Alternative Front-Porch Music

The sisters of Asheville, N.C.’s Rising Appalachia have finally moved to the Southern region in the band’s name, though it took them some time to get there. Daughters of a folk artist and folk musician, Leah Song and Chloe Smith were raised in Atlanta and lived in New Orleans for nearly a decade. Their first album was a gift for friends and family, and they recorded it in only one day. “The thing that’s kept us going from the first day is that people have asked and we have responded,” says older sister Song. Years later, Rising Appalachia have fashioned a distinct sound, which Song describes as “frontporch music,” an international take on Americana, Southern folk and soul. Using harmonies as a form of activism, they’ve also played unconventional venues in countries as far way as Bulgaria and as close as Cuba. Wider Circles is their sixth album, but the first with bandmates Biko Casini (world percussion) and David Brown (upright bass, guitar). It sounds like their bayou home but also like their mountain home, and it captures the essence of Rising Appalachia’s entrancing live show. According to Song: “There was a magic thing that clicked when the ensemble finally found itself.”