Daily Special:
Writer’s Round: Dave Desmelik, Laura Blackley, & Joshua Singleton
Date: Friday, Apr 10th 2026
Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Genre:
Cost: No Cover
Website: More Details
Friday | April 10 | 6-9PM
We’re very excited to welcome this local trio to the taproom stage!
“Desmelik’s music is a superb example of all that is good in Roots/Americana music today.” –lonesomehighway.com
Dave Desmelik is a singer-songwriter and instrumentalist whose musical focus is on original compositions. What attracts listeners to Desmelik’s tunes, old and new, is the element of authenticity incorporated in them. There is no sugar coating involved. His songs are not wrapped in false smiles, rather they are stark and open and tend to settle on the pulse of everyday life. An unclosed and evolving journal of thoughts set to music and melodies in prose and instrumental performance. If you listen to Dave Desmelik’s songs, whether lyrical or instrumental, you may become pleasantly fixed in the simplistic realness of them and if you hear Desmelik in a live setting you may realize that there are no tricks, just a genuine venture into the highs and lows of life.
Laura Blackley has been making music in Western North Carolina for several years. She’s a singer, songwriter and guitarist who specializes in country, blues and rock with an emphasis on songwriting.
Blackley plays in several bands and she and her band the Wildflowers won first prize in the 2016 North Carolina Piedmont Blues Preservation Society’s Blues Challenge. This win sent them to Memphis, TN to perform in the International Blues Competition.
She also plays classic country music with the Old Chevrolette Set, a group led by local radio host and pedal steel player Tom Pittman.
When not playing music Blackley is a Pre-k through 8thgrade Music Teacher at Rainbow Community School. She earned 2nd place (Best Music Teacher) in Asheville’s Mountain Xpress Best Of competition in 2022.
Laura Blackley joined the team at Blue Ridge Public Radio as a part time weekend and All Things Considered Host in June 2022 and is very excited to be behind the mic again.
She enjoys performing live, hiking in our beautiful WNC mountains, gardening and traveling to new places. She lives in the Hominy Valley community of Candler with her daughter and their dog and two cats.
Singer-songwriter Joshua Singleton explodes the Americana genre with high-value tunes that blend roots rock, blues, country, and soul into something that’s entirely his own.
Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Singleton is an outstanding vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. He’s one of those rare performers who intuitively blur the lines between his influences. He shifts easily from rock to funk to acoustic songs in the same set, painting space with all the colors American music has to offer. His third album will drop in 2025 but a quick spin of his last release King of Hearts proves Singleton has what it takes to move any crowd in the world.
With a preacher for a father and a songwriter for a mom, Singleton was singing in church early on. He was gigging with a rockabilly band by age 12 and was a touring musician by the time he was in college. He has hit the road in the USA, the UK, France, and Sweden with his own bands and with Big Joe Turner & The Memphis Blues Caravan, Xavier Pillac, and Boogie Leg. Singleton has also led the Nashville life. He moved to Music City in 2017, and quickly signed a publishing deal. He spent three years there writing country songs and scored cuts with artists like Bree Doster, Jason Nix, and Kolby Cooper, to name a few.
Singleton today is a seasoned solo artist with a nuanced style that’s both expressive and accessible. His songs are about life, love, and experience and connect deeply with his listeners. Once his new album comes out, Joshua will tour in the UK and France, bringing the music to the people. Joshua Singleton is undoubtedly on the verge of a creative and commercial breakthrough. Savvy fans of top-tier American songwriters need to hear him today and become part of what’s about to happen.