The Rant

Carolina Indie Fest returns to Hugger Mugger Brewing in downtown Sanford on May 10 and 11, and the Friends of the Rant podcast is back to interview the performers. This week, we talk with Nashville-based Durham native Katie Basden, who melds a diverse array of influences into a soulful take on southern Americana, and Raleigh’s Newspaper Taxis, a rock act who bring to mind a mix of British Invasion...

The final entry in the fall 2023 Carolina Indie Fest/Friends of the Rant podcast series features Australia-born and Nashville-based blues rocker Kara Grainger and Farewell Friend, a Greensboro-based Farewell Friend, an indie–folk-rock band “known for their unique instrumentation and poetic songwriting.” Farewell Friend takes the Carolina Indie Fest stage behind Hugger Mugger Brewing in downtown Sa...

The Friends of the Rant podcast is joined this week by two Carolina Indie Fest acts, Gooseberry Jam and Jeremiah McKinley, both hailing from the Triad area. Gooseberry Jam, who bring “a Southern fried taste of soul, set to a backdrop of raw rock and roll,” play at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29. Jeremiah McKinley, “a band of two brothers telling stories through a mix of folk and newer rock and roll...

This week, Friends of the Rant is joined by Chapel Hill band Heat Preacher, who combine alternative rock, soul, and indie sounds to create their own brand of modern pop rock music, as well as Durham's Shirlette Ammons, a poet and storyteller who uses a wide variety of genres as tools for her work. Heat Preacher plays Carolina Indie Fest on Friday, Sept. 29 at 6:15, and Ammons takes the stage Satur...

What happens when a Friend of The Rant is an actual member of The Rant? Possibly nothing. Possibly an implosion of the space-time continuum.  The Rant’s Gordon Anderson sits on the other side of the mic as he talks to Patty Kempton about his band Oort Patrol, their music and their upcoming appearance at Carolina Indie Fest at Hugger Mugger Brewing on Sept. 30.

Durham based singer/songwriter Skylar Gudasz has been called "the Joni Mitchell the south never had." She's headlining day two of Carolina Indie Fest on Sept. 30, and joined the Friends of the Rant podcast recently to talk about her work.  

Ahead of the annual Carolina Indie Fest at Hugger Mugger Brewing (Sept. 29-30), The Rant’s Gordon Anderson interviews artists Reese McHenry, a garage rocker with a monster of a voice from the Triangle, and Lee County's own Cliff and Garret Wheeler of the Cliff Wheeler band.

Three bands from the upcoming Carolina Indie Fest — Hustle Souls, Regence and Rhinestone Pickup Truck — take the time to talk to us and become official "Friends of The Rant."

The Friends of the Rant podcast welcomes Paleface and Mo for their third appearance, as well as Adam Pitts of Raleigh's the Pseudo Cowboys. Both acts will perform the first night of Carolina Indie Fest on May 12 at Hugger Mugger Brewing in downtown Sanford.

The members of Mom Rock, a 2022 Rolling Stone "Hot Band" named "one of America's best young bands"  join our revived Friends of The Rant podcast leading up to their performance at Carolina Indie Fest, set for May 12-13 at Hugger Mugger Brewing in downtown Sanford. 

Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands will headline day two of this weekend's Carolina Indie Fest with a variety of European and American world music influences, instruments including accordion, piano, and musical saw, and soaring operatic vocals. Oort Patrol is fronted by Rant co-founder and known criminal trash Gordon Anderson.

This week we chat with Carolina Indie Fest performers Mike Dillon, a New Orleans-based electric vibraphonist/percussionist who leads Mike Dillon’s Punkadelick, and David Myers, frontman for China Grove, N.C.'s Big Break.  

It's two bands in one podcast as we talk to Carolina Indie Fest performers Whoop! and Paleface, the latter returning both to Sanford and to the podcast after appearing in Year 1. Indie Fest is Sept. 23-24 in downtown Sanford.  

Musician Cliff Wheeler returns to talk about the return of Carolina Indie Fest and his involvement in bringing it back, and hosts Billy and Gordon talk about their return to the North Carolina Press Association awards banquet. 

Another upcoming Carolina Indie Fest band, Secret Monkey Weekend, shares their unique story before their upcoming performance in September. 

Singer songwriter David Childers has been "chronicling mankind’s and his own bouts with devilishness" — mixing rock, country, rockabilly, jazz and more — since his debut in 1998. The former attorney from Mount Holly has played with some of the state's best (recently, the Avett Brothers) and will be one of the 10 featured performers at Carolina Indie Fest, Sept. 23-24, in downtown Sanford.  Childer...

Sanford Spinners head coach Jeremy Palme joins us to talk about Season 2 of the Sanford Spinners, and hosts Gordon and Billy talk about this week's big news regarding the Prince Down Town motel. 

Oscar Moreno, director of patient services for Central Carolina Hospital, talks to The Rant about new programs and services being offered (and on the horizon) for CCH.  This episode also offers an insight to what's coming at Fonda Lupita's new location and the news this week of a longtime Lee County Schools board member stepping down. 

Kevin Baldes from Lit — the SoCal pop/punk band that had a string of hits in the 90s, including "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Miserable" — joins the podcast to talk punk music, Lit's rise to fame in the 90s and the band's upcoming performance at the Wampus Cat Music Festival in Sanford, May 13-15.  Music aside, the rest of the podcast we talk local news — which, you know, is important. 

Country singer/songwriter Jenny Tolman is one of the 90-plus artists scheduled to perform at the upcoming Wampus Cat Music Fest in Sanford May 13-15. Tolman joins the podcast this week to talk about her music, her songwriting approach, the humor in her lyrics and her influences.  

Nitro Nitra and her band lit up the stage at Carolina Indie Fest, and the rising artist is excited to return to the area for next month's Wampus Cat Festival. Listen to our interview and stick around for frivolity and yuks. 

J.R. Richards, the former lead singer of Dishwalla and current independent solo artist, will be among the many big names performing at the Wampus Cat Festival near Sanford on May 13-15 at Gross Farms II. Richards talks to The Rant about growing up with music, the songs that inspire him, how a massive hit like "Counting Blue Cars" changed his life and his engagement with fans on social media as a s...

Country artist and Sanford native John Norris — our first in a series of performers for the upcoming Wampus Cat Music Festival — joins the Friends of The Rant podcast to talk about his career and the upcoming three-day festival.    Learn more about John here: https://www.johnnorrismusic.com/about  

Jeff Popka, CEO of Indie on Air Records and organizer of the upcoming Wampus Cat Music Festival, shares details on the May 13-15 event that will include acts like Everclear, Lit, Sister Hazel, Thompson Square, the Swon Brothers, J.R. Richards (Dishwalla) and more than 90 acts. 

Dr. Raj Swamy of Central Carolina Hospital joins the Friends of The Rant podcast to talk about heart month and the remarkable cardiac procedures available to patients in Sanford and Lee County. Swamy is the head of cardiology at CCH in Sanford. He received his undergrad degree at Duke University and his medical degree from the University of Chicago-Pritzker. He specializes in cardiology, coronary...