The Overlook with Matt Peiken Matt Peiken

In this dual episode, we have separate conversations with dancemakers Vanessa Owen and Gavin Stewart and emerging rap artist Luicya.

Stewart Owen Dance makes duets, dances for larger ensembles and outdoor pieces, and collaborates with other artists. They're in residency next week at Trillium Arts in Mars Hill and performing next April at the Wortham Center in Asheville. We discuss how the pandemic changed their approach to their art and careers.

You won’t find much online from the emerging local artist who calls herself Luciya. She’s the daughter of classical musicians, but she calls her own music goddess rap. We’ll meet her and hear about her impulses and influences in the second half of the program. She's stepping her up local performances, including an intimate Sept. 30 date through Pan Harmonia.
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The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

The Steep Canyon Rangers embody and evangelize the Asheville sound as much as any musical artist. They’ve certainly had success with it.

Their collaborations with the actor, comedian and banjo player Steve Martin put them on the national map, and they won a Grammy Award on their own 10 years ago for best bluegrass album. Now, more than two decades into their career, the departure of co-founding vocalist and guitarist Woody Platt has pushed the Steep Canyon Rangers into new territory and compelled the band to find themselves all over again.

My guests today are the band’s remaining co-founders, banjo player and songwriter Graham Sharp and mandolin player Mike Guggino. We talk about the band’s early years, their work with Martin, how they processed Platt’s departure and the making of “Morning Shift,” their new album with new vocalist Aaron Burdett.
Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

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The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

If Asheville crowned a reigning native queen, Libby Kyles would certainly fall into the city’s royalty. She has lived all over the city, led educational efforts here as a teacher, administrator and nonprofit leader and been an unwavering voice around inequities she pins on race. In this conversation, she explains how the Asheville of today is different than the city of her youth. We get her thoughts on the city’s reparations process and run through her life’s work as seen through the vital programs and community resources she has helped create.


Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

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Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook

The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

It’s no secret—Asheville has a housing crisis. Among the strategies to combat that, city planners are looking more closely at developing what’s called “middle housing.” These are townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes and smaller apartment complexes—essentially almost anything other than traditional single-family homes.

My guest today is Candra Teshome, a longrange planner for the City of Asheville. We talk about an extensive study the city conducted this year that looked at middle housing, put it in context with the larger housing supply and delve a bit into how Asheville and cities all over the US found themselves with a housing imbalance, along with the creative ways they’re trying to right the scales. 
Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

Advertise your event on The Overlook.

Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook

Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook

The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

One of the most pitched rivalries in all of sports is probably taking place in your neighborhood: Tennis players vs. pickleball players. Outdoor public courts that tennis players had to themselves since the dawn of history are now the site of community turf wars.

Today's episode features representatives from the Asheville Tennis Association and Asheville Pickleball Association. There are only 11 asphalt tennis courts in Asheville’s parks and recreation system. Pickleballers have made those courts their surfaces of choice. They’ve ardently lobbied city council for courts dedicated to their sport, but those don’t appear on the horizon anytime soon. Parks officials have brokered meetings between the two sides and come up with an even-handed, agreed-upon schedule of use that nobody seems particularly happy with.
Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

Advertise your event on The Overlook.

Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook

Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook

The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023

Rebekah Todd is a seasoned songwriter and performer who moved from Wilmington to Asheville two years ago. On Aug. 22, she posted a video to social media talking about unwanted communication from an unnamed festival promoter, the blame he placed on her for the festival's cancellation and the avalanche of backlash that came her way. Hundreds of people commented on and shared it.

Even before this episode, Rebekah made social media posts going back to March touching on other experiences she had with men in positions of power. Misogyny in the music industry is a difficult topic. Rarely do men address it, nor does the music press. But an Asheville music festival called Women to the Front happens Sept. 17. It’s founded by and exclusively featuring female artists. The timing seemed right to meet Rebekah and hear her story as a microcosm of what many women artists experience.


Get tickets to The Overlook Live, our first live podcasting event! 7p Wed., Sept. 27 at the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Support The Overlook by joining our Patreon campaign!

Advertise your event on The Overlook.

Instagram: AVLoverlook | Facebook: AVLoverlook | Twitter: AVLoverlook

Listen and Subscribe: All episodes of The Overlook

The Overlook theme song, "Maker's Song," comes courtesy of the Asheville band The Resonant Rogues.

Podcast Asheville © 2023