Preview: Redleg Husky, Erika Hughes and the Well Mannered / June 5 / Casa Nueva
By Abbie Doyle, Editorial Director
Casa Nueva / Friday, June 5, 2015
Tomorrow night, get back to your Appalachian roots at Casa Nueva by enjoying the performance of Redleg Husky, an Americana folk group that calls North Carolina home.
Redleg Husky is comprised of Misa Giroux and Tim McWilliams; McWilliams is actually an OU alum who attended from 2007 to 2011. A history major with a deep love for Jimi Hendrix, John Frusciante, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson, his education “helped me gain a deeper love and appreciation for older American music that is easily forgotten about these days.”
As an OU graduate, McWilliams is more than familiar with Casa Nueva. He’s never performed there before, but said it’s been a dream since he started attending shows as an undergrad.
Giroux and McWilliams spent three months of 2014 on the road--touring, sleeping in tents, surviving on canned food and exploring the states. 2015’s tour, which has a huge focus on Ohio shows, is a result of some lessons learned.
“2014’s tour was kind of an anomaly in the sense of how long it was. Three months is a long time to be continuously on the road, so while that experience was amazing and so worthwhile, 2015 has definitely been focused more locally on the Southeast (and Ohio) and doing shorter runs of shows,” explained Giroux. “We tend to do mostly four-day stretches, which let us get a couple days to rest at our house.”
The two met at Appalachian State University in North Carolina, both participating in ASU’s Appalachian Music graduate program. Even though North Carolina isn’t exactly close to Ohio, Redleg Husky makes a serious effort to come back and perform.
“We’d be fools to not make an effort to get back every year. All of my family and a lot of great friends still live in the Cincinnati area, or Columbus,” said McWilliams. “I still have a lot of pride in being from Cincinnati, especially after discovering the great scene that used to thrive there with King Records making a home for legends like Merle Travis, The Stanley Brothers and James Brown.”
The guy knows his history, and he knows his Appalachian music. Celebrate the history of Athens by witnessing Redleg Husky perform an emotive, beautiful set. It’s especially important that you catch Giroux and McWilliams now, because the two have big plans ahead of them.
“We’ll be recording our second full-length this October, which will have a bunch of new songs we’ve been playing live. We recently added a bass player, Son House II... and we’re planning another Ohio tour for November.”
Redleg Husky will be performing with Columbus group Erika Hughes and the Well Mannered, and the show starts at 10 p.m. We’ll see you there!
