Mar26

Doors open at 3pm, show 4-6pm, $10 tickets.

At age 44, Wes Collins and his wife Anita made a pact to become writers: she started writing fiction and Wes penned his first song. A few years later, they were both multi-award-winners in their fields. Collins more than makes up for lost time with songs so dense with ideas that a first listen only scratches the surface. Come for a haunting melody and some intricate fingerpicking and stay for the wit and deep literary intelligence. There is always more to find in a Wes Collins song.

Wes has played shows from coast to coast including: The Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville, TN; The Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, TX; the Cary Theater in Cary, NC (opening for Dave Olney); and many more. He is a winner of the prestigious Grassy Hills New Folk Competition and a North Carolina Arts Council Songwriting Fellowship, and has been featured as a finalist in The Telluride Troubadour Contest in Telluride, CO; The Songwriter's Serenade Competition in Moravia, TX; and The Wildflower Performing Songwriter Contest in Dallas, TX.

Welcome to The Ether is Collins' second record. It was produced by Chris Rosser at the top of a mountain during a historic snowstorm and features guest performances by Jaimee Harris, Danny Gotham, and FJ Ventre. Welcome to The Ether finds Wes at his best: timidly falling in love in “Pelican”, coming to terms with a loved one’s disability in “Stethoscope”, or cavorting with ghosts in “Everyone Dances”. The record ends with his perennial set-closer “I Love You Guys”, as much an ode to drunken buffoonery as it is a song of gratitude to the listener.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpyX5uu-TvI

Website: https://wescollins.com/

Lang Owen is a songwriter based in Columbia, SC. He first made his Wilmington and Ted's debut on a Laura McLean Songwriter Showcase back in October 2022.

Lang Owen's album "She's My Memory" was ranked #6 on The Best of South Carolina Music 2022 list published by The Post & Courier Free Times. "Songs about something that seems like nothing but feels like everything" is how Lang describes this album, which David Stringer (ColaToday) proclaimed "a masterpiece" and Kevin Oliver (Jasper Project/The Beat) described as "a shimmering statement of purpose." Lang works straight out of the 70's singer-songwriter tradition, employing poetic lyrics to express the challenges and possibilities of the current day, often viewed through the perspective of individual's imagined interior lives. Listeners often equate his writing to Paul Simon and voice to REM's Michael Stipe, but Lang's favorite musician comparison was offered by a woman who said he sounds like "a male Dolly Parton." Lang has opened for Americana act Jonathan Byrd, played in multiple venues in North and South Carolina, and received airplay for both of his albums on community radio stations in the United States, Canada, and Luxembourg. Lang seeks performance opportunities in settings which foster an intimate musical experience with audience members.

Video: https://youtu.be/N1JMZRyxAyA

Website: langowenmusic.blogspot.com

$11.00