Swift Creek is pleased and proud to announce that Dan Smith has joined us as lead guitarist and vocalist. Dan, who lives in Carrboro, NC, has been a part of the local and regional music scene for more than 30 years, most recently playing with popular rock band,Flatline. He is also an accomplished baroque musician and has played with The Mallarme Chamber Players and The NC Baroque Orchestra. Versatile...yes, indeed! Dan has already amazed us with some crazy good guitar solos and his voice adds significantly to Swift Creek's trademark vocal harmonies. He's also a multi-instrumentalist (like our own Casey Elder), playing bass viol, lute and twelve-string guitar as well as six-string acoustic guitar.  We're working up lots of new tunes, and it's sounding good. Check out our performance schedule for a show near you! 

Save the date! Swift Creek will open for the phenomenal Kickin’ Grass Band on June 14 at Raleigh’s Pour House Music Hall. Last year’s winners of the Carolina Music Award for the Best Bluegrass/Americana band, Kickin’ Grass combines inspired song-writing with virtuoso performances. Their latest album, “Walk With Me,” was described by the Raleigh News and Observer as “intimate, inspiring and grand.” You don’t want to miss this show! Buy tickets: http://www.thepourhousemusichall.com/calendar/

NEWS!! Swift Creek can now be heard on Pandora Internet Radio, one of the most popular listening options in the USA. Create your own Swift Creek Channel and hear tracks from "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" along with lots of other terrific Americana artists! 

"This is front porch music, or back deck--wherever you while away the afternoons and want a sound track."-Dawn Baumgartner-Vaughan, The Herald Sun, July 26, 2012

 Read full review of Swift Creek's debut CD in The Herald Sun, Durham NC

Local Americana band, Swift Creek, released their new album "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" on July 14, 2012. The album was recorded at The Rubber Room in Chapel Hill, NC and produced by Jerry Brown, highly-regarded area musician and record producer.  The band blends original material and interesting covers for a sound that is both refreshingly new and tenderly traditional.  Songwriters Kevin Brown and Chris Martin of Swift Creek wrote six of the twelve tracks, while Justin Robertson, local musician and friend of the band, contributed another two original songs. Well-chosen covers rounding out the album include a Steeldrivers tune, a honky-tonk number by Richard Julian of The Little Willies, a Decemberists' song and finally, a tribute to country icon Wanda Jackson. 

The album's title track, "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" was recorded around a 70-year old RCA 77 ribbon microphone and sets the tone with a story/song about how to charm the ladies with culinary skills.  Double entendres abound in this Kevin Brown original, but the band's intricate three-part harmonies are no joke.  Vocalist/guitarist Chris Martin takes the lead and is joined by Swift Creek's Casey Elder, who contributes a steamy guitar solo, and guest artist, Pattie Hopkins (Kickin' Grass Band) , who supplies tasty licks on the fiddle.  "All Your Memories" (by Justin Robertson) is driven by Martin's powerful lead vocal and a dueling mandolin/fiddle break; while "Notice" (co-written by Brown and Martin) happily shows off Swift Creek's jam-band side, with guest banjo player, Hugh Moore (Rye Mountain Boys).  Swift Creek's female vocalist, Ann Searcy, lends a hand with "It's Not You It's Me," the Little Willies cover, successfully evoking all that's good about honky-tonk.  The band is given an assist on the track by talented guest Andrew Marlin (Mandolin Orange) on piano.

Dennis Hoyle, the band's bass player ably anchors every song, with some noteworthy licks on "If It Hadn't Been For Love", a Steeldrivers cover that spotlights Swift Creek's three-party harmony singing to full effect.  Kevin Brown's skills as a songwriter and lead vocalist are evident in "Shoes," a tune that showcases Swift Creek's bluesy side.  "The Raccoon Song," another of Kevin Brown's originals, is a straight-ahead bluegrass romp featuring blistering Bill Monroe-style mandolin playing from Casey Elder. Multi-instrumentalist Elder can be heard all over the CD, contributing guitar, mandolin, dobro and lap steel to the project.

On the gentler side, a trio of original songs on the CD takes listeners down that tree-lined back road that Americana musicians love to travel.  "Beauty Lives" (by Justin Robertson) is letter-perfect lyrically, with it's story of unrequited love borne on a lilting melody by Elder's mandolin,  Martin's harmonica and Hopkins' fiddle.  "On My Way," written and sung with conviction by Martin is a swingy tune about coming home to stay.  "Rock Me Grandpa," penned by Kevin Brown in 1979 and previously recorded by Glenn Yarbrough and The Limeliters, closes the album's Americana journey with a sweet sentimental nod to the past.

July 2012-Vital Records