR Coletta Origami All Ages. Under 21 subject to a surcharge, payable at the door. For all venue info & policies, visit www.local506.com
Insomniac with Evil Eye
GREX with Savage Knights and Dead Halos
GREX Website / Bandcamp / Instagram Grex is an experimental/art rock band based out of Oakland, California. In biological terms, a “grex” is an entity composed of several smaller organisms. Grex (the band) explores the meeting point between surreal songcraft and the dark outer reaches of free jazz and industrial hip-hop. The group has been called an “otherworldly experience” (Eugene Weekly) and “true genre warping music” (KFJC), recalling at turns the ecstatic energy of Milford Graves, the electronic squall of Death Grips, and the lilting indie rock of Water from Your Eyes and Mitski. Grex has performed alongside the likes of Fred Frith, Andrew Cyrille, Tony Levin, and members of Irreversible Entanglements, Tune-Yards, and Dirty Projectors. Auntie + Tebs is Grex’s first album in six years. Grex’s previous record, Everything You Said Was Wrong, was supposed to be its last. Then, isolated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the band reconvened to develop a new set of songs – loud, incendiary stories fueled by avant-garde aesthetics and the rhetoric of radical politics. The title Auntie + Tebs refers to two people: Miriam Defensor Santiago (“Auntie”), a Filipino politician and lawyer who spent her life fighting graft and corruption, and Louis Moholo-Moholo (“Tebs”), a South African drummer and anti-Apartheid activist. This is a record that carries forward their spirit of revolutionary struggle, aspiration, and imagination. Grex is Karl Evangelista (guitar, voice, misc.), Rei Scampavia (keyboards, voice, misc.), and Robert Lopez (drums), with D. Chavez (bass), Bobby Bradford (cornet), Zoh Amba (saxophone), and Misha Khalikulov (cello). Savage Knights Bandcamp Dead Halos Bandcamp / Instagram Dark, noisy, experimental, motorik music.Ruminating in the underworld and baring the darker art of the past, Dead Halos is the solo project of Todd Warner.
Doom Scroll and Hans Gruber & The Die Hards
The Sleights
The Sleights Bandcamp / Instagram The Sleights is a punk rock band hailing from Colorado Springs. Pulling from its strong punk rock and rock & roll roots, the band keeps the music short and simple, and the live shows fast and fun. The band has recorded 2 EPs and three LPs, the third of which will be released in mid 2026
EXOPOCALYPSE TOUR: Rav with Teller Bank$ and Fatboi Sharif
VIP Package • GA ticket • Signed 1st Edition B-Sides Vol.Y CD • Exclusive 3D Lucky Cat Rav Charm • Pre-show Rav Q&A (please arrive an hour ahead of general admission) • Lot of VIP-exclusive stickers • Early access to merch table Rav Instagram / X Soviet-born indie rap veteran and founder of award-winning Hip-Hop collective EXOCIETY, Rav returns to the stage with his latest album, EMERGENCE DELIRIUM, alongside indie heavyweights Cavalier (Backwoodz Studioz) and Teller Bank$ ($$$). With distinct corners of modern alternative rap connecting for the first time all under one roof, this will be a night to remember. The EXOPOCALYPSE is here! Teller Bank$ Instagram / X Teller Bank$ is a Magician and Father of 3. Fatboi Sharif Instagram / X Sharif doesn’t look at his performances with the traditional lens that a normal rapper does, bukt treats the live show as a spiritual experience where Sharif and the crowd become married through raging and serenity. With being inspired as a child by Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, and Parliament Funkadelic it’s hard to put Fatboi in a box. Grit over glamour is the name of his game. Production wise, once he finds the right instrumental that speaks to him in his language, he’ll sit with it for a few weeks and sleep to it on repeat. he’ll dream and see certain visions, colors, and shapes that create an image on top of the production canvas. This keeps his music everlasting.
moony with Willingdon and Homemade Haircuts
moony Spotify / Instagram / YouTube After releasing and touring his debut album WARNING HIGH CUBE from 2024-2025, Singapore-raised now Nashville-based Seth Findley (moony) established himself as a creative force to be reckoned with in the independent alternative rock scene of Nashville. His ever-growing cult-like fanbase of self-deemed ”moonies” bonds over rich visuals, dense lore, singable anthems, and captivating live shows in the “moonyverse” – a hidden pocket of Earth where all are welcome but only the brave and curious have entered. moony is hitting the road this fall touring his sophomore album “William Trimtoe.” William Trimtoe is a 19th century Scotch-Irish folktale turned children’s folk rhyme turned moony’s sophomore album, a journey deep into consciousness and the metaphysical battle of reality that fuels the entropy of our fragile existence amidst all of its pain, fear, confusion, beauty, love, and wonder. A no holds barred expression of the deepest parts of himself, moony goes for broke and delivers his self-produced masterpiece. Bold, brash, and at times chaotic yet surprisingly palpable, William Trimtoe is an hour long fever dream of alternative rock-centric songs that dip their multi-genre toes into hardcore, psychedelic, electronic, singer-songwriter, indie, and even Gaelic folkRaw, vulnerable, and often unhinged, moony wastes no time getting to the heart of the matter with his music coinciding world-building. Songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist blurring the line between genres showcasing a sonic landscape of edgy alt-rock, hardcore, punk mellow indie, and a touch of catchy pop, moony is at full form after having spent the origin of his musical career as the frontman and primary songwriter of indie rock trio outfit Honest Men before their disbandment in 2022. “This was never meant to be a pristine, polished thing,” moony explains. “It’s the messy, unpolished side of me that needs an outlet. It’s not that I think I’m doing something revolutionary, but I’m not going to let myself overthink this. It’s been very personally rewarding.”