Acoustic Syndicate plays at Beech Mountain Resort for its Winter Beer Fest last weekend. Photos by Ken Ketchie
By Jesse Wood
Beech Mountain Resort held its Winter Beer Festival last weekend with some 50 brewers on hand to share their craft beers to live tunes by Acoustic Syndicate.
“The event went very smooth. Customers were happy, brewers were happy, the band was happy, and I am extremely happy,” Beech Mountain Resort spokesperson Talia Freeman said.
The event, which is in its second year, featured local and regional brewers such as Flat Top Brewing Company, Beech Mountain Brewing Co., Lost Province Brewing Company, Granite Falls Brewing Co. and Howard Brewing.
Freeman also spoke highly of Acoustic Syndicate.
“Acoustic Syndicate are not only incredible performers, but they are the warmest and sincere band that I have ever booked. They even helped us move chairs at the end of the night.”
Following the show, Acoustic Syndicate posted on Facebook: “Big big thanks to Talia Freeman and the whole Beech Mountain crew for another big time! Thanks to all of the brewers at the festival and most of all thanks to the best fans anywhere! We appreciate every single one of you!”
With members hailing from Cleveland County and Asheville, Acoustic Syndicate has released several albums in their 20-plus years as a band, but only one in the 10 years.
The band took a hiatus from touring and began playing regular gigs again around the time of the release of Rooftop Garden in 2013, which went sort of in a different direction than previous albums under the tutelage of Grammy-winning producer Stewart Lerman.
“We decided going into this record that we were going to get somebody totally disassociated with acoustic rock and Americana music (to produce),” Bryon McMurry told the Shelby Star when the album was released. “Stewart, in his own way, made it come together. I feel like this is the single-most important record to us since we’ve been doing this stuff.”
The record made it in the top 10 of WNCW’s top 100 albums of 2013.
Check out the single from the album below and also see more photos from Winter Beer Fest 2016.
