Asheville FM records ‘Real People, Great Radio: Vol. 2’ at Citizen Studios
- July 19, 2023 -
Last year the inaugural Asheville FM album — Real People, Great Radio: Vol. 1 — rolled out. It featured tracks by area talent such as Secret Shame, Astoria, Fleur Geurl, Dexter Webb, and others.
The next installment, Real People, Great Radio: Vol. 2, is being tracked at Citizen Studios. It will be pressed at Citizen Vinyl and is slated for a September release. More information about that date and an accompanying listening party is forthcoming.
Brett Naucke, Thom Nguyen, and Adam Lion in Citizen Studios’ Studio B, with Citizen Vinyl CEO and co-founder Gar Ragland.
Q&A with Bill Donovan, Asheville FM’s music director:
Bill Donovan: The selection process involved a few brainstorming sessions, and several different angles, between KP Whaley (station manager at AFM,) Devyn Marzuola (host of “Too Dark for Disney,” who’s also doing the cover art for the compilation,) Gar and Colby at CV, and myself. We agreed we wanted to focus on as many facets of Asheville’s music scene as possible.
Inclusion is crucial to Asheville FM’s mission, so it’s important to us to represent as many of our communities as we can. From there, we gathered names we knew as friends or colleagues, folks we’ve worked with, people we could reach out to, etc., and started making contacts. We also agreed, and this was kinda my thing, that we should prioritize songs which are previously unreleased and therefore exclusive to this compilation.
In hindsight, that might have been limiting; we got in touch with several Big Names from the area who were excited about the project but didn’t have much in the vaults to contribute. (There’s always next year…) But what we gained were mostly musicians who live and work locally who might not otherwise have an opportunity to tour or be on a record. The end result is an array of music ranging from singer-songwriter/indie-rock to experimental electronics, improv, hip-hop, power pop, punk rock, metal, and more.
I noticed Thom Nguyen performed on Vol. 1, are there any other return artists?
Thom is one of the hardest-working and versatile musicians in Asheville, so it’s kinda tough to do a project like this and not involve him. But his contribution this year is in a different context, so it feels less like a return and more like an extension.
Gar Ragland, left, in the studio with members of Tina & Her Pony
What is the purpose of the album — fundraiser, raising awareness about Asheville FM, or something else?
Well, yeah, fundraising is a huge part of it. We do a lot of fundraisers, like the Voices event at Different WRLD last spring, curated by our News and Talk Team, and the upcoming Record Fair at Harrah’s Cherokee Center next month. We also do fund drives on the air twice a year.
But this is special in that it’s something you can actually hold in your hands and enjoy. A lens into Asheville itself, how it really sounds, on vinyl, which everyone loves. A significant portion of our listenership and donor base are music lovers beyond our wattage, even overseas. In a way, this is like giving back to the community that supports us by supporting them, putting them on a record, giving them a chance to be heard by new audiences.
That’s what community’s all about. Real People who make fantastic music which supports Great Radio, and vice versa: Great Radio made by Real People who support fantastic music. By All Means Necessary.
